Back in 2010 as she defended her state’s harsh immigration law, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) told a newspaper reporter that she was deeply hurt by the terrible names people were calling her. The worst, she said, were the comparisons to the Nazis.
“They are awful,” she said. “Knowing that my father died fighting the Nazi regime in Germany, that I lost him when I was 11 because of that…and then to have them call me Hitler’s daughter. It hurts. It’s ugliness beyond anything I’ve ever experienced.”
The problem, as many discovered after the quote went viral, was that it wasn’t true. Brewer’s father had in fact died of lung disease in California in 1955, a decade after WWII ended.
As Brewer now faces the fact that another one of her stories is coming under question, this one involving an encounter she had with President Obama, a pattern appears to be emerging in her career: The popular conservative bomb thrower often has trouble with the truth.
The governor made the rounds on the cable news networks last week, talking about her run-in with the president on an airport tarmac near Phoenix.
Brewer called it a “tense” encounter in which Obama criticized her book and then walked away from her while she was in mid-sentence. But two other officials who witnessed the encounter said Obama was nothing but calm and described the event as little more than an “awkward moment.”
Still, the governor has used her version of the encounter to get plenty of air time, seeing an increase in sales of her book which she has called a “truth telling” tome. Amazon ranked “Scorpions for Breakfast” at No. 7 on its best sellers list on Friday. The day of the event, the book had been at No. 343,222.
On Friday, her spokesman told TPM the governor is standing by her version of events. But that spokesman, Matthew Benson, also acknowledged the governor has stumbled on certain facts in the past.
“She’s also been in political life for nearly three decades,” Benson said. “Has she ever said things that she wished she’d said more precisely? Of course.”
“I imagine President Obama would say the same thing,” he added.
In the past, when Brewer has been confronted about inaccurate statements, her first move has been to maintain she was right no matter how clear the matter was.
When a journalist for the Arizona Guardian first pointed out the discrepancy between how Brewer’s father actually died and what she had told another news organization, the governor got angry.
“There is no way I have ever misled anybody,” she said. “You’re trying to make a liar out of me.”
Later that same year, the governor went on Fox News to decry the effect illegal immigration was having on her state. Among the problems, she said, were that people were getting their heads cut off.
“We cannot afford all this illegal immigration and everything that comes with it, everything from the crime and to the drugs and the kidnappings and the extortion and the beheadings,” she told Fox’s Greta Van Susteren.
When quizzed about the fact that no beheadings had been reported in Arizona at that point, Brewer doubled down on the statement.
“Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert, either buried or just lying out there, that have been beheaded,” she said.
Neither she nor her office could point to an example of when anything like that had taken place. However, she continued to maintain for the next four months that she had not misspoken. Then in November of 2010, just days before her election, she relented.
“That was an error,” she said, then added: “if I said that.”
Nick R. Martin
Nick Martin is a reporter for TPMMuckraker. He comes to the site from Arizona, where he worked as a freelance journalist, investigating serial killers, extremist groups, politicians and scoundrels of all stripes for a variety of local and national news outlets. He also operated the award-winning news blog, Heat City.
"Brewer has a habit of getting the facts wrong."
Of course she does; she's a Rethug.
Brewer is a lying manipulating opportunist, and a forger and child molester and mass murderer.
And those last three? I misstated them, if I wrote them at all.
What is with her?
Adf It's not just her. Kyl also has a penchant for mis-statement. Remember his statement that 90% of what Planned Parenthood does is abortion?!! When called on that statement, and corrected that abortion is only about 3% of Planned Parenthood's activities, he had the nerve to say he didn't mean for his statement to be considered factual! This from a US Senator! Then there was the incident wherein he and another Senator, I believe it was Senator Lindsey Graham, put on a little play for the sake of getting their statements into the Congressional Record. Although they were the only two present, they apparently wanted it to seem like this exchange took place in front of a full Senate chamber.
More like a pathological liar.
If you put lipstick on a pig; its still a pig. She is a lying pig.
remember she also denies allowing joe arpio the power to deputize the minute men ...who have been linked to a number of illegal raids on mexican americans...some have led to murder
The guardian often reverse engineers falsities into truth. I think the guardian is perduelliously in enjoinment with crime syndicates of CIA RMS and MkUltra psychic visual noospheric streamlining certain types of criminal underworlds to exist and monopolize from cash of drug cult's such as drug rehab's and other ill repudiated business types that cater to the such. for a while there from 2003 - 2009 we had good private sector zygnomics that were actually putting drug rehab center's out of business cause literally the rehab center's had almost ran out of patient's. it seems that that paticular zygnomic control has been reverse engineered to cacodoxically enable more drug and alcohol usage and or the tainting of alcohol with depressant's to manufacture droves of alcohol and substance abuse echelon's of whom are mysteriously and suddenly turning into patient's of drug and alcohol rehab center's. it's real!...... why doesn't TPM do some digging around on that do some real investigative work against achsteen and vigil about who is illegally tampering with public health by conspiring and engineering zygnomic control to promote ignorant and unknowing people into indulging in substance abuse and alcohol in the name medical monopolies of substance and alcohol abuse center's. someone dumb'd down a really good section of zygnomic control that was operating ultra secret bionic metaphysical communication's of anti drug campaign's through rotarian zygnomic's. I think this conspired to be malice undermining of some of the best united states work ever done comes from perduellious subject's of the drug war and the corrupt rotarian zygnomic control acculturates of the CIA RMS selling this malice and abusively corruptive ultra secret psychic visual communication's force as a way for business's to monopolize from NSA CIA RMS HMS NCS psychic visual hate groups targeting innocent people for famacide and induced technological assault's onto their feeble echelon's whom have informed against their illegal drug cults of organized crime abusing them by use of zygnomic control. Hello Mr. President Obama, mexico is selling Iran 750 mega tonne nuclear warheads Oop's it's uhnuthuh zygnomic psychic visual air Uhmericuh!!!!!!!!!!!......... Oh, Meigh!!!!!!!!!!. all this and we all don't even want it!. who pays for this CRAP acronym to..... Cacodoxic Rotarian Acquisition's of malice Paromologist's.
ZygnomicPerduellion Your post reads as if you took every word and tried to find a longer version in a thesaurus. Many of the words you used are not fit for the context of the sentence, and thus, your points are difficult to extrapolate. Not to mention the use of apostrophes when not necessary. Your strange use of vocabulary non-withstanding, your points are extreme and way over-the-top. Borderline insane actually.
stmmb831ZygnomicPerduellion Yeah, and I even forgot to put the word "of" in the section of my rant..... "in the name (of) medical monopolies" oh and you seem to be saying that some words don't fit in the context of the sentence, well in the emulation of the way I mean it and how the bionic noosphere's manipulates metaphysics, it is as written. it's called "Zygnomic Demonocratic Tampering" it's the "ZDT". and literary numenism is often conspired as an attempt at nullification of ones iniquity.
stmmb831ZygnomicPerduellion Long word's short story.
ZygnomicPerduellion
Zygy, put down the Black's dictionary, and pull that cord off to the side of your bed. It is clearly time for your medicine. You've had a long day.
"...if I said that."
****** Google these ******.........."Boy scouts find human skull in lake" & "Human head found in bag on hiking trail near Hollywood sign - latimes.com".......... I wasn't even looking, it's daily news practically. the beheadings are'uh coming,........... HINT, TIGHTEN WAY UP ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION!!!!!!!!!!!. Hey Jan, tell the psychic noosphere's to go phuck themselves by typing it up in the google search window translate it into Spanish and press "enter". leave it in your window all day, that seems to help battle the perduellious psychic synoptic administration's demogorgons of dacnomania somewhat. I blame the church of scientology.
ZygnomicPerduellion
Those incidents were found to have nothing to do with illegal immigration.
Apparently people, including Brewer herself behind that witches cauldron, selectively and conveniently forget about Prescott Bush's actual ties to the Nazis, forever linking the GOP-n-P with them.. Hello???
Hang in there if you can, everyone.
Your friend,
Warren
Warren G. Richards
Mesa AZ
Born in 1944? She looks terrible for that age. Ugly is as ugly does I suppose.
Uhhhhh........ I, uh think Jan might be having problems with her Penis, P.E.N.I.S acronym to.......Paromologist's Eigenvalue-vector-function's Nomological Intelligence of the Syndicate. it's most likely a perduellious mexican or someone who is pro obloquious mexico, someone better call Chris Mathew's and tell him!. Hurry!
Like mony in the GOP T Party wing, the truth is incontinent most of the time. Made up stories play better with the voters who are usually pretty gullible. She USA disgrace as I am sure she will join many other of her ilk come next election.
jdanner46 -- made up stories work well this voters that think like her. They have over blown ego's, full of self importance and are notorious liars. They are pigs, even when they wear lipstick. These people are gullible, if they were you could educate them. They are mean spirited, hatful, and deceptive liars.
I'm willing to bet that when George H, W, Bush said he was going to K.I.L.L everyone he didn't mean like this!.
It's ironic how this story attracts shallow minded people whom have nothing worthy to say, most news blogs are filled with shallow rhetoric. but this one goes on and on,
I think she was saying to the Prez, smell my finger...
This is how conservatives create their own myths; simply make some statement flattering to yourself and keep repeating it until nobody remembers it wasn't true to begin with.
What's with the Southern Governors? Haley Barbour, Rick Perry and this dig bat Brewer. It's like watching a Road Runner Cartoon, beep beep!
Dave Witter Dear sir, Thank you for asking the 600 Million Dollar Question "what's with the Southern Governor's" I don't know about the other's but Jan knows it's not mexico!!!!!!!!!!. and that's good enough to embrace her stance as aruhzonuh Governor, Pronounced; Air-uh-zone-uh learned how to spell Airuhzoneuh from the self checkout stand at home depot. and it's what happens to them cause they reside next to obloquious mexican's. is it not ironic that all of the governors that reside next to mexico are all biting at the air cause their exacerbated by perduellious south of the border people there's too many countries to the south of our border to allow them all to play the United States off by them politically manipulating our united states. GET RID OF Assemblyman Gilbert A. CEDILLO. illegal immigrant's should not be allowed to manipulate our united states and we don't want illegal immigrant's coming to the United States.
well NOW she is saying that she was IN FACT telling the President 'you only have ONE MORE YEAR left'...check out her website.
meganjwilliams2 Well, let's imagine the deceitful shrew is telling the truth this time by the merest coincidence. It's up to us to prove her malevolent prediction wrong.
OverreachTHISmeganjwilliams2 Ohhhh, but she isn't realizing that she is crumbling in the mass and wake of ignorant people that are oblivious to reality cause of lazy stupid Paromologist's taking malice payoff's from the culprit's obloquit's. Jan is a very wise person. the truth is reprehensibly backed by forgotten and nullified truth of what she is wise of. history repeats it's self. Jan is the lady with the lantern before there were light houses. it's too bad the D.O.D extracted and destroyed Ronald Reagan's Plagiarized Indignation operation cause if the people were aware of the danger's coming into the United States from mexico they would back Governor Brewer's wisdom. unless the people were tyrants backed by false ignorance. it is an advanced world.
Best was when the bigoted witch "felt threatened" by the black President who dared not to address her ugly, smug white ass as "Yes, "Ma'am" and "No, Ma'am." Felt threatened, jabbing her finger in a sitting President's face, surrounded by elected mayors and Secret Service. I mean, it takes the cake.
I'm still waiting for her to file attempted rape charge.
OverreachTHIS Bionic Metaphysical demographics indicate cacodoxic zetectic's zygnomically engineered and telencephalized onto Jan Brewer streamlining CIA RMS bionic metaphysical abuse onto her to offend, dismember and dissipate Jans pursuit against the corruptive illegal immigration problem's. this is bush's new world order public enemy in action. that's why there is a psychic visual metaphysical assault being waged against the founders and founder's kin of the united states. George Bush's sharing of intelligence has even caused the school shooting's.
If you've never seen her debate performance from a year ago, Google it and watch in wonderment. It's amazing someone like her gets elected to public office of any kind.
diamondback Considering the tea party mentality it's not.
diamondback There was so much craziness close to the election, you could have field a newscast with nothing but stupid stuff said or done by GOP candidates. There was too much of it for more than a few to get enough attention for the voters to see through them. That's no excuse for voters not being attentive to their own candidates. Just saying that's how so many ideologues, ignoramuses, and crazy people slipped through. I'm guessing Brewer just can't tell what's real.
ericdiamondback Confucius say's..... Politicians are a mirror of the public. remember that.
Wicked witch of the west. She got elected on fear and the silver hairs.
rktman169 it's Grey Hair cause they saw you coming.......
hey, back off! why let a little pathology get in the way of a agressive book pimping?
manyamile1 Are you calling her a Cain look a like? (or is it a minnie me?)
And this is news, how?
Ms. Brewer was born September, 1944 and Her father died when she was eleven. Didn't the war in Europe end in May of 1945?
Dan Sheehan She looks a lot older!!
Sorry, that was catty ... just couldn't resist!
Dan Sheehan Doesn't that kind of indicate her dad was home in 1943, and not overseas fighting Nazis?
Dan Sheehan Why do so many ignorant people use half whited engineered to be famacidal slur's and cacodoxic biographies as their cacotopic retrocognition of what they only think they think they don't like from one stupid little fragment of a moment. well we know there is such a thing as "dumb down" so........Please!, lets have a psychotic down, Oh! My! could it be an oxymoron to earmarks and benchmarks for the hundredth time!. I think the present perduellious synoptic, oversight and linguistic's engineer's can't be trusted all by their cacotopic selves.
The king and queen idiots, Perry and Brewer. Governors in name only.
lying AND playing the victim the modus operandi of the reich wing. it's as if cameras and video tape were never invented.
Perry Winslow Jr. It's amazing that these politicians seem to forget that there is recording equipment around them all the time - nothing stays hidden anymore. Tell a lie, get caught.
cognachas4pawsPerry Winslow Jr. Tell a lie, wash, rinse, repeat until it becomes all your blind followers know.
Jim Pasterczykcognachas4paws Have you been smoking pot with the illegal's coming across the border.
She wanted the publicity to sell her book, that is why she has her finger in the Presidents face. Tell me when did it change that some Gov. could stick their finger in the President's face?
That is just real low, but she got that book to sell.
They all lie all you have to do is use FACTCHECK.com to see how bad it is.
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