Arizona Candidate Kari Lake to Newsmax: Katie Hobbs 'Afraid' to Debate (Newsmax/"John Bachman Now")
By Sandy Fitzgerald | Friday, 14 October 2022 02:56 PM EDT
Kari Lake, the Republican candidate for governor in Arizona, Friday on Newsmax slammed her Democrat challenger, Katie Hobbs, for refusing to debate her, accusing Hobbs of being afraid to go on a debate stage because "she can't articulate her ideas very well."
Lake told host John Bachman, on "John Bachman Now," that Hobbs has been a disgrace politically.
"We saw that when she went on a forum debate stage last week," said Lake, whose campaign is backed by former President Donald Trump. "They gave her softball questions, and she fumbled her way through all of them, including one which was, 'Name one good thing about the Latino community.' She spent a minute and a half and couldn't come up with one good attribute from the Latino community. It was horrifying."
Hobbs also was on CBS' "Face the Nation" and said that she is refusing a debate with Lake because she has "no desire to be a part of the spectacle that she's [Lake's] looking to create because that doesn't do any service to the voters of Arizona to hear from us where we would stand on the issues and how we would govern."
Instead of debating, Lake said that Hobbs has "negotiated a deal with PBS to have her own half-an-hour interview," but the network has not offered Lake a similar opportunity.
"What she's doing is trying to destroy the entire debate system that we've had for two decades here in Arizona, and I will not take part in her destruction of that," Lake said. "They will either put us together on a debate stage or they're not going to get any of me."
Lake also commented on an article in The Atlantic this past week that labeled her as having emerged as Trump's "most talented emulator," based on her first career as a television news host from Phoenix and her embrace of Trump's MAGA strategy.
"MAGA means 'Make America Great Again,' and it means you love this country, and I love this country so much," Lake said. "That's why I'm in it. I love Arizona so much, and if that makes me the MAGA queen. I'll take the honor of that title."
The movement is about putting the needs of Americans and the United States first, said Lake.
"We have for too long put the needs of Americans on the back burner," said Lake. "We've started foreign wars and we've gotten involved. We've sold out our companies to foreign countries. We need to start caring for America and taking care of this great country, or we won't have a country for our children to live in, a free country. That's why I'm in it."
Voters, she added, "see that authenticity" and like it.
"They see that I can't be bought," said Lake. " I can't be bribed. I'm in it because I love America and I love Arizona."
But she said that she'll have to "win by a mile" because of voting issues in Arizona.
"We have to win by a mile to eke out a one-inch win, but we will win by a mile," Lake said. "People are ready to vote. People are ready to take their country back, and then we will restore honesty to our elections."
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