I’m an only child. I can’t imagine what it’s like to have SIX siblings. So I really can’t imagine what it’s like to have six siblings who are all lining up in lockstep against me publicly. This is happening to Republican Paul Gosar, the congressional representative in Arizona’s 4th district. Rep. Gosar is part of the so-called “Freedom Caucus,” although I prefer the pejorative “Suicide Caucus” to describe that brand of hypocritical, destructive, asinine Republicans. Rep. Gosar is all-in on Donald Trump, all-in on putting babies in cages at the border, all-in with assaulting women and covering up for predators. He’s a terrible person. And all of his siblings think so too – they agreed to do an ad for his opponent, Dr. David Brill.
It’s a devastating and infuriating moment in American politics, and it takes a lot to surprise me, but I’ve never seen an ad where all of a sitting congressman’s siblings line up to endorse his opponent. Even more shocking: Rep. Gosar’s seat has long been considered “safe.” Most analysts don’t believe David Brill has much of a shot at even making this race a toss up. Will this ad move the needle? Or did the Gosar siblings do this out of pure moral conviction?
Rep. Paul has come under fire in recent months for some of his more views, including his tough stance on immigration (specifically, as CNN reported, the refusal of legal rights for documented “Dreamers”). The politician also promoted a conspiracy theory that Democtraic donor George Soros financed the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia as a point of propaganda against the right.
Meanwhile, in another ad on Brill’s YouTube page, the six Gosar siblings admit that coming out against their brother isn’t easy. “It’s horrible to have to do this,” says Jennifer.
“None of this is pleasant for any of us,” explains David. “We got to stand up for our good name. This is not who we are.”
“To speak up against my brother, it brings sadness to me,” reveals Joan, an engineer. “I think my brother has traded a lot of the values we had at our kitchen table.”
Tim calls the ad “intervention time,” with Grace saying, “I couldn’t be quiet any longer.”
According to The Phoenix New Times, there’s still more to come from Paul’s siblings. The outlet reported that another spot, which is not public yet but was screened at a fundraiser on Thursday, features Grace claiming, “It would be difficult to see my brother as anything but a racist.”
Not only that, but when a journalist referred to the Brill ads as “petty” (he was using it as a compliment/slang), David Gosar emailed him and said this:
“What are we supposed to do when Paul makes excuses for the Charlottesville Nazis, goes to a march for Tommy Robinson, a despicable right wing British thug and gives a speech, is a birther, slanders an old man, George Soros, who didn’t do anything wrong to him and then refuses to apologize, is on a mission to destroy health care coverage, denies climate change despite not having a clue of what he’s talking about, and supports a policy of kicking out DACA kids and taking babies away from parents at the border? Are we supposed to be be silent? Or if we don’t, when we speak out we’re included in the term, “petty?” None of this is even close to being any kind of a joke to us.”
[From Astead Wesley’s Twitter]
Wesley made clear to him that he was using “petty” as a compliment, as in the Gosar siblings are delightfully and justifiably petty about their brother being so deplorable. And finally, Rep. Gosar responded.
My siblings who chose to film ads against me are all liberal Democrats who hate President Trump. These disgruntled Hillary suppporters are related by blood to me but like leftists everywhere, they put political ideology before family. Stalin would be proud. #Az04 #MAGA2018
— Paul Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) September 22, 2018
Thanksgiving in the Gosar family is going to be INTENSE.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I’m not sure of the optics of this ad. I understand that the Goser siblings want to make it clear where they stand; they have an unusual surname and are probably sick of being connected with their nutter brother. But, I’m not sure I would have done this ad as an endorsement for the Democrat guy, because it kind of makes him look weak. He should be standing on his policies and his strengths, not on what the other guy’s siblings think of him.
I think the optics are extremely powerful. A politician’s siblings putting country before family, standing up to the nonsense of the right wing nut jobs in our highest offices, shows that this is not a drill, we are in a constitutional crisis. THIS is what GOP politicians should be doing instead of letting Trump continue to wreak his havoc with democracy. And Gosar’s tweet in response proved their points.
I would hope the Dem candidate has plenty of other channels to share his platform and that his entire campaign isn’t hinging on just these ads.
I think it is because these times are different now. It is not politics as usual, hence these siblings decided to take a firm stand. America is on the verge of fascism. This election is a now or never moment. I am very very surprised (and I’m not American) but these are really different times for the US and the world.
Gosar won his district in 2016 by 40%. It’s a very safe seat. Brill needs to do something big to get any attention.
Now, he’s got it. So the optics are great if he can now take that national attention and do something with it.
Like, say, let people know that Gosar doesn’t even live in the district he serves.
Jamie, one of his sisters was questioned on CNN why they were concerned about if they don’t live in Arizona (apparently one of Gosar’s criticism about his siblings). She said (i paraphrase) if he is going to question that, then he needs to remember he doesn’t live in the district he is running.
That was a good response. Mr. Carpet Bagger Dentist (I can read body language I’m a dentist!) needs to take a good look at himself.
Democrates have been playing nice far too long.
The other guy’s siblings were being very detailed in exactly where they saw the problems were, and from their occupations they are in a position to see first-hand the damage that their brother’s Trumpy views are doing to their own communities.
There was nothing malevolent in that ad. Their brother has gone off the edge and they finally felt it was wrong not to say something in public. It takes a lot for that to happen, but from his response – he discarded them long ago anyway.
When I saw it I thought Shit, this guy is so crazy that most of his siblings will literally support his opponent rather than see the likes of him in office. Powerful.
I’m shocked by this but in a pleasant way. This is playing out across America in peoples homes and families but it’s insane to see it happening in a political ad.
The mom was tracked down and contacted and said she agrees with the congressman’s views and that he’s done a lot for Arizona 🙄 I’m guessing they all grew up in a conservative household but the others traveled, met people different from them (one is a rural doctor and that changed her perspective on healthcare and poverty apparently), etc. while he didn’t I guess?
Sounds like it, if mom is supporting her nut job son. Not the exact same dynamics but this reminded me a bit of the Ricketts family in Chicago, who own the Cubs and who are big GOP donors, except for one rogue sister who’s vocal about her support of progressive causes and candidates. Sad that she is the outnumbered one.
I have 6 siblings and I wish 6 of us agreed on all of this. A few voted for either trump or johnson – in Pennsylvania. UGH.
At least if they get together at Thanksgiving (doubts), the Gosars will have a “turkey” already made in the form of Paul.
May I suggest that the 6 Gosar siblings, plus their kids, egg and tp Paul’s house on Halloween? Take photos and post em.
Good times in America.
He actually has 9 siblings. Three agree with him. This family is a microcosm of America today.
I came here to say the same thing. He has 9 siblings. I think his grand parents are immigrants. I can’t remember if they are from France. One of the sisters featured in the ad said on CNN she cannot speak for the other siblings views and they have the right to support Paul Gosar or not and she respects that.
I have 3 siblings and 3 step sisters and I love it! They shaped so much who I am and we support each other so much even when we do not agree.
Yep 3/9 or 33% are a basket of deplorables. AKA the base.
This ad is excellent. And its “Democratic guy,” not the focus-grouped DemocRAT as adjective nonsense.
Democrat as an adjective is not nonsense. It’s actually a good example of how language changes to deal with confusing situations.
In US English, we don’t have a problem with Republican the noun and adjective for something associated with the political party vs republican the general adjective and noun not associated with a political party, because we hardly ever use republican-with-a-small-r in general language anymore. When we do, a lot of people resort to saying “republican-with-a-small-r”.
But we have a big problem with Democratic referring to Democrats as a political party and democratic-with-a-small-d (yes, people actually will say it that way to distinguish) that means something associated with democracy because we use the word democratic-with-a-small-d a lot in general language today. That’s the real reason for so many people using Democrat as an adjective to describe something associated with the political party. As a translator myself, I find this to be a rather clever way of dealing with this very annoying problem. I personally still have a problem saying Democrat as an adjective, but that’s my problem because I’m old and stuck in my linguistic ways. Language changes all the time to fix problems. I’m really tired of saying “democratic-with-a-small-d” myself, so I hope adjectival Democrat wins. We’re still stuck with “democrat-with-a-small-d” for democracy believers, though…
I don’t know where the idea that using Democrat as an adjective was a right-wing slur came from, but I see that assumption pop up periodically. It is not a slur and tends to be regional. Just because some right-winger has the same habit doesn’t make it bad.
No, google it – https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_Party_(epithet). The name of the party is the Democratic Party. You will never hear a politician who is a Democrat refer to themselves as being a member of the “Democrat Party”. It’s only ever done by Republicans and it’s wholly intended to rankle.
This is why I hate judging people based on their relatives. God, I feel for how desperate they must have been to finally gotten to this point. My heart goes out.
Exactly. I’m one of 5 siblings and my sister and I are allied against our three *sshole brothers (nothing to do with politics, they’re just *ssholes).
This. I am so not for judging people for the actions of their relatives. For all we know, that person could have had conversations with that relative or dealt with the situation in ways that we just don’t know about. It must be practically stroke-inducing for people to have relatives who not only hold bigoted beliefs like this, but actually build political careers on them.
He lumps Hillary Clinton and Stalin in the same group? What a dumbass.
An aside, American Mason Cox is tearing it up down here in Australia and will be the first American in history to play in an AFL Grand Final next weekend. We Collingwood supporters love him. Oh yeah and he doesn’t like Trump.
It’s like right wing madlibs. I’m surprised he didn’t work a Soros reference in there.
I’m for this all day long. We as a country need to start seeing these politicians as the messy, godless, charlatan, faux conservative freaks that they really, truly are. Oh his mom endorsed him? I don’t care about these politicians mothers unless we are in a double blind study of what went wrong in their lives to make them hateful destructive jack wagons they are now.
All I see is a skinny pathetic man who wants to limit rights for people unlike himself, so sling that mud, destroy his efforts, and air that dirty laundry in public we have nothing more to lose as a people by preventing scum bags from positions of power where they rule with misery and incompetence.
And good morning lol
Oh my gosh ….. Electric Tuba …. Bahhhh!! Such a hilarious comment! I would love to see the results of “the double blind study!!”
Interesting
On a sidenote I hate being an only child.I was lonely when I was a child when my friends and/or cousins had to go home.Now I am the caretaker for my ill father(cancer) after losing my mother to cancer
I guess I should end on a positive I did get all the toys and clothes I wanted when I was a child.
JoJo, as a fellow only, I understand how you felt in childhood. Now I see it a little differently. I observe what others endure with multiple siblings, through caring for elderly parents and then when the parents are gone. Few have what they consider fair, amicable situations.
In their last years (as I cared for them daily), my own parents each told me to be glad I was an only child. They came from families of four to eight siblings. I no longer think of being an only child as negative. You have no company or help from siblings – but that’s also possibly a good thing.
That’s exactly what happened in my family. My sister and I shouldered the burdens of elderly parents, our brothers didn’t. We had to support our mother the last few years of her life in assisted living. One brother, who is a doctor, questioned why it cost $25 a week for our mother to get her hair done. My sister and I were so enraged we didn’t ask him to contribute anymore and cut him off. We still don’t speak, 16 years after her death.
I guess you’re right the grass always look greener on the other side.
On the plus side, you didn’t have to deal with the bullying that too often happens in dysfunctional or even relatively functional families when the parents haven’t a clue on how to deal with conflict. My mother’s approach was to pretend it didn’t exist. Doesn’t work, by the way.
I internalized a lot of garbage because of the way my older brother talked to me. Took a long time to realize that I wasn’t really ugly or stupid etc. Took even longer to figure out that he was calling himself ugly, because I look so much like him that complete strangers would ask if I was his sister!
If at all possible, I would suggest getting your cousins involved with helping you deal with your caregiver duties in some way. That’s what cousins are for. He’s their uncle, too. At least let them know what’s going on.
Emotional abuse from a sibling and a parent overlooking it (sometimes even considering the bullying child their favorite) is awful.
I used to think that siblings meant lifelong loyalty and love, but that clearly isn’t the case. I have witnessed bitter, jealous, bossy siblings stay that way (if not worsen) into their 80s. I think @Minx has the right idea — steer clear of the jerk(s) in one’s family.
He’ll still probably win. That district is what sways AZ red when in reality we are more purple to even blue. This one gigantic district has the red numbers needed for Trump and his nutjob supporters. Makes me terribly sad. Arizona is a beautiful state with so much to offer to so many and old jerks ruin it. Most of us don’t want a wall so this a-hole does not represent the majority. Tucson in particular loves Mexico and we celebrate our Mexican culture with pride. I can only hope my district stays with Grijalva.
Is it Nov 7th yet…?
You’re in Grijalva’s district? Did you see the debate with the GOP nutter that’s running for his seat.
I was flabbergasted that he flat out said to Grijalva that he’s “not a good Mexican.” The debate moderator looked shocked too.
I did watch that debate and couldn’t believe he said that. I feel weird trying to quantify someone’s nationality/heritage but on a scale from 1 to 10 of Mexican-ness Grijalva is an 11. Like that’s part of his image so of course he kicks the Mexican thing up, which is a delight and perfectly fine.
Gerrymandering at its finest.
Gotta be honest – you’ve got to be one hell of a jackass for your family to come out swinging against you. Even in political schisms that exist in my family, we don’t degrade them publicly.
Yeah exactly. We may talk among ourselves about the ones who suck, but thats very far from doing an attack ad.
I figure he must really really suck.
Just a reminder that this candidate is the dentist who can read body language. Remember that gem?
https://heavy.com/news/2018/07/paul-gosar-dentist-body-language-strzok-video/
I love this so much. Good for them for standing up and making such excellent points. All he can do in rebuttal is “Blah blah Hillary Stalin”? I really hope these ads make a difference in the campaign.
I’m so tired of these a-holes like Gosar. They are so juvenile, labeling all dissent as “Angry Dem” or “hatred” instead of addressing the actual issues people disagree with them on. The smug self-righteousness is infuriating.
Just a reminder that this candidate is the dentist who can read body language. I’m surprised the siblings didn’t mention that little gem.
I feel empathetic toward constituents who do not share the same attitude but are outnumbered with their votes.
This guy is a tool.
I hope it stirs those on the fence or those didn’t vote…to vote
Wth does Stalin have to do with it?
Idiot.
I think it’s a pretty powerful ad, emotionally.
Of course if I were ever to run for office (I wouldn’t), literally my entire family would probably film one of these against me. I’m a lone Democrat in a family of MAGAts.
I have 3 sisters and two of them voted for Trump.
So did my Mom, She regrets it now at least. She thinks he personally is horrible. But she is still a far right problematic AF person. I can’t look on her FB or I wouldn’t be able to talk to her.