Pass

AZ stands pat in primaries

Gov. Jan Brewer has ultimately decided to keep the primary elections on Feb. 28. Brewer threatened to cause chaos when she thought about moving up the state primary as early as Jan. 31. But it was all in the name of giving Arizona a greater part in electing the Republican Party’s presidential nominee. In the end though, Brewer decided to keep the date as is. But that doesn’t mean she lost out entirely on her goal. Brewer mentioned that she would consider keeping the Arizona primary where it’s at in exchange for a Republican primary debate held in Arizona.

According to her press aide, Matthew Benson, Brewer is close to getting what she wants. In that regard, good job by Brewer. She threatened to create a traffic jam of primaries by moving Arizona’s, thereby forcing other states to move theirs up too. In the end, she maintained her poker face and seems to have got what she wanted. Arizona will be a more pertinent player in the primaries for the Republican Party. One of your jobs as a politician is to bring home the bacon to your constituents. In that regard, Brewer has put Arizona on the map, and will certainly try to push the issues pertinent to her Republican constituents during the buildup to the debate. For getting Arizona some non-negative coverage, Brewer gets a pass.

Fail

Texas Gov. Perry doesn’t care about retired people

In Monday night’s Republican primary presidential debates, Texas Gov. Rick Perry took some knocks at the hands of his Republican opponents. Most importantly, he came under intense fire for his views on Social Security. Perry thinks that existing recipients of the benefits can remain, but that states should have the option to choose to do their own programs. Later, he was painted as an immigrant-sympathetic candidate for enacting a program in Texas that allows children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition in the Texas university system. Perry responded by saying that, if you’re pursuing a degree and trying to become a citizen of Texas, you deserve to pay in-state tuition. Perry said “it doesn’t make any difference what the sound of your last name is, that’s the American way.” Although some might agree with Perry, he doesn’t seem to be in touch with the core values of the Republican base. You can’t afford to upset the elderly generation and seem weak on illegal immigration if you want to win the nomination. For misunderstanding his own political base, Rick Perry fails.

Pass

A new breed of Mexican immigration into Arizona

The Mexican government announced its plans to release five endangered Mexican gray wolves into the wild. The wolves will be released in Northeastern Sonora, which the Arizona Daily Star describes as “within a wolf’s walking distance to Arizona.” Great. Not only do we have to be afraid of beheadings due to illegal immigrants, as eluded to by Gov. Jan Brewer, we’ve got to watch out for Mexican wolves. Is Southern Arizona not safe at all? Should the wolves find their way into the Arizona, the Arizona Game and Fish Department reported the wolves would be treated as endangered and therefore can’t be removed. Imagine a Mexican immigrant who can easily cross the border undetected and then, once in the U.S., cannot legally be removed. Are you afraid? In all seriousness, this is a fantastic effort, albeit humorous in a political context. A pass is awarded to the Mexican government and all those involved in trying to save the future of this endangered species.

— Editorials are determined by the Daily Wildcat opinions board and written by one of its members. They are Kristina Bui, Storm Byrd, Nicole Dimtsios and Steven Kwan. They can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.