I have to admit, the more I see of Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, the more I’m impressed with her.
On Saturday, a reporter clearly thought he was asking her a gotcha question on abortion, and she masterfully turned it around into a scathing rebuke of her opponent, Democrat Katie Hobbs.
“Abortion is effectively banned in the state right now,” the reporter began. “Tell me, do you — is that something that you support?”
“I support saving as many lives as possible,” Lake replied “And what I really want to know and I’ve been waiting — I tune into you guys all the time — I want to know where Katie Hobbs stands. But I never hear you guys ask for that.”
Bam!
“I’m pro-life,” she continued. “My plan would be that every woman who walks into an abortion clinic knows that there are options out there; they don’t have to choose that. There’s families who would love to adopt a baby, and right now the way it’s been going. They go in and they only have one option. Nobody tells them that there’s other options. We want to help our women. If they’re afraid, we want to help them. We want to give women health care, and I want to help people, but I really challenge you — and I’m happy to get back to you on this when you find out where Katie Hobbs stands.”
Of course, Lake didn’t bother waiting for the media to do their homework. She laid out her opponent’s radical abortion views, such as supporting abortion up until the moment of birth and opposing protecting babies that survive an abortion attempt.
“None of you ever try to get her to talk about her stance,” Lake pointed out. “So get back to me after you do.”
Lake’s supporters in the audience cheered her response.
“And tell her that I want to debate this topic on October 12,” Lake added. “But she really needs to show up for that debate.”
Her response was so effective and perfect that you really ought to watch it yourself.
WATCH: @KariLake on Abortion.
Also — where is @katiehobbs? pic.twitter.com/kedmbJpfb2— Kari Lake (@KariLake) October 2, 2022
Lake not only effectively destroyed the implication that pro-life policies are anti-women, but she also effectively made the case that women should have access to all information and options before getting an abortion. But where she really shone was how she took the question and made it into an indictment of the media for their failure to ask her Democrat opponent about her abortion views — which are most definitely more radical than what Arizonians support.
Lake is good, really good, and she’s proven just how effective a communicator she is more than once. Last month, Lake absolutely destroyed another reporter who thought he had succeeded in asking a “gotcha” question when he confronted her on whether she thought Donald Trump questioning the results of the 2020 election was dividing the country.
“How does that divide the country? Questioning an election where there are obviously problems is dividing the country?” she asked. “Since when can we not ask questions about our elections? As a journalist for many years — I was a journalist after 2016, and I distinctly remember many people just like you, asking a lot of questions about the 2016 election results and nobody tried to shut you up.”
“Nobody tried to tell Hillary Clinton to shut up,” she continued. “Nobody tried to tell Kamala Harris when she was questioning the legitimacy of these electronic voting machines to stop. We have freedom of speech in this country, and you of all people should appreciate that. You’re supposedly a journalist. You should appreciate that.”
Lake expressed doubt that questioning the results of an election, especially one marred by rampant irregularities, divides a nation. In her view, what really divides a nation is when people are punished, canceled, or have their lives destroyed for asking questions about an election.
“Last I heard, we still have the Constitution. It’s hanging by a thread thanks to some of the work some people in this area have done. But we’re going to save that Constitution and we’re going to bring back freedom of speech. And maybe someday you’ll thank us for that.”
Lake leads Hobbs in most of the recent polls, and it’s hard not to see why. She’s not only aggressive but she also doesn’t back down, and she knows how to put the media in their place.
