Over the past month, the state of Arizona has come into the national spotlight since it enacted the nation’s harshest immigration law, SB-1070. In another controversial move, this week Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) signed into law a bill that will ban ethnic studies in public schools. A couple weeks ago, the Arizona legislature approved a “birther bill” that would require President Barack Obama to show his birth certificate and prove his own citizenship status. A sharp critic of Arizona’s nativist efforts has been Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon. Today, Gordon sat down to talk with the Wonk Room about what has led Arizona to take such drastic measures.

Gordon described a “perfect storm” consisting of three factors. First, the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine radicalized the political discourse. Second, beefed up border security along the California and Texas borders with Mexico redirected smugglers and cartel operatives toward Arizona. And lastly, the economic recession. Gordon explains that “politicians who love their job a lot more than they love their state or their country” exploited the three factors and led Arizona into the predicament it’s in now:

This became a perfect storm….we had the ending under Reagan of the Fairness Doctrine, which not only allowed both sides of an issue, it required both sides of an issue to be discussed. [...] Language that was spoken in the dark rooms, but not out in front became acceptable. And it became acceptable on television and radio. Particularly the extreme right radio. [...]

The second in Arizona was the fact that we are right on the border when Texas and California were tightened up. [...] It made Arizona the gateway and continues to do so because it is an impossible border to secure.

As a result of that, and the issue of the economy, the three came together and were exploited politically by individuals like Hayworth, and Russell Pierce — the local senator — and the governor [Jan Brewer], and those that love their job a lot more than they love their state or their country. The more extreme these issues became, the more leadership these individuals took on and scared off other more moderates, particular Republicans.

Watch it:

Gordon also listed another element which has exacerbated the extremism that is present in Arizona. When President Barack Obama was elected president, he appointed then governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano (D), to serve as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. According to Gordon, when Napolitano left, her successor (Brewer) filled the void left behind by appointing a lot “extremists” who “hijacked” the system. The Wonk Room previously reported that Napolitano stated that she vetoed bills similar to SB-1070 “at least twice.”

Our guest blogger is Brian Katulis, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress.

The ill wind of political repression continues to blow in Egypt — earlier this week, the Egyptian government approved a two-year extension of an emergency law that’s been continuously in effect since 1981, despite repeated promises to repeal it. The emergency law lets the Egyptian government limit key freedoms, arrest people without charge, and hold prisoners in indefinite detention.

Extending emergency rule is the latest in the string of troubling moves by the Egyptian regime to crack down on political opposition and keep Egypt’s political space closed to alternatives, including a ban announced earlier this spring on Skype’s voice over Internet protocol, a move that the Project on Middle East Democracy‘s Lydia Khalil points out is about squelching dissent more than it may be about profits and bandwidth.

These disconcerting steps motivated me to join with a diverse group of people (some of whom I fundamentally disagree with on many other foreign policy issues) in signing this letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking that the United States pressure Egypt to clean up its act on human rights and democracy.

I’ve had a special fondness for Egypt ever since I studied Arabic there back in the 1990′s, and then later worked with brave Egyptians pushing for political reform when I was with the National Democratic Institute, long before the Freedom Agenda was even a glint in George W. Bush’s eye.

Why is it important to support political reform in Egypt now? A change in leadership appears on the horizon, and this presents an opening to move beyond our addiction to dictators and autocrats that has plagued the Middle East for decades. Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s 82-year old president, has had health problems, and as Michael Wahid Hanna and others have recently warned, a possible succession struggle looms.

The Obama administration expressed its disappointment in the emergency law decision, but actions speak louder than words. What will the Obama administration do in the coming months as more Egyptians stand up for democracy and freedom? Will it stand behind the words that will be part of its forthcoming national security strategy that include supporting “universal values” around the world? Or will it follow in the footsteps of its predecessor, the Bush administration, whose signature “Freedom Agenda” is now regarded by many Egyptians as kalam fadi, empty words?

In reaction to mild statements of disappointment from the Obama administration about the emergency law renewal, Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif compared the emergency law to America’s Patriot Act, saying the Egyptian government “was having difficulty finding the proper balance between protecting the nation and preserving civil liberties, comparing the challenge to President Obama’s difficulties in closing down the prison at Guantánamo Bay.”

As I noted in 2007 when I was in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad just as then-President Pervez Musharraf lifted a much shorter period of emergency rule, leaders around the world tend to follow America’s actions — and some autocrats had perfected the tricks of the trade by following the Bush administration’s example: Unilaterally declare executive powers because of extraordinary circumstances, seek to quell opponents by painting them as in the same camp as terrorists and flood the airwaves with a message of fear in a desperate attempt to cover up what has been essentially a pretty poor record at bringing terrorists to justice. The Bush administration followed that approach for many years, using the war on terror as an excuse to trample on basic rights at home, making the freedom agenda seem all the more hollow.

On Egypt, the Obama administration will have an opportunity in the coming year to make up for the past mistakes of several previous administrations. Will President Obama stand by the words he expressed in his Cairo speech last year — his “unyielding belief” that people yearn for basic rights and freedoms — and that his administration will “support them everywhere”? Egypt is going to be an important test case — and most Egyptians are hoping that these words weren’t just more kalam fadi from another American president.

Thousands of gun enthusiasts are in Charlotte, NC, this weekend for the 139th annual National Rifle Association (NRA) convention. The convention has attracted speakers like former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R), as well as a significant number of exhibitors selling all sorts of gun and gun-related paraphernalia.

ThinkProgress is at the convention and noticed a booth for Blackwater, the contractor that became infamous after one of its convoys in Baghdad opened fire in a crowded square in 2007 and killed 17 Iraqi civilians. Despite this dangerous legacy, ThinkProgress’s Ben Armbruster noticed that the company was proudly displaying assault rifles today:

What’s interesting about this booth is the fact that Blackwater officially changed its name to Xe in 2009, recognizing that it needed to try to rebrand itself and escape from the taint of the Iraq massacre. However, the company still retains the Blackwater name for its “Pro Shop,” which sells gift shop-type products with the Blackwater logo to the public. So when the company is talking to the media or Capitol Hill, it’s presenting its brand new Xe face. But when it’s marketing itself to a certain segment of conservatives, Blackwater still sells. A few of the items on Blackwater’s Pro Shop site, including a Baghdad poster depicting Blackwater’s logo as the bat signal and a beach towel:

There is currently no federal ban on assault rifles. Last year, Attorney General Eric Holder said that the Obama administration would be seeking to reinstate that ban, although no action has been taken so far. Ironically, “the carrying of firearms, both open and concealed” are banned at the NRA Convention.

On May 23rd, a coalition of pro-Israeli settler organizations will sponsor the 17th annual “Israel Day” concert in New York’s Central Park. Among the sponsors of the event are Friends of Ateret Cohanim and the Hebron Fund, groups that actively support the Jewish takeover of Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and Hebron. This year, one of the guest speakers will be Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele:

The concert, emceed by Nachum Segal, is dedicated to a united Jerusalem, never being divided, not giving up any land anywhere in Eretz Yisrael, which is the Promised Land of the Jewish People, and standing up to the mullahs of Iran. [...]

Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, and MK Danny Danon, deputy speaker of the Knesset and chairman of the World Likud, will be the guest speakers.

The event is intended to build support for increasing the number of Jewish settlers in occupied Palestinian territory, which successive U.S. administrations have identified as an obstacle to peace and detrimental to U.S. interests. The promotional materials make clear that the event is dedicated to preventing the creation of a Palestinian state, which both the Bush and Obama administrations have said is an important U.S. national security interest. The poster (pdf) advertising the event declares:

No! to the division of Jerusalem ever.

No! to the surrender of any part of Israel.

No! to the expulsion of Jews from Judea and Samaria. [The West Bank]

If Steele supports these positions, or if he shares the values of blatantly racist organizations like the Hebron Fund and Ateret Cohanim, he should say so. Otherwise he should withdraw from the event.

On May 23rd, a coalition of pro-Israeli settler organizations will sponsor the 17th annual “Israel Day” concert in New York’s Central Park. Among the sponsors of the event are Friends of Ateret Cohanim and the Hebron Fund, groups that actively support the Jewish takeover of Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and Hebron. This year, one of the guest speakers will be Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele:

The concert, emceed by Nachum Segal, is dedicated to a united Jerusalem, never being divided, not giving up any land anywhere in Eretz Yisrael, which is the Promised Land of the Jewish People, and standing up to the mullahs of Iran. [...]

Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, and MK Danny Danon, deputy speaker of the Knesset and chairman of the World Likud, will be the guest speakers.

The event is intended to build support for increasing the number of Jewish settlers in occupied Palestinian territory, which successive U.S. administrations have identified as an obstacle to peace and detrimental to U.S. interests. The promotional materials make clear that the event is dedicated to preventing the creation of a Palestinian state, which both the Bush and Obama administrations have said is an important U.S. national security interest. The poster (pdf) advertising the event declares:

No! to the division of Jerusalem ever.

No! to the surrender of any part of Israel.

No! to the expulsion of Jews from Judea and Samaria. [The West Bank]

If Steele supports these positions, or if he shares the values of blatantly racist organizations like the Hebron Fund and Ateret Cohanim, he should say so. Otherwise he should withdraw from the event.