{"id":11186,"date":"2014-12-12T16:31:27","date_gmt":"2014-12-12T21:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=11186"},"modified":"2014-12-12T16:31:27","modified_gmt":"2014-12-12T21:31:27","slug":"24-hour-joe-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=11186","title":{"rendered":"24 Hour Joe Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

I suspect it comes as no surprise that my political inclinations are progressive, and thusly I found myself curious when given the opportunity to watch an advance screener of \u201cThe Joe Show\u201d, a documentary about Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Would it celebrate him? With publicized appearances from known Arpaio supporters Ted Nugent and Steven Seagal it would seem like it. Yet even if it celebrated someone whose politics I felt certain no documentary could give me a warm fuzzy about, I couldn\u2019t resist. I watched the Sarah Palin documentary \u201cUndefeated\u201d. I could handle whatever \u201cThe Joe Show\u201d had in store.<\/p>\n

\"\"Joe Arpaio is the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona. You may know him as \u201cAmerica\u2019s Toughest Sheriff\u201d. Sheriff Arpaio is nationally known, and in many cases internationally known, for having prisoners wear pink underwear, erecting Tent City (an outdoor tent prison), feeding prisoners food salvage, being overly enthusiastic about cracking down on illegal immigration, investigating the origins of President Obama\u2019s birth, and more. Fortunately for the press, he loves media attention.<\/p>\n

However \u201cThe Joe Show\u201d was eight years in the making, and that means eight years of access to the Sheriff and Lisa Allen (the Maricopa County Sheriff\u2019s Office Media Person), as well assorted constituents, activists, and supporters. It\u2019s not surprising to think Arpaio would allow a documentary film to be made about him, and as the film starts it\u2019s a very neutral experience. Basic background, friends and supporters.<\/p>\n

Then things begin to turn. As I said, I already know my politics don\u2019t mesh with Arpaio\u2019s. I\u2019m not down with Tent City, meals of food salvage, or the birthers. Yet with not living in Maricopa County I never went out of my way to follow what had been going on over there. I don\u2019t want to do a big info dump on you here, because you should really just watch the documentary, but we\u2019re talking about abuse of power, devastating failures to investigate sex crimes, and racial profiling. While it\u2019s going on he just keeps getting re-elected. Apparently \u201cThe Joe Show\u201d is just too entertaining for the voters of Maricopa County to let go.<\/p>\n

Love him or hate him you\u2019re not going to want to pass up on watching \u201cThe Joe Show\u201d. It is a well-paced, entertaining, and eye-opening documentary.<\/p>\n