Arizona Gov. Ducey praises President Biden on Ukraine, unimpressed with rest of speech
Mar 2, 2022, 10:36 AM | Updated: Mar 7, 2022, 8:18 am
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey posted this photo of the state Capitol lit blue and yellow in support of Ukraine to social media on March 1, 2022. (Twitter Photo/@dougducey)
(Twitter Photo/@dougducey)
PHOENIX – Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who rarely agrees with President Joe Biden, praised the Democrat’s State of the Union message regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But beyond that, Ducey was unimpressed with Tuesday night’s address.
“I thought the president’s comments on Ukraine were unifying,” Ducey told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Wednesday. “I thought they were necessary. Ukraine’s cause is our cause. We’re always going to be on the side of freedom and democracy, especially when it’s opposed to the aggression that we’re seeing from Vladimir Putin.
“With that being said, I think the rest of it was really disingenuous.”
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Ducey, who serves as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, criticized Biden’s take on inflation, the border and immigration, crime, and energy policy.
“He’s got words and rhetoric, but his actions don’t match up, and that’s what I think Americans are going to remember,” Ducey said.
“I think they saw a nice speech and they saw some good applause lines, but they know that the cost of daily life is higher than it’s ever been.”
Biden got applause from both sides of the aisle while talking about how the U.S. is helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia, a topic that took up about the first 10 minutes of his hourlong speech.
Ducey said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “reminds me of Winston Churchill” when it comes to wartime leadership and called for continued support.
The Arizona State Capitol is lit yellow and blue this week in honor of the brave people of Ukraine, and in support of their unwavering fight for freedom. 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/zm1gYcy5Vs
— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) March 2, 2022
“I think us supporting, getting ammunition, material resources to Ukraine so that they can battle against Russia is the right thing to do,” said Ducey, who had the Ukrainian flag raised at the state Capitol this week and the building lit blue and yellow at night to show solidarity with Ukraine.
“We should do everything in our power up to, but excluding — of course we do not want to start World War III with Russia. We want to put Ukraine in a position to protect their country.”
