With just days to go before the gubernatorial election in Arizona, a desperate Katie Hobbs, having trailed most of the campaign, decided to break glass and pull the red handle against Kari Lake. With nothing else to run on and facing questions about her refusal to debate, Hobbs went back to a Democrat mainstay: January 6th.

That came just before Joe Biden reprised his “red speech” on Wednesday evening and was part of an overall shift nationwide among Democrat candidates as economic numbers and other policy failures threaten to boost Republicans in the final stretch.

The supposed boost for Hobbs came in the form of an ad cut by deceased USCP officer Brian Sicknick’s mother. In it, Gladys Sicknick essentially accuses Lake of killing her son, stating that “my son died because of people like Kari Lake.”

“Kari Lake is very dangerous for our country. She saw what happened on January 6 and continues to spread the big lie,” Sicknick says.

“We’re going to have more violence because people, they believe whatever she says,” she continues. “It’s very dire for our democracy, for our country, with candidates like Kari Lake.”

Of note is that the Supre PAC that paid for the ad is run by the usual suspects, including Bill Kristol and Tim Miller, in case you wanted to know who was behind it. Regardless, the accusations are ludicrous. For one, if you watch it, you won’t find a single quote by Lake in it. What exactly did she say to cause January 6th? That’s conveniently left out, replaced by a broad, ridiculous accusation about the “big lie,” as if all free speech surrounding anything to do with election security must be quashed.

Call me old-fashioned, but if you are going to accuse someone of murder by proxy, you should probably be pretty specific about how that occurred. And the second accusation, i.e. that Lake is saying things currently that will cause violence, is simply false as well. When is the last time Lake even mentioned the 2020 election outside of being badgered about it by the liberal press? She’s remained doggedly on message, talking about the border crisis and the economy. She’s not out there spinning tales of stolen elections on the campaign trail.

Of course, Lake was asked about the ad, and she delivered a perfect response, knocking down the lies without feeding the fire.

A CBS reporter just asked me about the latest desperate attack ad accusing ME of causing the death of a Capitol Police Officer.

As a mother, here was my response: pic.twitter.com/dol7OEFQaw

— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 2, 2022

If you watch the video, Lake pointedly notes that Sicknick died of natural causes after having suffered a stroke on January 7th. The medical examiner found no signs of trauma nor any evidence he had ingested any kind of chemical the day before that caused his fatal condition. Lake also pointed out the obvious, which is that she wasn’t anywhere near the Capitol Building on January 6th nor did she ever encourage people to go there.

But instead of giving the media the soundbite that they wanted, namely an attack on Sicknick’s mother, she sympathized, and that was the right move. As I’ve shared before, when you are dealing with someone who is grieving, you don’t try to win a political slap fight with that person. Lake’s gentle hand defused the situation while still getting the facts out in the open.

It won’t stop because Democrats have nothing else, but this stuff should really stop. People like Lake are not responsible for Brian Sicknick’s death. No one is responsible for it because he died of natural causes. Attempting to use a deceased man to score political points is gross, and while Sicknick’s mother can be looked over given the situation, Democrats like Hobbs who play into it should be excoriated, both rhetorically and at the ballot box.