Gov. Doug Ducey finally calls out Kari Lake. Now about Mark Finchem and Shawnna Bolick...

Arizona’s risk-averse governor has, at long last, decided to take a risk and call out the general of his party’s far right flank.

That’s right, Gov. Doug Ducey is calling out Kari Lake, the Republican frontrunner in the race to replace him.

“She’s making things up,” Ducey told The Arizona’s Republic’s Stacey Barchenger, referring to Lake’s frequent attacks on his record at the border.

Whoa.

Gov. Ducey, it seems, has grown a spine.

Kari Lake is a hard-right hothead

He’s going after a Trump-endorsed candidate – a hard right hothead who comes armed with a sledgehammer, a professional videographer, a take-no-prisoners battle plan and absolutely no idea how to run a state.

This is a woman who vows to shoot down cartel drones and blow up drug tunnels and in her spare time, she plans to wipe all bikini-wearing women of a certain size off of the cover of Sports Illustrated.

(It’s insane and we’re not going to play into it anymore,” she said over the weekend, referring to SI’s latest swimsuit model and also transgender children. “We’re not going to sit idly by and be quiet, and put our hands on our lap, and follow Miss Manners rules anymore. We’re going to get out there and do some guerrilla warfare.”)

Lake didn’t say what she, as governor, plans to do about zaftig women or transgender people.

Governors like Ducey must be involved now

Meanwhile, on issues a governor can actually do something about, along comes Ducey pointing out that this Lake is really a puddle, at least when it comes to her “Defend Arizona” border plan.

“There’s not a new idea, or an additional idea, in the plan,” he said.

Dig deeper: Gov. Ducey knocks Kari Lake on the border

Certainly, there’s not a workable idea, or a constitutional one.

But then, Lake’s entire campaign is based on sheer outrage lathered atop a mountain of lies, from her bogus claims of a stolen election to her scorched-earth plan to repel an “invasion”.

How was it that Shakespeare put it? “Full of sound and fury. Signifying nothing.”

It’s nice to see the governor finally say so.

In normal times, party decorum would dictate that a guy like Ducey stay out of a partisan primary. But these are hardly normal times and last week’s election results across the country showed that conservative Republicans can take back their party from the paper warriors who have hijacked it.

Just ask Idaho Gov. Brad Little, who crushed his Trump-endorsed opponent in a state Trump owned in 2020.

Or ask Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who is holding a 30-point lead over his Trump-endorsed challenger, former Sen. David Perdue, going into Tuesday’s primary election.

He should endorse in the governor's race

Regular Republicans can rescue their party, if only they have the courage and the heart and the leadership to do it.

Which is where Ducey comes in.

He told Barchenger he may make an endorsement in the governor’s race, “at the time and place of my choosing.” That's a risky maneuver, given that a third of Republican voters are diehard Lake supporters.

Boas: Ducey quietly hatched a scheme to break Trump's grip on the GOP

But that just means that two-thirds of Repubican voters aren’t – that Ducey can use his power to have an influence on where Arizona goes from here.

He should make an endorsement in the race to replace him. He should tell his supporters which Republican candidate has the skillset not just to rail about the culture wars but to actually govern, to deal with the complicated and competing demands of a growing and diverse state.

While he’s at it, he should make other endorsements or at least call out far-right candidates in other key races up and down the ballot.

Ducey should call out other Republicans, too

He should call out Rep. Mark Finchem, who continues to peddle phony election numbers as he campaigns for secretary of state. Maybe Ducey could consider endorsing a Republican who didn’t sign onto the joint legislative resolution asking Congress to award Arizona’s presidential electors to Donald Trump. (I'm looking at you, Finchem, and you, Rep. Shawnna Bolick.)

He should call out state Sen. Wendy Rogers, who has demonstrated an impressive range in her repertoire of conspiracy schemes, from the Democrats supposedly stealing elections, to the Jews and other elites trying “replace” us.

And he absolutely should call out Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward, who jubilantly spreads the poison that boosts her future political prospects and to heck with what it does to the future of the once-Grand Old Party. Or the future of Arizona.

Ducey could use his last months in office to fight back against the poison that threatens to sicken our state.

On Friday, by taking on Lake, he cued up what should be just the first dose of some badly needed medicine.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Gov. Doug Ducey grows a spine and takes on Kari Lake