4 thoughts on “Denver Post Destroys Leftist Plot To Terrorize Gardner Family”

1. Yes, the protestors were "disgusting", a characterization straight from Trump's vocabulary and swamp scum thinking. They inconvenienced people. How awful. The aim of a protest is to increase the convenience of all bystanders, thereby rendering their protest invisible, which is what you, concern troll, would prefer. Thanks for bringing this vile piece of editorializing to our attention. It would have been fine if the editors had simply pointed out that they felt the protestors should respect a politician's private residence.  BUT NO! they had to go on and on about how awful and mean the protestors are.

    

   Blech.

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2. Oh, Mods. Where to begin?

   Let's start with your diary's title: Denver Post Destroys Leftist Plot to Terrorize Gardner Family.

   1. The Denver Post "destroyed" nothing. The editorial expressed the writer's opinion that "Protests outside politicians’ homes are clearly unacceptable" (the actual title of the DP piece).

   2. There was no "leftist plot" to "terrorize the Gardner family. There was a fairly spontaneous action by members of Atlantis Adapt, an advocacy organization for those living with disabilities. "Adapt" stands for "American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit or American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today".

   Without the actions of ADAPT' (and others like them across the country), we would likely have no wheelchair lifts on buses, no curb cuts, no ramps on public buildings. These working folks would not be able to work and buy stuff and pay taxes, which I assume you'd rather they do than sit in nursing homes, eking out a scanty existence on the public dole.

   And the Gardner family was not "terrorized". I know. I spoke with Mrs. Gardner. I took notes on the conversation. When I asked to speak with Senator Gardner, Mrs.  Gardner said that  I should call one of Gardner’s nine offices during business hours.  She said that it was a non-published number ( it’s actually published in the regional telephone directory), and she complained that people were “banging on her door after midnight” yesterday.

   Nothing about being "terrorized".  There was a bit of chanting on the sidewalk by 6 people in wheelchairs and a few attendants. The Gardner's home is inaccessible, so the wheelchair-bound folk wouldn't have even been able to roll up on the porch. At about 39 minutes into the video, someone is asked to knock on the door. Once. I don’t even know if this was one of the attendants, or a police officer. I don’t know if they did knock. With 5 squad cars there supervising, it’s doubtful that anyone was “repeatedly ringing the doorbell” or “terrorizing the Gardner family”.

   Video: https://www.facebook.com/CarrieAnnLucasPersonal/videos/10213926044001447/

   There were 5 squad cars, called in by the Gardners, full of 6-10 police officers on an uneventful New Year's eve in Yuma. Not a scary stituation. Perhaps uncomfortable or embarrassing or socially awkward, but not terrifying.

   Without my reporting on Pols, there would have been no Colorado Peak Politics article, no Colorado Politics article, no 9 KUSA, no Daily Kos and no Denver Post. Nobody would have known about the action except the Facebook friends (admittedly a large group) of Carrie Ann Lucas.

   Or, probably, someone else would have written the story, because it was interesting and inspiring. We need examples of resistance and role models of heroism. These people obligingly filled that role on Dec 31, 2017.

   I called Mrs. Gardner at home because I wanted to hear her side, wanted to get a comment from her. More, I wanted to hear from Cory Gardner about why he didn't just do the human and neighborly thing and go out on his front walk to talk with the people. He could have offered them some warm drinks. He could have asked them about their concerns – he is their representative, after all. He could have made an appointment to talk with them at a later date.

   He did none of those things. I wanted to know why not. What happened to the norms of small town life, to the norms of civilized conduct? Did they disappear when Donald Trump became President? Did they disappear with the Senate norms of allowing the President to fill Supreme Court vacancies on his watch?

   I tried to ask Mrs Gardner why Cory had not simply gone out to talk with the protesters, but she hung up on me before answering. I suppose that, too, is the "new normal".

   Look – ADAPT is effective. Part of their effectiveness is because of their power to make people feel uncomfortable. But their effectiveness is a net benefit to society. We all benefit from curb ramps and wheelchair lifts, from more taxpayers in the mix. Carrie Lucas has adopted three children who are disabled and who are racial minorities. She is raising those kids in a safe and secure home. Were you pious abortion protesters going to go and adopt those kids languishing in institutions? I'm guessing not. Why was she even able to adopt those kids, as a disabled person herself? Because she fought for that right. And she won.

   I hope to hell that Carrie Ann Lucas gets herself elected to the Windsor Town Board, and that that is just the beginning of her political career. I wish ADAPT many more days and nights of comforting the afflicted, and of afflicting the comfortable.

   I didn't fill this comment with links as I usually do, mostly because I suspect that nothing would persuade you to think about this differently.This is, at bottom, part of your own jihad against those you perceive to be your political enemies. You're hoping to get in a few licks against Polis, some niener niener at Pols, maybe even at me, though I'm far nicer to you than most on here. I'll leave it at that for now.

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3. A politician's family should be off limits, especially with kids under 18. Not the same as Ivanka and the Trump sons being in politics. They're adults.

   But the Trump grandchildren and Trump’s youngest son also are off limits. End of discussion.

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   1. Agreed.  Politics should follow Mafia rules: anything goes, but keep the family out of it.

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