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These Are the Facts

by: MADCO

Sun Jan 31, 2010 at 22:02:48 PM MST

I'm listening to the Grammies, writing something for work and reading something, while also watching the FEC for an update for Romanoff's 4Q fundraising.

And it occurs to me the Romanoff campaign has never disputed certain facts that they apparently want to wish away.

It reminds me of great dialogue from a great film.

These Are The Facts

Sure, we all remember Colonel Jessup bellowing and bloviating. But Santiago was murdered and Dawson and Downey did do it. And in the end they lose and all Caffey's dazzle was just so much show.

MADCO :: These Are the Facts

Fact
Romanoff wanted to be appointed to the Senate seat vacancy. He didn't think the appointment process was bad then, though he has since implied the process was flawed.

Fact
Senator Bennet promised to be and has been a strong supporter of President Obama's agenda. Romanoff supported a different presidential primary candidate and never endorsed Obama nor pledged to support the President's agenda.

Fact
Romanoff put a poll in the field shortly after that appointment. He clearly wanted to get a sense of the voters then.

Fact
The Denver post reports that over the summer Romanoff had conversations about somehow becoming Lt Gov. They claim he wanted it.

Fact
Several months later, Romanoff announces his primary to challenge Senator Bennet for the nomination to run for the Senate, with no cash on hand, and no ready source.

Fact
Romanoff has publicly provided precisely two minor policy differences with Bennet: referencing votes on bankruptcy reform ( cramdown) and some gun vote .
(mini-Fact: Neither vote ultimately mattered: cramdown failed to pass by several votes. And the gun thing was defeated by several.)

Fact
Romanoff took donations from PACs and other corporate donors when he was a State rep, in a safely D seat. It was apparently ok then.

Fact
Romanoff recently put out a campaign piece that said PAC donations should be returned, but has yet to return the donations he received.

So, we have a primary challenge by a candidate who:
has implied that the appointment process was flawed, though he wanted that appointment;
attempted to negotiate a back room deal to be LtGov though he has since decried back room deals;
has raised very little money (through Sep 30 2009) compared to similar Senate races;
has only pointed to two minor votes as policy differences with his D opponent;
decries taking PAC donations now, though he did before;
has suggested other candidates return PAC/corp donations though he hasn't returned any, and;
never endorsed the president nor pledged to support his agenda.

These are the facts and they are undisputed.

fork, please.

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These Are the Facts | 12 comments

Facts

Are you sure Romanoff never "endorsed" Obama? I thought he did, though it was a while after it was apparent Obama would be the nominee.

And the skullduggery over the Lt. Gov. swap happened in the springtime, though it became clear the deal had fallen apart over the summer.

And to be clear, Romanoff makes a distinction between the influence of PACs and special interests at the state level and at the federal level. He says it's qualitatively worse at the federal level.

A leader on the battlefield can be a leader in Congress. -- redstateblues

by: RedGreen @ Mon Feb 01, 2010 at 05:15:54 AM UTC

by: you @ soon

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Is Romanoff saying

Is Romanoff saying that he could take tens of thousands of PAC money at the state level because he was incorruptible then, and can't take it at the Federal level because he is corruptible now? This is very confusing.

by: Ah Choo @ Mon Feb 01, 2010 at 13:49:07 PM UTC

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by: you @ soon

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I don't care why Romanoff is running

He can run because Wade called him up one day and asked him to. Anyone can run for any reason.

What is important is what we get different from Bennet with him - very different question. And on this question, as you said above, we're not hearing much.

No trees were destroyed in the posting of this comment. But a large number of electrons were horribly inconvenienced.

by: DavidThi808 @ Mon Feb 01, 2010 at 06:04:17 AM UTC

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ahem, too much credit David, however,

Fact: Bennet was 'on record' as supporting the public option, even though he did not think it would pass, until Romanoff announced his primary challenge, when his campaign 'suddenly' released his 'I support the public option' video 2 days later.

Fact:

we all win with a primary
as seen with Specter's "i have seen the light on needing reconciliation to pass health care"
http://www.dailykos.com/story/...

due to his primary with Sestak.

By the way, can anyone get a comment from Bennet as to if he supports Reconciliation to pass health care?

by: wade norris @ Wed Feb 03, 2010 at 04:08:54 AM UTC

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They released the video

Of him saying it months and months earlier.

Oh yeah, and Bennet said in the 9/9/09 Denver Post health care reform Q&A with Colorado's delegation that he would support reconciliation to pass a public option, so I imagine he would support it to get the entire bill passed. I believe the first time I posted that was in response to you saying this exact thing last year.

Your, JO's, and Sharon Hanson's attacks on Bennet on this site and others are the best example of Jamais vu I've ever seen.

by: redstateblues @ Wed Feb 03, 2010 at 04:41:33 AM UTC

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by: you @ soon

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jamais vu

That's the best new word/phrase I've heard since galactacrasia. I knew there was a good reason to hang out here.

I demand that all students get As, that all our oil comes from American soil, that waste and fraud be eliminated forever, and that potato chips stop making me fat!

by: sxp151 @ Wed Feb 03, 2010 at 04:46:26 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I haven't seen JO around in awhile.

Buck Stops Here.

by: peacemonger @ Wed Feb 03, 2010 at 06:01:45 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

That is a good word choice

I've seen the phenomenon, but never knew it had a name.

But we're all apparently missing the point.

See, Wade points out that Specter didn't support reconciliation until he had a primary challenge. And so Bennet couldn't possibly have done anything until he likewise had a primary challenge. Therefore, priamaries are good.

"Why do Republicans get to be stupid and win while whenever we're stupid, we're just stupid?" sufimarie Feb 2010

by: BICora @ Wed Feb 03, 2010 at 17:50:03 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Wade

I have gone out of my way to only say nice things about Andrew (everyone go read my comments and diaries now and see how fair I have been), but the incessant lies coming out of the Romanoff campaign make me want to scream. You know you are lying.

Michael Bennet said to an audience of 100 people, including some of Romanoff's campaign staffers (you know who I mean) at the Arapahoe County Young Dems Arapahope Community Team picnic on the weekend of June 2728 that he supported the public option. I have 100 witnesses (minus those 2 I guess) who heard it. I have photos of the day and of Bennet actually talking to one of your staffers.

I hate liars.

If the Bennet campaign released the video you spoke of 2 days after your campaign first told the lie, it makes sense.
Did I mention I hate liars?

Buck Stops Here.

by: peacemonger @ Wed Feb 03, 2010 at 06:01:09 AM UTC

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by: you @ soon

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me, I love liars.

.
Everyone I know tells lies.
If I couldn't abide liars, I'd be very lonely.
Without doing any research, I'd guess, based on my apprehension of human nature, that the Peace Monger is also a liar.

That's a highly inflammatory word, "liar."
While you may be 100% accurate in pointing fingers and hurling accusations, that conduct could make this a less welcoming forum for exchanging ideas. I almost prefer the more childish epithets and name-calling.
.

by: Barron X @ Thu Feb 04, 2010 at 22:54:05 PM UTC

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