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June 09, 2010 06:16 PM UTC

"I'm a Mainstream Republican."

  • 49 Comments
  • by: Middle of the Road

So says the same guy who once said this:

“I’m not saying this (homosexuality) is the only sin that’s out there,” said Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley. “We have murder. We have all sorts of sin. We have adultery. And we don’t make laws making those legal, and we would never think to make murder legal.”

And this:

“Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter should have called out the National Guard to “take away everybody out there’s medical marijuana card that had a card.”

And this:

“”Homosexuality is seen as a violation of this natural creative order, and it is an offense to God,” Renfroe said. ” When we create laws that go against what biblically we are supposed to stand for, I think we are allowing to go forward a sin that should not be treated by government as something that is legal. We are taking sins and making them legally OK.”

But again, according to Renfroe, he’s just your average guy who reflects and faithfully serves Greeley and Weld County.

His Republican primary opponent, Ken Storck begs to differ. In fact, he thinks Renfroe might be a tad out of touch with 21st century voters and with his own party.

Storck said his message is gaining traction with voters.

“People, I think are recognizing that I’m a moderate and that perhaps some of Mr. Renfroe’s views are a bit extreme,” he said.

Storck’s current fundraising appears to be lending some credence to his theory.

Less than $300 currently separates the political newcomer from State Senator Scott Renfroe in the primary race for Senate District 13.

From April 26 to May 26, Storck raised $865 and has $9,537.13 on hand. In the same time period, Renfroe raised $950 and had $9,824.32 on hand at the end of the period.

According to Storck’s website, Storck is the longest serving deputy district attorney in the history of Weld County. His local ties run deep. A graduate of UNC, Storck returned  to Colorado to serve as a Weld County prosecutor, while heavily investing his time and energy into local community service.

Currently, Ken is teaching for Greeley/Evans School District Six. His primary place of teaching is at the Platte Valley Youth Services Center where he has had direct contact with students involved in gang issues. Ken has concluded from his experiences that early education and family involvement is the key to the prevention of lifestyles of crime.

Ken has served on the KUNC Advisory Board and has participated in Partners Superstars. He has also been involved with community theater and the Kiwanis Club. Internationally, Ken has volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, building homes in Guatemala, and for Global Volunteers at The Glencree Center for Peace and Reconciliation in County Wicklow, Ireland. Ken had the opportunity to observe the reconciliation process between Catholics and Protestants, and former combatants and victims. He learned that even the toughest of issues can be resolved by people reaching out and talking to one another.

Which is the mainstream Republican and which is the whack job? Do you really need a poll to figure that one out? And is it the wrong year and the wrong environment to be a sane Republican in the Party of Hell No?

UPDATE: Let’s keep this short and sweet–I’m an idiot. Storck is a Democrat. Well, go donate to him. I still hate Renfroe.

Comments

49 thoughts on ““I’m a Mainstream Republican.”

    1. has long time ties to Greeley as do his parents, and is living in a district that has elected a Democrat, Jim Reisberg, to the State House in two consecutive elections. And Reisberg is well on his way to term number 3.

      I think Renfroe is right–he is the face of the mainstream Republican Party, right along with his good buddy Kevin Lundberg. But is the average Republican voter and donor as extremist as he is? That’s the real question here, I guess.  

      1. Obviously, no polyester back then, and probably cotton was non-existent to rare. Recall the need for the cotton gin.

        Linen and wool were without a doubt the main fibers in Biblical times and location.  

        Another IIRC is that observant Jews, the hard core, consider any blend forbidden, including polyester.  No “out” there.  

      2. Obviously, no polyester back then, and probably cotton was non-existent to rare. Recall the need for the cotton gin.

        Linen and wool were without a doubt the main fibers in Biblical times and location.  

        Another IIRC is that observant Jews, the hard core, consider any blend forbidden, including polyester.  No “out” there.  

  1. The election of Ronald Reagan was heralded by many as the triumph of Goldwater’s legacy. But Reagan brought in the Religious Right, something Goldwater didn’t agree with at all. As a principled conservative, he knew mixing politics with religious ideology was bad business.

    After Goldwater’s retirement from the Senate, he actively worked with and supported gay and lesbian rights groups. He knew sexual orientation was a private matter the state should have no interest in, and as a retired Air Force officer, he advocated allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military.

    Renfroe’s ideological purity is why the Republican Party is in a small tent that’s likely stay that way, because if you’re not a “true believer”, you get kicked out of the tent.  

  2. Republican.  The only anomoly about him is that he actaully verbalizes it without the standard Dan Caplis “some of my best friend are gay” crap that most Republicans use.  Don’t forget it was just a few short years ago that Republican Senate Majority Leader (how much more mainstream partisan can you get?) Trent Lott was comparing the-gay to kleptomania.

    Is Storck going to vote any differently than Renfroe on these issues or is he just better at hiding his beliefs?

    Frankly, I respect the Renfroe brand more than the hide-your-true feelings Republican.  

    It is a bit like a NAZI member vs. a Ku Klux Klan member…the NAZI member is outfront with their opinions and isn’t afraid to show their face while the KKKer hides under a sheet.

    1. but his resume, background and volunteer work certainly suggest that he has a much broader view of the world, of conflict and of how to work together instead of tearing each other apart. If he’s hiding his “true” beliefs, he’s volunteering for some organizations that would seem to be in vehement opposition of them.

      Reread his volunteer experience. I think it’s pretty telling about who he is. He’s the kind of Republican I remember back when I was a kid.

      Oddly enough, Storck isn’t even listed as a Republican under the State Senate District 13 website. Apparently he’s so moderate, they decided he was a Democrat.  

      1. His life experiences and volunteer work indicate the content of his character and capacity for compassion and empathy.

        As Yeats said,  “I am part of all that I have seen and done.”

            1. Because I deserve any and all criticism for this one. That’s what I get for slapping a diary together like a ham sandwich.

              Sincerest apologies to everyone.

    1. my religous leader and my holy book for direction and definition on “sin”, not to my elected officials.  

      Furthermore, I’ve found that whenever someone pipes up about what they percieve to be someone elses “sin” it is usually a pretty good indication that they are not exactly comfortable looking in a mirror and correcting their own “sins”.

      1. this is so commonplace that it has been incorporated into some mathematical models of social systems.

        Professor Doug Heckathorn at Cornell University created an iterated prisoners dilemma program, in which some collective good was to be produced, and hypothetical actors had the option of cooperating (in its production), defecting (not contributing to its production), as well as encouraging others to cooperate or defect regardless of what they themselves do. The model demonstrated that the first thing that rational utiliy-maximizing actors do is to encourage others to contribute to the production of the public good while declining to contribute to its production themselves! Heckathorn called it “hypocritical control”.

        Recognizing, and acting on, one’s own imperfections is the diametrical opposite of focusing on others’. INMHO, the more often someone uses the word “sin,” the more likely it is that they do not focus on their own. The people hardest on themselves will often be the people most tolerant of others, and the people least tolerant of others are often the people least concerned with their own failings.

            1. Blaming Al Gore for the carbon footprint made while engaged in a worldwide effort to reduce humanity’s carbon footprint is like blaming a businessperson for successfully investing in the growth of her business. In one case, the goal is carbon emissions reduction, and in the other profits. In both cases, the person executing the large-scale enterprise invests the opposite of the purpose of the enterprise, whether carbon emissions (the opposite of emissions reductions) or expenditures (the opposite of profits) in order to produce a larger quanitity of the desired goal. No entrepreneur or CEO would ever be faulted for achieving the kinds of returns on investment that Gore has achieved, becoming a U.S. Vice President, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, and Academy Award Winning Documentary Film Maker in the process, moving hundreds of millions of people to become more aware of and conscientious about the carbon footprint we are leaving and its consequences. Only a self-lobotomized blind right-wing ideologue lost in the stupor of astronomical ignorance would argue that the individual carbon footprint that Gore has produced in his travels while engaged in this effort has not been far outstripped by the returns in global carbon emissions reductions. But, alas, self-lobotomized blind ideological self-destruction is a thriving movement in America today….

        1. that identifying social problems is not the same as pointing to individual sins, and that recognizing the negative externalities of behaviors in which we all engage is both productive and devoid of hypocricy. The analysis is simple enough that anyone with a basic grasp of arithmetic should have no trouble understanding it. The inability to distinguish between individual and social systemic levels of phenomena is called “a levels of analysis error,” and occurs among those who don’t understand that the whole, especially in complex dynamical systems, is more than the sum of its parts, a conceptual failure which virtually defines the far right in America today.

          1. come take a stroll where there’s a bit more meaning, and a bit less noise, at:

            http://coloradoconfluence.com/.

            Let’s see if you recognize this writing style, from the Colorado Confluence home page:

            We are only just beginning to tap this revolutionary new tool of augmented collective cognition, it’s potential to facilitate the human endeavor, to improve the quality of life, still largely unexplored. Colorado Confluence is where we come together to put this tool to marginally better use, to articulate the genius of the many with the expertise of the few, the simple pleasures of daily life with the sublime pleasures of aesthetic and intellectual discovery, the roiling surface of the political sea with the surging depths of the human mind.

            Time to turn that frown upside down! 🙂

    2. less or non-religious people are more apt than religious conservatives to commit murder, lie, steal, etc.  It’s a peculiar religious right idea that the only thing stopping every mild mannered grandma from slitting her neighbors throats is fear of hell. Just because we prefer to call a particular act just plain wrong rather than label it sin in the context of a collection of ancient religious writings doesn’t mean a damn thing as far as the proof in the pudding, behavior, is concerned.

      In fact the people who get in the most trouble for claiming undying support for one staunch set of beliefs while engaging in behavior quite of the opposite kind, especially where sexual mores are concerned, are most often to be found on the right.  Almost every week some rabid anti-gay R legislator turns out to be gay or some R legislator who claims superior family values and condemns godless Dems for opposing prayer in school turns out to be a very, very bad boy.  

      Dems no doubt behave just as badly but they tend not to run around bragging about their superior piety or voting in ways that demonstrate such deep self-loathing. They do give a lot of lip service to being for the ordinary folks while voting for corporate interests depressingly often.  No saints in politics, that’s for sure.  But maybe that’s the difference beteen bad behavior and “sin”. Does “sin” mean anything goes as long as you feel really, really badly about and  check off the box for forgiveness?

  3. One of many, like Blanche Lincoln and Arlen Specter and my businessman brother-in-law, who is now registered as a Democrat due to the extreme rightward tilt of the GOP in recent years.

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