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March 24, 2014 05:03 PM UTC

Republicans Hammer "Con Man Cory" Gardner Over Personhood Flip-Flop

  • 45 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Cory Gardner Flip Flops
Camoflauge flip-flops! Perfect for hiding your positions and for looking good on the beach.

UPDATE: More GOP anger at Gardner, as Eli Stokols reports at FOX 31:

Just like Ken Buck, the GOP’s 2010 Senate candidate who first supported personhood only to disavow it later in the campaign, Gardner is suddenly the target of heavy criticism for trying to fool conservatives now that he’s through a primary.

Personhood USA offered this false headline: “Congressman Cory Gardner confesses pro-choice position,” telling pro-life voters that Garnder is not pro-life.

“Cory Gardner has betrayed the Republican Party, his pro-life voters, and most importantly, unborn babies in Colorado,” commented Jennifer Mason, Personhood Spokesperson.

Yikes!

—–

If you're tired of hearing about Republican Senate candidate Cory Gardner's flip-flop on the Personhood issue…get over it. As we've said repeatedly since Gardner tossed Personhood under the bus on Friday afternoon, this may very well be the defining moment of the 2014 U.S. Senate campaign.

Today, Lynn Bartels of the Denver Post follows up on the story she broke on Friday afternoon with reaction from some angry Republicans:

"It was politically stupid for him to do that," Keith Mason, president of Personhood USA, said Monday.

Critics on both sides accused Gardner of trying to alter his image now that he is running against Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Udall in a state where voters two election cycles in a row overwhelmingly rejected personhood. [Pols emphasis]

The 2008 and 2010 ballot measures in essence outlawed abortion, but critics said the language also would have banned emergency contraception in rape cases and limited treatment for infertility.

"Republicans are so thirsty for victory they're ready to drink saltwater," personhood activist Ed Hanks of Douglas County wrote on his Facebook page. "Cory Gardner has just renounced the party platform and embraced abortion. Why are so many conservatives not fazed by this?" [Pols emphasis]

Mason, the President of Personhood USA, also warned that Gardner may now be at risk of losing a chunk of the 475,000 voters who supported Personhood in 2008 and 2010. "He's not going to lose all of them," Mason told the Post. "People are pretty ticked by Obamacare, guns and all the other stuff — but Cory needs those votes."

How big of a problem does Gardner have with Republicans who now feel betrayed? We heard rumblings over the weekend from Republican County Assemblies in Douglas and Jefferson that Gardner's flip-flop was a heated topic of conversation.

Comments

45 thoughts on “Republicans Hammer “Con Man Cory” Gardner Over Personhood Flip-Flop

  1. "Can't Cut It Cory" strikes again!

    That's the problem with complex, single audience-intended, multi-tiered political lies:  the liar often winds up being strangled from both sides of the fence he was attempting to straddle.

  2. As to why "so many conservatives are not fazed by this," again I refer one and all to the startling recent admission by AC: that he and his fellow Republicans will knowingly vote for an obvious, transparent, bald-faced liar and craven coward simply because he/she has an "R" by his or her name — "thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor" (or, presumably, lie about one's self) be damned.

    Patriot Party? Daddy Party? Liberty Party? Truth, Justice and the American Way Party?

    Try the Friggin Power-Mad, Shameless, Cowardly Liars, Haters, Racists and Bible-Trashers Party.

  3. Meh. Who else are the righties going to vote for? But as a way to attract more of the middle?  More women? More young voters? A complete failure. 

  4. Ed Hanks is a friend of mine who I disagree with on Personhood.  While he is well connected and a good guy he hardly speaks for the conservative movement.

  5. EF – sincere question: just what are the tenets of the conservative movement in your mind? Three of my closest friends are Republicans – and I couldn't get a consistent response out of any two of them.  One falls in to the 'Personhood' column, another in the Ron/Rand Paul column, and another in the 'Barry Goldwater' column, although he has his own version, dismissing what the Goldwater Institute stands for today (and recently left the party, registering as an Independent, although he's very liberal on social issues.)

    1. Depends which faction you are in.  For me it is originalist interpretation of Constitution (basically repudiating Roe v. Wade, Kelo, and Wickard), seeking to reduce longterm govt spending, and supporting Capitalism

      1. Thanks – the way you crafted your initial response in this thread I read it as though there was a writ large 'movement'.  I suspect Ed Hanks thinks he is as much an authentic spokesman for the conservative movement as the heads of the other factions are.

                1. Funny. The one thing our founders definitely were not was "originalists, much less conservative. The last thing they would have wanted was for their progeny to remain stuck in time, clinging to antiquated notions and mired in rightie science rejecting religious superstition. They sure as hell weren't. 

                  1. In matters such as these I tend to refer,and defer, to one of the originals.

                    "I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors." – Jefferson to H. Tompkinson (AKA Samuel Kercheval), July 12, 1816[10]

                    Whether he was an "originalist"or not I'm not sure I do know it was not a "conservative"decision to confront the leading economic and military power of the time and he does use the word progress.

      2. That "Kelo" decision you reference upheld "eminent domain" in private property transfers. If it were repudiated, much of the oil and gas development in contemporary Colorado would have no foundation.

        Anita Sherman and "Fracking Fighters" are asking legislators to stop bill SB-14-093, which is good for energy companies, but terrible for private property owners.

        A truly conservative movement which repudiated unlimited corporate eminent domain rights would also be against SB14-093.

        A bought-off, corporate-funded movement which only pretended to be "conservative" would be for SB14-093, and for anything else which benefits large corporations at the expense of individuals and the public "commons", i.e. air and water.

        If there truly were a conservative movement which was about conservation of the common good, clean air, clean water, public health and safety, I would support it. I think that there are a very few conservatives out there who align with this view; I don't think that they actually have a "faction" in power in the Republican party. More's the pity.

        1. If there truly were a conservative movement which was about conservation of the common good, clean air, clean water, public health and safety, I would support it. – See more at: http://coloradopols.com/diary/55952/republicans-hammer-cory-gardner-over-personhood-flip-flop#com

          "If there truly were a conservative movement which was about conservation of the common good, clean air, clean water, public health and safety, I would support it"

          Well said, MamaJ…and given the dynamics of today's party of Lincoln ( T-Roosevelt (national parks and busting monopolies), Eisenhower (interstate system), Nixon (EPA) PapaBush (acid rain cap-and-trade-program) and Dubya (deregulating ERCOT, creating largest state wind portfolio in the nation, establishing the nations first renewable fuel standard and whose Supreme Court classified CO2 as a pollutant) there isn't a soul on this planet that could survive a primary or a state assembly with any of those ideas attached to their campaign.

          1. MamaJama wrote on March 25: "if there truly were a conservative movement which was about conservation…..clean air, clean water…..I would support it….."

            Good news. Perhaps you have not heard of ConservAmerica, formerly known as Republicans for Environmental Protection. We have a small chapter in Colorado that we're looking to grow. Visit the following web sites to find out more:

            http://www.conservamerica.org

            http://www.conservativestewards.org

            http://www.climateconservative.org

            Sincerely,

            Conservative Head Banger  (AC/DC Rules!)

             

             

              1. ConservAmerica is NOT a fake. We knew we'd made it a few years ago when El Rushbo referred to us on his radio show as a "bunch of environmental whackos." Given the GOP's history of conservation that traces back to Abraham Lincoln (he set aside land in California that eventually became Yosemite National Park), people really should not be surprised that Republicans can be strong conservationists. Another example: 2014 is the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the Wilderness Act. In 50 years, the president who has signed more wilderness bills into law than any other, to date, is Ronald Reagan. 

    1. There's only one thing a politician can use to defend against photoshop, and that's their own consistent, reasonable set of values and track record on issues.

       

    2. The original (with camouflage iPhone, rather than flippy floppies) was the subject of a "caption the photo" here a week or so ago.  I'm sure the assumption was that visitors here had seen it.

  6. No need – he's never been a purist. From TNTSNBN:

    Political consultant Katy Atkinson, a Republican, said the criticism was expected.

    "Extremes always demand 100 percent purity and Cory doesn't fit the purists' mold…."

    See how easy that was? 

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