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June 04, 2009 11:06 PM UTC

Coffman: Ritter Would Be "More Sympathetic" To "Terrorist" Army

  • 40 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Oh boy, as the Colorado Independent reports:

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman minced no words in a bizarre, Cheney-esque attack on Gov. Bill Ritter as a “terrorist sympathizer” for signing a new state law that stymies future expansion of the Army’s contentious Piñon Canyon training site proposal.

The accusation of Ritter’s treason can be found in full at Coffman’s congressional Web site:

“The Governor clearly has no concept about the training and readiness needs of our combat forces. By signing H.B. 1317, a bill that blocks the Army’s ability to expand training areas, the Governor has sent a very clear message that the men and women who serve our nation in uniform are not welcome here.

I think he would be more sympathetic if the U.S. Army were to declare itself a terrorist organization – since he is going out of his way to block the Army while at the same time laying out a welcome mat to house terrorists from Guantanamo Bay.”

‘Terrorist sympathizer?’ Somebody should let Coffman know that type of cheap Ann Coulter fearmongering went out of style in, let’s see–2005, right? Just before Republicans started losing elections the way we remember it.

Speaking of “rolling out the welcome mat for terrorists,” the Los Angeles Times also reported today:

It’s the hottest debate in Washington — where to put hard-core terrorists once President Obama shutters Guantanamo. The Senate last week overwhelmingly rejected providing funds to close the U.S. military prison in Cuba, saying that no community in America would want terrorism suspects in its backyard.

Maybe they haven’t been to Florence. [Pols emphasis] Starved for jobs 17 years ago, the town of 3,600 residents bought a chunk of land outside its borders and gave it to the federal government to build a maximum-security prison to house the worst of the worst.

Most locals don’t blink at the idea of taking Guantanamo detainees — and even the ones who object acknowledge that the issue has yet to replace cows, horses and the high school football team as a leading topic of conversation.

“People here don’t care about it,” said Bob Wood, editor and publisher of the community newspaper, the Florence Citizen. “We pretty much feel that if they ship them here, these guys [the federal prison guards] will take care of them.”

So that’s two ways Coffman is ridiculously, credibility-killing over the top. Atta-boy, Mike! You’re doing President Bush proud.

Oh, wait a minute.

Comments

40 thoughts on “Coffman: Ritter Would Be “More Sympathetic” To “Terrorist” Army

      1. It was getting boring down here in CD-6 without good old Tom Tancredo throwing off goofy outbursts every now and then. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Coffman.

    1. Please…  CD6 is the district that kept electing Tancredo.  

      I haven’t been Ritter’s biggest fan lately but this is pure, unadulterated wacko.  When, oh when, will I ever have a CD6 Rep who isn’t a complete embarrassment?  Re-districting probably won’t be enough.  

      1. here to CD4. We still need all the help we can get but hey, at least we finally got a good Democrat who finally represents more than 20% of the district’s voters.  

    1. When HB 1317 passed the House not only did Rep. Corey Gardner vote for it, he added his name as a sponsor. So the press needs to ask Congressman Coffman is he going to actively campaign for the reelection of Betsy Markey (D) in the 4th CD since Mr. Gardner is obviously, by Rep. Coffman’s own definition, a terroist sympathizer who he wouldn’t want inside the Republican House caucus in Wahsington, D.C.

      1. Rep. Markey has joined Rep. Salazar as a leader of congressional efforts to block the Pinon Canyon expansion, picking up the work started by Rep. Musgrave in 2007. So Musgrave, Markey and Gardner all appear to be terrorism squishes, by Rep. Coffman’s criteria.

  1. Seems that Texas and Oklahoma have nothing on CO when it comes to electing out-and-out nut cases!

    If ever there was an illustration of the perils of competing for dead last in education funding….

  2. We know how to handle these people based on actual expereince. During World War II, we housed and guarded 425,000 POW’s here in the continental United States. The fear mongering is baseless. The idea that moving the detainees to the United States will somehow make us more of a target is also baseless. Whether the detainees are housed in or out of the United States, we are and will remain the prime target for terrorist groups from the Middle East. If keeping the detainees outside the U.S. eliminates the threat from terorists then why hasn’t it already done so.

    Finally, Congressman Coffman has not cited any specific facts about how blocking the sale of state land for the expansion of Ft. Carson will in any way impact military training to fight terrorists. By implication, he is asserting we can’t properly train our soldiers now which is a very doubtful assertion.  

    1. We do know how to handle these people.  

      Someone please remind Coffman that Zararias Moussaoui, Richard Reid, Ramzi Yousef, Jose Padilla and Mahmud Abouhalima are ALL in ADX Florence NOW.

  3. During which he said through his lawyer that there was a “jihad” against him. Considering his service to our country in the armed forces–where he saw real terrorists and real terrorist sympathizers–you’d think he’d be a little less cavalier in throwing around this kind of rhetoric.

    Let’s begin the countdown for Coffman to start to backpedal from this one. 5… 4… 3…

  4. It’s like the Republicans want to keep losing. They have a real shot at the Governor’s seat and they continue to make dumbass, nuttery fringe comments that just continue to push folks in the opposite direction of all things Republican.  

  5. I used to respect Coffman, even if I didn’t agree with him on most things.  Now, I’m really disappointed in him.  His statement is totally absurd.

  6. Coffmann has always seemed pretty level headed…a huge improvement over his predecessor.  

    I guess he’s just trying to steal the title of “Biggest Horse’s Ass in the Colorado Congressional Delegation” from Doug Lamborn.  This is a good start….

      1. he was a “moderate”, just that he  has always appeared to be “level headed”.  He’s never appeared to be a right wing whack job in the mold of his fellow congress-critters Musgrave/Tancredo/Lamborn.

        1. anyone would look like an improvement.  I too thought that at least he wasn’t a total wack job. Is it something in the CD6 water?  

  7. One would have thought that Congressman Mike Coffman would have learned that the people of the State of Colorado are tired of the rhetoric of lies, hate and division, but apparently, Mr. Coffman prefers to follow in Tom Tancredo’s footsteps by lashing out with a verbal assault declaring Democrats as “anti-Army.”

    For those of you who have not yet heard of me, my name is David Canter and I am a candidate for Congress in Colorado’s 6th Congressional District.  While others have been quick to dismiss the 6th Congressional District as a battle that cannot be won, I refuse to surrender.  We fight not only those battles that we know we can win, but we fight those battles that MUST be won.  That is why I filed my Statement of Candidacy on November 5, 2008, so that I could get in the race early, raise the necessary funds to be competitive, and run the professional campaign required to win this seat.  We took the 4th away from Ms. Musgrave, and we can take the 6th from Mr. Coffman.

    Congressman Salazar and Congresswoman Markey understand what it means to be a representative; to listen to their constituents; to speak out on behalf of the people of the 3rd and 4th Congressional districts; and to protect the rights and liberties of the ranchers and farmers who live there, regardless of their political affiliation.

    Unlike Mr. Coffman, as a U.S. Congressman, I will follow in the footsteps of those members of the House of Representatives who understand what it means to serve the people of his or her district, and who does so with humility, integrity and compassion.  But to get there, I need your help.  Please visit CanterforCongress.com, learn a little about my campaign, and make a donation to the cause.  If each and every one of you donates just a little bit today, you will help me build the war chest we need to defeat Mr. Coffman and bring real representation to all of the people of the 6th Congressional District for the first time ever.

    http://www.CanterforCongress.com

    Very truly yours,

    David Canter

    1. Its great to see that someone is willing to challenge Coffman. Would be great to have someone that can represent his district instead of making truly bizarre statements that do not serve his constituents.

    2. … understand what it means to be a representative; to listen to their constituents; to speak out on behalf of the people of the 3rd and 4th Congressional districts; and to protect the rights and liberties of the ranchers and farmers who live there, regardless of their political affiliation.

      Since Markey is picking up where Musgrave left off, did Musgrave also understand what it meant to be a representative?

      And what business is it of the 6th District rep to protect the rights and liberties of the ranchers and farmers who live in another district? Coffman’s rhetoric is over-heated, but he’s hardly betraying his own district by opposing Ritter on this.

    3. FEC records indicate both Democratic challengers in CD6  combined have raised just under $25,000.

      My back of the envelope calculation says that the cash required to be competitive is going to be a bit more than what Rep. Markey raised in 2008, or about 100 times more than either candidate has raised so far.

      I’m not complaining- I haven’t earned that right by working for either candidate- I’m just doing the math.

      And the math goes like this- CD6 isn’t really in play. Arap & Park counties- perhaps. Douglas and the rest   – not.

      But forget that for a minute: a media strategy that could overcome 90%+ name recognition challenge is going to cost big $.  The D campaigns in CD6 must raise more early (ie., now) so CD6 voters will  take them seriously.

      Also the media strategy would have to be doing things now to de-energize the R back lash in CD6. Perhaps the general GOP nuttery and tomfoolery will  manifest in CD6  – but I doubt it. Instead, I expect CD6 Republicans in 2010 that are less bumfuzzled than in 2008 and that are aware that the mortal lock they have had on local races should be taken seriously, if for no other reason than a few percentage points down here means a lot of votes.

      BTW- this goes for the statewide races too: Gov, Senate, AG, etc.  I don’t know about most of those races- but it was encouraging to see Bennett post some real fundraising numbers for 1Q.

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