December 21, 2015 12:01 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Monday (Dec. 21)

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• by: Colorado Pols

On this day in 1620, pilgrims from the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. As far as we know, anyway. It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols! If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example).

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► We know a lot about what those purported Planned Parenthood videos do not show (namely, trafficking in “baby parts”), and a federal judge made it official on Friday. From CBS News:

Recordings secretly made by an anti-abortion group at meetings of abortion providers do not show criminal activity and could put the providers at risk, a federal judge said Friday, citing the recent shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic. [Pols emphasis]

U.S. District Judge William Orrick made the comments during a hearing over the National Abortion Federation’s request for a preliminary injunction that would continue to block the release of the recordings. Orrick did not immediately issue a ruling. He previously issued a temporary restraining order blocking the recordings pending the outcome of the preliminary injunction hearing…

…The National Abortion Federation filed a lawsuit in July, saying members of the Center for Medical Progress infiltrated its meetings and recorded its members. The federation of abortion providers says the release of any audio or video would put members in danger.

Orrick seemed to agree, saying doctors who have appeared in videos released by the center have received death threats. He also cited suspected arson at abortion clinics and the November shooting at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic that left three people dead and nine wounded.

Undeterred by reality, several anti-choice groups continue to hold on to the ridiculous theory that the terrorist attack at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs had nothing to do with the abortion issue.

► Here’s a fun lede for Colorado politicos, from Joey Bunch of the Denver Post:

For Colorado Republicans to gather under a big tent in 2016, they will have to push out the three-ring circus of 2015, say loyalists and skeptics.

In his story about the disarray in the Colorado Republican Party, Bunch also notes that former State Party Chair Ryan Call is among nearly a dozen Republicans seeking a vacancy committee appointment in HD-37 to replace Rep. Jack Tate (Tate was recently chosen to fill a vacancy that will be created by the resignation of state Sen. David Balmer).

► Democrats held another Presidential debate last Saturday night. Pundits seem to agree that Hillary Clinton had a good night. If you missed the Democratic debate, you can be excused so long as you were able to catch the Saturday Night Live sendup of last week’s Republican Presidential debate.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Good news if you had the number “10” in your office pool predicting the number of Republican candidates for U.S. Senate in Colorado.

► South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham formally ended his bid for the Republican Presidential nomination today. As our friends at “The Fix” explain, Graham’s exit was sadly inevitable from the moment he first entered the race last June:

The process, however, is not presently built to reward people like Graham — a pragmatic conservative without the fire-breathing rhetoric or matinee idol good looks that tend to distinguish candidates in this day and age.  Graham might have been a good candidate for the Republican party circa 1996. But, 20 years later he never really even had a chance…

…The truth is Graham had almost nothing to lose by running for president. He was elected to a third Senate term in 2014 and won’t stand again for election until 2020. While he never made the main stage debates, he did raise his profile some — and now has “presidential candidate” on his resume.  Given how little chance he was given from the jump, Graham acquitted himself well — particularly in the eyes of Republican insiders who viewed him as a necessary and credible voice representing the hawkish end of the party.

► That’s enough on the topic of “smart dealmakers.” Let’s move on to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, shall we? As Politico reports, Cruz is engaging in a very public battle with the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal:

For the next three months, the Journal should change their header to the ‘Marco Rubio for President Newspaper,’ because their attacks — and it’s going to keep coming because Marco fights for the principles they care about,” Cruz said. “There is no one, no conservatives in America who think The Wall Street Journal is the voice of conservatism.”

For many conservatives, it would seem unwise to pick a fight with one of the most important editorial pages on the Right. The ed board, which espouses the pro-business, muscular foreign policy approach of traditional Republicanism, continues to have an outsized voice in highbrow conservative circles, and the paper itself delivers news intravenously to Wall Street executives and the megadonors who fuel presidential campaigns…

…Editorial page editor Paul Gigot, who notes the Journal hasn’t endorsed a presidential candidate since Herbert Hoover, said the paper’s differences with Cruz are rooted in nothing more than substantive policy differences…

…“Some people take it better than others,” Gigot said, referring to the ed board’s criticism of Cruz. “It’s not a personal thing. It’s a business thing. It’s a professional thing. We call them as we see them. That’s been the case since the beginning.”

“Saturday Night Live” pegged Senator Cruz perfectly over the weekend when an actor portraying Cruz admitted that nobody likes him.

► Cruz is going hard after Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who (along with Donald Trump) represent Cruz’s biggest obstacle to winning the Republican Presidential nomination. If you were expecting a straightforward jab at Rubio, you clearly don’t know much about Cruz. As the Washington Post Fact Checker reports, “Politicians often hone their talking points to make them easy to digest and understand. But Cruz’s new ad is an example of a false talking point that has been honed to the point of ridiculousness.”

Ted Cruz for President: He’s Ridiculous!

► Jeb! Bush says Donald Trump is a jerk. Again. Poor sad Jeb!

► Here’s a psychological profile of Trump that you probably won’t find the least bit surprising.

► New Mexico politicians are working overtime to lay claim to the most corrupt and dishonest group of elected officials in the United States.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Annoy your friends with this fun fact: While the Winter Solstice often occurs on Dec. 21, that isn’t the case in 2015 (not exactly, anyway). In Colorado, both today and Tuesday will be the shortest days of the year. Click here to read more than you ever cared to know about the 2015 Winter Solstice.

► Tough game in Pittsburgh on Sunday for the Broncos and the Brockweiler. Denver is badly in need of receivers who can, you know, catch the ball. The Broncos are still in the best position to win the AFC West division, but it is still mathematically possible for the Kansas City Chiefs to leapfrog Denver at the last minute.

ICYMI

► Whatever mistakes you may have made in 2015, you can finish out the year confident that you probably didn’t do anything as cringeworthy as what happened at the end of the Miss Universe pageant on Sunday. Comedian and pageant co-host Steve Harvey read the wrong name in announcing the winner of the event; after several minutes of uncomfortableness, the “crown” was transferred from Miss Colombia to Miss Philippines. Do’h!

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