November 14, 2019 02:41 PM UTC

Threat of Ill-Defined "Radical Left" Is Gardner's Dominant Campaign Theme

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• by: Jason Salzman

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Cory Gardner can’t talk about issues like guns, Trump, and abortion without getting into trouble with his Republican base or independent voters–or both–but he apparently thinks he can get away with talking about the “radical left.” Or “loony left.” Or the “fringe left.”

That’s safe territory for him, he thinks.

Hence, a new Gardner campaign ad states, “Don’t let the radical left destroy Colorado jobs.” 

But who’s he referring to? The people who make up his high disapproval rating? The attendees at the women’s march? Just the people carrying “Cardboard Cory” cutouts?

Gardner’s recent advertisement and trail of radio interviews, where he often drops “radical left” line, don’t shed much light on the question.

“Loony Left”

Whoever they are, Gardner apparently thinks the radical left can swing elections.

Prior to the 2018 election, Gardner worried that “loony left” and “radical left” voters could create a “problem” for Republicans, leading Democrats to victory.

“Obviously, voter motivation and intensity is important in elections,” U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner told a KHOW radio host Ross Kaminsky in September of 2018. “And if more on the radical left, the loony left, get out and vote than the right, that’s a problem.”

Gardner, who once thought people protesting him were paid, painted a darker picture of the leftist problem in July at the Western Conservative Summit (at 1:24:15) warning that “fringe liberals” are rallying “against the values that made America great” and “espousing far left radical ideas that are rooted in socialism.”

This kind of rhetoric about the threat of radical, loony, fringe leftists is the dominant theme of Gardner’s re-election campaign, starting in his first campaign ad last year.

“Do you want to protect the Senate from a radical far-Left takeover in 2020?” Gardner asked in the ad.

If you’re getting scared, though you don’t exactly know who the radical threat is and why they’re dangerous, that’s what Gardner wants.

If you’re wondering what’s up with Gardner’s campaign, think about all the stuff Gardner isn’t talking about.