Thursday Open Thread

24
  by: Colorado Pols January 23, 2020 at 6:36 AM MST

“The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.”

–Dante Alighieri

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24 Community Comments, Facebook Comments

  1. DENependent says:
    January 23, 2020 at 7:44 AM MST

    Some local political news:

    The Colorado Sun profiles Lorena Garcia's attempt to petition onto the Democratic primary ballot.

    https://coloradosun.com/2020/01/23/lorena-garcia-colorado-us-senate-race-2020/

    The most important poll of 2020 is live, Westword's Best of Denver. Sadly they don't let us pick a favorite Denver politician.

    https://readerschoice.westword.com/

  2. skeptical citizen says:
    January 23, 2020 at 9:27 AM MST

    I actually spoke to a staffer at Senator Gardner's Capitol office today when I called to express my concerns about the need for the Senator to support additional witnesses and documentation in the impeachment trial. My call to the Denver office went to voice mail.

    I reviewed the Trial Roll Call votes on senate.gov and find that Senator Gardner has party-line voted 11 times (so far) against amendments to call additional witnesses and obtain additional documentation. Pretty sure he intends to support McConnell's sham trial 100%. SAD

    • notaskinnycook says:
      January 23, 2020 at 10:28 AM MST

      Well, knock me over with a feather. He can't afford to lose the support of the Trumpsters. He's sure not getting much love from anywhere else.

    • JohnInDenver says:
      January 23, 2020 at 10:34 AM MST

      I didn't expect anything else.

      My guess (like several others' guess) is Cory will vote for witnesses if 5 or 6 other Republican Senators do.  He won't want to be a deciding vote. 

      I could be wrong.  He could be all in for McConnell and therefore for Trump. 

      I'm not certain if I would prefer him to stick to his principles of allegiance to the current power structure or try to weasel out and become "bipartisan" on this most obvious of votes.  I think either way he jumps, he's going to lose vote among those certain he has "sold out" to make the vote.

      I am certain that calls and letters to his office on this matter are pointless.

      • skeptical citizen says:
        January 23, 2020 at 3:27 PM MST

        Cynical-me sadly agrees with you that calls and letters to his office on this matter are pointless

        Optimist/Activist-me disagrees, and realizes that my one voice, multipled by thousands, will matter. Silence will only benefit Cory and his co-conspirators in the Senate.

  3. Pseudonymous says:
    January 23, 2020 at 10:26 AM MST

    S. Carolina elected official now backing Sanders over Biden

    A South Carolina elected official who endorsed Joe Biden last month is switching her allegiance to Bernie Sanders in the state’s first-in-the-South presidential primary, saying she had viewed the former vice president — whose support in the state is considered deep — as “a compromise choice.”

    Dalhi Myers told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she was making the change in part because she values what she sees as Sanders’ strength in being able to go toe-to-toe with President Donald Trump in the general election.

    “I looked at that, and I thought, ‘He’s right,’” said Myers, a black woman first elected to the Richland County Council in 2016. “He’s unafraid and he’s unapologetic. … I like the fact that he is willing to fight for a better America — for the least, the fallen, the left behind.”

  4. unnamed says:
    January 23, 2020 at 11:03 AM MST

    57% of likely voters support removing Trump

     

    As the Senate begins its second day of the trial of President Donald Trump, a Microsoft News poll finds that 57 percent of likely voters support removing him from office.

    The poll found that 57 percent support a Senate vote for removal, and just 37 percent oppose. Pro-and-con views were much closer before the House voted on Dec. 18 to send articles of impeachment to the Senate — today the two views are 20 percentage points apart, and before the vote they were just 10 points apart.

    Not surprisingly, there are huge differences on the vote by party. Ninety-three percent of Democrats support removing Trump from office, along with 67 percent of independents and 15 percent of Republicans. Hispanics and African Americans strongly support removal from office, at 78 percent of Hispanics and 77 percent of African Americans. Among whites, just 52 percent back removal.

    [Emphasis Mine]

  5. doremi says:
    January 23, 2020 at 11:30 AM MST

    From Kyle Clark (Josh Horowitz twitter post):

    Pope Francis significantly shifted the ideological balance of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States on Thursday by replacing one of the country’s most prominent conservative prelates as the archbishop of Philadelphia. Chaput out Perez in

  6. Pseudonymous says:
    January 23, 2020 at 11:39 AM MST

    Hahahahahaha.

    • Duke Cox says:
      January 23, 2020 at 1:07 PM MST

      Go Bernie.

      Corporatists tremble at the sound of your name…

      • Pseudonymous says:
        January 23, 2020 at 1:24 PM MST

        They shook!

        • RepealAndReplace says:
          January 23, 2020 at 1:35 PM MST

          Given Obama's track record – the only Democrat in my lifetime besides LBJ to win more than 50% of the popular vote – and that of the Bern, I think Barry's warnings should be taken seriously.

          What else can we say about Obama? He is one of only two Democrats in my lifetime who managed to win two terms. 

          What was Bernie's big accomplishment. Coming in second place to a mediocre candidate like Hillary Clinton who went on to lose to Trump in 2016. Nothing spells success like losing to a loser. (Right, Roger?)

          • DENependent says:
            January 23, 2020 at 6:52 PM MST

            A great quarterback is not automatically a great coach.

            Obama is terribly talented at campaigning and he’s got massive charisma. That does not mean that he can pick winners in races where he is not running.

            Also, I have had more than a few conversations with people who voted for Obama and regretted it. They thought he would do something about Wall Street or for working class people. One Hispanic voter said to me, “I thought he would fight for us. I thought that he’d know what it is like because he’s black, but he didn’t do anything for workers like me. That’s why I voted for Trump.”

            I think that voter was wrong to vote for Trump, but that’s what was was happening on the ground in 2016 with people like bus drivers. I’ve not seen him since so maybe he is disillusioned now (I hope so), but he might also just not vote if Democrats pick someone like Biden.

            • Duke Cox says:
              January 23, 2020 at 7:11 PM MST

              Aye..I agree.

              Try explaing to a millenial how Joe Biden is politically different from Hillary. For that matter…explain it to me.

              • Voyageur says:
                January 23, 2020 at 10:13 PM MST

                While you're at it, explain to me why an 87 year old Trotskyite ideologue, which bernie would be after two terms, is fit to govern America.

                biden at least lives on my planet, but Amy is far better qualified to lead.

            • RepealAndReplace says:
              January 24, 2020 at 5:45 AM MST

              You people need to make up your minds……..

              On the one hand, I keep hearing that the past three years are the prelude to the End of Days. On the other hand, I am hearing that people will not be motivated to vote to remove Trump unless they are promised all sorts of free stuff by some magically charismatic wind bag making unrealistic and un-deliverable promises.

              Which is it? If Trump is really all that bad, then people should be motivated right there and then – without all the cash and prizes being promised.

              • Diogenesdemar says:
                January 24, 2020 at 7:17 AM MST

                It’s sorta’ funny . . . 
                 

                . . . how very few of “those people” fail to ever be swayed, let alone convinced, of something by repetitive and tiresome invective . . . 
                 

                . . . what’s up with those people??? 

              • Duke Cox says:
                January 24, 2020 at 9:28 AM MST

                Everything you say is based on the phony premise that you know for sure that: 

                1. Bernie will get everything he wants should he become President Sanders.

                2. It is all fantasy and CAN'T be accomplished.

                Neither of which is controlled by your certainty. 

  7. MichaelBowman says:
    January 23, 2020 at 6:54 PM MST

    Prayers for the McBeth family:

    Firefighter from Wray, CO among those killed in Australian plane crash

    Ian McBeth is one of three American firefighters who died when a C-130 Hercules aerial water tanker crashed in the Snowy Monaro area of New South Wales.

    McBeth graduated from Wray High School in 1994. He still has family there.

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