Cory Gardner Takes Credit For Pelosi’s “San Francisco Way”

Earlier this week, Sen. Cory Gardner appeared on the Hugh Hewitt conservative AM radio talk show to assail House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democrats for “stalling” the latest round of coronavirus relief legislation–which among its many provisions replenishes the depleted Paycheck Protection Program for forgivable loans to businesses to help cover payroll costs. Gardner and Hewitt were incensed, outraged mind you, that Democrats were holding this legislation “hostage” to demand their unspecified but obviously scandalous superfluous liberal Democrat goodies:

HEWITT: I’ve got millions of listeners of whom tens of thousands own their own small business and they employ hundreds of thousands if not millions of people, and they’re all wondering: where is the Paycheck Protection Plan? Can you give us a status on whether or not Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi will lift their blockade today?

GARDNER: Well over the weekend obvious progress was made, but no deal has been cinched yet since Nancy has decided that she would rather play politics instead of keep the jobs. It’s a despicable message [Pols emphasis] she’s sending to the American people to American workers to American small businesses that she would rather have her San Francisco way than helping the American middle class. And you know, Wall Street’s one thing, but Main Street is a totally other another thing, and she has decided to heck with both of them and it’s despicable to see. [Pols emphasis]

Yesterday, as readers know by now, a deal was reached–and Colorado Democrats released their own statement highlighting what Senate Democrats had won through their negotiations with the Republican majority.

You know, the stuff Gardner on Hewitt’s showed referred two days before to as Pelosi’s “despicable” “San Francisco Way.”

Congress is on the verge of passing a new coronavirus relief package after Senate Democrats secured additional aid to support small businesses, workers on the frontlines, hospitals and testing, which Republicans had opposed. Now Senator Cory Gardner is touting the hospital and testing funding — that same funding that Senate Republicans had “resisted” including in the relief package.

While the initial package Gardner and Senate Republicans presented did not include resources for our frontline workers, funding for hospitals, and targeted relief for small business, Senate Democrats secured an additional $75 billion for hospitals, $25 billion for testing, [Pols emphasis] and additional small business support focused on underserved communities. That added small business relief was essential “after larger companies with close bank relationships quickly swooped up the original pot of money.”

Colorado Democratic Party Chair Morgan Carroll:

“Cory Gardner has a habit of ducking, obstructing, and then taking credit for other people’s work. Coloradans are grateful that Senate Democrats delivered for our small business, hospitals, and frontline workers. The initial partisan package that Senator Gardner pushed included nothing for our hospitals and lacked funding protections for our most vulnerable small businesses. As Congress continues to provide relief during this pandemic, Senator Gardner needs to prioritize Coloradans over partisanship and loyalty to Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump.”

So let’s recap: $75 billion for hospitals is “despicable?” Funds for small businesses after weeks of headlines about big business snatching up PPP dollars before small businesses could get their paperwork in is a bad thing? What about $25 billion for additional COVID-19 testing–does that sound “despicable” to you?

The #PaycheckProtectionProgram and widespread #COVID19 testing are crucial to help Coloradans bridge this crisis and know when it is safe to reopen. The Senate passed an additional $310B for small businesses and $25B for #COVID19 testing – the House should pass it without delay. pic.twitter.com/In37FY4lV2

— Cory Gardner (@SenCoryGardner) April 23, 2020

Since Gardner is taking credit for the same $25 billion, we sincerely hope not.

What we have here is another textbook case of Cory Gardner playing to his starkly different audiences by not even trying to remain factually consistent, and shoveling whatever red meat to the Republican base they want to hear in siloed conservative media while pretending to be reasonable to the rest of us. There’s no way Gardner can justify calling $25 billion for additional testing “despicable” once you understand the full context–so Gardner doesn’t even bother.

It’s not new, but after almost six years it’s…tiresome. Anyone who believes it at this point is their own fool.