October 18, 2010 08:22 PM UTC
Bennet's identity crisis & "I can just buy it" attitude
32 Comments- by: JeffcoTrueBlue
During the primary I was always clear I supported Andrew Romanoff. Frustrated as I was to see him lose to Michael Bennet I said I would vote for Bennet because we need to hold the seat. But as I watch more of his arrogance and identity crisis I’m rethinking whether I can vote for the guy. Would he be better than Buck on the issues I care about? If I believe what he said while being challenged in a primary, yes. If I watch what he did before and after that, I don’t know. Way better on some critical issues, maybe not much different on a lot of others.
Is it better to have a Dem in office who will vote with the party most of the time (or at least when he thinks people are watching) but has shown he’ll side with big banks and others to do their bidding and water down meaningful reform OR is it better to have a rightwing nut who will be in the minority and give us somebody to rally around defeating next go around. Somebody I think will sell out every progressive value once he has no more need for our support or somebody who is very public about opposing most of what I believe?
I’d like to hear from some of the other former Romanoff supporters about if you’re voting for Bennet and why or why not.
Every time I think I can vote for Bennet instead of leaving that race blank I see something new to remind me that he is everything that’s wrong with the Democratic party.
Let’s take the local daily paper’s ringing endorsement of Bennet which his campaign has been touting, blasting out and posting anywhere and everywhere online. If I read the endorsement it basically says “We’ve known Michael Bennet way longer than most people. He’s not at all the progressive he had to pretend to be to win the primary. He’s actually been a pretty inept Senator who hasn’t stood for much of anything. But we know who he really is and once he doesn’t have you pesky voters to appease he’ll be that guy from Anschutz and DPS that we loved. You know, the guy who put a company billions in debt to line his pocket and give Phil Anschutz a half billion more to fund every right-wing bigoted initiative. That guy who put the DPS pensions at risk, thought experienced teachers are just deadwood and that charter schools are the answer to everything and took marching orders from the billionaire hedgefunds behind DFER and Stand for Children. Trust us. He’ll go back to being that guy so vote for him. If we know him like we think we do he may even go Ben Nighthorse on you.”
Then there’s EFCA. A year of dodging and weaving when he knew giving a straight answer would sink him in a primary. You’re against EFCA? Maybe you should have had the spine to say that all along.
How about his latest ad? “Big oil, the insurance companies and nearly every special interest think Colorado is for sale.” I do at least agree when he says “The special interests think they can get their way.” On the next line “But Colorado’s not for sale” well that remains to be seen. And “I’m nobody’s senator but yours” sure sounds like “a Senator for the rest of us” but his votes have told me what I need to know about whose senator he is. And who is it that these special interests are dumping money into? Isn’t Bennet one of the top takers of money from oil, insurance, banks and “nearly every special interest” who thinks Colorado is for sale?
I know Romanoff said after the primary he was supporting Bennet and asked his people to support Bennet but why have I not heard of a single event where Romanoff was with Bennet campaigning? He’s all over the state campaigning for other Dems but nothing with Bennet. Is that too much for even him to do or is it the Bennet campaign that doesn’t want Romanoff out there with Bennet?
On the topic of former Romanoff supporters, the Bennet team’s handling of tonight’s rally is another thing that has me irritated. A couple weeks ago I got two different emails forwarded to me that were sent out from Bennet field staffers saying that the Clinton rally was a good chance to reach out to the people that had been ignored, slighted or marginalized especially Romanoff supporters since Romanoff would be at the rally so tickets should be offered to known Romanoff supporters. Nice gesture but a couple problems here. First, giving me a free ticket to see the former President that said Romanoff was better is not going to sway me. I need to see something out of Bennet that makes me think he’ll grow a spine and stand up for progressive values. Second and more problematic with this is that Romanoff is not going to be at the rally. I was kind of surprised to see the emails and blasts all over Facebook touting Romanoff being there so I reached out to some of Romanoff’s former staff last week. They said that Bennet’s people had offered free tickets to anybody who attended a house-party for Romanoff Friday night (they’re still trying to pay off the campaign debt) but when they checked about the rally as of Friday Romanoff had not even been contacted by Bennet much less invited to be at the rally. So you have Bennet people telling everybody Romanoff would be at the rally but they hadn’t even invited him. Then I heard that Bennet staffers showed up at Romanoff’s event and wouldn’t leave and at the end some Bennet supporter stood up to lecture the group about how she was with Bennet all along and they all need to get behind Bennet. This was a Romanoff event for his hardcore supporters. Way to stay classy Bennet staff & supporters.
Maybe Bennet thinks all of the Romanoff people will just fall in line because Romanoff said he supports Bennet and after-all Buck is scary so Bennet is the only sane option. Or maybe they figure they don’t need the Romanoff supporters. The DNC and OFA were able to win the primary for Bennet by getting all those infrequent voters and new voters from ’08 to vote so maybe that’s their thinking.
Or maybe the DNC & OFA just figure they went so far out on the line for Bennet that they’ll spend whatever it takes to buy the election and prove they’ve got the juice to pick our Senator. They’ve got the wife of a Bennet staffer as Executive Director of the CDP, the fiancé of Bennet’s #2 (fresh in from Washington this spring) running the coordinated campaign (don’t even try to tell me that wasn’t a rigged hire – I can guess who they were “coordinating” with all spring and summer). Now they’ve sent in some out of state firm to run a shadow field coordinated campaign since the official one wasn’t getting the job done. Check out DemGain. Terra Strategies has been trying to recruit regional organizers and paid canvassers to try to save Bennet. I was told by the coordinated last month that they did not have any paid positions but now I hear this out of state company is paying $1k/week for regionals and $100/day for paid canvassers and are running it totally outside of the BennetCDPCoordinated campaign. The couple Romanoff people I know who they tried to recruit just couldn’t go that far and campaign for Bennet but I have heard that after the DNC sent in a bunch of Terra people from out of state they ended up hiring mostly Romanoff people to run the whole thing. Guess that’s good news for some of them that needed jobs. I tried to find out what they’re doing since there already is a coordinated campaign but the people I know who talked to them said they’ve all been told to keep what they’re doing quiet and are at totally separate offices from the CDP, Bennet campaign and coordinated campaign. Sucks to be a low-paid organizer or volunteer for Bennet when the money is being thrown around to an out of state firm and the old Romanoff field team. At least the Romanoff people are getting some of the cash flying around.
So at the end of it all, I have an appointed Senator who:
1) The people who know him best say he’s nothing like what he campaigned saying he is in the primary
2) Calls himself an education reformer while screwing DPS teachers and selling out to the reform ideas of the billionaires from DFER
3) Sits on the banking committee while protecting the banks.
4) Never introduced the public option he promised he’d reintroduce later
5) Sold out labor on EFCA
6) Rails against special interests but is the biggest depositor of their checks
7) Tells me he’ll be a Senator for the Rest of Us…. I mean rest of Colorado
8) Has a staff and supporters that continue to insult Romanoff
9) Hijacked the CDP, the coordinated and used the county party offices for his & OFA’s activities during a primary
10) Needs the DNC/OFA to come try to save him in the final weeks by trying to buy Romanoff’s supporters and field people
OR I’ve got Ken Buck who is as wrong as you can be on nearly every issue.
I’ve been a Bennet supporter from the outset. I get lots of emails from them. I have never seen even one email that attacked, slighted or insulted either AR or his supporters.
I have been behind many candidates who have lost over the years. I know that having been in that positions things can be perceived in a manner in which they are not intended.
The differences between Bennet and Buck are so striking that I hope you’ll stop considering leaving that part of your ballot blank.
As an open gay man, wounded vet, and brother to 2 sister; I can’t comprehend how any progressive, liberal, or Democrat of any stripe could put Buck in the Senate.
I know Michael Bennet has frustrated you, I can even understand why (from your point of view).
I just hope you’ll think about the glbt community, the veterans, and women who need support from their Senator not attacks.
First thank you for your service. What you bring up are some of the things that are my dilemma and struggle here. You’re absolutely right that when it comes to GLBT or women’s issues I know Buck is as far from my beliefs as you could be. I honestly don’t know where he is on veterans issues. My struggle is I don’t know where Michael Bennet really is on anything. He wore the hat of a progressive during the primary but I am concerned of who he really is. I wanted to count on him to introduce the public option, he did not. I wanted to count on him to demand real banking reform, he supported watering it down. I wanted to count on him to stand with labor, he waited months to tell me he would not. I wanted to believe his view of education reform was more than charters and TFA but I am still waiting to see the legislation he’s waiting until after the election to introduce. I wanted to believe he really supported the Fair Elections Now Act but he continues to wait for somebody else to lead on campaign finance reform.
I know Buck is horrible but I have no idea who Michael Bennet really is. So do I vote for somebody just because the other guy is worse? I know the argument that not voting is the same as voting for Buck but voting for Bennet is voting for somebody who hasn’t shown me he’ll fight for much of anything I believe in and the daily paper says should be elected because they count on him to be who he was before he was appointed and not who he’s campaigned as being.
Yes. That’s more often than not the choice, isn’t it?
And Buck is soooo much worse. It’s really not even close.
but as a junior senator he doesn’t get to set the Senate’s agenda.
There are progressive arguments to make against Bennet, but health care ain’t one. He did as much as any Senator did (including Franken and Sanders) to get a public option.
… much less the 60 necessary to enact it, given that reconciliation couldn’t really enact a public option (because it would’ve required so many non-budgetary provisions).
Look, Bennet isn’t close to as 100% progressive as we’d like. Neither is Udall. Neither is Hick. Neither was Salazar. Neither was Romanoff, given his very centrist history until the primary. Voting against all Dems who aren’t Tom Harkin is a strategy for failure in CO.
You’ve already made up your mind about who he is. You’ve already decided who he isn’t. Bennet has never claimed to be, never voted as, and never will be a true progressive. He is a Colorado moderate much like the majority of Democrats in Colorado.
As a Dem I’m sorry you’ve chosen to support the Republicans. We need every single vote to ensure Buck stays in Weld County.
See if you run as a well funded moderate and lose, it proves that a D has to be a poorly funded far left D.
Or something.
“On Dec. 21, 2009, for example, he made an impassioned speech on the Senate floor, blasting Washington lawmakers for their dirty dealing as they patched together a health care bill larded with special deals. It was an eloquent speech and a devastating indictment on all that’s wrong with Washington. Then, three days later, he voted for the bill.”
http://www.denverpost.com/opin…
may or may not be in the minority, and it may not be for just six years. What if he’s re-elected for the next 18 years or so, and helps stack up that Republican majority?
Like Gray, I haven’t see the slights or insults either. Actually, your assertions regarding “hijacking” and “buying supporters” are pushing the bounds of insulting.
I appreciate the time you put into this post. But, frankly, it sounds like you’ve already made up your mind and I doubt anything any of us says will make you like Bennet. You’ve listed a billion reasons not to vote for him, and not one question about why you might. For those willing to do the research, there’s much to like about Bennet and we could probably argue any point on your 10-point anti-Bennet list. Unfortunately, from the title of the post to the list, I think your language betrays much real interest in liking Bennet. I personally think he’s a pragmatist learning politics on the job in a state where your type of progressive can’t ever really win. I’d hate for you to vote for Buck out of spite – because you can see how progressive that’d be – but do what you have to do.
Maybe by the end of the election you can find a way to move past it.
Frustrated by the primary but more frustrated by the choice I have to make of Michael Nighthorse Bennet or Ken Crazy Buck. But thanks for making sure that at least one person from Team Bennet got a snide remark in. Maybe by the end of the election you’ll decide not to send out snarky emails about getting Romanoff supporters to support Bennet and saying Romanoff will be at an event that he won’t and wasn’t invited to. Maybe by the end of the election you’ll gain some class and not be an unwanted and classless presence at a gathering for somebody else. Maybe, but probably not. My guess is the arrogance and classlessness is encouraged and ingrained by now. Will you move past the primary if Bennet loses the general or will you be one who immediately jumps to blame Romanoff?
Angry, too. Look, I know electing Romanoff was something you were personally invested in. But if you take everything so personally in politics, you’re bound to be butthurt most of the time.
There will be more elections.
I’ve been canvassing and phone banking and basically losing sleep and working hard just to get the D base back in the boat. That didn’t have to happen. But so what? That’s how it works.
So- assume I knocked on your door.
Is there anything I could say, as a canvasser, in 1-2 minutes that would matter to you at all?
Assume there is- and assume I said it tomorrow morning. Can we get on with it now?
And yes – I could say what needs saying, sincerely and honestly. But I don’t know you well enough to know what you need to hear. You could tell me – but we end up in the same place.
Vote, please and thank you.
Feel better now? It’s all about you, after all. Couldn’t be about the 800,000 Coloradans who will lose health care if Buck has his way.
Naw, it’s all about you.
Only you.
Have a nice pout.
You’re in fine company with Libertad who also refers to Bennet as the “appointed Senator”. How does that make you feel?
Of course, in your ideal world Andrew Romanoff would have also been known as the “appointed Senator”. How does that grab you?
Finally, how do you feel about the Florida voters who voted for Nader in 2000? If you think they were noble, then don’t vote for Bennet. If you think, like most Dems do, that they enabled the Bush administration, then you’re going to vote for Bennet.
is correct. It is only a slur if you interpret it that way.
the last poll showing a breakdown like this (PPP 10/5/10) showed Bennet is winning 90% of liberals while Buck is winning just 84% of conservatives. Similarly, Bennet is winning 87% of those who voted for Obama in 2008, but Buck is winning only 82% of McCain ’08 voters.
Despite the high volume of dead-enders like JeffcoTrueBlue and JO, there are mercifully few of them. They’re not a problem; they can be ignored as the self-indulgent whiners they are.
you know the only true progressive in Colorado – at least that’s what he tells everyone.
… that Sirota moved to CO like 7 weeks ago to Show Us The Way. God, I hate that guy.
If you say mean things about Sirota, he’ll threaten to sue you.
Uh-oh, now I said something mean about Sirota. I guess I should call my lawyer.
wow.
http://www.coloradopols.com/di…
We’ve all known it for years. Now if we could just get Pols to stop front-paging his crap…
One the issue that Bennet isn’t as progressive as you would like – Colorado is a purple state and you’re not going to get a progressive Senator. We can run one, but he won’t win.
On the issue that Bennet has sold out to the banks and large companies – that’s what it takes to get the money to win a Senate election in this state. We do have a problem that the Democratic party has prostituted itself to Wall St for the bucks needed to get elected. So again, this is what you get in a candidate who has a chance to win.
A lot of politics is the least bad choice. But that’s life, and so we vote for the candidate who sucks least, and then after the election we look at how we can improve the process. We’ll still have to vote for moderates because this state is purple. But maybe we can at least elect people who aren’t owned by Wall St.
But that’s for after the election.
has sold out to the insurance companies in a big way. Go look at the FEC website.
You’ll do a thousand times more to bring JeffcoTrueBlue into the Bennet camp than we Democrats ever could. You go, shill girl!
or have any gay friends that live in CO? Could you in good conscious do something to allow or help Ken Buck into the Senate. If you are a true Dem you look out for the common good. Is helping Buck by not voting for Bennet in the common good?
We know, courtesy of senator wannabe buck, that being gay is a choice, like, uhh, alcoholism. No word yet as to whether Buck thinks being a woman is a choice…
I thought you were a woman for whatever reason. If that’s right, you’ll totally know what I mean.
Bennet reminds me of that guy at the bar who finally gathers the courage to hit on you, does something a tad offensive, and sits in an uncomfortable lump instead of going away. This guy at the bar isn’t good looking, maybe he has an odd odor that somehow reminds you of something not entirely unlike canned fish. So you ignore him and ask to close your tab.
There’s a guy on the other side of you. At the beginning he may seem OK, but no one you’re going to make an effort to talk to. All he has to do is keep his mouth shut. But he doesn’t. He opens it, opens it again, and, dammit, it’s still open! Turns out he’s actually the epitome of a creepy uncle, only YOUR creepy uncle now. He’s sitting over there trying to slip a date rape drug into your drink, holding an AIDS flag and a tube of KY Jelly while muttering, “queers fake queer, queers fake queer” and naming your yet-to-be-conceived child “Buyer’s Remorse.” Scariest part? This is Uncle Ken all dressed up for his big night out. Moderate Uncle Ken. Rapist loving, gay hating, moderate Uncle Ken.
The bartender has your credit card, so you can’t leave. You’re stuck here, all alone, with a mildly offensive guy and the scariest guy of all time. What do you do?
You talk to the mildly offensive, slightly stinky guy. His damage? Minimal. The damage his very presence keeps Uncle Ken from doing? Infinite. He sees the creepy guy and will make sure you get to your car safely. Without him you’ll be driving home and suddenly hear “queers fake queer” from the back seat.
That’s where this election has gone. In many offices. So you may certainly abstain from filling in that line or bubble, you don’t even need my permission. You may say “no” to both of these men. OR you can say “FUCK no” to one. So don’t think of it as voting for Bennet, it’s a fuck no vote against Buck. You’ll have the ballot and a pen anyway…
Full disclaimer: I don’t like Bennet either. Not as a politician, not while he was at DPS, not as a business man, not even as a person. It’s not that I was such a huge Romanoff fan, I think he’s fine, just a genuine dislike of Bennet. Sorry if that’s too negative.