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October 27, 2010 03:54 PM UTC

Wednesday Open Thread

  • 153 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“But who shall guard the guardians?”

–Juvenal

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153 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

      1. I was over at HQ yesterday, went in to make up a couple of new Tank signs for the yard.

        Someone keeps knocking down only the Tank sign, so I made 2 new ones.

        2. trash both my hickenlooper and Bennet signs, libby.  But originally I had only

          bennet signs and they trashed them, so I assume they are buck thugs and only extending professional courtesy to their fellow thug Tancredo.

              1. A) The guy was wrong. But I’ve seen plenty of kids on playgrounds do worse.

                B) The woman wasn’t an innocent bystander. She ran up to the car as it was arriving and shoved a sign inside. (Video on redstate, go find it yourself. http://www.redstate.com)

                C) She was in disguise, and definitely a security threat. Also, she was making libelous inferences about Paul.

                D) The person next to him immediately says “no, no, no” and waves him off. There were no “thugs”; it was one guy who got caught up in the heat of the moment and did something he shouldn’t. Contrast that to the deliberate violence of the SEIU goons.

                1. is a good thing, if it’s a right-wing thug doing the stomping.  What a guy, beej.

                  fortunately, police disagree and your hero is charged with assault.

                  1. “She wasn’t an innocent bystander” tells you that there’s no reasoning with beej. He has no ethics.

                    Let me invite you to the beej boycott. As I told droll elsewhere, we can occasionally set him straight but all he really wants is to throw sand in your face. No need to join him in the sandbox.

                    1. His logic is probably that the victim had an abortion years ago and so deserves the assault.

                      But I agree with you.  Beej is a narcissist with absolutely no sense of personal honor.  In John Henry Faulk’s lovely phrase, he is the kind of a man who will lie on credit when he could tell the truth for cash.

            2. 1) It’s a hoax

              2) It was inspired by bad D behavior (his answer about the assault at the Paul/Conway debate, and now his answer to Voy)

              Either way, Rs never really bear the blame!

              Unless, of course, BJ is lying about what he believes, as he was in his “David Chestnut” persona. Impossible to know if Chestnut was the double-agent for BJ, or whether BJ is the double-agent for a liberal, etc.

              1. Once upon a time, Chuang Tzu dreamed that he was a butterfly, flying about enjoying itself. It did not know that it was Chuang Chou. Suddenly he awoke, and veritably was Chuang Chou again. He did not know whether it was Chuang Chou dreaming that he was a butterfly, or whether it was the butterfly dreaming that it was Chuang Chou. Between Chuang Chou and the butterfly there must be some distinction. This is a case of what is called the transformation of things.

                http://www.the-philosopher.co….

                1. Is Beej absolutely an idiot or can he transform into a critical thinking human being? Is David Chestnut who he wishes he could be or can he transform into that person in more than just dreams?

                  Hmmm…Perhaps Chuang Tzu could have told us. I’m no philosopher.  

                3. but I can state unequivocally that when I dream it’s not about BJWilson . . . and more often than not involves Nicole Kidman.

                  (BJWilson on the other hand, does dream about others dreaming about him.)

    2. I can’t decide which one is scarier.  At least Tancredo isn’t granted the public forum and publicity that Palin is.  Of course that might change when he tries to pass Arizona’s anti-immigration law here in Colorado.

      Ugh.  

    3. Congratulations.  The major party isn’t one of the main contenders.

      I agree, it’s funny.

      “He’s won most of the support away from Dan Maes.”

      Good video!

  3. They want to purge the Democratic Party of anyone who looks mainstream, and it looks like they have their first “victory”.

    Normally you get the weak sisters who don’t feel comfortable in their party anymore jumping ship after an election.  I wonder if there is anyone on the Dem side here in Colorado that will jump to get an “R” after their name this time.

        1. federal dollar handouts to special interest programs controlled by the favored few.

          The problem here is that Obama still runs the administration and there ain’t much direction a GOP congress can give him for money already committed. Well except recall that money like repealing Obamacare piece by piece. Enacting effective healthcare reform as laid out by Leader Boehner will begin to heal some of the wounds to our national economy.

            1. 18% functional unemployment

              Many of us had hope for Obama after the fall 08 election – yes I voted for McCain – but Gov Christie says it best here. You should take a listen.

              Obama is our President too, yet he’s angry and bitter after he passed his agenda … why?

          2. is that you — yes, YOU — and your colleagues deal exclusively in simple-minded rhetoric that you imagine will do your chosen party some good among some voters.

            “The problem here” is that time and time again,you and your colleagues demonstrate utter contempt for the intelligence level of voters whom you hope will vote for “Separation of Church and State–Not” Buck.

            “The problem here” is that you, your colleagues, and the candidates you support mouth slogan after slogan–and then stop thinking about any given subject. If it requires more than 140 characters to examine the subject, the Internal Twit Control turns your brain to “hibernate” mode.

            “The problem here” is the realms of Facts, History, and Numbers are entirely foreign to you and your colleagues. Good thing Denver is voting on an Extraterrestrials Welcoming Committee, ’cause brother, you’re already here in large numbers, and yes, they all have documentation.

            Barack Obama and Democrats are not “the problem here.” They are the solution.

  4. “Here is a little dose of reality about where we actually rank today,” says Vest: sixth in global innovation-based competitiveness, but 40th in rate of change over the last decade; 11th among industrialized nations in the fraction of 25- to 34-year-olds who have graduated from high school; 16th in college completion rate; 22nd in broadband Internet access; 24th in life expectancy at birth; 27th among developed nations in the proportion of college students receiving degrees in science or engineering; 48th in quality of K-12 math and science education; and 29th in the number of mobile phones per 100 people.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10…

    1. This year’s election is a clear celebration of mediocrity – intellect and knowledge are being dissed.  We don’t want smart, experienced people running government – we don’t trust the educated.  We’re dumbing down as a nation, and many of the “I’m you” candidates have a good chance of winning positions of power.

      I need another cup of coffee.

      1. There are a lot of people who are very scared of how fast our society and culture is changing. Add in the great recession and that double whammy has a lot of people desperately wanting to go back to “the good old days” – and that requires a complete suspension of logic.

        But I think those candidates also get all the voters who have lost faith in the ability of us Democrats to fix the mess we are in. And Republican candidates who run on a platform of I’m a different (ie dumber) Republican can appeal to that group.

        And you’ve got true believer Republicans who may not like the wingnut idiots they have as candidates, but they’ll take them over a “socialist” Democrat.

        So yes, lots of non-thinking voters. But they have a ton of fellow travellers who are there for different reasons.

    2. The relative decline didn’t start with Obama, or Bush 2, or Clinton. My sense is that it started around the time of “government isn’t the solution, it’s the problem” Reagan. Long time comin’.

      And since most people have little or no exposure to foreign lands, the decline isn’t obvious, certainly not the stunning figures on education. Finally, most folks, including the proprietors of this blog, want to discuss “politics” instead of  “policy” (as if there were a distinction), leaving abstract topics..what, unrecognized?

      The decline of America is on everyone’s mind, just not on their lips. Maybe God will save us.

  5. These are the visitor stats for my http://www.ColoradoBallot.net website. I think this provides a good reflection of voting patterns because this site is almost entirely one-time visitors who read most of the site and spend over 6 minutes – so clearly people who have the ballot out and are voting. My guess is we’ll see it climb the rest of this week and then really shoot up Monday/Tuesday (and then drop to 0 on Wednesday).

      1. …to disclose that Libertad2.0 is a senile, elderly white man of limited education and virtually no exposure to outside sources of information. Do we have a means of calling for an ambulance should he slump in his chair and begin drooling over the keyboard?

        4. All three right on all three counts.

          Which means Viagara won’t be distributed until 9 o’clock this evening. Sorry (about the medication, I mean; try to get by in the meantime).

  7. from National Journal

    The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is making a last ditch effort to survive a GOP wave by blanketing the airwaves in more than 60 districts in the final week of the campaign.

    According to FEC filings late Tuesday, the DCCC purchased $21.6 million worth of air time in 66 districts.

    They’re having to spend another 126K to take on Charles Djou in Hawaii. In Hawaii!!! We are in deep deep weeds all.

    1. Maybe we wish elections were free, but I don’t see what’s wrong with spending a big chunk of money to try to win elections under the current system. I’m glad they have the resources to compete.  

    2. …Dems are in for a royal ass-whuppin’ next Tuesday, as has been widely known for months. Get over it and look ahead.

      The American people prefer divided government. Next week’s election results will merely herald a return to the historical norm.

      The last time a Dem loss on this scale happened (1994), the incumbent Dem President was reelected two years later….

      The worse Dem House loss in history (1938) was followed by the Dem incumbent President’s reelection in 1940 – and 1944….

      Take the long view, oh Dems: pas de panic! 🙂

    3. Where are the Repub numbers?

      Only giving the spending for Dems is less than half the story.  Rove’s groups are probably spending at least twice that!  Then there are another dozen or more outside groups throwing money around.

      Half a story is not enough.  And no I didn’t take the time to read the full article.

    4. I will admit that I am no expert in all things politic, but I’m pretty sure I remember this happening in ’08 and ’06. Both parties do a final big push in the week leading up to the election.

      Pat Buchanan on MSNBC this morning said he believes this push could allow the Dems to keep the House. Check out Andrea Mitchell Reports, about 15mins in.

    1. Profitt was fired by the Paul campaign and later apologized for the incident – but not for his behavior and not to Valle – saying, “I’m sorry it came to that and I apologize if it appeared overly forceful, but I was concerned about Rand’s safety.”

      Hope you like jail.

        1. TPM, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, Ed Schulz and the bunch aren’t going to cover it in the same fashion.

          I’m not defending what happened or criticizing the pundits who’ll talk at lengths about this. I am saying that such bias in media goes both ways.  

        2. And these are real attacks requiring hospitalizations. Of course, the left secretly cheers this and could care less about the people who have been seriously injured.

      3. As my Dad would say.  

        All the people who this guy bullied in middle school and high school should start coming out of the woodwork!

        What would make someone think that they could get away with stomping on someone’s head?  Only getting away with similar dastardly acts in the past, I suspect!

        There were plenty of witnesses.  Does he have all of them intimidated?  I guess we will see.

  9. Tea party pols get ‘F’ in Con Law

    “How can the Constitution be your litmus test when you don’t know what this says – much less what it means?”

    “It’s not just O’Donnell. This outlook seems to be shared by many high-profile tea party candidates. From Alaska’s Joe Miller on Social Security, to Kentucky’s Rand Paul and West Virginia’s Republican John Raese and Democrat Joe Manchin (who has vowed to repeal “the bad parts of Obamacare”) on health care reform, to Nevada’s Sharron Angle on the Environmental Protection Agency, tea partiers are now arguing that unless a particular program or agency is specifically listed in the Constitution, it is unconstitutional.”

    This is flat wrong.

    http://www.politico.com/news/s…

    2. It is really sad when people don’t realize how ‘un-smart’ they are, or in some cases don’t care.  Facts mean nothing!

      This is really dangerous for our democracy.  It is difficult to have a democracy when so many people don’t care about learning or facts and, in addition, are fed propaganda that anyone who disagrees with them is vile and deserves to be ridiculed and assaulted, verbally and physically.  Beck and Limbaugh and others are masters of this propaganda.  This ‘2nd amendment remedy’ talk will not end well.

      Every Dem who holds their seat on Nov. 2nd would be wise to arrange for security protection for themselves and their families because people like the Kentucky stomper think that they are entitled to fight the results at the polls.

      1. That is why our failing Democrat Teachers’ Union run schools are so bad. They’re nothing but propaganda mills that produce bearded Marxists with no real intelligence.

      2. You mention the idea of being assaulted verbally. Rightly so; the public discourse of Limbaugh, O’Reilly, et al. does indeed constitute “verbal assault” and in no way could be considered “discussion.”

        This sort of tone, increasingly common it seems to me, absolutely invites its brother Physical to the table. There are huge numbers of people who are essentially inarticulate and whose only outlet for the emotions evoked by Beck, Palin, and the like is physical.

        It’s absolutely no coincidence that Palin uses terms like “reload” and that the Second Amendment is emphasized over and over (even though “it’s not part of the Constitution; it’s an amendment,” as dimwits would have it).

        What is the magnitude of the crisis? Do we really know? Is unemployment really 9.x%? That does not include, for example, the 99ers, or the discouraged, the underemployed. I’ve seen speculation that this figures in the low 20% range–to say nothing of the foreclosed, or soon-to-be-foreclosed, choosing between paying the Banker or paying the Grocer, and those who worry about being next.

        When fear grips the land, fed by inflammatory rhetoric devoid of fact–even contrary to fact–it’s no wonder that the argument turns physical. Watch for more, coming to a street near you.

    3. either intentional or accidental of what “elite” means. I can understand the true grass-roots tea party (not the Koch Bros’ and Fox News’) people’s anger towards both sides’ elites. They understood that “elite” meant people in power who used that power in ways that did not benefit “the masses” but only for themselves. Elite meant those in power who misused that power for their own gain.

      Now the word elite has been warped to mean educated. This seems very dangerous to me. We are vilifying people depending on what school they went to?!? I would much rather elect a nice guy from Harvard than a racist from Beck U. I hope that doesn’t make me an elitist.

      Footnote: Elitism can be found in the Book of Acts where it is written that the Apostles founded theocratic communes with themselves as leaders. Commoners were expected to legally hand over their possessions to the theocrats, or even to sell their belongings to a third party and give the monetary value to the leaders.

      1. The elites are those who show off their educations. They may make a big deal about those effete Harvard and Yale elites, but then vote for the guy who acts dumb but is a product of both institutions.

        Anti-intellectualism is nothing new. The social cons have long used it regardless of their party affiliation.

      1. David type?

        I’ll wager that bj will remove his chestnuts from the gene pool before he’s 40.  Either he’ll do something like this or there will be no DNA transmission because he couldn’t find a woman to do it with.  

        Anyone that says “Women” is their favorite quest has all the class of those guys with the chrome reclining women on the mud flaps.  

  11. We all know Davey Chestnut for the bile that he is capable of spewing. He must be attempting to compensate for the consumption capabilities of this other Chestnut.



    Colorado Politics Colorado Politics Colorado Politics

    Sorry that the video doesn’t capture the entire event, but I thought the announcer’s comparison of this other Chestnut (albeit, equally accomplished defender of America) to a Ford assembly line most insightful. In a very similar fashion, Davey Chestnut is a Ford assembly line of bilious narcissistic stupidity.

    Legal notice: This post is topic appropriate for ColoradoPols because it includes three mentions each of the words ‘Colorado’ and ‘Politics.’

      1. They opened the door for this asshole, the very least he could do is endorse their candidates. I know that Tom “The Racist” Tancredo likes to go all mavericky on people, but does he not feel he owes the ACP any loyalty at all?

        It was a pretty shitty move. Not that anyone should be too surprised.

          2. If Tanc wins, he’ll throw the ACP under the bus on that as well. He will INSTANTLY sign any bill that hits his desk trying to undo that damage and restore the GOP to its “second major party” status.

  13. Glenn Beck may move here if Tancredo wins.  Listen to the rest of the clip; I don’t want this idiot here.

    “You couldn’t throw a rock without hitting an Organizing for Obama storefront.”

    Stay classy, Beck.

  14. OURAY, Colo. (AP) – Democratic Rep. John Salazar was blocked on the campaign trail Monday when a flatbed truck ran into a snowy ditch during a mountain snowstorm.

    Instead of missing the next stop, Salazar hitched the truck to his Buick SUV, towed the truck to safety and continued to the next stop.

    http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-…  

    3. No way that SUV pulled that tractor-trailer out of the snow.  It may have been working to “guide” the trailer from going into the other side.  Otherwise I would have to say that this is staged.

        1. any dry pavement there, that’s hard packed snow/ice.  Like I said, he may have been assisting by trying to keep the trailer out of the snow, but no way under those conditions does that SUV pull that combo out of the snow.  If Salazar is claiming he pulled that rig out, he is lying.

          I also find this interesting, from the article linked above:

          During campaign speeches, Salazar often blames Republicans for what he calls putting the economy in a ditch and then complaining when Democrats called for a large tow truck (the stimulus) to pull it out.

          A bit of coincidence there if you ask me.

            3. They laughed their butts off.  Especially the heavy recovery drivers.  If you look at the end of the video, the trailer is at a clear angle from the tractor.  If Salazar was actually pulling the rig out, the end of the tractor would have been pulled around to be straighter in relation to the trailer.

              This is what I’ve done for a living for almost 10 years, I’ve pulled more vehicles out from snow banks and icy ditches than I can easily remember.  If you want to believe in your own reality, go ahead.  But it would have been difficult, at best, for his SUV to have pulled out that rig under ideal conditions.  And his transmission would be letting him know about it before too long.

              1. just because it looked like he wasn’t doing that much work. (I also trust geek’s professional judgment.) That’s not to say that he’s not being a help or not being a good neighbor, but whoever posted it shouldn’t have said Salazar was towing it out of the ditch.

  15. Tyler:

    “The United States have adventured upon a great and noble experiment, which is believed to have been hazarded in the absence of all previous precedent – that of total separation of Church and State. No religious establishment by law exists among us. The conscience is left free from all restraint and each is permitted to worship his Maker after his own judgement. The offices of the Government are open alike to all. No tithes are levied to support an established Hierarchy, nor is the fallible judgement of man set up as the sure and infallible creed of faith. The Mahommedan, if he will to come among us would have the privilege guaranteed to him by the constitution to worship according to the Koran; and the East Indian might erect a shrine to Brahma if it so pleased him. Such is the spirit of toleration inculcated by our political Institutions … The Hebrew persecuted and down trodden in other regions takes up his abode among us with none to make him afraid … and the Aegis of the Government is over him to defend and protect him. Such is the great experiment which we have tried, and such are the happy fruits which have resulted from it; our system of free government would be imperfect without it.”

  16. And my apologies if it’s been posted…

    The Colorado Democratic Party filed an official complaint alleging that DeMint’s PAC has been coordinating with Buck.

    I find that marginally interesting, but am more curious about when the line is crossed.  Would that mean that any race Senate Conservatives Fund funds would be unable to pimp DeMint as an elected official?  Because obviously when the two people show up to events together they’re communicating.  Or would it only be if the official is active in the PAC?

    http://www.denverpost.com/elec…

        1. The GOP candidate for CD-7 in 2006 did something like this, didn’t he? Falsely claimed that someone trashed his office or something. Damn, if One Queer Dude were still around he’d remember all the details.

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