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April 10, 2011 05:45 AM UTC

In Which Ryan Call Displays Wadhams-Grade Mendacity

  • 22 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Check out this video clip from 9NEWS’ Your Show interview with new Colorado GOP chairman Ryan Call this week–who was it trying to make those cuts to education smaller again? Really?

Host: Can you provide some more instances where Republicans have reached across party lines at the state level?

Call: Well even most recently–and the budget bills, I think, give a great example of that level of cooperation in terms of trying to find some common ground and compromise. Not everybody is always happy with the outcome, and that’s often, maybe, a good measure that not everybody got what everybody wanted. And for example, here in Colorado, originally the Democrat governor, Gov. Hickenlooper, had proposed about $335 million in cuts to K-12 education. Republicans came back and said, ‘that’s not how we want to prioritize our spending in this state.’ [Pols emphasis] And so they countered, and we ended up compromising with limits of cutting only $250 million.

So, uh, that’s a pretty imaginative rewriting of history to say the least–after Republicans uniformly praised Hickenlooper’s proposed budget cuts to education, after Don Beezley’s charter/squatter bill, or Republicans on the Joint Budget Committee voting against school breakfast funds…every Republican education-related talking point for the last fifty years…

Here’s just one of dozens of news reports that make a liar out of Call–Durango Herald:

“Republicans are introducing bills that would cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars, money we don’t even have,” Pace said.

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans – who are still in the minority – blame Democrats for the fiscal crisis because of their insistence on minimizing cuts to schools… [Pols emphasis]

The highest praise for Hickenlooper, a Democrat, comes from Republicans. Both McNulty and Kopp say they will try to defend the governor’s budget plan that deals a large, permanent cut to public schools. [Pols emphasis]

Really, folks. This is industrial-strength, lucid and audacious prevarication. It’s so far over the top and out of character, yet delivered with such a sincere deadpan, that you almost have to admire Call’s chutzpah. We understand why Republicans would use Hickenlooper’s budget proposal as cover for these unpopular cuts–but to claim credit for protecting public education?

That’s just too much. The “Tea Party” is going to freak, and nobody else is going to buy it.

Comments

22 thoughts on “In Which Ryan Call Displays Wadhams-Grade Mendacity

        1. I said that Republicans were defending education, because they wanted $250 million in cuts rather than $350 million that our Democrat governor proposed. Something wrong with that?

          1. You’re so right, beej. And the Republicans are defending abortion providers because they wanted a budget that leaves Planned Parenthood’s funding alone rather than cut it entirely the way Democratic negotiators were discussing.

            It’s so easy to come to radically wrong conclusions if you ignore what actually happened! It’s fun!

            1. The difference is that a Democrat proposed the $350 million in cuts. Democrats did not propose cutting funding for Planned Parenthood. (Although, since it is a corporate subsidy, it is a bit of hypocritical thing for leftists to support.)

              1. The fact that revenue estimates changed dramatically between Hickenlooper’s initial budget proposal and the deal cut by the legislature — immaterial!  

  1. As for the Tea Party freaking out over education – it’s not a deal breaker.  He didn’t advocate a woman’s right to choose, civil unions or protecting public employees.  Now those are downright sinful and he’d be excommunicated or whatever they do to banish the unforgivable.

      1. He said it would happen in some form and was already happening to some degree (contracts) but he didn’t acknowledge Ellen Roberts and other R-Senators that voted for the bill in the Senate and justified the house votes as a bill that went too far.

        Fine line – yep!    

        1. Republican leader walking that tightrope, Ellie? The Republican party seems to be dominated by its’ extremes at the moment. Between the Corporatists screaming for more goodies and Tea Partiers screaming for less government, a vision of a rock, sitting on a hard place, with a Republican leader in between comes to mind…in fact, there is a guy in a three-cornered hat jumping up and down on the rock…so to speak.  

          1. Several former leaders have told me they would never be elected today.  Sad but true.  What I fear is the extremes on both sides of the aisle dominating the conversation followed by a paralysis that leaves the country on life support.  

            If I sound like doom and gloom that’s because I made the mistake of watching a couple of Sunday news shows this morning. The political talking heads are already starting to debate the debt ceiling and officially we haven’t put the most recent compromise on the President’s desk.  

            1. to the number of extreme righties because the GOP message machine has managed to move the center so far right. Except for a few very safe liberal districts, Ds have to be  center or at least no more than very slightly center left to win elections.  What used to be considered center right is now deep in RINO territory according to the R base.

              Those Rs are correct.  They couldn’t get elected now that rock ribbed conservative without being a complete wack job is just not right enough for the GOP anymore. But it really isn’t an even steven, far righties vs far lefties equation at all anymore.  Hasn’t been for a very long time.

            2. It’s either swords or sharks — and either way the end won’t be pretty, but it will be pretty much the same.

              Those that think they can manage to dance these threads through the needle’s eyes are playing a game of self-deception.

  2. I think they’ve started realizing that most people don’t actually follow politics all that closely, so they’re pretty comfortable saying one thing on the national talk shows (let’s abolish all spending) and another in local news and advertisements (we saved spending on that thing you like).

    They did the same with Medicare in 2010.

    Although with leaders like Obama and Hickenlooper, who can’t make a case for anything they claim to believe in, it’s easy and tempting to run circles around them.

  3. Surrender the question-asking to random members of the public communicating through non-interactive email or text or whatever and then never ask a follow up question when the talking points come spilling out in response. Why do we need airhead Matt Flener there at all? There should just be the politician and a chair with a screen on it where the questions roll.

    Call: “You see, Matt, we Republicans pressured the Democrats to put aside more tax money for public schools and then we made them bolster green energy development to save your beautiful Colorado environment and then, despite Democrat intractability, we raised unicorns for your children to ride.”

    Flener: “Great. Our next viewer wants to know what your favorite color is.”

     

    1. Adam Schrager would have asked the goddamn follow-up. It’s just ridiculous that Call was allowed to say something so utterly absurd without getting the boom lowered on him.

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