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September 22, 2006 06:26 PM UTC

Friday Open Thread

  • 78 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Remember when it was warm outside?

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78 thoughts on “Friday Open Thread”

  1. Gallagher continues to question the reliability of Denver’s election hardware.

    http://www.denvergov…

    Problems during the Primary in Denver with people being given the wrong ballot style were rampant.  One person was only offered to opportunity to vote for Diana DeGette, while many other candidates should have been on the persons ballots.  I think even Andrew Romanoff was given the wrong ballot style. 

    DEC officials blamed poorly trained election judges, but it might be that the problem is in the card activators that program the card that determines which ballot style a voter is able to pull up on the voting machine.

    Gallagher is questioning whether there are problems with the card activators.

    He has been on the Commission for some time about problems he sees over there.

    http://www.denvergov…

    1. this is not good.  This combined with the testimony in the current lawsuit (to which Denver is not a party would be impacted) makes me very nervous.

      I read the stories about people getting the wrong ballot.  Voting the wrong ballot (intentionally or otherwise) is as bad as intentional voter fraud.

      Let’s check everyones id to vote but not worry about whether they vote in the correct district or their vote is counted.

      What BS.

    3. Everyone should vote absentee ballot and DON’T turn them in until the last possible moment……since we can’t be sure who will be on the GOP ticket until the last 18 days!

      1. I just heard that the voting machines and other hardware may actually be castoffs from Chicago.

        They had problems this spring with the machines in a Chicago election.

        If these are the same machines, that will really be something.

        Waiting for the Judges ruling in the voter lawsuit.

        1. What if a law were passed thatoutlawed “Splitting the Baby”?  What if a judge were just once, required to rule either in favor of or against a friend or colleague?

          What nonsense is that when a judge rules in such a way that leaves the door open for further problems?  Reminds me of the automakers in the early 1980’s, planned obsolescense.  Just perpetuates the “Revolving Door” syndrome even further.

          What you did was wrong, but we’ll let it stand anyway.  What a joke!!!

  2. New poll out on CD-4

    COLORADO – CD-4: Congressman Marilyn Musgrave (R) – 46%,
    State Representative Angie Paccione (D) – 42%,
    Former Reagan Administration official Eric Eidsness (Reform) – 8%.

    (KUSA-TV/SurveyUSA).

  3. Apparently BWB and Bill Owens had a rather testy meeting recently, the upshot of which is that new blood is coming to run the campaign and Marshall is history.

    1.   Does this mean that Moonraker will be leaving the blog?  (Assuming, of course, that Moonraker and Marshall are one in the same.) 
        If they are indeed one in the same and if he is off the campaign, then will he have more free time to spend playing with us in this cyber political sandbox? 
        Or will he turn on his former masters, and start posting “kiss and tell” comments on ColoradoPols.com?

      1. As the lone shill on this blog, I still have many other parts to play.  You wouldn’t believe how much of my day is eaten up by running back and forth, between Trailhead, BB campaign, GOP, capitol, PhaseLine, Camp David (on weekends) – running the whole world on my own.

        Unless someone has something solid, I don’t believe Marshall is going anywhere.

    2. John Boy Marshall?  Can it be true??? Whom will be next???? Will ther be enough time to get to know them and their foibles??? 

      Worse yet.  By pulling a replacement at this stage of the game is nothing less than an indication that asll of the political shills and hacks and pundits on this site were right!!!

      In addition, it sends a signal that there are problem in the campaign organization.  Not a good sign at all.

    1. He doesn’t seem to be using the columns to actively run for office, and since he’s actually talking about his experience in Iraq, not the campaign for SecState, I think this is a pretty week charge.  You can argue about his take on the war, but he spent a year there.  Maybe we should hear his recollections.  What would you suggest the Gazette do, find a Democrat to say that everything Coffman is saying is wrong?  Media Matters is making something out of nothing here.

      1. Mike is putting his “recollections” in real time, saying things are just fine and dandy now:

        Mike: “The press characterizes Iraq as having descended into a bloody civil war that has irreparably fractured the country. Nothing could be further from the truth.“

        CIA vet: “There’s a civil war in Iraq and our presence is contributing to the violence.”

        And if things are improving so much and our training of Iraqis is on schedule, why is this happening?

        1. Coffman is an elected official in statewide office recounting his war experience. I see no reason why they should be under any obligation to provide equal time to a political opponent.

        2. Media Matters is objecting to him having a column at all, not the content, if I read their complaint correctly.  They seem to think that Ken Gordon should have equal time.  I think Coffman is off about the situation as well, but he HAS been there and his columns are are about what he saw and did there, not about his political campaign.  What would Ken Gordon write about, how hard it is to ride a horse?  There’s nothing to complain about from a “equal time” standpoint.

          1. When was the last time you saw a sitting elected official with a regular column in a paper?

            Unfortunately, Reagan did away with the Fairness Doctrine, but there’s nothing against making the observation that giving a candidate regular column inches – where he can at the very least keep his name before people’s eyes – without giving his opponent at least some opportunities to also get some face time is a bit like, oh, an in-kind monetary contribution by a corporation.

            1. OK, Coffman is basically giving a diary-like account of his time in Iraq.  He’s not talking about how he’s running for office.  So you’ve got a non-political column and you give Gordon a column to do what, exactly?  The effect of this would probably cause Coffman to start tossing more political stuff into his column and then the value of his account of his time in Iraq would be lost, and the whole thing would devolve and the public would be the losers.  If Coffman starts advocating his campaign, then MM has a point.  Now, they’re just whining.

              1. You seem to be forgetting that name ID is extremely important in state wide races…

                It doesn’t matter what he is writing about.  Coffman’s Iraq experience is no more or no less valid than any other National Guard member who spent a year in Iraq. 

                The Gazette shouldn’t be having Coffman write a monthly guest column right before an election.  If they really want to get a first-hand account of life in Iraq, they should get someone else. 

                Effectively, they are giving free advertising to a candidate for state-wide office.

              2. the points of the column are:
                (1) what an important, great job he did there; and
                (2) things will turn out just like Bush predicts if we will just stay the course.

                The guy spent almost no time in the real Iraq.  He was in the Green Zone most of the time, telling war stories.  When he went out, it was to lecture the ignorant natives on the wonderful plans Bush has for them. 

                He made no contribution to solving any long-term problems, but he won’t admit that.  No, he has to pretend he made an important contribution to an effort that is succeeding.  Bottom line, in the Gazette’s distribution/ subsciption area, lots of folks don’t know any better and believe it when he explains what a hero he is. 

            2. but politicians have columns all the time. especially in rural areas (where you could argue the newspapers are looking for news to put in the papers). coffman went to iraq, which is more than im guessing any of us can say. i might disagree with what he says but at least he is talking about his experience.

      2. Mike Coffman’s credibility as pretty low, and his accounts of Iraq contradict both the multitude of other reputable accounts AND scientific evidence.  That said, though, complaining about this is making a mountain out of a molehill.  He isn’t blatantly campaigning, and the Gazette is guilty of far more outrageous examples of one-sided journalism.  This is being blown out of proportion because it’s a close race.

    2. Anyone else see Iraq For Sale last night?

      http://www.iraqforsa…

      The documentary is an enlightening commentary on the influence of corporate contractors.  The amount of ill-spent tax dollars is overwhelming.  Halliburton, Blackwater, CACI and Titan need oversight – they are taking everyone to the cleaners.

  5. Rocky Mountain News
    September 22, 2006

    Rep. Tom Tancredo challenged one of his Colorado colleagues but drew no response Thursday in a flap touched off by the pope’s recent comments about Islam.
    On Wednesday, Tancredo sent a letter to Pope Benedict XVI urging him to resist calls to apologize over a recent speech in which he quoted a 14th century emperor who suggested that the Prophet Muhammad had inspired “things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

    Tancredo’s letter, which included criticisms of specific passages in the Quran, drew a strong response from Nayyera Haq, the communications director for Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo.

    Haq, who is Muslim, said she was speaking only for herself when she accused Tancredo of using “hateful,” irresponsible words that will alienate progressive Muslims and merely “throw more fuel on the fire.”

    Tancredo fired back in a written statement directed at Salazar, saying he needed to clarify whether or not he agreed with Haq.

    “Either he believes that forced conversion, the suppression of religious freedom and threats to kill ‘non-believers’ are wrong, as I do, or he agrees with his spokesperson, who seems to think that Americans should simply sit down and shut up when radical Islamofascists threaten to kill us if we don’t become Muslims,” said Tancredo, whose note also referred to Haq as a “political hack.”

    Salazar’s office declined to respond.

    Carlos Espinosa, a Tancredo spokesman, later pressed the issue.

    “The constituents of the 3rd District elected and pay for Congressman Salazar to represent them, not to provide a platform for one of his staffers to push a personal agenda,” Espinosa said.

    2. So an AIDE gives Tom the finger (let me give my support for that move) and Tom the nutjob makes this an issue with John Salazar?

      Meanwhile he is everywhere else BUT Colorado, still sucking down the smoke of his pipe dream to be President, AND is *still* not running a campaign against Bill Winter.

      Tom is a nutjob zealot who simply seems to have forgotton that he is a congressman for CD 6.  Good riddance you ol bastard.

      Oh yeah and one more thing, I think that John Salazar should challenge Tom Tancredo to a cage match.  That would shut Tancredo up quick!  😉

        1. I’d say Tom is telling a lie. Well, not that far. He’s just judging Islam by it’s worst adherents. One could judge Christianity in the same light if one bases it on the actions of abortion doctor killers.

        2. I was really trying to hold off on cussing for the rest of the election on this blog, but this has pushed me over the edge. Gecko, I dont mean to be mean, but he is (a) telling a lie and (b) being a motherfucker.

          I was really tempted to start throwing up Bible quotes in the Douchebag face/pope thread that would put the bible in a bad light, but i didnt. I can also go historically and point out many of christianity’s failings, but I didnt. Islam is not a religion of hate and violence and anyone who says that it is is a hatemongering asshole who should be branded as such. If you believe this troglodyte than you have really dropped a notch or 50 in my eyes

          1. me will try and stay neutral on this.
            As much as I would love to start an arguement ya know.

            I agree with you on your points though. I always shake my head when I hear about the Protestants fighting the Catholics in Ireland. Then I hear about these radical Islamics butchering innocent people and I wonder why don’t we just ban religion? Make religion strictly a personal private matter. Wouldn’t that be great?
            I know it is a wild pipe dream but it sure would solve most of the worlds problems huh?

            2. Not that I thought the old one was bad. What I would not give to live in your pipe dream. Seriously, innocents are alwasys the first to get killed. It always seems that the innocents are the ones with the higher body count too, no matter what the conflict. Unfortunately, we live in a world where fundamentalists of every flavor spew hate and fear mongering politicians spew it right back.

              Jesus does approve of your pipe dream too. Matthew 6:5-8

            3. had the Thirty Years War as their backdrop. Don’t tell me that they didn’t understand that religion can be a dividing, rather than unifying, impulse under the wrong conditions. They saw that personal faith was a benefit but that religious beliefs at the governmental level can become a detriment. Think of the Jerry Falwells of the world – do we want their hypocrisy covered by religiosity running things?

              The problem with many religions is that they reject the validity of any view but theirs. While great for creating a community of faith it is a tough barrier for a secular society. My simple question always has been “If you allow prayer in school, what day does the Imam get to lead the prayer?”

      2. I honestly suspect Tancredo is doing crap like this to keep upping his profiled with the xenophile voters.  He’s already a hero to those people for the immigration mongering, and that god-awful book he wrote sold pretty well.  Now little Tommy is going to get in on the groudfloor with some anti-Islamic angling and see if he can open up some new revenue streams.

      1. “Last Tuesday, the Pope gave a speech and quoted 14th century Byzantine emperor Manuel Paleologos the Second, who said that everything introduced by Islam is ‘evil and inhuman.’ Well I say, don’t back down, your Holy Pope! ‘Cause it’s true. What did they give us? Optics, hydraulic engineering, algebra… There’s not an eighth grader in the world who would convict you, sir!”
        —Stephen Colbert

  6. Where is the post this morning on the revelations on the front page fo the Post!!!

    Killed a cop?! Areasted a month ago?! Let go?! By Bill Ritter?!?!?!?

    Holly shizzle, this is exactly the kind of bad news that can bring a DA running for guv down!

      1. Someone is dead.  It could have been prevented.  The perp was arrested on a gun charge (setting aside the drug charge) and they pled out on traffic charges.  Don’t we take gun charges seriously in Colorado?

        This case is why Ritter and Suthers and the rest of Colorado’s ace prosecutors (is it true that in hell all the prosecutors will be from Colorado?) shouldn’t be so quick to defend plea bargains.

        Let me pretend I’m running their campaigns for a moment.  I’d tell them to adopt a more humble tone and talk about how much they don’t like doing it and how they will work to reform the system when they reach higher office. 

        Come on Bill.  Hint, hint.

    3. From the front page of today’s Denver Post…

      “On Aug. 20, Washington, 27, was the passenger in a car when a traffic stop led to discovery of a “large bag” of marijuana and a loaded 9mm handgun. Three days later, Washington faced two felony charges and a $25,000 bond, according to court records.

      But by the end of the day, the felonies had been dropped by the Denver District Attorney’s Office and Washington had been released after plea-bargaining some old traffic violations.”

      One month later he shot dead an Aurora police officer.

    4. plenty of others he let go.  Can’t take credit for this one.  You two must be this guys public defenders.

      Otherwise, how do you agree with Morrissey that ‘it would be hard to prove that the guy knew a gun was under his seat.’

      I guess we’ll have to put it in cold storage.  Once we get the technology to check fingerprints, we may be able to solve this case.

      Are there any criminals that you clowns aren’t sympathetic towards?

      2. I have no sympathy toward the guy in this case…Mitch Morrisey and Bill Ritter didn’t make the law-they have to prosecute people based on the crimes the legislature has created and how judges have interpretted ‘knowingly’.

        Would you rather the DA take everything to trial, leaving dangerous people on the streets longer?

        Would you rather the DA take a case he knows he can’t win, so that the criminal goes free?

        You can think the universal practice of plea bargaining is bad.  It sucks when criminals go free, but the DA didn’t create the system…they work in it.

        What I really dislike is that you are trying to smear Bill Ritter with something that he didn’t even have a hand in. 

        1. Picking at DA’s records is bunk, and it happens any and every time they run for office.  There are always cases that go wrong and produce a bad result – nobody has a perfect record, especially when a city the size of Denver is involved – and there is always a high percentage of plea bargaining.  People trot this stuff out like it’s some huge scandal or revelation.  It’s not, and it won’t break Ritter this year.

        2. I suspect we’re of the same faith generally; I’m just a bit more contrarian as well as being most knowledgeable in the field of criminal justice.  Call me a Trotskyite to your Leninist perhaps.

          Believe it or not, prosecutors do have an extraordinary lead way in how they prosecute a case and they do, as a profession, hold themselves responsible.  You find that the elected ones, more politicians than prosecutors, go through these charades each time a mistake is made.  But they know.

          Do we, as concerned citizens, say that the system is all it can be, or do we demand a greater efficiency?  There are studies to show that between 15 and 25 people are murdered each day in America by convicted criminals released under government supervision.  Almost all of these are released as a result of plea bargains.

          Is this, as they say, cool by you?  Well, it’s not cool by me.

          Maybe you don’t live in an area where crime is a problem.  If so, good for you.  But a lot of our neighbors aren’t so fortunate and I think we should look out for them as well.  Don’t you?

          This issue is bigger than your love for Bill Ritter (I admire him too), bigger than one election, bigger than party or politics.  It is elemental.  Life and death.

          Say it isn’t good enough.  Demand reform.

              2. children can be a lot smarter than adults a good amount of the time. in this context it appears to be demeaning, but id rather be called a child than an adult any day.

          2. What exactly is Bob Beauprez’s plan for plea bargain reform?

            The only reason the Beauprez camp cares about this is
            1)  It makes Ritter look bad
            2)  Beauprez is getting his ass kicked, and unless he can drag Ritter down to his level he can’t win the election…

            I didn’t call you any names; your posts seem to suggest that you really care about the issue.  That’s good, I don’t disagree with you that we need reform in Criminal Law…the system has problems.  I imagine that we would disagree about the cause and solution to the problem, but I will agree that it is a universal problem when dangerous criminals are on the street.  That being said:

            The ‘dumb republicans’ are the posters that don’t care about the issue except that
            1)  It makes a Democrat look bad
            2)  Republicans are getting their asses kicked all across the state and they need to put everyone in the mud.

            To top it off, the story that was originally posted about wrongly stated that Bill Ritter plea bargained a guy who killed a cop…the original post was bullshit. 

            1. It was Denver2you who referenced Ritter in the context of the recent cop shooting.  I took it as being a sarcastic shot at me.  I replied that Ritter has enough other prime examples of poor judgment but he can’t get credit for this one.

              You argue that the only ones to criticize Ritter’s record are dumb republicans.  1)We only have his DA record by which to judge him.  2)You are disingenuous to infer that he never screwed up as DA.

              1. You are a dumb republican-

                It is disingenuous to blame Bill Ritter for the practice of plea bargaining…he has a good record as a District Attorney.  It is disingenuous to pull statistics out of context (Suthers plea bargain rate is higher).

                Did he ever ‘screw up’ as DA…probably.  Hindsight is 20/20 and it’s really easy to look at what happened and say he shouldn’t have plea-bargained a particular case. 

                I don’t believe you care about his performance as DA-you don’t want him to be governor and this is all you have.  I don’t blame you, your candidate sucks.

                What is Bob Beauprez’s position on crime?  on plea-bargains? on higher taxes for more jails? 

                I think Bob Beauprez’s position is that he wants to be governor, and he really doesn’t care about anything else.

                1. To answer your question: bad, bad, bad, good.  Shady, will you ever address the issue at hand?  How can you sit there and defend 8 or 15 months for running over an entire family and killing a little girl?  How do you defend that?

                  You are criticizing me for doing the same to Ritter and using his record to make my case.  It would be just as easy for me to accuse you of not liking Bob and simply using his record to back your assertions up.

                  What grade are you in?  You are mindboggling and as credible as Saddam’s Information Minister, Reuters photos, and Dan Rather.  You’re line about hindsight is laughable.  If we can’t look at a person’s record, then it comes down to who can charm the most.  Sure that’s part of it, but to dismiss a person’s history and record is naive.  They’re not running for student council.

                  Well…. get back to defending the 15 mos. for killing a 4 year old.

                  1. dismissed Bush’s arrest records for stealing people’s Christmas stuff, disorderly conduct and drunk driving.  How does moonie defend his becoming President?  It was not Ritter who ran over the girl.  But Bush did do his crimes.  Maybe if Ritter had been around to prosecute Bushy, he’d still be drilling dry holes in Texas and a lot of brave Americans would still be alive today.

                  2. I am not going to defend 15 mos for killing a 4 year old.  It is a stupid, emotionally charged, personal attack against Bill Ritter.  I am not going to argue based on the information contained in a 60 second attack ad.

                    You aren’t talking about Bill Ritter’s record; the Beauprez camp has pulled out a single case in an effort to make him look bad…Overall Ritter has a good record as a prosecutor, and he has a plan to attack the problems that exist.

                    What is Bob Beauprez’s position on crime…his plan to confront the problem?  He’s probably against it, but he doesn’t have one listed on his website. 

                    I don’t give a rat’s ass about Beauprez…I don’t need to attack him.  He’s made himself completely irrelevant, because he doesn’t seem to care about anything except winning.  If you can convince me that he actually does care about something, we can talk about that.

  7. Latest campaign finance numbers:

    Gwyn Green has outraised Ramey Johnson, $48K to $28K

    Debbie Benefield has outraised Affie Ellis $56K to $35K

    Real shocker is that Joe Rice has outraised Matt Dunn $56K to $18K

    Jim Riesberg has outraised Dave Owen $54K to $35K (Dave raised 0 dollars this reporting period).

    Bernie Buescher has outraised Bob Caskey $65K to $24K

    Dan Gibbs has outraised Ken Chlouber $45K to $36K

    These are all key house races in determining whether the Dems hold the House.

    In the Senate:

    Schwartz has outraised Entz $139K to $58K

    John Morse has outraised Ed Jones $69K to $29K

    Betty Boyd has outraised Matt Koedler $100K to $49K

    Moe Keller outraised Dick Sargent $68K to $22K

    Fitz-Gerald outraised Marti Neilson $91K to $14K

    1. John Morse is outraising Mr. Ed???  Rumor has it that Mr. Ed only had three (3) helpers with him at the Fountain Valley Parade.  He was relying on the Republican Float for support. 

      Ironically, the wife was no where to be found.  If this is any indication of his level of support, the guy may be in trouble down there in Colorado Springs.

      Said before, it’s a known fact that Law Enforcement doesn’t like Mr. Ed.  As a police officer, Morse enjoys the support of the brotherhood.  We’ll have to see what happens in November.

  8.   If Bill Ritter was so bad as D.A., then why did the Colorado Republican Party fail to field any candidate to oppose him in either of his races for re-election? 
      And I’m not sure about this, but was Bob Beauprez the GOP chairman when Ritter last ran for re-election?

      2.   Yeah, but even the D.C. GOP (which is in worse shape than the Republicans in Denver) manage to put up some sacraficial lamb to run against Marion Barry.

    2. did run against him.  Craig had served in the office with Ritter.

      I don’t know that he has endorsed Ritter, but I remember reading an op-ed piece in the last couple of months by Silverman in which he commented on what a good prosecutor Ritter had been.

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