May 24, 2012 10:28 PM UTC

Mike Coffman and Questioning Democrats' Patriotism: It's Not The First Time

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• by: Colorado Pols

In the aftermath of Rep. Mike Coffman’s revised and significantly more contrite apology yesterday for his remarks asserting that President Barack Obama “is not an American,” we thought we would run back through our archives for anything else Coffman may have said at other points in his career that could be considered similarly disparaging–especially questioning of somebody’s loyalty, patriotism, or national identity as he did Obama’s.

We didn’t have to look very hard. Back in June of 2009, Coffman said this:

[Governor Ritter] clearly has no concept about the training and readiness needs of our combat forces. By signing H.B. 1317, a bill that blocks the Army’s ability to expand training areas, the Governor has sent a very clear message that the men and women who serve our nation in uniform are not welcome here.

I think he would be more sympathetic if the U.S. Army were to declare itself a terrorist organization – since he is going out of his way to block the Army while at the same time laying out a welcome mat to house terrorists from Guantanamo Bay. [Pols emphasis]

Later, Coffman extended this criticism, at least partly, to fellow Republican Josh Penry:

Unfortunately, it is obvious by the actions of Penry, who co-sponsored HB 1317, and Gov. Bill Ritter, who signed it into law, that both made their decision on the basis of a political calculation without any regard for the men and women in uniform who serve this nation in defense of our freedom.

One week later, Coffman apologized—but only to Penry.

I made the classic mistake of a combat veteran, confusing those emotions with the motives of others who may differ on military matters but who care as deeply as I do about the men and women who serve our nation in uniform. For that, I apologize to Josh Penry.

Note that Coffman didn’t reference Penry at all in his original and arguably much harsher statement about Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter “laying out a welcome mat” for terrorists, but he still didn’t see fit to apologize to Ritter–just to fellow Republican Josh Penry, who Coffman had accused of acting “without regard for men and women in uniform” along with Ritter.

It doesn’t surprise us after reading this that the same Mike Coffman tried to coast for a week on a belligerent non-apology that still attempted to justify what he said about Barack Obama.

And with Coffman now in the spotlight, we hear there may well be more such incidents, both previously known and newly discovered material, brought to light shortly. Stay tuned.