U.S. Senate
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(D) J. Hickenlooper*
(R) Somebody
80%
20%
Governor
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(D) Joe Neguse
(D) Phil Weiser
(D) Jena Griswold
60%
60%
40%↓
Att. General
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(D) M. Dougherty
(D) Alexis King
(D) Brian Mason
40%
40%
30%
Sec. of State
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(D) George Stern
(D) A. Gonzalez
(R) Sheri Davis
40%
40%
30%
State Treasurer
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(D) Brianna Titone
(R) Kevin Grantham
(D) Jerry DiTullio
60%
30%
20%
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(R) Jeff Hurd*
(D) Somebody
80%
40%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert*
(D) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Jeff Crank*
(D) Somebody
80%
20%
CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
(R) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) B. Pettersen*
(R) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(R) Gabe Evans*
(D) Yadira Caraveo
(D) Joe Salazar
50%
40%
40%
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
August 28, 2012 03:26 PM UTC
87 Comments
Welcome to Colorado, again. PLEASE trust the people of Colorado enough to listen to them. So far, your campaign has a tin ear and the feedback loop is clogged.
You need to explain to people about Keynesian economics and what worked and what did not. Then, you need to LISTEN to what people say about that explanation.
Your Senators – Bennet and Udall – have been strangely absent from your campaign….Hickenlooper has been strangely absent…period. Find out why. Put them to work.
For those of us who want to see you win and are scared most about your loss creating a Republican Senate, please revamp your campaign….and LISTEN. …and thank Debbie W-S for her extraordinary service and then grant her a much needed rest…..and put Howard Dean in as her “temporary replacement” Being pro-abortion is not going to be enough to win this election…or even this state.
This August, I celebrate the 50th anniversary of my first time to register to vote ….as a Democrat….(.back in the day, you had to be 21. )
why would they ever listen to the rabble ?
note:
while Obama cringes at the suggestion that he doesn’t support the troops,
because he has abandoned the one US POW, who his captors have offered to trade,
I think Romney would be far worse for those serving on the front lines in combat.
I think a pro-abortion (even mandatory sterilization) candidate who at least cared about our soldiers would get my vote over either of these two. and my single biggest issue is opposition to all abortions.
Ask the Repub Asshats in Congress why THEY are the ones opposed to bringing SGT Bergdahl home…..
http://www.ktvb.com/news/Artic…
http://www.reuters.com/article…
This is same bunch of Chickenhawk cowards that peed themselves stinky with the thought of putting some of the Gitmo detainees in Colorado.
But hey – gotta be tough on terrorism in order to have good copy for the fundraising newsletter. Fuck the one soldier in captivity, right?
Maybe the RNC can adopt a platform that says they’ll send all the Vietnam POW’s back to Hanoi Hilton to show they’re still tough on communism!
what you might have said is that he fears the consequences of making a decision and acting on it, which would be exactly right.
Esp from the Local Boise ID story, it seems like he’s working the political side of things and making it happen.
You know what would be nice? Actually, what would be the right thing to do? Repubs SUPPORTING this effort,and saying so publicly.
But that would be supporting the President, and they can’t do that…for ANY REASON.
Sorry, but very few here are going to buy that whopper.
You’re not even a percentage so objective as you’re claiming — here’s what would really happen:
Take Candidate X — personally opposed to abortion, but feels it’s not right to enforce his personal views on the choices that others — read “women” who actually have to face the decision and the consequence — make.
After months and months of nonsense and vilifying by your righty ilk — you’re able to convince yourself that Candidate X actually is both pro-abortion and mandatory sterilization.
This single distortion is enough to color your view of everything that Candidate X does or doesn’t do, or supports or doesn’t support . . . to the point that you’re able to convince yourself that Candidate X “doesn’t support the troops” among hundreds of other egregious sins . . .
Then you make some asinine post like the one I’m replying to today.
On a different note, I hope that today is a good one for you and that you’re out walking the streets of the Springs, unburdened and unencumbered, this afternoon.
only for others who don’t know me so well.
….
Abortion is huge for me,
but all these wars of choice –
Romney is promising 4 more in Iran, Syria, and I think Mexico –
that is also about the right to life of powerless people.
Someone who fears God might not promise quite as many dead brown people, huh ?
(even though not intended for me) . . . and, for your news of today, below. I’m hoping your next bit of news is also good.
Dwyer, are you an idiot or do you just write like one?
No one is “pro-abortion”, except the opponents of the holy-rollingest anti-choicers.
Some might be “pro-abortion rights”, or prefer to be called pro-choice, but the notion that some group is out there encouraging women to be sexually irresponsible so that there is a larger pool of women to “sell” abortions to to jack up profits is a slander the religious right uses against Planned Parenthood, and is not founded in reality.
I speak only for myself, but I think I exemplify the vast majority of the pro-choice movement in saying that I’d like there to be less need for abortion because there were fewer unplanned pregnancies. I’m not at all “pro-abortion” though I’m sure Leslie Hanks and the rest would use that phrase to describe me.
You seem to envy Republican skill with talking points and words that work, and their idiot savant polling guru Frank Luntz. Why then would you use language which they intentionally use to alter the frame of the argument?
When you use your opponent’s language you are fighting on their field and playing defense. You ought to chooses your words more carefully if you want them to be effective in changing policy.
You got a problem with that?
not so much as an ankle bracelet.
Actually, if you had, I would have definitely tagged you as over the edge. Finally.
Do tell what’s going on!
they wanted to talk to me in my home.
Why, I asked ?
I got an answer that was transparently false, something about a bid I had submitted on a government contract. I challenged that answer, and the Agent demurred.
well, I’m thinking that letting them in my home was tantamount to consent to search, so I asked to meet in a public place.
No, not a public place, because of the nature of what would be discussed.
Come into the local office and we’ll talk.
I agreed. I hung up.
then I realized that I just agreed to walk into custody where there would be no record or evidence of what happened to me.
I’m worried.
Bring your attorney, if for no other reason, they will be there as a witness and can end the “discussion” when they think it is about to take a bad turn.
Sure it will piss them off, but I have found that these friendly chats are usually anything other than friendly.
The problem that I have with Law enforcement is that they try to get you to talk like they are your friend, or that they will make things easier on you if you just tell them what they want to know about. Forget about not incriminating yourself, they are your “friends” and want to “help” you. All the while they are trying to lead you into saying something so they can pounce. Whether that something is true or not seems to be irrelevant.
Once you “Lawyer Up” they cant talk to you without your attorney being present.
supposedly I was given a “vague” (untrue) reason for the meeting because they weren’t sure I was the correct Barron X, since there are so many here in town.
The Agent asked me if I had done some specific act, and I said I didn’t think so, but that I would check once I got back home. It was very similar to a couple things I remember doing.
I asked why couldn’t you tell me this before, so I could have done the research ahead of time ?
The Agent beat around the bush on the federal law that explicitly prohibits one aspect of what was allegedly done. I came right out and stated the law and that I know very well what is prohibited.
I think that was the whole point, to make sure I knew the law, and stayed within it.
In a way, could say this whole meeting was for my benefit.
I brought a friend into the meeting as a witness (couldn’t get an attorney that fast.) Once that was allowed, I kinda realized it wasn’t the witch hunt I was dreading.
Man, what a relief. I’m waiting results on whether my Cancer has metastasized, and this had me far more worried.
Twice as much when it doesn’t stay put. I hope the results are fantastically fabulous. Seriously. Good luck.
I’m sorry to hear of your cancer issues, Barron. I’m rootin’ for ya.
Oh, I loved that snark about how many BarronX’s there are. Ha ha…..
A pox on cancer.
and I really mean that. Just went through two years of stage IV throat cancer with my father, and he pulled out and has been in remission about a year.
You are the only person on the site that can get an ex-Catholic to say this, but I mean it:
GOD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU.
Hang in there, Barron X. Good luck to you.
Best wishes for a clean bill of health.
All it can take is one day painting vehicles with CARC paint and you’re multiplied your risk for cancer by bunch.
Heal up, get better, drive on!
Like droll says, cancer blows.
Eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables…the really colorful stuff…it will help, I promise.
Rush sez I’m supposed to hate on all of you – pro-choicers, an abortionist that an anti-abortion activist in my church really wants to out to me, gays, and the rest of you pinkos.
Luv my Pols family, though. Can’t help myself.
and I only had “thin” melanoma, hardly ever fatal, unless ignored. Bordering on hypochondriac, I gladly cough up the oncologist co-pay anytime a symptom may have occurred.
My Mom and Mother-in-Law went thru the real deal with the big C, so that is how I really learned what it’s about. My bout was cake.
My Doc sez he’s not had 1 patient, out of 500 with Melanoma, die from it when it was caught as early as mine.
It just happened at the same time as the FBI thing, so I was throwing a pity party featuring “Woe is me.”
with the happy ending at the FBI this morning, and a hoped for but still unexpected email from overseas last night,
and especially the support and love I get from my sparring partners here,
it’s turned out to be a great day.
Maybe I’m a little bipolar ? OK, I don’t mean to make light of that or depression; the best friend I have left is on the board of http://www.dbsacoloradosprings…
Go with the fresh fruits and veggies anyway. The American Cancer Society sez, a diet rich with fresh produce actually helps to PREVENT cancer. 🙂
Wow, what a hole! The two scariest points of the interview for me were:
1. His goal is to bring the federal gummint back to the size of the turn of the century. Yeah, THAT one. Eight percent of GDP. I’m guessing that most of that was for military inc. Civil War pensions, agriculture, courts, what else?
While some federal departments and expenses might legitimately be examined as eating too much budget for good derived, his goal is preposterous. Just think of all our recent NOAA National Hurricane Center information. Private enterprise is going to do that? Or, the FAA? Or, keeping the worst drugs out of the mouths of Americans?
2. His solution, when asked, is “Initiative.” Americans can do all this on their own if they only had “Initiative!” All those kids, all those people out of work, all those seniors who can’t make a rational decision. Yessirreee Billy Bob, if you only had enough Initiative – available at WalMarts everywhere – you wouldn’t need government help.
My last take-away is that this is religious in nature and he is the Tax Pope. Historical and life experiences matter not a whit. Even the Tax Pledge smacks of baptism, and his weekly meetings of going to church. Like those Christian charlatans, I’ll give him his due. And like those TV audiences, it only proves how many suckers are among us.
Pars,
What percentage of GDP do you think Federal gubement should consume? How about all gubements combined? Grover said 8%, what do YOU say? How about your party?
Let me find that here……
What a tool/fool you are.
Our society is vastly different than it was in 1900. Right off the top, a huge standing military, the biggest enforcer of empire this planet has ever seen. We got some compassion along the way and decided that people shouldn’t be poisoned for the profit of others, that some level of care of the elderly and others Jesus called “the least of these.”
Here’s how it works: You don’t set a goal as a percentage of GDP. That’s backing into the decision making. It’s like saying I have $200 to spend on gasoline to get to a certain place, so now I’ll go shopping for a car that will allow that to fit.
How about providing the services we think we should have, and tax to pay for those services? That winds up with a balanced budget, a sure fire woody for you cons.
I missed your answer.
What a macaroon. No, wait, that disparages coconut cookies.
Non answer.
of angels that can dance on a pin head?
Another non answer.
You obviously didn’t read it.
He did not give an answer. You can say he did 1 trillion times, and he will still have not given an answer.
he could say it a trillion times . . . that’s a very big number. And, even if he could say it once per second (which he can’t), it would take something just over 31,709 years of nothing but saying it over and over and over, once every second . . .
. . . you’re really not very good with numbers, are you Albert?
you’re asking him to take a position which he has no reason to.
Anyway, your REAL question, intentional or not, isn’t “how big” but “why shouldn’t gov’t be shrunk to 1900 size, and that question WAS answered. Be a man and accept it.
He has every reason to take a position regarding scope, size and intrusiveness of government expressed in terms of production allocation. You have no business in politics if this thought is not first and foremost.
My real question is simple and forthright.
What portion of annual Gross Domestic Production should be allocated for government functions?
PR thinks that magic number is x, disagreeing that a government should be operated that way at all.
Mark G. was never good with the logic either. Oh, right.
Stop trolling.
Power to the Party, Comrades! Down with capitalist pigs! Let’s build the worker’s paradise!
Happy?
There have been feeding embargoes on many here over the years. It’s a strong willed Polster that can never succomb, sooner or later.
Most of the righties eventually go away.
“You have no business in politics if this thought is not first and foremost.”
You don’t tell me my priorities, or anyone else. Just because THAT’S your pet issue, doesn’t mean I’m going to also put that ahead of rights, equality and justice (government size having nothing to do with whether those are being recognized or not – don’t even try to tell me the two are linked).
But to start, using a percentage of the GDP as a standard is irrelevant. For example, military operations are always going to be expensive, since you’re conduction those operations far away from your own infrastructure. Fuel is hideously expensive in AFPAK, simply because of the distance and difficulty in getting it to the troops.
(Plus, the Republican’t Party seems to think that piling dump-truck sized mountains of money at DoD’s feet without any oversight or accountability is the way to win the War on Terror, so until we stop that GDP is also not a good measure.)
Also, we’re going to be paying a ton of money to take care of all the warriors we’ve been grinding up in 10+ years of war. Modern medicine is still trying to figure out how to treat TBI and PTSI, so saying you only get XXX of dollars to treat it doesn’t work either. We broke ’em, we have to fix ’em.
(Unless you’re Rep Ryan. Then FUCK vets, because Millionaires need their tax cuts.)
I’d say a ratio between the size of the population versus the “size” of the federal government, but that doesn’t work either because of the mercenaries, er “contractors” the guvmit hired in masses under Dubya. The DoD doesn’t even know how many “contractors” it has working for them, just how much they pay. (And they’re MUCH more expensive than PFC Joe Snuffy the Rag Man doing the same job.)
So you have no idea how big guberment should be so long as it is big enough?
What is guberment were to consume more than total GDP?
Do you just pick a year (cue up harp music) of the Golden Years of the One Percenters? Or, count the turds in the bowl and add them to the century of 18xx?
I DID. I’d like to use a ratio of the size of the population versus the size of the Federal govt, minus all mercenaries and contractors.
Dollar amount isn’t the only scale.
And Guvmit only consumes more than national GDP in wartime – you know, that two-front thing we’ve been involved in for 10 years. So to be below that threshold is a freakin’ miracle….
You have to subtract taxes from what was produced. You cannot tax what has not been created. Sure you can use debt but at the end of the day, if it was not produced this year, it likely does not exist. There is not a giant storage tank full of grain, metal and other desirable resources. Actual stock piles are finite in comparison to actual consumption. Our economy is JIT. Just In Time. There is no need to argue of differentiate who produced this GDP. Private sector or Government, assuming government can produce does not matter. If it is not produced, it does not exist.
What portion if this annual production will be set aside for government functions?
….into your brain.
“Deduct taxes from what was produced.” Screeching halt. Stop. Right. There.
Since when have taxes been part of GDP? Oh, never.
You are beyond the pale.
You’re talking about Gross National Product, and not Gross Domestic Product.
In the case of GDP it absolutely matters if private sector or government is in which part of the equation:
GDP = Private consumption + gross investment + government spending + (exports – imports).
Under your limited view, a government would not spend into deficit to support a wartime economy. It’s almost like you’re playing Starcraft or some other online game…you only have 15 resource points this turn.
To try an answer your oddly entrapping question – Enough. There’s no fixed number because the need for “government functions” varies from time period to time period.
If the Walking Dead Zombie virus starts to inflect the US, I hope the Federal government cuts back on Oil subsidies in order to dump a pile of money on the CDC so they can stop the outbreak. When we leave AFPAK, we should be drawing down DoD’s budget back to 2000 levels and then spend a large-sih chunk of money taking care of the veterans.
There’s no magic number on this…..
things are so SIMPLE there. If you plug in all the main factors that decrease or increase government spending (like the two you listed above Dan) it just gets too complicated for him. I guess we need to dumb it down.
Amen. Even as an almost-pacifist who rants every time I get to about the size of our military, I want those who have been hurt taken care of as best as we know how.
Not that this makes me an expert, nor does it equate to the injured’s experience, but I spent a year in an internship in the VA hospital in Denver, and ten years with a house mate who had bad PTSD. Neither of us understood what was going on thirty years ago.
Every pacifist I’ve ever talked to about veteran’s health feels the same way. Sort of “Hate the sin (war) but lover the sinner (vets.)
Keep fighting for those wounded, Dan. Thanks.
I don’t want to hear anything like “It depends what you eat” or “It depends on your age” or “It depends on the condition of the nearest bathroom stall” or anything like that. I believe the answer is NO MORE OR LESS THAN SIX TIMES EVERY DAY. What is your number? Well, what is it? Stop objecting to the premise of my stupid question!
Is the same one you’ve refused to accept from everyone else…
As a percentage of GDP, the government should tax as much as it needs to in order to provide the services that We The People through our elected representatives have asked it to provide and that are legal under our Constitution.
Should we have fought World War II? At its peak, WW2 defense spending was 42% of GDP.
Or should we have bothered to persevere through the Cold War? Cold War defense spending was more than 6% of GDP – not enough to continue running the rest of the government with an 8% cap.
Norquist’s proposal is disconnected from reality.
But glad to hear CBS delayed the broadcast until after the Bronco’s game (?? or whatever other singularly important event it was that occurred that afternoon — I forget now) was over.
My one response to both of Grover’s point — “Teddy Roosevelt . . . Republican”! I have no doubt he’d have personally (and literally) torn Grover a new one.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012…
why there have been so few bigfoot sitings . . . his damn ghillie suit. Who’da thunk? Hell, he could have even been that guy right next to me at the Army-Navy surplus . . . and I never even noticed. Sneaky bastard.
Last night I put a face on your fear of “entitlements,” the face being about my family and me.
You’ve not responded. And I really doubt that you missed my comment.
You wonder why we libs constantly harp on you to provide facts, responses, and details? Well, here’s another opportunity to disprove those who think you leave the conversation when it gets uncomfortable.
http://www.coloradopols.com/di…
Hours later, no response. This, the guy who tries to be the very first to post on a topic.
Am I surprised? Not at all.
I take it that your or family members have benefited from Medicare and/or Medicaid.
No?
You know, little insects chirping on summer nights.
Just checked in to see what I was missing and catch up with any responses to my most recent comments to see if any required a reply so as not to be rude. Evidently not missing much. ‘tad and Arap still just spewing instead of engaging yet they are getting responses even though we all know it’s pointless and they never do anyone the courtesy of answering a question. Dwyer still Dwyer.
Glad I stopped by, though, because I want to wish Barron the best possible news on the health front. Hope the FBI stuff fades away to nothing, too. I’ll check back in a few days to see if there’s any news on the Barron’s health situation. Thought and prayers with you, Barron. See you all later sometime.
gotta keep responding, so we can keep you coming back?
Just did.
;~)
You have many fans here who enjoy your posts. Are your gifts for insight and articulation something you would willingly keep away from your dedicated fans? Really?
Just hoping you are susceptible to guilt trips. 🙂
Don’t go
Ok, three….please.
OK. But I’ll only respond to the good people, including those like Barron I don’t often agree with, not trolls or people who just annoy the hell out of me. And I urge everyone, if you’ve asked Arap, ‘tad, Nock and fellow knuckleheads a question and they haven’t responded, really responded, with a direct answer to what you asked including back up, facts, etc., ignore the next thing they spew. They don’t deserve the attention and one way opportunity to spread their talking points.
I will try to contain myself a little, though.
Terrible’s not so bad. I’ll accept terrible. It could be a lot worse.
Victory! 🙂
Many more rallies like this one and Romney can kiss his election chances goodbye:
Murray Energy Miners Allege They Had To Give Up Pay To Attend ‘Mandatory’ Romney Rally
According to the Huffington Post:
And for you youngsters out there that might not have heard of Potemkin Villages, here’s the scoop.
Photo above was plastered all over every right-wing web site last week.
From the owner, in your link:
This is a strange and unfamiliar use of “mandatory” which I hope my students don’t see.
unless they use guns.
I guess mandatory but not forced means you might get fired but no one will actually drag you there. Is there any way it’s legal to make attending a political event mandatory for employees? What’s next? Mandatory attendance at the church your boss picks?
Anything less would be an attack on the freedom of religion.
He guided folks to parking spots. This son is a professional engineer, and no Romney fan.
His employer is a firm whose products are in every grocery store in Colorado.
But it was crystal clear that this was a favor to the owner, and NOT mandatory. It was about showing support for the owner, not Romney.
He was proud to help the owner, who is a good employer. Just a little disappointed that he was supporting someone who was trouncing his preference, Ron Paul.
And I think he got his full paycheck, made up out of the owner’s pocket.
This Ohio incident is about the mine owners, not Romney.
recommend a David Brooks column, but you’ve got to read this one:
The Real Romney
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08…
. . . plus, after you read this you’ll have no need to watch any of that ridiculous convention.
…but this is a “Must read!”
Funny and sarcastic.
Full disclosure: I have two cousins who went to the same private school Mitt did, Cranbrook. In Bloomfield Hills, MI. One cousin went to grow pot and meditate in Hawaii and then the Ma Prophet cult in CA and MT, the Church Universal and Triumphant. The other cousin got his accounting MBA and now is a Mitt wannabe, schlepping carbon fiber technologies across the globe. True.
I was selling underground houses when the CUT bought what was then the single largest underground privately owned residential complex in the world, building it in Livingston. Was it 1986 ?
Anyway, I thought that the industry would explode and sales would come crawling to me.
Didn’t actually happen that way.
My biggest sale was the relatively modest abode of Trygve Bauge in Nederland, he of the “Grampa’s head in the Tuff Shed” fame.
Underground housing, indeed.
Glad to read your cancer is minimal.
and of course very glad to hear he is well.
Don’t often agree with Brooks. He’s the yin to Dionne’s yang on NPR though they actually do agree at least some of the time on certain things. But political life was so much more civilized and so much more got done back when there were lots of smart moderate conservatives like this in the GOP. If he wasn’t considered a hopeless RINO by the new GOP before, I’m sure he is now, after writing this.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/b…
My Kings need to come to Colorado and beat the Burgundy outta the Avs this season, and a lockout definitely interferes with that!