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October 19, 2006 03:18 PM UTC

Thursday Open Thread

  • 49 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“That’s war. And this is war.”

—Ann Coulter

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49 thoughts on “Thursday Open Thread”

  1. The never-ending war, that justifies permanent restriction of the citizens’ liberties.

    But a funny sort of war, where only the poor are asked to sacrifice, and where the tax cuts for the extremely wealthy are preserved no matter what.

    For we can sacrifice our freedoms and liberties, and the sons of our poor, but woe be unto us if we sacrifice even one penny of obscene wealth.

    1. The article here and cover letters here may look unbelievable.

      However, we are constantly looking for student interns at my company up in Boulder (computer science and business) and I would say 60% of the business and 95% of the computer science cover letters gaurantee an immediate delete.

      And I’ve given up looking for well phrased cover letters. I just want a coherent thought in them.

  2. The latest Zogby poll shows Beauprez trailing Ritter by 2 points.

    http://online.wsj.co… 

    (Go there and click on the link on right side of screen and it’ll take you to the interactive map).

    Of course the last one saw Beauprez down by 3 and a lot of people thought it was an outlier because it was internet/phone and it was zogby.  I don’t like Zogby, particularly.  But his other polls are pretty much right on with how other polls are looking (except for the Tennessee senate race….he has Corker ahead by too much).  For this poll to be bogus it would have to be a major outlier.  Since the last poll showed the same margin between the Ritter and Beauprez, I’m inclined to believe it.

    The exact numbers I’m not clear on, really.  But I think the margin is small enough to make up with the GOP tremendous GOTV.

    I heard Scott Rasmussen talk about his turnout models.  He said that in states like Virginia, because it is a red state with more base Republicans than base Democrats, Jim Webb is automatically at a disadvantage.  That “red state environment” is potentially worth a few extra points (plus the better GOTV).  That same logic goes to Colorado.  I know that people on this site are convinced that we’re just a closet blue state, but the numbers say otherwise.  This is a very volatile red state that can easily be turned blue.  Virginia is exactly in the same corner (they’ve got a Democratic gov). 

    With all that said, it is unlikely that Ritter could ever win by more than 5 points unless he put an (r) next to his name.  Too many people just vote their party and there are more Republicans here than indies or Dems.  So you could never have thoguht that Ritter was actually ahead by 17, even if the polling was correct.  That majority would never turn out. 

    Will Bob win?  I have a hunch he will.  I don’t really belive the polls…I’m suspicious of Zogby, too.  I just think that this state, like it or not, favors Republican candidates and that alone will guarantee that any decent GOP guy will stay close.  Loook at Coors two years ago.  He was an atrocious candidate but he came pretty close just by being a Republican.  I think Owens, Schafer, or Ben Campbell could have all easily won that race against Salazar. 

    So the final question is, will Bob be a Coors or an Ownens, and I don’t think it’s too late to decide.  Bob’s got a new ad out and if he can ride through this silly investigation business than I think it’ll be a nail-biter.

    1. There is much behind the scenes activity going on that we do not know about and will not know about for awhile.
      I do not think BB is so stupid as to purposely use information obtained illegally. If he is that stupid we do not want him as Gov.
      If he can weather the storm brought on by Ritter trying to evade questions about his record, BB will give Ritter a real run for his money.
      Anybody that thinks this is over is just wishing.

      And we know which hand gets filled faster when wishing and pissin………….

      1. Or maybe not.  But I think this whole investigation hoo-ha could play well into the Beauprez camp’s hands.  If he’s exhonerated before the election, that’ll give Bob the sympathy vote.  What’s more, even though we’re talking about possible criminal activity, what are we really talking about?  We’re talking about Ritter’s plea bargains will illegals!

        Every report I’ve heard about this investigation always, and I mean always, references the plea bargains.  Nobody is discounting the ad itself, just the way the info was obtained.  This is like free ad time for Bob.  I know that Ritter was trying to stunt the blows from the ads, but I think he may have kicked over a hornets nest and now it’s full speed ahead for the attack ads (but I really like Bob’s latest ad with the horse).

        And I get the gyst that the GOP’s GOTV this year may be the best ever.  I think the Dems are writing off the social conservative vote and they’re banking on a lackluster GOP performance.  So, for that matter, are the pollsters who’s turnout projection tools are skewed Democratic because of these reports.

        Just one man’s prediction: if you were stunned by the “value voter” turnout two years ago, hang onto your hats.

        1. I suppose that is one way to spin this.

          Although I don’t think candidates like to see their name right next to “FBI/CBI investigation” during the last three weeks of their campaign.

        3. Being investigated for criminal activity like Both Ways Bob is now embroiled in is a positive?  How laughable.  Only FFF would have “sympathy” for one more Republican neck deep in yet another criminal investigation.  Colorado voters are sick and tired of Republican corruption as we witness another Republican, Alan Philps, being charged. 
          When the Beauprez camp criminal investigation is complete, it will be just one more reason added to the mountain of reasons why BWB will lose this election. 
          FFF points out that many Republicans are just sheep and vote for a person just because he/she has an ‘R’ after their name.  While FFF may think Republicans are that dumb, I do not.  Mountain and Western Slope voters know about Beauprez’s support for Ref. A, the effort to steal their water and which went down to defeat in every Colorado County.  They know he could attempt it again.  Colorado voters know how ineffective BWB has been in Washington and how he has been nothing much more than a rubber stamp for Bush’s failed policies. 
          Veterans know how BWB avoided the draft when other brave Americans were giving their lives in Vietnam.  It is why military veterans groups are putting their support behind Mr. Ritter and why Beauprez has gotten his second title as a Chickenhawk. 
          Colorado voters have seen how BWB provides policy statements like his elk schooling agenda and his accountability pledge which have absolutely no basis in reality.  They know he will say or do anything to get elected. 
          Beauprez has alienated the sane moderate Republicans who will vote for Mr. Ritter because of Beauprez’s choice of clueless,http://www.rockymoun… extremist wingnut Janet Rowland.  His opposition to Ref. ‘C’ has driven away the Chamber of Commerce type Republicans who knew how good the initiative was for their businesses.
          All that people like FFF can do is keep beating the dead horse of prosecutions which are practiced by every DA in the state.  But what else should we expect form someone who uses his report card grades as his handle?

    2. Zogby is still all over the board with Colorado predictions. He usually overestimates the democratic vote. The independents plus one party’s registration outnumber the other party.  Ritter is doing a Kerry….doesn’t think enough of the voters to grab TV time and explain his position….listens to his money “handlers” and foundation consultants and can not hear the people…who are pissed.

      Ritter, Perlmutter and Gordon are decent, intelligent men….and losers….
      they have been effectively manipulated by the brie boys…

      where the h….l are the power voices..the men with guts…..mike miles…gene nichols?

    3. It is tough to count Bob out… He has always seemed to run a crappy campaign (all the way back to when he ran for State Chair) but then, when you think he can be written off, he pulls it together (or as in 2004, he pulls it together as his opponent essentially loses his national-level support). We saw it in the 2002 Primary, then the  squeaker with Mike, in 2004 with “whats his name” and even this last spring when duking it out with Holtzman.

      I’m still not sure how the investigation will impact Bob’s campaign… But if it really is a Fed official who leaked the file to the Beauprez Campaign, it seems to me that Bob could make most of this go away by throwing the Fed under the bus and just firing the staffer who brought it forward.

  4. Cary Kennedy, the Democratic candidate for Colorado State Treasurer, speaks out of both sides of her mouth regarding one of the most important pieces of Colorado’s fiscal problems.

    Amendment 23, which governs spending on K-12 education, requires growth in that spending even during recession and regardless of whether there is any evidence that more money is producing better results in our public schools.

    That automatic growth put Colorado’s economy on a collision course with lower tax receipts as we suffered through the tech collapse and a recession that hit Colorado harder than the average state.

    Cary Kennedy, who was a key player in writing Amendment 23 with that truly senseless spending “auto-pilot” was of course actively involved in writing Referendum C, the biggest tax increase in the history of the state…which she needed to cover the fiscal train wreck caused by her earlier work.

    Yet, when asked about her position on the “ratchet” in Amendment 23, the provision which forces up spending regardless of whether that would be a wise thing to do, Kennedy can’t seem to get her answers straight:

    In an interview with the Denver Post, she apparently told them that “Amendment 23 should have had more flexibility in downturns like the 2003-05 recession”. 

    But in an editoral published the same day in the Loveland Reporter-Herald, Kennedy told them that she “is steadfast in her backing of the measure’s ratcheting effect, saying Colorado dug itself into such a deep hole in education that the state must commit to the Amendment 23 formula, regardless of other budget woes.”

    It’s fairly easy to guess which position Kennedy really believes; she is a dyed-in-the-wool big-government tax-and-spend addict, exactly the wrong sort of person to be treasurer in a State which is trying to balance difficult financial decisions.

    Someone whose claim to fame is writing both the biggest spending problem and the biggest tax increase in Colorado’s history, and who doesn’t even know her own view on a Constitutional provision that she wrote is certainly not fit to be the steward of our tax dollars.

    4. Wasn’t Referendum C actually APPROVED by something more than 50% of the voters?  If you want to look at a really pathetic example of a tax increase (that no one got to vote on) — look no further than the Owen’s-appointed PUC that is making every Xcel ratepayer pay for the new Pueblo coal plant.  All they know is that it will be a minimum of $1.2 billion borne on the backs of every ratepayer in the state.  No vote…no voice…

    5. Still bitter over Ref C, huh? Funding education is the state’s “biggest spending problem”? I guess we should put the kids to work to cover the costs of their own education. Really Ross, you should try ColoradoHacks.com

    6. hello again, all.  I just love writing in a liberal environment like this.

      Can’t you guys at least try to have a debate on the issues rather than frame some weak attempt to question my writing? I mean when is the last time you guys had articles picked up by the Wall Street Journal?

      Anyway, as far as “righty talking points”, if you mean support for limited government and the limited cost that’s supposed to go along with it, of course that’s what you’re going to get from me. That’s what I believe in.

      Still bitter about Ref. C?  Hell, yes!  Obviously it passed with more than 50% of the vote, but considering that the Republican (turncoat) governor and a Colorado billionaire supported it, for it only to have won by about 52-48 shows me that it was much less popular than you liberals would like to believe.

      And yes, Amendment 23 is our single biggest spending problem because it puts such a huge percentage of the budget on auto-pilot regardless of recession or efficiency.

      I’ll be traveling for a few days and not visiting this site…. You can email me directly via my web site at rossputin.com if you feel a need to debate me.

      1. my party calls 49% a landslide.  I would say 52% is a mandate from the people.  As for supporting education I wasn’t aware the quality of our kids education was to ebb and flow with the economy.  Shall we just have them stay at home during the next recession?  Given that we have a 170,000 voter advantage in this state — are you suggesting we’re just a bunch of sheep because the Governor told us to do something — or perhaps there is a significant branch of our party that actually thinks a problem through before we vote?

    1. I actually read your website and a couple of posts. You seemed excited about turning Colorado blue and Hawaii red. Why would anyone but you want to do that? I understand you were gestated by a Republican longshot, and therefore you have some reason to support her, but nobody else does. So ease up already, would you? You’ve apparently been posting this spack on a bunch of lefty websites for no good reason. Knock it off.

      1. Its his mom. If my mom were running for any office in any state for just about any party i would be screaming it from the roof tops. I think it is pretty cool, as a matter of fact, and from what I understand republicans in Hawaii are of the same vein as Chaffee or Snowe. I think the term would be RINO, although I think it is an idiotic term. If you are so bothered by his posts dont read them and or dont send money to his mom. But seriously, you dont have to be a dick about it.

        1. and he got some. Maybe it wasn’t polite but hey, be careful what you wish for…

          His mom is probably a lovely person but as a Democrat, this just isn’t the year I or any Dem I know is going out of the way to put a Republican into office. I’d dearly love to see Chafee, for example, keep his seat but the stark reality is that the Dems are playing for keeps and have learned their lessons well from their Republican counterparts. I used to be alot more reasonable until I watched what happened to my country in the last six months under this administration and this Republican controlled Congress.

          I’m not feeling so reasonable anymore.

          And you know, considering how often David blogs as part of the DKos community, I’d love to see him put the same diary up over there and I notice he hasn’t. Can’t say I blame him–he’d get torn a brand new one for putting up this shit over there.

            1. I read it after I posted my comment yesterday. After reading the comments on DKos, David, I think it’s safe to say you are putting an unusually positive spin on the reaction to your diary.

              1. I thought the comments by and large were reasonable and civil – albiet 100% opposed (as I said in my previous post).

                But I can understand that some might view disagreement as uncivil no matter how phrased.

                1. I said you were being unusually positive to call comments such as “this is a troll” and “this is a troll diary”, well, positive.

                  I did particularly enjoy Akaka’s campaign manager’s reply to you. That was enjoyable.

                  1. I really appreciated his posting under his own name and job – that was a large part of the reason why I did not jump on his claims about Akaka (the other being that it was not appropiate on DailyKOS).

                    Yes there were a couple saying it was a troll – and a couple of others saying it wasn’t. I didn’t say it was perfect. But by and large I think it was reasonable and civil.

                    Of course, I much prefer to discuss politics with people I disagree with and I am definitely in a minority in that respect.

                    1. but yes, his reply was professional, well thought out, and as a Democrat, I found his points to be convincing as to why Akaka should continue to represent Hawaii. I’ve also spent quite a bit of time in Hawaii so I’ve had an interest in that race.

                      That said, I do want to mention that I thought you were very polite and respectful to the DKos forum; I applaud you for that.

                      And…I must applaud your mother for running for office. I think it takes incredible courage to run in today’s political climate–everything is personal, down to your hairstyle, the way you speak, what you wear to a forum, what kind of ad you put up on tv, what your position is on Iraq or et al.

                      I could never run for office–I’m too thin skinned so I mean it when I say that I give your mom kudos for having the guts and courage to put herself out there as a candidate for public service.

  9. N.Y. Times and Assoc. Press are reprting that Orange County (California) GOP leaders had called for the withdrawal of a GOP congressional candidate who is believed to have sent a letter threatening Hispanic immigrant voters with arrest.  Dave Schultheis would be proud!

  10. Virginia Dem Senate candidate James Webb:

      “Towel-heads and rednecks – of which I am one. If you write that word, please say that. I mean, I don’t use that pejoratively, I use it defensively. Towel-heads and rednecks became the easy villains in so many movies out there.”….classy

    Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of MD:

    refering to (African-American) Senate candidate Michael Steele:

    he supports “a career of slavishly supporting the Republican Party.”

    are you f’ing serious? This was one day, and none of it was on the news, not to mention the Dem Leader of the Senate’s numerous infractiosn and undocumented land grab deals that when questioned…hangs up on the AP.  Those in glass houses should not throw stones, what a joke, but continue to be the party of no wrong.

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