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January 13, 2007 07:31 PM UTC

Weekend Open Thread

  • 108 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

One of us had quite a bit to drink last night.

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108 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread”

    1. Mine’s a senior in High School though so I won’t see a whole lot of her.

      (My wife and youngest are in Las Vegas for a soccer tournament. My wife reported that the girls had fun crusing the strip while the parents glared at all the men staring at the girls.)

      Have a fun weekend all. I’m doing a little programming and mostly playing Company of Heroes.

      And for your amusement:

      Politically Incorrect paper ad

      Russian artist Alsou in English

  2. Allard Announces no go.  SM already making calls and lined up support from most, if not all Repub leadership.

    Tancredo runs for Prez.  Wiens is set to announce for CD 6 with a cool million to start. interesting to see what Coffman does, there is some bad blood there.  Andrews won’t run – on the edge of a real radio show.

    1. Monday at noon is the announcement time (check the reservations for the state capitol press room).  Announcements for U.S. Senate reelection are not made at the state capitol press room – only goodbyes.  Also, Scotty Mac is working the phones furiously this weekend.

    2. I think that’s why Dick Wadhams is coming to town.  He can micro-manage the entire statewide campaign for Romney’s presidential run while working dynamics for Allard.  It just makes sense.

      But, let’s just say Allard does step down, I am really anxious to see Bob Schaffer get into this thing.  He is the classiest conservative of the bunch and I think he could generate a lot of support. 

      Scott McInnis is a good guy and I think he could easily win given his more moderate positions on social issues.  But I think that he would probably keep the social conservatives sedated.  The social cons are already pretty upset at the local GOP and I’m not sure that you could get the Springs vote.  If Salazar the Brother gets into this thing then you’ll see a lot of social cons crossover to vote for him.

      All I can say is Please God! don’t let Tancredo run.  He’s a nice man but he will destroy the state GOP for a long time to come.  The only reason Republicans are losing in Colorado lately is because the whole damn party is so screwed up.  This is a fundamentally conservative state and there’s no reason why the other team should be winning.  Tancredo is not uniter.  Schaffer and, I’ll say it, McInnis are both capable of getting the GOP in order.

      It will potentially be a very good year for Colorado Republicans.  If–and its a big IF–they can get their house in order.  We need Allard to run.  Big time.

      1. Schaffer has integrity and authenticity….those are qualities which stood the dems well in Colorado in 2006……he might have a shot.  However, the dems are on a roll…they have the big M.  Nobody likes to be for the losing team for too long and the Republicans lost, lost big and lost because they underestimated the intelligence of the Colorado voter.

        1. The bought the fallacious idea that immigration would be the primary determinant of how one votes.  Immigration mattered then–and it still matters–but it wasn’t a top concern.  Beauprez hardly mentioned the very popular marriage amendment but harped on immigration.  I’m not sure he could have beaten Ritter but by emphasizing the values issues that were popular in ’06 he could have made it close.  At the very least, he could have kept a lot of downticket folks in their races.

        2.   I disagree w/ Schaffer on about 99% of public policy issues BUT he does have one very rare and admirable quality:  integrity.  (In that sense, he’s like Joel and Lynne Hefley.)
            He actually put his own personal ambition aside to honor his term-limit pledge.  How many other Republicans can claim to have been able to do that?  Certainly not Tancredo, and the jury is still out on whether the “Potted Plant” will live up to his pledge or not.
            I also felt a little sorry for Schaffer after Bill Owens royally screwed him with that endorsement which last almost 24 hours before Owens endorsed the Beer Baron in ’04.

          1. “I disagree with him, but he’s a good guy.”

            Thank you.

            Anyway, Shaffer’s got a tremendous reputation for honesty, integrity and loyalty.  I didn’t like his role in the Ramey situation, but I believe he got involved based on his convictions.

            How’s this: He wouldn’t make a good party chairman, but he’s a good ideological standard-bearer. 

        3. he sandbagged Ramey Johnson right before the endof the  2004 elections over her vote opposing school vouchers. She lost a really close race to Green.  So, he blew up someone in his own party over a single issue.  I wonder what that action does for his integrity rating?  It is a sleazy thing to do to someone in your own party.  He ended up getting a job with Cranberg so maybe it was a job interview.

          As Senator he would be the political leader of the party.  You’d want to be careful to say the right things and vote the right way.  How successful would a party be ruled by Schaffer and Wadhams? 

          1. Hi;

            Ok, I know nothing about this specific case. But is there anyone, anyone at all, who has never done anything to be ashamed about?

            And politics is the art of the possible. Find someone who is totally pure as a politician and I’ll show you someone unlikely to get elected and totally useless if they are elected.

            So, comparing him to the other politicians in this state, how does he stack up? Because that is the only realistic measure.

      2. Last week I came to this Lefty site to enlighten you about the rise from ashes of the Repubs in Colorado.  My dead-on prediction – Wadams would announce on Monday last for party chair – and he did.

        Yet you doubt me this week? Even as I name the exact time and place of the Allard announcement that he will not run (noon on Monday at the state capitol, in the press room, on the third floor).

        I know you all spend your time talking amongst yourselves, but I have come to this site to bring you great news of the journey back to majority – If I am wrong about Allard, McGinnis, Tancredo, or Weins – I will be back to admit it.  Until then, enjoy the ride with Clyde.

        I am, as allways, ALLRED.

          1. Those kind of things rarely start on time.  So hostile though.  The sudden demand for precision on this site is quite surprising.  Yet, I shall always work to improve the exactness of my predictions.

    3. I just don’t know much about him.  I’ve heard he’s pro-chioce.  But what about stem-cells, marriage, etc?  Is he just another John McCain.  Because I’d rather have Che Guevarra in office than McCain.

      2. Where did I ever get that idea???

        Check this out…

        http://www.issues200…

        If he can get a 91% for the Christian Coalition and 0% from NARAL I’d say he’s a fine conservative and he’ll certainly get my vote!  The one black-eye is his “no” vote on the Federal Marriage Protection Amendment.  But we got that passed in Colorado so I’m satisfied.

        I was behind Schaffer but I think, given McInnis’ stash of cash and good voting record, I’ll be supporting him. 

      1. I promise 100% accuracy…

        1.) Coloradans who make predictions will be chastened.  They will realize that you never predict Colorado’s winter.  They realize that you can never predict the course of a war. And they certainly realize that our politics are as whacky as the weather–hence unpredictable.  About the kids I’m afraid you may be right.  Although blogs are terribly popular with young people so you never know.

        2.) Colorado leaves the purple murkiness and gets back in the red in 2008.

  4. …by reporting any and all information you may have about Rev. Haggard (including any live sightings of the fallen preacher in compromising positions) to: http://www.newlifechurch.org.
      No word yet on whether the New Life Church is offering any cash rewards for those submitting the most sordid and verifiable details.

    1. Yes he was a major hipocrite. But boy has he paid for that. And I bet that for the rest of his life he will continue to be torn in two as he is gay and believes that being gay is a sin.

      No one can punish him worse than what he is doing to himself.

      1.   Jean Torkelsen, the religion editor of the RMN, had a story today about the New Life Church inviting people to inform on Rev. Haggard on the website.  It said that confidentiality cannot be guaranteed but that the church would try to treat the info. “discretely.”
          You are absolutely correct about who is in the best position to most abusively punish Rev. Ted for his self-perceived transgressions.

  5. All, and I mean all, those listed on The Big Line under the R column already have or soon will endorse Scotty Mac.  It will be a virtual love fest.

    1.   Tancredo is actually going to give up a chance to run for the Senate so he can focus on running for Prez and hoping to get that coveted third place finish in the delegate count?  (Third place was what Carlos Espinosa announced would be a “success” for the Tancredo for Prez campaign.)
        He’s also going to give up his very safe and secure House seat to have his name honorably (?) mentioned as an “also ran” at the GOP Convention in  Minnepolis? 
        I don’t doubt that the Potted Plant will announce Monday that he is uprooting himself back to Loveland, but I’m not convinced that Tancredo is going to let this opportunity slip by.

      1. Tommy is in Iowa this week.  Be patient my, friend.  The announcement of an Prez. exploratory committee is just days away.  TT is looking for a bigger stage, not necessarily a bigger job.

        1. I must confess to several typing errors (which is now a requirement of this site).  A misplaced comma after “my” in the second sentence.  Should be “a” in stead of “an” in fron to “Prez” (but to fair to myself, “Prez” was inserted just befor posting to ensure all would know what kind of exploratory committee, otherwise the “an” would have been just fine).

          I hope that is all. Whew, I feel clensed.

        2. What is the deal with your incessant leaking of information on this blog? And why are you so determined to demonstrate you “know it all”?

          You are making me very suspicious — to be perfectly frank. (And I’m not a suspicious person by nature.) 

        3. (And yes, I deliberately left out a space between “all” and “knowing”)

          In your short time here you have proven precient… so you are at least an inside source of (some of) the Repub’s moves, at least until proven otherwise.

          Welcome to the pols. We need more of your kind on this “lefty site.”

          1. I am here for entertainment only (mine).  I am a faithfull reader of this site, but it just became too blue for this red heart, so just want to spice things up a bit with some RED meat.

            Hope to spark some good conversation on occassion.

            1. Honestly, we don’t need meat, whether RED or BLUE.  The likes of FFF or LHGQ soon get old, tiresome, and ignored.  They typically don’t have real ideas to contribute, only tired platitudes.  And lots of impassioned partisan predictions based more on passion that reality.  Beuprez is going to wipe Ritter’s heinie, O”Donnell in a sweep, AAAAARGH!

              There are a lot of wonderful Pubs on this site: Lauren Bacall, Ftmorgan Repub, Gecko, and some others that I apologize for not being able to recall their names instantly.  It’s not even so much their position that makes them more tolerable, which may or may not be the case, but that lack of platitudes and a willingness to dialogue. 

              Now, since I wear blue tinted glasses, I know that I’m blind to similar criticisms on my side of the aisle.  So, please, anyone, tell me about BLUE meat.  (Other than that BBQ frozen now out on the grill!)

              1. Let me defend Clyde…

                He has given some predictions and he’s having fun with it all.  The problem is that “dialogue” is not really possible between party activists. We are the core conservatives and liberals and we don’t really agree on anything.  Clyde isn’t going to convince Mr. Reality of anything.  There’s no use debating the issues.  What Clyde is doing is predicting the various scenarios of Colorado Politics. 

                In (parsing) reality, you need to chill out.

                1. I’ve re-read my post and stand by it.  And I was responding to Clyde wanting to throw out red meat.  That mean’s appealing to our basest instincts.  I also stated specifically what I considered “meat”, platitudes and fact-less predictions.  Boring.

                  Bringing some humor into this was not part of my response.

                    1. to mean both things – that he was upping the red quotient at this site AND that he meant to engage in battles with us libs. I say, bring it on! You (DDHGQ) and Clyde will make this site more lively around here. I don’t mind partisans as long as they show that they have brains and like to use ’em every now and then.

                      Shills, on the other hand, can go jump in a lake. Preferably now.

        4. Tonight a friend revealed a conversaton with a person close to Gov. Richardson.

          The word is, if you choose to believe it, is that Tancredo will try for Prez, Weims (god, I hope I didn’t fall into that spelling broo ha ha)will run for 6, and McInnis will run for Senate.

          It’s only gossip, but hey, what do I know?

        1. …as did Lloyd Bensen in ’88 and Joe Lieberman in ’00.
            Colorado election law doesn’t allow that but because Tancredo isn’t expected to finish any higher than third place in Iowa and N.H. (at least, that’s what his press spokesman, Carlos Espinosa, said the other day), after his third place finish in each state, he’ll likely announce that his pet issue has been fully aired, he’s withdrawing from the presidential race in March, and then announce that he’s running for re-election to the House. 
            I don’t know what effect, if any, this will have on Republican candidates like Weins, Andrews, Coffman, Harvey, etc. who by that time will have announced their candidacies for C.D. 6. 
            Perhaps we’ll see a nice, messy five-way primary where Tancredo is trying to hold on to his House seat.  Any one of the four names which I listed (yes, even John Andrews)would be an improvement over Tancredo.

      3. I don’t mind a polarizer in general elections.  But when you split your own party it’s unforgiveable.  Tancredo is a big reason we lost the election this year.  He’s hardly even a conservative as much as he’s a “Fortress America” Buchananite.  For our Senate race and the presidential race the solid conservative will fare best. 

        Tom is a good guy but he’s too far out there to be a party or movement leader.

        1. Tancredo’s emphasis on illegal immigration compounded by poor (stupid) campaign tactics cost the Rs dearly in the last election cycle.  Apparently, no one realized that 20% of the state is Hispanic, and running a blatently anti-Hispanic campaign ain’t a winning strategy.  CD 6 has the smallest Hispanic population (6%), so from Tancredo’s perspective the anti-Hispanic message enriches him, but trashed the rest of the party.

          I hope he runs for President, ’cause win or lose he’ll be out of Colorado.  Maybe he’ll help build the fence on the Mexican border and, after that, we can send him to Isreale to build a wall between the Israelis and Palestinians, then on to Iraq to build a wall between the Shiites and Sunnis. Hey, there may be pieces of the Berlin Wall he can recyle!

      4. His rhetoric kamikazeed the GOP last year and Republican leaders haven’t forgotten about it.  Tancredo and his type are why we lost in 2006.  If you runs you will not see the suport swell up like it would for a Schaffer.

  6. Just about this time last year, Elaine Berman and Cole Finnegan’s wife (Carol?)wrote an op ed saying Ritter was okay with the planned parenthood choice bunch….that was powerful….signaling, I felt, that the nomination was Ritter’s.  I expected that Ritter would put both women in his administration…perhaps he has and I missed it.  But…maybe the State Board of Education is where one will surface….Speaking of which, where is Cole Finnegan?

    I still say the Repubs would lay down for John Elway doing an Arnold Swartenegarter ( I don’t have a clue how he spells his name)…

    Being old means it takes about four postings to figure out that Allred…means ALL RED….cute.

    Congratulations, One Queer Dude…learn a lot from you…and I can spell your  street name….

  7. I don’t give a rat’s ass about Allard. The domestic and international dynamics are changing rapidly. We need to identify and name the new matrix of change. Allard is already in the dust bin of history. Who are the new leaders, and what are their issues?

    1. What the hell is that?  Allard is history?  What are you talking about, exactly?

      He’s still our senator and his votes still represent Colorado.  Hardly a dustbin of history.  The international dynamics are indeed changing.  How is Allard not germaine to that? 

      And please tell, what exact changes are you talking about?

  8. TW a jerk no matter how you spell is name.  He is an awful public servant.  What happened to people with some sense of integrity, decency, & respect for the process — regardless of their ideology?  Wiens is horrible!

  9. I think that Beverly Ausfhal is the best person to replace Rico Munn and fight for public education.  She proved it while pres of CEA.  She is the one for us.

    1. I have been in barbed debate with Polly Baca on immigration at a particular event.  In a Q&A she preached until I finally yelled, “What is your question?”

      Later, she did the old advocacy/apologists line so common to established Hispanics. 

      Polly Baca has done some great things in her life that have made us a better society.

      But lately,……….

    2. There’s something wrong with a sub-50% graduation rate.  Vouchers will give immigrant kids a good education and an eevn better chance at assimilation.  I’d do whatever it takes to assimilate Latinos.  If that means bi-lingual education so be it.  But I don’t believe that’s the trick.  Let’s try vouchers and see if we can give these kids a shot at the American dream by embracing the free market.

      1. First, the kids need to want to learn.  The ones that want to, do so.

        Asian kids seem to excel no matter what school they attend.

        Vouchers never pay for the full cost of private schools, nor the transportation necessary to get there.  How you gonna get ’em from the barrio to Grayland Country?

        Vouchers are just a Trojan horse to destroy public education, teacher’s unions, and help subsidize rich families who were going to Grayland anyway.

        Where and when parents are involved, whether at the kitchen table or in the board room, kids excel. 

        1. Having spent some time on this there are two major issues:

          1) The public schools do a poor job educating kids. And the less the child’s parents and the child themselves value education, the worse the school does. And the less the child’s parents can step in both to tutor their kids and to push the school to do it’s job, the worse the school does.

          2) The long term benefits of an education are great. But for many poor families they don’t feel that in their gut and more money in to the family over the next week/month/year can outweigh what they get in 20 years.

          – dave

          1. required education ends at the 6th grade level in Mexico?  Most kids then leave school and go to work to help family finances?  I think I read that in a RMN story but am not certain.

          2. As a broad generality, I agree that PE has gone way downhill.  Outside of the big cities, I think that it tends to be better.  I have three daughters who graduated from the St. Vrain system in the 80’s who got a terrific education.  It prepared them well for college, and now, professionaly.  Maybe my ex and I had something to do with that outcome, too, but we were just typical for the community. 

            Sounding like a conservative, I also believe that the teacher stock has deteriorated greatly.  I don’t mean their knowledge of Piaget’s developmental theories, but as examples in the community.

            Some teachers today see nothing wrong with visible tattoos, wearing very casual clothes, having bare midriffs, getting pregnant while single, etc.  Once upon a time any suggestion of “moral turpitude” would result in immediate dismissal.  Today we have teachers involved in sexual scandals with their students, drug and DUI busts, and all sorts of behaviors. And many are not well read, or well rounded in their knowledge. They are effectively children, themselves.

            I do not mean to denigrate the teachers who are otherwise.

             

        2. If it’s a Trojan Horse that actually helps the kids graduate from High School and does a better job of teaching, then do the internal needs of the union matter?

          What about vouchers and some sort of augmentation program to guarantee transportation?

          PR, Did you vote for the preschool initiative? 

            1. Pay them. One amount for each kid on a college level track getting a 2.5 or above, and increase it at a 3.0, 3.5, and 3.9.

              Set it up so they have more money tomorrow if they kid is acing school than if they are at McDonalds.

          2. At the minimal level that I looked at the proposal, I probably would have voted against it.  That’s a “probably” with enough room to swing a bull in.  (My recognition of the Stock Show.)

        3. Why do you have so little confidence public schools that you feel vouchers will kill public education?  Parents are LAZY!  Schlepping the kids across town to that fine little private school takes effort.  How will Buffy and Biff find time for that?

          I firmly believe that parents have a natural affinity for the school that is closet to their home.  If the parent is unhappy with the neighborhood school that might change.  Can you think of any reasons that the parents might get motivated to put themselves out?  I can think of one: if their child isn’t getting what they need from the local school.  Who are the schools supposed to serve anyway?

          1. Last time I looked I think it was 30% of the kids are open-enrolled. Although as one district member said, there are a ton of Fairview and Boulder High Students that basically go to each other’s local school.

            For parents that understand how critical education is for their kid’s future they will schlep. What becomes a problem is the high corelation between income level and understanding this. So the poor stay poor.

          2. When you don’t own a car or work three jobs.

            Have students spent 3 hours a day on public buses?  Sure, but that is definitely going to put a damper on that voucher.  (And, another, what, $20/mo for a pass?)

            1. we forced kids to ride buses for 3 hours.  Now it’s wrong if the parents find it necessary?  If the parents have an option and they don’t avail themselves of it, no harm done.  If they need an option and don’t have it, they’re poorer for it.

              1. I can testify that I spent 60 minutes average on the bus, and that’s total morning AND afternoon. (Of course it took longer during bad weather, bad traffic, when the bus broke down, and so on but that didn’t happen all that often.) No one rode it for 3 hours, so I call bullshit on that statement.

                1. Sigh.  Your experiences were what they were, I’m sure that they are not universal. And if I’m guilty of hyperbole, so be it.  What if I said 2 hours, 33 minutes?  Two hours, one minute.

                  1. I was replying to Les who said “During mandatory bussing we forced kids to ride buses for 3 hours.” Now, he may have been responding to your hypothetical (and I recognize your statement as that, and a logically sound hypothetical I might add, given RTD’s sorry bus scheduling and the fact that going anywhere but downtown means transferring two or three times). But Les made his statement regarding desegregation busing, and stated it as fact. That’s what I’m calling BS.

                    Keep in mind that I’m on your side most of the time. 😉

              2. Yes, that’s right Johnny! 

                Forced bussing involved many or all of the students in one neighborhood being transported to another.

                Vouchers would require one or two students being picked up in (hypothetical) NW Denver and being transported to Cherry Hills.

                1. If it falls to the parents to get their kids to Cherry Hills, why should the teachers union care?  I still want to know, why are you convinced that there will be a stampede out of the public schools?  Do you know something about the public schools that I don’t?

  11. but we didn’t know it.  It was a social experiment by the courts to make school districts comply with the law.  It just wasn’t a good education idea.  Vouchers are the same kind of non-education social experiment based on conservative, small government theory and practice.  Modern vouchers were orginally conceived by Milton Friedman.  Over the past umpteen years vouchers have been used in several places.  There is no definitive research showing vouchers make a better education system. 

    I think teachers in public schools do a good job in an increasingly difficult situation.  My daughter got a great education.  We lived in a town of about 60,000 people.  She has friends from all over the states and from all different circumstances.  They are all ( well, almost all!) smart, well educated young adults.  They were given a chance and they took it. 

    1. Bussing and vouchers are kissing cousins?  Bussing wasn’t about education, it was about social engineering!  I need to attend to business at the moment but I’ll be back with more later.  Come now puddin!

  12. I called it for the State Board of Education…..Elaine Ganz Berman was selected by the dems to fill Munn’s spot…..may she do for Colorado what she did for DPS.  Let me make it perfectly clear I was not supporting her selection, I was predicting it.  Now, does Colorado Pols have a scoreboard…if not it should…and I want one marked for my side.

      1. Berman was on the Denver Board of Education from 1996 or 7 and was term limited in ’04 or ’05.. She was president part of that time. Her record stands.

        1. You brought it up.  Maybe I’d miss the really great things she did and I’d want her to get full credit.

          “Her record stands.”

          What a snotty thing to say.  Don’t trumpet her service with DPS and wish for it from her at the next level if you’re not going to elaborate. I can look up what she did, dingus.  What did she do that you liked so much?

          1. I am trying real hard to be neutral here. ……perhaps an old teacher trick….Look it up…..Decide for yourself…..I am not going to forcefeed you anything…..Berman will be real influencial with an all Dem administration….you should know her philosphy and strategies…

  13. Governor Ritter has appointed almost all of the cabinet positions with possibly the exception of the Department of Transportation.  Not one of these appointments is from the West Slope.  This is a disservice not only to people in western Colorado but also for the Governor who needs to have balance in his cabinet.  It would appear that there are several capable individuals from the West Slope who would be a good fit for the CDOT position.  In particular, former Rep. Mark Larson from southwest Colorado is someone who is well-respected by many on the West Slope as well as throughout the state.  From what I understand, he also was a major supporter of the new Governor which riled many in the Republican party.

    Here’s hoping that Governor Ritter reaches out and embraces all of the state rather than merely the Front Range.

    1. I was trying to make a funny but then also realized that it is “Western Slope”, friend.

      Seriously, it is a puzzlement why he couldn’t find some one for some position from the other side of the divide.

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