August 22, 2013 03:00 PM UTC

Jon Caldara Hidden Camera #2: "We Can't Screw Up"

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• by: Colorado Pols

A second clip of video of right-wing Independence Institute President Jon Caldara, speaking in Colorado Springs earlier this month about the recall special election coming up in September against Senate President John Morse. In the first clip we debuted last weekend, Caldara spoke of his goal to incite "a wave of fear" in state legislatures across the nation to stop gun safety legislation from passing anywhere else as it did in Colorado.

In this latest clip, Caldara delivers to fellow conservatives a stern warning:

CALDARA: …The entire nation comes to Colorado Springs and Pueblo to decide the fate of this issue. And it will go one way, or it will go the other way, and here we are. We've got a month and a few days to do it. That means we can't screw up. We can't make the mistakes that our team usually makes. We can't go out there in camouflage in front of the MSNBC news truck, and talk about how we need our guns for armed revolution [Pols emphasis] when these bastards keep taking away our rights!

To be honest, this is good advice from Caldara, despite the fact that he has repeatedly failed to take this kind of good advice during his own campaigns. During the long debate over gun safety legislation at the state capitol last spring, we made the observation that overly strident pro-gun activists, much like the "Occupy" movement or the Tea Party itself, might alienate swing voters they need if they appear too radical or rebellious. It's a fine line to walk, especially if one's natural tendency is to be, you know, excitable. And folks, let us just say, as delicately as we can, that there's a significant crossover between that tendency and right-wing politics.

But as we said about the "wave of fear" video's predictions, this is advice best given off-camera. Particularly when two recall efforts have already failed.