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June 23, 2014 10:09 AM UTC

Local Media Tosses Beauprez Softballs As Primary Nears

  • 23 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

beauprezdemsfear

​As you'd expect, there was a great deal of coverage this past weekend in local media about the field of Republican gubernatorial candidates competing in tomorrow's primary elections. As we wind down the last hours towards the close of primary tomorrow night, we've been struck by the overall deferential press coverage frontrunner Bob Beauprez has received, especially compared to fellow ex-Congressman and chief primary opponent Tom Tancredo. There's a clear consensus among institutional Republicans today that Beauprez is best suited–relatively speaking anyway–to take on Gov. John Hickenlooper in November, despite the GOP's own polling showing Beauprez a 15-point loser in head to head matchups.

In this space since Beauprez has entered the 2014 gubernatorial race, we've documented in just a few months of casual research and forwarded tips a treasure trove of opposition research–not just from Beauprez's political career before 2006, but the absolutely nutty stuff he has said since then in interviews and his own writings. With the exception of Beauprez's on-again off-again support for the individual mandate to buy health insurance, which opponents have used against him, none of this unelectably crazy stuff that Beauprez has said since 2006 has been reported in local media. 

It's anybody guess why Beauprez has not been asked to explain why he once claimed that President Barack Obama is leading the nation toward civil war–or how Shariah law is 'sneaking in' to Colorado, or why climate change is a hoax, or his pandering to the "birther" conspiracy crowd, or a long list of other incendiary "Tea Party" nonsense from Beauprez that you'll soon know about if he does win tomorrow's primary.

Instead, for the last week, Beauprez has been the subject of puff piece interviews like this one from FOX 31's Eli Stokols this weekend:

And this sweet nothingburger from the Summit Daily News' Joe Moylan:

In 2002, Beauprez used his success to launch a winning campaign for Congress, representing Colorado’s 7th Congressional District. He returned to Colorado in 2006 to accept the endorsement of outgoing Gov. Bill Ritter, [he meant Owens–Pols] but doesn’t shy away from admitting he was thumped by Democratic candidate Bill Ritter.

Now a published author and editor in chief of a national public policy website, Beauprez initiated a second campaign for governor, basing much of his platform off of his ideals in his two books “A Return to Values: A Conservative Looks at His Party” and “Liberty’s Promise: My Plan to Protect Freedom & Our Constitutional Rights.”

“…Yes, I got my toe stubbed (in 2006), but you learn by doing.”

Even the AP's Ivan Moreno treats Peyton Manning Beauprez with inexplicable kid gloves:

Beauprez said he’s more seasoned this time around. “Anybody who doesn’t learn from losing their toe, popping themselves in the nose, going through a tough time, anybody who doesn’t learn from that shouldn’t be in the game at all,” he said.

He’s also quick to use a sports analogy.

“I think Peyton (Manning) is probably looking forward to the next time he gets to play a Super Bowl,” Beauprez said, referring to the Broncos 43-8 shattering defeat in the Super Bowl against the Seattle Seahawks this year. [Pols emphasis]

With the primary tomorrow, local media seems quite willing to help the GOP establishment's pro-Beauprez consensus win out, and it's Republican primary voters being done a disservice. Sure, there are some Republican voters out there who will like Beauprez calling out Obama for trying to start Civil War II! But there are a whole lot more Republican primary voters who have been fed the message that Beauprez is not as unelectably loony as Tom Tancredo. We'd go as far as suggest that is the biggest factor working in Beauprez's factor in tomorrow's primary.

And you know what? That's not nearly as big an advantage as they've been led to believe.

Bottom line: if those poor, longsuffering Republican primary voters, desperate for a win after years of losing at the top of the ticket, find out what a total lunatic Beauprez turned into in the eight years since he last crushed their aspirations after they nominate him, they're not going to be happy. As we've watched this primary season play out with practically nothing about Beauprez's record other than his 2006 defeat seeing local press coverage, our readers have come to understand something about Beauprez that the GOP primary electorate, pending results tomorrow, has not.

When it comes time to say we told you so, we will.

Comments

23 thoughts on “Local Media Tosses Beauprez Softballs As Primary Nears

    1. Nope it's our gutless false equivalatin' lazy local shitsville media.

      I think once Beauprez's the nominee, Eli Stokols will run the story Pols wants.

  1. From the Summit Daily News:

    He returned to Colorado in 2006 to accept the endorsement of outgoing Gov. Bill Ritter, but doesn’t shy away from admitting he was thumped by Democratic candidate Bill Ritter. – See more at: http://coloradopols.com/diary/59688/local-media-tosses-beauprez-softballs-as-primary-nears#comments

     

    Ugh?

    This along with the Gardner piece that says the "pill" was "approved" 44 years 

    ago.

     

    Proof reading?  fact checking?  Does it even matter?

  2. Dredging up the Super Bowl debacle is NOT a good way to give people warm fuzzies.  Most people would rather forget it.  Now its stink is all over Beauprez.

    This poor bastard just can't help himself, can he?

    1. No, no, no — BWB is Peyton Manning, only with a pitchfork, living off the land, and posing with horses asses . . . 

      . . . BWB is right — "anyone who doesn't learn from [shitting themselves daily] shouldn't be in the game" . . . 

      straight from the horse's asse's mouth !!

      ROFL

  3. The N.Y. Times had a piece on Tanc.  He sounded resigned to whatever fate befalls him tomorrow.  His attitude was that ppl would either vote for him or not.  The Times story also made mention of the blow-out results of the '06 gubernatorial race in which BWB finished second.

  4. Almost all local TV wants nothing to do with politics.They don't want to offend any viewer, not even with factual information.  Outside of crime and weather catastrophe, which people seem to enjoy, they want nothing but Mr. Roger's Neighborhood warm fuzzies.

    1. BC, you're right, but don't forget the animal stories that appear every night on the 10:00 o'clock broadcasts on every local news cast. Local news is now just the next entertainment show. 

    2. I talked about this very subject with the former managing editor of a local newspaper.  He said that people really don't read the political articles; the paper covered politics out of a sense of duty to the community but readers wouldn't miss it much if they didn't.

      He also pointed out that the most clicked link on the paper's web site was the Weather.

  5. Perhaps batshit crazy GOTPer's are the New Normal, thus not considered newsworthy. 

    Besides, it's hard work coming up with plausible false equivalences in Dem behavior to "balance" reporting the nutzos running on the GOP tickets.

  6. There was a fascinating discussion with Woodard and Berstein on CNN(?)  and they talked about the state of journalism, today.  They said back in the watergate days, they spend weeks, months, developing the story..talking to people, fact checking. following leads, etc. etc.  It cost money.  Newspapers don't have that kind of money, today. (duh.) The second observation I thought was really interesting was that they said news today…..newspapers and certainly cable TV is not about facts, it is all about commentary…..comentary is cheaper to produce…..

    1. Almost, dwyer. They're all about eyeballs, ratings, page hits. So they do car chases and celebs and cheapo everything. News? Actual reporting? What a quaint, outdated notion. If good reporting generated ratings and web hits, they'd do more of it.

       

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