July 10, 2014 11:34 AM UTC

Yes, Mayor Bloomberg, Colorado Springs Has Roads

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• by: Colorado Pols

Downtown Colorado Springs. Photo via Wikipedia

UPDATE: Sen. Mark Udall responds via FOX 31:

“Not since New Jersey Governor Chris Christie attacked Colorado’s way of life has an east coaster gotten us so wrong,” said Udall spokesman James Owens. “Christie and Bloomberg should stick to what they know best: traffic jams and tiny sodas.

“Mayor Bloomberg is way off base about Pueblo and Colorado Springs, two of Colorado’s strongest and proudest communities.”

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As FOX 31's Eli Stokols reports, an embarrassing gaffe from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has local Republicans up in arms today–and frankly, there's not much anybody can say to defend this:

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is popping off about Colorado in a new Rolling Stone interview and Republicans here, who have been blasting Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper for taking cues from Bloomberg on the state’s new gun laws, couldn’t be happier about it.

Asked about three Colorado Democrats being forced out of office by a recall movement that arose last summer after the legislature’s passage of laws expanding background checks and banning magazines of more than 15 rounds, legislation Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns lobbied hard for, the former mayor said this:

“The NRA went after two or three state Senators in a part of Colorado where I don’t think there’s roads. It’s as far rural as you can get. [Pols emphasis] And, yes, they lost recall elections. I’m sorry for that. We tried to help ‘em. But the bottom line is, the law is on the books, and being enforced. You can get depressed about the progress, but on the other hand, you’re saving a lot of lives.”

As our in-state readers know, and we're happy to clarify for Mr. Bloomberg, Colorado Springs and Pueblo are pretty far from "as rural as you can get." The almost 450,000 residents of Colorado Springs, and 700,000 residents of that city's larger metropolitan area, do not get around on foot. And how many roadless places are home to the biggest steel mill in the Rocky Mountain West?

With that said, this kind of ignorant dismissal of the West by Eastern politicians isn't new–witness Chris Christie's nonsensical comments about "quality of life" in Colorado compared to (don't laugh) New Jersey, which the whole state condemned without partisan considerations. We expect there will be few if any Colorado Democrats to defend Bloomberg today, because what he said is plainly indefensible.

Republicans, of course, would like to turn this into a casus belli against all Colorado Democrats, but it's a weak case. Democrats are certainly aware that Colorado Springs and Pueblo have roads, and won't have a problem saying so. Bloomberg may have supported the 2013 gun safety bills, but that shouldn't stop Democrats from criticizing him for making these foolish statements. Bloomberg's own reputation in Colorado won't be helped by this, but the bottom line is, everyone likely to be alienated by Michael Bloomberg already has been in the last year and a half of political warfare over guns. Nothing Bloomberg says can change the fact that 80% of the public supports the state's new universal background check law, or that the courts have upheld the state's new gun safety laws as constitutional.

And lastly, if all politicians are to be judged by what their donors say, Republicans might come out the losers.