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December 22, 2015 10:35 AM UTC

Yes, Republicans Are Standing Behind JoAnn Windholz

  • 5 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
GOP Rep. JoAnn Windholz (center).
GOP Rep. JoAnn Windholz (center).

The Colorado Independent’s Marianne Goodland updates the ongoing controversy over freshman GOP Rep. JoAnn Windholz’s remarks in the wake of the Planned Parenthood domestic terror attack in Colorado Springs. Readers will recall Windholz very pointedly asserted that Planned Parenthood is the “real culprit” behind the shootings, a statement she later removed from social media but has to this date not apologized for or even publicly commented on.

Windholz’s comments spread nationally with the story of the Planned Parenthood attack, and the backlash has been fairly intense. Windholz won her HD-30 seat by the narrowest of margins in 2014, an election much more favorable to Republicans than 2016 is expected to be. While some Democrats have pushed for a speedy recall of Windholz, more strategic-minded Democrats believe it would be better to face this weakened opponent in the general election.

The unknown variable in this is how Windholz’s fellow Republicans would decide to proceed–by forcing her resignation, or doubling down in support of their incumbent in order to hold a seat they have to hold to retain any hope of flipping the House next year. And that’s where Goodland picks up the story:

Rep. JoAnn Windholz still has her party’s support in the 2016 race after she blamed Planned Parenthood for inciting the Nov. 27 rampage at a Colorado Springs clinic, referring to the health organization as the “real culprit” in the murder of three.

Adams County GOP leaders Warren Main and Gary Mikes lauded her record as a lawmaker. She is very religious and has “high morals,” Main told The Colorado Independent.

And there you have it, folks. Obviously there are higher-level Republicans who might have other ideas we haven’t heard yet, but support from Windholz’s local Adams County Republicans is without a doubt crucial to her thinking going into 2016.

To paraphrase the Sound of Music, how do Republicans solve a problem like JoAnn Windholz? Should they have pushed her to quickly resign, which would have outraged the pro-life Republican base but given them someone else to hold this seat? Are they right to calculate on Windholz being able to “live this down” Cory Gardner-style as these comments from Adams County Republicans suggest? Or is it all just re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic, ahead of a 2016 election in a lost-cause district that Republicans should just write off?

The one thing we’re pretty sure of is that none of this is good for them.

Comments

5 thoughts on “Yes, Republicans Are Standing Behind JoAnn Windholz

  1. Victim-blaming is a feature in the Republican party, not a bug.

    Black people: if you don't want to get shot, learn how to comply with police instructions.  Hell, Sean Hannity will even show you how he carries concealed and politely lets an office know he's armed and the cop is happy to agree that there's nothing to fear.

    Women: if you don't want to get raped, don't go out looking all sexy and stuff, or go out to parties where there's drinking (let alone have one yourself), and if God decides that your magic lady parts aren't going to reject your rapist's baby, well, it's your fault for having a uterus.

    Planned Parenthood: don't murder fields of babies like the machines in The Matrix and sell their parts on the black market, and no God-and-America-loving patriots will rise up and use their Second Amendment remedies to bring a halt to your nefarious healthcare-providing ways.

  2. The critical point is that the GOP base will go bugshit if they try to retire Windholz. Windholz is not an aberration. The problem for Republicans is that she really does speak for them, and they can't stand to have the mirror held up.

  3. Windholtz got a 25% rating on conservation issues from Conservation Colorado for the 2015 session of the Legislature. She was more or less in the middle of the pack for R House member scorecards. Obviously, she does not speak for all Republicans on these critical conservation issues. Womens' reproductive rights are another matter.

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