U.S. Senate See Full Big Line

(D) J. Hickenlooper*

(R) Somebody

80%

20%

Governor See Full Big Line
(D) Phil Weiser

(D) Joe Neguse

(D) Jena Griswold

60%

60%

40%↓

Att. General See Full Big Line

(D) M. Dougherty

(D) Alexis King

(D) Brian Mason

40%

40%

30%

Sec. of State See Full Big Line
(D) A. Gonzalez

(D) George Stern

(R) Sheri Davis

50%↑

40%

30%

State Treasurer See Full Big Line

(D) Brianna Titone

(R) Kevin Grantham

(D) Jerry DiTullio

60%

30%

20%

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Hurd*

(D) Somebody

80%

40%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert*

(D) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Crank*

(D) Somebody

80%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) B. Pettersen*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(R) Gabe Evans*

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(D) Joe Salazar

50%

40%

40%

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
October 28, 2008 11:00 PM UTC

Musgrave's Defeat Heralds "Death of a Red State"

  • 25 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

From the upcoming issue of Rolling Stone:

Musgrave was Sarah Palin before Sarah Palin, a turbocharged born-again supermom who went into politics because she couldn’t stand all the naughtiness. Her first political gig was on the school board in Fort Morgan, where she devoted her energies to blacking out – literally blacking out – passages in sex-education textbooks. Later, as a state legislator, she pushed a concealed-weapon law that would have allowed guns on school grounds. She was a preposterous caricature of an evangelical politician, an Anita Bryant with a beer gut, but like Palin she was already on her way to a Major Elected Office by the time anyone thought to stop laughing. Her first act upon making it to Congress in 2003 was to introduce an amendment to ban gay marriage. She declared unequivocally – after 9/11 and the launching of two wars – that the union of same-sex couples is “the most important issue we face today.”

Musgrave was re-elected twice by a 4th District that since 1972 has been among the most solidly Republican territory in America. Her grandstanding against buggery and other forms of extra-biblical recreation has helped earn her a 100 percent rating and a top spot on the American Conservative Union’s list of the most right-wing members of Congress. She’s a living symbol of the Era of Rove, when all a politician needs to do to get elected is go to church, make freckled babies and whine about how things are going to shit because some minority group is queering the deal…

That strategy has worked for a long time – but now, suddenly, things are different in places like the 4th District. Not only does the torch-bearing evangelical Colorado of Ted Haggard and James Dobson appear poised to turn its nine electoral votes blue for a nonwhite presidential candidate, but the congressional seat belonging to one of America’s most celebrated gay-bashers in this once-impregnable Republican stronghold is also up for grabs. If Musgrave is ousted in November, as polls suggest she’ll be, it’s worth asking just what exactly is going on. Has there been a sea change in the electorate? Is there a place on the American map where you can actually see the country outgrowing the politics of bigotry?

…Only four years ago, a Republican like Musgrave could run on a wedge issue like gay marriage. One of the great traditions in American politics is the sudden arrival of a minority-baiting ballot initiative that drives the frustrated residents of swing states to the polls just in time to keep the map red. In 2004, it was gay-marriage bans offered in 11 states that helped turn out enough defenders of traditional “values” to sink Kerry. Two years later, a similar initiative in Colorado helped Musgrave beat her opponent by 7,000 votes.

…The district’s headline Republican has abandoned the rhetoric that made her famous, not once mentioning gay marriage or any social issues at all. She seems nervous, and her rants against Wall Street and the congressional bailout sound flat, like John Kerry trying to act religious.

…These tactics almost always worked in the past and have carried more than one man into the most powerful office in the world. But they were a house of cards all along, with no substance behind them, and when they are at last put to a vote next month, they’ll blow away forever. That’s what happens with weak ideas: They don’t die a slow, lingering death but lose their power all at once, like a broken spell.

Tweet
Share

Comments

25 thoughts on “Musgrave’s Defeat Heralds “Death of a Red State””

    1. made me laugh until I hurt. Kudos to whomever wrote this profile – it’s painfully funny. More funny than painful if Marilyn goes the way of the albatross next week.

      1. Perhaps my favorite political writer to quote (and I’ve got the posts to prove it!).

        This one isn’t one of my all-time guffaw-inspiring articles by him, but he makes some good points.

        All across America, if you scratch the surface of the current political jousting between the blues and reds, you’ll find race underneath. In America it’s always about race. Vietnam ended decades ago, but the civil rights movement never had a declared end – at least not according to conservatives, who have been running against it for 40 years, camouflaged in dog-whistle catchphrases like “law and order” (Nixon), “welfare queen” (Reagan) and “border security” (every Republican today). There isn’t a half-literate white person alive who doesn’t know what Palin is talking about when she says about Obama, “This is not a man who sees America as you and I do.”

        And that, folks, is why Obama’s candidacy is so important. He is a living referendum on the civil rights movement – one might even say he is calling the bluff of the civil rights movement. He has been everything white America said it wanted from black America: Stay positive, work hard, go to Harvard, be more Martin and less Malcolm, and all obstacles will be cleared.

          1. Obama lied about public financing. Lied about who he’s going to take money from. First it’s families with $250K tonite it’s families making $200K, Biden says in a speech $142K. I’ve seen if you’re lying over here…. you’re lying over there!!

            Obama has no executive experience and this job is no place for on the job training. I trust McCain’s service and character. I don’t doubt he’ll choose for America first. Obama will give tax cuts (welfare checks in the form of income re-distribution to 40% of the population WHO DOESN’T EVEN PAY TAXES.) That’s Socialism. Why when the world is moving AWAY from Socialism, is Obama out of touch and moving toward it!

            1. I’d give this to you gently, but…

              1) Obama never promised McCain he’d unconditionally agree to public financing; McCain turned down his terms – no 527s, no party expenditures.  Straight-up even financing.  Obama was never interested in agreeing to a knife fight only to find out McCain’s friends brought guns.

              2) $142k is the tax cut ceiling.  $250k is the tax increase floor.  Between the two is flat.  Always has been since early in the campaign.

              3) McCain has no more executive experience than Obama.

              4) Let’s get our terms straight: Socialism is defined as government control of business.  Communism is communal ownership of everything.  Progressive tax structures are neither, and have been supported by Republican and Democratic Presidents since the tax system was initiated in 1913.  With the exception of 1913-1915 and a few of the Reagan/Bush years, the top marginal tax rate is at an historic low.

            3. “We’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.”

              — Gov. Sarah Palin, quoted by the New Yorker, a few weeks before she was nominated for vice president.

        3. For the Rolling Stone have always been stellar. Actually, the three that I can think of, but really enjoy are Taibbi, PJ O’Rourke,  and Hunter S. Thomspon (rest his soul). Great writers.

          1. The trinity.

            William Greider, who wrote for the Stone during the ’80s and ’90s, has a decent reputation, as well. But he never made me laugh like the other three.

          2. under 25 yr. old writers with no life experience should remember the following:

            If your economics professors understood how the economy works, they would be making a living doing something productive, not teaching college kids the dismal science, which is almost completely useless. The vast majority of professors are liberals. When I went to Columbia Business School, my Econ PhD advisor predicted Reagan’s policies would have us in a severe depression by 1984. Head of the Department! He preferred Carteromics.

            Redistribute wealth. Grow Government even more – more entitlements, more bureaucrats, more UNIONS – just what the US needs. Maybe the EU will let us in, so we can share their bounty?

            Grow up. Forget BO’s empty promises. We did this in 1976, let’s not do it again!

        4. I live in a liberal area (Los Angeles) I’m not voting on race. I believe blacks are the racist ones since 98.5% of blacks are voting for Obama. I am voting Republican for the first time in my life. I’m not a church going freak as you leftists would like to believe. I’m a college graduate.  Consider the following:

          If your economics professors understood how the economy works, they would be making a living doing something productive, not teaching college kids the dismal science, which is almost completely useless. The vast majority of professors are liberals. When I went to Columbia Business School, my Econ PhD advisor predicted Reagan’s policies would have us in a severe depression by 1984. Head of the Department! He preferred Carteromics.

          Redistribute wealth. Grow Government even more – more entitlements, more bureaucrats, more UNIONS – just what the US needs. Maybe the EU will let us in, so we can share their bounty?

          Grow up. Forget BO’s empty promises. We did this in 1976, let’s not do it again!

          1. Proof: copying and pasting the same thing over and over; making highly suspect claim of voting repub for the first time (how many other shills have said the same thing?); will not post again after Tuesday; and is likely to reply my post protesting that I’m close minded or afraid to debate the shill’s tired talking points…

            2. Claims to be a first-time Republican voter, yet yells at “you leftists”.  Maybe that’s true – maybe they are used to voting for the AIP or some other fringe right party and have decided to move “to the center” to prevent the horrible end that will come to our country if we elect Obama.

              Oh, and obviously hasn’t read here for too long, since a sizable portion of our conservative bloggers are not “church going freaks” either.

              1. Just claiming to be voting GOP for the first time in a year when people can’t flee that party fast enough is a giveaway (not to mention an oft-used talking point… Do you suppose they actually receive orders on what to say?)

                1. We’re talking about yohanna in the third person as if he/she weren’t ever going to be here again.

                  There must be a formula out there somewhere, kinda like a long-form Mad Lib – except it couldn’t be a Mad Lib, because that would be supporting turrists.

                  1. There were a couple of other recent shills who came on like yohanna did, played the indignant “how dare you call me a shill you just can’t answer my points” card and didn’t come back. I guess listing that as one of the predicted responses might keep him/her from doing even that.

    2. Good comparison to the Florida Orange Juice Queen.

      Republicans have come to bury Musgrave and plot their own ascent.  My prediction is that Bob Schaffer regains his seat in Congress in 2010.  

      1. in the candidate department, is seeing a long hiatus on his political career.

        I knowhow much you live to speculate about CD4. In fact, it seems to be the only time you comment and it’s with your usual redundant predictions.  

  2. Great article.  Greeley really seems to be the hinge of the district and its taste for ‘them-driven’ fears of Sodom and Gommorah.  Bears closer ezamination.  

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Gabe Evans
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

134 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!