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
December 01, 2008 04:37 PM UTC

Monday Open Thread

  • 98 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“Never run after a bus or a man. There will always be another one.”

–Anonymous

Tweet
Share

Comments

98 thoughts on “Monday Open Thread”

  1. will be officially named today (President-elect is speaking right now.)

    Of course, the positions we’re really waiting for are Secretary of Energy (Gov. Bill Ritter’s name has been floated) and Secretary of the Interior (Sen. Ken Salazar is in the running.)

    Anyone think any Colorado pols/players will receive high level appointments in the new administration?

    1. Salazar is the only one qualified to get a cabinet position, but does he really want to leave the US Senate. I think Holder is a great pick for AG, but Salazar would have done well there too.

      Treasury, Defense, State, and Justice are the only ones worth moving to unless you suck at your current job, need to resume build, or need to create a specialized vertical for your lawyer-lobbyist career.

      Of course the real question is can he put in place the most qualified cabinet in history?

      1. … where many Guv’s will restate their need to legislators and the Obama team for federal stimulus aid packages of $1-3B annually over the next 3-5 years.

        The GOP’s final cave in has been to rescue various strategic segments (industries, states, etc…) by opening up the federal Treasury to all comers.

        1. .

          The Bailout frenzy was made to look like a cave-in.

          In reality, it was engineered 18 months ago, before Naomi Klein’s book on Disaster Capitalism was ever published.  

          The “Bailouts” were the reason Bush-Cheney ran for reelection, and are intended to pay back their supporters for helping them win.

          .

  2. Thought I would share an article I wrote today.

    the path to victory for the Republican Party is not through God. That should only be the path to victory in our hearts. Rather, it is through promoting the ideas that will fix the economy, and promoting fiscal responsibility. The leaders of the party today are the biggest hypocrites on this front.

    http://conservativeforchange.b…

  3. A certain left wing political blog had a rather large meltdown this weekend after it was revealed that a secret cabal of 6 “trusted users” have set up their own blogsite and have been working in tandem with each other to research, gather and use information about other users in order to out them or drive them off the site. Most notably, David Sirota’s name made the short list.

    The larger issue is that this “progressive blog’s” owner has basically sanctioned this behavior and literally hundreds of Democratic bloggers have been driven off of the site or all out banned.

    The list of those that now refrain from blogging here include Barack Obama, John Cusack, Senator Jim Webb, Greg Palast and as of last weekend, David Sirota wrote a diary asking if he was still welcome.

    More to come in a diary later this week from yours truly, along with some pretty interesting behind the scenes dialogue from the Secret Six.  

      1. These guys started a blog up and never thought anybody would see it. A nice little discreet Soapblox with about 10 members, 6 of them active. They started off being careful and after about 3 months, got quite careless. To see them coordinating attacks, ganging up on anyone they considered a Republican “troll” or simply someone they dislike such as Sirota–I found it genuinely disturbing.

        And when a few brave souls went public with their behavior, how did they react? By plotting ways to out those folks and making plans to get them fired from their jobs, threatening their spouses or children of these folks.

        It’s time for the light to be shone on the cockroaches. This blog simply cannot be allowed to continue to represent itself for progressives while condoning and enabling this kind of destructive behavior.  

        1. The whole thing is delicious and hilarious.  What a bunch of babies. It’s like a feud over the ‘cool lunch table’ in Jr. High School.

          HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!

          1. Someone yesterday said nearly the exact same thing, word for word. It’s just like the cliques in high school that would bully the unpopular kids, isolate them, threaten them, intimidate them. And I think we all remember how that sometimes turns out.

      1. What I do genuinely find disturbing about this is how many progressive posters have left the site. That includes everyone from our president elect to average Joes like you and I. Driven off of the site by the hateful rhetoric, the coordinated attacks and the behind the scenes machinations that have been going on for well over a year there, with full knowledge from many of the Admin as well as the owner himself.  

                1. I don’t believe that you would go out on a limb like this with a made-up story.  I’ve been googling all over the place and can’t track this down.  After you reveal all will you reveal the secret a of how you got hold of this in the first place?  You may not make front page editor this time around but you will be the Queen of the front page with this one. Hat’s off!

                  1. including who found the blog and how they stumbled on to it.

                    No, I would never make something like this up. My credibility means the world to me as does my reputation and many folks on this site have a fairly good idea who I am. If I can’t prove it, I won’t be quoting it.

                    Thanks so much for your support on this one, BlueCat.

                  2. Google and site searches aren’t giving me any love trying to locate anything matching MotR’s description…

                    When some people around here write of “a certain left-wing political blog”, I have a tendency to think dKos, especially when throwing in keywords about the “site owner” and “trusted users”, and listing so many big name posters…

                    But that doesn’t match up with the whole bit on Sirota’s “unwelcome” diary, which I can’t find on any of the “big name” liberal sites.

                    Color me suspicious.

                    1. I’ve found quite a bit about people getting banned from Arianna’s site for simply disagreeing–though from what I can gather it’s due to HuffPo’s rather lethargic comment moderation process.

                    2. And I can see a lot of “other” reasons for some of the things MotR is saying…

                      Palast was way off base this year on election issues, for example; he’s lost a lot of cred.  Obama used to blog when he was running for Senate and I believe early in his Presidential run, but I haven’t seen him blogging recently – one might imagine he’s a bit busy.  And a number of moderated blogs have a “side-channel” where moderators can get together and talk about banning posts (it usually takes several marks to actually hide a post, and in a busy site, not every trusted user can read every post of every diary…).

                      So I hope we’re not making a (potential) mountain out of a bunch of mole hills.

                    4. I think many of us were absolutely dumb struck when the blog popped up. It was obviously never meant to be made public. It was a little sewage hole that a few folks bandied about ideas in and never thought anyone would see what they were really up to.

                      The fact that you can’t find it reinforces my whole point–this was a secret blog that has been working overtime to drive users off of a progressive site.

                      Sorry. The rest will be revealed soon. That’s all for now.  

                    5. I can’t find any sign of any battle royale on any of the major sites – unless it’s HuffPo’s blog or DU, both of which are so disorganized I don’t bother trying.

                      Well, actually there is one site that’s had a battle royale going on since sometime back in March – MyDD.  I’d discount anything that happened there.

                    6. We should start a back channel Pols super triple double secret soapblox blog. Who should we destroy first?

                      Hmmm… I wonder what skeletons DavidThi has in his closet? Perhaps we should take out our front page election loss on Danny? Laughing Boy has come into power, maybe we could blackmail him into promoting our diaries?

                      The possibilities are endless.

                      Crap, maybe I shouldn’t be posting this in the open thread.

                    7. I think we should investiage all of the above and add Phoenix to the list since he doubts me. That’s about all it took to get folks on the Sewage Gang’s list so if it’s a good enough qualifier for them, it should be good enough for us, no?

                    9. And you know, creepily enough, I found myself showing up in their comments at their blog so I guess I made the “list” such as it is. Ick.  

  4. the long Thanksgiving weekend is over and there still has been nothing from Bob Ewegan.  Bob, wherever you are, we hope you had a really nice Thanksgiving and that you’re doing OK.

  5. IВґve been wondering about this for a long time. Since the Conservative party generally doesnВґt get more than 40% of the vote or so, why donВґt the Liberal party, the New Democratic Party, the Bloc Quebecois, and the Green Party just form a lefty coalition?

    Apparently they finally decided to. But what took them so long? Anybody know? My understanding of parliamentary government (e.g., Israel, Italy) is that itВґs rare to have a government thatВґs NOT a coalition of smaller parties. WhatВґs different about Canada?

    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/…

    2. The Bloc wasn’t really a “lefty party” until the last few years.  It was a coalition of libs and cons but seems to have moved to the left.  For the life of me I’ve never understood why the NDP and the Libs waited so long.  And the Greens don’t actually have any seats this government.

      They do love their minority governments up there…

      1. I was just computing Green vote percentages, not actually seats held. And I don’t know anything about the BQ, except that someone I met there told me it was a left party.

    2. accidental gropes do happen and I would definitely put it in that category.  Although why id they call he “Big Daddy”

      ‘please show us on the doll where saxby touched you’

  7. On the news that a turd like Reid seems to believe he has McCain in his back pocket on immigration…

    Q: Will there be as much of a fight on immigration as last time?

    A: We’ve got McCain and we’ve got a few others. I don’t expect much of a fight at all.

    Responds a reader on The Jawa Report..

    OK, now that the election is over, I can say it:

       Fuck you, John McCain. Few candidates for public office deserved to lose an election as much as you did this last cycle. Your campaign was rudderless and poorly run from start to finish. The onset of my serious concern upon the election of Barack Obama has been tempered only by the solace of knowing that, whatever else happens, I will most likely never have to deal with the implications of “President John McCain.” That, in and of itself, is something to be thankful for this holiday season.

    I think that sums it up for many of us.  

    1. you and the folks at HuffPo have no idea what the Governor has in her personal wardrobe.

      Sure, she could be a thief or a liar…or she could be wearing her own clothes.  Unless you want to invent a fact about her only wearing RNC purchased clothing during the campaign.

      You might want to be truthful when calling others thieves and/or liars…

      1. I’m sure it’s just deja vu that the clothes the RNC bought happen to be the same ones she’s wearing after the election. Either way, Palin is still living in a fantasy world while ditching out on her day job.

        You might want to inform yourself first before calling me a liar.

        2. a list to a fictional shopping list sure proves it…

          Again, you and HuffPo have no idea where the jacket is from and you can’t prove otherwise.

          And how exactly is campaigning for a fellow Republican living in a fantasy world?  She has an obligation to the people of Alaska and the RNC to help the party.  That’s some real “fantasy.”

    2. Hasn’t stopped by to say “hi” in Juneau since August. However is the state managing to struggle along without her wisdom and guidance? Wonder if she gets her per diem for playing the celebrity in the lower 48 and hanging out in Wasilla?  

  11. #1: Friend of mine, a housekeeper at the Brown Palace/Comfort Inn.  Six months ago they were working her six and even seven days a week.  Now she’s getting one or two, three if she is lucky.  Another foreclosure coming?

    #2: Friend owns a little bar in a little town near the Canadian border in Wisconsin. She can’t pay her bills or loans. A year ago the ten day hunting season grossed $6000.  This year, $1200.  Yesterday by early afternoon, one sale for $26.

    Batten the hatches.  

    1. That’s the thing about a free market economy – the pain is not spread evenly. With this recession we are seeing a very slight drop in total spending. The big drop is in stock prices and credit availability.

      But most of the economy is plugging along. It’s just not growing. And with some sectors being hammered and the overall being level, that means other segments are doing well.

      1. Yes, I understand the thrust of what you are saying, David.

        But considering that one is the domain of well of persons and business travelers, and the other is a blue collar/red neck establishment, I am disheartened to see that BOTH are being hit.  

      2. This sounds a little like, “the fundamentals of the economy are strong”.

        Let me know which segments are doing well so we can start spreading the word to the thousands of under-employed residents in Colorado alone over the next several months when the next rush of ARM mortgages start effecting more Coloradoans in Jan. 2009

        President-Elect Obama we need FDR like infrastructure projects that can help get us out of this mess. Projects that will employ people and get this economy rolling again. Please start with the RTD Fastracks project (North Metro and Northwest Metro Passenger Rail Lines)

        1. But we also need to keep this in perspective. Walmart has seen increased sales (which probably makes sense in a recession) and the retail numbers were up for black Friday – 0.3% which is virtually nothing – but they weren’t down.

      3. Look around.  There is empty retail all over the damn place. Realtors are hurting.  Restaurants. Construction and construction related trades.  Development projects.   Purveyors of numerous kinds of services.  Auto dealerships.  The list goes on and on.  

        It’s getting scarier for more of us every day. Also, it’s not like the “slight drop” is from a spending level that was static.  It’s a reversal from rising spending levels. Not growing is losing and the worst is probably yet to come.

          1. I completely disagree.

            The assumption that growth is necessary and good is just that, an assumption. It is NOT something that follows from any economic theory I am aware of.

            How can you consider growth in waste, pollution, erosion, obesity, diabetes and asthma cases (to name an obvious few) good?

            The clean up of Love Canal was recorded as a positive contribution to the economy. How can the growth in this type of activity possibly be considered good?

              1. Thus, there are still products.

                Transforming natural resources into “products” (especially useless plastic gewgahs that get shipped all over the world) results in waste, pollution, degradation of high quality non-renewable fuel, health impacts, etc.

                (Look, I’m not arguing against increasing the standard of living, “creating” wealth, etc. What I am arguing is that growth is not intrinsically good.)

                Just because eating food can make you healthy does not mean eating more food makes you healthier.

                IOW, not growing is NOT equivalent to losing.

            2. has them facing their first obesity epidemic.  So, obesity=good in this case.  Beats starving to death.

              Parents and grandparents often fed their offspring excessively to make up for being fed inadequately themselves, he added.

              A rise in car use and less physical labour were also contributing factors, the survey said.

              We’re playing with words now, what’s your actual point?

              http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asi…

              1. claiming that obesity is good?

                If so, we don’t appear to have a common ground from which to start a conversation.

                (If not, I apologize for misunderstanding your comment.)

                1. but the rise in countries that aren’t us can be attributed to centuries of malnourishment and a sudden economic growth.  Economic growth is good, not starving is great.  Obesity seems to be an unfortunate, hopefully temporary downfall.  So in terms of the economy, obesity is a good sign.  

                  But that’s not really my point.  I’m just saying that there is a huge difference between talking about economic growth and any other growth.  David was talking about the economy, nothing else.

                  1. Growth is NOT intrinsically good.

                    It does not matter what kind of growth you are talking about.

                    Growth in the economy because there are a lot of good paying jobs cleaning up hazardous waste spills is not something to celebrate.

                    Why even suggest obesity might be good? Isn’t the good aspect just that there is now an opportunity for better nutrition? Not merely calories ad nauseum?

                    What’s wrong with better? Why do economists confuse bigger with better?

                    1. Let’s go back to 1930s style economics, where there weren’t so many evil polluters.

                      Get real, the environment suffers whether the economy is growing, in a recession, or in a depression for that matter.

                      Saying that the economy shrinking will be good for the environment is completely ridiculous. If anything it makes the environment a lower priority. If the economy is growing, then the GDP is growing, and there can be more funding (private and public) for programs that help protect the environment.

                      If you don’t want Americans to be successful, that’s one thing, but don’t harangue on the environment suffering purely because of economic growth.

                    2. Hey redstates (& droll),

                      You’re reading a lot into this and likely conducting psychoanalysis without a license.

                      Show me where I said a shrinking economy is good for the environment. Show me where I said I don’t want Americans to be successful.

                      So, writing slowly, let my try to be clear:

                      -Growth is NOT intrinsically good.

                      – Transforming natural resources into plastic gewgaws creates waste and pollution.

                      – Transforming natural resources into “value added products” also transforms useful non-renewable energy into less useful heat.

                      Period.

                      Now, the fact that growth is not intrinsically good does not mean it is intrinsically bad.

                      There is a trade off. Transforming matter and energy ALWAYS creates waste products. And always results in more waste than new useful doodads.

                      None the less, we may decide the trade off is worth it. But we cannot make a rational decision about the trade off if we deny it exists.

                      (Don’t take the position of the rightwingnuts that if I’m not 100% with you then I must be 100% against you. That’s silly and juvenile.)

                      OK?

        2. Not that I’m suggesting that there’s not a large problem here, but the stories of everything being not so bad are just as numerous.

          Shopkeepers tell 7NEWS they either met or exceeded sales goals for the weekend.

          There are stories with that stuff on every local news site.  Some shoe guy said that last weekend was his second best of all time.  SUV sales are up, granted not where they were.

          Ultimately I think continuously using phrases like catastrophic and crisis (you didn’t use those, but I hear them all the time) are just going to drag this thing out.  I predict the next quarter will see growth and this becomes part of the cycle, rather than a chapter in a history book.

          http://www.thedenverchannel.co…

          1. It’ll be great if retailers actually make money this year, but we still have a lot of work to do.

            A big/normal Christmas shopping season would definitely relieve Wall St. a lot though.

            1. Give this speech –

              “Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve consulted at length with my economic team. We’re acutely aware that our economy is facing great uncertainty. We understand that our system is a capitalistic one. We intend to do whatever it takes to get business and capital working again, for the sake of every consumer and working person in America.

              We also recognize our critical responsibility to the rest of the world. As the pre-eminent economic power, it’s up to us to lead global markets back to health and prosperity.

              I’m announcing the following key decisions, which we will stand by until our markets are back to normal, employment is growing, and our economy is healthy again:

              All tax increases on capital, dividends, and business income are OFF THE TABLE.

              All protectionist legislation, including increased tariffs and import duties, are OFF THE TABLE.

              All new regulations, mandated costs and taxes on businesses, including export businesses, are OFF THE TABLE.

              That is all. Thank you.”

              I love Cianfrocca’s stuff.  It’s not exceedingly partisan, and he is able to explain complex money and trade systems really well.

              2. Unfortunately, those same conservatives are what got us into this mess. What about a giant tax increase in dividends forcing businesses to reinvest their profits? I’m not saying that would work well – but I’m not sure it wouldn’t either.

                And maybe, just maybe, a few more regulations on the mortgage business might be a good thing. You know, so we don’t have another meltdown like this.

                Let us liberals fix everything and get the economy booming before you conservatives get to screw it up again.

              3. and we’ll put what we want on it.

                Rich people making money is OFF THE TABLE.

                Inheritances are OFF THE TABLE.

                Private property is OFF THE TABLE.

                Thank you for your support of Glorious Socialist Revolution which will crush Running Dog complex money and trade systems and Bury You. You are needed for Revolution not Anymore. Please find place up against Nearest Wall.

      4. Thornton and Blue have points, but the thrust of what you’re saying is right.  It’s not the end of the world, it’s an economic downturn.  Of course some are affected more significantly than others, but overall things aren’t that bad…at least not yet.

        If things get significantly worse, then sure, batten down the hatches and act like the sky is falling.  But presently, that’s just not the case.

        1. I think when young men are living in Bushvilles washing their clothes in a dirty creek, it is bad.  

          During the Depression 75% of folks that wanted to work, did.  Oh, wait, that’s a 25% unemployment rate.

          Let us not forget that our current method of measuring unemployment, one of Bill Clinton’s sins, is grossly understated.  Add fifty to 100 percent to put the real figure in the ball park.  Now, 10% is still a lot better than 25%, but not so good.  

          And, things will be getting worse for the foreseeable.  

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

115 readers online now

Newsletter

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