U.S. Senate
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(D) J. Hickenlooper*
(R) Somebody
80%
20%
Governor
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(D) Michael Bennet
(D) Phil Weiser
60%↑
50%↓
Att. General
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(D) M. Dougherty
(D) Jena Griswold
(D) David Seligman
40%
40%
30%
Sec. of State
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(D) A. Gonzalez
(D) J. Danielson
(R) Sheri Davis
50%
40%
30%
State Treasurer
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(D) Brianna Titone
(D) Jeff Bridges
(R) Kevin Grantham
40%
40%
30%
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(R) Jeff Hurd*
(R) H. Scheppelman
(D) Alex Kelloff
70%
30%
10%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert*
(D) Trisha Calvarese
(D) Eileen Laubacher
90%
20%
20%
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Jeff Crank*
(D) Somebody
80%
20%
CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
(R) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) B. Pettersen*
(R) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(R) Gabe Evans*
(D) Yadira Caraveo
(D) Manny Rutinel
(D) Shannon Bird
45%↓
30%
30%
30%
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
March 24, 2009 03:31 PM UTC
60 Comments
Apparently he believes that it’s the wrong way to handle the whole mess: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Busi…
He needs the financial sector to get behind him on the toxic assets deal, and it’s hard to get someone on board when others from your party are trying to rip them to shreds for political gain.
AIG is just one of thousands of big corporations where gigantic “bonuses” are not only routine, but may be the bulk of their executive’s take-home pay, regardless of things like whether the company turned a profit or how the stock has performed. The free markets have clearly failed to discipline such practices and Congress would do well to correct that mistake. But petty punitive action aimed at a single high-profile offender aren’t the way to do it.
Retroactive tax legislation as a punitive measure is a precedent that we set at our peril no matter how deserving the offenders may be. Love the idea of taxing away ill gotten gains on an emotional level but have to admit, on a rational level, it’s a lousy idea. Probably unconstitutional, too.
Obama has generally been great about remaining steady while the torch-bearing mob has been pressuring him to do stupid things. But, the torch-bearing mob is one of the factors that has to be negotiated. It’s a fine line to walk: You can’t disregard the mob, even when it’s dead wrong, because it is a social force that comes into play.
But the president has made the right choice in this case. I think he’s handled the matter very skillfully.
is “ripping them to shreds”?
Glad to hear Republicans are still totally out of touch with America.
What’s the relationship between what I wrote and what you wrote?
This is what you get when the only thing you care about is “the news cycle.” It eventually doesn’t matter what you’re saying, just that you always have some criticism of the other side ready to go.
The sad thing is that the standards for Republicans have gotten so low that we all have to take this kind of nonsense seriously, because otherwise we’re not being respectful.
allowed AIG to pay bonuses in the first place … they should be in a multi-national bankruptcy process?
The Pelosi solution is to then pass tax increases that will roll back achievements in progressive tax policy achieved from the Carter era. One good outcome of her radical tax increase has been the dis-incentive to get bailout cash, which is sure to disrupt any easy plans for leftist policies on nationalism.
Are you punch drunk to what has has occurred (the DOW is down over 1,900 pts from 11/04/09).
Taking a break from this blog for a bit. Be back Monday.
We all need to do it sometimes.
So Obama is doing a great job!
See, this is why trying to score political points about how he’s doing by looking at the stock market is silly.
Obama has been in office for 2 months. Welcome to the Light Side of the Force, Darth.
Welcome to reality, in the spring of 2007 Bush was wrapping up his time, Obama was planning his Springfield rollout and the Democrat Senate-Congress had been hard at work for 3 months.
Madam Pelosi and he merry band of rainmakers were hard at work pushing through rouge policies like Treasury subsidies for the majority, less Fannie Mae regulation, easy barrowing for the non qualified, less mortgage regulation, citizen of the year awards for Herb and Mariam Sandler.
Superintendent Bennet was facing a labor union contract, had just passed pro-comp and was focusing the light away from a 30-50% high school dropout rate and declining CSAPs.
“Wrapping up his time” with nearly 50 freakin’ percent of his second term left?! So, in football terms, you’re saying the president was taking a knee to run out the clock right after the second half kickoff? Riiiight…
Its is a tough job. These days when the people vote out you legislative buddies it becomes nearly impossible to move your agenda so you protect the base.
Obama’s best strategy will be to let Pelosi and Reid swing in the wind a bit … he’ll have better control over them too.
Clearly that’s the cause of our recession – I report, I decide.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…
…maybe if they hired Jim Cramer!
to the media circus run in the House of Representatives. Who wants to get into bed with the Executive Branch government if it means being attacked by the Legislative Branch? If the financial sector decides that it isn’t worth it, both financially and personally, to get involved, then the stimulus plan is dead.
Unlike most of the members of Congress, Obama, as a Constitutional law professor, has read the Constitution.
Article I. Section 9
“No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.”
Passing a tax to punish a group of individuals after their “crime” was committed is probably both a bill of attainder (conviction by legislation) and an ex post facto law.
Taxing away bonuses already awarded may be satisfying, but it’s probably unconstitutional.
We’ve covered this already.
The courts have generally been favorable to very specific wording that very much narrows the intended field.
It’s funny how all of a sudden Shaun Hannity and his ilk have become constitutional experts. Too bad they weren’t so diligent when Bush was running the Constitution through the shredder; “It’s just a goddamn piece of paper.”
Guess you need to cover it again, ’cause the Constitutional issues are being raised by the Obama administration. Here’s Bernstein’s quote
“You really have to differentiate between what you can legally do about bonuses moving forward and about clawing back old bonuses,” Bernstein said Sunday. “Clawing back old bonuses really does invoke constitutional issues.”
Even though I’d like to see those AIG guys thrown in jail, those constitutional issues are pretty basic, and I’m not ready to throw them out to satisfy a political point.
David Stevens was named as assistant secretary at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The position would put Stevens in charge of the FHA, the government-run mortgage-insurance program. Following the subprime lending market’s collapse (Wachovia, WaMu, BofA, AIG, etc), the FHA has now become about the only source of loans for those that don’t really qualify to purchace a home. Cheap credit and low downs to survive.
The FHA allows borrowers to take out home loans with a down payments as low as 3.5%, compared with 20% for a typical loans.
Stevens is currently president and chief operating officer of Long and Foster Cos., a Virginia real estate brokerage. He previously worked at mortgage finance company Freddie Mac and World Savings Bank, a California-based lender. World Savings was the $20 billion mortgage company founded by Herb and Marion Sandler and later purchased by Wachovia!
http://abcnews.go.com/Technolo…
What would have been much cooler is if he had put the effort into naming it after Issac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke, or Robert Heinlein. But still, Colbert is better than serenity.
and so did my sister. Say whatever you like about the guy but he sure as hell knows how to run a campaign. 🙂
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were 100% responsible for handing over billions again without conditions. Isn’t that what the NYT reported?
Tim Geithner, timely taxpayer
….and laughing all the way to the country club.
Meanwhile every union asked to modify their contracts with big companies (including reducing salaries and benefits) has.
This, as usual, is contrary to all of your Union-hater self’s predictions.
I saw a graphic on one of the cables spews channels that showed most of the “retention bonus” monenies went out of country. The whole top level of that company should be talked to in a very vigorous manner.
Allows Bennet to look inside the ‘no on EFCA cloture’ option.
Bennet stares blankly with hope he can move forward more union friendly mandatory arbitration.
The thread started on asshats from the Corporate world (that image is the head of Bank of America, Ken Lewis, who’s spending all of his companies’ money in a desperate bid to win a shareholder vote.) and continued along that thread.
Now, you put up this gem of a statement. Where, pray tell, do you see ANYTHING about EFCA in it?
if it weren’t so obnoxious.
have to fill out one of those squiggly-word forms, so we can be sure he’s not a bot?
Watch this video with Peter Schiff to gain a sensible understanding of the current crisis…
http://conservativeforchange.b…
Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to see some of the pols out there using the ‘new media’ methods to connect with their constituents and prospective voters. However, when did Pols become the latest avenue for these politicians to issue a press release or trumpet their own horn?
I always liked Colorado Pols because it was interesting to hear the inside scoop behind the scenes, and to talk with other like-minded political junkies about the politicians, not necessarily with them. If Pols just becomes the latest ‘news outlet’ for a politician’s press release or Q&A session, I’m not sure I’ll tune in as much. If I want to know what the candidate’s public message is, I’d much rather go to the candidate’s website, and not have the candidate trying to spin it here.
Between a press release posted here and a politician posting him/herself. Jared posts himself and responds to comments – big difference from a press release from DeGette’s office.
Polis sent out basically the same thing he posted here as a press release at almost the same time.
if you feel he needs it, or ask him to clarify, and he responds. Finding a release and being a random caller is much less satisfying.
I’m a Republican, therefore can’t politically stand either of them.
However: Jared Polis is active in our community because he enjoys being a philanthropist and has done a ton of work that wasn’t directly related to his Congressional office. He’s accessible and replies to any respectful inquiry with an honest reply, to my knowledge. I have a ton of respect for him, even if I know how totally wrong he is in about 90% of his policies.
DiAnna Degette is doing nothing for Colorado.
She is seemingly more than happy sitting in Washington, doing nothing because she knows she will have that seat as long as she wants it. She is one of the strongest arguments for term limits I have ever seen. If memory serves, her office did in fact post a press release on this site, under the guise that it was some sort of dialogue with us.
Garbage.
Hahahahahahahahahaha.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Thanks, Arlen. Have fun in your primary anyway.
Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t.
He’s been hosing us Republicans for years on stuff, and it’s finally going to knock him out of office.
This is a move of total desperation, but it pretty much sinks EFCA for this year. It also gives Dems in Red areas (and the south) cover to say they’d support it but those pesky Republicans won’t bring cloture on it.
Come to think of it, it accomplishes the same thing for President Obama.
it is great cover for the conservadems. The folks at dailykos will have a hissyfit when they can’t cry for primaries for folks who would’ve voted against it…a hissyfit I will enjoy thoroughly… 😛
Here’ my question for you though. You may not like Specter, but there’s no way in hell Pat Toomey wins a general election. For the sake of your party, is the choice between Specter and a Dem really one where you want to favor the Dem…hosing aside?
Can and will win. Spineless Republicans will be going the way of Chris Dodd soon enough.
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I love watching Maxine Waters turn her completely delusional, paranoid, screechy, unknowing attention on an Obamite.
from the Boulder Daily Camera
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Why not a max ? Say, 50 ?
.
or, completely uninteresting…you be the judge. 😛
Looks like the prez went with a good ol’ through-the-lens tele-prompter (compared to the side-by-side setup he seems to be fond of) for his 7-odd minute opening statement. Could it be the teleprompter nazis who have been complaining about such an utterly ridiculous “issue” have gotten to the White House advance team?
.
I’m glad he is able to use it so well.
.
how they typed in the answers for his 50 minutes of extemporaneous questions so quickly.
Teleprompters have been around for 50 years. What are you gonna carp about next, that his speeches are written on word processors?!
from Fox News (so you know it is totally honest & accurate)