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July 28, 2017 04:20 PM UTC

What Happened to Cory Gardner?

  • 24 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) is a glorified page at this point in his career.

We’ve always been critical of Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) in this space. We’ve no reason to pretend otherwise. But our critique of Gardner is usually tied to specific actions or statements from Colorado’s junior Senator — such as his refusal to hold a town-hall meeting or his astonishingly poor judgment in sitting down for a discussion with a murderous dictator.

Love him or hate him, this is not the same Cory Gardner that waltzed into a Congressional seat in 2010 and, just four years later, took out incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Udall. That Cory Gardner was a slick, smiling, bomb-throwing partisan considered by many Republicans to be among the rising-est of the GOP’s rising stars. But this Cory Gardner — the majority party, Republican leadership Cory Gardner — is little more than a sad caricature of a Washington D.C. politician. We almost feel sorry for this Cory Gardner.

We took note of this different Gardner a few months ago, but the disastrous healthcare debate in Congress — culminating in Thursday’s “Vote-O-Rama” — stripped Gardner of whatever individualism he still had left. Then, on Friday morning, he made sure to erase all doubt.

Gardner went to great lengths in recent months to avoid taking any sort of public position on Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare in favor of healthcare proposals that got worse with every iteration. When Gardner was finally forced to take a side in the healthcare debate, he nearly pulled a muscle rushing to vote “YES” on whatever was demanded by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Gardner was suddenly in favor of everything he once claimed to oppose. Protecting Medicaid? Nope. Keeping healthcare costs from spiraling out of control? Nah. Preserving pre-existing conditions? Forget it.

On Friday morning, a battered Gardner popped his head out from behind his office door and proceeded to shred whatever credibility he still maintained. As Ernest Luning writes for the publication formerly known as the Colorado Statesman:

U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican, said Friday that Democrats are “finally” admitting they need to work across the aisle to find bipartisan solutions to the nation’s health care system, adding that the failure by GOP senators to overturn the Affordable Care Act won’t stop efforts to replace the legislation, known as Obamacare.

“It’s frustrating that now the recent repeal and replace vote is over we are starting to finally hear supporters of the Affordable Care Act make some of the exact points about the problems with the Affordable Care Act that they attacked Republicans for making over the last few months,” said Gardner, who was one of 13 Republican senators tasked with writing the Senate’s version of health care legislation behind closed doors earlier this year. “We are finally starting to hear those that refused to work with Republicans admit that costs are going up under this law and something needs to be done to address it.”

He added that he’s “worked so hard to replace this government takeover of our healthcare for one reason and one reason only – my constituents.” Among the problems he listed under the Obamacare were “skyrocketing premiums,” nearly 150,000 Colorado residents who didn’t buy insurance coverage facing IRS fines and just one or two insurers offering plans in a majority of the state’s counties.

“The vote last night can’t stop this effort,” Gardner said. “I’ve always urged Democrats to work with Republicans in a bipartisan manner to find solutions that drives down costs and stabilizes the insurance market. I’m not going to stop trying to fix this healthcare problem, the status quo is unacceptable.” [Pols emphasis]

Gardner is still trying to sell this nonsense? Gardner once fancied himself as the kind of political salesman who could convince eskimos to buy ice; today, he’s hawking Walkmans to teenagers.

These are silly things to say, especially when you are just hours removed from a massive legislative failure that made C-SPAN into must-watch television. These are the sad ramblings of a politician who is either unwilling or unable to accept the fact that reality has moved on without him.

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24 thoughts on “What Happened to Cory Gardner?”

  3. There are now at least 3 Cardboard Corys circulating around in NE Colorado. People are just getting tired of waiting for their chance to talk with him in person. Even his staff people have started closing up the offices and locking the doors when they see protesters coming. True story!

    That's what they did in Greeley yesterday when they saw the scary ADAPT folks in wheelchairs rolling in.

    So at least his effigy is getting lots of action…

    See the Facebook post below for a schedule of Cardboard Cory’s town hall meetings with constituents. http://gardnertownhall.com/

  4. He's being exposed as the fraud we always knew he was.   Whereas Coffman has seemed to adapt to the current reality, Gardner most certainly has not.  Man, Cory.  2017 has not been your year.  

  5. Mr. Gardner, the bottom line remains the same: What specific provisions do you support or don't support in a bill to replace Obamacare. Trying to blame the Democrats or attempting to try and make yourself look bipartisan or eager to find a solution is beside the point. What amendments to Medicaid, insurance subsidies etc. will you specifically support or vote against? Avoiding the obvious questions won't cut it any longer.  

  6. "I’m not going to stop trying to fix this healthcare problem, the status quo is unacceptable.”

    . . . I am hereby formally asking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell today to add my name to the panel of esteemed Senators he chooses to write the next behind-closed-doors healthcare bill.  I have important input to importantly input! . . . "

  7. What happened to Mark Udall? He triangulated himself into a meaningless,  inconsequential politician who was cheered on by CPols and steered into retirement by his partner in the senate. 

    1. No, he ran an awful in which the only memorable thing he did was scowl into a camera and talk about abortion. Again and again. Nothing more. Nothing left wing. Nothing centrist. Just abortion. With a scowl.

        1. Be careful Frank, . . . 

          . . . the framing of the premise is 91.32% of winning the argument. 

          Who's actually using "we're not those guys" as their message??

          (That clock is still flashing “88:88”, btw . . . )

    2. In the real world, . . .

      . . . when you’re asked for your choice between "vanilla or chocolate?", . . . 

      . . . and you answer, "I only like mango-strawberry-coconut delight sorbet!", 

      . . . you maybe shouldn't be all that surprised if you don’t get dessert???

  10. Conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin describes Cory Gardner to a tee:

    They all had the power to stop a bill many openly trashed as a joke and conceded would do great damage. Nevertheless, all hoped someone else would do the dirty work of derailing it. I’m hard-pressed to think of another instance in which virtually all senators of one party (save three) declared their inability to make a critically important decision. It’s junk but send it to conference where someone else can make the tough calls. So why are they there? The ambitious GOP senators who hid from their responsibilities have no business being in the U.S. Senate, let alone seeking higher office.

    After seven years of protest and seven months of legislative paralysis, Republicans have not figured out what to do about Obamacare, but they cannot admit their failure and refuse to take their medicine in the form of the base’s wrath. It took three brave souls, one in the twilight of his career, to finally put their constituents and the country above partisan hackery

     

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