The Colorado Index

My Last (unpublished) Schaffer v Udall Post

This is the post that never was.  I had done the research and was about to write it on Schaffer v Udall when I discovered a very unfortunate video.  That video made this post and anything like it useless on Schaffer v Udall.  Since I had done the research, it seems a shame to waste the effort.  What is probably no longer credible on svu is credible here:

On March 24th Taylor West was quoted as saying:

But [ Taylor ] West said [ Dick ] Wadhams and Schaffer “know that Bob Schaffer’s record is far out of the mainstream for Colorado. The only way they can deal with that is by calling names and making up labels.”

And on February 21st, she said:

"Mark Udall will be running his campaign on ideas to move Colorado forward; with Mr. Wadhams on board, we can expect Bob Schaffer's campaign to be one of constant negative attacks, not ideas," said spokeswoman Taylor West.

On March 25th, Mike Melanson, Mark Udall's campaign manager sent out a plea for more money that said:

Think about it. Mark Udall's national Renewable Electricity Standard needs just one more vote in the U.S. Senate to pass. Do you want to replace Wayne Allard's "No" vote with Big Oil Bob's?

The "one more vote" is a lie that is word for word identical to the lie that Bill Ritter told in his plea for more money.  We called that Bill Ritter Cranking Hard on the Big Blue Lie Machine.  Now we find out that Bill Ritter can't even come up with his own set of lies.  Mike Melanson is ghost writing them for him with Mark Udall's obvious approval.

Mark Udall signed a fundraising letter that used the word "extremist" to describe sitting Senators three times.

Taylor West pumps out these wonderful statements about how Bob Schaffer's campaign is calling names and making up labels when Mark Udall himself and his campaign manager are freely using name calling.

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I had set myself up to start a Mark Udall as a hypocrite scoreboard.  I would have started that scoreboard on Friday with the above post. I had four examples, which is what is needed to credibly start a scoreboard.

March 31, 2008 Sweep

Schaffer v Udall Mark Udall, Addicted to Lying 

Slapstick Politics  Moonbat Convergence: CU-Boulder's Conference On World Affairs   Every spring for the last 60 years, moonbats from around the world have gathered at CU-Boulder's Conference on World Affairs to hold forth on a variety of subjects--from art to science to politics and even philosophy.

Slapstick Politics  You must be a Colorado Democrat!  If you believe...

Mount Virtus  One Reason NOT to Miss Michigan: Recall Dillon AND his Union Thugs  Makes me glad I’m more than a thousand miles away from the Michigan government union thugs.

Gang of Four  Slips showing in Correctness Party  "Are bloggers journalists?" asked media critic Jason Salzman on the Rocky's opinion page, Mar. 29.  Some are, some aren't, he answered delphically.

Best Destiny  Be Sure To Catch Two Speakouts on Education  The Rocky Mountain News has two guest columns about educational issues this weekend: CSAP scrapping, and curriculum abandonment

Best Destiny  One More Thought On Jeremiah Wright   I was reminded again at church service this morning that we are called on to be "a light in the world."

Best Destiny    Democrats Are Coming For Your Kids  I am, for whatever reason, on the mailing list of my state Senator, Sue Windels. Today, she sent out a missive on education reform, which reads in part:

Best Destiny  Senator Obama's Failure  The first rule about bad news is this: get it out there, get it out there on your own terms, and then change the subject.

Best Destiny  Vacation Musings  Been gone the last several days on vacation--me and the Bewitching Mrs. Best Destiny escaped from the children and went to Jamaica.

Comment:

How I Gained Four Hours A Day

Astute observers will notice it before long, so I may as well address the issue.  I am no longer blogging on Schaffer v Udall, Ritter Watch, or Colorado Union of Taxpayers.

I have a special style of blogging that I have described in the past.  I try to take and keep the high ground.  From there, I work as hard as I can to beat that day's target up.  People dislike legitimate criticism and frequently change their conduct to avoid it.  I always try to be careful to provide links so that readers know my criticism is justified.

One of the themes I have followed on Schaffer v Udall was name calling by left wing blogs.  I didn't want to see any.  Bob Schaffer is such a high quality candidate that he should be able to win in an environment free of name calling, and might not win in an environment where some name attaches itself to him.  I set about criticizing it, and pretty much stopped it.  I have given Mark Udall some credit for getting the name calling stopped, although I have recently discovered that he indulges in name calling in his fund raising letters.

What I never thought about was that one of my Schaffer v Udall co bloggers is addicted to name calling.  The name of his blog, Slapstick Politics gives him some leeway, and he usually limits himself to calling some of the more strange elements of society "moonbats."  The kind of name calling he does on his blog is probably appropriate.  It certainly isn't inappropriate.

One day, about two weeks ago, he dropped a "U-Turn Udall" post on Schaffer v Udall. 

He didn't consider how it might impact me and my personal credibility.  There were emails.  I made it plain to him and Ben that if it happened again, I would stop writing for Schaffer v Udall.  It only took two weeks before he did it again.  He and Ben had my two sentence resignation within an hour of the post going up and about two minutes after I found it.  That was Friday. 

I have acquired a personal critic.  Absurdicus did exactly what I would have done when he saw the post.  He took the high ground, or tried to, in a comment on the second U-Turn post:

But I thought you guys abhor name calling? Only when it's convenient for you to whine and not address my questions I suppose.

It will disappoint Absurdicus to know that I had already left the blog.  If had I stayed with Schaffer v Udall, I would have to fight him off no matter what issue I tried to raise.  He didn't knock me off the high ground.   My own fellow blogger, to whom I had entrusted my reputation, did it.  If I ever co blog with anyone again, it will be under strict rules.  There is great risk and no reward.

I intend to write from the high ground, on this and other subjects.  The easiest way to regain and maintain my credibility is to publicly separate myself from Schaffer v Udall. 

And yes, I do dislike name calling.

I won't be turning this blog into a Schaffer v Udall clone.  I have completed the heavy duty stage of my writing about Mark Udall, not because he isn't easy to write about (the guy is a liar and otherwise ethically challenged), but because I want to scatter my targets more.  Keeping up with those blogs was taking from four to six hours a day, on top of the four hours a day I was spending on Colorado Index.

I wish Ben DeGrow, El Presedente, and Bob Schaffer, all true gentlemen, the best.

March 29 - 30 Sweep

Schaffer v Udall  In Schaffer v Udall Battle, Coloradans Offered Clear Choice  As the Rocky Mountain News points out, Senate candidates Bob Schaffer and Mark Udall are as different as night and day:

Schaffer v Udall  "Thanks, Bob!"   Why is US Term Limits a big fan of Bob Schaffer? Because the former Congressman not only made a term limits pledge, but kept his word.

Schaffer v Udall  NRSC: Mark Udall On Gun Rights   

Ritter Watch  Getting Their Stories Straight   We've often noted the tendency of Democrat politicians to lie to the public. In two successive paragraphs, the Rocky Mountain News exposes a Bill Ritter, Big Blue Lie Machine lie about whether or not a tax increase will hit the ballot.

Rocky Mountain Politics  Gentlemen start your petitions  The legal period with which major and minor party candidates for elective office can officially begin collecting signatures to place their name on the August primary ballot is Monday March 31st.

The Cauldron  Plan for the Worst  Randal goes into the reasons why government planning of large projects most often end up in gigantic failures.

The Cauldron  A Bald Friend Helping Sick Kids  I resist using this space for pimping anyone but myself, but you might be interested in a good buddy of mine, Paul Bailey.

The Cauldron  Friday’s Funny 

PRP  HB 1278 Sent Back To Committee 

PRP  FasTracks delays release of draft EIS  Changes in the alignment of RTD’s FasTracks North Metro Corridor delayed the release of its draft Environmental Impact Statement, a FasTracks spokeswoman said.

Slapstick Politics  "Earth Hour" Futility, Google Hypocrisy Revealed 

Slapstick Politics  Blogging And Transparency  As I commented on Ben's blog, coming from the MSM–where editorials are unsigned, wire stories often unbylined, and even named writers obscure,

Slapstick Politics  SDS Joins Call For Shutting Down Republican National Convention; Bash Back! Radical Trans And Queer Convergence To Crash RNC   Students for a Democratic Society plans on using blockades and preparing for "self-defense" to shut down the RNC this September

Slapstick Politics  Howard Dean Worried Clinton-Obama Battle Hurting Dems' Chances In November The only ones frothing with negativity right now are the Democrats--apparently Dean's theory that only Republicans and pundits are part of an attack machine is failing, miserably.

Mount Virtus  Better than Earth Hour  The silly publicity stunt known as “Earth Hour” is coming to a close here in the Windy City

Mount Virtus  On Blogging and Transparency  Mr. Salzman’s concern about the transparency of bloggers is admirable and appropriate. But how many Old Media columnists have separate pages that publicly disclose where they are coming from

Mount Virtus  McCain’s Appearance in Denver  Expecting most of Colorado Lefties to engage in this kind of thoughtful self-criticism is probably overly optimistic. They’ve sure got the mud flying now, hoping the rest of us won’t notice.

FTS  Westword: Face The State Denver's Best Political Blog   This doesn't link to FTS

FTS  Political Cartoon for 3/28: Lord of the Long Bill 

FTS  McCain Focuses On Stemming Dem-Tide in West During Denver Trip  In a pair of campaign appearances here Thursday, Sen. John McCain joined with former rival Mitt Romney and leading Colorado Republicans to emphasize the need to win back Colorado and other traditionally strong Republican states that have fallen to the tide of a Democrat surge in recent years.

FTS  National org ponies up for Schaffer TV ads   While a Sunday Denver Post article questioned the political soundness of U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer’s decision to keep a promise he made to voters that he would only serve three terms in Congress, a national term limits group is speaking out in favor of Schaffer’s current U.S. Senate bid.

Colorado Senate News  Republicans top off environmental agenda with eco-friendly message to motorists  A GOP bill that would allow environmentally-conscious motorists to contribute money to a state-run carbon offset program-- and officially display their contribution on their cars--won bipartisan support today in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Line of Sight  Why America Needs Warrentless Wiretap Authority  Six weeks have passed since FISA, the authority for the President to authorize wiretap surveillance of terror suspects. Nancy Pelosi continues to stonewall and deny the House to vote on the re-authorization bill already passed 68-29 by the Senate.

Comment

Boulder Land Grab

The Boulder land grab is still in the news.  The Rocky Mountain News has an article about it. 

This entry is short because the Grandkids are in town and consuming the time I would normally use to fill it out.  I wanted to make sure that people who follow this and other things didn't miss it.

Bill Ritter Cranking Hard on the Big Blue Lie Machine

The one place where politicians can tell bald faced lies, and hope not to be detected, is in campaign fund raising letters.  We've just seen one signed by Bill Ritter in favor of Mark Udall:

Mark has been an indispensable ally and partner for me in Congress. Mark has taken the lead in fighting the bark beetle infestation plaguing our forests.  He is working to secure $120 million in federal funds to preserve our forests, protect our communities, and provide tax credits and income exclusions for private thinning and treatment work.

The truth is that Mark Udall came to the fight against bark beetles so late that by the time he had arrived, the Forest Service had surrendered.  Mark Udall is still fighting the establishment of forest roads and the clear cutting that will allow the fire breaks that might prevent a catastrophic fire in the now dead and dying forest.

Bill Ritter:

I have joined with several other Western governors to urge federal action, and Mark Udall is working tirelessly to enact legislation that commits the entire nation to follow Colorado's lead and create a renewable electricity standard.  The House approved his measure late last year, but it ultimately failed by one vote in the U.S. Senate.   

Mark will be that one vote.

The house leadership first diluted and then traded away the standards that Mark Udall proposed.  It never came up for a vote in the Senate.

Now you can see why we call it the Big Blue Lie Machine.

March 28, 2008 Sweep

Schaffer v Udall  Colorado Voter Registration And Party Affiliation--March Update  It will also be important to watch the numbers heading into the summer, and especially the final two reports--September and October--following the Democratic National Convention.

Schaffer v Udall  Sure Am Glad   After seeing Ben's last post, I am glad that about three weeks ago I took the time to go through the blog and correct our misspelling of Chris Cillizza's name.

Schaffer v Udall  It's Nice to be Noticed -- Even if it's from Inside the Beltway  One of the most influential Inside-the-Beltway political bloggers, Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post, unveiled last evening the first draft of his "Best of State Political Blogs" list.

Schaffer v Udall  Schaffer on John McCain   Lynn Bartels reminds readers in the Rocky Mountain News of a negative comment Bob Schaffer once made on the Aaron Harber show that may have been directed at John McCain:

Ritter Watch  Getting Their Stories Straight   We've often noted the tendency of Democrat politicians to lie to the public. In two successive paragraphs, the Rocky Mountain News exposes a Bill Ritter, Big Blue Lie Machine lie about whether or not a tax increase will hit the ballot.

The Cauldron  Priceless  Talk radio is a great medium because any idiot with a cell phone can instantly challenge any idea and promote a differing view.

The Cauldron  Tell RTD What You Really Think 

PRP  “Ex-[RTD]Chief Blasts Condemnations” 

PRP  Pueblo County Commissioners Condemn Pinon Condemnation Efforts 

PRP  Important Information on the Clean Water Act  Do You Want The Corps Of Engineers In Your Backyard? You’ll get that result of S 1870 passes the Senate and Congress

Slapstick Politics  Slapstick Politics Exclusive: John McCain Press Conference In Denver   Exclusive to the blogosphere, at least. Your humble Slapstick Politics was invited to cover the John McCain press conference today as part of the RNC's eCampaign Division outreach.

Slapstick Politics  Schaffer V Udall Named Best State Political Blog For Colorado By Washington Post's "The Fix"   As we expect this "best of" ranking to evolve over the course of this year's campaign, and openly welcome the addition of other Colorado blogs from either side of the aisle, it is clear that we have our work cut out for us

Mark Hillman  MUST READS: Iraq 

Mark Hillman  MUST READS for March 2008

Mount Virtus  Free Paul Jacob  Charged with a felony for exercising the right to petition the government? You’ve got it.

Mount Virtus  Who Would You Pick as John McCain’s VP Running Mate?  NewsMax is hosting a poll to help John McCain choose a Vice Presidential running mate.

Mount Virtus  Corry: Colorado Conservatives Uniting?  My Independence Institute colleague Jessica Corry has a column up at Politics West about a Denver event last night that she says holds out hope for re-uniting key wings of the old Reagan Republican coalition.

Mount Virtus   Statehouse Dems Pushing Colorado Farther Away from Tax Freedom  The Tax Foundation’s yearly “Tax Freedom Day” report is out (H/T State Policy Network Blog), and the results as usual are not startling.

Gang of Four  "Eat an environmentalist"  The latest example is "Earth Hour" at 8pm this Saturday, when the World Wildlife Fund wants everyone's lights off to signal alarm about global warming -- and Mayor John Hickenlooper is of course genuflecting to the "Go dark" ritual on Denver's behalf.

FTS FTS Humor: The New War Protest Motto: "Give violent, tear-gas filled riots a chance."   

FTS  National org ponies up for Schaffer TV ads 

Colorado Senate News  GOP transportation agenda moves forward, wins bipartisan backing  The measures advanced in the absence so far of any significant transportation proposals from the administration of Gov. Bill Ritter despite a year of study by a commission the governor appointed to look into transporation.

Colorado Senate News  Republicans rein in bill to expand union's hold on tradesmen   Critics charge House Bill 1170--now turned into a mere call for a study, under a Republican amendment--originally sought to expand the ranks of union electricians by changing the basic rules governing their employment and their qualifications.

Colorado Charter Schools  Charter School Marketing   School choice, and in many states simply charter schools, have redefined how families choose a public school.

Backbone America  Local control is hobbling our schools  Don’t look for author Matt Miller to be a featured speaker at any school board conferences for a while, not after his recent, much-discussed Atlantic Monthly article entitled “First, Kill All the School Boards.”

Backbone America  Barack spins for survival   Obama on the campaign trail isn’t practicing what he preached (pun intended) in last week’s widely praised speech where he sought a more open, honest dialogue about race in America.

Comment:   

Crank Press Release

As is our custom, attached is a Jeff Crank press release.  We remain neutral in this race and will publish press releases of reasonable length having to do with the campaign from all three campaigns.  If they start to take over the blog, we reserve the right to change that policy:

Jeff Crank, Republican candidate for Congress in Colorado's 5th Congressional District, today launched his first weekly YouTube campaign message.

"My campaign will continue to be the leader in using technology to reach out to our district," said Crank. "There are a lot of creative ways to get our message out and we will continue to illustrate that it can be done while not costing taxpayers money."

Crank explained that the incumbent politician has spent more money on sending franked mail(unsolicited, bulk mailings at taxpayer expense) in his first term than former Congressman Joel Hefley (R-CO) spent in over 20 years serving the district.

"Taxpayers deserve better," said Crank. "They elect people to represent them well in Washington and watch out for their best interests, not recklessly spend their hard-earned dollars on slick mailpieces."

The Crank campaign explained that they will be releasing weekly YouTube messages covering various issues for the campaign. This week's message focused on the changes that need to be made in Washington. "Like many of you, I am frustrated by politicians failing to live up to the Republican Party's fiscal conservative high standards. I do not believe bigger government is inevitable. I believe cutting the size of government is possible. But it will take leaders committed to fiscal conservative principles to see that it happens," said the message recorded by Crank.

To view the full video, visit: http://www.youtube.com/jeffcrankforcongress

Southern Delivery System

This is a background piece so that readers understand the politics of what is happening with the Southern Delivery System and why it is taking so long to get built.

The Pueblo Chieftain is running a series on the Southern Delivery System.  It seems that they have suddenly realized that their years of obstructionism might backfire.

Coming from Fremont County could mean less water coming through Pueblo, since 2004 intergovernmental agreements provide for a flow program if Colorado Springs comes from Pueblo Dam. However, the court filings for the new exchanges to Fremont County have not survived their test in court.

So, is the potential to take the pipeline through Fremont County merely a ploy to get Pueblo County to agree to a less damaging plan?

“That’s occurred to us,” said [ Fremont County Commissioner Mike ] Stiehl, whose concerns led to a meeting with the Bureau of Reclamation and Colorado Springs officials in January, a full month before the draft EIS was released.

Some years ago, Colorado Springs conditionally ceded some water rights to Pueblo in the hope that Pueblo would cooperate in building SDS.  That cooperation has never materialized. 

If memory serves, the editor of the Pueblo Chieftain once celebrated that he was going to stop the growth of Colorado Springs by cutting off its access to water.  A part of the obstructionism is based on jealousy.  At one time, Pueblo was the thriving metropolis and Colorado Springs the smaller town.  That started changing in the middle part of the last century.

We understand that one of Pueblo's problems is that its sewage treatment plant would have to be upgraded if the amount of water in the river were significantly reduced, so a part of the "damage" in the "less damaging plan" is the cost of upgrading their sewage facilities.

Pueblo hopes that the SDS is never built.  It has been adding water features to its river park so that it can scream loudly in opposition.  Some of those features might be left high and dry in low flow years but the city fathers knew they were taking that risk.

Pueblo's problem is that it doesn't own the water rights to the water that flows through its city.  It does have possession of that water as long as it can obstruct the construction of SDS, or promote obstruction elsewhere.  The articles have a cute little graphic that isn't at all subtle: 

In the immortal words of Rodney King "Can't we all just get along?"

The second installment is here.  The first installment is here.  The fourth installment is here  An editorial is here.  Their history and mission statement is here.

March 27, 2008 Sweep

Schaffer v Udall  Bob Schaffer: One Weekend, Two Lincoln Day Dinners   According to the Vail Daily, U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer is slated to be the keynote speaker at Friday's Eagle County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner

Schaffer v Udall  Another Day, Another Mark Udall Lie (or two)  This is becoming tedious. There are actually two Mark Udall attempts to mislead the public today

Schaffer v Udall  Mark Udall Finds a New Reason for Being on Both Sides of Gun Issue   Mark Udall believes in the right to keep and bear arms except when he doesn't. But here is a new reason for Udall to be on both sides of the issue: local government control.

Ritter Watch  The Jobs Governor   The Rocky Mountain News is reporting on the debate being held in the legislature over jobs. It is a debate worth having.

The Cauldron  Health Care Fiction, the Video Version  Perhaps inspired by my Got a Calculator post awhile back, my little web monkeys have been at it again.

The Cauldron  Snaggleteeth and Other “Universal” Headaches  “do you really want the people delivering your mail to deliver your babies?”

PRP  RTD Board Meetings Open to Public  “RTD Board of Director Meetings and Study Sessions are open to the public and citizens are encouraged to attend

Slapstick Politics Denver's César Chávez Parade--2008 Edition From last year--when amnesty, La Raza and flags of Aztlan made an appearance:

Mount Virtus  More Outrageous Teacher Stories  some colorful entries in the past couple weeks.

Mount Virtus  Hoping Mark Hillman Runs Again

Mount Virtus  Second Look at Health Insurance Statistic: One Coloradan Dying Per Day?  So when it comes to health care reform, it’s safe to assume that it would be better to do almost anything than nothing at all - right? Not so fast.

Gang of Four  The Heck With iPods. I Want a Glock!

FTS  Where in the world is Karen Middleton?   During one of the most important weeks of the legislative session, the Colorado state House’s most junior member is vacationing on a beach in Puerto Vallarta with her family for Spring Break, according to her husband, Larry Beer’s, status on the Facebook social-networking site

FTS  Legislature's "five bills" rule swallowed by exceptions  This year’s leading bill contenders are Democrat Senators Brandon Shaffer, D-Boulder, and Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood, with 13 bills each, and Jim Isgar, D-Durango, with 11 bills.

FTS  Does health insurance save lives?  Specifically, the foundation claims that 360 Coloradans die every year because of poor coverage and that a person without coverage has a 25 percent greater chance of premature death than an insured person.

Colorado Senate News  GOP derailed in bid to boost student achievement  Ruling Democrats on a Senate committee turned aside a Republican proposal today that would have reached out to high-schoolers who do poorly on the state's standardized testing and helped them improve.

Backbone America  Obie didn’t make the sale  Obama failed to explain how a church can harmonize Wright’s “God damn America” with Christ’s “blessed are the peacemakers.” My own limited experience worshiping in a black inner-city church has been diametrically different. Rather than Wright’s hateful condemnation of white people, the message at this church contained not a tinge of racial exclusivity.

Backbone America   "Beware the Conservative Entitlement Mentality  OCPA wisely avoids siding with either political party. Colorado’s Independence Institute does the same. Republican election results are still a good gauge of conservative trends, however. By that measurement, we peaked in 2002.