The Colorado Index

The Year in Colorado Blogging

What follows is my impression of the year in blogging.  It will doubtless not be the same as other blogger’s impressions:

The Good:

The best of the best was the maturation of Face the State.  It went from an intermittent site with very little original content in 2007 to a regular site with daily original content in 2008.  It went from a site whose major figure too often bashed blogs and bloggers as unpaid basement writers to be ignored to a site that regularly promotes blogs.  I can’t say enough about the turn around.

Civil Sense joined as a regular contributor to this blog and Betsy Red joined as a less regular contributor.  It is easy for me to admit that when Civil Sense has the time to write, he is often a better, more well rounded blogger than I am.

Jon Caldera and the Independence Institute were more supportive of blogs and bloggers in 2008 than in 2007. 

The recognition of the value of political blogging by major Republican operatives and candidates in 2008 will encourage more bloggers to pick up the load in 2010.

The Bad:

The demise of PolitickerCO wasn’t a surprise.  It was an idea about five years ahead of its time.  The demographics are too inverted to support it.  People over 50 don’t get their news from the internet but, at the same time, they are the age group most heavily involved in politics.  Hopefully Jeremy Pelzer will land on his feet.

The numbers also did in the large staff at Colorado Confidential / Colorado Independent.  Last summer I looked at their daily hit counter.  They were getting about 1000 readers a day who opened 2000 pages a day.  Even worse, two thirds of their readers were from out of state.  It was a very small bang for a very big buck, but I was sorry to see the staff cuts.

A long time Colorado based conservative blogger passed away after a long illness.  He didn’t write on state issues so I didn’t follow his blog.  Even so there are so few conservative bloggers that his voice will be missed by those who did follow his blog.

The Ugly:

I quit doing the sweep in March and discovered very quickly that my two hours a day of work for more than a year was largely unappreciated.  The only blogger who thanked me for my work was Mark Hillman, showing in one more way what a class act the guy is.

Senator-Elect Mark Udall refused to participate in a blog debate sponsored by schaffervudall and Liberal and Loving It.  He didn’t like it that schaffervudall had a “Udall as a Liar” category.  After the election, it came out that Mark Udall’s staff was being told to lie to the public.  It wasn’t that Mark Udall minded lying to the public—he only minded when it was pointed out that he was lying.

The half dozen or so conservative bloggers who signed up to write for the Colorado Union of Taxpayers blog before it was created and then couldn’t find the time to write a single essay.

As with many years, the good outweighed the bad.  There isn’t much one can do about the ugly.

We Welcome a New Blog

Some months ago, Jeremy Pelzer and I engaged in a good natured banter about his being a paid journalist and his supposition that I might be jealous of his income and his status.  I assured him that my retirement was significantly more than his income and that I wasn't in a hurry to change places with him.

Jeremy has unfortunately entered the ranks of unpaid bloggers, a fate that I wouldn't have wished on him.  It seems only fair to link to his blog and wish him well.

Edited to add:  Jeremy has moved his blog.

Note to Jeremy Pelzer: We Lift Our Glasses High

Not many weeks ago, Jeremy Pelzer, writing as Wally Edge in Mediocrity in Orange, err... Politicker, opined that we were unhappy because he gets paid, and we don't.

He is going to be much more unhappy when we gleefully tell him, in just a few months, that we have joined the geezer gang.  Since we get to pick which three Americans will support us in high style in our dotage, we pick him first. 

That's right, Jeremy.  Each month as you get that pittance, made smaller by your contribution to Social Security, know that we are drinking a nightly White Zinfandel toast to you, and you are paying.

If we keep writing stuff like this, AARP is going to take our card away.

Jeremy, Jeremy.  You know that if you didn't always try to serve up softballs to Democrats while playing hardball with Republicans, we wouldn't pick on you.

Take Politicking with Hal Bidlack.  Not very long ago, we wrote that Hal Bidlack had written in his blog that he agreed with Mark Udall on almost everything.  We opined that it had cost him the election in El Paso county.

After the Clinton folks, we drove down to Canon City to join the Fremont County Democrats at the annual FDR Dinner. I was honored to share the speaking duties with Rep. Mark Udall, the next Senator from Colorado. I’ve had the chance to spend some time with Mark, and I can’t tell you how much this gent has impressed me. I agree with him on just about every issue, and I think he will be a marvelous addition to the US Senate. He is being very kind to a rookie candidate, and I can’t thank him enough.

You clearly weren't paying attention.  You let Hal Bidlack get away with claiming to be a moderate:

And I come into this, I think, as a fairly strong Democratic candidate. I mean, I was a professor in the Air Force, I worked at the White House. I was also a cop in the Air Force, so I've arrested felons. I'm a gun owner and believe in fiscal responsibility. It's kind of a Western moderate view which, depending on where I'm standing - if I'm standing in Berkeley, California, I'm a right-wing guy, and if I'm standing in the middle of Iowa, I'm a left-wing guy [ left of Tom Harkin ]. It just depends. That's my issue set.

Not once, but twice:

So I think there are more Republicans who are like Chuck Hagel, the [Republican] senator from Nebraska, or Barry Goldwater, who was a conservative - and I'm a moderate - but he was consistent.

Like a lot of politicians, Hal Bidlack wants to have it both ways:

Personally, I am pro-life...But, in terms of my politics, I believe so strongly in a right of privacy. And I believe if you can't control your own body, what privacy do you got? So I would say that I will vote primarily, I would think, pro-choice...

Jeremy, we might have let you off on this one, but you wrote another softball article about Mark Udall.  You might have started your research over at the Schaffer v Udall Mark Udall is not a moderate scoreboard (on the right margin).

Added note: Mark Udall called Boulder his "touchstone" and his staff claims "Boulder Liberal tag will not hurt"

Franklin Roosevelt designed Social Security so that we older folks wouldn't have to live in poverty.  We can assure you that it is working.  The next time you take a dig at a blogger who you think is jealous of your paycheck, make sure he doesn't have his hand in your pocket.  We lift our glasses high. 

Jeremy Pelzer Into the Breach

Jeremy Pelzer tried to do a tough interview with Bob Schaffer for Monday's Politicker.  That attempt was in sharp contrast to the softball questions that he threw in Mark Udall's direction not that long ago.

One would guess that he was afraid of being skewered by Colorado Media Matters if he tried to go soft on Bob Schaffer.  In any event, he does get credit from Media Matters for the attempt.  They are mercifully silent on the outcome, though.  It started off like this:

PolitickerCO: The campaign's been fairly quiet about the whole Marianas Islands controversy since it came out in the Post about a week or so ago. What's your take on this whole controversy and how it's played out?

Schaffer: Why don't you describe the controversy?

PolitickerCO: Well, just that the Post put out a series of articles detailing how, one, you went to the Marianas Islands and it was funded by or organized by Preston Gates...

Schaffer: Really? Was it?

Wadhams: No.

...

Schaffer: Why don't you take the opportunity to substantiate your comment just now?

PolitickerCO: Sure, sure. This is just -well, what is your take on the controversy? Why don't you fill me in?

Schaffer: Why don't you describe the controversy?

PolitickerCO: The controversy?

Schaffer: Yeah.

This goes on and on.  If you want a good laugh, do read the whole thing.  And to think that Jeremy Pelzer actually gets paid for being a straight man.  At least, he claims to being on Politicker's payroll.

Politicker Responds

Earlier this week we were attending a meeting of the local Illuminati cell.  The subject of blogging came up and we described our style as "critical, sometimes bitterly critical."  Another blogger was present who replied with a quippy comeback which won't be repeated here.  It was good enough to generate a good chuckle.

Imagine our surprise and pleasure when we discovered that Politicker said about us on Friday:

Yes, Colorado Index has been particularly bitter about PolitickerCO. They cling to their blog and blame others who aren’t like themselves. Why? Economics: We get paid to write and they don’t!

Don't disillusion yourself, Jeremy Pelzer (writing as Wally).  This author is retired, and not in poverty.  Politicker could offer us double what they are paying you to write and we wouldn't take it, or need to take it.  There is only one job we would come out of retirement to take, at any salary, even $1 per year, and it doesn't yet exist.

You are correct in one way.  One of our goals is to help really bad authors or good authors with bad judgment make what we are making to write, if you get our drift.

We would much prefer that you do a decent and fair job of writing.  We have neither the time nor the desire to be your hall monitor.  Too much of what is being written at Politicker is unfiltered agenda gossip, often whispered your way in the expectation that you will repeat it without examination.  Why wouldn't your sources expect that?  That is what happens. 

Oh, and to save you the time of finding out who the Illuminati are, here is a link to Wikipedia:

In rarer cases, the Illuminati refers to an elite set of enlightened individuals who may not cooperate but are uniquely empowered by their enlightenment, much like the intelligentsia classes of today are empowered by their education and intelligence. These are people who have become illuminated and have achieved a higher mystical understanding of the universe.

Do you think it is an accident that our subtitle is "Illuminating Colorado Issues?"

Yes, of course we are kidding about there being an Illuminati cell in Colorado and about our being a part of it, but we did have fun writing this.  Some who were present will know that there was a meeting; that it did discuss blogging; and that the quote is correct.

More Orange Mediocrity

It is very hard to figure Politicker out.  On Monday, under the Wally Edge byline, they make a mindless attack against Dave Schultheis that says nothing except that they think he is a small politician.  They gave no reason and no specifics:

Schultheis follows in the small shadow cast by his predecessor in the 9th SD, Doug Lamborn. This mini-me version of Lamborn votes like his mentor, but lacks Lamborn’s intellect, if that is possible, even if they both share the social skills of Doug Bruce.

We were critical of that piece and started a "Politicker as Mediocrity" category, knowing that it wouldn't be long before we could add to it.

Umm...  We wouldn't have guessed that it would only be two days.

Today, they seem to be promoting Dave Schultheis against Mark Hillman in the race for National Committeeman.

When Mark Hillman announced last week that he’d run for RNC committeeman from Colorado to replace outgoing Colorado RNC committeeman Bob Schaffer, the groan coming from several parts of the GOP was audible.

“Yeah, Hillman took his 30 pieces of silver,” said one GOP official. “But the difference between he and Judas is that at least Judas had the good sense to hang himself. Hillman acts like he deserves a promotion.”

No one who works for Politicker was around Colorado at the time.  Politicker's piece was taken apart by both Face the State and by Ben DeGrow.  Before Politicker publishes a hit piece, they need to do what any reputable site would do, make sure they get their facts right.

Politicker: Mediocrity in Orange

Today, we add a new topic category, "Politicker as Mediocrity."

We had higher hopes for Politicker than they have managed to achieve.  When they first arrived on the scene, we thought they might be good for Colorado politics.  We were wrong.  What they produce is too shallow to be taken seriously.

Yesterday's list of the ten worst Republican legislators is just one example.  Read it through.  It has no substance.  We've criticized several of the politicians on the list.  Andy McElhany, for example, set standards for Doug Lamborn that he, himself couldn't possibly meet.  He deserved to be criticized for that, but other than that little slip, which he hasn't repeated, he has been an outstanding Senate Minority Leader.

Being in the Minority is a tough job, one where even minor victories are major victories.  McElhany and the Republicans have had a surprising number of victories.  They have a legislative agenda, which is much more than can be said for Governor Bill Ritter.  That didn't happen all by itself.  McElhany doesn't even belong on the list.  So, what does Politicker say about McElhany:

Ok, so we were wrong. We thought of another guy not fit to be a minority leader. Here’s another Republican who slept in committee hearings. However, McElhany slept while his own witness was testifying. Wow. We won’t say what he was doing with his thumb and his nose. It’ll be quite some time before the Republicans regain the upper hand with leaders like that.

Rep Stella Garza Hicks doesn't belong on the list, if only out of common courtesy.  Informed readers will know what we mean, but it is obvious that Politicker does not.

There is much of substance on which to criticize Senator Schultheis.  He is a two issue legislator and one of those issues isn't all that popular any more.  The other isn't all that popular in today's legislature.  He is a gruff old guy, and yet he appears from this distance to have a talent for infighting.  When a party is in the minority, it needs talented infighters.  He doesn't belong on this list.  What of substance did Politicker tar the man with?  Not a thing.  They wanted to take a swing at three Republicans for the price of one.

Schultheis follows in the small shadow cast by his predecessor in the 9th SD, Doug Lamborn. This mini-me version of Lamborn votes like his mentor, but lacks Lamborn’s intellect, if that is possible, even if they both share the social skills of Doug Bruce.

Let's do some math.  There are 60 Democrats in the legislature so 1/6th of the delegation made Politicker's earlier list.  There are 40 Republicans. One sixth would be 7, but Politicker couldn't be content at naming ten Republican legislators.  It named eleven with Bruce.  More than 1/4th of the Republican delegation is to be sneered at.  To be fair, Politicker needs to add five more Democrats and one extra with a sideways slap. 

The byline is a bit strange.  This is a gossip column and nothing more.  It is all fluff and no stuff.  Wally Edge, who is a real person and who lives on the east coast is very unlikely to have written it.  Thank Jeremy Pelzer.

This author only adds categories as it becomes obvious that they will be needed.  This is not the first article we have seen this week that suggests very weak reporting.  It is the third.  If Politicker doesn't figure out how to straighten up its act, we will be writing about them often, and not positively.