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October 28, 2014 11:50 AM UTC

Rocky Mountain Heist--So Bad It's...Well, See For Yourself

  • 10 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Luis Toro of Colorado Ethics Watch makes an astute point:

—–

citizensunited

The controversial right-wing filmmaking crew Citizens United released their much-anticipated movie about the "Democratic takeover" of Colorado titled Rocky Mountain Heist last week, now available on DVD as well as streaming free on conservative website Newsmax.com. Overall, the video appears to be a overheated version of Adam Schrager's Blueprint: How the Democrats Won Colorado, with some misleading anecdotes backdropped against the effective (and perfectly legal) Democratic infrastructure generally given credit for turning Colorado blue for the past decade.

Rocky Mountain Heist draws viewers in with references to a memo, purportedly from the Colorado Democracy Alliance in 2006, that refers to a campaign to "educate the idiots"–obviously an incendiary choice of words for any election strategy document. What Citizens United doesn't mention is that the "educate the idiots" memo was an obvious forgery, using bizarre language and bad grammar that nobody on the Democratic side could even recognize.

And that's just the beginning. The movie references the case of Jack Phillips, the bakery owner who was found to be in violation of the state's public accommodation law, claiming Phillips "faced jail time" for his refusal to bake a cake for a gay wedding. The truth is, the Colorado General Assembly repealed the criminal penalties for public accommodation in 2013, the same year they passed the civil unions bill. To imply in the fall of 2014 that refusing to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple in Colorado could result in jail time is just one example of the way this movie blatantly misleads its audience.

Seth Masket, a DU professor, relates his experience of being duped into an interview for Rocky Mountain Heist in a Washington Post blog last week:

At one point in the film, I claim the following:

Latinos have not only been increasing in their potential to vote, but they’ve been voting increasingly Democratic over the last 10 years in Colorado.

By itself, this is not a particularly controversial statement. It is empirically verifiable that the number of Latino voters has increased substantially in Colorado over the past decade and that those voters are more likely to vote Democratic than they used to be. But this quote is inserted in between some footage purportedly showing that Democrats are trying to encourage illegal immigration, an insinuation by Tom Tancredo that the Obama administration is essentially recruiting Democratic voters via undocumented Mexican immigration, and a paean by Michelle Malkin to her Filipino parents who “immigrated here legally. It wasn’t easy. They learned English, they learned our history, they followed our rules.”

So now my uncontroversial quote is helping to legitimize an argument that undocumented immigrants from Mexico are invading our country, affecting our elections and undermining our culture.

For us, perhaps the most egregious lie in the whole film–the one that proves Citizens United is purposefully out to mislead you–is this frame:

udalltomfreespeech

This is the point late in the film where Citizens United declares their court case invalidating campaign finance laws is the reason why the "gun control revolt" in Colorado was successful–enough that "Sen. Udall" is proposing to "roll back free speech rights across the country."

But if you look closely, you can see they're not even attacking the right Sen. Udall.

tomudall

Bottom line: since the release of Rocky Mountain Heist, we've honestly been surprised by how little attention it's received in the mainstream press, and how little buzz among voters on either side of the political spectrum it seems to be generating. That's partly because the material is really quite weak, relying more on breathless reporting of uncontroversial politics than findings of real nefarious fact. And at key moments, the whole production is pasted together with rank deceptions like what you see above: maybe enough fool the most uncritical and most committed partisan Republicans, but laughable to anyone who stops even for a moment to think about what they're being presented with. As a tool for persuading undecided voters, Rocky Mountain Heist is just plain bunk.

Given the splash they made with the court battle just to set up shop in Colorado, we expected better.

Comments

10 thoughts on “Rocky Mountain Heist–So Bad It’s…Well, See For Yourself

  1. When lies, ignorance, greed, racism and fear are all a party like the craven GOTP has to offer, only liars, cowards, racists, ignoramuses and greedy sons of bitches will vote for them.

    These people are becoming dangerous.

  2. I actually believe the movie was merely a prop to support the grossly misleading political ads they really wanted to run.  Getting anyone to watch the movie was just a bonus.

  3. I've always been encouraged by the necessity of the right wing to constantly pour funds into efforts that pander to the pre-existing notion of their committed partisans. Feeding dog whistles through a megaphone doesn't do anything for persuading the public that isn't in on the ongoing discussions in the fever swamp. It sure does reek of desperation, as though even the true believers have to constantly be pummeled to stay on message.

    1. I think this is a really important point. So much of the right wing's propaganda is about keeping their own base radicalized. They've lost sight of a message that grows their party, all they can do is spew he shit to keep their own in line.

      1. Hey, Miss Cleo over here has a prediction. This isn't about who wins or loses. This is about the typical shady conservative behavior that drove me away from the Republican party. If you have to lie to get votes, it means you shouldn't get mine.

      2. The fact that Udall is going to lose in a week.

         

         

        1. Knowledge or information based on real occurrences: an account based on fact.

        2. a. Something demonstrated to exist or known to have existed.

            b. A real occurrence; an event.

         

        You obviously have some problem with the meaning of the word "fact".

         

  4. As Luis Toro says,"It was never about the movie. It's about gutting Colorado's campaign finance disclosure laws." Even the ads for the movie are not the point, even if they add to the attacks on Democrats (that's a fringe benefit). The ads had to be run during the election period when disclosure is required in order for Citizens United to challenge the disclosure and disclaimer laws.

    Even going after Colorado's disclosure laws is just a step toward their ultimate goal. Instead of appealing through the Colorado courts, Citizens United went to federal court to make a US constitutional challenge. Their target is all disclosure and disclaimer laws in the country–state and federal.

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