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July 21, 2016 11:14 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Thursday (July 21)

  • 10 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Get More SmarterThe norovirus celebration in Cleveland comes to an official end tonight. It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). If you are more of a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► Former Republican Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz emerged as the biggest story from Day Three of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, overshadowing an evening that was supposed to belong to Vice Presidential nominee Mike Pence. The big news from Cruz was his pointed refusal to endorse Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for President, a gambit that appears to be backfiring already. From the Washington Post:

Ted Cruz is on the defensive after he gambled his political career on refusing to endorse Donald Trump, with key allies turning on him and members of his home-state delegation questioning his motives.

After his dramatic prime-time speech here last night to the Republican convention, after which he left the stage to loud boos and was then refused entry into an angry Sheldon Adelson’s suite, the runner-up for the nomination came under friendly fire during a surreal Texas delegation breakfast.

As some chanted “Trump, Trump, Trump,” Cruz argued that the less courageous route would have been to skip the convention. He said he called Trump three days ago to say he wouldn’t endorse him. “Why not,” someone yelled from the crowd. “I’m happy to answer that, but I won’t engage in a screaming fight,” the senator replied…

…Another Texan asked him how he could go back on his pledge, made during a Fox News debate last summer in the very arena where he delivered his speech last night, to support whomever wins the GOP nomination. Cruz said Trump “abrogated” the pledge with “personal” attacks on his wife’s looks and by suggesting that his dad was somehow involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. “I’m not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father,” he said.

Cruz’s refusal to endorse Trump is obviously a longer-term political gamble that assumes Trump will lose badly in the General Election to Democrat Hillary Clinton. A likely Presidential candidate again in 2020, Cruz is also hoping that Republicans either forget his dismissal of the GOP nominee or somehow come to view the move as a principled political stance rather than a selfish grab for the spotlight. We may get the answer to this question fairly soon; much depends on whether or not Cruz’s non-endorsement actually moves the needle in a negative way for Trump or is generally ignored by GOP voters.

 

► Donald Trump will accept the Republican nomination for President tonight at the RNC in Cleveland (theoretically, at least). The success of the Convention in general may hinge on Trumps’ performance.

 

► Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is not likely to be named as Hillary Clinton’s running mate on a Democratic ticket this fall. From the Denver Post:

Hillary Clinton may name her choice for vice president as early as Friday, and despite repeated flirtations, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is not expected to propose to Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.

Instead, three other Democrats — U.S. Sen. Timothy Kaine of Virginia, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Labor Secretary Tom Perez — emerged this week as more likely picks to join the Clinton ticket.

Rumors about a potential Vice Presidential slot for Hickenlooper have been ongoing for months now, reaching their peak last week after Hickenlooper met with Hillary at her home in Washington D.C. We can’t say we’re surprised by this — while Hick was certainly in the discussion at some point, there was never any strong indication that he had cracked the Top 3 on Clinton’s wish list. On the plus side for Hickenlooper and his supporters, it seems very likely that the Governor could end up with a Cabinet appointment in a potential Clinton administration.

 

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Colorado Senator Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) continues to refuse to indicate that he is a supporter of Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign, though the freshman Senator’s trademark question-ducking is far less relevant when you remember that Gardner already pledged to support the Republican Presidential nominee.

 

► Looking for more Day Three analysis from the RNC in Cleveland? Chris Cillizza lists his winners and losers from Wednesday, with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker earning a particularly harsh critique:

Watching the Wisconsin governor speak, I was reminded of how wrong I was about Walker’s potential as a presidential candidate. Walker looked so good on paper — conservative, Midwestern swing state governor etc. — but when the bright lights went on, he simply couldn’t make it go.  That was again the case Wednesday night; Walker’s attempts at a call and response — “America deserves better” — fell flat. His speech, which he memorized, felt rote and unemotional. A big part of politics is performance; Walker proved again he is not a performer at the highest levels.

 

► Republican businesswoman Michelle Van Etten etched her name in convention history on Wednesday with one of the most cringe-worthy performances you’ll ever see at a major Party convention. Van Etten opened her speech by saying that her dream as a child was to one day perform in a circus; mission accomplished on that front, at least.

 

How do you turn a relatively-minor gaffe into a brutal three-day story? Just follow the example of the Trump campaign in its bumbling response to allegations of plagiarism in Melania Trump’s Convention speech on Monday. We can’t help but feel for the staffer who ended up under the bus long after the story had gotten out of control for the Trump campaign.

 

► Libby Loves Chachi!

 

► Colorado Republican Senate nominee Darryl Glenn made it onto the Daily Show on Comedy Central…which isn’t really a good thing. 

 

► A federal judge may soon decide on whether the government should require people to choose a gender when applying for a passport.

 

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Absurdly obvious conflict of interest? Check. Upfront disclosure about said conflict of interest? Crickets.

 

► Kudos to the band Third Eye Blind, which used a concert performance near Cleveland on Wednesday to speak out in favor of LGBT rights.

 

► “Colorado Pols Field at Mile High Stadium” appears to be an unlikely outcome in the battle for naming rights over the football home of the Denver Broncos.

 

ICYMI

► The first openly gay Republican to serve on a national GOP Platform Committee is distressed that Republicans opposed every effort to soften harsh language about the LGBT community and the belief that marriage is an institution reserved for one man and one woman. We certainly understand the frustrations of Rachel Hoff, though we’re curious that she would have expected a different outcome from hardcore Republicans.

 

Get More Smarter by liking Colorado Pols on Facebook!

Comments

10 thoughts on “Get More Smarter on Thursday (July 21)

  1. File under NOT News: "The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is not expected to propose to Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper."

    It's quite obvious Hick isn't ready for prime time – I called it here after the theater shootings, and his mention proves how much of a show the whole process is. 

     

    1. His mention was pretty much the result of a Colorado media that believes (probably with good evidence) that the vast majority of people in this state don't pay attention to one damn thing that can't be sold as having a "local angle."

  2. Laura Ingram's Nazi Salute at RNC Convention:

    CLEVELAND, OHIO—Laura Ingraham electrified the Q more than any speaker of the convention thus far. She shamed flag-burners. She hated on man buns and skinny jeans. She threw shade at Ted Cruz, implying he didn't have the stones to formally endorse Trump tonight.

    Ingraham, a conservative talk radio host who quite literally makes her living in media, chastised "the media" for being wrong—wrong all along!—about The Donald. She had the crowd roaring, even more jazzed than in the 7 o'clock hour when G.E. Smith and the house band cruised through a nifty mash-up of "My Sharona" and "Gimme Some Lovin'."

    But then Ingraham did this:

     

    via GIPHY

    Lisa Goldman @lisang

    I am not laughing. I'm actually shocked this time.

    6:54 PM – 20 Jul 2016

     

     336336 Retweets

     

     276276 likes

    GIFs of various angles of the alleged Nazi salute are already flooding Twitter.

    She'll say it was a bad angle or a bad joke. If anyone thinks we should cut her some slack or give her the benefit of the doubt, go listen to her show for an hour or so and then convince me of her good intentions.

      1. Yep. I'm filing that one along in the same file with "terrorist fist bump".

        Fucksakes, just because the GOPers have decided to be the party of unrelenting stupid, that doesn't mean the Dems and liberals have to treat it like a race!?!

          1. YeahhhhNOPEnopeNOPE   ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

            I'm afraid that if I ever start listening to the good Doctor, or any of that ilk, I might just start imagining all sorts of strange conspiracies and fantastically misinterpreting mostly harmless coincidences.

            (You might, however, try something a little more rooted in reality, just as an occasional break, NPR maybe?)

  3. What's up with Dacono City Council? Carl and Peggy Randolph, husband and wife, both suddenly resigned from their council positions, citing personal and health reasons.

    Anyone know the Randolphs or what the backstory is?

    Dacono is a little town near Longmont.

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