February 28, 2022 02:28 PM UTC

The Sad Self-Flagellation Of Pam Anderson

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• by: Colorado Pols

We’ve written a few times now about the curious case of former Jefferson County Clerk Pam Anderson, running as a Republican–but not that kind of Republican–to be Colorado’s next chief elections officer. Attempting to occupy a middle lane that doesn’t exist anymore after the 2020 presidential election created two mutually incompatible partisan realities, Anderson’s message as expressed on her website is an embarrassing self-conscious contortion, trying to sound persuasive without acknowledging the 800-pound gorilla in the room:

There is absolutely no one spreading this “rumor.” But thanks for clearing up a question no one asked! As a Republican who is running to be Colorado’s chief elections official, it’s only natural to expect that Anderson would start off establishing clearly that there’s no truth whatsoever to Trump’s contention that the 2020 election was stolen. After all, that’s Anderson’s whole contrarian message for the general election: vote for me because I’m a “good Republican” who doesn’t buy the “Big Lie.”

Unfortunately, at least on her website, Anderson isn’t willing to actually challenge the “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen. You can see above how she sidesteps the issue, claiming that “people of good conscience” have “concerns.”

Except that’s not what’s going on. Republicans believe a lie, and that lie is indeed villainous.

But after coddling the “Big Lie’s” devoted yet misguided true believers, then Anderson delivers the hard truth, right? She says unequivocally at least once somewhere among all of these words that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election fair and square–right?

Sorry! The closest you get anywhere is this mealy-mouthed mumbo jumbo about how Dominion Voting Systems is based in America. It’s another example of Anderson side-stepping a question she could easily answer. Despite the hope that Anderson would be a vehicle of reason within the GOP, we see now that she doesn’t have the courage to actually challenge the foundational lie of today’s Republican Party. Anderson is aware that a majority of Republican voters do not agree with her, and a large percentage of those voters don’t care about anything else. Anderson is telegraphing her fear of the Republican base.

Someday it’s entirely possible that Anderson will say the words uttered by so many wistful ex-Republicans: “I didn’t leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me.” And that will probably be the truth. But that truth still leaves Pam Anderson with no viable path in the 2022 Secretary of State’s race as a Republican.

It’s simply not Pam Anderson’s party anymore. Whether she admits it or not is irrelevant.