August 05, 2016 03:00 PM UTC

We Made Wikileaks!

• 4 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Perhaps not too surprising, but a link to a post here at Colorado Pols can be found within the vast archive of leaked Democratic National Committee emails posted by Wikileaks just prior to the Democratic National Convention. Noted for posterity:

From:Dem.LeaderPressOffice @mail.house.gov
To:
Date: 2016-05-11 15:00
Subject: House Republicans in Their Own Words

Ahead of Donald Trump’s visit tomorrow to Capitol Hill, the House Republican Conference continues to act surprised by his extreme remarks and vile legislative proposals. They’re desperately trying to distance themselves from the presumptive presidential nominee when all along House Republicans have employed the same extremist rhetoric and legislative proposals. As Leader Pelosi said this morning: “Since when have the House Republicans been so concerned about intolerant statements and discriminatory ideas?”

In fact, just take a look at this video for some of the many times Speaker Ryan’s House Republicans made similar, outrageous comments – and see below for additional radical statements…

And what in the treasure troves of “outrageous comments” hosted on this blog did House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s press office choose for their memo ahead of Donald Trump’s visit to Washington?

Congressman Mike Coffman (R-CO): Minority language speakers should ‘Pull out a Dictionary’
To minority language speakers: “One thing they ought to do is pull out a dictionary when they are at home, because the ballots have been sent to them a long time in advance…sometimes you have to put a little more effort to assimilate into our culture.” [Colorado Pols, 4/14]

Thats right! Our post from 2014 about Coffman’s legislation to restrict the availability of bilingual ballots. Back in 2011, Coffman defended this proposal–which we’re pretty sure today’s swing-district Coffman would never go near–by saying bilingual voters should “pull out a dictionary” instead of expecting ballots in their language.

MIKE COFFMAN: One thing they ought to do is pull out a dictionary when they are at home, because the ballots have been sent to them a long time in advance. They can seek help from friends who speak English, look up words they do not know; sometimes you have to put a little more effort to assimilate into our culture.

Safe to say this is not a moment from Coffman’s long political career that he wants the diverse voters he needs to win over in 2016 to ever hear about. But it’s a useful reminder of the kind of politics Coffman used to play when it was politically advantageous. We’re guessing Trump would have really liked Coffman’s bill!

Thank you, Wikileaks, for the trip down memory lane.