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May 24, 2012 10:28 PM UTC

Mike Coffman and Questioning Democrats' Patriotism: It's Not The First Time

  • 22 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

In the aftermath of Rep. Mike Coffman’s revised and significantly more contrite apology yesterday for his remarks asserting that President Barack Obama “is not an American,” we thought we would run back through our archives for anything else Coffman may have said at other points in his career that could be considered similarly disparaging–especially questioning of somebody’s loyalty, patriotism, or national identity as he did Obama’s.

We didn’t have to look very hard. Back in June of 2009, Coffman said this:

[Governor Ritter] clearly has no concept about the training and readiness needs of our combat forces. By signing H.B. 1317, a bill that blocks the Army’s ability to expand training areas, the Governor has sent a very clear message that the men and women who serve our nation in uniform are not welcome here.

I think he would be more sympathetic if the U.S. Army were to declare itself a terrorist organization – since he is going out of his way to block the Army while at the same time laying out a welcome mat to house terrorists from Guantanamo Bay. [Pols emphasis]

Later, Coffman extended this criticism, at least partly, to fellow Republican Josh Penry:

Unfortunately, it is obvious by the actions of Penry, who co-sponsored HB 1317, and Gov. Bill Ritter, who signed it into law, that both made their decision on the basis of a political calculation without any regard for the men and women in uniform who serve this nation in defense of our freedom.

One week later, Coffman apologized—but only to Penry.

I made the classic mistake of a combat veteran, confusing those emotions with the motives of others who may differ on military matters but who care as deeply as I do about the men and women who serve our nation in uniform. For that, I apologize to Josh Penry.

Note that Coffman didn’t reference Penry at all in his original and arguably much harsher statement about Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter “laying out a welcome mat” for terrorists, but he still didn’t see fit to apologize to Ritter–just to fellow Republican Josh Penry, who Coffman had accused of acting “without regard for men and women in uniform” along with Ritter.

It doesn’t surprise us after reading this that the same Mike Coffman tried to coast for a week on a belligerent non-apology that still attempted to justify what he said about Barack Obama.

And with Coffman now in the spotlight, we hear there may well be more such incidents, both previously known and newly discovered material, brought to light shortly. Stay tuned.

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22 thoughts on “Mike Coffman and Questioning Democrats’ Patriotism: It’s Not The First Time”

  1. I had completely forgotten about it but I remember now. The worst is how he apologized to the GOPer Josh Penry after insulting the Democrat Ritter much more.

    Coffman really turns my stomach now.

  2. it’s not like he expressed doubt about Bill Ritter’s birthplace. Rep. Coffman just questioned his own Governor’s patriotism, his allegiance to his military constituents, and called him a terrorist sympathizer…specifically equating him with those who support Al Qaeda. That’s not the, um, same, oh wait, that’s pretty bad. He must have misspoke. He should apologize.  

  3. BREAKING: Republicans and Democrats are occasionally mean to each other! News at 11.

    Coffman was making a play on words, not implying Ritter is a terrorist sympathizer. You’re overreaching in a desire to keep the scandal going longer because you’re paid to. But it’s too late. Coffman has apologized twice now, and even Miklosi admits that nobody will remember this in November.

    2. I happen to agree with the underlying criticism made, if not the way it was made.  That’s the problem with Republicans, they don’t know how to make a reasonable statement concerning a policy issue on which people could disagree.

    3. Your fellow traveler here thinks that this kind of stuff is A-OK. Kinda puts a damper on your outrage the other day about somebody whacking a pinata.  

    4. What’s next?

      You apologizing for saying that Obama’s commencement address at the Air Force Academy was based solely on political calculation when in fact it is a long standing tradition for the President of the United States to address each of the academies during his four year term.

      Can you do like Coffman and admit that you were totally wrong about your accusation and you are sorry that your first impulse is always to project your worst traits onto this president?

    5. I’ve noticed that when Dems make mean-spirited remarks they generally get smacked down immediately. Even leading members of the GOP generally get a pass from voters for rather outlandish and often offensive remarks. Is it because Democrats are expected to be the reasonable ones? Do people simply filter messages coming from the modern GOP because they’re expected to present themselves as over the top?

      1. The liberal side of the spectrum does have its share of wackadoos, but everyone pretty much ignores them entirely even when they do manage a cogent argument about something. What gives conservative wackjobs credibility and why do they get to be the ones that set the tone for their party?

    6. Hey, ColoradoPols, please DO keep alive stories about scandal and idiocy in the GOP. Voters need to be reminded. Too bad that only political junkies get to read all about it!

  5. Was he actually in combat in Iraq? I’m asking because our resident military poster Dan has referred to Coffman as a “green zone” soldier in Iraq.

    Just asking. Can someone expound on this? Hopefully Dan sees this and comments.  

    1. According to Coffman’s wikipedia entry, it would appear that while he served his time in the infantry (both Army and Marines), it doesn’t appear that he actually saw combat between the years 1972 and 1994.

      When he went over to Iraq in 2005, it was to organize their election process.  As SSG_Dan indicates, that was a “Green Zone” assignment.

      But he served honorably and did volunteer to put himself in harm’s way, so as someone who got lucky and didn’t get drafted during the Vietnam Era, my hat’s off to him for his service to his country.

      Wouldn’t vote for him in a million years, of course.

      1. Given the Iraqi’s lack of democratic voting experience, and the very real likelihood of attempts at voter fraud and intimidation (which are just fevered hallucinations in Scott Gessler’s imagination), did Coffman implement the successful voting safeguard processes used here in Colorado, or did he add filters to screen out those eligible voters that would be unlikely to vote for “the right candidates”?

        And if so, is that where the GOP got their current blueprints for voter suppression here in the States?

    3. LtCol Coffman was assigned to the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, which by every source of available info he spent almost all of his time in the Green Zone doing admin work to make it happen.

      We can hoot and screech about the motivations or purity of that effort, but he deployed to a war zone, which 99.5% population of the US has not done.

      But he was not awarded a Combat Action Ribbon (CAR) by the USMC for anything he did on that tour – and the rules for getting that distinguished award are crystal-clear:

      B. ITEM:  PRINCIPAL ELIGIBILITY CRITERION

      (1) CRITERIA:  THE PRINCIPAL ELIGIBILITY CRITERION IS, REGARDLESS OF MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY OR RATING, THAT THE INDIVIDUAL MUST HAVE RENDERED SATISFACTORY PERFORMANCE UNDER ENEMY FIRE WHILE ACTIVELY PARTICIPATING IN A GROUND OR SURFACE ENGAGEMENT.  SERVICE IN A COMBAT AREA DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY ENTITLE A SERVICE MEMBER TO THE CAR.

      http://www.marines.mil/news/me…

      Now, he was eligible for the CAR in GW1, since we has a light armored infantry officer during the ground assault. But I’ve never seen a damn official thing from him or the Repubs that said he was awarded the CAR… which makes be believe he didn’t meet the eligibility for the ribbon since he was not engaged in “enemy fire.”

      Still, the difference between getting into no-shit combat and riding around in an track reading Stars and Stripes is dumb luck and and sufficiently pissed off enemy. I salute him for volunteering for two different wars, and in one case doing the dangerous job of being involved in ground operations in GW1 in an RGP magnet.

      The problem is….he leads with the Combat veteran thing regarding his time in Iraq. He DIDN’T Do anything remotely related to combat during his deployment, but he loves to imply it.  I would have enormous respect for him for saying it about GW1, but he doesn’t.

      In fact, this whole birther nonsense (and the weasel afterward) has really made him a complete shitbag in my mind…which is sad because I used to be able to work with his office, and the few times I interacted with him he seemed like a decent guy.

      1. Coffman does sport a CAR on his ribbon rack in this picture (top row, leftmost ribbon):

        http://blogs.denverpost.com/th…

        In what conflict he was awarded the decoration, whether GW1 or OIF, is not clear.  I know plenty of guys who were awarded a CIB or CAB based upon being within a few hundred meters of indirect fire, especially staff weanies, which is entirely plausible within the Green Zone.  However, a Google search indicates that he had a CAR prior to his OIF deployment and therefore was awarded it for his service in GW1 as a light armored infantry officer.  He is a Marine and a combat veteran, that much is fairly indisputable.  Whether he saw any combat in Iraq in 05-06 is in question.

        1. …so based on USMC regs he must have gotten it for GW1 – which means he was riding around in an LVTP7 or an LAV25, which tend to attract a few RPGs.

          Awesome!

          I give the Marines credit for having such clear regs for this award. I know a few Army types (broadcasters) who were flown into Somalia just to become right-patch heroes, and yet gave the support staff (broadcast engineers & such) an incredible hard time for trying to get to The Suck so they could fix the gear…

      2. I personally don’t consider it an issue that he states he’s a combat veteran. Like you said, he was in a war zone where by definition everyone is in harms way, and I respect and owe a debt of gratitude to anyone who has experienced that, Mike Coffman included of course.

        I do have an issue with a politician who continually promotes their service record for political advantage. I worked for George McGovern in 1972 who was a WWII bomber pilot who flew 35 missions and was awarded several medals, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, for an emergency landing in his crippled plane saving his crew.

        It was on McGovern’s resume of course when he ran for the presidency, yet he never brought it up when campaigning. When asked why, he said he simply felt uneasy in doing so, and at any rate it was irrelevant to the issues of the campaign.

        Several years ago we buried my mother with military honors – she had been an Army nurse in the Pacific during WWII and was in Japan during the occupation. At the reception after her internment, a married in relative who had known her for 40 years came up to me and said he never knew she had served in WWII. He and a lot of other people never knew, because she never talked about it.

        The Greatest Generation will be missed.

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