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February 11, 2006 09:00 AM UTC

Weekend Open Thread

  • 77 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Is it still cold out?

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77 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread”

  1. Watched Bob Beauprez on the Aaron Harber show last night (between flipping channels to see the Olympics) and was AMAZED that Beauprez actually said “we are a judeo-christian nation.”  Did this hit the press earlier and I miss it?  Is Bob still living in the 18th century?  I have always been impressed by him but that was such a dumb and insensitive and inaccurate thing to say, I am re-thinking my opinion about the man.

  2. Hickenlooper’s loooooong decision making process has cost Alice Madden precious time to put a campaign together.  She is certainly a bright and articulate woman but I don’t see how she puts the money together and her liberal image is not going to sell well in November.  If she is smart about her career I think she will stay Majority Leader and build up credibility for the future.  Ritter is flawed but I don’t think Alice can win in the end.

  4. Bill Ritter’s staff is always very quick to send comments when Ritter is challenged.
    It is therefore quite revealing to see that no one has stepped forward to defend Ritter on two issues. That the conviction rate of the Denver District Attorney’s Office under his leadership was one of the lowest in the State and that the conviction rate went down every year he was District Attorney. Denver had great District Attorneys in Dale Tooley and Norm Early. Bill Ritter was a terrible District Attorney. Bob Beauprez knows this simple fact. Just because you were a prosecutor does not mean you were a good one. Bill Ritter never mentions his actual record because he knows how lousy it reall is

  5. Alice is bright, and the real voice for many of us. Bill Ritter does not excite me. Hickenlooper would have been fun but with him out we need a reason to believe and for me Alice is the one.

    Ritter is like stale oatmeal, why not make electing the FIRST female Governor our charge, women in the suburbs would respond, and we all know we are the ones all the politicians target.

    My vote and sweat is with Alice Madden.

  6. Gang, it seems the Colorado Democrat Party is at a cross-roads.  We can capitulate to so-called ?moderates? whose primary interest is in winning elections.  Or we can stand up for principles and back electable candidates who affirm our values.  Bill Ritter is wrong for Colorado Democrats and wrong for Colorado.  His apostasy from progressive thought isn?t limited to simply one, excusable issue.  Rather, his entire philosophy ? his world view, so to speak ? is hostile to progressive values.  It?s simply unimaginable that Colorado voters might not have the option of supporting a progressive candidate this fall.  In the coming days, Alice Madden will decide whether to make a run for Governor.  Let?s hope she decides to run.  She is with the majority of Colorado Democrats ? and Colorado voters ? on many issues.  Bill Ritter?s record, on the other hand, is simply unworthy of support.  Look at his recent quotes.  Just looking at Ritter’s interview on pols last year tells enough:

    The Role of Religion in Politics
    ? Bill Ritter is unable to represent our core values because he intertwines his personal religious faith with his public policy-making.  From his 2005 Coloradopols interview:  ?I cannot pretend that, as a Governor, I can check my faith at the door of the Governor?s office, and that my decision making will somehow be devoid of my spiritual beliefs.?  While his faith deserves respect, Bill Ritter is simply unable to separate religious upbringing from his political views.

    Abortion
    ? Bill Ritter is pro-life.  See his quote in ColoradoPols from a Q&A session in 2005:  ?I am pro-life as a matter of personal faith.  If Roe v. Wade is overturned, and the decision of whether or not to legalize abortions reverts to the states, and if the Colorado Legislature passes a bill banning abortion, I will sign the bill? if it exempts victims of rape and incest or to protect the life of the mother.

    Bad Cops
    ? Bill Ritter lends too much leniency to abusers of power.  While we complain about the Bush White House?s abuse of power with respect to wiretaps, Bill Ritter has allowed bad cops off the hook.  These offenses are just as relevant to us here in Colorado as the wiretapping violations.  In defense of his decisions not to prosecute police shootings, Ritter says he ?could not ethically prosecute the officers, because of insufficient evidence necessary to gain a conviction.?  He even goes on to say that ?it might have been best for me politically to have chosen a case or two to have taken to trial.?  Does Bill Ritter honestly believe that EVERY single case of police shootings brought to his attention when he was District Attorney was defensible ? or at least not worthy of prosecution?  Note the following fact from the Boulder Weekly:  ?During the past 11 years of Bill Ritter?s term as the DA, more than 80 people have been killed in fatal police shootings by Denver police. In that time, not once has Ritter filed criminal charges against an officer involved in a wrongful death.?  Also according to the Weekly a couple years ago, Denver ranked sixth in the nation in number of fatal police shootings per 100,000 residents.?  (Ben Corbett, Boulder Weekly, 7/15/04)

    Mandatory Minimum Sentences
    ? Prisons are taking a bigger and bigger bite out of our State budget.  Mandatory minimum sentences that take discretion away from judges and sentence some criminals to excessive terms are a big part of the problem.  We need alternatives to the conservative ?lock-?em-up-and-throw-away-the-key? attitude.  But Ritter seems to endorse current sentencing standards (again, from ColoradoPols):  ?The increase in costs for our prison system is an issue to be addressed, but giving convicted criminals lighter sentences and reduced parole supervision is not the answer.?

    Gay Marriage
    ? Bill Ritter?s comments on ColoradoPols speak for themselves:  ?Regarding gay marriage, I support the existing state law that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman.?  Clearly this is another case of his religious beliefs interfering with public policy.

  7. For a while, I’ve wondered whether the bombastic but never informative ToughOnCrime was a Holtzman shill or a Beauprez shill.  He came out of the closet today, and stands naked before the world as a hatchet man for Both Ways Bob.  So tell us, BothWaysBoy, how was Colorado supposed to pay for locking up all the criminals that Ritter, who really is tough on crime, has locked away if your wimpy BothWaysBob had succeeded in his half-hearted attempt to defeat Referendum C?  Typical of Both Ways Bob: Pretend to be tough on crime but refuse to pay for the cops and prisons necessary to make such a policy work.

  8. Great finds DaisyQueen.  I can’t agree more with you.  Especially when it comes to ABORTION.

    When are we going to find a Democrat leader in this state who is willing to stand up for women?  Colorado seems to be the only state in the country where we have some momentum and we’re going to piss it away.

    The so-called “pro-lifer’s” have a lot of sudden momentum:  they steamrolled us in the Roberts and ALITO confirmations, Gov Kaine in Virginia is ardently Catholic and pro-life, and now Bill RITTER is our best(?) shot at Governor here in Colorado!

    Look at his quotes DQ cited above people!  This process doesn’t happen overnight.  The South Dakota legislature just banned abortion there (except for emergencies)!  It is within the realm of reason that we may lose the majority in the legislature sometime during the next 8 years.  What reason would Ritter have to not sign similar legislation here???!!!!

    This is real folks.  This is our chance; our voice; our hope.  I know there are Dem leaders out there who have the resources to do the right thing.  Please stand up – millions will stand up behind you…

  9. Alice runs, Alice wins the convention and the primary.  Her coalition of women, minorities and labor ( given her record in the Legislature ) will win with Democratic primary voters.  And if she is the nominee, she has a better than even chance to win in November, given the weakness of Bush and DeLay’s buddy Beauprez.  ALICE HAS TO RUN!

  10. I agree ABR.  Let’s look at the race(s):  Alice can and would beat Ritter at the convention.  That and top-line on the primary ballot are a given should she run.  More importantly, she can and would win the primary with much of the ‘establishment’ behind her.  That includes I.E.’s on her behalf.

    Next, on to the general.  You can bet Holtzman and an ‘independent’ 527 will beat the hell out of Beauprez – BB wins but without any arms or legs.  Second, Alice will get a lot of in-state and out-of-state fundraising help. 

    BB’s name ID is high but so are his negatives – Alice has a lot of room to work with on both those metrics.  She’s a working, business friendly (AND worker friendly), PRO-CHOICE suburban mom who looks a lot like target voters.

    Look at all the Democrat, PRO-CHOICE governor’s currently in Red states: WY, MT, AZ, KS, NC.  It can be done!

  11. Daisy Queen……Everything you mentioned about Bill Ritter is exactly what I and many others want in a candidate. If I just arrived here from Mars I would vote for him based on what you have said……..

  12. Are you crazy, Daisy?  You are seriously urging the Democrats to run a candidate committed to homosexual MARRIAGE?  There will be an initiative this fall to put a ban on gay marriage into the constitition — it has passed in every state that has voted on it and will pass by at least 70 percent here.  I don’t even think Alice Madden supports homosexual marriage, or that any Democrat in the legislature does.  Fitz-Gerald and Plant have authored a domestic partnership bill, that I’m sure Madden will support, as Ritter will.  Even Tim Gill is backing the domestic partnership bill, not gay marriage.  You want to run on a platform of soft on crime, abortion on demand, homosexual marriage and disrespect of people of faith?  You’re either hell bent on suicide or the Beauprez shils are now playing agent provacateur!

  15. Great points He’sBothWays
    But why don’t you simply explain why Ritter’s conviction rates were so bad?
    Why don’t you explain why the conviction rate dropped each year Ritter served as District Attorney?
    As to the other comment about paying for prisoners. Bill Ritter’s idea is a good one. Don’t convict them or give them sweethear plea bargains

  16. South Dakota just banned abortion.  With misogynists like Scalia, Alito and Roberts on the Supreme Court you can bet it won’t end there.  Reproductive rights decisions will probably become a state’s rights issue and I don’t want to put my right to choose in the hands of a soft legislative majority and a “pro-life” Governor like Bill Ritter.  We need someone who isn’t afraid to stand up for the right to choose.  We need Alice Madden.

  17. Bill Ritter’s conviction rate alone tells us nothing.  DAs don’t work in vacuums, and, pun intended, they are often expected to clean up after messy police departments.  If you want to know something about Bill Ritter as a prosecutor, you’d have to look at the quality of the evidence with which he was presented by the Denver Police in each of the cases he prosecuted. If Ritter had excellent evidence, and low convictions, that would be a referendum on his ability.  Why don’t we look at how Ritter ran the office, including number of violations of civil rights in the DA’s office and rejections of cases by appeals courts, instead of politically convenient bromides?  Those are the true measures of how Ritter would serve as governor.

    Futhermore, Ritter served as DA during the largest crime drop in America’s history, which is attributable to many factors.  Conviction rates around the country plummeted starting in 1990, because there simply weren’t as many criminals to convict.

  18. I am amazed at the idiots who think Alice M. stands a snowballs chance in hell of winning anything outside of tofu Boulder. We need to get behind Bill. We have wasted too much time trying to find someone better at the expense of getting behind Bill. Alice is a trowback to the old days in our party, if we don’t reach across and pick up Republicans we don’t win. Bill can move Republicans. He may not make our left (loser) wing happy but he sure as hell can win, which is more than I can say for Alice Madden. Wake up put down the crack pipe and back a candidate who can win….BILL RITTER!!!

  19. Alice Madden might speak for the liberals in Boulder but there is no way she would win the race for governor. Middle of the road is the only way to get enough votes from both parties to win. Alice is not the one.
    I will bet most people in this state do not share the far left liberal ideas of a Boulder representative like her.
    From my times in Boulder, I can compare it to the tiny town of Manitou Springs. Where everyone is some sort of fruitcake artist.
    Definately not what we need to run Colorado. California maybe but not Colorado.

  20. What I want to see is a candidate who has the courage to defend the institution of marriage, by banning divorce.

    Marriage, as our President says, is a sacred institution, and as the first Amendment of our Constitution clearly says, the government has a duty to legislate all sacred institutions. (I think it is in there somewhere)

    When we finally make divorce illegal, we can finally start prosecuting all of those Reps and Senators who have eroded the sanctity of the holy institution through their sinful conduct.

    *ow, I think I sprained my sense of sarcasm*

  21. Anyone notice today that the House has passed the no smoking policy in public places bill? Might just pass the Senate.
    I’m kinda torn on this one.
    I quit cold turkey at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve, 1985. After smoking 1 1/2 packs of Kools for years.
    I don’t spend much time in places that allow smoking such as bars except when I’m riding my scoot. But it sure would be nice to have a couple cold brews in a corner bar without having to burn your clothes when you get home, along with hanging your leather jacket outside for four days to air out………..Disgusting #$%&ing habit.
    Voyageur is right on this one.

  22. Good for you, Gecko, for getting away from the cancer sticks.

    I look at it this way:  the Colorado Restaurant Association was opposed to a Denver ban on the coffin nails, but they are fully supportive of a statewide ban.

    The way they have it structured, it will put businesses on even footing everywhere.

    Hopefully the Senate will get this thing passed pronto.

    By the way – does anyone know if the Capitol building still has their own ‘smoking sanctuary’ ?

  23. Thanks BMR. They really are nasty.
    Cigarettes killed my Mom, 2 Grandparents, 1 Uncle, and 2 Aunts.
    Deep down I wish they were banned for sale completely. Nothing but bad comes from them stinkin things. It is one of the few things in life that I bet not one person can say one positive thing about.

  24. Ritter is anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-livable wage. If Ritter is our nominee I am voting 3rd party heck the dancing man looks better to me than a the “Wolf in Sheep’s” clothing Ritter. Sad choice for Democrats. Ugh, I am going to go have a beer.

  25. We can capitulate to so-called ?moderates? whose primary interest is in winning elections.

    I see.  It’s better to lose elections so you have something to sit around and bitch about?

    That’s the silliest goddamned thing I’ve ever heard.  A political party has only one purpose for existence.  That is to get its people elected to office.  Tired of being in a political party?  Go to a goddamned Tupperware party.

  26. So I just had this crazy idea.  A majority of Colorado voters aren’t so keen on gays getting married.  Colorado law doesn’t let gays get married, but just to be safe, the interest groups aligned with that majority are going to petition it and vote it into the state constitution.  If it works for the goose, shouldn’t it work for the gander?  All polls have agreed that a majority of Colorado voters think a woman should have the right to chose.  State law doesn’t get in the way much, but given all the concern about SCOTUS and anti-choice governors changing things, where is the referdum or initiative?  Why are the ACLU and NOW and NARAL just sitting back to see if the other shoe drops?

  27. EXTRA EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT-

    SOME AGREE WITH GECKO AND BMR STOP

    SMOKING CIGARETTES KILLS! STOP

    BAN THEM. STOP

    SMOKING MARIJUANA DOES NOT HURT ANYONE.  STOP

    …LEGITIMIZE IT.

  29. Gecko:  I included a quote from DaisyQueen in my post.  She was complaining about the party embracing moderates who “just want to win elections”.

    I was saying there’s no other reason to be in a political party other than to win elections.

    Based on your posts, I don’t think you’re just plain stupid.

  31. *fizzle again* for beauprez in el paso today. my legislator, liston, even tried to persuade me to join the bb people for bob.  but bb is such a nanny, he even said he supported mandated  early childhood education for pre-schoolers. in el paso, mind you. you just don’t say that down here.

  32. This is an often-told tale, CDfive.  I can never support Holtzman, especially after his hypocritical campaign to “Bring Christ back into Christmas” — this from a Jew is the rankest sort of pandering.  But the more I see Beauprez fumbling about the stage, the less enthusiasm I have for him either.  I’d love to see Mike Coffman, but they squeezed him out, too.  Frankly, at this point, I’m likely to vote for Bill Ritter in November.  Of course, if some of the way-out liberals on this board have their way and nominate Alice Madden, I’ll hold my nose hard and vote for Beauprez.  If the race turns out to be Madden vs. Holtzman, I can always vote Libertarian or move to Canada.  Canada just voted the conservatives back, you know!

  34. Just came from a fund-raising fro HD1 Dem.

    Two major announements:
    1. Ben Coleman has dropped out of the HD1 race. He said he wanted to be more support tn Fran in her Senate race. He did not publicly endorse any of the 3 remaining candidates.

    2. Chris Romer said he will enter the SD32 race in a few days. This now makes a 3-way race between Fran Coleman, Jen Mello, and Chris Romer.

    Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines.

  35. SMOKING MARIJUANA DOES NOT HURT ANYONE. STOP

    …LEGITIMIZE IT.

    ………………….

    Let’s see if you’re still saying that when Mr. Guvmint Man begins taxing it for every aspect of it.  The papers, the pipes, the tweezers that hold the roach, the stems, the seeds, the buds, etc.

    What – you think the government’s going to legalize pot and not take their cut?  Who do you think invented ‘the middle man’?

  36. Don’t be a jerk. You can’t possibly equate a financial gain with a life lost. We’re talking people in prison. Freedom on the march!? Fricking hypocrisy. We have more people in prison, per capita, that did the soviet gulag, and all because of this stupid “war on drugs”. What it really is, is an effort to step on independent thinking youth. “Nip it in the bud” as it were.

  37. Ritter 2006
    Is your point of view the official one of the Ritter campaign? If so Ritter is dead.
    Conviction rate is based upon the number of convictions obtained after charges are filed. No one said he was to blame for a drop in filings. But in those cases that he chooses to prosecute the conviction rate is very low. The Denver PD by the way is considered the best in the state so he had a good group to work with.
    Conviction rate is how you measure the work of a prosecution office. Why was Ritter’s conviction rate so low compared to every other prosecutor in the State. Blame the Governor, blame the weather, blame the Mayor blame the Police. The fact of the matter is that Bill Ritter unlike Dale Tooley and Norm Early was a very poor District Attorney. Excuses are not leadership

  38. Laura Bush said Saturday that Hillary Rodham Clinton’s criticism of her husband’s administration was “out of bounds,” arguing that the former first lady should show some empathy for the current White House occupants.
    …
    Clinton, the New York senator and a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, has called the Bush administration “one of the worst” in history. In the interview with ABC News, Mrs. Bush was asked if Clinton’s comments were “just politics, fair game or out of bounds.”

    “Of course I think it’s out of bounds,” the first lady said. “But I think it’s politics, it’s certainly politics.”

    Bush pointed out that former Presidents Bush and Clinton and her husband are part of a unique club that also includes the wives.

    “We know what it’s like to live in that house. We certainly know what it’s like to have your husband criticized,” she said. “So I think there’s a certain empathy that we might have for each other that we wouldn’t have maybe for somebody else who said something like that.”

    This from the woman whose husband employs as his alter ego, his “brain,” arguably the worst, most mendacious guttersnipe ever to grace the American political stage (and that’s saying something).

    Allow me a moment to clutch a hanky and dab at my eyes.

    Mrs. Bush, forgive me if I think Mrs. Clinton faced a bit more personal humiliation and vitriol from the “compassionate conservative” side of the aisle during President Clinton’s term of office than your husband faces today (and with a lot more grace and class than he does, I might add). Her intimate life was combed over with glee by opponents during and after the Lewinsky scandal; she was – and remains to this day – the target of some of the most misogynistic, woman-loathing rhetoric on the American scene.

    Many wives in Mrs. Clinton’s circumstances would have dumped their philandering spouses and slunk off to a corner of Montana to float the rest of their lives away in a lake of chardonnay. Instead, she ran for political office and won. She’s not a member of some mythical Former First Ladies Club in which you, Mrs. Bush, can call in chits, nor did she ever position herself to be.

    She’s a working opposition senator, and calling your husband’s administration on its lies, deceptions and ineptitude is her job as part of those quaint checks and balances. She’s calling him to task for his public policies. It’s not, as you put it, “out of bounds,” as one could argue the details of her husband’s sex life were.

    If she is made of sterner stuff than you or your husband, Mrs. Bush, well … if you can’t take the heat, get out of the national kitchen (please? Pretty please?).

  39. Marijuana doesn’t hurt anyone?  Even the pro Marijuana NORML sites admit the harm caused by chronic marijuana smoking. Read Dr. Tashkin’s research.  Even so, I’d legalize it, tax it, and use the money for treatment programs.

  40. >Beauprez actually said “we are a judeo-christian nation.”
    >I am re-thinking my opinion about the man

    That’s what it took?  Sheesh.

    >EXTRA EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT-
    >Posted by: whoa!

    You’re completey high.

    >I’ll hold my nose hard and vote for Beauprez.

    You *do* have the option of not voting at all. Don’t give your “default” vote to a total tool.

    >all because of this stupid “war on drugs”

    Must be one of them Evo Morales fans.  We’re watching you Commies close. (g)

  41. Tough on Crime Republican:  The point is you are using a flat number to describe a complex phenomenon.  The number of cases Ritter chooses to prosecute is a better reflection of his philosophy on crime than the conviction rate is on his prosecutorial ability becasue of all the factors that come into play in an urban jurisdiction.

    I don’t want to diss the DPD because I appreciate the difficulty of policing, but suffice it to say that they have had enough evidence collection problems in the past to necessitate “counseling” from the Police Executive Research Foundation.  Finally, the DPD may be the best in the state, but nationally, there’s definitely room for improvement.

    Also, you can’t really compare Denver DA duties to anyplace else in Colorado because Denver is more urban than any other jurisdiction in the state.  The reality is that urban districts have to process more cases with fewer resources than many rural areas, and this leads to plea bargaining, like it or not. 

    And no, my position is not “official”, I have nothing to do with Ritter’s campaign.  I’m just tired of people who claim to be tough on crime being short on facts.

  42. You all know who I am, but that’s not important right now. I’ve come to a very important conclusion.

    I don’t like Bill Ritter.

    I mean it. On too many important issues he’s on the wrong side of my uncompromising beliefs. I’m not happy.

    But this is the same choice we faced with Salazar versus Coors. And after taking a moment to think it through, the choice was easy.

    The pain in this situation comes from how much I love Alice Madden, while being forced to acknowledge the reality of her chances. It’s very sad, she is qualified to serve, but it’s the truth. I also believe that the ill-mannered jockeying for an alternative to Ritter has done its own damage. This must end.

    I will be supporting Bill Ritter for Governor of Colorado, and I urge responsible Democrats to join me in the often thankless task of listening to our heads over our hearts.

  43. Rational Dem, Ritter is no Salazar.  A lot of Dems who found it easy to support Salazar, despite some misgivings (and I’m one), are having a hard time convincing themselves to support Ritter.

  44. From the Denver Post:  New poll of active registered voters shows the marriage amendment would pass by 19 percentage points, 55 to 36%.  50% would support domestic partnerships to 41% who would oppose.

    51% would not support legalizing marijuana, and 59% would limit benefits to illegal immigrants. 51% would oppose restricting abortion on a viable fetus.

    Discuss.

  45. I just got back to Denver, what happened? I left and was juiced to have Hickenlooper running and now we are talking like DA Ritter is our nominee.

    Sorry guys this sucks we have to get someone better.

    Maybe I’ll leave town again and come back and we will have a real shot at the Governor’s Office.

    Booking my flight now, somewhere warm.

  46. I feel your pain, Brio, but you’re offset by lots of Republicans like me who can’t stand Holtzman or Beauprez but would find the option of a moderate Democrat like Ritter very attractive.  Madden would unite the Republican party and we do outnumber you by 180,000 registered voters.  Middle-road candidates like Ritter and both Salazars can win in this state.  Arch liberals like Rollie Heath, Alice Madden or Mike Miles get crushed in statewide contests.

  47. I pretty much agree, Swinger, and I don’t think a lot of Madden’s chances in a general.  But there may be nearly as many stay at home Dems as stay at home or crossover Rs this year.  The Post had a piece recently that basically described the entire A team of Colorado politicians, on both sides, as staying out of this race.  That’s the way I see it.

  48. KyleC,
    You mean to say you missed the story of the century here? There were more hearts crushed by Hick’s announcement (albeit about 5 weeks late) than when the Broncos lost to the Steelers.
    The Dems have nobody that has even the slightest chance to win except for Ritter. And with Ritter being their #2 choice, I’m wondering how much luck he’ll have against BB or Holtzman.
    Boulder lefty liberal artists think Madden has a shot, but I’m thinkin the pot smoke is blurring their vision.

  49. Becky, is the margin of error the usual 3-4% in this poll? If so, the marijuana issue is a real toss-up and could go either way depending upon the efectiveness of the campaigns.

    Chronic marijuana smoking is not what is being discussed. Anything, and I mean anything, done in excess is damaging. That’s why it’s called excessive. That said, I’ll bet the farm that when marijuana is legalized the great majority of those who choose to use it recreationally will not become chronic users. In a “free” country, it should be legal. This is an old arguement, I know, but I’ll repeat it anyway. Alcohol and tobacco do much more damage to an individuals health, adds much more costs to society, and yet are legal. Pot should be too. The argument that it is a gateway drug is misleading. Again, alcohol and cigarettes, simply due their accessibility, serve as gateway drugs……….not marijuana.

    Becky, I appreciate your candor and agree with you. Legalize it, control it’s sales, tax it and use the proceeds for mental health programs and addiction treatment programs.

  50. All you Republicans out there talking about voting for Ritter are nuts. I don’t care if Holtzman is Jewish and Beauprez is an idiot… We have more in common with those two than with our friend of Labor: Bill Ritter.
    You want to see Ritter in the Mansion? Please switch parties and vote for him on August 7th. Sounds to me like your fellow traveler Democrats will thank you for it.

  51. I’m still not sure why we have to back Ritter to win?  Being pro-choice isn’t being a single issue voter.  The concept of pro-choice is fundamental to what it means to be a freedom loving democracy.

    Someone above pointed out examples of where an Alice Madden type has won the governor’s mansion in red-states.

    Meanwhile, did everyone see what Beauprez did to Dave Thomas’ prosecutorial record?  I now think many of those drunk drivers were DT himself! 

    And everyone knows the battleground is suburban women in the metro suburbs.  Women who look just like Alice Madden. 

    #1 Ritter is vulnerable on abortion and #2 We shouldn’t compromise our principles anyway.

    Bill Ritter is a nice guy… But I don’t want him to be our next Governor.

  52. Well, enjoy the next eight years under the militantly anti-abortion Bob Beauprez, Uncompromised.  Unions will lose ground, workers will lose ground and education will go to hell.  But we’ll have lots and lots of partial birth abortions to celebrate.

  53. The smoking ban will hopefully get through the senate, but barely.  Johnson and Hagedorn are going to offer their idiotic bar amendment again. 

    Which I find ironic considering most of Johnson’s district is already smoke-free.

    If it doesn’t pass, then there are people drawing up papers to run a ballot initaitive that makes HB 1175 look pathetic.

    Just look at what was passed in WA in November.

  54. Discussing:  The margin of error was 4%.  You are correct, it is a toss up and could very well pass if the sponsors do what they plan and get out the youth vote and register new voters for this issue.  I agree, the government needs to get out of the business of trying (and failing) to control people’s bad habits.  The last I checked, 1/3 of Colorado’s prison population are there for non violent drug offenses and non violent parole violations.  That is a half a billion dollar budget for prison alone, not counting the court and law enforcement budgets.  I’d like to see our tax dollars focused on people that scare me, not some pothead that lives next door and minds his own business.

  55. Nobody is against Holtzman because he’s Jewish, Nuts.  But a Jewish politician demanding that we put Christ back in Christmas because he’s trying to suck up to the religious right is a pretty grotesque example of hypocrisy and pandering, don’t you think?

  56. No – a Jewish man demanding the Christ remain in Christmas is a man who respects the religion of others. A so-called Christian who attempts to remove all forms of God from public buildings is a man uncomfortable with him own beliefs.

  57. GOVERNOR ALICE MADDEN would not be good for labor, good for women and good for the environment.  There’s not another candidate in the race that can say that right now.

    If not now Alice, when?  If not you, who?  The possibility of failure should not deter you from doing the right thing.  Worst case scenario – you lose!  You’ll run a good primary vs Ritter.  The winner will come out stronger with the other’s backing – a la Beauprez & O’Donnell in ’02.

    Either Dem will win, why shouldn’t it be Alice?!  Run Alice Run!!!!!!!!!

  58. Uhhhmmm, yeah.  That first sentence should read “GOVERNOR ALICE MADDEN WOULD BE GOOD FOR LABOR, ETC…”

    And yes, she’d be good at education too – which would have helped me with my writing skills.

  59. Had our Lincoln Day Dinner last night.
    Scott Tipton had a nice apprearance. He mentioned introducing a flat tax if elected. Don’t know how that will play throughout the 3rd, but here in La Plata it was very well recived.
    Big show of the night was watching Beauprez’s head nearly explode when Holtzman spoke and it was very apparent that Marc has the better message out here away from Denver.

  60. It is not too difficult
    Of the cases that Bill Ritter’s office files how many resulted in convictions. How does his record compare with other District Attorney offices.
    Why is no one from the Ritter camp stepping forward to defend his conviction rate?
    Real simple. Bill Ritter was a lousy District Attorney. Nice guy but a lousy District Attorney. Do Democrats actually think that his poor record as District Attorney will be swept under the rug. Whatever the category his office did a poor job of prosecuting criminals from misdemeanors on up

  62. What a shill, “tough on crime.”  You keep blowing charges out your ass, never offer anything to back them up, and sound the same old tired theme.  Beauprez must pay you well.

  63. So, Veritas, I assume you and Holtzman will arrest me and other non-Christians if you have the power?  You’ve made it clear you respect no religion except your own.  How do you plan to forcefully convert us?  Bring back the inquisition?

  64. The “right” of a woman to kill her baby is sacrosanct…but if I let someone light up in my tavern, obviously I’m Hitler. 

    Cigerettes don’t kill people, irresponsibility and weakness do. 

    I guess women are the only one’s with a “right” to their own bodies.

  66. I just thought Holtzman was a Jewish guy who respected the beliefs of others.

    Didn’t know he was a Jewish guy who respects the beliefs of others and seems to know how to talk to folks out beyond the Eisenhower Tunnel.

    Guess Draft Dodger Bob needs to take lessons on those things.

  67. Durango:  Flat tax and/or tax reform plays well everywhere.  Does anyone like the current system?It should be the main talking point of any candidate.  I can only surmise lobbyists emerge from every nook and cranny to oppose changes to the current tax code; otherwise, why wouldn’t it be touted more vigorously?

  68. Durango:  Flat tax and/or tax reform plays well everywhere.  Does anyone like the current system?It should be the main talking point of any candidate.  I can only surmise lobbyists emerge from every nook and cranny to oppose changes to the current tax code; otherwise, why wouldn’t it be touted more vigorously?

  69. Plumber: Thed the frickin literature before you spout off. Cigarettes kill millions, and it starts with advertising and peer pressure. You’re another ignorant sob.

  70. Plumber: Read the frickin literature before you spout off. Cigarettes kill millions, and it starts with advertising and peer pressure to our youth. You’re another ignorant sob.

  71. WhatAShill makes a helluva good point.
    All Ritter’s friends have to do is refute a couple of very basic facts. Ritter’s conviction rate on cases his office files is very poor. HIs conviction rate went down every year he was District Attorney. Not to mention some very lenient plea bargains. If his conviction rate is good than say so. If his conviction rate went up say so. But, come up with facts. Of course you need facts and you have none. Bill Ritter was a lousy District Attorney.

  73. Apology accepted, Plumber. I’ve read many a post mortem….and have never seen one that read….cause of death- irresponsibility. There is a “failure to thrive” diagnoses, which approximates weakness, but it is invariably associated with dying from old age….something we all strive for.

  74. I lost my mom and several relatives to smoking cigarettes. But I never blamed the cigarettes themselves. I blame my mom for being weak, and the cigarette manufacturers for selling a product that is deadly. Anybody that smokes knows damn well what the ultimate costs might be.
    If anymone wants to quit just do it. If you don’t want to quit, fine. Just keep your habit to yourself.

  75. Accepted,

    I recently disarmed a Twinkey which had a switchblade.  I ate it before it could harm a person with less intestinal fortitude.

    Oh yeah, most people who die “before their time” are dead because of irresponsibility, either their own or someone elses.

  76. accepted,
    I don’t know about everyone wanting to die of old age. I sure don’t. I don’t know of many people that are/were old (I’m thinking old is 70 on) and didn’t have every freaking joint in their bodies ache.
    My dad died at 65, from injuries resulting from crashing his Harley. That to me is a far better way to go. The only problem with his crash is that he lived for a year and a half in a comma.
    I would like to go out full bore into a semi. It will probably never work that way but it sure seems easier.
    And as far as cigarettes go, ever watch someone die slowly from them things?

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