President (To Win Colorado) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Biden*

(R) Donald Trump

80%

20%↓

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

90%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

90%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(D) Adam Frisch

(R) Jeff Hurd

(R) Ron Hanks

40%

30%

20%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert

(R) J. Sonnenberg

(R) Ted Harvey

20%↑

15%↑

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Dave Williams

(R) Jeff Crank

(R) Doug Bruce

20%

20%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

90%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) Brittany Pettersen

85%↑

 

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(R) Gabe Evans

(R) Janak Joshi

60%↑

40%↑

20%↑

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
March 04, 2007 06:33 PM UTC

Now Come the Days of the Dick

  • 52 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Ladies and gentlemen, we give you “Son of Rove.” We like that better than “Rove 2.0.” The media loves him either way.

As the Denver Post reports:

Coming off bruising election losses in November, the Colorado Republican Party on Saturday rallied behind a new leader.

Colorado native and political strategist Dick Wadhams, who ran unopposed, was unanimously elected as the state GOP’s new chairman.

Though politically shrewd enough to be dubbed “Rove 2.0” by Washington Monthly, his tenacious reputation was cited as one of the big reasons for his win.

“He’s the meanest, roughest, toughest, take-no-prisoners SOB we can get,” state Sen. Nancy Spence, R- Centennial, told about 300 Republicans at Douglas County High School… (Pols emphasis)

And in the Colorado Springs Gazette:

A year ago, Dick Wadhams never thought he’d be back in Colorado full time trying to resurrect the state Republican Party.

Wadhams, the silver-tongued Las Animas native who has led upset campaigns across the country, expected to be getting Virginia Sen. George Allen prepped for his presidential run. That was before Allen made his infamous “macaca” remark amid what should have been an easy reelection bid, and suddenly both he and Wadhams, his press secretary, found themselves out of their jobs…

Wadhams’ greatest strength, political observers say, is his ability to characterize opponents in his terms rather than theirs, such as the “17th Street lawyer-lobbyist” tin can he tied to the tail of Tom Strickland, Allard’s two-time Democratic opponent.

“He’s a craftsman in dealing with the media, and he knows how to structure a message in a way that people understand,” Allard said.

That style has left him with a number of detractors as well. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had pages of talking points against Wadhams in 2004, and Michael Huttner of the liberal group ProgressNow.org said Wadhams’ attempts to blow over Allen’s comments last year show he is out of touch.

“This is a guy who has a reputation for misleading the press, for misleading the public,” Huttner said.

Huttner also urged Wadhams to rein in what he called the extremist elements of the Republican Party who question the veracity of sexual-assault claims or equate abortion to slavery, a challenge Wadhams had not heard until last week.

In a telling response, Wadhams turned that comment around and said he hopes to exploit what he called Democratic extremism, citing legislative leaders who have asked Mexico for help on immigration issues or referred to Iraqi insurgents as freedom fighters. (Pols emphasis)

“It’s a target-rich environment for what the Dems are going to give us,” he said without pause. “I would agree with ProgressNow – they’re going to have to rein in their own liberal extremists in their own party.”

Our understanding is you liberals are in for it now. Cower accordingly.

Comments

52 thoughts on “Now Come the Days of the Dick

  1. Definition: Asshole, low or no ethics, the ends justifies the means.

    More compassionate conservatism.

    At the least “the four millionaires” that the Pubes are always whining about aren’t of that ilk.

    1. The AP misquoted Rove this weekend.

      “White House political adviser Karl Rove says Republicans have to stand on their principles to retake the gains made by Democrats in Colorado.”

      What he really said was “the republic party needs to sit on their principles and elect Dick Wadhams as their new chairman.”

    2. I’m not sure how this might work, but the GOP establishment could put out the word that only Wadham-approved candidates would be funded by various 527s, etc.

      Then Wahdams would select candidates who fit their districts, regardless of lhis own Repulsive Republican Radical beliefs and perferences.

      He would go for GOP wins, not ideological purity. And combined with David Balmer’s fund-raising, the GOP would make a strong run for control of the General Assembly and for Allard’s senate seat.

      Flamers can have their fun, but DW is likely to have the last laugh.

  2.   The Repub State Central Committee might want to start issuing its press releases referring to the chair as “Richard Wadhams” or “Rick Wadhams.” 
      Then again, whether we’re talking about Nixon, Morris, Tuck, Gephardt, or Durbin, American politics have always contained an ample number of Dicks on both sides of the aisle.

    1. Wadhams, like Rove, is a fear biter, and his time is past.  He lost the top sure-thing race in the country to a long-shot candidate who only raised half as much cash and didn’t have the major players get behind him until late in the race.  The macaca incident only exposed Wadhams’ vulnerabilities as a strategist.

      The bloom is off the rose (or turd blossom, as the case may be.)

  3. I would suggest that my party start focusing on issues rather than cute names we can tag to candidates in the other party. John Q Public is sick of this brand of politics and this is exactly why we now find ourselves in the back seat of the bus.  Take a cue from Governor Ritters statement from his Labor Peace Act veto….people are ready for politicians to LEAD — not spending their time acting like a sixth grade bully on the school playground.  These are serious times with serious issues to be resolved — we need thoughtful leaders who get beyond soundbites and address the needs of Colorado. 

    1. I agree wholeheartily. I am not convinced that Ritter is that much of a problem solver, but beuprez was guaranteed to absolutely not be one.  Even now, I think that both parties are simply positioning themselves to win the next election rather solve these issues. I pulled an almost straight ticket for dems just to change things. But I am sickened by these reps that want to  send W a “message” by doing none binding resolutions. Quite simply, we need to straighten up our state. We need solutions for the state. When Owens was first elected we had numerous company headquarters here. But he focused on going after easy tech jobs by encouraging companies to locate their extensions here. Of course, when the economy pulled back, these extension were closed which is what lead to our steeper than average fall. We need more diversified companies headquartered here. And none of what I am talking about begins to take into account the issues of primary and secondary education, medical costs (though I think that this is a federal issue), and transportation.

      1. opposing the surge if it comes from a state legislature? Why don’t they just send W a letter they can all sign and get back to the business of the state. I don’t like the situation in Iraq and I also don’t want the Colorado legislature to waste time arguing the resolution. Do the work we elected you to do.

        1. we have plenty of real things to worry about – like the mental and physical health care needs of our veterans when they come home. I see no point in wasting energy on a non-binding resolution.  There’s plenty of debate to be had on the practical items.

    2. There is a certain appeal in glib, sound bite politics. People can remember them and repeat them and feel like they are informed. You need to look no further than this site to see some examples.

      Conversely, I think people are tired of them. The presidential campaign has already started and while I am interested I would argue that most people dont care. Or, rather, they care but they will be easily turned off by trite labels.

    3. Riter only vetoed 1072 because he was backed into a corner.  He could break his promise to the labor unions because, hey where else are they going to go – the Repubs?  The business community made it clear where the campaign contributions would go in 2008 and 2010 and it wouldn’t be to the Dems or Riter.

      “thoughtful leaders”, oh my FarmBoy you really did drink the Koolaide.  The only thing Riter thought about as he turned his back on on the labor bosses (thankfully) was the money.

          1. It’s the BS about why (according to FarmBoy) that is just too much to swallow.  Just don’t say it was statesmanship when it was just good old fashion politics.  I can respect the truth.

            1. This is probably a bit conspiracy theorey, but I was left with the impression that the whole thing was a set-up. I find it hard to believe that in his first couple of weeks he is issuing a veto and with a dem congress. I would think that both dems leaders would have certainly asked him BEFORE trying to pass it. More so that the feds are pushing a very similar thing (which would make his veto worthless).

    4. yeah, Republicans are the only ones who engage in “one-liners”.  Who brought on the terms “right wing extremist” or “religous right” or “the radical right” or the “vast right wing conspiracy” or “Culture of Corruption”  or “McLobbyist”?  Do you think that the Dems were successful because they focused on policy and not “one-liners”? 

      If anything all they did was sit back and let Republicans shoot themselves in the face over and over again (which we did a fine job of, thank you!)-thanks Delay, Foley, etc. for giving us Reps a bad name.

      Why do both side engage in such tactics?  Because they work.  John Q Public may be “sick” of that action, but it’s like a person who is “sick” of a relationship but never leaves the bum-how “sick” of something are you if you always reward the action?

      1. David Brock wrote a book, “Blinded by the Right.”  In it, he describes how he was recruited and worked to discredit liberals, specifically Anna Hill and the Clintons.  He coined the phrase “right wing conspiracy” because he said he was part of it.

        The book is well written and well  researched and is a first person account of the plan to put right wing conservatives in power, indefinitely.  It has worked very well. Brock is gay and finally left the “right wing conspiracy,” disillusioned.

        Brain washing works.  It sells soap, it sold Hitler.  It takes a lot of hard work to keep a democracy.  I hope we are up to the task.  Paying a lot of attention to the Dick Wadhams is a start. 

        I think patriotic americans should be looking for scenarios and connects.  For example, the commeration of Bloody Sunday cold have focused the nation’s attention on the civil rights movement and the strategy of the segregationists to use a “states’s rights argument” to deny equal rights to Blacks.  This is the same strategy that the Republicans are using for pro-life issues.  So, they would not want any media focus on the civil rights fight.  Hence, we get Coulter and a remark designed to attract a lot of attention and then we get the media machine repeating it…..Fox news and talk radio, local and nation.  Either it was a “conspiracy” or else all right wingers are so brain washed that they react in tantum….

        Doesn’t matter. Nobody in the media asked why is it called “Bloody Sunday?”
        Why did the sheriff give John Lewis such a beating that he had a serious concussion?  Not asked, not answered. Big victory for the “vast right wing conspiracy.”

        1. People forget that chosen ommissions are just as prejudicial as chosen lies. 

          Of course, I can’t speak to the question of if there was a concerted effort or not on the part of the right.  Some or all of those ommissions can just as easily be laid at the feet of modern “journalists.”  Who was it that called the White House Press Corps “stenographers?”  Right on the money.

          My journalism experience was helping to put out the junior high school newspaper, ha ha.  But I have never forgotten Mrs. Hemlepp’s harping about “The 5 W’s” for reporters: Who, What, When, Where, and Why. I cannot tell you how many times I look for one of those W’s in a major news story and can’t find it.

          Of course, this is an old fart bitching, and of course, the generations before me bitched about the loss of intellectual and compositional skills. 

          Could a man like George W, the putative president of the US, have gotten elected with his oratorical “skills” a generation or two ago?  Hell no!  He would have been laughed off of the stage.

  4. Folks, this is the worst liberal distortion yet about me. You don’t really think I’d bring in a gay prostitute hack from a known GOP propaganda mill to help intimidate credible journalists, do you? What would the press here in Colorado think of me once they read how I schooled their colleagues in South Dakota like fresh meat in the jailhouse?

    http://dickwadhams.o

  5. he came back to resurrect his career.  And, of course, he needs to pay the bills.  I was in VA during the Webb/Allen campaign.  Wadhams couldn’t solve the macaca issue.  He didn’t charm the press.  As a matter of fact there was very little in that campaign that did work.

    He has his back against the wall.  If he doesn’t do something dramatic in CO, his career in big time politics will be even further damaged.  This is going to be the nastiest of nasty. 

  6. he came back to resurrect his career.  And, of course, he needs to pay the bills.  I know a lot about the Webb/Allen campaign.  Wadhams couldn’t solve the macaca issue.  He didn’t charm the press.  As a matter of fact there was very little in that campaign that did work.  Wadhams never found a way for the campaign to get its head above the fray.  The Webb campaign played offense and Wadhams played defense.

    He has his back against the wall.  If he doesn’t do something dramatic in CO, his career in big time politics will be even further damaged maybe to the point of being over.  This is going to be the nastiest of nasty. 

    1. he’s a real tough guy, not a fake one like Wadhams.  I think he could be a big hit in Colorado with the veterans and their families since he knows what they’re going through.

    1. I think Wadhams is an overrated, manipulative, below the belt operative. Lets say that there is a practical sweep for the republicans under Wadhams, but the techniques used are dirty politics will you be happy with that?

      1. Think of it a evolution in action. The Republicans came up with a very effective new way to campaign over the last 10 years.

        We Democrats started trying to counteract it and didn’t really make much progress until ’04. In ’06 we had not only counteracted it, but had an approach that kicked ass.

        The Republicans are still trying to fall back on what used to work. I think Wadhams is in the school of “lets do what we did before but do it better.” They haven’t figured out that their approach has been neutralized.

        I think Wadhams is good news for the Democrats. The last thing we want is a Republican leader who realizes that their present approach to campaigning won’t work – that person might find something effective.

      2. I don’t know Wadhams well enough to call him “an overrated, manipulative, below the belt operative”, so I’ll reserve my judgment until I see what actions he takes.  As I said in a previous post, I saw his presentation of the Thune campaign, and I remember cute ads with his kids, nothing as sinister as what is being bandied about in here, but maybe he keeps his “dirty tricks” in a little black book sealed with red wax. 

        I would love to see both sides focusing on issues instead of personal attacks and silly nicknames but then I’d also like to see Santa Claus squeezing down my chimney with a bag of winning Lotto tickets.  Somehow, I doubt I will get either wish. 

        1. All I would need is one winning lottery ticket. Seriously though, I have just read too many stories of dirty political moves by Wadhams to think that he is anything but a dirty player. It is my opinion that he is overrated so take that as you will. Anyone who would happily consider themselves Rove 2.0 is not a person that looks to win a race with an above board, honest strategy.

          This is my favorite (worst) Rove strategy story. Before he was in the WH, he did Roy Moore’s campaign for Supreme Court of Alabama. The competitor had charities that worked with young, underpriviliges kids. Rove had the idea of spreading a rumor at the law school that the competitor was a pedophile and used his charities as means to molest kids. The law school was the best place to spread the rumor, because a) the kids were in law school and, one would assume, smart, and b) the kids in the law school came from all over the state and would take the rumor home and talk about it there. Well, it worked, Moore won and the rest is history.

          I dont believe the nicknames and stupid quips will work. I think people are tired of it, and the only way to show it is at the box. Hopefully that will be evident.

          1. Big media event.  By the time the FBI said that there was no way that the bug was foreign to the office (based on battery life), it had blown over and no one cared about the truth.  I think Jim Hightower was the victim in that case.

      3. Don’t go all Pollyanna on us.  There is only one thing in politics – that is winning.  Nothing, nothing else makes any difference.  This is the lesson that the Democrats haven’t learned until recently.  The only reason Webb and Tester and some of the others won was because they were willing to mix it up.  Haven’t you learned anything else yet?  Please, please tell me that the Dems in this state know that they have to fight back hard and fast with Wadhams.  Otherwise, they are doomed to failure.  Ask Tom STrictkland, ask Tom Daschle, ask Brian Sweitzer who lost to Conrad Burns when Wadhams was running his campaign.  You don’t respond, in kind and hard, you lose.  That’s the second rule in politics.

    2. DICK Wadhams campaign style is no different than that of Anne Coulter. He’s going to draw more attraction to himself with his outlandish comments on candidates, than uniting his party with the republic parties core beliefs. The Colorado GOP should be ashamed of itself for electing such a stooge.

      http://www.politico….

      1. Oh we are.  I’ve taken to wearing a wig and scarf in public.  We are all in a shame spiral.

        Watching the fear and loathing in Colorado is pretty amusing I must admit. 

  7. So he is mean and nasty.  Woopy!  Mean and nasty took George Allen from the leading uber-con presidential contender to the unemployment line.  Mean and nasty is what Janet Rowland was and where did that get her?  Just another loss for the R’s.  Colorado voters do not much care for mean and nasty politics.  So let the Dick Wad be who he is.  It will be great for the Dems.

    1. I guess that’s why one of the five worst senators in the US was relected easily 4 years ago, right.  Because Coloradoans don’t like mean and nasty politics.  Oh please.  Be prepared for torrent of crap.  It’s coming.  The blitz on the labor bill put on by Wadhams was only the beginning.  He won that round.  Do you think he will get more confident or less?

  8. (1) The GOP went out and hired “the meanest, roughest, toughest, take-no-prisoners SOB [they could] get.”

    (2) Said SOB immediately promises to make the other side appear to be dangerous radicals.

    Is it just more hypocrisy, or is it the GOP’s inarticulate cry for help? I think it’s the latter. Sure, the Republican mood ring is registering bright orange just now, but what the GOP really wants, deep down, is for society to help them stop mistaking rage for strength. We all just need to be patient and affirm them as persons even if we disagree with their antisocial behavior.

    Teach a Republican you know deep breathing exercises today!

    1. You can’t correct anti-social behavior with soft affirmations.  Tough love is the only answer.  Keep beating us up and telling us how worthless we are, that’s the ticket!  We might not change our thinking, but damn it, we’ll respect your authority. 

  9. This is an outstanding series of blog posts. All the negative comments and nay-sayers prove just one thing… that the liberal left in Colorado is scared spitless of Mr. Dick Wadhams. I wonder why? Could it be that he engineered even less than spectacular candidates like Bill Owens and Wayne Allard to multiple victories? Or maybe it was the resounding success of John Thune’s campaign? Wadhams has 15 years of success under his belt… that’s really the bottom line folks.

    Dick Wadhams is JUST what Colorado Republicans need and want. I have a feeling that Udall’s panties are in a wad and Ritter’s shorts are already down around his knees… Wadhams will have a field day over the next few years by pointing out the extreme views and hypocrisy of the left and the idealogical supremacy of the right.

    LOL… when was the last time Pat Waak was even MENTIONED online? I know, I know… most of you don’t even know who Pat is and thus my point is made all the more profoundly.

    GOT GET ‘EM DICK!

  10. ToTheRight.org has a posted a story from the Rocky Mountain News on two Senate Minority staffers, Andy George and Joe Peters, being a reason why republicans are losing.

    “So, can’t scope out an opponent’s press conference. Can’t keep businesses afloat. Can’t keep current with the Secretary of State. Can’t avoid collecting warrants and wasting money. These two are the poster children for what’s wrong with this state’s GOP and why we’re losing more and more seats every year – but they’re still employed. Mind blowing.

    Stay tuned for more episodes of “The Andy George And Joe Peters Show.” If nothing else, these morons will continue to entertain – and disappoint.”

    http://www.totherigh

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Yadira Caraveo
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

116 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!