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January 23, 2013 12:26 PM UTC

A reporter might wonder, where are Penry and Witwer now?

  • 11 Comments
  • by: Jason Salzman

(Hanging their heads, no doubt – promoted by Colorado Pols)

As civil-unions legislation hits the home stretch at the State Capitol, along with a bill granting in-state tuition to undocumented college students, let’s take a moment to encourage reporters to recall a jump-up-and-down-arms-waving op-ed that appeared in The Denver Post, just days after the election:

Republican thinkers Josh Penry and Rob Witwer wrote about how the GOP needed to be nice to Hispanics and women for moral and practical reasons.

Now, two short months later, most Republicans at the State Capitol are lining up against the ASSET bill, offering reduced tuition to undocumented college students.

The Post’s Lynn Bartels is calmly pointing out that even fewer Republican lawmakers appear to support a civil-unions bill this year than last year, because the GOP moderates were booted out by voters.

Rep. Cory Gardner is proudly telling the media how much he’d love to fill the GOP tent with women and Hispanics, without saying he’s against all abortion, some forms of birth control, as well as comprehensive immigration reform. Ditto for the rest of the CO GOP delegation, at least with respect to a path to citizenship.

Republicans are NOT jumping-up-and-down-arms-waving to denounce bills, introduced by fellow Republicans at the State Capitol, attacking abortion rights, including a bill banning all abortion, even in the cases of rape and incest.

On the radio, you have Michael “Brownie” Brown, W’s FEMA director with deep Republican connections, effectively thumbing his nose at Penry and Witwer by saying: “You hear these sob stories… I don’t care if they were two-years-old when they came. They’re illegal.. I have no sympathy.”

Secretary of State Scott Gessler may not see the irony that, just as ASSET is debated in Colorado, he’s scheduled to join a panel tomorrow at the Heritage Center with Kansas SOS Kris Kobach, who played a big part in creating the much-maligned anti-hispanic, anti-immigration law in Arizona. They’ll be talking about how to get tough on voting, but tough talk about immigration may pop up given the venue and the audience.

I could go on here, but why make a blog post long when a short one makes your point–and you have other stuff to do, like go on a walk with your 83-year-old mother in Commons Park, where you can relax and watch the GOP self-destruct?

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11 thoughts on “A reporter might wonder, where are Penry and Witwer now?”

  2. I always found Witwer to be a reasonable legislator, but Penry on the other hand… If these guys would stop telling everyone who they can sleep with, what they can put in their own bodies, and let a doctor and woman decide whats best for HER then they may be a bit more successful on election days. Until then… Continue the slow march off the cliff Republicans. Don’t worry Penry, McNulty, et al have your best interest at heart….

  3. Unlike Boehner as leader of the US House majority, who’s actually trying to rein in the Mad Hatter Tea Party types, there appears to be little incentive for the minority GOP Colo House leadership to do the same.

    It’s full-throttle, stick-forward, “let’s see how big a hole we can make” attitude with the State GOP. It’ll take a few more election cycles in the minority before they wise up.

    1. The Colorado GOP has done a shockingly good job of pissing away winnable elections over the past decade. Looks like they have no intent of slowing down now.

  4. “…be nice to Hispanics and women for moral and practical reasons…”

    What they meant was to stop talking about the distinction between forcible rape and buyer’s remorse and to stop assuming that all Hipanics were illegal immigrants not that they should starting treating them as real people who know how to vote. Big difference.

    1. Perhaps the problem is we are asking Republicans to be something other than what they are.

      Let the people see them for what they are, and toss them out.

  5. ” I have no sympathy.”

    Given his performance at FEMA, it is not shocking that Brownie has no sympathy for people in an impossible situation through no fault of their own.

    Wonder if the “what part of illegal don’t you understand” crowd will be consistent in their unquestioning support of the law when assault rifles are banned.

  7. 9 of 10 Republicans couldn’t tell you who Penry and Whitwer are …. very low name ID

    Although someday Whitwer will make a fine replacement for Perlmutter, Governor, or a solid US Senator.

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