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May 15, 2008 04:20 PM UTC

Schaffer: A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

  • 34 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: For those feeling geographically challenged in the wake of this gaffe, the Rocky Mountain News has produced a helpful crib sheet explaining the (many) differences between Alaska’s Denali/Mt. McKinley and Colorado’s Pikes Peak. Should be required reading, unless of course you already know the difference (after the jump).

How bad can one little production mistake that someone really should have caught cost you?

For Senate candidate Bob “Pikes Peak, Alaska” Schaffer, the answer lies in this morning’s Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Colorado Springs Gazette, and Grand Junction Sentinel. And let’s not forget the AP wire story filling in the smaller markets. Mt. McKinley (redundant note: doesn’t look anything like Pikes Peak) is known for its sudden avalanches, after all.

Even former GOP primary opponent Scott McInnis couldn’t resist weighing in, as the Sentinel reports:

Such mishaps tend to accumulate, said former 3rd Congressional District U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, a Grand Junction Republican.

“They can afford this one, but one or two more and that’s all you can absorb,” he said.

McInnis added his response would be to put out a humorous, self-deprecating ad…

We actually think this experience has probably been self-deprecating enough. Every one of these articles has its own pithy way of retelling the punchline, and all of them make Schaffer look like an ignorant carpetbagger to whom “all mountains look the same.” For example, we didn’t actually know Schaffer was born and raised in Ohio (“Colorado is my life!”) until this flubbed ad gave the liberals a wide-open opportunity to point it out.

More or less the exact opposite of the message this otherwise well-produced (and costly) ad was supposed to convey, isn’t it?

Comments

34 thoughts on “Schaffer: A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

    1. …the old switch-a-roo!  Somehow, I’m not convinced that switching the narrative from “I support slave labor and forced abortions” to “I’m a total tool” is a good thing.  

      But then, the wingnut mind is an extremely hard thing to understand.

          1. In the comments over at RMN, lots of folks dismiss this because it’s not about issues, and they want to hear about issues. The irony, of course, is that this ad steers clear of ANY issues (unless you count the republic party mantra of moretaxesbad-lessovernmentgood).

            1. Does Bob Schaffer have the brains and attention to detail to create a political ad? If not, how on earth can we expect him to function as a competent legislator? Forget party – will he even know what he is doing in office if he can’t get simple things like this straight?

              1. I can not imagine that the original ad as posted yesterday was released without at least a perfunctory screening by Bob and Dick. I sure would see the final version before giving the green light if I were in charge. They must have seen it and not caught the mistake.

                This is a typical Republican reaction – it wasn’t us at the top, it’s the production assistant.

    1. I also think its easy to understand

      that is why its getting play.

      its a non issue to me, but it does cut against his narrative.

      however its never good as a politician when the public is laughing at you.

  1. Schaffer was born and raised in Ohio, educated at the Univeristy of Dayton and Ohio State and he was already married when he arrived in Colorado.  His claim that he proposed to his wife on top of Pikes Peak is suspect.

  2. that Udall pulled an ad in 2006 because it violated campaign statutes or regulations.  If that isn’t true then Wadhams has undermined his credibility again.  I don’t know the answer but I suspect Coloradopols is checking this out.  Please let us know.  With Wadhams diminishing credibility, pretty soon, Schaffer is going to have to talk with reporters instead of having his campaign manager front for him

    This again is one of Wadhams usual tactics.  He tries to be the person who is debating the opposing candiate so his candiate can sit back and be the good guy.  He did that during both of the Allard-Strickland campaigns.

  3. “What is frustrating about it is that when we saw the rough cut of the ad we asked the media consultant to check that,” Wadhams added. But after being reassured that the mountain was a “stock photo” image from Colorado, the ad ran.

    See, it is not Shaffer’s fault. He and Wadhams were told that it was a mountain in Colorado.

    How was Schaffer supposed to know what Colorado looks like? It’s not like Colorado is a big deal to him or anything.

    1. .

      I think I could only ID about a dozen 14’ers from photos,

      and even then only if the photo was taken from the right angle,

      including Blanca, Mount of the Holy Cross and Sopris (is that even a 14’er ?)

      How many of you, honestly, could ID Pikes Peak,

      as viewed from South Park (Hartsel ?)

      .

      1. but I could distinguish it from McKinley, as I think most Coloradoans could as well.  Just look at the enormously larger scale of the mountain and the arid geography vs. the lush geography of Alaska.

        Bob Schaffer hasn’t spent much time in the Colorado wilderness.  Too bad for him.

        1. Here’s the obvious clue– there’s no huge lake at the base of Pike’s Peak.  

          Maybe this is the same mountain Owens put on back of the Colorado Quarter.  

      2. But I grew up in Elbert county and I have done a great deal of hiking about the Pikes Peak region.  I even got my yule tree from the South Park Ranger District this year.  (It was fun and even with the price of fuel the permit is a bargain.)

        I doubt I could positively identify many other 14ers, but I could tell if a mountain is part of the Rockies or not.  The plants and water are a dead give away in that picture of Denali that it cannot be anywhere in Colorado.  Far too lush.  

      1. C’mon, he didn’t just trust what he was told… He also didn’t “observe” any while he was taking his tours (between parasailing). So that PROVED there weren’t any!

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