President (To Win Colorado)
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(D) Kamala Harris
(R) Donald Trump
80%
20%
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) V. Archuleta
98%
2%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
(R) Marshall Dawson
95%
5%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(D) Adam Frisch
(R) Jeff Hurd
50%
50%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert
(D) Trisha Calvarese
90%
10%
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Jeff Crank
(D) River Gassen
80%
20%
CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
(R) John Fabbricatore
90%
10%
CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) B. Pettersen
(R) Sergei Matveyuk
90%
10%
CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(D) Yadira Caraveo
(R) Gabe Evans
70%↑
30%
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
February 26, 2009 07:58 PM UTC
27 Comments
Owens “let it happen” all the time. He just condemned the tone (not the underlying position) to make himself look as if he disagreed with this stuff. Fact is that he agrees with it all. He was the leader of the party starting in 1978 that brought all these nutty folks into the party. He started with the Armstrong campaign that year and continued to build and build. He is totally at fault.
As for these folks being the “worst extermists” that is simply a falsehood or at best naive. There aren’t 5 people in the Republican caucus who disagree with these comments. They just want to hide their views. Really, Penry himself said that he “agrees with Renfroe’s views on gay marriage.”
The only difference between the rest of the caucus and these two is that the rest of the caucus went to charm school to learn to say how nice instead of FU.
This is all a symptom of the neo-Republicans being out of power here and out of power in this country and being frustrated. They are coming apart at the seams and it couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch.
From a former Republican Jeffco Party Chair.
But you can certainly do your best to clean it up later, which Owens often did. Look, all Penry has to do is say, “These comments are certainly regrettable and I have spoken to Sen. Schultheis about how harmful his words are,” or something like that. But not condemning the words becomes a tacit endorsement of them, and then the average voter who reads this thinks that all Republicans think this way. Owens would have at least mitigated that damage, but Penry is either too weak or too clueless (or both).
In blood-red Utah, State Senator Buttars lost his committee assignments for making a much tamer smear against gay people NOT on the Senate floor.
If Penry doesn’t act, the Democratic leadership should. Schultheis and Renfroe violated the decorum of the Senate and besmirched its public reputation. They need to be punished.
Buttars only lost his committee assignments because he made an agreement with the party that he would not be their spokesman on gay rights or in their case, homophobia. It had nothing to do with what he said, in fact the GOP leadership stated that they agreed with his position.
However, you are completely correct in your assessment that much of this mess lies in the lap of Prince Penry. If he demonstrated an iota of leadership instead of living his life with Dick Wadhams hand up his ass, the party much actually be viable.
for his generosity–he thinks other humans are…human too. That’s leadership.
And let’s see, Penry then whines that Brandon Shaffer said the Democrats are more “enlightened” on SB 88. And this is unfair when no one in the Senate Republican caucus will condemn Sen. Scott Renfroe (R) for equating a homosexual citizen with the act of murder?
Shaffer just gets the Master Of The Obvious award for that one.
Senator Penry, stop your fucking whining. Grow into your role or step aside.
All right, that’s an outright endorsement of Schultheis’ statement. How do you not condemn that? It’s FREE! Nobody would complain for condemning it.
saying what they actually think, I say let them say it.
Schultheis and Renfroe are saying what the majority of their caucus, if not their voters, think anyway, so why should they be shut up?
Yes it is appalling to the majority of fair minded citizens. That is part of the reason Penry is the Minority Leader and not the Majority Leader.
The Republican strategy is to destroy the reputation of the legislature as an institution in hopes of engendering a “throw the bums out” attitude among swing voters.
It didn’t work in 2008 at the federal level, but it has worked in the past and it could work again. They shouldn’t be allowed to do that.
Make no mistake, this is not a bunch of idiots out there saying ridiculous things all at once out of coincidence. This is a coordinated effort to capitalize on and strengthen political divisions. Someone, or some group of people, decided that there are enough people out there loyal to the Republican party that they will stand by these increasingly ridiculous outrageously inhuman statements. And if they do, they will be further immunized to the call of common sense, and will agree with the next wave of slightly more outrageous B.S. that comes along. To make this work, you need an extreme element that is going to push the boundaries (why not pick safe seats for that role), and then you need a leadership that refuses to outright condemn the hate speech, because that would cause the target audience to feel justified in rejecting it.
And Owens didn’t stop this; he just presided over an eaarlier stage. Bush presided over an earlier stage. Now we’ve gotten far enough, got enough people in so deep that it would be a major mea culpa and a big embarrassment for them to abandon party loyalty now, that we can go further. The train is moving fast enough that there’s significant personal risk in jumping off, so now there’s no big loss is pushing party loyalty to see how far it can go.
Does the GOP think the majority public opinion will ever believe this crap? No, of course not. But no one believes Schultheis’s seat is at risk, either. Now the next round of “moderate” Republicans that grab the competitive seats can be a little more extreme. Maybe they don’t have to believe in even nominally equal rights; by 2010, maybe they can make a show of bucking their party merely by asserting their belief that homosexuals should be counted as whole persons in the census.
They think you are gullible. Don’t fall for it.
Still, it is the skilled Akido politician who knows how to parley their feints and contortions for advantage. And especially true if you do not allow the whitewash to dry on their paint by numbers “masterpieces”.
…that they’re just obtuse? People do stupid things all the time. People rationalize what they want to believe all the time. Groups of like-minded people get together and in that meeting become more convinced they are right.
We all assume there is some brilliant nefarious plan orchestrated by Dick Wadhams to gain ascendancy via these actions. Yet it could be that they are floundering and feeling under siege. And in response they are essentially assuming a fetal position and embracing their core beliefs as a security blanket.
I’m starting to feel bad for the Colorado GOP because it appears to be so lost.
this is self-imposed by the right-wing Republicans. They live in a cloistered world where they only talk to themselves and convince each other they are right. This began before they lost the majority here in Colorado but it is the reason for their continuing decline. They simply cannot fathom they are wong on anything or that they should compromise. After all, because God has givin them the correct answer and ideology for all problems, they can’t compromise. If I’m overstating it I apologize but based on my experience in the Republican Party, I don’t think it is far from the truth. Compromise isn’t discussed or allowed. If you want to be an active Republican these days, adherence to absolute ideology is required.
Since the ultra social conservative wing has taken over it’s also become ultra authoritarian. You’re with us or against us, period. There can be no compromise if you think you represent God and the other guys are God’s enemies.
(and it is just a guess. I don’t really know at that personal a level what motivates the individual people involved.)
But don’t feel too bad for them. When Republicans abandon any sense of rationality and run for the extremist edge, and it happens on a regular basis, it doesn’t necessarily mean they fail. All in all, the Republican party is stronger today for having Rush Limbaugh on their side… not because anyone in their right mind takes that windbag seriously, but because it provides cover for people who do need to be taken seriously. Sorry, but this does not significantly reduce Dave Schultheis’s future chances in any election that he had a chance of winning anyway. He was going to win in his deep red Colorado Springs district, and never stood a chance anywhere else; and now… well, he can still win in deep red districts, and he still stands no chance anywhere else.
As I said, no one in the Springs is going to suddenly abandon Schultheis and similar rhetoric; because they would have have to admit they were wrong. Rule #1 of human nature? No one EVER admits they were wrong.
I’m not much of a fan of being told: “I told you so”. But I’ve been trying to tell people for years about what a self-serving, ego driven wingnut Penry is. His interest lies in advancing his own political career and if it means not ruffling the feathers of fellow wingnuts to get there, so-be-it. If it means bad state policy and tactics, so-be-it.
I have absolutely nothing personal against Penry. I’ve never met him, save for listening to his Club 20 caterwauling shit blizzards. In my forty some years of understanding Colorado politics, I can honestly say that I have never seen a greater danger to our state than Josh Penry.
In trying to understand Penry’s ego driven politics, you have to look no further than his shameful disregard for protocol and common human decency last week in leaving his seat vacant at President Obama’s visit. With the ego of a two year old, he disgraced the Republican Party with his childish antics.
Having the shamed wingnut, Janet “Bestiality” Rowland, as his campaign manager should have been a glaring clue. But please, do not take my word for it. Read how “Colorado’s Top Conservative News Outlet” writes about Penry’s “malicious motives”. Or read what the Colorado Union of Taxpayers, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and Colorado Conservative Project think of Penry. Or read what the publisher of the Conservative Grand Junction Daily Sentinel said about him. And there have been RESPECTED Republicans like Ron Teck and Bill Owens who have taken Penry’s lame-brained schemes to task also. About the only ones left touting Penry are Wadhams, Caldara and the Rick Wagner fringe.
Penry has not sanctioned Renfrow and Schultheis because he is even worse than they are.
Do I hate myself for saying I told you so? Well, maybe for a day. But there are so many others who could say, “I told you so”.
Penry is selfish and ambitious. I thought he was smarter than to let the real wingnuts of his party define him, but he evidently isn’t. But voters in Mesa County, who just love their wingnuts, will vote for him for anything.
“RESPECTED” Republicans like Ron Teck!? Give me a break. Ron Teck spent two terms showing up to vote and do nothing else. I don’t agree with Penry on everything but I do respect the way he approaches issues and people. Look at his statement on this latest outburst amongst his caucus. He disagrees with Stupid-eis on HIV screening and he disagrees with the comments Renfroe made. Enough is enough of those of you on the left trying to use this as a wedge to bruise Penry before he takes on (and beats) Bennet appointer Ritter. Get serious.
He was on the JBC and worked his ass off. He also understood the fiscal straightjacket Colorado has put itself in and didn’t rely on the wingnut slogans of somehow cutting taxes forever and still have functioning schools, roads, prisons and other things.
Seems to me Josh Penry is just respecting the First Amendment. Schultheis and Renfroe certainly may have been way out-of-line but they nonetheless have a right to say what they want at the State Capitol, no matter how crazy it may seem to some. In the end they answer to their constituents and their constituents alone. So take it up with those voters–not Penry–if you disagree with their worldview.
I don’t think it’s at all a “tacit endorsement” of Schultheis and Renfroe’s comments just because he doesn’t censure his caucus. I think Penry also made it pretty clear he disagreed with their comments and tact.
I’d like to know when Penry sent that email, so I can judge whether this is sincere or just damage control.
Just because you have the right to say something doesn’t mean that you should. By not controlling his caucus, Penry has allowed Republicans to be sullied by the silly actions of a few. This is about political responsibility, political leadership and just plain political sense.
Republicans in the legislature and as a whole are weakened when the wingnuts go off like this, and it is made worse when leadership doesn’t immediately respond. Whatever Penry may or may not have said days after the fact is irrelevant. The damage has been done.
The First Amendment has zero/nada/nothing/not even a little bit to do with this. Nobody is suggesting passing a law preventing Schultheis from saying what he wants.
You may be confusing “censure” with “censor,” in which case, you should maybe get a dictionary.
…that means you, I criticizing you!
The right to speak does not include the right to be free from criticism for what you say.
Dumbass.
And when you hear someone say something that you find offensive, you then have the ability to say so. He cannot and should not stop Renfroe from speaking. But he should state, calling him out by name, not that he disagrees with him, but that he finds his statement sickening and offensive.
People disagree on banning smoking in restaurants. But wishing babies die, that’s not a “disagreement”, that’s inhumane. If Penry understands that, he will say something a lot stronger than the bland generic statement above.
This makes kicking a photographer seem almost funny
They get rid of the embarrassment of Bruce only to sit by and refuse to criticize in any meaningful way much, much worse bad actors. Oh well. The fact that they just don’t get it and are shrinking their support by the day works for me.
The treatment of Marostica over his “offense” compared to Penry’s handling of Renfroe and Schultheis is a mind-blowing double standard. It clarifies the failure of leadership here more than anything else.