March 27, 2017 02:13 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Monday (March 27)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Happy World Theatre Day! It’s time to Get More Smarter–if you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). If you are more of a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► After the humiliating failure of the GOP’s “TrumpCare” legislation Friday, President Donald Trump’s approval rating is headed for a new record low:

Only 36 percent of Americans approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president in interviews conducted last Friday through Sunday, a time period entirely after Republicans abandoned their bill to replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Trump’s approval rating is down from 41 percent in the prior three-day period. His previous low-water mark in the Gallup poll came earlier this month, when interviews conducted March 16-18 showed his approval rating at just 37 percent.

In the new survey, the percentage of Americans who disapprove of Trump’s performance is 57 percent, up from 54 percent in the previous three-day rolling sample. That’s one point shy of Trump’s highest disapproval rating: 58 percent in the March 16-18 sample.

► Meanwhile, President Trump is reaching out across the aisle to get something–anything–accomplished that he can call a win:

President Trump is serious about working with Democrats to move his agenda forward and has already fielded phone calls from liberal lawmakers about healthcare reform, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday.

“Starting Friday afternoon through late yesterday, [Trump] has received a number of calls, as well as other members of the senior staff that have been working on healthcare, from members of both sides saying that they would like to work together, offer up ideas and have suggestions about how to come to resolution on this and get to a House vote on this,” Spicer said…

“The president is eager to get to 218 [votes in the House] on a lot of his initiatives, whether its tax reform or infrastructure,” Spicer said. “There’s a lot of things and I think he’s going to be willing to listen to other voices on the other side to figure out if people want to work with him to get these big things done to make Washington work to enhance the lives of American people then he’s going to work with them.”

► Anything to take the focus off the deepening Russiagate scandal, we suppose.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► A case from the Thompson School District in Loveland is looming large in the confirmation battle over Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch–after a similar case was reversed by the SCOTUS, Loveland father Jeff Perkins blasted Gorsuch:

“Thank you for the opportunity today to give voice to my son Luke whose access to an appropriate education and thus to a meaningful and dignified life was threatened by views of Judge Neil Gorsuch,” Perkins told the panel.

► Rep. Mike Coffman is in the hot seat big time after becoming the only Colorado Republican to publicly endorse “TrumpCare” before its untimely death.

► Likewise, Rep. Scott Tipton took heavy fire from the Grand Junction Sentinel over his own lack of testicular fortitude:

Scott Tipton, the Republican who represents the Western Slope in the U.S. House of Representatives, never took a position on the GOP’s American Health Care Act. It was only after the bill was pulled from the House floor that he said he wouldn’t have voted for it.

This is the worst kind of political cowardice. If Tipton’s priority is to lower health care costs for his constituents, as he claims, he should have told them before the vote whether he believed this bill would do the trick. Let’s not forget that he voted more than 60 times to repeal the ACA. Once there was a viable way to do that, he owed his constituents an explanation why he was for or against this version of that action.

► At the Democratic CD-7 reorg meeting this weekend, Rep. Ed Perlmutter chokes up while thanking his supporters in advance of a likely gubernatorial run.

► Rep. Mike Foote’s legislation to increase setbacks from schools for oil and gas drilling is moving through the Colorado House, but Senate prospects aren’t good.

► Colorado lawmakers doing what they can to tighten up Colorado’s marijuana laws in hope of dodging an expected federal crackdown from AG Jeff Sessions.

► Who’s afraid of self-driving cars? Us. We’ve seen Christine.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Rep. Steve Lebsock is running for Colorado Treasurer.

► Serial impostor and (unfortunately still) Aurora school board member Eric Nelson posts a fresh round of fake degrees and diplomas.

ICYMI

Bob Rawlings, publisher of the Pueblo Chieftain, has died.

Don’t forget to check out The Get More Smarter Show. You can also Get More Smarter by liking Colorado Pols on Facebook!