Here’s a little insight for the day … Recently, I posted at the Schaffer v Udall blog a response to the latest trumped-up faux controversy heaped against the Republican U.S. Senate candidate. Rossputin followed it up at Politics West with an even abler and more thorough refutation of the charges - using relevant facts and evidence.
I got a chuckle today when my friend pointed out to me the first comment added to Rossputin’s post:
when are you going to stop dodging my question about your work for the Heartland Institute?
“DeGrow points out a few subsequent articles which show the attack to be erroneous as well as discussing how two of the “big names” leading the attack, former high-level diplomats, are now Democratic activists and at least one works with the Obama campaign.”
Let me get this straight. You’re saying that because the attacks are coming from Democrats, it’s not valid? Nice argument. I now reject all your arguments as they come from a right-wing shill who formerly directed the Heartland Institute.
And speaking of Ben Degrow, isn’t he a right-wing partisan hack of the Independence Institute?
I posted the comment here not to give repute to the nameless commenter, but to highlight a series of tactics featured early and often in the Lefty political playbook:
- Ignore the relevant facts. Go back and read both my post and Rossputin’s post linked above. Notice the weight given to the “fact that the attacks are coming from Democrats” as an argument refuting the original charge. Yes, it’s a secondary point, at best, one that highlights the very duplicity of this commenter’s self-righteous attacks against partisanship.
- Distort other facts. The commenter totally misidentifies the nature of Rossputin’s former relationship with the Heartland Institute.
- Name-calling. The argument ad hominem is the last recourse of an empty argument. Never mind that the phrase “right-wing partisan hack” suffers from its own absurdly illogical construction.
- Guilt by association. The commenter too easily conflates my open and clearly stated political philosophy and leanings and the research and writing I do in my spare time with my employer. Apparently, this is supposed to detract from the substance of what I say. Okay….
- Hide in anonymity. Admittedly, this is a tactic used by some both on the Left and the Right. Note that it tends to encourage the other kinds of behavior listed here.
To the anonymous Lefty commenter, thanks for the instructive example. Oh, by the way, my name is spelled with a capital G, too.
Today at the Schaffer v Udall blog, I gladly take the opportunity to quickly correct a small mistake while getting another chance to emphasize a major point:
As the National Republican Senatorial Committee documented well, it took Mark Udall two-and-a-half years after 9/11 to drop his co-sponsorship of the Department of Peace: March 17, 2004. Coincidentally, though, it came one week after he first announced he was running for U.S. Senate. Does anyone still want to argue credibly that he changed his position on the issue because of 9/11? Or is it much clearer now that the move is part of Boulder liberal Mark Udall’s careful calculation to remake his image as he runs for statewide office?
You can read the whole thing here.
Other recent highlights from the blog on Colorado’s U.S. Senate campaign:
- Thanking Mark Udall for the Gas Price Pain that Keeps Many Home This Fourth of July
- Greeley Parade Officials Boost Mark Udall, Leave Out Own Board Rep Bob Schaffer
- A reminder to submit your questions to 9News for the upcoming July 14 debate between Bob Schaffer and Mark Udall
Hooray, a positive - and promising - development in Colorado’s center-right blogosphere has emerged. The conservative-leaning news site Face The State announces its “Blog Wrangler”.
The Wrangler features some of the latest posts on this page. It doesn’t update as quickly as the Rocky Mountain Alliance feed (see sidebar of any member’s page), but then again it’s more attractively laid out and covers a broader collection of blogs.
Face The State also has what looks like a comprehensive list of Colorado center-right bloggers - I’ll have to compare it to my own blogroll some time.
Several of us bloggers out here are glad to see Face The State take on this complementary role, even if we wished it had come sooner. (But “don’t look back.”) They tell me even more features are on their way.
The hackles have been raised over at the Dead Guvs, as a post by reliable conservative blogger El Presidente has been promoted to the front page: For whatever it’s worth, he highlights the revelation of the story behind the online debate between Bob Schaffer and Mark Udall that never materialized.
The debate was the brainchild of respectable liberal blogger David Thielen, who had hosted several of these debates during the Democratic primary. For the U.S. Senate race, he sought the fair and balanced approach, and I agreed to co-moderate. Kudos to David for promoting El Presidente’s entry, for verifying the facts presented, and for defending the truth against the slings and arrows of outrageous insults.
My already significant respect for Mr. Thielen has risen even higher. I expected (and was quite amused) to be called absurdly false names like “sockpuppet” and “paid shill.” He on the other hand is taking grief from people who generally agree with his political point of view.
Meanwhile, a watcher offers his own perspective on the excuse alleged by the Mark Udall campaign for running away from the online debate, in three parts: here (where he writes, “Mark Udall is, after all, a coward”), here, and here.
Quite an amusing saga that says more about Mark Udall and most of the Lefties who defend him on the Internet than anyone.
The Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0 keeps growing: Welcome aboard Steve Nielson from The New Conservative (also a new father!). In his spare time, Steve is a Lockheed engineer, as well as the secretary of the Douglas County Republican Party. He’s also the third RMA member to be a graduate of the Leadership Program of the Rockies.
Make sure to bookmark his site for regular visits if you haven’t done so already. Welcome aboard, Steve!
Just in case you have missed this important news elsewhere… the group Moving America Forward is working to organize the largest ever care package shipment to U.S. military personnel. (More information from Rush Limbaugh and the San Francisco Chronicle.)
Here’s their goal:
…to send the largest single shipment of care packages in U.S. history. We’re hoping to collect sponsorships in excess of $500,000 for care packages by the end of the day Thursday.
How can you learn more and get involved? On Thursday, June 26, tune in to Hot Air’s “From the Front Lines.”
What a great way to show our nation’s appreciation to our troops and their families!
At the invitation of Night Twister, I am switching over to join him and others live-blogging the State GOP Convention at The Minority Report.
FYI to readers: I will be blogging from the proceedings at tomorrow’s Colorado Republican State Convention in Broomfield. Among other activities, the GOP will nominate Bob Schaffer as the candidate for U.S. Senate, adopt a state platform, and entertain a guest speech from former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.
Other confirmed bloggers: Slapstick Politics and Night Twister.
Stay tuned.
Nowhere in Colorado is rank-and-file teacher dissent with the union so apparent as in the heart of Denver - for a multitude of reasons that cannot begin to be explored in this brief post. But an increasingly strained contract debate with the school board (Barack Obama alluded to it in his speech yesterday) - after the board offered a substantial raise as part of a progressive compensation system.
Now a new splinter teachers group with an online presence has emerged in Denver (H/T Alan Gottlieb). It would be great to see these teachers continue posting on the blog they started. Interestingly, the local union president hasn’t posted anything to her blog since this splinter group has emerged.
The National Education Association, to which the Denver union belongs, is a notably hierarchical organization. What will emerge from a group of rogue teaching bloggers in Denver therefore may provide an interesting case. Today’s public school system does not breed rugged individualism in its career educators, after all.
The realist in me says the splinter group will be snuffed out soon enough, but I have just enough curiosity to hope that a surprise or two may be in store. If so, I’ll let you know.
The Next Right is officially launched today. From the About page:
The Next Right is the place for wired activists to build a new Republican Party and conservative movement. As a community-driven grassroots action website for the right, we’ll feature in-depth political analysis, on-the-ground reports, and strategic discussion and debate.
The site’s founding editors are Soren Dayton, Jon Henke, and Patrick Ruffini.
Read each of their posts announcing this new venture here:
Soren | Jon | Patrick
These are the brightest minds in new media that our side has to offer. I encourage all limited government conservative bloggers and blog-readers in Colorado to sign up and join The Next Right network. Our state has been on the front line of the George Soros assault. Why shouldn’t Colorado give a major boost to the effort to rebuild the conservative movement and the Republican Party?
The Rocky Mountain Alliance of Blogs is back, with a new look:
Some of the original cast remain, strengthened by the fresh blood of some high-quality newcomers. The goal of the Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0 is to promote our shared conservative vision of limited and accountable government, freedom, and personal responsibility - in Colorado and in our nation, the result of the most brilliant and noble political experiment in human history.
You also may have noticed the updated logo and running feed of latest posts from RMA 2.0 members on my sidebar. Experienced and consistent center-right Colorado bloggers with at least a passing interest in state or local issues who are willing to collaborate with others and improve their effectiveness are invited to apply. Feel free to contact me.
Why the cryptic title: Ed is Watching? It’s the name of a new blog I’ve started contributing to as part of the Independence Institute’s Education Policy Center. If you go there now, you’ll already find posts up on charter schools, on Flunked: The Movie’s Colorado debut, and on a new major school choice law in Georgia.
From Jon Caldara’s blog:
Ed’s job is to keep an eye on, “… legislators, state officials, school boards, administrators, principals, teachers, and other people and groups that have an influence on public education in this great state.” So to get your daily education fix, check in with Ed and see what he has to say.
Please stop by the site, bookmark it for regular visits, and tell all your friends!
I saw this post from The Colorado Index earlier in the week. Busy at the time, I just shook my head and moved on. But when Rossputin - the subject of the post - brought it to my attention again, I decided it was worthy of a quick response.
A watcher is entitled to his opinions and to the manner of delivering those opinions, but a couple factual corrections are in order:
1. A watcher wrote: “‘Blogger Extraordinaire’ Ross Kaminsky - the self promoter who admits he doesn’t read conservative Colorado blogs….” Fact: The implication behind the use of “Blogger Extraordinaire,” which was used twice in this post, was that it was a title Ross chose for himself. In fact, it was the Samsphere promoters who devised and used the label. To my recollection, as someone who actually attended Samsphere, Ross never used the label himself. In fact, of the six blogger panelists last Saturday, Ross and David Harsanyi spoke about their blogs the least. That hardly would qualify him as any more of a self-promoter than any other blogger in attendance, myself included.
I would hope that after the fellowship of Samsphere, maybe Ross reads more conservative Colorado blogs than he did before. It’s certainly true for me.
2. A watcher wrote: “Since Samsphere has come and gone and no one recorded the lessons for your review” - Fact: You can find it all right here. Was every aspect of Samsphere recorded? No, but excluding the small group discussions and workshops, most all of it was.
Over at Craig Sprout’s Montana Politics site, Congressman Denny Rehberg explains why the Blogger Protection Act of 2008 is needed:
Exempting Internet speech from FEC regulation was right thing to do, but the fight isn’t over. As easily as this rule was created in 2006, it can be removed by a new Administration. That’s why the Blogger Protection Act is necessary. It’s critical my House colleagues and I move quickly in making this protection permanent.
This is something all bloggers can get behind, regardless of their political and philosophical orientation.
My good friend, a conservative Christian law student at the University of Colorado, has entered the world of blogging at Constructively Reasonable. If you get a chance, please stop by and encourage him to continue blogging, even as he seeks to survive the rigorous first-year final exams!
On the eve of the most crucialest of all crucial votes in this media-obsessed rollercoaster of a Democrat presidential showdown - also known as the Pennsylvania primary - I wanted to turn attention to a major example of in-your-face media bias provided in coverage of the event.
Warner Todd Huston, someone I met at Samsphere Chicago, exposed the verbally abusive bias of CNN’s Rick Sanchez on the Penn State University campus:
CNN contacted students in several political clubs at Penn State to arrange for the interview and two weeks ago their cameras and crews arrived at the university to film the segment with the on-air personality.
21-year-old journalism student Chelsea Brown, though, was less than impressed by Sanchez’ bellicose confrontations during the taping with several of the students including herself. I spoke with Miss Brown after the interview and she told me was offended and shocked by Sanchez’ lack of professional comportment.
This is just a snippet of the student testimony provided in the story. The good news is that Sanchez and his crew later apologized.
But the reason I decided to link to this story was to highlight Warner’s example of true citizen journalism, making actual phone calls and doing original reporting. That, and the fact that the subject of his story was Penn State University.
I haven’t been back to “dear old State” in the 7 years since I walked away with a dusty degree, but I’m glad to see there’s still some interest in a reasonable political debate - at least from the students CNN attempted to badger, er, interview.
Good work, Warner.
Promoted with more updates: El Presidente has posted some key video excerpts, and (under imaginary threat of compulsion) here is a post written by one of Jon Caldara’s minions.
Follow-ups on Samsphere Denver:
- Brad Jones’ Buzz at Face The State
- Bob Agard
- Randy Ketner, Night Twister
If you were at Samsphere Denver and posted on the topic, but I overlooked you, please drop an email or a comment with a link to your post, and I’ll put it up.
