On December 20, 2014, I chatted by phone with Ed Hanks about his new book How to Train Your Politician: Intentional Voting as a Path to Tea Party and Constitutional Victory. Hanks, an acquaintance and Jefferson County conservative activist who has been one of Colorado's leading voices for Personhood, graciously shared a Kindle copy of his book for me to read prior our conversation. We talked in the wake of the lame-duck Congress passing the corporatists' dream bill, known as Cromnibus, fueling the fires of populist conservative discontent (including yours truly). A mounting frustration definitely brings a growing interest in the strategy Hanks endorses. Yet what I find most appealing about the book and its author is his historical … [Read more...]
Carroll: Sonia Sotomayor “Expression of Bigotry” Calls for Full Repudiation
Great piece by Vince Carroll in today's Denver Post on Barack Obama's Supreme Court appointment:If racial and gender bigotry truly have no place in American public life today, then Judge Sonia Sotomayor, during her confirmation hearing for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, needs to utterly repudiate her 2001 assertion that "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." Putting that statement "in context" or explaining what she "really meant" will not do. Nor can Judge Sotomayor credibly argue that her assertion was an ill-considered mistake, since it was part of a prepared speech at the Berkeley school of law. … [Read more...]
In Swing State Colorado, Obama’s “don’t have the votes in Congress” Resonates
Remember a couple weeks ago, Barack Obama's infamous response to "rumors" that he plans "to take away your guns." The junior Illinois Senator said: "I believe in the Second Amendment... you have nothing to fear from an Obama administration... And by the way, here’s another thing you’ve got to understand. Even if I wanted to take it away, I couldn’t get it done. I don’t have the votes in Congress." As ABC News blogger Jake Tapper points out:That "I don't have the votes in Congress" line has ricocheted around the country… Let's take an extreme hypothetical to make a point. Can you imagine a candidate saying something egregious as: "Why, of course, I'm against legalizing the international child kidnapping trade. And by the way, … [Read more...]