Roan Money Being Allocated

The Denver Post is endorsing the Republican plan for setting aside the money from the Roan Plateau gas development for a higher education trust fund.

That's still a lot of money and it's vital to spend it wisely. Part of the cash will, as it should, go to local governments to deal with some of the costs of supporting the energy development. The best plan, so far, for spending the rest of this windfall, as well as some of the $100 million a year or more that eventual production royalties could yield for Colorado for the next 20 or 30 years, was offered by two Western Slope legislators, state Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, and Rep. Al White, R-Winter Park.

We suspect that doing this will require a Constitutional amendment, something that should have happened when the Social Security "Trust" Fund was set up on the Federal level. It immediately became a source of funds for decades of Congressional boondoggles. The same thing will happen here if the hinges and hasp on the lock box aren't welded shut.

A Line in the Scrubland

The GJ Sentinel's number 7 top story of the year was Roan Plateau an emblem of energy debate.

It had a sentence that we found interesting:

Though the plateau is already being drilled from nearby private lands and the BLM’s plan was highly restrictive, conservationists made the land mass their “symbolic” line in the sand, Congressman Mark Udall, D-Colo., said in August.

We found a copy of the original article that this quote referred to. It was titled "Udall vows to keep up fight over Roan drilling."

Udall, who sponsored an amendment to the 2007 energy bill barring the Bureau of Land Management from leasing parcels atop the Roan, said if the measure fails to make the final version of the bill, he and Congressman John Salazar, D-Colo., will continue to fight to halt development...

“I think at heart of our point of view is we’re not going to stop,” Udall said. “We’re not going to quit. We’re not going to give up.

“We think this is the right thing to do, and we’ll look for other ways to keep that 50 percent of the top of the Roan that’s public lands off limits to surface occupancy.”

One of the more interesting lines in that older article was an apparent proposal by Mark Udall to open up American coastal waters to drilling:

There’s so much other area in which we can drill and produce additional fuels to do our part,” Udall said of energy independence.

He said the United States needs to look outside Colorado — to developing coastal areas or renewable energy sources — to fuel domestic energy needs.

We wonder if Mark Udall's Sierra Club contributors have seen this. We'd bet not.

And All We In Colorado Got Was a Lousy Essay

Mark Udall's essay in the Denver Post was easily topped by cousin Tom's poem. Two liberal peas in a pod if ever there were.

Our New Year's prediction: Mark Udall will get many more votes than Tom Udall, but Tom is a better poet and very possibly a better politician.

Snatching Defeat From the Jaws of Victory

Mark Udall got a chance to say his piece about peace in the Denver Post today.

As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I believe we can achieve consensus by implementing the bipartisan recommendations of the Iraq Study Group. This legislation, which I co-authored with a Democrat and two Republicans earlier this year, is now more critical than ever. The bill calls for increasing international economic development, a "surge" in diplomatic efforts and a careful, yet timely, phased withdrawal of American forces.

He claims his service on the HASC gives him the credibility to require by legislation that we surrender under the terms set out by the Iraq Study Group. Does anyone recall the level of military expertise that Congress infused into the membership of the ISG? None.

Diplomacy only works in an environment of strength. Stalin once asked "How many battalions does the Pope have?" Mark Udall wants to place the US in a position where it has no battalions in Iraq and then pretend to expect that a "surge" of diplomacy will work.

He Who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune

We picked this nugget up today:

The top 10 recipients of “environmental special-interest” funding, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, are (from 1 to 10): John Kerry, Al Gore, PaulWellstone, Barbara Boxer, Bill Bradley, Mark Udall, Jay Inslee, Jeanne Shaheen, Jean Carnahan, Barack Obama.

This explains, better than any other factoid why Mark Udall has been called an "environmental extremist" by the Gazette and "reliably left wing" by his friends.

Today's Chuckle

Today's funny line comes from Andrew Boucher: (added: We forgot to link this and now can't find the original link. If someone runs across this quote, please provide the link in the comments. Thanks.)

The national races of 2008 were already well underway in 2007. Soon after U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard announced his retirement this year, the national pundits began labeling Colorado as a sure-fire, rock-solid guarantee for a Democratic pickup in the Senate. Democratic Congressman Mark Udall appeared to have a clear shot at the seat. Then a funny thing happened on the way to Udall's swearing in: Former Congressman Bob Schaffer began polling neck-and-neck with Udall. Suddenly the “likely Democrat pickup” isn't looking so likely after all.

Where is Udall's Thumb?

It seems that Bill Ritter may be trying to create policy that allows some road building in Colorado forests, something that Mark Udall reflexively opposes.

The Denver Post has an very informative and balanced article on the issue. The comments are equally informative.

Coloradoan

We never want to be seen as out of step with our more hip friends at Colorado Confidential, so when someone at Colorado Confidential wrote the following, we resolved to keep our eyes open:

(Note: Colorado Confidential noted back in August how you can always tell when something is likely coming from inside the Beltway when the material refers to "Coloradoans" rather than the commonly accepted use of "Coloradan.")

Today, it came to our attention that the CSU student newspaper is called the "CSU Coloradoan," doubtlessly named decades ago by someone from inside the Beltway. Of course, the real self-appointed sophisticates in the state attended Coloradan University and would never guess that CSU had a Beltway connection.

Chuckle.

On No One's Top Ten Lists

The AP has it's top ten Colorado list out. It is a bit lame. Well, it is more than a bit lame. We thought we could do better with a list of things that didn't make the top ten in Colorado, in no particular order. They didn't make the top ten because they didn't happen. Oh, well!

1. Despite much wishful hoping on the left, the Colorado US Senate race is not a Mark Udall runaway.
2. Caroline Bninski spent Christmas with friends and family, not in jail where Mark Udall and his staff tried to put her for a year. How inconvenient!
3. Neither Mark Udall nor his staff seem to have lied to the public or members of Congress in the last week, setting a new record if not for truthfulness, at least for silence.
4. Rush Limbaugh wasn't humiliated by Mark Udall's Congressional resolution which was written in a way to be an unsophisticated falsehood. No member of the Colorado delegation co-sponsored Udall's anti-Limbaugh resolution.
5. The US didn't cut and run when Harry Reid pontificated "This War is Lost." Nor did Udall object when Nancy Pelosi held useless vote after vote to defund the war.
6. Mark Udall didn't convince Bill Ritter to nix gas drilling on the Roan Plateau.
7. Mark Udall didn't cosponsor the loon in the attic's Department of Peace bill this year, and it is reported that Mark Udall also didn't see a UFO.
8. The Gazette hasn't called Mark Udall an "extremist" for six months, but many of his liberal friends have made certain that he can't claim to be a centrist.
9. Colorado didn't have a roadless wilderness mega forest fire in 2007, but there is still time for one to occur in 2008.
10. The Denver Post hasn't made it's obligatory election year claim that Mark Udall is a "moderate" or "centrist."

List making is so much fun. We're wondering if we are on Bill Ritter's enemies list, yet. We're doing our best.

Trouble in Udall Land

Mark Udall is about as far left as we imagine it is possible for a Colorado politician, even a Boulder Liberal, can get and still expect to be reelected.

He is so far to the left that we have a scoreboard feature that tracks the number of times his liberal blogging allies and the msm refer to him as a liberal, reliably left wing, and even extremist. That scoreboard is in the upper right corner of this site.

Now, PlagiarismNowAction has a post up whose only goal is to push Mark Udall even farther left. (Those who wonder why we call PlagiarismNowAction by that name are welcome to search this blog under that term for an explanation.)

He [Mark Benner ] plans to run on the issues. Issues important to him include the environment, torture, withdrawal from Iraq, and holding Bush and Cheney accountable with investigations and impeachment if warranted.

He is being pressured by Democratic Party elites not to run. He will need your support to buck the system. Call and encourage him.

I am a 42 year Democratic supporter. I am a (L)iberal. I believe a challenger could very possibly potentially siphon enough votes from Udall to force him to move left on the issues.

Unlike left wing blogs which are engaged in a never ending attempt to promote Republican primaries, we have much more class than to try to interfere in or promote this primary. It will happen or it won't happen completely independent of what we might do or say. We are merely reporting on it.

More Poorly Thought Out Udall Legislation

The Denver Post is reporting that Mark Udall dropped more bills in the hopper just before the end of the session:

"You can never start soon enough," said Alan Salazar, chief of staff to Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs. With the presidential election next year, he said, passing bills could become difficult.

"So the sooner you get things done, the easier it is," Salazar said...

Udall also offered one to match a bill from Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. That one would require Interior Department agencies and the Forest Service to give Congress an annual report on firefighter safety practices, training programs and actions to prevent fires, including prescribed burnings.

On the one hand, Mark Udall champions all of the Sierra Club policies (no road building, no thinning, no firebreaks) which promote huge, hot forest fires and make it hard to do any forest management. Now, he wants a firefighter safety report!

Udall's comprehensive forest fire fighting philosophy makes as much sense as choosing to arm a battalion of soldiers with pistols and then requiring the battalion commander to report how many of his men were killed by rifle fire.

When the Dam Breaks, Most Run for High Ground

The Rocky Mountain News is praising Bill Ritter's "moderate" decision to allow drilling on the top of the scrub land covered Roan Plateau. They did get a dig in, though:

It's a refreshing change from the officeholder who has too often sided with organized labor, environmentalists, public employee groups and other narrow special interests - to the detriment of solutions that appeal to the broad majority of Coloradans.

It is almost as though the little dutch boy pulled his finger out from the hole in that very leaky and poorly positioned dam.

While Mark Udall hasn't sought the high ground after Ritter stepped aside, Ken Salazar has:

The governor may have other opponents of the BLM plan reconsidering, however. A spokesman for Sen. Ken Salazar - who tried to delay leasing for one year - told us the senator will work with Sen. Wayne Allard on legislation to make sure that Colorado gets its fair share of revenues from future Roan leases.

Looking at Hillary through the Newsum Prism

This week, on Colorado Inside Out, David Kopel offered the view that unless the Democrats nominated Bill Richardson, having the convention dominate the news in Colorado for so long will remind Colorado voters of the "leftyness" of the national party which will make it harder for Udall to try to move himself towards the center of the Colorado political spectrum.

Dani Newsum, who later in the program complained that Bill Ritter and the Colorado Legislature "aren't half as liberal as I would like them to be" claimed that it is an urban myth that Hillary is a "lefty." Newsum considers Hillary "right wing" on foreign policy and "in the mainstream" on health care. Of the front runners, Hillary is the most conservative, but you would never know it checking out "right wing blogs." "She's no Gloria Steinem."

One wonders when KBDI will pull the plug in the looney left commentary that Dani provides. It may never happen as she may be on the program to make the two other left leaning commentatiors seem centrist. It doesn't work, but nice try.

Premature Celebration

We were correct that Tom Tancredo had no intention of running for the Senate in 2008. The Denver Post reports:

Speaking to The Denver Post afterward, Tancredo said he would not challenge Republican Bob Schaffer in the U.S. Senate primary race next year, but "it's a possibility, not a certainty," he said, that he will return for a race against Democratic incumbent Ken Salazar in 2010.

"You know, two years from now, that's a different story. I'm going to get my batteries charged, go to the grandkids' games and recitals" — and then decide, he said.

The celebration in the left wing blogosphere was premature.

Udall Submarined Again

Mark Udall has staked his reputation and his run for the Senate on his ability to keep drilling rigs off the Roan Plateau scrub land. He has had some help from Ken Salazar and the environmentalists.

Salazar managed to get a four month delay, supposedly so that Bill Ritter could review the BLM plan, but really in the hope that Ritter would call the plan completely unacceptable.

That didn't happen, and even the environmentalists seem to be on board with Ritter, not Udall:

Ritter and [ state Department of Natural Resources executive director Harris ] Sherman said they would push for state-of-the-art drilling technology to minimize the environmental impact.

Also, they want to lease the land in phases, which they said would maximize the economic benefits and sustain the local economy over the long haul. Incremental leasing also will allow for new advancements in drilling technology, they said.

Environmental groups praised the plan for "striking a balance" between economic benefits and environmental preservation.

"We want the appropriate balance between responsible drilling and protection of important wildlife habitats and populations," said Suzanne O'Neill, executive director of the Colorado Wildlife Federation.

Mark Udall seems to have a knack for taking positions that his "allies" in Congress, in the state government and even in the environmental community find too extreme to support.

New Year's Resolution

We're beginning to think that Mark Udall has adopted a "Resolution a Day" strategy to win the election. Every day is New Year's day on Udall's calendar.

His anti-soldier, anti-Limbaugh resolution went nowhere. It doubtless got his campaign some more left wing money-it is no coincidence that Udall has been on the left coast raising money-but it made no friends in the military. It was doomed from the day he leaked that he would introduce it.

He was a Johnny Come Lately as a Rockies fan, but he made up for it by introducing a resolution congratulating the Rockies for making the World Series.

Now, he is proposing a resolution to honor the 50th anniversary of a satellite system that few have heard of-Landsat. There won't much controversy in that resolution. We predict that it will pass, which is more than we can say for much of Mark Udall's agenda.

If we could get Mark Udall to make a New Year's Resolution, it would be that he stop standing on the corner waving his arms wildly with these resolutions and ask his staff to do some real work.

Fighting the Good Fight

Mark Udall is using his position on the Armed Services Committee to try to prevent Northern Command from moving out of Cheyenne Mountain without Congressional approval. That is a good thing.

In an unusual juxtaposition, Wayne Allard is asleep while Ken Salazar and Mark Udall are protecting the national interest, and Colorado's interest. Normally, it is the other way around.

Once the Cheyenne Mountain Complex is abandoned, it will never be reoccupied. It will become a relic as system upgrades bypass it for a more vulnerable site a few miles away.

Further, once it is accepted that the site can be in a building, a new building can be built anywhere, and the function moved. Peterson AFB is so small that the next argument, and it will be a reasonable argument, will be that the building must be located to a more secure facility, not necessarily in Colorado.

History has a way of repeating itself. Schriver AFB was built on that justification. The "blue cube" satellite control facility in Sunnyvale, California was thought vulnerable because a freeway passed near it.

The Independent reports:

As the defense authorization was passed last week, U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., who is on the Armed Services Committee and critical of the NORAD relocation plan, said he would continue to monitor progress closely. Udall's office noted NorthCom's plan was initiated more than a year ago without Congress' approval.

Udall's trepidation was underscored by the findings of the Government Accountability Office in May. Inspectors located no documentation to support claims by NorthCom/NORAD's former commander, Navy Adm. Timothy Keating, that the transition would save millions of dollars annually.

The GAO probe also uncovered no paperwork showing how the mountain's operations would be affected. Moreover, security assessments were still ongoing — even though the move was well underway.

The defense authorization would bring the GAO back into the picture, requiring Gates to cooperate in order to obtain the $5 million.

More Troops for Fort Carson

In a move that isn't all that surprising, Fort Carson is to get one of the Army's six new brigade combat teams.

And what question did Mark Udall ask?

Udall said Army Assistant Secretary Keith Eastin assured him the decision to add soldiers to Fort Carson is unrelated to the military's controversial effort to expand its Pinon Canyon training site in southeastern Colorado, where the post's soldiers get some of their training.

"He said the addition of the brigade combat team was not predicated on the expansion of Pinon Canyon," Udall said.

We are guessing that if Pinon Canyon were a part of the deal, and it almost certainly is regardless of what he claims he was told, Mark Udall would have had to think twice about his pandering position. $500 million in new construction and $50 million a year is not an insignificant shot in the Colorado economy's arm.

Inconsistent Mark

You would think that someone like Mark Udall would be afraid, very afraid of weather modification schemes. They work by pumping various chemicals into the atmosphere in the hope of generating rain.

Those chemicals have to come down somewhere, and when they do, they pollute the area. Barium, one of the chemicals of choice, is poisonous when inhaled in at least one of its forms.

Mark Udall not only isn't afraid, he is sponsoring a bill to promote weather modification. Like most of his handiwork, it has gone nowhere. Saner heads, and that is only a relative term, have prevailed in congress.

There is a rumor (if there isn't, we are starting one) that Mark Udall intends his weather modification bill to spread barium in the more conservative parts of Colorado in the hope that if he doesn't win election in 2008, enough conservatives will have died off by 2014 that Bob Schaffer couldn't possibly win in a rematch.

We actually wrote this not because we are afraid of barium, or Udall's weather bill, but to demonstrate how easy it is for the environmentalist left to start irresponsible rumors and to make irresponsible claims about global warming. Fear mongering at its finest.

It is our laugh for the day. At least we are honest about what we are doing. If a liberal had written this, he wouldn't have had the integrity to admit that it was a joke.

Tancredo to Run for Senate - in 2010

USA Today is reporting that Tom Tancredo will make a major announcement tomorrow at 1 pm Colorado time. Their source is the AP, though we couldn't find the AP story.

Tancredo announced in October he wouldn't seek a sixth term in Congress but hinted he would consider running for the Senate after his presidential bid.

Colorado will have an open Senate seat next year when Republican Wayne Allard retires.

At least one left wing blog is already celebrating. We think the celebration is premature. Tancredo has stated that he is tired and wants to take some time off before taking on Salazar. (We wish we had a link for that, but we do not.)

The Denver Post confirms that Tancredo is leaving his Presidential quest and mentions nothing about a Senate run.

A Bleak Future

Today, the Rocky Mountain News has a guest editorial celebrating a vote by the Fort Collins city council opposing uranium mining in its vicinity. The goal of the activists isn't just to stop uranium mining near Fort Collins, it is to stop it everywhere:

We encourage other communities in Colorado to take a long and hard look when uranium mines are proposed in their areas...

On Dec. 4th, the city of Fort Collins made history by opposing this mine, but what it also did was help write a new history of Colorado. Instead of the history our generation inherited - one dotted with mines, endless pollution and endless Superfund clean-up costs - the next generation might inherit a cleaner, greener Colorado, one that protects both the economy and the environment.

We expect Mark Udall to jump on this bandwagon, not because it is good policy, but because he is reflexively anti-nuclear power.

No one in the environmental community, let alone Mark Udall, seems to realize that we will eventually outrun our ability to produce enough renewable power to meet our needs. Our population won't stop growing. If we want to break our dependence on fossil fuels, nuclear energy must have a place at the table.

If we, as a state and nation, cannot accept and act on that simple fact, our children and grandchildren will have a bleak future. Worse, it will be artificially and needlessly bleak. Doubtless there was a lot of back slapping and self congratulations in Fort Collins outside council chambers, but it was terribly misplaced.

Another Lie from Udall Spokesperson

Yesterday we highlighted a Grand Junction news story in which Boulder liberal Rep. Mark Udall's campaign ineffectively tried to spin legitimate criticisms against his record. Upon closer review, we also should have included this snippet:

"It is very surprising it's happening this early," said [Udall campaign manager Mike] Melanson. "It's the only place in the country -- we're the only Senate race where negative attack ads have gone up."

What about these Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ads attacking Republican candidates in New Hampshire, Minnesota, Maine, and Kentucky? If he's going to speak so authoritatively about "negative attack ads" nationwide, shouldn't Melanson figure out what his own party is doing first? Of course, he's aware of what's going on from the DSCC, you say.

Once more, Udall's spokesperson spouts an easily disprovable lie. What's going on here?

Effective Anti-Udall Ad Compelling Dems to Subsidize his Campaign?

From KKCO TV on Colorado's Western slope, word comes that an independent ad attacking Boulder liberal Rep. Mark Udall's sponsorship of a bill to open up offshore drilling in Cuba is making quite a splash:

Even though the 2008 election is eleven months away, the U.S. Senate race between U.S. Representative Mark Udall and former Representative Bob Schaffer has many across the Grand Valley talking. A lot of that is due in part to one political ad that is fueling the fire.

If you've been watching TV for the last few weeks, chances are you have probably seen the Cuban Hero ad. It calls U.S. Representative Mark Udall (D) Boulder a Cuban hero for sponsoring a bill that would allow U.S. compaines to explore drilling for oil off the coast of Cuba.

"What they're trying to portray here is the fact that Representative Udall is supporting offshore drilling off the coast of Cuba when we need to be looking at drilling here," said Kent Baughman, a Republican.

The ad claims Udall's fierce stance on protecting the Roan Plateau from drillers contradicts his desire to let American companies drill in Cuban waters. The Udall campaign team says that's not the case, and the area they are looking at is not environmentally sensitive.

"The legislation specifically states the same precautions must take place with American companies exploring these waters as they would if they were exploring in American waters," said Mike Melanson, Udall's Campaign Manager.

The Cuban bill was to open up an area for drilling - yes, with sensible precautions - but Udall took the extreme position of banning any drilling on the Roan under any conditions. This is an inconsistency his campaign spindoctors cannot hide.

Especially when they've been caught lying before on this very issue.

Now, according to the KKCO report, the Brer Rabbit spin is that the Cuban drilling line of attack is backfiring:

Udall's team says the negative ad is having the opposite effect on its campaign.

"We're certainly seeing an increase in our fundraising because of these commercials," said Melanson.

First of all, the collective judgment of the Boulder Democrat defenders on the effectiveness of the Cuban Hero ad should be questioned, since they've already fallen on their faces attempting to inject nonsensical charges of racism into the debate. The distraction didn't work.

Now, perhaps the Boulder Democrat is having to tap into more out-of-state funding precisely because the ads have been effective and the race is not where the Democrats want it to be. They know this race will be desperately close, if they can keep pouring money into Udall's campaign. It seems likely Udall is not looking at investments, but subsidies, something Democrats know very well.

We can check out the January campaign finance reports to gain more certainty.

When Udall Leaves Colorado, He is "Progressive"

When Mark Udall leaves Colorado, he is very open about just how far left he is. Yesterday, the Seattle Post Intelligencer had this comment:

In his Seattle stop, Mark Udall said his party has a "once in a generation opportunity" to again put a progressive stamp on government.

We're wondering if the guy doesn't know that his left coast comments get reported here.

We'll be checking with our editorial board to see if we should add this to our scoreboard. We would say we are leaning that way, but that would be leaning left, like Mark Udall.

US House Congratulates Rockies

We had to chuckle that as the Rockies made their epic run, winning 20 of 21 games, Mark Udall had nothing to say. It was as though he was in Washington DC and couldn't be troubled to notice something as mundane, as pedestrian as Rocktober in Major League Baseball.

We believe that it is correct to observe that once Mark Udall did take public notice, the Rockies never won another game. Some politicians are lucky, and some are not.

In an effort to make up for lost ground, Udall sponsored a bill in Congress to honor the Rockies after he found out that lawmakers from that other team's state had done the same for their team. Perhaps Udall's luck is changing. The Rocky Mountain News reports that Udall's bill passed on a voice vote.

Protest Against Udall

The Daily Camera is reporting that a group raising money for Mark Udall will be faced with a peaceful protest on Monday.

Shooting Fish in a Barrel

One of the Democrat strategies promoted by David Sirota is called land politics. It has been cynically used but not bought into by Colorado Democrats including Bill Ritter and Mark Udall.

Sirota wants an alliance between environmentalists, Democrats, and hunters / fishermen against Republicans. He wants Democrats to play down their traditional gun control stance and play up "hunting rights."

Bill Ritter so confused his position among voters that this author was told by registered Republicans living ten miles apart that they were voting for Ritter, one because he was for gun control, and one because he would protect hunters rights better than Bob Beauprez!

The Rocky Mountain News reported during the campaign:

Ritter says he would make recreational shooting improvements a priority if he is elected governor. He wants Colorado to take the lead in establishing more shooting ranges, beginning with a pilot program he proposes for the Arapaho-Roosevelt forests.

The words were good, but Ritter turned out to be a gun control governor.

Now Mark Udall is playing the land politics card with hunting in Rocky Mountain National Park. Well, not really hunting. It is killing elk with silenced guns and low velocity rounds.

Udall said he was glad park service managers said they might use sportsmen, but he was concerned the Park Service might give a higher priority to shooters from other federal or state agencies.

“I think if qualified sportsmen or sportswomen are willing to volunteer, they should be first in line,” Udall said.

If the Park Service did use volunteer cullers, it would not be like hunting. They could not take the meat or other trophies, and the work would be done under strict, controlled conditions.

It would be shooting fish in a barrel. These folks might call themselves hunters, but there would be no sport in the process, and no sportsmen involved. We're not sure Mark Udall knows the difference, but this is as close to land politics as he has come.

If Only I Could Write Like This

I am, as so many of you fellow sufferers know, a pedestrian writer, slow on the uptake, and prolix to the extreme.

Now, here's an example of good writing from the other side:

I'm quite fond of Barbara Boxer. Her ardent, sincere, and repeated failures to move liberal policies in the Senate - most recently the Energy Bill - suggest there was a time when liberals actually had power and could work through the policy process. Mike Lux tells me that was the case once, but it's not within my political experience.

Even if I can't write gud, I wanted you to know that I know what gud writin' is.

Looking More Closely at The Udall Commercial - Part 3

In Part 1, we talked about the way the anti - Schaffer Disappearing Act ad was produced and how cheaply and easy it was to produce but:

It's impressive for anyone who doesn't understand what is going on. The hard part is getting the photography. We're a bit suspicious of the photography, but who knows?

In Part 2, we began examining the photography:

The Roan Plateau segment just didn't look right. There is so much blue water and white snowcaps in their photograph that it looks pristine, beautiful, and, well . . . wet!

Cynics that we are, we suggested readers use Google Earth to look at the Roan Plateau for themselves. There is not a lot of water there. It is scrub land.

The next photo that we want to examine is the Pinon Canyon photo that appears about 17 seconds into the video. That photo was taken right at sun up. The orange is the color given to the land as the sun's rays go through the thickest part of the atmosphere. The shadows caused by the hills make the areas in shadow look more lush than they are.

No one seems to have thought of this when the photo was used, but anyone who uses the full screen mode on YouTube will see how unproductive and barren this land is. If more land is needed for maneuver training by the Army, it is hard to justify protecting this kind of land from that use. Pandering politicians like Ken Salazar and his brother John who claim otherwise are doing themselves and their own reputation a disservice.

Of Course, Mark Udall is not just a panderer, he is a liar who would sell out the nation's security for a few votes. He told the ranchers in the pinon canyon area that future wars would be against urban based terrorists and that the Army didn't need their land. Never mind that he is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and knows better.

15 Seconds into the commercial (it moves fast) is a photo of Bob Schaffer standing beside a building with a large plaque. Curious minds that might want to know where in Colorado that building and plaque might be will be disappointed to see that a trianglur shaped haze with two embedded rectangles has been produced by the animator to make it unreadable. It is funny to see how clear and sharp the photo is to the left of Schaffer's image and how fuzzy it is where the plaque is located.

The triangle shaped haze is a simple white triangle and two rectangles made translucent by the animator and placed in front of the building image. You can see where both rectangles extend outside the hypotenuse of the triangle. This part is very sloppy and cheaply done animation.

The Washington based producers of this deceptive piece of animation couldn't be troubled to find a photo of a Colorado building and weren't honest enough to let the viewer see that. Going out on a limb, we would go so far as to suggest that this building might be located in Alexandria, Virginia, given the unusually large size of the brick and the round object at the top of the photo. In Colorado, brick buildings are relatively scarce due to the easy availability of quarried building materials. We've never seen a building built with oversized brick.

All in all, we think this commercial is so poorly thought out and executed that it will do Mark Udall much more damage than it will ever do to Bob Schaffer. We actually think Bob Schaffer's campaign should be promoting it!

Big Blue Lie Machine In Action

Of the 500 or so YouTube views of the new Democrat ad against Bob Schaffer, we're responsible for at least 25.

The Roan Plateau segment just didn't look right. There is so much blue water and white snowcaps in their photograph that it looks pristine, beautiful, and, well . . . wet!

Most of western Colorado simply doesn't look like that most of the time. It is arid, with little in the way of trees because there isn't much moisture to support them. It is no accident that the Bureau of Land Management owns places like the Roan Plateau. When the west was settled, no one else wanted them because they were too dry to support even dry land farming.

Pull up Google Earth and enter "Roan Plateau." Compare what Google Earth shows to what this new commercial shows. You will see that it is not the idyllic place that the Big Blue Lie Machine and the Sierra Club would have you believe.

It is hard to believe that anyone thinks Mark Udall can expect to be elected when, in this internet era, it is so easy to chase down and expose the lies being told by him and for him.

Bad Idea Near Death

It looks as though the Congress won't buy into Mark Udall's 20% or even 15% renewable energy mandate.

The Denver Post is up in arms about it, but we think that they are wrong. Just because Colorado might have an abundance of potential renewable energy sources doesn't mean that every state has them.

We wouldn't be all that happy if Congress passed a law that said that we had to get 15% of our fresh water from ocean desalinization. California, on the other hand, might be quite happy with such a law for obvious reasons.

We (including the Denver Post) need to respect other states and not try to make Colorado's energy shoe fit them if it won't fit.

Production Values Hide Udall's Lack of Values

The Rocky Mountain News is reporting that the DSCC has created a new "disappearing Act" YouTube ad.

The cost of producing things like this is so low that given the proper software, one person could do this in an afternoon, though it might take longer to render. It appears to have been done on something like Lightwave 9. There isn't even all that much animation in it, mostly making the camera move. It is a matter of plopping in a background, creating two foreground objects and making one disappear. They did that three times in 15 seconds. The intro is the reverse.

It's impressive for anyone who doesn't understand what is going on. The hard part is getting the photography. We're a bit suspicious of the photography, but who knows?

Expect to see a lot of this kind of thing from now on in this election and all the ones to come.

As to its political value, we would ask just one question: So?

This ad is more a reflection of Mark Udall's willingness to pander to special interests when it comes to national security issues (oil and gas production / military readiness) and his willingness to buy votes with SCHIP than it is a reflection on Schaffer. Schaffer doesn't need to go public on the issues for months.

This ad could be parodied in a way that would make Mark Udall look bad. It isn't well thought out.

What a Liberal Thinks About the Poll

Yesterday, Ben wrote about the strange write up in Colorado Confidential of the latest poll. He wasn't the only one who noticed the Colorado Confidential spin:

What is strange to me about the poll is not the result -- it is very much what we have seen in every Colorado poll, and the race is definitely a toss-up, contrary to most people's expectations -- but the way the group that conducted it is spinning the results, as the internals reported insist on Udall's strength among his base and his appeal to moderates and Republicans, as well as on Shaffer's weakness among his base. Reading the description, one could believe that Udall was found to lead by 10%! In any case, the bottom line is that Colorado is tight.

Let this serve as a reminder. Spinning so wildly is the same as lying. We've decided to add a new label: "Colorado Confidential Caught Lying." It's not quite the same as the Big Blue Lie Machine, but a cog in that machine.

It Takes One's Breath Away

The level of naivete demonstrated by people who manage to become editors of newspapers is sometimes breathtaking. The editor of the Vail Trail has an amazing editorial promoting the loon in the attic's Department of Peace and regretting that Mark Udall lacked the courage to continue to support it.

How is that people — most of whom grow up with parents admonishing them daily to behave with peace and civility — can embrace messages that snicker at the notion of peace on a wider scale? Most people will live their entire lives without engaging in murder or acts of war and be happy for it. Yet when someone comes along and suggests more vigorous pursuit of this thing called “peace,” they are pilloried for it.

Not by everyone, I should hasten to add. But in this polarized and partisan world we live in, the ones yelling from the fringes are doing a good job of capturing our ear through the mainstream media. So when someone like Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich — who’s on his second go-around running for president — proposes a “Department of Peace” for the U.S., he is subject to the snarky attacks of those who believe the only way to demonstrate patriotism (or, at least, the best way) is to kill people, blow things up.

And when someone like Colorado Rep. Mark Udall — who is running for the U.S. Senate — is attacked (actually, the term now is “Swiftboated”) by a so-called 527 group for once supporting said Department of Peace, he is also ridiculed, painted as a pacifist who’s now willing to hold open the door for terrorists. (Sad to note here that Udall has withdrawn his support of the idea, no doubt a political calculation to fend of wussy-branding from his GOP rival.)

This retired Army Officer can only point to history. 1) Would a "Department of Peace" have kept the WWI Germans from declaring unrestricted Submarine warfare or discouraged the sending of the Zimmerman Note? 2) It seems that Chamberlain pursued peace with Hitler as hard as a politician could, and that worked, right? 3) Stalin thought he could buy peace with Hitler, too. 4) December 7th, the day that will live in infamy just passed, and a Department of Peace would have precluded that? 5) It seems that the North Koreans marched across the border without provocation or notice, supported by both the Russians and the Chinese. 6) The Vietnam war was preventable short of surrender-heck we had a war and still surrendered.

7) The Cold War ended not because we disarmed, but because we rearmed and rebuilt our armed forces under Reagan and the Soviet Union couldn't keep up. 8) Since Bin Laden's goal is a peaceful world wide caliphate where non Muslims convert or die, what would a Department of Peace promote but the date and time of mass surrender and conversion?

If Alex Miller is unhappy because people are snarky toward politicians like Mark Udall who promote, even temporarily, a Department of Peace, it might be because there are so many times in history where the price of peace would have been surrender and the loss of our freedom, a price many think a bit too high.

Alex Miller, and Mark Udall, we understand that there is a sale on prayer rugs in Vail this weekend. Maybe you can get your names embroidered on either end. Have you thought about how good your wives will look in burkhas? Oh, was that snarky? Maybe there is a reason. Snarky people intend to keep their freedom.

Spin on Lefty Poll Can't Get Past Fact that Colorado Senate Race is Toss-Up

Need a sign of the times for the U.S. Senate campaign for Boulder liberal Rep. Mark Udall? The reliably Left-leaning Colorado Confidential site today is touting a new poll conducted by Research for Change, Inc., run by a "lifelong Democrat" who "provides research and strategy for progressive causes and political campaigns." (Not that these easily discoverable facts are mentioned in the story.)

The big news? Udall leads Republican Bob Schaffer among women and independent voters. Wow, that's different. What about the bigger picture?:

A new survey of likely Colorado voters shows Democrat Mark Udall, candidate for U.S. Senate, with a 2-percentage point lead over his Republican opponent, Bob Schaffer.

"The Schaffer people would call it a virtual tie, and the Udall people would call it a slim lead," said Mark Mehringer, of Research for Change, Inc., the group that conducted the poll.

What crafty advocacy journalism in the story's lead. Do the poll results actually show "a virtual tie" or "a slim lead"? Rather than sharing what can be determined as an objective fact, the writer casually assigns differing opinions to the two campaigns via the quote of a Left-liberal pollster. The inability to distinguish fact from opinion, a tenet in the church of relativism, appears to have crippled the Left's capacity for any basic, honest analysis.

To arbitrate the question, the story could have included the standard disclaimer about the survey's statistical margin of error, but failed to do so. Nevertheless, it's safe to assume that any sample of 500 Colorado voters yields a margin of error somewhat greater than 2 percentage points. Nor does the story give the actual percentages (Is it 42 to 40? 47 to 45? 36 to 34?).

But perhaps we trifle over small things. It's a hard to say, though, as none of the details of the alleged poll's cross-tabs are available. Readers are, however, spoon-fed selective pieces of data such as:

Udall holds a 17 percentage point lead in his own congressional district. But more curiously, Udall is only trailing Schaffer by 2 percentage points in Tancredo's heavily Republican sixth district.

No word on how big Schaffer's lead might be in his own former congressional district. Perhaps that factoid would throw a wrench into the message Colorado Confidential is trying to push.

But ultimately, that message is weak, as even the Left's propaganda machine can't twist reality enough to change the clear conventional wisdom that next year's U.S. Senate race is currently a Toss-Up. Back in April, Colorado Confidential's Jason Bane was busy touting the then-prevailing analysis that "Udall will enter the general election as the favorite." The trend of eight months in this campaign has really got the Left busy lowering its once high expectations for their favorite liberal son from Boulder.

So let's recap: A poll commissioned by Left wing groups finds that their once sureshot candidate is in a statistical dead heat and can only spin it that he still leads among groups in which he has already been leading. But no context of previous polls in the Schaffer-Udall race.

Nice try, Colorado Confidential. Keep lowering the expectations for Udall. But it's hard to hide the past.

We're Begging For It

This may belong on the Ritter Watch blog. Our friends at Colorado Confidential have discovered that Colorado is one of the five most hospitable jurisdictions in the world for oil and gas exploration. Their comment:

It turns out there's a reason that Colorado is such a hotbed of oil and gas activity: We're begging for it.

The report they quote is here:

Essentially, this survey was designed to determine in which jurisdictions public policy factors, such as taxation and regulation, and the business environment more generally, constitute significant barriers to investment in the upstream petroleum industry...

It seems odd that they should be worried. The Democrats are working overtime, from Mark Udall in Congress to Bill Ritter and the legislature to make Colorado as inhospitable to business as possible. Give them two more years and they will not only chase the oil and gas industry out of state, they will chase everything else out.

They and Hillary are alike: She has more ideas than the country can afford. They and Hillary are different in that Hillary admits her addiction to big government, but they don't seem smart enough to have figured it out.

Real Latino Reaction to "The Cuban Hero Award"

A few days ago we said this:

If the Denver Post, itself a liberal bastion, says that a political ad is fully truthful, why would a blogger go out of his way to title a post "Republican Attack Ad Backfires on Senate Candidate?

"Those latinos who know Castro best, Cuban refugees, are stalwart Republicans and will cheer on this ad. If there is a Step and Fetch It in this ad, it is an accurate characterization of Castro's own propaganda machine, not the latino culture.

Well, our view has been validated by the folks running a Cuban orientated blog station in Denver. Note the link to the Cuban Hero Award. This makes the Big Blue Lie Machine look silly. Take a few minutes to listen to the music.

The Alternate Universe That Is Boulder

Does anyone recall the Mark Udall quote about Boulder County being:

“home base for me. This is the touchstone; this is where I take my inspiration.”

We have found a new Boulder based blog that is part of the alternate universe that is Boulder. It is Rant from Boulder and Bellview. It is an entertaining read and we learn so much. We would have never guessed that Karl Rove was so effective that:

They have had years to paint Senator Clinton as a looney liberal. She isn't. She is right of center just like her husband. but the truth never got in the way during a campaign cycle.

The implications of this revelation are enormous! Hillary is a part of the vast right wing conspiracy and yet Karl Rove has painted her as a looney liberal!

That kind of thinking is what makes Boulder politicians look so far out of touch with reality:

Maybe it is true, in this alternate reality, that Mark Udall didn't really sponsor the Department of Peace. It was really to be a top secret renewable energy project that would have sent Saudia Arabia back to the era of scimitars and horses.

Running from his own History

It is reported in an essay titled "In Search of True Leadership" at PlagiarismNowAction that Mark Udall "wishes" he had never lent his name to the effort by the loon in the attic to establish a Department of Peace.

We wonder what other far left schemes he "wishes" he had never lent his name to.

Washington Politics Never Simple

The Denver Post is reporting that the Democrats are playing games in the Senate in an effort to make Mark Udall look good to the Western Slope, or at least some on the Western Slope.

The House removed the one year moratorium prohibiting drilling on the Roan Plateau for reasons that aren't obvious considering that the Democrats clearly had the votes to keep it in the bill.

Now, Ken Salazar is riding to the rescue???

The fight over the Roan now shifts to the Senate, where Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., says he will seek a one-year moratorium on Roan drilling. But his effort is unlikely to happen until after the new year.

Meanwhile, a political slugfest erupted Wednesday over questions about the 3,500-foot mesa in northwestern Colorado and the motivations for protecting it.

Sen. Wayne Allard, a Loveland Republican who supports energy development on the Roan, said House and Senate Democrats have an ulterior motive in seeking the one-year drilling moratorium.

Democratic leaders, Allard said, want to give Rep. Mark Udall of Eldorado Springs credit for protecting the state's Western Slope. Udall, who is running for the retiring Allard's seat, co-wrote with Rep. John Salazar, a Manassa Democrat, the provision on Roan drilling that passed in an earlier House bill. It was stripped this week from the compromise version. The plateau sits in Salazar's district.

"This boils down to the Senate race, frankly," Allard said. "Democratic leadership is convinced that this is going to be an important issue in the Senate race in Colorado."

What gives?

Uh-Oh--Udall Losing Image Battle

The liberals are circling the wagons:

Two of Colorado’s top political analysts agree that without quick and proper responses, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall risks getting stereotyped the way Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry got tarred by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

That air of Udall's election inevitability is quickly dissipating . . .

How Serious is Brenner?

We should know shortly. DailyKos is promising:

On Monday, we'll examine how a primary challenge may affect DSCC/coordinated campaign money to Udall's camp and the effect of the left wing piling on Udall's already lackluster defense against attacks from the right.

Schaffer v Benner?

In what might be a cynical ploy to make Mark Udall look like the moderate (chuckle) he can no way claim to be, a far, far left wing member of the state Democrat executive committee is making noises about entering the primary against Udall.

The name is Mark Benner, and he would supposedly run against Udall on an impeachment platform, a cut and run platform, and a drive the health care system into the ground platform.

Yes, we admit that this guy makes Mark Udall look a little less wild-eyed in comparison, but so would Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro (with whom Udall had a recent photo - op and now we know why).

Where do the Democrats find these loons? Oh, we forgot, the loon in the attic is coming to Denver this summer and he will want a bird of that feather around to roost next to. Mark Udall, who usually flocks with the Ohio loon will be busy helping push Hillary over the line (or off the cliff, as the case may be).

So Many Lies, So Little Time

If the Denver Post, itself a liberal bastion, says that a political ad is fully truthful, why would a blogger go out of his way to title a post "Republican Attack Ad Backfires on Senate Candidate?"

Those latinos who know Castro best, Cuban refugees, are stalwart Republicans and will cheer on this ad. If there is a Step and Fetch It in this ad, it is an accurate characterization of Castro's own propaganda machine, not the latino culture.

This post is just another lie at a time when we have been legitimately pointing out elsewhere that the Big Blue Lie Machine is working at full power here in Colorado.

It seems that the Democrat party and its minions are becoming desperate out of fear that they won't realize the big Senate gains they confidently predicted only a few months ago.

Democrats would be well to consider that our democracy is endangered when they make the truth a regular victim of their politics.

Can You Spot The Lies?

We've had some time to review an interview that Mark Udall (D-MoveOn) gave to Jonathan Singer, named by Wikipedia as the first major left wing blogger.

This interview again shows Mark Udall in the process of telling lies. Rather than spoil the fun, we encourage readers to look at the interview and do your own forensic investigation. What statements that Udall has made to Singer will we tag as lies? For that matter, Singer told a whopper in his introduction. Can you tag that one, too?

This interview is so long that we will either dismantle it on another blog more suited for long posts, or do it in parts here. Meanwhile, have fun playing detective.

They Call The Wind Maria

In the enthusiasm over the poll results, our fellow bloggers appear to have missed this quote from Rothenberg:

Now, state voters will have a clear choice between liberal Cong. Mark Udall (D) and conservative former congressman Bob Schaffer (R). Neither man is running from party or ideological labels, but each believes he fits the state better.

Actually, Mark Udall is moving farther left by choosing to "blog" on MoveOn.org.

Meanwhile, we update our scoreboard:

The Mark Udall is not a moderate scoreboard:
extremist 2
reliably left wing 7
liberal 26
moderate 0
conservative (chuckle)

We started this scoreboard when we noticed that liberal blogs and the msm were routinely calling Mark Udall a "liberal," "reliably left wing," and even "extremist." We do not count comments from conservative blogs and we didn't count a comment on a liberal show by a conservative politician. Those who would like to check our methodology can follow the bread crumbs backwards.

Udall Spokesman Says Ad is False, Denver Post Verifies Ad is True

As documented by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) blog, the spokesman for Boulder liberal Rep. Mark Udall (the would-be Senator from DailyKos) is not telling the truth. The dispute is over an ad posted by an independent group that highlights Udall's sponsorship of a bill to open offshore Cuba to the drills of American oil companies:



From NRSC:

The Denver Post says the ad is true:

Title: Cuban Hero Award

Sponsor: Common Sense Issues, Inc.

Type: Television

Message: Democratic senate candidate Mark Udall has introduced a bill that would allow American companies to drill for oil in environmentally-sensitive waters controlled by the Cuban government, potentially helping the economy of an American enemy.

Grade: True

Yet, Mark Udall continues to claim that the ad is false:

Udall campaign spokesman Mike Melanson called both ads false and misleading. (Rocky Mountain News, 12/4/2007)

Why is Mark Udall trying to mislead the people of Colorado?

An excellent question. Instead of explaining or justifying Udall's leading support behind this issue, his spokesman tries to deny a fact that can easily be verified. What's going on here?

On Kittens and Grooming

When a kitten is taken from its mother before it learns to groom itself, it never learns to groom itself.

Mark Udall is in need of a comb. This isn't the first time we made that observation. It is said that you dress for the job you want. Our garbage men show up with combed hair more often than Mark Udall does, and they only come once a week.

Today's fashion statement picture was in the Grand Junction Sentinel.

The accompanying article has an interesting quote in it that is very likely another lie from the Mark Udall camp:

“This is solely about bolstering the base,” [ Mike ] Melanson said. “This is indicative of what we’ve been seeing in our research that Bob Schaffer has been having problems in his own base and this is about trying to scare Republicans back into the fold.”

Udall's minions are telling the left wing blogosphere in response to the latest poll showing a toss-up that their internal polls always showed the race to be close. Ok, Melanson, which is it? It reminds one of Mark Udall's Cornfusion, where he told three different audiences what they wanted to hear about corn ethanol.

Mark Udall (or an insider think-alike) to blog on DailyKos

Not only can Mark Udall, (D-DailyKos) not be truthfull, he is authorizing a Kos insider to blog on Kos under his name and lie for him. This was buried in the comments on a December 4th post on Kos (6th & 7th comments down):

Things look as good as they ever will (0 / 0)
Mark makes the point to Jonathan Singer well. The largest majority pulled off by a Democrat in a statewide federal race in Colorado in 30 years was Ken Salazar by 1.8 points.
With kind deference to Kos, there is no rational basis for any assumption that this will be an easy pick-up.
by Mark Udall on Tue Dec 04, 2007 at 11:40:57 AM PST
[ Parent ]
Yikes! That was me, not Mark. (0 / 0)
I probably gave something away, but we're preparing to do some diaries with Mark on Kos in the near future and I was logged in as him.
So for the purposes of the above comment that was me not Mark. :-)
by Janus on Tue Dec 04, 2007 at 11:43:12 AM PST
[ Parent ]

Henceforth this blogger will refer to Mark Udall as the would be Senator from DailyKos. There isn't a soul who would believe that Udall can, or even wants to separate himself from the far left, let alone pretend that he is a moderate.

Another Day, Another Udall Lie?

In what has probably always been a bad habit, but is just now coming to light, Mark Udall may have told another in a long string of lies.

The language that he and John Salazar inserted into the House bill to ensure that the public would never benefit from the immense gas deposits below the Roan Plateau was removed from the bill when it went to conference.

Udall said Senate lawmakers did not want the language in the bill. But Steve Wymer, spokesman for Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., said that House Democratic leaders chose not to include it.

Given Mark Udall's habit of lying to the public, we would guess that Wayne Allard was correct. If we can find verification, we will note it elsewhere.

Schaffer Has Common Sense, Udall Doesn't

We had to laugh at this story on the ownership of domain names in the Rocky Mountain News. It appears that Bob Schaffer has a monopoly on "Common Sense."

There is more humor here. Last year, Tim Gill and his gang of four swamped the Colorado political scene with millions of dollars and hid behind multiple shadowy and intentionally misleading names.

The Mark Udall Democrats are now complaining about a few harmless ads being run by Patrick Davis? This isn't the pot calling the kettle black, it is a giant leaking oil storage tank calling the kettle black. The next time you folks want to clean up the environment, start with your own back yard.

We can't wait until Colorado Confidential, ColoradoPols, and PlagiarismNowAction take up the fight. We won't hold our breath as they are shadowy groups, themselves, but are sorely lacking in ethics and common sense, so, who knows?

"Cuban Hero" Takes Another Look at Udall's Inconsistent Energy Policy

You may want to check out the new website Cuban Hero, which highlights Boulder liberal Rep. Mark Udall's bill to open offshore Cuba to American oil company drilling. Glad to see someone else has picked up on an issue previously highlighted at Schaffer v Udall here and here.

Catching Up With Democrat Lies - There are so many

We were busily working on another project this weekend and now find that we have fifty Google alerts to go through for our various blogs. This is a partial catch-up post.

One of the accidental themes of this blog is now the willingness of liberals to lie for their "cause," and be nasty or sometimes stupid about it. While David Sirota's current lie is about the political mess Bill Ritter has created for himself and doesn't mention Mark Udall at all, it illustrates the depths that liberals sink to when they are in power to stay in power. John Andrews takes Sirota to task for his latest lie, but is too polite to actually call Sirota a liar:

This weekend, in one of his most overheated blog posts yet -- which is saying something for a commentator who operates close to Fahrenheit 451 at all times -- Sirota hit a new high in slicing and dicing the plain facts.

Gentleman Bob Beauprez obviously took great pleasure in observing that John Murtha has decided that the "surge" is working after all. While he won't call Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, and Harry Reid political liars intent on damaging our country for political gain, we will.

From Harry Reid’s “this war is lost” and Pelosi’s “The escalation (Surge) has failed to produce the intended results” to Clinton’s September rebuke of Gen. Petraeus (”The reports that you provide to us really require the willing suspension of disbelief”), the Democrats have invested their future in failure by America’s finest.

We would be remiss not to note that this weekend Bill Ritter got accused of being either a liar or terminally stupid (our words, not the Denver Post's).

Either Gov. Bill Ritter knowingly deceived Coloradans and sold them a bill of goods with his executive order on labor unions, or he doesn't understand the law.

While we were gone, another obvious Mark Udall lie (hopefully it was a lie) surfaced regarding his sponsoring a peace department bill at the urging of high school students. It reminded us of Jimmy Carter's famous claim (hopefully it was a lie) during the 1980 Carter-Reagan debate as related by Wikipedia:

[ Ronald ] Reagan would have none of it, and it came as no surprise, then, when the candidates repeatedly clashed over the nuclear weapons issue in their debate. But it was Carter's reference to his consultation with 12 year old daughter Amy concerning nuclear weapons policy that became the focus of post-debate analysis and late-night television jokes.

Rasmussen Results Show Senate Race as Dead Heat: Schaffer 42, Udall 41

The highly reputable Rasmussen polling firm has released its latest round of campaign survey results, and found next year's Colorado U.S. Senate race to be a dead heat:

Former Congressman Bob Schaffer (R) and Congressman Mark Udall (D)—vying for the open seat vacated by retiring Senator Wayne Allard, a Republican—are virtually tied when likely Colorado voters consider their state’s 2008 Senate election. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds Schaffer with 42% of the vote while Udall earns 41%.

In late August, Udall had a slight lead of 45-40 (Hill Consultants). In early October, Colorado Democrat pollster Floyd Ciruli showed the race in a dead heat of 36-35, with a large number of undecideds. One month ago, Roll Call and Survey USA charted Udall with a 48-41 advantage.

A few weeks ago, we picked up on the slow-moving trend of this race toward the Republican candidate. Now the growing collection of polling data from diverse sources over the past few months is available to give political observers the reasonable assessment that Colorado's Senate race going into 2008 is indeed a Toss-Up. Ladies and gentlemen, this contest is up for grabs.

Udall Supported Department of Peace Idea at Urging of High Schoolers

Just about the only thing more absurd than Boulder liberal Rep. Mark Udall's one-time co-sponsorship of a bill to create a Cabinet-level "Department of Peace" is the reason he gave on the House floor for doing so:

I joined as a cosponsor of a similar bill in the 107th Congress. That bill was introduced in July 2001, a year after the observance of UNESCO's International Year for the Culture of Peace in 2000 and in the context of a UNESCO resolution declaring an International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children 2001-2010.

I cosponsored H.R. 2459 in the spirit of these events and at the urging of a very persuasive group of young high school students from my district because I wanted to underline the symbolic importance of promoting justice and democratic principles to expand human rights and developing policies that promote the peaceful resolution of conflict....[Emphasis added]

What other ideas has Udall taken from adolescents and tried to turn into legislation? Dare we even ask? Not exactly the hotbed of great public policy proposals. Just one more reason in a litany to be leery of Udall's candidacy for the U.S. Senate.

Common Sense Issues Ad Highlights Udall's Support for Department of Peace

The Denver Post reports that a third-party group titled "Common Sense Issues" is publicizing information about Boulder liberal Rep. Mark Udall that was highlighted months ago here at Schaffer v Udall. Namely, that Udall was a co-sponsor of left-wing Rep. Dennis Kucinich's idea to establish a "Department of Peace" in the U.S. government, for an $8 billion-a-year price tag (quote from earlier report):

The secretary of the Department of Peace also would develop a peace education curriculum to include the civil rights movement in the United States, how peace agreements have worked to stop conflict and to work with teachers to help students work on peace through reflection and conflict resolutions.

A highlight of that would be a Peace Academy, which would provide a four-year course of instruction in peace education, after which graduates would be required to serve five years in public service in domestic or international nonviolent conflict resolution programs...

The Post story tells us about the work of "Common Sense Issues":

Though the new ad describes the Department of Peace as Udall's idea, the Colorado congressman was actually one of 44 co-sponsors of a bill in 2001 written by Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, a move Udall's campaign said he now regrets. Udall removed his support of the bill when it was reintroduced two years later, according to Udall campaign manager Mike Melanson.

"The devil's in the details, and when you look at the legislation more carefully, there were certainly some things in there that Mark wasn't comfortable with," Melanson said.

So Udall decided to sponsor a far-out proposal like the Department of Peace without reading the "details" first? Are Coloradans seriously supposed to believe that the Boulder liberal candidate is that lazy or incompetent? From his campaign's point of view, I guess it's better than being pegged with the fact that he actually believes in a taxpayer-subsidized national Peace Academy.

My guess is that this ad will be effective because it brings attention to a very real-to-life example from Udall's Congressional record showing just how out of touch he is both with international political realities and mainstream Coloradans.

Rothenberg: Schaffer-Udall Race Offers Colorado Voters "Clear Choice"

The latest flyover view of Colorado's upcoming U.S. Senate race between Bob Schaffer and Boulder liberal Mark Udall, via the Rothenberg Political Report:

Democrats are on the move in Colorado, but this cycle’s open Senate seat race isn’t going to be as easy as some of the early prognosticating indicated. With or without Sen. Wayne Allard (R) in the race, this would have been a top Democratic opportunity.

Now, state voters will have a clear choice between liberal Cong. Mark Udall (D) and conservative former congressman Bob Schaffer (R). Neither man is running from party or ideological labels, but each believes he fits the state better.

While Democrats are battling the storyline that this open seat is a done deal, Schaffer is trying to convince potential donors and supporters that this is a winnable race in the face of the current national environment.

Those willing to dish out the dough for a subscription can also follow the link to subscribe to the full report, or you can just stay tuned to Schaffer v Udall for the view from the ground.

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

Kos is at it again.

Then again, the GOP's entire campaign against Mark Udall is that he's a "liberal"...

He goes on, admittedly tongue in cheek:

Today, the liberalist of liberal liberals, Tom Udall (who is liberal), is scheduled to be feted at a liberal party with the liberalist of liberal Democrats in liberal San Francisco, a city full of liberals. Considering liberal Mark Udall is already too liberal for Colorado victories, it seems fitting.

The event of liberals, liberally organized by ultra liberal blogger Markos Moulitsas, a liberal, of the really, really, really liberal blog 'Daily Kos', is liberally scheduled to take place at a liberal bar in liberal San Francisco, a city full of liberals.

The point that he is missing is that we here in Colorado hardly have to try to tag Mark Udall as a liberal. Our friends in the msm and the left leaning blogs do it regularly for us. See our scoreboard at the right. We are going to make a point in not counting this clever little post because we already have enough posts and msm mentions to make a very solid statement as to how far left the left thinks Mark Udall really is.

Kos, you are welcome to follow the bread crumbs that you will find to the right to check our methodology. We've even found your blog calling him a liberal, but we notice that you have stopped, not because he has stopped being a liberal, but because of the baggage that word carries.

Lying Liberal Lawyers For Udall

Since we have remarked so often that Mark Udall is a stranger to the truth, it shouldn't be a surprise that he would have others lying for him.

Today, Dominant Reality put out this gem:

Colorado - Mark Udall still looks like a shoe in to defeat Bob Schaffer for Wayne Allard's open seat. Shaffer's campaign has been worse then anyone anticipated and is bringing on memories of Bob Beauprez' wonderful 2006 loss in the Colorado Governor's race.

We assumed this guy was from out of state and clueless. It turns out that he is a Boulder Lawyer, and therefore, by definition, both clueless and a liar. He should have named his blog "Escape From Reality." Better yet, he might have considered "Lewyers caint spel, wee uz spelck"

OK, maybe we got carried away, but when the rest of the Democrat world is unhappy that Bob Schaffer isn't campaigning enough that they know and can trash his positions, it seems silly to see a comment that his campaign is "worse then anyone anticipated."

(Full disclosure: We spent the day and most of the last week dueling with the Colorado Supreme Court over whether a plain, ordinary non-lawyer would have input into a group dominated by lawyers that is making up the law as they go, literally. Maybe we were a bit hard on this Boulder Lawyer. Nahhh. )

Cutting Off Our Nose

Remember the bill that Mark Udall amended to prohibit drilling on the Roan Plateau? Supposedly it was because the Roan was a unique place.

It turns out that the bill does more:

The Roan Plateau amendment isn’t the only reason oil and gas producers are bitter. One provision within the energy bill would close down seven multi-agency offices in the West that were created to facilitate coordination between the BLM and other agencies and speed up the permitting process.

That provision makes Mark Udall, Diana DeGette, Ed Perlmutter and John Salazar into bald faced liars. They aren't interested in preventing gas production in just the scenic areas in the west. They want to ensure that it doesn't happen anywhere.

Charges Flying in 2CD

It looks like Jared Polis took money from five folks who contributed to the Swift Boat political campaign in 2004. Most people wouldn't care, but in Boulder the reaction is "Gaaassp."

Joan Fitz-Gerald is making as much hay as possible, or so reports the Boulder Daily Camera.

"How does Jared even know these people, who traditionally give only to Republicans?" [ Fitz Gerald campaign manager Mary Alice ] Mandarich said of the donors.

Gaaasp!

The Denver Post reports that the Polis campaign has a comeback:

Polis' campaign manager, Wanda James, countered that Fitz-Gerald's campaign looks more and more like "a front for the oil and gas industry."

She said Fitz-Gerald has taken more than $24,000 from Excel employees.

Gaaassp! Gaaassp!

Singin' & Swingin'

This will be an unusual addition to our scoreboard because two far left wing bloggers are hosting a "Drinks With Mark Udall" event. Markos from Daily Kos simply does not hobnob with run of the mill liberals. They must believe that Mark Udall is at least "reliably left wing" or they wouldn't bother to show up, let alone host the event. We will increment that counter by two on our scoreboard. (We strongly considered incrementing the extremist counter, given how far left Kos is.)

The Mark Udall is not a moderate scoreboard:
extremist 2
reliably left wing 7
liberal 25
moderate 0
conservative (chuckle)

We started this scoreboard when we noticed that liberal blogs and the msm were routinely calling Mark Udall a "liberal," "reliably left wing," and even "extremist." We do not count comments from conservative blogs and we didn't count a comment on a liberal show by a conservative politician. Those who would like to check our methodology can follow the bread crumbs backwards.

Just Wondering About Gun Rights

Today's Rocky Mountain News has an excellent editorial on gun rights. It should be excellent, as it was written by one of the attorneys involved in getting the issue before the US Supreme Court.

Traditionally, left wing politicians, and Mark Udall has been called that more than once by his allies in the press and the blogosphere, have been opposed to gun rights. Of late, the left has tried to finesse the issue by claiming to be in favor of "hunter's rights."

If nothing else, this Supreme Court case will force Mark Udall to clarify his position on gun rights. It remains to be seen if he will be telling his patrons and potential constituents that he would vote to confirm judges who would restrict gun rights, or if he actually favors allowing the public to protect itself by owning guns.

My Old Kentucky Home

Another liberal blogger, politicslug has called Mark Udall a liberal.

This leaves the liberal Rep. Mark Udall ...

The Mark Udall is not a moderate scoreboard:
extremist 2
reliably left wing 5
liberal 25
moderate 0
conservative (chuckle)

We started this scoreboard when we noticed that liberal blogs and the msm were routinely calling Mark Udall a "liberal," "reliably left wing," and even "extremist." We do not count comments from conservative blogs and we didn't count a comment on a liberal show by a conservative politician. Those who would like to check our methodology can follow the bread crumbs backwards

So, Who Will Replace Udall?

Firedoglake is about as far left wing (not counting Kos, HP, and others) as you can find. Mark Udall is leaving a liberal base in Boulder. It is easy to get a sense of how far left Udall is by watching the comments from the left on who will replace him.

Fitz-Gerald is seen as the inside the beltway candidate, which isn't good as Rahm Emanuel sold out the really far left when he helped "reactionary" Democrats win. She has no issues on her site (also bad).

You may recall that last month Establishment insiders held a little training session for favored candidates in Chicago, conducted by Christine Pelosi, who will be visiting with us at FDL later today. Most of the candidates who were invited have no primary opponents and they are busy battling Republicans. A few– one of whom was Joan Fitz-Gerlad– have very serious primaries and this caused some alarm. Was this the dreaded anti-grassroots DCCC interference, the kind of interference that saddled us with a Congress that can’t get much done because of so many reactionaries, some of whom were unscrupulously pushed by Rahm Emanuel last year?

Read only about half of the post. The author wandered away from his original subject and into immigration, which, while interesting, wasn't all that enlightening.

Today's Fun Quiz

One of the problems with today's political environment is the willingness of agenda driven zealots to lie in obvious ways to advance their cause.

This is a site that follows the machinations of Mark Udall in his quest to be US Senator. Udall has lied to advance his cause so often that we created a label for it: Udall as a liar. That label has been appended to this post so that readers can follow it if they care to.

That is not really the fun quiz. Instead, go to yesterday's Aspen Daily News Enviros up pressure on Ritter over the Roan and see if you can find two obvious lies told by the environmentalist extremists in that article.

If you don't find the lies, check out Ritter Watch for the answers.

Annoy an environmentalist today, THINK.

Your Would-Be Senator Embraces Surrender

Hiding Behind Lies and Half-Truth, Mark Udall Defends Attempt To Snatch Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory

From Mark Udall's website, his statement accompanying his vote in favor of a $50 billion supplemental that commanded a strict timeline for withdrawl from Iraq.

"This bill is the opposite of a blank check for the president. The funds it will provide are those that will be needed to move toward an immediate and orderly redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq.

“In my view, there is no sustainable role for large numbers of U.S. troops to play in Iraq –

HALF-TRUTH: while most of the civilized world does recognize that large numbers of troops have an obvious role in Iraq, Udall cleverly hides behind "in my view" to disguise his ignorance

. . . whether refereeing a civil war or waiting for the Iraqi government to decide to act within the ‘breathing space’ our brave troops have provided and our taxpayers are paying for at $9 billion per month.

HALF-TRUTH: nobody's refereeing a civil war right now--our troops are very busy taking the offensive to the bad guys; and, while the central government has its issues, local governments and civic leaders [read: Sheikhs] are taking a very active role in creating the infrastructure of reconciliation

. . . .However, while this bill sends the right message – that our troops cannot remain in Iraq indefinitely – regrettably, it does not send it in the best way, because it will be supported almost exclusively by Democrats, and the president has already promised to veto it.

LIE: The message could be easily sent, with near unanimous support, and with the President's signature, if it didn't insist on a retreat starting in thirty days to be completed in one year.

. . . What we need is consensus here at home on a path forward in Iraq,

LIE: Consensus behind surrender is NOT what is needed; consensus behind victory SHOULD be easy to obtain, but is too antithetical to Liberal orthodoxy to ever achieve.

. . .and today’s quick consideration of this bill doesn’t bring us any closer to that goal. I believe consensus can be found around the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, which I introduced as legislation earlier this year, including supporting a course of escalating economic development, empowerment of local government, the provision of basic services, a ‘surge’ in regional and international diplomatic efforts, and lightening the American footprint in Iraq.

HALF-TRUTH: of course, all of these elements are already in place, including the lightening of the US footprint which will begin with the withdrawl of troops in the very near future--ALL ON THE TIMELINE OF THE US COMMANDERS. Of course, Udall also conveniently ignores the ISG's recommendation that a "precipitous withdrawl" would be disastrous.

. . . Only Democrats and Republicans working together can find the path out of Iraq.

LIE: Only the U.S. military, working with a mandate for victory in Iraq, can find--or forge-- the path out of Iraq. Republicans are willing to provide this mandate; whither the Democrats?

. . . I will continue to work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle on further steps we can take to change our broader Iraq policy.”

HALF-TRUTH: Name five Republicans, just FIVE "colleagues" from the other side of the aisle that you are working with, Mr. Udall. And why, oh why, would you be working to change the broader Iraq policy now that the new strategy of the President's and Gen. Petraeus is showing such promise? You remind me of the offensive coordinator who decides to go away from the running game, even though it's working, because it wasn't your idea.

THIS is the man who wants to represent Colorado in the U.S. Senate, boys and girls. And he will be well-funded, and he will have the cover of the Denver media.

But idiotic statements like this one need to be held up and shredded for all the public to see. Mark Udall is far too extreme to represent Colorado; Bob Schaffer should be able to make that point, at a minimum.

Whether his campaign can effectively communicate that, and then take the next steps toward victory, remains to be seen.

Boulder Has Its Own Foreign Policy Take 2

Mark Udall once joked that the difference between Colorado Springs and Boulder was that Boulder has its own foreign policy.

Then, he proceeded to announce that he would be introducing a bill requiring the President to adopt the Iraq Study Group recommendations, forgetting that foreign policy is the prerogative of the president.

Of Course, Mark Udall has now also introduced a bill that ties the President's hands on Iran. Iran could detonate a nuke on the Mexican side of the Mexico Border and the President could not respond if this short sighted legislation were to pass.

Now Jared Polis, author and patron of the Polis Amendment (aka Amendment 41) is making his own foreign policy as reported by USA Today. He has declared us invaders and occupiers and claims to be embarrassed to admit it. Since he doesn't have the clout to talk to a real ambassador, he bestowed the title on the first guy he met (think Kentucky Colonel = Iraqi Ambassador):

Polis arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday, local time, and has already done an online chat at Colorado Confidential and blogged at his campaign website about his first day there. In the blog post, he discusses a conversation he had with an Iraqi intellectual he euphemistically refers to as "the Ambassador:"

As we conversed, I didn't want to say "our occupation" or "our invasion" because even though we both knew that was true, I didn't feel it was polite to remind them by overtly stating it. So early on in the discussion when I was searching for words to ask what they were respectively doing 'before the, er, before the ... ." The Ambassador, observing my pause, kindly offered up the more diplomatic term "regime change" and we thereafter used that term liberally."

The Polis candidacy is an attempt by one left wing foreign policy flake who sees no value in the constitutionally mandated separation of powers to exchange places with another.