Politics

Tea party movement loses steam

The people who organized the April 15 Tea Parties are gearing up for a new day of protests against government spending and higher taxes. Hundreds of rallies will take place this weekend, at least one in every state. But the collaboration between the official Republican establishment and the Tea Parties has not lasted. The RNC has no plans to get involved with any Tea Parties this time around.

The great communicator: Sarah Palin’s rambling weird resignation

Lightning rod Gov. Sarah Palin announced her resignation yesterday. That much is clear. Everything else is foggy. She said she was candid about her reasons. No one knows what she’s talking about. Happy Fourth of July!

Bennet engages religious leaders in health-care debate

As members of Congress return to their states for the July Fourth recess, national health care reform, one of the thorniest of the thorny legislative initiatives lawmakers are grappling with this term, brought U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet to a Thursday night discussion hosted by Rev. Bill Calhoun at Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church in Denver. The meeting was part of a campaign being waged by Calhoun and a network of more than 600 religious leaders, who are demanding that policy presently being drafted in Washington, D.C., deliver affordable coverage for all Americans.

Tweet of the week: “Gov Ritter hates your car!”

The spring’s tea party chants are being updated to oppose the state’s new car fees. The expression is important for the emotion and general impressionistic anti-government feelings it conveys. It doesn’t have to make any sense. “Governor Ritter hates my car!” “We won’t pay taxes or fees!” “Down with the nanny state!” “Especially if the [...]

McInnis warned Schaffer against misplacing mountains last year

Last spring, when U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer hastily pulled a campaign ad picturing Alaska’s Mount McKinley and replaced it with one featuring Colorado landmark Pikes Peak, Scott McInnis didn’t have much sympathy, but he did have some stern words of warning for his fellow Republican.

“Such mishaps tend to accumulate, said former 3rd Congressional District U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, a Grand Junction Republican.”

Candidate McInnis moves mountains — from Canadian Rockies to Colorado

What is it with Colorado politicians and their mountains? No, Mount McKinley isn’t Pikes Peak, and the Canadian Rockies are nowhere to be found in the Centennial State.

Hours after launching his campaign Web site to much fanfare, official Republican gubernatorial hopeful Scott McInnis yanked from the site a prominent graphic featuring a vista of Lake Louise, a resort nestled in the Canadian Rockies. The Canadian terrain appeared behind the question, “What do you want for the future of Colorado?”

McInnis set to begin legally running for governor

Scott McInnis has made his bid for governor official — again. The former six-term GOP congressman from Grand Junction filed Wednesday with the state to begin legally fundraising for a 2010 run against Bill Ritter.
McInnis filed to run with the secretary of state at the end of May after Colorado Ethics Watch alleged [...]

Senators hold personal stake in bailed-out banks

The senators who voted last fall to approve the federal bailout of Wall Street hold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stock in the very banks that Washington has rescued in the nine months since.

Of the 74 upper-chamber lawmakers who supported the $700 billion financial rescue in October, at least 15 own direct shares in institutions receiving federal funds under the Troubled Assets Relief Program, according to financial disclosure forms filed by members of Congress last month.

Cash-hungry Washington Post wants in on lobbyist largesse

How will newspapers survive? Maybe by finally coming out and admitting to the role reporters and editors have been sliding into for years now. In other words, Why sell journalism that targets the power elite when you can sell cozy access to the power elite, including of course high-profile reporters and editors? The sad news today is that the Washington Post has decided to begin charging lobbyists and executives a bundle to meet in congenial settings with media people and their lawmaker friends.

As the Washington Post flier pitching the program puts it: “An evening with the right people can alter the debate.” How true.

Early Bird Special: Fourth of July freedom of the open road edition

Amid one of the slowest news weeks of the year, here’s our tribute to some of the automotive news around Colorado that caught our attention:
• Colorado drivers sure love their Ford pickup trucks. That’s according to an exhaustive analysis performed by Channel 7’s news team, who examined all 5,086,672 car registrations in the state (as [...]