The anti-Bennet spin-machine is at it again, flinging mud at Colorado’s senior Senator, with no regard for the facts.
The new digital attack campaign from Advancing Colorado’s Jonathan Lockwood — an expert in hyperbolic, cut throat, and occasionally outright deceitful political propaganda — claims Bennet “voted no on screening refugees” and is “welcoming ISIS to Colorado.”
Fact check: Bennet did not vote against screening refugees. Rather, he used a procedural vote to block discussion of the anti-refugee SAFE Act on the Senate floor, as The Colorado Independent reported last week. That bill would have forced Syrian and Iraqi refugees to jump over additional hurdles — including securing signatures of approval from the secretary of Homeland Security, the head of the FBI and the director of national intelligence.
Bennet said those policies would create an unneeded backlog of work for those department heads and distract them from keeping the United States safe.
The current screening practices are strict. They are thorough. And they work, Bennet said.
As for the claim that the senator is “welcoming ISIS to Colorado,” that’s just plain hooey.
“This latest attack from a front group connected to the Koch Brothers is exactly what’s wrong with our politics today,” said Andrew Zucker of the Colorado Democratic Party.
“That fact is, Michael Bennet introduced bipartisan legislation that says if you’ve traveled to and from Middle East warzones like Iraq and Syria, you need a visa and proper vet before you enter the United States, and that passed into law,” Zucker said. “Michael supported the strongest sanctions possible against Iran, which brought them to the negotiating table. And, he’s introduced even stronger legislation with increased oversight of their financial activities and who they’re talking to.”
Lockwood is a 20-something political messaging machine who was trained in his craft by an organization launched by the Brothers Koch. Below is the digital ad series Advancing Colorado has released to sully Bennet.
Photo credit: Advancing Colorado
