GOP win Colorado Senate, Democrats vow to hold party accountable

[alp227]

Source: Denver Post

Colorado Senate Democrats, who will find themselves in minority during the next two years, vowed Saturday "to do whatever possible to block efforts to take the state backward."

Senate Republicans will hold an 18-17 majority, after ballot counting in Adams County ended late Friday and showed the GOP winning a crucial state Senate seat.

Senate Democrats, who currently have an 18-17 majority, plan to hold a news conference Saturday afternoon.

"The Democratic caucus plans to do whatever possible to block efforts to take the state backward with respect to economic growth, women's rights, (gay) equality, the environment and workers' rights," Democrats said, in a news release.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/election2014/ci_26898316/gop-win-colorado-senate-democrats-vow-hold-party

[fizzgig]

1. i am still shaking my head

my state lost its fucking mind this year. my county lost its mind and went for the puke senate and house candidates but then voted for hickenlooper.

[NickB79]

2. And I'm sure last year's gun control legislation bears some of the blame

Two Democrats were lost in Colorado last year because of the recall vote over that very mild piece of gun legislation, and it's well-known that the GOP played up the gun control bill every chance they got this year during fund-raising and get-out-the-vote efforts.

Many here on DU predicted this would happen last year, and were shouted down.

Best of luck to those in Colorado; you're gonna need it.

[PatrynXX]

6. yeah thats how we lose

we ignore naysayers. really dumb if you ask me.

[joshcryer]

12. Shouted down as third way neo-liberals, no less.

[blkmusclmachine]

3. Seems like the Party should have thought about that BEFORE the Election. But, alas, we're where the

Party likes to be...out of power and pointing fingers at us. And, a time honored tradition since 1996, the only lesson "learned" is that the Party must go Right, and try to find new, common ground with the crazies. What a f/cking farce!!!

[Archae]

4. Any legislative body with Gordon Klingenschmitt in it is bound to be simply nuts.

The guy is a total kook.

http://americanloons.blogspot.com/2011/05/215-gordon-klingenschmitt.html

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/search/node/klingenschmitt%20type:blog

[Vinca]

7. LOL - I was trying to remember his name.

Rachel did a little piece on him last night and I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. He takes crazy to a whole new level.

[NordicLeft]

11. Klingenschmitt Prays for Death of Weinstein, Lynn

http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/04/27/klingenschmitt-prays-for-death/

Uber-wingnut Gordon Klingenschmitt is now praying — in Jesus’ name, of course — for God to strike down Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. You can listen to the prayer here. It’s what they call an “imprecatory prayer,” the same thing Southern Baptist Convention officer Wiley Drake did against Barry Lynn and others before. It’s basically a curse, praying to God to kill those you pray against. Here’s a transcript:

“One-Minute Prayer: Let us pray. Almighty God, today we pray imprecatory prayers from Psalm 109 against the enemies of religious liberty, including Barry Lynn and Mikey Weinstein, who issued press releases this week attacking me personally. God, do not remain silent, for wicked men surround us and tell lies about us. We bless them, but they curse us. Therefore find them guilty, not me. Let their days be few, and replace them with Godly people. Plunder their fields, and seize their assets. Cut off their descendants, and remember their sins, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Klingenschmitt has now crossed the line from being merely a nut and an idiot to being a complete fucking lunatic.


-------------------------------------------

[world wide wally]

5. No matter how bad you think it is, it can get worse. I live in El Paso County where we have exactly

One non Republican in any kind of elected office (state legislature)
By coincidence, we are also the slowest growing economy in Colorado, so we have a head start on the rest of you.

[Imajika]

8. Gun control is a loser issue..

Yet too many Democrats got suckered into associating themselves with it again.

I thought we'd learned our lesson, but apparently not.

[librechik]

10. Yeah. 90% of Americans approve of Gun Control. LOSER.

Because Congress is just a distraction while the real rulers go on about their business. Invisibly.

[NaturalHigh]

14. I don't think 90% of Americans...

favor the gun control laws that Colorado passed. It pissed off enough people to get the Democratic state senate leader kicked out in a recall election.

Yeah, I think I'd call that a loser issue, and I hope the Democrats learned a lesson from it. I would have thought the lesson would have been learned about 20 years ago when the Assault Weapons Ban lead to an epic ass kicking that cost Bill Clinton a Democratic House and Senate. I remember Clinton saying the day after the mid-terms "I got the message." Apparently this generation of politicians has to learn it all over again.

For what it's worth, I'm sure a lot of the newly-elected Republicans will screw up badly enough to get booted out in the next election.

[librechik]

15. Yes they do favor gun control by 90%

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/04/03/90-percent-of-americans-want-expanded-background-checks-on-guns-why-isnt-this-a-political-slam-dunk


http://www.uml.edu/News/press-releases/2014/gun-control-poll-2014.aspx

It didn't piss off anybody. Except the NRA and other profit-seeking gun groups.

They mess with your brain.

[NaturalHigh]

16. I've read the same articles as you.

I'd like to see a poll on how many people favor the gun control laws that were passed in Colorado which went way beyond the expanded background checks that were the subject of that article. Apparently there were plenty of Colorado voters that didn't like them.

I guarantee you that if Congress passed a strict universal background check law a lot of the senators and representatives who voted for it would get the boot in their next election. It's not a stretch to believe that the politicians who vote for such laws are gearing up to try pushing through much stricter measures. The more honest ones might even admit that.

I'm not trying to pick a fight with you, but I stand by what I said in my other post. Gun control is a losing issue for anti-gun politicians unless they happen to live a safe, liberal districts with low crime rates.

[librechik]

17. I won't fight with you

Neither one of us can do anything about anything. Have any opinion you want. Vote for anything you want. It won't mean a damn thing.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/10/18/vote-all-you-want-the-secret-government-won-change/jVSkXrENQlu8vNcBfMn9sL/story.html

[NaturalHigh]

18. I wish I could disagree with you on that point.

[Reter]

19. Skewed poll if I ever seen one

Ask the question "Do you favor more or less gun-control, or about the same as we have now" and watch the numbers completely change.

[hack89]

23. 90% favor UBCs - which was not the primary issue in Colorado.

there is a lot less support for others forms of gun control- which your links show.

[librechik]

9. So--the ultraconservative uber rich Colorado Conservative Cabal--The CCC

will now attempt to erase: Legal Pot. Statewide free clinics (thanks ACA) and maybe they'll try to exorcise Jared Polis.

[fizzgig]

21. polis lost larimer county this year

thank gods for boulder.

[NaturalHigh]

13. Good idea.

Maybe they should also take some responsibility for the dumbass gun laws they passed that helped lead to the Republican takeover.

[Politicalboi]

20. Good luck with that

The state that legalizes pot puts the GOP in charge. Good Luck.

[locks]

22. The two Colorado Senate seats in Colorado Springs and Pueblo

won through recall over gun control in 2013 have once again returned to Democratic candidates who favor gun control.
Neither are "safe liberal districts" but have many reasonable, responsible Democrats and independent voters. I hope the Republicans and the NRA learn a lesson.