Monday, June 06, 2005
Local Politics
All politics is local.
Thomas "Tip" O'Neill
Speaker of the House 1977-1987
I really don't know much about local politics. I know my state senator, Ken Gordon, but I can't recall my state representative. I am a Republican, but I have no idea who is going to run as a Republican to fill the Governor's post, as Governor Bill Owen cannot run again. (Is it Bob Beauprez, for sure?) I do know two of the Democrats running for Governor--Bill Ritter and Rutt Bridges. Because I know nothing about Mr. Bridges (and just don't want to learn) I'm going to link you on to two articles about Mr. Bridges. One is from Hugh Hewitt on June 4, 2005: http://Hughhewitt.com and the other is from Colorado Pol: http://coloradopoliticalnews.blogs.com/colorado_political_news/2005/06/anatomy_of_a_bi.html#more (I have got to learn to link properly). Hugh's is shorter and funnier.
I do know Bill Ritter and I have for many years, though you could not call us friends. He is a very good guy. I think he could be a very effective campaigner if he gets the Democrats' nomination. The question is, can he? The Republicans think that the Democrats can't stand to vote for pro-life Democrats and that the powers that be (and the Democrat voters in the primary) will not make him the nominee. Bill Ritter is a better Catholic than I am ( that's some faint praise). He left the lucrative practice of law as a prosecutor to take his family to Africa (Zambia?) for about three years with a Catholic charity organization. If he's a good Catholic, he should be a pro-life Democrat and he so describes himself. He says he has some problems with the Catechims about abortion and has some exceptions (so far un-named) that he calls good public policy. Ken Salazar, another Catholic Democrat, was not a pro-life Democrat in my opinion. His position on abortion was, at best, a weasel/pretzel position and, at worst, pro-choice. So the question for Bill Ritter is how far will he bend his core beliefs to get the nomination? This is a catch 22 situation. The more he abandons a strict pro-life position, the less worthy he looks. The more he sticks with Catholic orthodoxy, the less chance he has of getting the nomination. Only time can tell.
As a last specious observation, I note that Bill's actual first name is August and I'm led to believe that he was called Auggie in his youth. Auggie and Rhett. Do we really want these guys as governor when they were beat up in middle school every day they attended?
Thomas "Tip" O'Neill
Speaker of the House 1977-1987
I really don't know much about local politics. I know my state senator, Ken Gordon, but I can't recall my state representative. I am a Republican, but I have no idea who is going to run as a Republican to fill the Governor's post, as Governor Bill Owen cannot run again. (Is it Bob Beauprez, for sure?) I do know two of the Democrats running for Governor--Bill Ritter and Rutt Bridges. Because I know nothing about Mr. Bridges (and just don't want to learn) I'm going to link you on to two articles about Mr. Bridges. One is from Hugh Hewitt on June 4, 2005: http://Hughhewitt.com and the other is from Colorado Pol: http://coloradopoliticalnews.blogs.com/colorado_political_news/2005/06/anatomy_of_a_bi.html#more (I have got to learn to link properly). Hugh's is shorter and funnier.
I do know Bill Ritter and I have for many years, though you could not call us friends. He is a very good guy. I think he could be a very effective campaigner if he gets the Democrats' nomination. The question is, can he? The Republicans think that the Democrats can't stand to vote for pro-life Democrats and that the powers that be (and the Democrat voters in the primary) will not make him the nominee. Bill Ritter is a better Catholic than I am ( that's some faint praise). He left the lucrative practice of law as a prosecutor to take his family to Africa (Zambia?) for about three years with a Catholic charity organization. If he's a good Catholic, he should be a pro-life Democrat and he so describes himself. He says he has some problems with the Catechims about abortion and has some exceptions (so far un-named) that he calls good public policy. Ken Salazar, another Catholic Democrat, was not a pro-life Democrat in my opinion. His position on abortion was, at best, a weasel/pretzel position and, at worst, pro-choice. So the question for Bill Ritter is how far will he bend his core beliefs to get the nomination? This is a catch 22 situation. The more he abandons a strict pro-life position, the less worthy he looks. The more he sticks with Catholic orthodoxy, the less chance he has of getting the nomination. Only time can tell.
As a last specious observation, I note that Bill's actual first name is August and I'm led to believe that he was called Auggie in his youth. Auggie and Rhett. Do we really want these guys as governor when they were beat up in middle school every day they attended?
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 5:58 PM 
Comments:
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No, I've always been a bad
Republican (thanks for noticing) (i.e. I never voted for Republican candidates--at least for President) and I am very socially liberal (thoughts coming on abortion) but I'm pretty dyed in the wool now (whatever that means). Thanks for your thoughtful comments. Seriously.
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Republican (thanks for noticing) (i.e. I never voted for Republican candidates--at least for President) and I am very socially liberal (thoughts coming on abortion) but I'm pretty dyed in the wool now (whatever that means). Thanks for your thoughtful comments. Seriously.
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