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Dan Maes: Political Suicide Bomber

Giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

By: NightTwister (Diary)  |  October 12th, 2010 at 06:00 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Promoted to the front by Erick because Dan Maes must drop out for the good of the people of Colorado and of the party he purportedly would lead.

Almost two weeks ago I wrote this. I truly believed it was in the best interests of Coloradans, especially in the long term, to continue to support Dan Maes in the Governor race. That all changed for me this weekend when I read about Dan Maes giving aid and comfort to the enemy:

I would say that John (Hickenlooper) absolutely brings that kind of moderate business acumen and business experience that Republicans in Denver proper really like. We’ve seen several major Republican businessmen back John Hickenlooper, so I would absolutely trust the Mayor when it comes to the economic health of our state and the business community more so than I would Tom.

Enough is enough. It’s one thing to realize you have no shot at winning. It’s quite another to prop up the liberal Democratic candidate that thinks the government creates jobs over the other conservative in the race. John Hickenlooper would continue the same failed policies of Bill Ritter. Maes isn’t content with just going down with his ship, he’s going to make sure Tancredo goes down with him.

While I argued for some time that it would hurt the Colorado GOP if Maes didn’t get 10% of the vote, and thereby cause the party to lose their majority status, I believe that Governor Hickenlooper would cause much more damage to Colorado, both in the short and long term. There are many here in Colorado that feel the same way. Ross Kaminsky. Ben Degrow. Rocky Mountain Right. Just peruse the diaries at the People’s Press Collective and you’ll see many others agree.

Each day that goes by sees Dan Maes lose more support. The only thing left for him to do is to try to hold on to enough support to ensure that Tom Tancredo can’t win either. As most of you know, Tancredo isn’t my favorite politician. But as it sometimes goes in politics, you have to go with the best you have. Even though it goes against my own principles (I’m eating no small share of crow here), this is the exception to the rule. I also understand that the rules at this site also prohibit supporting a third-party candidate. Regardless of the reasons why the GOP ended up with Dan Maes as its candidate, the time has come to dump him and support Tom Tancredo for Governor. The polls have tightened enough that if we all rally around him, he has a real chance to win.

We can’t afford to allow Hickenlooper to redistrict the state that would give the Democrats a majority for the next ten years. While important, the name placement of GOP candidates for the next four years is less so. We also can’t afford the additional taxes, fees, and loss of more of the TABOR laws and jobs that would certainly come with Hickenlooper at the helm.

I would urge all Coloradans to join with me and my fellow bloggers in voting for Tom Tancredo. Tom can lead, and while he won’t be the ideal Governor, he will turn Colorado back in the right direction. That’s more important in this election cycle than anything else.

Night Twister

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COMMENTS

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  • Deskpilot

    The Maes branch is diseased and decaying. It is not even fit to be presented as firewood, rather is must be incinerated to destroy the disease

  • Kayla

    How did the GOP end up not with one but two flawed candidates in McInnis & Maes?

    • Castor

      What’s done can only be undone by voting for Tancredo!!!

  • congressworksforus

    I know this posting was hard for you to write, but I appreciate you stepping up and doing this. Being able to admit when you are wrong is an important value for Conservatives.

    Every so often there is a race that requires exceptions to be made (NY23 being another recent example) and this is that race.

    When it happens, we must do what needs to be done, and then get right back to doing the right AND proper thing in the rest of the races where the nominated candidates are who we throw our weight behind, even if we don’t agree with them on every single issue.

    Again, thank you.

  • RedBeard

    Simple spite?

    • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

      Maes is mad because he believes Tancredo stole his chance to win, even though that was never a real chance. Maes now seems willing to do anything to keep Tancredo from winning, including propping up the Democrat.

      • winthisone

        Maes and Hickenlooper were tied in the polls before establishment Republicans began their systematic destruction of Maes.

        • IJB
          • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister
  • rdelbov

    as noted we had a horrible choice in the governor’s primary.

    Time to rally for Tancredo

  • IJB

    I fully expect he’ll be lucky to get 5% of the vote at this point, when all’s said and done. And I don’t think 5% is enough to play ‘spoiler’.

    As to the ‘minor party’ issue, isn’t it true that the CO State Legislature can change that law if the GOP wins back control, NT?

  • Wubbies World

    … rotten to the core. This is just the disease manifesting itself in full view. The sickening part is that there are a lot more liberal establishment types in Washington just like this guy. Those are the one recruiting these candidates.

    The establishment republicans hate conservatives so passionately, they will do anything to prevent them from winning, even if it is suicidal and cause the Democrat to win. After all, they do have a lot more in common with liberals then they do conservatives. That is what the Republican Main Street Partnership is all all about.

    This civil war to cleans the party is not over by a long shot. It is only beginning in earnest.

    • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

      McInnis was the establishment candidate. They were both terrible in their own way, which is why we’re in the mess we’re in now. There’s plenty of blame to go around for everyone this time.

      • Wubbies World

        How bad is it when all the above are terrible?

        wow

      • jyalai

        Scott McInnis was never really embraced by the conservative movement in Colorado. I was surprised at how much support Dan Maes got, but I believe it was a protest vote more than anything else. My take is that a large number of new Republicans (read Teapartiers) voted against Scott because he was closest to the “Establishment.” Scott’s implosion at the end, just underscored the feeling many Colorado conservatives had about him. Dan Maes, as the dark horse, got a reactive vote. They weren’t voting for Dan, they were voting against Scott.

        The question whether the Republican establishment was involved needs to go back to how much influence did Dick Wadhams exerted (if any) to get Josh Penry to leave the race. I believe regardless of what influence was exerted, the republican leadership assumed it was a no contest race for Scott once Josh withdrew. This situation irked a lot of conservatives, moved their support behind Dan Maes, and kept him alive.

        Radio Talkshow host, Peter Boyles, said he talked to Tom Tancredo when Josh Penry withdrew. Tom considered jumping in at that time, but decided not to. I believe Tom was was persuaded by Scott’s willingness to sign a pledge to support convervative ideals to let the race go uncontested. As the situation deteriorated, Tom obviously felt he made the wrong choice at the beginning.

        Hindsight is a great thing. However, no matter how messy things turned out, I am now glad Tom did jump in. He gave us someone who has a fighting chance at winning in an election cycle where there should have been no doubt.

      • chihank

        During the last days of the primary, McInnis said he would be willing to withdraw from the race if he won the primary if his replacement was acceptable to him. McInnis said both Ken Buck and Jan Norton were acceptable.

        If McInnis won the priamry, we would have Jan Norton as the Governor nominee instead of Dan Maes the “Trainwreck”.

        • pilgrim

          I was told by the executive director of the RGA that they begged McInnis to withdraw from the race BEFORE the primary election. They already had Jane Norton being a team player and agreeing to withdrawing from the US Senate contest and entering her name in place of McInnis for the Governor race. McInnis refused to withdraw before the primary election.

  • suzyhotpants

    Well, I guess we could support a draft dodger if that that’s what it takes. The Denver Post framed Dan Maes on a bogus 25 year old story after he won the primary which allowed Tancredo the opportunity to enter the race. After an AP investigation and records release, Maes had been telling the truth the whole time. Even Mike Coffman has stooped to an all time low by endorsing Tancredo. What Bill Ritter did to Cory Voorhis is what Tancredo and the Republican party of Colorado is doing to Dan Maes.

    • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

      I was one of them until Maes started working for the enemy.

    • MtVirtus

      “After an AP investigation and records release, Maes had been telling the truth the whole time.” You’re not serious, are you? Did you actually read the documents he released? The only thing they vindicated was that he once worked for the Liberal, KS, police department and got fired. No evidence for the rest of his fantastic story: http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2010/09/28/maes-personnel-file-details-investigation-missteps/15325/

      Neither paranoid victimhood nor petty spite is endearing in a candidate. Now that Maes is out there playing sycophant to the liberal Democrat candidate, no serious conservative voter should be supporting him.

      • suzyhotpants

        A DP link? That’s it? Why don’t you tell everyone about ex-police chief Richard Kistner and about how he lied to the press about knowing nothing about the case or Dan Maes dismissal when he was fully evolved. Dan Maes was ordered by Kistner to report to two agents that the KBI assigned to the case. It is obvious you never followed the story and hung on every word of the DP, which is what a good little RINO supporter should do.

        • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

          Not going to address Maes giving aid and comfort to the enemy?

          Didn’t think so. Even I was still with Maes until he did that. Now there’s no redemption for him. Not now. Not ever.

  • AB

    I agreed with NightTwister’s original post.

    I agree with this reversal.

    The GOP is planning to address the 10% “major party” threshold legislatively, and the Denver Post has editorialized in favor of a change in that law. If there’s no threat to future down-ballot Republican candidates, then the choice has to be Tancredo.

    (But wouldn’t it be nice if we had a “Governor Penry?”)

  • Finrod

    Republicans that endorse Democrats over conservatives have no place in the Republican party, period.

  • Aaron Gardner

    I know you didn’t come to this decision lightly and I appreciate your honesty and your willingness to put it out there like this.

  • oldpedler

    but only because he was the least worst of the Repubs available. When his “history” was exposed and Tancredo jumped in, there really is no choice. The sad situation that the head of the state Repub party must support the person winning the primary may give the election to Hickenritter. Maes must get out and endorse Tancredo !!! Wadhams should push him to resign for the good of the state. Not the party. Not Maes’ ego. THE STATE.

  • springy

    I just happened to stumble on these series of posts. Do all of you normally berate and knee cap candidates? Cheap low blows and very distorted opinionated hyperbole of the whole Maes candidacy is all I see.

    Who would be desired as any candidate if placed under such a well coordinated attack? How does it feel to put Alinsky’s Rule #13 on Maes? Feel powerful as a writers? I have never seen a group of people so weak that they have to pressure a legitimate candidate to resign in order to win. To cheat nearly 1/2 million voters out of their desired candidate? That must feel awfully heady.

  • suzyhotpants

    Got a point springy. These characters will throw up on anyone. Dan Maes is still the best candidate out there. After the Denver Post attempted to bushwhack him on a 25 year old story they can’t even prove, Tancredo is looking more like his same old decrepit self with each passing day. Colorado is going to lose again. You would think after Bill Ritter that they would have learned their lesson. Obviously they didn’t.