March 4, 2019

"I think I'm going to switch over to Hickenlooper."

I say out loud, as I'm reading "John Hickenlooper, Former Colorado Governor, Declares Candidacy for President" (NYT). Last December, as you may know, I suddenly said — also out loud — "Why aren't the Democratic candidates better? I'm just going to be for Amy Klobuchar."

But I've been worried about Amy. There was that comb-as-a-fork business, and just yesterday I was thinking there are too many Senators in the race, and I think we need a governor. There's Jay Inslee, but I'm thinking he's all about the Green New Deal. So I welcome Hickenlooper:
John Hickenlooper, the two-time Colorado governor and former brewpub owner who has overseen Colorado’s remarkable economic expansion, declared his candidacy for president on Monday.

Mr. Hickenlooper, 67, a socially progressive, pro-business Democrat who has called himself an “extreme moderate”...
Extreme moderate — I like!

Here's his video:



Best line: "As a skinny kid with Coke-bottle glasses and a funny last name, I’ve stood up to my fair share of bullies."

Hickenlooper was term-limited out of his governorship, but he seems to have been a very successful governor with what the NYT calls "a careful, consensus-building approach that won him praise from both sides of the aisle and helped him guide Colorado out of a recession and through a series of floods, wildfires and mass shootings...."
Gary Hart, the former Colorado senator and Democratic presidential candidate, predicted that Mr. Hickenlooper would appeal to primary voters because “he does not have a lot of pretensions.” But Mr. Hart noted that the candidate would have to harden his stances fast, in order to attract the most passionate party activists in the run-up to the primaries.
Eh. Too many Democratic candidates have hardened up stances. I'm for the radical moderate who wants to bring people together and to get things done. There needs to be someone for those of us who loathe "the most passionate party activists."
Mr. Hickenlooper moved to Colorado in 1981 to work as a geologist in the oil industry. After a layoff, he opened a downtown Denver brewpub, eventually expanding to 15 pubs and restaurants, mostly in the Midwest. Soon, he was helping to reshape Denver’s dilapidated core. By 2003 he was mayor; in 2007 he won re-election with 87 percent of the vote...

By 2011, he was governor. In that position, Mr. Hickenlooper pushed through Medicaid expansion under a divided legislature, and signed the gun control package, a major shift for the state. Colorado also gained national attention when Mr. Hickenlooper helped the state establish a national model for recreational marijuana regulation, despite his personal opposition to legalization....

But progressives in the state reserve much of their criticism for his environmental legacy, arguing that he has not gone far enough in regulating the state’s powerful oil and gas industry. In recent years, some residents have faulted him for failing to push well projects out of their neighborhoods. (Mr. Hickenlooper has been so eager to promote the industry that he once drank fracking fluid.)
I guess there's something disgusting about every candidate. Amy Klobuchar ate salad with a comb, and John Hickenlooper drank fracking fluid. I like his brand of disgusting. It's pro-business. And he's a geologist who worked in the oil industry. He must know something. What other Democratic Party candidate has any wide-ranging business experience and has worked at multiple levels of the executive side of government? Hickenlooper was mayor of the 19th biggest city (Denver) and governor of the 21st biggest state. That's a lot of executive experience, and he seems to have handled it well. He's worked as an employee in a scientific field, and he's been a successful entrepreneur making the beloved American product, beer.
The governor, a lanky, guitar-playing, twice-married father of a teenage boy, has long been considered the state’s geek in chief, often running gimmicky advertisements in which he makes himself the butt of a joke. As governor he showered in a business suit for a political ad in which he swore off dirty politics.
Geek in chief. That's what I want.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Hickenlooper, Lauren Hitt, said that the governor learned long ago how to make bullies feel uncertain, and she compared a potential Hickenlooper-Trump election to “a 'Revenge of the Nerds’-type situation.”
Excellent positioning!

209 comments:

1 – 200 of 209   Newer›   Newest»
Meade said...

Randy Marsh For President!

rhhardin said...

Drill for beer.

R C Belaire said...

Yawn. One more eventual loser.

Maillard Reactionary said...

Huh. Here I thought a hickenlooper was an agricultural pest.

tcrosse said...

Another tasty morsel for Kamala Harris' breakfast table.

AlbertAnonymous said...

Extreme moderate? Give me a Frigging break.

Are you trolling us Professor, or do you really like that self description?

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Hickenlooper is a great guy, I’d love for him to run. I can only imagine what Trump will do to his name, not that it will make a difference.

Matt said...

Moderate is another word for coward.

Shouting Thomas said...

Uh, we're in the midst of PAX TRUMPIANA.

Stock market at 26,000. Unemployment at historic lows. Pulling out of pointless foreign wars. Enforcing the southern border.

What's your problem? You don't like success?

Cut thru the BS and vote for Trump.

MadisonMan said...

I would want to learn what he thinks of American Foreign Policy. He is better than a lot of Democratic Candidates, but that's a pretty low bar.

rhhardin said...

Trump is a moderate. The important dimension is what happens to the deep state.

jpg said...

Seriously, he's Trump's toughest competitor. A hard leftist who incrementally goes left disguised as a moderate "nice" guy. Colorado has been going left for a long time led by Hickenlooper. A drugged out dump of a state exporting its marijuana problems out onto the rest of us. Thanks, Colorado. JPG

mockturtle said...

"Jay Inslee is a doofus." -- a former WA resident.

Big Mike said...

@Althouse, what did you mean by “governor of one of our biggest cities”? Was that a cut-and-paste error?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Inga- you don't know shit about Hickenlooper.

chuck said...

> I'm for the radical moderate who wants to bring people together and to get things done.

There you go, Trump is your ideal candidate.

Rory said...

What's the body count so far, 15?

RMc said...

Mr. Hickenlooper, 67

Geez, don't the Democrats have anybody short of retirement age? (Who's not, you know, crazy...?)

narciso said...

When they get to 24 they do hunger games.

hawkeyedjb said...

We are in an era in which normal people can't get nominated in either party. The Democrats have to go through their period of extremism and let it play out, without the help of anyone who has ever worked in a business or spoken kindly of the social goods of business.

Hickenlooper has an admirable record of leadership, making him absolutely unelectable in the Democratic primaries.

Fernandinande said...

We are deeply apologetic for calling him "Chicken-looper" and laughing, and continuing to do so.

narciso said...

Eric holder is not running though.

Big Mike said...

Now I’m worried. Hopefully the left-wing crazy Democrats will knock him out in the primaries.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

So, another statist dude who believes his experience means he knows what’s best for you? How do people fall for that? Because he took a selfie with a cute Black chick?
Watching his spiel it occurs to me that his race and gender may strongly work to his advantage in what is shaping up to be a clownshow Democrat primary. In times of confusion and eminent Trumpperil, snowflakes are going to want a calm Dad with a big checkbook who can fix your flat tire and unbrick your phone. Hickenlooper’s great advantage is that he projects that image very naturally. The Democrats May have found their anti-Trump.

Meade said...

"I can only imagine what Trump will do to his name"

Why would Trump need to do anything?

Jeff Weimer said...

He's the Democrat's Scott Walker. Look to see him flame out early.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

And Inslee is a huge doofus. Possibly the most absurd candidacy in the whole mess.

Mr. D said...

We need a Hickenlooper/Buttigieg ticket. It will be a great boon for Scrabble players, copy editors, and typesetters.

Meade said...

Seriously though, anyone running is just early-running for 2024, the next election without an incumbent to challenge and lose to.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Hickenlooper on the Green New Deal

"Hickenlooper has said he supports the idea of the Green New Deal but has stopped short of embracing any specific portion of the resolution in Congress."

Hickenlooper is against the death penalty. As the media slathers him in d-glory - hick used to be for the death penalty - but he has "evolved".

Curious George said...

"I'm for the radical moderate who wants to bring people together and to get things done."

And Unicorns farting rainbows. Don't forget them.

Jeff Weimer said...

@Bimbos - He's a Democrat, that's all Inga needs to know.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

He has made a few clumsy mis-steps so far. When asked about his moderation, hick said he was more progressive than the other candidates. You gotta pass the crazy far left to get the nomination.

Pillage Idiot said...

Is the young black lady in the photo a token?

If so, then Hickenlooper is a horrible racist.

(Just following the latest rules pronounced by the Democrats.)

Bay Area Guy said...

Compared to the other 12 or so declared Dems, Yes, Hickenlooper appears more sane.

Look at the two front runners: Biden is a lifetime DC politician, who has never held a job in the private sector. Bernie has never held a meaningful job ever, and was once kicked out of a commune for being too lazy.

Browndog said...

Hickenlooper was term-limited out of his governorship, but he seems to have been a very successful governor with what the NYT calls "a careful, consensus-building approach that won him praise from both sides of the aisle...

Consensus building. Bi-partisan. Compromise.

Buzzwords meant to give the impression that liberals are open minded and fair. What they are is the opposite. What they mean is those opposed to them should give way...like they always do.

The day I see liberals compromise on anything, even a small, insignificant matter, is the day I'll reconsider my position.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“- you don't know shit about Hickenlooper.”

I know as much about him as you knew about Walker.

rcocean said...

Another phony "red state Moderate". Pro-abortion, pro-gun control, open borders, globalist. A Chuck schemer supporting leftist flake in moderate clothing.

Makes a few squeaks about being pro-business so he'll keep the tax cuts for the rich.
And will support wars in the Middle East.

daskol said...

But what do you think of his hair?

Curious George said...

He said he is running because "we're facing a crisis that threatens everything we stand for."

Really John? Tell us more.

rcocean said...

Blacks make up 20% of Democrat Electorate. HIspanics at least 10%. Why would any of them vote for this White man?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Inga - Walker made national news when your phony corrupt party attempted to oust him using corrupt mob tactics.

rcocean said...

BTW, look out when a Governor runs on their "economic Record" - 9 out of 10 times the Governor had little or nothing to do with why the state's economy expanded other than not fucking it up.

CF: Dukakais Massachusetts Miracle.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

It's a good ad but it's filled with obvious exaggerations. His healthcare stat cannot be correct. No. way.

Shouting Thomas said...

I don't get it. I watched the video.

What's the great crisis?

Trump is president is a great crisis?

You really buy that BS, Althouse?

You'll vote an extremely successful president out of office because he drives the opposition ape shit hysterical?

Anonymous said...

I'm for the radical moderate who wants to bring people together and to get things done.

Get what things done?

Friendo said...

Gun grabber - no fucking way.

tim in vermont said...

Hickenlooper, Deutschendorf? Maybe he should change his name to Denver too.

Limited blogger said...

Dems have given up on 2020

John said...

"Mr. Hickenlooper, 67, a socially progressive, pro-business Democrat who has called himself an 'extreme moderate'..."

This seems to sum up the DNC these days. Extremism is the modifier of choice. If not an extremist, then they certainly must be a radical. No one can survive by being just a progressive, socialist, liberal, or heaven forbid just a moderate. Everyone must at least appear to move toward the fringe.

It strikes me as whoever they ultimately select as their standard bearer, he or she will be identified by the positions demanded by the activists of the party, even if they have not embraced them in the primaries. In my opinion, these positions are the ones causing the biggest problems for moderate voters in rural America.

The more immediate question for Gov. Hickenlooper is can someone who is an aging white male (and not a socialist) actually become the leader of the party?

Bob Boyd said...

Why is Trump called a "bully?" I understand that's the narrative, but specifically what has he done that could be called bullying?

Birkel said...

Throw out the guy who has overseen the first 3+ percent GDP growth in 15 years.
Too many things are working well.

All that screaming from talking heads influences retired college professors.
I wonder if it will influence the people still working at the now abundant jobs.

Ann Althouse said...

"@Althouse, what did you mean by “governor of one of our biggest cities”? Was that a cut-and-paste error"

Just an editing artifact... fixed on proofread.

Meade said...

"Get what things done?"

The 1 or 2 things left when Trump runs out of time.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

He's going to repair the damage done to our country after Hillary didn't win.

Bob Boyd said...

Has Hick ever appeared in blackface? Better check.

Ann Althouse said...

"I'm not getting any interesting comments. But I like boring. I'm for Boring. That's my tag. That's why I'm for Hickenlooper." Pause. "That's how we got Carter."

Overheard at Meadhouse.

Ann Althouse said...

Wait. Before I said "That's how we got Carter," I said something like "a nerdy guy with a science background."

daskol said...

Carter had more exciting hair.

Meade said...

Peace ✔
Prosperity ✔
Border security ✔
Make America great again ✔

To Do:
Polish the silver
Mow/stripe the lawn

Shouting Thomas said...

So, you like boring.

Romney may be the world's biggest bore.

What Trump actually does works. And he's not boring.

The mentality you are displaying is that of a civil servant with lifetime job security.

You remember your book club reports about how our generation took that kind of job while giving the black power salute?

I didn't take that job. I lived with the insecurity of being a freelancer and contractor all my life, and I never gave the black power salute.

I don't want the world turned into universal civil servant jobs. I detest being stuck in that shit.

Ralph L said...

He should take a cue from Gary Hartpence and go with Hick or Looper.

Curious George said...

"a nerdy guy with a science background."

Carter had a science background. He was a "nuc" in the Navy.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jrem said...

With a son in Fort Collins, I've watched Hickenlooper with interest for a long time. Seems to be genuine, self-deprecating and moderate. What's not to like?

Meade said...

Gary Hart should've taken a cue from Mike Hartpence.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I wish Warren wasn't such a leftist. I have no idea why, but she doesn't piss me off or strike me as Clinton-corrupt, in the general sense.

traditionalguy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
LYNNDH said...

Hick is no moderate. I live in CO, seen his actions up front and center. He is an open borders guy. He only did consensus because the state house was divided most of the time. He signed an executive order on his last day to mandate CA CAF standards in CO. Wants all electric cars, helped push energy companies off coal to NG, with a high renewable requirements. Gun controls. Does not oppose the push to do an end run around the Electoral College. CO has a tax limitation amendment so he pushed "fees" instead. A real wolf in wolf's clothes.

Ann, you just have to be a lefty Dem no matter what.

traditionalguy said...

I don't know about his hair. Maybe if he died it RED and learned to preach the virtues of moderate Communism and moderate legalized Baby Slaughter , then he wins the highly valuable Dem nomination. It all depends on the Soros family's pick.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Of the leftwing punitive slate, Hickenlooper is the least objectionable.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

He might be the only Democrat running who actually worked in the private sector. He started the Wynkoop Brewery in Lower Downtown Denver - back, decades ago, when LoDo was the edge of the universe in lower downtown.

Most democratics are life-time government whores who have zero experience in the real world. Never met a payroll etc...
Government whores for life-- they give me the creeps.

Laslo Spatula said...

"I'm for the radical moderate who wants to bring people together and to get things done."

'Radical Moderate' is a way of saying the progressives have gone too far left for me, but I want a President that won't put a Kavanaugh-type on the Supreme Court.

People are always looking for the candidate "who wants to bring people together" and then trying to find them in the Party that is supporting abortion through nine months.

An aborted nine-month baby doesn't look so bad if you just put the right tea cozy over it.

I am Laslo.

Meade said...

"Carter had a science background. He was a "nuc" in the Navy."

Check that fact. Pretty sure he "served on a nuclear submarine, not that he had any scientific expertise. He was an expert peanut farmer. (In my book — high enough praise.)

LYNNDH said...

jrem, Ft Collins is now a far left city, being a University Town.

LYNNDH said...

He knows nothing about other countries. His business experience is limited to Denver only.

Amadeus 48 said...

"Buzz" Hickenlooper. From "high" in the Rockies, coming to a location near you.

narciso said...

How much clout does he have if polis got elected back in 2010, the gope deepsixed McMillan, over some kerfluffle they did the same to buck.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Lynndh @ 9:22 - that is all true.

Hick is leftist. but he is still slightly less leftist than the others. How sad is that?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

on pot: Hickenlooper did not push pot. That was outside forces. He just went along for the ride. Hickenloopper was against it at first.
He shifts around a lot.

"evolves"

Curious George said...

"Meade said...
Check that fact. Pretty sure he "served on a nuclear submarine, not that he had any scientific expertise. He was an expert peanut farmer. (In my book — high enough praise.)"

"he started undergraduate coursework in engineering...transferred to the Georgia Institute of Technology...he achieved admission to the Naval Academy in 1943...graduated 60th out of 820 midshipmen in the class of 1946 with a Bachelor of Science degree. In March 1953 Carter began nuclear power school, a six-month non-credit course covering nuclear power plant operation at Union College in Schenectady,[9] with the intent to eventually work aboard USS Seawolf, which was planned to be one of the first two U.S. nuclear submarines.

That enough?

narciso said...

Oh that's all:

https://freebeacon.com/politics/virginia-dems-wont-say-whether-they-want-northam-fairfax-on-campaign-trail/

Bob Boyd said...

I'm not comfortable with politicians who talk too much about how they stood up to bullies. Does anyone ever really get out of high school?
This kind of encouraging people to cling to old wounds is a cynical manipulation. It's the emotional fuel behind identity politics, but it's false at it's core. Everybody has been bullied and everybody is guilty of some degree of bullying in their lives. Having physical characteristics that tend to attract bullies in high school doesn't make you inherently virtuous any more than not having them makes you callous or cruel
You know who was good at making bullies feel uncertain? Stalin. The guy had pock marks all over his face, one arm shorter than the other and only stood about 5'5".

Birkel said...

I like Scott Walker because he identified many of the mechanisms by which Democrats in Wisconsin gave themselves political advantages through one-sided laws. That was what Act 10 addressed. Walker realized that Democrats had benefitted themselves through their pro-union, pro-government rules. The history on this is clear.

I know much less about Hickenlooper. I know he did not upset any apple carts. I know he prefers a larger and more intrusive government. So for me, thanks but no.

Amadeus 48 said...

Stoners for Hickenlooper. He did for us, now we are doin' for him.

Amadeus 48 said...

That Medicaid expansion is going to be great for handling the psychotic fallout from legalizing pot!

Bitchin'!

Amadeus 48 said...

That Medicaid expansion is going to be great for handling the psychotic fallout from legalizing pot!


That is an integrated approach to public policy.

M Jordan said...

“Geek in chief. That's what I want.”

Not me. Geeks had their run. They gave us the algorithms of Google and Facebook, a tidy place to hide their guns.

Bob Boyd said...

I can't support anybody who thinks Americans have too many rights.

William said...

As Christie says, you don't know whether a candidate will shine or melt until the klieg lights hit them. Also, some candidates don't melt until they endure prolonged exposure but other candidates bake and harden and become more durable....... I like Trump better now than when I voted for him. I particularly like the way he plays not to the spotlight but with the spotlight.......I don't know anything about Hickenlooper except what I've just read above. I like him better than Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, but that's a low bar. Sure, why not Hickenlooper........We've had two straight wildly improbable candidates win the Presidency. Every first time Senator and billionaire in America now thinks "why not me". How about pub owners and pornstar lawyers? Isn't it time we elected a gay, small town mayor as President.

Known Unknown said...

Fickle, you.

Known Unknown said...

""Buzz" Hickenlooper. From "high" in the Rockies, coming to a location near you."

I assume Trump's 2nd term may include some de-scheduling or legalization of marijuana.

Known Unknown said...

"I'm not getting any interesting comments. But I like boring. I'm for Boring. That's my tag. That's why I'm for Hickenlooper." Pause. "That's how we got Carter."

GIRD YOUR SWEATERS!

Martin said...

A few months ago I saw Inslee on a panel that included Jordan Peterson and a couple of others. Inslee is as dumb as the proverbial box of rocks and I am not sure I am being fair to the rocks.

rehajm said...

Old white guy. No chance.

Known Unknown said...

"A spokeswoman for Mr. Hickenlooper, Lauren Hitt, said that the governor learned long ago how to make bullies feel uncertain, and she compared a potential Hickenlooper-Trump election to “a 'Revenge of the Nerds’-type situation.”

This will not go the way you think it will, Loopy.

daskol said...

Between Hickenlooper and Howard Schultz, I'd go with Schultz. Politicians, even those with executive experience and some business background, have a very high bar to get over at this point. They had their turn.

AllenS said...

Carter had a record of standing up to bullies. When he was attacked by a rabbit swimming, yes, that's right it was swimming, Carter kicked the shit out of it.

AllenS said...

Just heard on the radio, Holder is not running.

Roger Sweeny said...

Like Jeff Weimer said, he sounds like a Democratic Scott Walker. My impression is that Walker listened to too many consultants and tried to turn himself into what he thought the primary electorate would want. He lost his "product differentiation" so few people had any particular reason to vote for him instead of the other candidates with similar views.

Meade said...

"That enough?"

Might be for you.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Hickenlooper is a great guy, I’d love for him to run. I can only imagine what Trump will do to his name, not that it will make a difference”

Always liked Hickendooper. Maybe a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but much better than the Dems right ahead and behind him in the governor’s mansion, mostly maybe because he actually did something before politics. CO is like many states, where the Dems make a career sucking off the public teat, ordering the rest of us around, without the advantage of any real world experience, while the Republicans tend to get into politics for a bit, after having had successful careers elsewhere, then returning to the private sector after a bit. Hickenzooper falls into this mold.

Meade said...

"Just heard on the radio, Holder is not running."

Furiously fast breaking news.

Bob Boyd said...

"Carter kicked the shit out of it."

He killed it with a comb, IIRC.
But he washed the blood off it himself.

Sebastian said...

"Mr. Hickenlooper helped the state establish a national model for recreational marijuana regulation, despite his personal opposition to legalization"

So, what other "regulations" will he push in spite of his "personal opposition"?

Meade said...

I give Carter credit due simply for still being alive. Brain cancer warrior.

Sebastian said...

"Extreme moderate — I like!"

Next, he'll call himself "pragmatic." That'll seal the deal with Althouse.

Still, it is useful information. The GOP will need some Bob Dylan women, and that means giving them enough symbolism to enable them to rationalize their vote as an expression of their self-regard. We are the kind of people who want a serious, non-hack, competent person!

Rick said...

The Good:

At least we don't have to keep pretending Green New Deal supporter Klobuchar is a moderate.

The Bad:

How far left will he have to move?

The Ugly:

If he finishes under 10% without another moderate running how will the Dem media keep up the pretense there is a moderate wing of the party?

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"An aborted nine-month baby doesn't look so bad if you just put the right tea cozy over it"

The White, middle-class, progressive in a nutshell.

Seeing Red said...

I'm for the radical moderate who wants to bring people together and to get things done.

Lolol. Still either didn’t learn your lesson about Obama or still burned.

Trump is getting things done. What’s this need for committee? Is it spending too long in academia? This isn’t the USSC and you’re not in the collegiate world anymore.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Gun control bill...

Francisco D said...

Carter had more exciting hair.

Carter had a dazzling and very engaging smile which convinced people (myself included) that he was a good guy who would "bring people together."

At first, he was a moderate Democrat, but when you elect a Democrat POTUS you also get the lefties in the party. Along with his micromanagement, they screwed Carter. His administration was awful because you can't try to manage a country like you do a peanut farm.

The good news: After Carter we got Reagan and I never voted for a Democrat POTUS again.

In a similar vein: After Bush and Obama, we got Trump.

Bob Boyd said...

What about the "Best Hair" rule? Hick is sportin' a comb-over.

gahrie said...

Check that fact. Pretty sure he "served on a nuclear submarine, not that he had any scientific expertise

He never actually served on a nuke...he got out before we had one. But he did go to nuke school. He wasn't a scientist, probably not even an engineer...more of a mechanic.

roesch/voltaire said...

I am a Amy fan but admit I wrote to Hickenlooper several years ago urging him to run as I thought he represented my political views and had a business background. We shall see as it is still early in the shell game. Curious thanks for posting the info on Carter's background.

Bob Boyd said...

Althouse unwittingly writes his new campaign slogan:

"Switch Over To Hickenlooper"

Curious George said...

"Meade said...
"That enough?"

Might be for you."

Disappointing.

"One of the two new submarines being built was the Seawolf, and Carter taught nuclear engineering to its handpicked crew."

I wonder how a peanut farmer accomplished that?

I'm no Carter fan, second worse POTUS ever, and I think a rotten SOB but give him his due.

Infinite Monkeys said...

"[S]he compared a potential Hickenlooper-Trump election to “a 'Revenge of the Nerds’-type situation."

He's going to use a hidden camera to take naked photos of female college students? He's going to wear a mask to trick a woman into thinking she's having sex with her boyfriend?

"Revenge of the Nerds" may not be the best reference in the #MeToo era.

Curious George said...

"gahrie said...
Check that fact. Pretty sure he "served on a nuclear submarine, not that he had any scientific expertise

He never actually served on a nuke...he got out before we had one. But he did go to nuke school. He wasn't a scientist, probably not even an engineer...more of a mechanic."

Despite his studies in engineering and his BS from the naval academy.

bagoh20 said...

"Extreme moderate"? Oh, you mean like Neville Chamberlain. Someone who trusts that both sides are motivated by good goals. I wish that was the landscape we lived in. It's quite possible that one side might be motivated by selfish harmful goals, or might be stupid, or naive. In fact, one side overwhelmingly is, and an extreme moderate is likely to just let them cut the baby in half.

The voters need to protect their nation, their possessions and their lives from a Democrat party in full berserker mode. We are not the first with this choice, but we are the first ever with so much at stake for ourselves and the world. I hope this guy is the Democrat nominee, and then I hope he loses.

Known Unknown said...

Wait until The Professor gets a load of Phil Bredesen. She'll be bored to tears (of joy!)

Known Unknown said...

SOOPER DOOPER HICKENLOOPER!


tcrosse said...

Hickenlooper pooper scooper.

Achilles said...

Shouting Thomas said...
So, you like boring.

Romney may be the world's biggest bore.


Romney was a globalist traitor who willfully lied to republican voters.

He wrote and passed Rommneycare before it was Obamacare.

He supports cap and trade.

He supports amnesty.

Romney is boring the way a liar and a charlatan is boring. We would have Obamacare, amnesty, and Cap and trade by now if Romney had won in 2012.

Thank god he lost.

Hagar said...

I don't think Jay Inslee is a "doofus." I think he is Washington's Terry McAwful. It is all about Jay Inslee.

As for Hickenlooper, Colorado no longer has the best highway department in the nation - or anything else that is "the best." The state has been heading left for decades.

narciso said...

In other news:
https://davidblaska.com/2019/03/03/brandi-grayson-will-determine-your-degree-of-racism/

narciso said...

Tim gill turned it blue, then it became mildly mauve.

Known Unknown said...

Hickenlooper?

I barely even know her!

Ralph L said...

his BS from the naval academy.
His class graduated in 3 years due to the war. At the time, every mid took the same courses, except for their choice of foreign language, so they were oriented toward ship duty. My dad started right after he graduated. They had to diagram how a mechanical computer for aiming guns worked.

Seeing Red said...

Between this post and Anne’s lack of battery post...

No matter how cruelly neutral she wants to be, she defaults to how she’s hardwired biologically as a female/mom-can’t we all just get along -peacemaker and living her 60s dreams of going green which Hickenlooper satisfies.

Camille Paglia is still correct: if women were in charge we would be living in grass huts.

We all can’t get along. There are 7 billion people, it’ll never happen and I don’t want to live in your green world. I like traveling. I like beef. I like cars. I want to see things I want to experience things I can’t in the Midwest and on this continent.

Achilles said...

Hickenlooper is a moderate gun grabber.

Bob Boyd said...

Pot and solar energy. Smoke and mirrors.

Greg P said...

Mr. Hickenlooper, 67, a socially progressive, pro-business Democrat who has called himself an “extreme moderate”...
Extreme moderate — I like!



You can't be "socially progressive" and a "moderate".

You can't be a gun grabber, and a moderate.

So Hickenlooper is 0 for 2.

MountainMan said...

Why would any sane person vote for any Democrat? They all have the same agenda: Green New Deal, High Taxes, More Spending, Gun Confiscation, Restrictions on Free Speech, Open Borders, Infanticide. Just which of these policies would be good for the country? How about NONE OF THEM.

Democrats lost me a long time ago. Will never again vote for any Democrat, at any level of government, for the rest of my life. I don't like Trump as a person all that much but as a President he is far better for the country than any Democrat will ever be.

Amadeus 48 said...

We're seeing a great example here of VDH's theory that Trump may be a tragic hero--when his work is done, he becomes an outcast.

Althouse is looking longingly for a boring nerd...she has Hickenlooper in her sights.

Althouse! Althouse! Wake up! Is Meade a boring nerd? Was Walker a boring nerd (yeah, he posed as one, but he turned Wisconsin upside down)? Let's let Sheriff Trump dispatch the bad guys, then you can look for boring. And remember the Carter presidency.

Fernandinande said...

"I’m running for president because we’re facing a crisis that threatens everything we stand for," Hickenlooper said over a picture of Donald Trump in a campaign video titled Stand Tall. "As a skinny kid with Coke-bottle glasses and a funny last name, I’ve stood up to my fair share of bullies," he said.

He's just another liberal doofus.

Bay Area Guy said...

"I’m running for president because we’re facing a crisis that threatens everything we stand for,"

The GNP is relatively high, the stock market is relatively high, unemployment is relatively low, and we've had no new foreign interventions into the Middle East.

So, I guess Hickenlooper and his buddies view these positive developments as a crisis that threatens their ability to increase statism and socialism.

Bill Clinton used to say, "It's the Economy, Stupid." I guess that don't matter when the economy is good during a Republican administration.

James K said...

In March 1953 Carter began nuclear power school, a six-month non-credit course covering nuclear power plant operation at Union College in Schenectady,

So... Homer Simpson? Certainly no "nuclear engineer," which was how some used to describe him.

JackWayne said...

Althouse, are you the one that bolded the quote about fracking fluid? Whoever did that is butt-ignorant. Fracking fluid is water - 99% - and either sand or beans - guar. If you want to criticize him for conflating apples with oranges - fracking fluid has no bearing on the “safety” of fracking - go ahead. Otherwise the breathless bolding is nothing more that eye-rollingly silly.

bagoh20 said...

Something has happened or is happening. Just a few years ago I would have thought someone like Romney would be an ideal President. Now I would consider him just slight better than one of these unprincipled Democrats, but definitely not a good choice for the job. A moderate is insufficient, and kind of like bringing an empty fire extinguisher to a fire. Sure it's not the gasoline the other guy brought, but it's not any help either.

Greek Donkey said...

Make America Moderate Again - I Remember MAMA - if he only he were a woman,

bagoh20 said...

My ideal candidate on the Dem side to run against Trump would be Ivanka Trump. I mean if we have to have one.

Browndog said...

Bill Clinton used to say, "It's the Economy, Stupid." I guess that don't matter when the economy is good during a Republican administration.

With the economy a non-issue, it allows them to move on to more important things. Like destroying it.

Humperdink said...

Friend of mine lived in CO when he was governor. She was a moderate and called him Hickendoper. Not sure if it was a statewide nickname or not, but it had a nice ring to it.

Bill Peschel said...

With today's political landscape, I'm pushing hard for another four years of Trump.

Everyone else is an internationalist, for amnesty and globalism and more government intervention.

What I've seen so far at the national level has been a catastrophe. Terrible environmental policy, terrible education policy, an FBI and CIA allowed to be used for political ends, a weaponized IRS, and a turning tide against free speech.

The Democratic Party embracing Antisemitism to its racism just gives them that additional zing.

And it seems like everyone else but Trump is in favor of it.

Fuck them all. I'm voting Trump.

Greg P said...

When the Colorado "Civil Rights Commission" harassed Masterpiece Cakeshop, and demanded that Christians take part in same sex "marriages", the Supreme Court ruled against Colorado, 7 - 2.

Where was Hickenlooper?

You can't be to the Left of Breyer and Kagan, and still honestly call yourself a moderate.

"Not a completely psychotic nutcase" doesn't equal "moderate".

bagoh20 said...

Wait till Trump says he likes him.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I'd take Hickenlooper back over our current governor. Jared Polis.

Jared Polis is a leftwing Nazi.

rehajm said...

How many of the- what is it now? Thirty?- Democrat candidates would give their right arm or left nut to have Trump say something, anything about them right now?

over/under: 16.5

Achilles said...

(Mr. Hickenlooper has been so eager to promote the industry that he once drank fracking fluid.)

This is awesome.

99% water, some sand, pinch of hydrochloric acid, couple other very tiny additives that reduce friction.

Safer than most soft drinks.

One of the biggest producers of Crush resistant was Wisconsin at one point.

Gospace said...

I saw a meme the other day I posted on my Facebook page, and will repost every once in a while.

Gee, I hope the Russians will trick me into voting for Trump again!

elkh1 said...

Whatever he is, he is "too-white", "too-male", "too-capitalist", "too-sensible", "too-unGreen: for having work in the oil industry, unlike Sanders who had never worked before) for the Dems in 2020. He may win against Trump, but he would never get there. He would lose big on Super Tuesday.

Achilles said...

bagoh20 said...
Something has happened or is happening. Just a few years ago I would have thought someone like Romney would be an ideal President. Now I would consider him just slight better than one of these unprincipled Democrats, but definitely not a good choice for the job. A moderate is insufficient, and kind of like bringing an empty fire extinguisher to a fire. Sure it's not the gasoline the other guy brought, but it's not any help either.

Trump removed their masks.

They are all on the same team. They just argue about how fast they want to get there and how many deplorables they need to kill off.

Earnest Prole said...

Senators make awful executives because they lack experience running things.

jack said...

How is it possible that the so many here cannot muster a single kind word to say about Jimmy Carter knowing that he served his country honorably in the military? And to think these same people give lavish praise to a president who used every trick in the book (including his spurious bonespur bs) to evade serving in the military? ... boggles the mind.

DavidD said...

Revenge of the Nerds?

Against Trump?

Trump is a jock? Really?

Rosalyn C. said...

He sounds a lot like Mitt Romney. Nice guy but I don't think Democrats are looking for a Mitt Romney candidate. Trump can sit back and enjoy the show. I have a feeling Bernie Sanders is going to end up with the nomination.

Drago said...

jack: "How is it possible that the so many here cannot muster a single kind word to say about Jimmy Carter knowing that he served his country honorably in the military?"

How is it possible that the so many lefties here and elsewhere have labeled every single republican President since Dewey as a "literal Hitler", even knowing that it has been the left that defended every 20th century mass murdering communist totalitarian?

Drago said...

Remember, the lefties literally called milquetoast Mitt "theological Hitler".

elkh1 said...

Greek, Love MAMA.

KAG (Keep America Great) will beat DemSos (Dem socialists)until they cry mama.

James K said...

He may win against Trump, but he would never get there. He would lose big on Super Tuesday.

He could if he's the only one to the right of Che Guevara in the race.

cubanbob said...

Althouse is looking for a reason not to vote for Trump in 2020. Somewhere there must be a sane Democrat running so she hopes. Unless some miracle occurs, no such Democrat will run. Such a Democrat may not even currently exist. Hickenlooper already said he is OK with 95% of the GND. So much for finding a sane inmate in a nuthouse. Meade give your wife a couple of shots of whiskey for courage when the moment of truth comes and it's a close one between Trump and the Insane. Now if it looks like Trump will carry 40 states then your wife can vote for the Insane knowing it won't mean a thing. Same a bottle to Chuck as well for courage.

Tomcc said...

(Bloomberg) -- Student-loan delinquencies surged last year, hitting consecutive records of $166.3 billion in the third quarter and $166.4 billion in the fourth.
This augers well for the Sanders/AOC wing of the party. Fortunately, I hope(!), it represents a fairly small segment of the voting public.

jack said...

How is it possible that the so many lefties here and elsewhere have labeled every single republican President since Dewey as a "literal Hitler" - drago

Haven't seen a single comment in this thread resembling that remark.


Pokerone said...

Shorter Althouse: I'm loopy for Hickenlooper!

JackWayne said...

jack, It’s always refreshing to see the “innocent and naive lefty” ploy used. It just doesn’t happen enough.

Jim at said...

Poor Jay Inslee. Announces on Friday and he's already relegated to the back of the bus.

John Althouse Cohen said...

If Amy Klobuchar is going to catch all this flak for eating salad with a comb, should we ding John Hickenlooper for showering in a business suit?

I know, someone's going to say, "Come on, that was to be funny, for show." Well, maybe that's what Klobuchar was doing with her comb too!

Jim at said...

I don't think Jay Inslee is a "doofus."

I've known Jay Inslee since 1991. He's an idiot.

Jim at said...

How is it possible that the so many here cannot muster a single kind word to say about Jimmy Carter knowing that he served his country honorably in the military?

I was a teenager during the Carter years. His military service had nothing to do with how badly he fucked up the country.

But I do thank him for one thing ... he turned me into a lifetime conservative.

tcrosse said...

It sounds like Althouse is making a casting decision. Who best to play the President on television?

n.n said...

Socially progressive implies more diversity or color judgments. More political congruence or selective exclusion ("="). More feminism and other sex chauvinisms. More warlock hunts and trials. More age discrimination, summary judgments, cruel and unusual punishment. More life deemed unworthy of life. Monotonic.

gahrie said...

How is it possible that the so many here cannot muster a single kind word to say about Jimmy Carter knowing that he served his country honorably in the military? And to think these same people give lavish praise to a president who used every trick in the book (including his spurious bonespur bs) to evade serving in the military? ... boggles the mind.

TDS is a marvelous thing. It magically turned the Russians into the bad guys and now it makes those who served in the military virtuous, and those who didn't contemptable. It will be interesting to see if either of these two things remain true after Trump is gone.

I give it as much chance as either of those Connecticut boys remaining transwomen after their athletic career is over.

tim in vermont said...

I will say a good word about Jimmy Carter. He was well meaning.

jack said...

Fact: President Carter enlisted in the military and served his country honorably.

Fact: President Trump did everything he could to avoid serving in the military.

tim in vermont said...

It's safer to drink fracking fluid than Mountain Dew. Google brominated vegetable oil.

gahrie said...

Check that fact. Pretty sure he "served on a nuclear submarine, not that he had any scientific expertise

He never actually served on a nuke...he got out before we had one. But he did go to nuke school. He wasn't a scientist, probably not even an engineer...more of a mechanic."

Despite his studies in engineering and his BS from the naval academy.


His degree was in physics. He spent 6 months studying nuclear power plants immediately prior to leaving the service, and never served on a nuclear sub, or in maintaining a nuclear pile. His only real experience with nuclear energy was grunt work disassembling a reactor that had melted down. He has no record of working with nuclear energy prior to 1952, and was out of the Navy before the end of 1953.

His campaign implied that he was a nuclear engineer who had served on nuke subs while in the service.

tim in vermont said...

fact: Hitler served in his nation’s military honorably during the Great War.
fact: FDR didn’t.

gahrie said...

One of the two new submarines being built was the Seawolf, and Carter taught nuclear engineering to its handpicked crew."

When? He left the service immediately after finishing a six month training program on nuclear energy and long before the Seawolf was built.

DKWalser said...

I'm glad Greg brought up Masterpiece Bakery. Hickenlooper was the head of Colorado's state government at the time. While he didn't personally head the state agency that prosecuted the owner of the shop for his refusal to make a custom wedding cake to honor a same-sex wedding (a wedding that was illegal to perform in Colorado at the time!), he didn't do anything to prevent that agency from riding roughshod over that owner's 1st Amendment rights. Hickenlooper had sworn an oath to defend those rights. I'd prefer someone running for president to have been a little more protective of the rights of others, particularly when having sworn an oath to do so.

Brown Hornet said...

Hickenlooper is 2020's Jon Huntsman. Has zero chance of winning his party's nomination, but his blandness appeals to the squishy center looking for a "safe" vote.

jack said...

"fact: Hitler served in his nation’s military honorably during the Great War."

Someone is actually defending the guy responsible for the extermination of millions.


Evidence that if you give a Right-Winger enough rope he will eventually hang himself.

Laughing my ass off!



rcocean said...

Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, Khrushchev, and Franco were all "war heroes". Julius Rosenberg served in the US Army during WW 2 - "Greatest Generation ever", baby! And Benedict Arnold was also a "war hero".

So, I'm skeptical that being a "war hero" means your political beliefs are better than everyone else's. As for FDR, he was one of our worst Presidents. Good during the Depression - but an absolute disaster during WW 2.

rcocean said...

Hitler was a vegetarian - anybody who agrees with him on that is obviously a Nazi.

rcocean said...

BTW, 80,000 guys were drafted and involuntarily assigned to the Marine Corps in WW 2 ( out of total of 500,000). I wonder how many of these guys spent the rest of their lives puffing their chests out and telling everyone they were just like John Wayne.

D 2 said...

Because the people who wear glasses are the good guys.
"Hey you 20/20 bastards, we'll show you!!"
(possibly Trotsky. Maybe Lenin. And most certainly that Robespierre guy.)

Jim at said...

Laughing my ass off!

The only people laughing are those who are slightly amused at your highly selective criteria for whose military service we should honor.

Fact: Bill Clinton not only dodged the draft, he demonstrated against his country on foreign soil during the Vietnam War.

Jim at said...

Good during the Depression - but an absolute disaster during WW 2.

He was actually worse during the Depression as even Keynesian economists agree his policies prolonged it.

D 2 said...

"Go with 20/80 in 2020"

alanc709 said...

Garhie, he probably meant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Seawolf_(SSN-575), our second nuclear sub, and the one originally designed to use a liquid-metal reactor.

Rick said...

jack said...
Fact: President Carter enlisted in the military and served his country honorably.

Fact: President Trump did everything he could to avoid serving in the military.

3/4/19, 2:18 PM


Bill Clinton avoided the draft as well, revealingly zero left wingers criticized him for doing so. In fact during that election cycle the left argued we shouldn't hold draft dodging against people since it was widespread, ancient history, and a legitimate opposition tactic.

This made sense to most people. We were pretty shocked though that the very people who made this argument on Clinton's behalf turned around and criticized Bush and now Trump on exactly those same terms. Why it's almost like they don't mean anything they say.

Rabel said...

"BTW, 80,000 guys were drafted and involuntarily assigned to the Marine Corps in WW 2 ( out of total of 500,000). I wonder how many of these guys spent the rest of their lives puffing their chests out and telling everyone they were just like John Wayne."

683 of them didn't get the chance.

tim in vermont said...

Think about it a little longer jack.

alanc709 said...

Which military branch did Barack Obama serve in?

Simon Kenton said...

He did sign the state-wide background check and the magazine ban. About 60 out of Colorado's 64 sheriffs reamed him for it as a gross and pointless inconvenience for gun-owning citizens, with no benefits to offset it; he told them to fuck off. Cost the dems the president of the senate and another lefty to recalls, and a third who was about to be recalled when she resigned to spend more time with her family, which permitted the appointment of a replacement democrat. I'm not sure a recall would work now; they were too successful in setting up vote-harvest mechanisms.

The nickname among gunowners is Lickenpooper.

It was McCaskill who announced she was not one of the crazy democrats. Didn't save her. Hickenlooper is going for the moderate tag, apparently with some success if he can interest Ms Althouse, but when the chips are down, when it is another unconscionable Masterpiece Cake situation, or an attempt to set up on the federal level the vote reaping (no more than 10 ballots per person) that have turned Colorado blue, he will vote with the crazies.

Clyde said...

Too white and too male for the party of identity politics. I don't see him winning any primaries.

Sebastian said...

"apparently with some success if he can interest Ms Althouse, but when the chips are down, when it is another unconscionable Masterpiece Cake situation, or an attempt to set up on the federal level the vote reaping (no more than 10 ballots per person) that have turned Colorado blue, he will vote with the crazies."

Yes, but he is moderate and serious and not a hack! OK, so as a Dem he must do Dem things. He will bring in Dems to do those things. Most Dems are crazy. But he is a moderate and serious and not a hack!

Don't underestimate the Althousian powers of post-hoc rationalization. If it's Amy or Hick, and they take a sharp left turn, "unexpectedly," she'll come up with something. And by the way, the baker should know better than to be a bigot about buggery.

And if that doesn't work, if it turns out that to save women's bodes she actually sold her soul to the actually insane left, there's always the Althousian fallback. "It's so sad."

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

the baker should know better than to be a bigot

Unlike the politically congruent restaurant owner who forced couples out of her restaurant, the baker prepared a cake for the couplet.

hstad said...

Yeah, what a tongue tied name! Try this combo - Hickenlooper/Klobucher for 2020!

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