I said a flop flop, a flippy, a flippy to the flip flip flop:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
After getting hammered on social issues upon entering the Colorado Senate race, Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) has flipped his stance on strict abortion restrictions known as personhood.
In an interview with The Denver Post on Friday Gardner, who recently jumped into the race to defeat Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO), said he couldn't support personhood anymore. Critics of personhood have said that the proposal effectively outlaws all types of birth control.
"This was a bad idea driven by good intentions," Gardner told the Denver newspaper. "I was not right. I can't support personhood now. I can't support personhood going forward. To do it again would be a mistake."
Gardner's decision to switch stances comes after Democrats focused their early attacks against the newly declared Senate candidate and GOP favorite on social issues. Liberal organizations highlighted a video of Gardner in a 2010 debate where, as a state lawmaker, touted his support for personhood and helped efforts to get the issue on the Colorado ballot. - TPM, 3/22/14
Here's a little more info:
http://www.denverpost.com/...
He did not say when he changed his mind on personhood, but said he began examining it more closely after voters rejected it by a 3-to-1 margin in 2010.
"The fact that it restricts contraception, it was not the right position," Gardner said. "I've learned to listen. I don't get everything right the first time. There are far too many politicians out there who take the wrong position and stick with it and never admit that they should do something different."
Udall's campaign spokesman, Chris Harris, pointed out that Gardner the last two years co-sponsored the Life Begins at Conception Act, which defines a human being as "a member of the species homo sapiens" at the moment of fertilization. He said it was basically a federal version of the personhood amendment, a position with which Gardner's campaign disagrees.
"Coloradans will see through this cheap election-year stunt," Harris said. "Gardner is showing a profound lack of respect for Colorado voters. Coloradans want a senator who always promotes and protects women's health, not one who simply pretends to during election years."
Gardner conceded that with his new position on personhood, he might be accused of flip-flopping simply to make himself more palatable to statewide voters.
But he pointed to Udall, who in a 2012 opinion piece in Politico explained how his views had changed to the point where he supported marriage for same-sex couples.
"It was perhaps best said by Mark Udall, who said a good-faith re-examination of a position you've held in the past should be seen as a virtue, not a vice," Gardner said.
After Gardner entered the Senate race, liberal groups distributed a video of a 2010 congressional debate featuring Gardner, then a state lawmaker, and others vying for the GOP nomination for Congress.
Gardner says in the debate that he not only supported personhood, he also collected petition signatures at his church to put the issue on the ballot.
Voters in 2008 and 2010 defeated nearly identical personhood measures.
"The voters of Colorado have spoken on this issue," Gardner said Friday. "To me, that's the end of it." - Denver Post, 3/21/14
Touche on calling out Udall's switch in support of marriage equality but then again Udall has always had a great record on LGBT issues and women's health whereas Gardner has had a terrible record on both LGBT rights and women's health. And at least Udall's been pushing to make marriage equality legal in Colorado so actions speak louder than words. But lets get real about Gardner's change of heart here:
http://www.coloradoindependent.com/...
Let’s be honest (we can start with you, Cory), he had no choice here. Gardner knows he had to take his medicine and try to get it out of the way early. This is a non-starter, after all. Twice “personhood” has gone before Colorado voters, and each time it has lost by a 3-to-1 count. Gardner says the people have spoken, but, by my count, they spoke about four years ago – and Gardner didn’t say anything about it until he entered the Senate race against Mark Udall.
Why now?
Because, Gardner says, he’s willing to listen – presumably to his campaign people. At other points in his life, he happily, and publicly, passed out petitions for “personhood” at his church, just to show how fundamental this principle was for him.
He’ll be asked about the timeline. Because, as the Udall campaign points out, it’s hard to pin down the exact moment of Gardner’s change of heart. For the last two years in the House, Gardner was a co-sponsor of the Life Begins at Conception Act, which is pretty much the federal version of “personhood,” because it says, well, that life begins at conception, which, it seems to me, is the whole point of “personhood.”
Here’s an educated guess: We can figure that the very moment Gardner conceived of entering the Senate race was also the very moment the idea of dumping “personhood” was born. - The Colorado Independent, 3/21/14
Now Gardner's campaign claims that Udall wants to make this race all about social issues to get out of not talking about the Affordable Care Act. Two points to make here. 1. Though Gardner may have changed his position on this issue, he still has a lot of other issues to hit Gardner on:
http://www.denverpost.com/...
Despite Udall's support for the Affordable Care Act, his bid for a second term in the Senate was viewed as a second-tier race until Gardner jumped in.
Republicans called it "game changing." Democrats admit they are perplexed at the red-carpet reception, considering Gardner's record.
Denver pollster Floyd Ciruli calls it the Ronald Reagan syndrome.
"A good smile and a positive outlook takes you a long way," Ciruli said.
In both the Colorado legislature and in Congress, Gardner made himself accessible to the media. His one-liners and ability to dissect complex legislation make him a favorite.
Gardner's conservative record, Ciruli said, doesn't define him in the way that former Congressman Tom Tancredo is linked to immigration and former Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave is known for her position on gay marriage.
"Cory's held meetings on bread-and-butter, meat-and-potato, (Chamber of Commerce) kind of issues, such as water and agriculture," Ciruli said.
But the left noted that Gardner sponsored legislation in both the Colorado legislature and in Congress to outlaw abortion, and in 2010 he circulated petitions in Colorado for the "personhood" amendment that critics contend would have outlawed some forms of birth control.
Gardner has refused to say whether he supported the attempt by 11 counties — all but one of which are in his congressional district — to secede from Colorado last year.
On immigration, on women's issues and on budget issues, Gardner is wrong for Colorado, Democrats contend.
"Cory Gardner may be a more polished candidate than the other Republicans who entered that race, but I think once Colorado voters understand what his positions are, they'll quickly fall out of love with him," said Amy Runyon-Harms, executive director of the liberal group ProgressNow Colorado. - The Denver Post, 3/21/14
2. Udall hasn't been running away from the Affordable Care Act. In fact, he's been opening up about how it's been good for his family and other families:
http://www.startribune.com/...
Under fire for his support of the Affordable Care Act, Sen. Mark Udall said President Barack Obama's landmark legislation isn't perfect but has benefited many, including his own family.
During a visit to an energy conservation company on Thursday, the Colorado Democrat said the law has allowed his 23-year-old daughter to stay on the family health plan. In addition, he said, he was happy with the coverage and savings he got by purchasing a plan on the state health insurance exchange.
Udall offered the endorsement as he faces re-election and is coming under fire for his 2009 vote in favor of the health care reform law. Now, he says he supports fixing the act, not repealing it.
"The system we had before was broken," Udall said, asserting that the law is a net positive for the country and that Coloradans want it fixed rather than repealed.
Udall is being hammered during the campaign over what critics call shortcomings in the new law. A $970,000 ad campaign by the conservative Americans for Prosperity contends that "Obamacare just doesn't work" and urges viewers to "tell Sen. Udall to stop thinking about politics and start thinking about people."
On Friday, the Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC announced it will spend $550,000 to air an ad countering that campaign. The PAC says the attacks come from insurance companies and out-of-state billionaires supporting Udall's likely opponent, Republican Rep. Cory Gardner. - Star Tribune, 3/21/14
And you can expect to hear Udall talk more about the ACA and the Kochs during the campaign:
http://www.coloradostatesman.com/...
“It’s no surprise that the radical Koch brothers are planning to spend millions to prop up Congressman Cory Gardner,” said Udall campaign communications director Chris Harris. “He has been a reliable vote for their radical agenda that would end Medicare as we know it, slash Social Security for our seniors, and go back to the days when insurance companies could deny you coverage for a preexisting condition. Coloradans want their leaders to fight for Colorado families, not radical special interests.”
Udall took aim at the ad’s public sponsors, too, quipping, “Koch is bad for you in any form or fashion, by the way,” in a fiery stump speech at the Adams County Democratic assembly on Saturday in Brighton.
“They’re going to spend millions of dollars to tear me down. They don’t want me in the Senate because they know I fight for Colorado’s interest, not the Koch brothers’ interests,” Udall said. “We sure as heck aren’t going to take our cues from dark-money groups that bombard the airwaves with ads trying to buy a Senate seat. You can’t buy a Senate seat in Colorado, you have to earn a Senate seat in Colorado.”
In an interview with The Statesman, however, Harris said that his boss didn’t plan on shying away from talking about Obamacare.
“Sen. Udall knows that health care affects all Colorado families, including his family. It’s something we need to get right. We need to fix what’s wrong with the law, but we can’t go backwards to where we were before,” Harris said.
“He absolutely thinks we cannot go back to letting insurance companies make decisions for Colorado residents,” Harris continued, adding that “costs spiraling out of control” were a hallmark of the health insurance landscape before the law started going into effect. “No family should ever have coverage denied to them because of preexisting conditions, and that’s where we were before. Coloradans know we can’t go back to the way the health care system was, when people would lose coverage if they hit an annual or lifetime cap or people could get denied care simply because they had a preexisting condition.” - The Colorado Statesman, 3/21/14
This race is just getting started folks. If you want to donate or get involved with Udall's re-election campaign, you can do so here:
http://markudall.com/