Maddow, Bartels explore Gardner personhood flip for national audience

[dropcap]N[/dropcap]ational media is now picking up on a Colorado politics story that has been unfolding for weeks, seeing the U.S. Senate race between Congressman Cory Gardner and incumbent Senator Mark Udall as a prime example of the struggle Republican candidates in the Tea Party-era are very publicly experiencing as they try to connect with voters beyond the far-right corner of the electorate.

Team Udall sent out “must see” links on Friday to a rough 15-minute segment on Thursday night’s Rachel Maddow Show, in which the host chats with Denver Post reporter Lynn Bartels about how Gardner recently backed off his long-time support for anti-abortion personhood laws. Although the hardline “life begins at conception” position has not been a liability in Gardner’s conservative rural congressional district, large majorities of the state population he is now trying to win over have voted in landslides against such proposals for nearly a decade.

Maddow opens with the Udall campaign’s first TV ad, which slams Gardner for the flip.

“Mr. Gardner’s official response to that ad is basically that he didn’t understand the legislation that he sponsored,” she says. “He didn’t understand his own legislation any of the times he sponsored it, year, after year, after year …”

The Colorado Independent is a statewide online news source operating in a time when spin is plentiful, but factual, fair and unflinching news in the public interest is all too rare. Our award-winning team of veteran investigative and explanatory reporters and news columnists aims to amplify the voices of Coloradans whose stories are unheard, shine light on the relationships between people, power and policy, and hold public officials to account. We strive to report the news with context, social conscience, and soul, and to give Coloradans the insight they need to promote conversation, understanding and progress in this square, swing state we call home.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Gardner’s tongue twisting dilemma would make Sir Walter Scott proud. “Oh what tangled webs we weave when at first we practice to deceive”.

    “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt”. Abe Lincoln

Comments are closed.