DSCC Hammers Buck, Hill For Shutdown Support

GOP Senate candidates Ken Buck and Owen Hill.

Perhaps in response to yesterday's ridiculous Denver Post story, attempting to characterize Colorado GOP Senate candidates as "outsiders" during the government shutdown controversy, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee renews the attack on Ken Buck and Owen Hill for their undeniable and explicit support of the Ted Cruz-led plot to coerce "Obamacare" into submission:

Owen Hill and Ken Buck should be ashamed of recklessly and irresponsibly supporting a continuation of the government shutdown. For more than two weeks, Hill and Buck continued to embrace the extreme Washington Republican position on the shutdown that hurt Colorado’s economy, wasted taxpayer dollars. and had devastating effects for hard-working families across the state. Hill and Buck could have advocated for ending the shutdown weeks ago, but chose to put their reckless partisanship ahead of what was best for Colorado by supporting holding the government and the economy hostage and putting the full faith and credit of the United States at risk.

Owen and Hill’s recklessness and irresponsibility forecasts major problems for each of them in 2014. While Buck and Hill aligned themselves with extreme Tea Party Senator Ted Cruz, Mark Udall worked to end the shutdown.

Owen Hill and Ken Buck’s government shutdown cost the economy at least $24 billion dollars and shaved 0.6% off the nation’s economic growth. Voters will not reward the recklessness and irresponsibility Hill and Buck demonstrated in refusing to abandon their support for the government shutdown.

“For more than two weeks, Owen Hill and Ken Buck shamefully supported continuing the government shutdown that hurt Colorado’s economy and their recklessness and irresponsibility has no place in elected office let alone the U.S. Senate, said Justin Barasky, as spokesman at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, “Buck and Hill had countless opportunities to advocate for an end the reckless and irresponsible government shutdown but instead they repeatedly cheered on fellow Tea Partiers and failed to do the right thing for Colorado by putting partisanship ahead of what’s best for their state and the country.  In 2014, Coloradans will remember that Hill and Buck had no interest in fighting for them.”

Throughout the shutdown, poll after poll showed that Americans blame the GOP. An NBC/WSJ poll last week showed the Republican party with a record low 24% approval rating. 70% of Americans said Republicans were putting their own politics before the good of the country during the shutdown debate.

This is one press release worth clicking through to read the supporting documentation. Both Buck and Hill signed the pledge backing Cruz in his strategy to force the defunding of the Affordable Care Act. During the crisis, Buck's campaign repeatedly engaged on social media using the #StandWithCruz hashtag. Hill says he is "all for" the campaign against Obamacare, and likewise signed the Senate Conservatives Fund pledge to support Cruz and the hard-right faction in Congress that instigated the shutdown.

Knowing that, now you can do a better job informing your friends than the state's newspaper of record.

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This time Gardner says he’s ready to allow government shutdown to repeal Obamacare

(Priorities – Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Last month, Rep. Cory Gardner said he'd block an extension of the federal debt ceiling to "reduce the size and scope of government."

Today, Gardner stated on the radio that he'd allow the government to shut down, by holding up annual budget negotiations, in order to repeal Obamacare, explaining that "if the government gets shut down, it's going to be the President's decision to do so."

KOA's Mike Rosen let Gardner's salvo go by as if Gardner were talking about the weather.

Rosen: "Perhaps we can talk about some other items on the agenda, such as the current dispute, even with the Republican Party, about whether Republicans, who have a majority in the House, ought to take a stand now, as the continuing resolution question comes up, take a stand on Obamacare, and refuse to fund it, while at the same time, agreeing with a continuing resolution that would allow the rest of the federal government to operate. Have you got a position on that?

Gardner: I want to do anything and everything I can to stop Obamacare from destroying our health care, from driving up increases in costs. Whether that's through the continuing resolution, I want to defund everything that we can….

Rosen: There's a political concern that if the Republicans stand their ground on this [repealing Obamacare], they are going to be blamed for shutting down the government.

Gardner: Well, I think if the government gets shut down, it's going to be the President's decision to do so. I believe that we don't need to shut down the government because we ought to just lift this health-care bill out of the way and let America work.

Listen to Gardner saying he'll shut down government to repeal Obamacare 8.1.13

Rosen should invite Gardner back for a full discussion about the economic and political ramifications of a move by the House Republicans to block funding Obamacare and shut down the government in the process.

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