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| Cory Gardner |
As the new Republican US Senate majority debates Keystone,
one freshman deserves our attention: US Senator Cory Gardner (R-Colorado), a
profile in savvy politicking, consistent campaigning, and long-standing
integrity to the conservative cause. Lately, the national press highlighted his
victory in light-blue Colorado. Inevitably, he has become a relentless target
of the Left’s subtle attempt to rewrite their epic losses as seeming victories,
trying to explain how Cory did it.
As a Well-respected lawmaker in the Colorado State House,
Gardner never wavered from fiscal discipline, or protecting life and family. An
early Who’s Who among Republicans, Gardner caught the Tea Party wave of 2010.
While his Congressional campaign succeeded, his Republican
US Senate campaign counterpart, Ken Buck, failed. No one should dampen their
fire for the cause, but candidates must reorient for a statewide and national
audience, plus the weary bias of the liberal media. Buck in 2010 was unprepared
for prime time. Neither was Gardner, but at least he was working his way up. Learning
from the Tea Party movement’s failures in 2010, Colorado Republicans in 2014 coordinated
with Gardner and Buck to rearrange and redirect their ambitions. Gardner would
run for US Senate, and Buck would replace Gardner in the House of
Representatives.
From this first of many brilliant move in the 2014 Colorado
US Senate race, Gardner then capitalized on a s then hold his Democratic
opponent Mark Udall (and President Obama) accountable for the myriad failures
of Obamacare, energy frustration, and the economic recovery hurting working
Americans.
In one debate, Gardner set up Udall to defend his 99% voting
record with President Obama. Udall goofed big time:
Udall: I am the
senator that the White House fears most when they see me marching across the
White House lawn.
Even
CNN laughed Udall’s assertion to scorn.
In further desperate attacks, A Deadspin hit-piece
insinuated that Gardner lied about his high school football career. Gardner
slammed the false story with one picture.
Unlike candidates in 2012, Gardner tore down the Democratic Party and Udall’s
“War on Women” rhetoric. In
this ad, Gardner brilliantly segued from
over-the-counter contraception to the chief failures of Obamacare: blocking
individual Americans from their doctors. In one of the Colorado
Congressman’s best commercials, he deftly casts aside the frequently
negative and false campaign ads of his challenger, Gardner then turns the
conversation to better energy, a stronger economy, and . . . protecting the
environment? Yes, Colorado, Republicans care about the trees, too.
Gardner’s did not just ride the strong anti-Democrat sentiment,
but stole the rhetoric of the Left, all the while promoting the conservative cause.
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| Michelle Malkin |
Now, the liberal chattering class is attempting to downplay Gardner’s
win, as though the the freshman Senator really is a closet liberal.
If you look at
last night, the Republicans who did well didn't run conventional campaigns. I
think of a guy like Cory Gardner, who was able to defeat Mark Udall in part
because he ran a different type of campaign. He was a different type of
Republican.
Chen undermines his own observations. Running a
different campaign does not make anyone a different person. Instead, the
Colorado Senator’s seamless outreach expanded his message, and resonated with
otherwise unsure votes, confused by the hostile, inflammatory, and misleading
Democratic talking points.
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| The Denver Post endorsed Cory Gardner |
The Denver Post clearly acknowledged their differences with Gardner, but endorsed him
anyway:
If Gardner had been a cultural warrior
throughout his career, we would hesitate to support him, because we strongly
disagree with him on same-sex marriage and abortion rights. But in fact he has
emphasized economic and energy issues (and was, for example, an early supporter
among Republicans of renewable energy).
The Denver Post certainly did not call Gardner a
leftist, and exit polls showed that pro-choice voters favoring pro-life Cory. If anything, Gardner’s win should embolden
Republicans to stick to their moral stance on life, marriage, and individual
liberty.
Another
left-wing propaganda vehicle, the New York Times, also tried to smear Gardner’s win as a
covert progressive operation:
Gardner prevailed by jettisoning most of his own
conservative baggage.
Gardner’s record and campaign confirm that he jettisoned nothing, but shaped his rhetoric to focus on problem-solving. Regarding his stance on immigration, Gardner is in no way an amnesty cheerleader. His office staff affirmed his commitment to a secure border, ending easy access to government benefits, yet a willingness to discuss a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrant youth brought here as children. He also rejected the Obamacare of immigration bills passed in the 2013 US Senate.
Gardner is pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-Second Amendment, pro-tax reform, pro-limited government, a signer of the Grover Norquist No Tax pledge, and this conservative Republican triumphed in slightly blue Colorado.
No wonder the Left hates (and I like) Cory!)
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| US Senator Cory Gardner's swearing-in on the US Senate floor |
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