Newsum named Caldara "Disgrace of the Week" for Merrifield comments
Following an April 2 Colorado Media Matters item about Newsradio 850 KOA host and Independence Institute president Jon Caldara's remark that an email disparaging charter school supporters sent by state Rep. Mike Merrifield (D-Manitou Springs) was "more embarrassing" than the sexually explicit electronic messages former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) sent to underage congressional pages, KBDI Channel 12's Colorado Inside Out regular panelist Dani Newsum named Caldara the "Disgrace of the Week."
From the April 6 broadcast of KBDI Channel 12's Colorado Inside Out:
DOMINIC DEZZUTTI [executive producer/guest host]: We have shorter time than usual, so trim your "Disgrace of the Week."
[...]
NEWSUM: [Independence Institute research director] Dave Kopel's boss, Jon Caldara, who seems to be losing brain cells with his hair, he was dissing Mike Merrifield and equating, or at least saying that his email, his email about charter school supporters was worse than Mark Foley's predatory behavior toward male pages. Please, give me a break.
As Colorado Media Matters noted, Caldara claimed during the March 29 broadcast of his show that Merrifield's email -- in which he said charter school supporters deserve "a special place in hell" -- was "more embarrassing" than the sexually explicit electronic communications Foley sent to underage congressional pages. "The difference is Mark Foley wanted to screw young boys. These people want to screw our children," Caldara said of Merrifield and other legislators who hold similar positions on education issues.
The Rocky Mountain News reported March 31 that Merrifield apologized for the email and resigned his chairmanship of the House Education Committee.
The "Disgrace of the Week" is a weekly segment on Colorado Inside Out.
—T.S.P.
Comments (7) Show
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National Republican and Religious leaders defended Foley and enabled his behavior - which he conveniently went into rehad to cure.
Merrifield took the heat and took responsibility.
That's the difference between D's and R's.
Note to Dani: Drop the reference to Jon's hairline. Dave Kopel used the same non sequitur when criticizing Paul Campos in his bi-weekly column in the Rocky a few weeks ago. A person's hairstyle is irrelevant to any political discussion.
rocky
ZAP-
Do you REALLY want to stand by your statement above? Merrifield is STILL on the board, and intends to once again LEAD it next session! How exactly is that taking "responsibility?"
And I just can't let your totally rediculous generalization of the differences between R's and D's pass...
William Jefferson, (D) LA: $90,000 of payoff money in his freezer and misuse of resources during Katrina rescue operations to recover it. Still serving in Congress.
Senator Jim Webb, (D) VA: Still serving after revelations of authoring fictional child-porn stories. Good representation there.
Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid's connections to Jack Abramoff and his sleazy Nevada land deals: Still the Majority Leader.
Murtha, Pelozi, Schumer... All still serving. Shall I go on?
Tom Delay: Gone (because of following REPUBLICAN ethics rules even though he's not been convicted of a thing)
Trent Lott: Gone in a microsecond!
Foley: Gone with a Republican boot print on his butt.
Denny Hastert: Gone!
Shall I go on?
And before you respond with lists of your own, I'm simply challenging your generalization. I readily admit to transgressions on both sides, but don't make me laugh by saying all Democrats take responsibility for misdeeds and all Republicans don't.
He resigned from his committee chair.
He's keeping the seat the public elected him to. They didn't want Haggard's hand picked flunky in 2006 and they probably won't want him next time out, either.
Jefferson should get no support from Dem Leadership. Frankly, those NO voters are idiots. As to all the felons and child predators on the right, I guess we're lucky Karl's little USAttorney plan wasn't in place earlier.
"Honor and integrity" "responsibility""adults in charge" "rule of law" ---- all phony rhetoric from (R) campaigners who never intend to keep their promises.
And yes, you can stop now.
What I find most upsetting is that Democrats and Republicans are saying to each other: "Yes, my party has corrupt individuals, but your party is equally as bad." What I would like to hear is: "So, I see that both our parties have gone over a decade without an indictment or conviction. I think we're heading in the right direction." It's possible, but unlikely, given the history of corruption in politics the world over.
'
Amen to that, RNF. Probably unlikely because generally, power corrupts. You're right: The whole of human history on the planet is rife with tales of those who have power, those who want power, and all the ugly things that happen when that power is transfered...
Zap: I promise I won't make another list, but I can think of many, many elected officials with a "D" after their name that wouldn't know honor, integrity, responsibility, the rule of law OR a promise if it smacked them in the face.
Again, sweeping generalizations do not serve your arguement well.
Hey Spongy, can you please tell me who appointed you the omniscient arbiter of all postings on this website? By what devine mandate are you authorized to judge how people think or how they express their sentiments about public officials in an open forum? Excuse me, but I didn't get the memo announcing your promotion to intellectual god of the universe. If you don't like what people say here and how they say, then perhaps your interests would be better served by your frequenting a website more to your intellectual style, say bitchyrepublicansasswipes.com?
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