I wrote the following letter to the Denver Post a week ago in response to an article about oil and gas regulations “no longer (being a) hot button issue in (the) governor’s race“:

The Denver Post seems to be buying into John Hickenlooper’s campaign strategy of running as a moderate.  But Coloradoans have been fooled once already by a so-called “moderate, pro-business” Democrat in a race for governor and won’t be fooled again.  This energy-moderate Hick is the same guy who went to Copenhagen to hob-nob with the world’s foremost opponents of real energbilly production, who called self-proclaimed Communist and environmentalist radical Van Jones a “rock star", and whose every reference to global warming skeptics concludes by saying he wants to “bring them over to our side.” (How eerily cult-like that is…)

John Hickenlooper is only a moderate – on energy, taxes, and every other important issue – in the sense that he talks like a conservative when he thinks conservatives are listening, and talks (and acts) like an ordinary regulate-and-tax-and-spend liberal the rest of the time.  Hickenlooper reminds me of nobody so much as the man whose head is in the oven and feet are in the freezer, so on average his temperature is “moderate".

Allow me to elaborate given that I don’t have to abide by the Post’s word-count restrictions…

This is the same John Hickenlooper who said that the self-avowed Communist and hater of energy companies, Van Jones, is “a rock star” and is “bigger and better in life than what  you’ve heard."  I’d hope he’s better Mayor Hickenlooper, because what I’ve heard makes him sound like a toxic mix of economic idiot, leftist radical, and traitor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyB2SD3JjNI

If that’s the sort of person Hick finds insipring, then he will end up being no more “moderate” in office than Bill Ritter was.  Remember, Ritter ran as a pro-business moderate Democrat.  His first action was then to allow collective bargaining by the state employee work force and his later actions were to do everything in his power to raise taxes while avoiding cutting salaries of government workers whose numbers he increased by hundreds during his own employment freeze.  (Ritter was forced to enact furlough days to cut costs which is much like a salary cut, but those furlough days might not have been necessary – or at least fewer would have been necessary – had Ritter abided by his own hiring freeze.)

Like most people, Hickenlooper probably speaks most freely when he’s around people whom he believes to be fellow travelers. One of those might be unreconstructed-hippie Denver Post columnist Mike Littwin, who had this to say about Hick: “Hickenlooper is, of course, the very green mayor who is running to be a very green governor.”

Don’t forget what “green” means today.  Today’s greens are actually watermelons: Green on the outside and red on the inside.  Hickenlooper is almost certainly not even close to as radical a leftist as Van Jones or Barack Obama, but how much environmentalist leftism is too much?  In my view, any amount is too much, especially with our having a national government so determined to shove enviro-radical policies down our throats. The last thing we need is a sympathetic governor even if he might not go quite as far as Obama and Lisa Jackson’s EPA if left to his own devices.  He certainly won’t work to slow down their destruction of Colorado’s energy industry in particular and the American economy in general.

Hickenritter wants to say he’s against cap-and-trade and not entirely certain about climate change, but his rhetoric is that of a global-warming-kool-aid-drinking liberal.

He attended the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit where he was interviewed, along with the global warming activism leader for Greenpeace, by a leftist TV show.  (See video below thanks to WhoSaidYouSaid.com starting around the 4 minute mark and see transcript HERE)

How’s this for some rational, open-minded rhetoric from the so-called “moderate” would-be governor?

“But a lot of the skeptics, we need to bring them together, sit down, and continue to work through this and bring them over to our side, because I think there’s a reason why Obama—it’s not because he’s a coward or he’s a, you know—17 percent is something he felt that he could sell.”

Or this: “And I think what Obama is trying to do is thread the needle and bring the country together around this issue. And I think my belief of this is nothing—I have no inside knowledge, but I think he’s trying to find some moderate goals that we can all accept, agree as a country, this is a problem, here’s a target, we’re going to move forward, and then accelerate that as he gets a broader consensus.”

Are you kidding me, Mayor?  Where is the slightest shred of evidence that Obama is a consensus-builder, or that he cares whether the country agrees with his radical goals?

Hick then went on to compare Obama to Abraham Lincoln.   Not kidding.

And then he starting going misty-eyed about how the Danish ride bikes to work more than Coloradoans do.  What part of “Nanny State” does Hickenlooper not understand that Americans object to?

But in the end, he came back to the real point of climate alarmists – getting your money, when he said “certainly, dramatically, we need billions of dollars…”

Hickenlooper is, like the current fraud of a governor, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.  Ritter proved that there is no such thing as a trustworthy “moderate” Democrat during his reign of incompetence and growth of government and taxes.  The majority of “Blue Dog” members of the House of Representatives reinforced the point: For Democrats in recent weeks and months, the party normally trumps principle, good government, and the wishes of constituents.  This is not to say that Republicans have a lot to be proud of in recent years, but it seems fairly clear to me that with Scott McInnis you know what you’re getting – even if it’s not massively inspiring.  At least you won’t be swindled – again.

Hickenlooper, just like every other Democrat running as a “moderate” (unless they have a truly moderate voting record on major issues) must not be trusted to govern as anything but a puppet of unions, left-wing activist organizations, and, ultimately Barack Obama.

When you fill out your ballot, just remember the words of the Who:

Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
Don’t get fooled again
No, no!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss…