Flunking his midterms

As the election nears, "voters are giving President Obama his midterm report card, and his grade so far is F," says John Andrews in the October round of Head On TV debates. Maybe, rejoins Susan Barnes-Gelt, but people are almost as unhappy with Republicans as with Democrats. John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month over Colorado races for senator and governor, congressional matchups and this year's ballot issues, and the Denver mayor's animus toward autos. Head On has been a daily feature on Colorado Public Television since 1997. Here are all five scripts for August: 1. OBAMA GETS HIS REPORT CARD

John: “Mr. President, is this my new reality?” Those polite words from a disappointed and recession-weary supporter on national television showed how far Barack Obama has fallen from the triumph of 2008. A black woman government employee, the very essence of his base, about to walk away. Obama faces a rough midterm.

Susan: Two years does not a presidency make. Recall Reagan and Clinton? Obama's supporters are frustrated-as are most Americans. Thanks to Republican economic policy, the hole is deeper than anyone expected. A one trick pony won't trump a full house.

John: Voters in this election are not only going to elect a Republican House and a more conservative Senate. They are giving President Obama his midterm report card, and his grade so far is F. It’s too bad, because America suffers when a president fails. If he wants to rebound, the socialism has to stop.

Susan: The only people voters like less than Democratic Congressionals are Republican house and senate members. Newt Gingrich’s vicious, hateful screed added to the small mindedness of the Republican leadership appeal to humanities basest instincts. American voters – left, right and center are better than that – much better.

2. GOVERNOR’S RACE

John: Colorado’s next governor, whoever it is, will take office with undesirable baggage. We need a governor with conservative principles, character, and competence. Democrat John Hickenlooper is liberal and slippery. Republican Dan Maes is impossible to trust. Tom Tancredo deserted the Republicans and became a political privateer. I can’t vote for any of them.

Susan: John you care too much about Colorado not to show up- and that's not voting translates to. That sage wise man, Woody Allen got it right when he said, "80-percent of success is showing up! On the other hand, I admire your integrity regarding the R’s.

John: Nothing personal against Maes, Tancredo, or Hickenlooper. They just don’t meet my standard for a chief executive who’s fit to lead Colorado. Our constitution gives most of the power to the legislature anyway. The key to reviving prosperity, and balancing the budget, is electing a Republican House and Senate.

Susan: Your points about legislative power are technically correct, but the gov controls the bully pulpit. Hickenlooper and Republican control of the Senate or Housep could be an opportunity – given Hickenlooper’s truly non-partisan nature and centrist values. I’d like to agree with your analysis John, but then we’d both be wrong!

3. SENATE RACE

John: The decency, toughness, and common sense of Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck seem to have scared the appointed Democratic senator, Michael Bennet, out of his wits. Rather than explain his own record as an Obama puppet, Bennet is spending millions on smear ads to demonize Buck. It won’t work.

Susan: Buck is just another politician. Now he's backpedaling hard to distance himself from his extremist statements. He wants government out of our pockets but in our bedrooms? He wants to privatize veteran's care? Who is this masked man?

John: Michael Bennet was okay as school superintendent, but he’s a weak senator. He should have stayed at DPS. I know Bennet and I know Buck. Buck gets my vote because he’s strong. We worked together on fighting illegal immigration and liberal judges. In Washington Buck will fight Obamacare and the big spenders.

Susan: Your reasons for preferring Buck are precisely why he won’t be Colorado’s junior Senator. Too conservative, too reactionary –pandering to the furthest right Republican wing. That and his antiquated patronizing view of women means he’s alienated too many centrists – male & female. He can’t win without ‘em.

4. COLORADO CONGRESSIONAL RACES

Susan: How about those congressional races? Betsy Markey may be the most vulnerable incumbent, running in the conservative 4th District. Yet most pundits rate the race as a toss-up because as a former businesswoman, Markey is smart and practical. I admire her because unlike most of these pandering incumbents, she's clear about her principles.

John: Principles, ha! Markey has zigzagged shamelessly on issues like cap and tax, the stimulus, and Obamacare. Pelosi may cut her off. Republican Cory Gardner wins the seat back. John Salazar in the 3rd district is another endangered Democrat. Scott Tipton likely defeats him. Democrat Ed Perlmutter of Golden isn’t safe either.

Susan: John Salazar and Ed Perlmutter will both prevail. Ryan Frazier hasn’t got the horsepower to beat Perlmutter and Salazar’s conservative record and strong roots in Southern Colorado will hold fast. Colorado’s Congressional Delegation will stay the same, Markey’s authenticity is sharp contrast to pandering politicos. She wins.

John: Congressional Democrats are like a ball team that can’t hit. Send’em to the showers. Put in Republicans to control spending and spur prosperity. Out with Markey, in with Gardner. Out with Salazar, in with Tipton. Replace Permutter with Frazier. Trade Polis for Bailey. Elect Fallon and dump DeGette. Clean house!

5. COLORADO BALLOT ISSUES

Susan: Doug Bruce's destroy Colorado campaign rides again! November's ballot has 3 issues: 60, 61 and 101 will decimate Colorado, driving business away, further overcrowding schools and reducing key state services-safety, Higher Ed, and public health. Voters should also say no to Amendment 62. Less government means no government in our bedrooms.

John: Ballot issues protect ordinary Coloradans against arrogant politicians. I’m sympathetic to 60, 61, and 101 as a reinforcement to TABOR, and a source of much-needed tax relief. 62 could save the lives of many unborn babies. 63 says no to Obamacare. But I wonder – do we have too much lawmaking by petition?

Susan: Not a single viable candidate supports 60,61 and 101- that speaks volumes. And yes, we do have too much lawmaking by petition. The social contract between the governing and the governed is the framework for a viable democracy. Whim-driven initiatives weaken that contract, making a farce of representative government.

John: Speaking of that, I’m voting no on Bender, Martinez, and Rice, the Supreme Court justices who gutted TABOR. I support 63 because I don’t want socialized medicine. I support 62 because I oppose killing babies in the womb. 60, 61, and 101 are mighty stringent, but as a taxpayer, I’m tempted.

Say no to NYC jihadist shrine

Freedom of religion settles it as far as building the Ground Zero mosque is concerned, says Susan Barnes-Gelt in the August round of Head On TV debates; so ignore the "dittohead" opposition and build it. Absolutely not, says John Andrews. "To erect a Muslim shrine on a Muslim killing field is just wrong." John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month over Colorado races for senator and governor, a trio of tax-cutting ballot issues, and the Denver mayor's animus toward autos. Head On has been a daily feature on Colorado Public Television since 1997. Here are all five scripts for August: 1. GROUND ZERO MOSQUE

Susan: This country is defined by commitment to freedom of religion. Siting of a Muslim community center two full blocks and around the corner from the 9/ll site in Lower Manhattan is a tempest in a teapot brewed by ditto-heads. You can’t even see Ground Zero from the proposed Cordoba House.

John: The Ground Zero Mosque should not be built. Muslim holy warriors attacked on 9/11 in hope of destroying America. Muslim peacemakers, if they care about America, will join the vast majority of us who oppose this jihadist victory shrine on New York’s hallowed ground. This isn’t religious, it’s a political provocation.

Susan: John, you are too smart and too reasoned to mau-mau the dittoheads on this tough and emotional issue. There are no ‘but fors’ in the de facto motto of these United States is‘e pluribus unum’ - out of many, one. That means my people, your people and their people.

John: The Ground Zero mosque should not be built. Most New Yorkers and most Americans overwhelmingly agree. No one who understands America or loves America would set out to erect a Muslim shrine on a Muslim killing field. The sponsorship isn't identical, but the symbolism is just wrong. Put the mosque somewhere else.

2. THAT WILD GOVERNOR’S RACE

John: Bill Ritter and the Democrats have really failed Colorado. Bad show on the economy, the budget, energy. John Hickenlooper, Mr. Tax Increase, Mr. Sanctuary City, would be no better. Voters are fed up. Hence the Tea Party candidacy of Dan Maes and the maverick move by Tom Tancredo. This is wild.

Susan: Wild? It’s ridiculous. Tom-I’ll quit/you quit Tancredo v. Dan-stranger-to-the-truth Maes are a joke and the very public Hickenlooper endorsement by fiscal conservative Repub’s Mizel, Maffei and Hamilton, is just a drip of the coming deluge. I’m betting Hick wins by 20 points.

John: Colorado is a big diverse state. Coloradans politically tend to be in the center or to the right. A limousine liberal from downtown Denver is the wrong fit for governor. Hickenlooper is defined by tax increases and evasive about his hard-left past. Tancredo will fade. Maes might surprise everyone.

Susan: Operative word – might – Not a chance the guy with a record of failed business enterprises who can’t keep his campaign books straight, who borrows money to pay his mortgage is going to be Colorado’s next guv. Maes, mights, WON’T!

3. BUCK OR BENNET FOR US SENATE?

Susan: Mid-term elections typically favor the out-of-power party – for 2010 that’s the R’s. However Colorado is fundamentally moderate, and independent voters will be turned off by Ken Buck’s flip flops and Tea Party sympathies and murky record of integrity. It’ll be close, but Bennet wins.

John: Appointed Senator Michael Bennet has voted in lockstep with Barack Obama and Harry Reid on one awful bill after another – taxes, spending, socialized medicine, and the list goes on. Bennet’s money saved him in the primary, but the revulsion of swing voters toward all things Democratic will doom him in November.

Susan: Michael Bennet is a lot of things: smart, thoughtful, disciplined and experienced. A quick look at his record confirms that he’s neither ultra-liberal – which is why the uber-progressives supported Romanoff – or a knee-jerk follower.

John: Bennet supported Obama on the huge wasteful stimulus. It failed. He supported Obama’s health care takeover. It’s become an embarrassment. Wrong man, wrong message, wrong moment. Ken Buck is tough, principled, sensible, and real. He’s exactly the right man to take on the mess in Washington.

4. HICKENLOOPER VS. THE AUTOMOBILE?

John: The automobile is the greatest freedom machine ever invented. Mayor Hickenlooper’s wacky vision to replace our personal cars and trucks with government transit and bicycles is one more reason he shouldn’t be governor. Colorado doesn’t need fewer roads as the mayor believes. Nor do we need the fatally flawed Fastracks plan.

Susan: Please don’t tell me you agree with Repub candidate Dan Maes belief that Hick’s support of alternative transportation is part of a wacky international left-wing communist scheme. And when did the Mayor say the state needs fewer roads? It’s both and, not either or.

John: According to John Hickenlooper, the mo-ped mayor who wants to be our next green governor, the big question is, quote, “How do we wean ourselves off automobiles?” That’s the same Hickenlooper who already led the metro area into a fiscal sinkhole called Fastracks. I wonder if this guy can even spell “mobility.”

Susan: Hick – is he a limousine liberal, a moped-mayor, a fast-track fanatic or a bike-lane louie? Regardless, he is on the move. Republican candidate Dan Maes can’t get his foot out of his mouth or his campaign in first gear.

5. BALLOT ISSUES 60, 61 & 101

Susan: Colorado voters must vote NO on ballot issues 60, 61 and 101. Deceptive, job killing proposals, devastating to small business and guaranteeing increased K-12 class sizes by halving the amount of property tax allocated to schools. Bi-partisan economists estimate Prop 101 will cut state revenues by $2Billion.

John: Those three tax cut proposals look pretty good to me at a time when ordinary Coloradans could use some relief. 60, 61, and 101 simply restore the fiscal guardrails of TABOR that liberal judges and politicians have pulled down. State replacement is guaranteed for local education dollars. This helps small business.

Susan: And the replacement is . . .? Monopoly money? Are your son, the Denver policeman. These initiatives guarantee job losses, negative business growth, higher unemployment, dismantled higher ed and degraded roads, highways, state parks and public safety. Perhaps access to medical marijuana is too easy?

John: The world economy is gravely threatened by taxes, spending, and mountains of government debt. Colorado is right in the path of that. Those three tax relief measures, 60, 61, and 101, are strong medicine to fight an epidemic that could run our state bankrupt. The fiscal madness has to stop. I’m voting yes.

Is Maes the man?

For a governor who will turn Colorado right, Republican businessman Dan Maes is "the man for the moment," says John Andrews in the July round of Head On TV debates, reacting to the implosion of previous front-runner Scott McInnis. Susan Barnes-Gelt has scathing words for both GOP contenders while ignoring John Hickenlooper, her fellow Democrat. John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month over Afghanistan, Arizona, the Dems' risk of losing Congress, and Colorado contests for Attorney General, Treasurer, and Secretary of State. Head On has been a daily feature on Colorado Public Television since 1997. Here are all five scripts for July: 1. GOVERNOR’S RACE GETS WEIRD

John: Colorado has not done well with a liberal Democrat as governor. The budget is a disaster and the economy is hurting. Trading Ritter for Hickenlooper won’t change that. We need a conservative governor who is pro-jobs, pro-growth, and pro-taxpayer. The obvious choice is Republican businessman Dan Maes.

Susan: So let’s see – candidate Scott McInnis is a liar/plagarist and Maes is a cheat admittedly defying campaign finance laws. And we want one of these two leading our state? Your suggesting that a cheat trumps a plagarist/liar? A real Hobson’s choice I’d say. You’ve set the bar pretty low, John.

John: McInnis was better suited to lead Colorado than liberal John Hickenlooper, but he forfeited trust with fatal mistakes, so scratch them both. Meanwhile the McInnis legal team, fearing conservative outsider Dan Maes, bloodied him on a minor violation. Dirty stuff. But the incorruptible Maes is still the man for the moment.

Susan: You'd better hope McInnis stays in, wins the August 10 primary, drops out and let's the Republican party select a new candidate. Otherwise you're saying that cheater cheater pumpkin eater is a better choice than liar liar pants on fire?

2. DOWN-BALLOT RACES IN COLORADO

John: Colorado voters have a choice to make on several statewide offices with low visibility but high importance. If you believe Obamacare is unconstitutional, reelect Attorney General John Suthers. He’s challenging it in court. If you worry about tax increases and voter fraud, support Republicans for Treasurer and Secretary of State.

Susan: Suthers is exactly the wrong choice for Attorney General.† He's already politicized the office of the people's lawyer by calling for do not retain votes for Democratic State Supreme Court justices.† And incumbent Treasurer Cary Kennedy and Secretary of State Bernie Buescher are terrific.

John: Despite a governor’s race in turmoil, supporters of liberty and limited government have strong options for other constitutional offices. Scott Gessler for Secretary of State will guard against election fraud. John Suthers for Attorney General is a tough lawman. J. J. Ament or Walker Stapleton for Treasurer will stand up for TABOR.

Susan: Your Republican candidates must clarify whether they’re for or against Prop 101 and Amendments 60 & 61-poised to devastate Colorado’s already hamstrung economy, crippling school districts and local government, Ament, Stapleton, Gessler & Suthers must oppose. Why run for an office you want to destroy?

3. ARIZONA IMMIGRATION LAW

John: The US government has a constitutional duty to protect each state against invasion. Bush and Obama have given the people of Arizona no such protection, ignoring federal law. Gov. Jan Brewer did the only reasonable thing and signed a state law to resist the flood of illegal aliens. Good for Arizona!

Susan: Yes, immigration is the purview of the federal government.† Imagine the chaos if every state set its own immigration policy.† Why not monetary policy, defense policy, or aviation protocols?† Local control is fine, but immigration policy is a federal issue.† D's and R's better step up.

John: Unlike Obama’s attorney general and his homeland security secretary, I’ve read the Arizona immigration bill. It neither allows racial profiling nor usurps federal authority. It simply mirrors the federal law that Obama refuses to enforce. Colorado should pass the same thing – another reason to vote Republican this fall.

Susan: Requiring local law enforcement to check immigration status of those stopped for other offences, detaining them until they provide id’s, is a blatant attempt to usurp federal authority – burdening law enforcement and citizens. Federal databases aren’t well integrated, complete or accurate. It’s a nightmare any way you look at it.

4. WHAT NEXT IN AFGHANISTAN?

Susan: The suicide rate among our troops is at an all-time high.† Service men and women are being deployed three and four times to Afghanistan in an untenable conflict.† We can't trust President Karzai, and we must make a deal with the Taliban.† Obama and Petraeus need an exit strategy.

John: Obama is wrong about many things, but he’s right that we must not lose Afghanistan to a jihadist enemy sworn to destroy us. If we surrender to the jihadists there, they will next take Pakistan with its nuclear arsenal. Islamic holy warriors with nukes -- what a nightmare.

Susan: And what about Iran? Our Afghan policy isn’t working. Richard Haass, conservative head of the Council on Foreign Relations is right in saying we can’t achieve lasting results and its time to scale down our ambitions, it’s not worth the cost in blood and treasure.

John: What about Iran? Ahmadinejad has been making hay out of US weakness for the last two administrations. Walking away from Afghanistan and Pakistan would only embolden the nuclear-bound Iranians and further endanger America. Resisting this triple enemy, bent on mayhem, is absolutely worth the cost.

5. WILL DEMS LOSE CONGRESS?

Susan: Mid-term elections never bode well for the incumbent party.† This fall the Dems are vulnerable.† On the other hand, Tea Party libertarians and the prospect of John "The financial crisis is just an ant" Boehner as House Speaker are frightening.† Frustrated Americans will vote for sanity.

John: Obama’s falling poll numbers translate into a two-year report card no better than C. That would be C as in Carter, who fumbled both the economy and foreign policy. And C as in Clinton, who saw his fellow Democrats swept from power in Congress at mid-term. The endless recession has voters disgusted.

Susan: And the folks who gave us Wall Street abuses, deregulation, tax cuts for the rich, deficit spending and foreign policy based on lies, deceit and nation building – that would be R’s – are just the ones to lead us back to Clinton’s budget surpluses? And the dog ate my homework!

John: It’s the economy, uh, sister. Americans don’t expect miracles -- but after this long, with so little progress on reducing unemployment and boosting prosperity, the Democrats in power are due for a spanking. My Republicans are far from perfect, but look for them to take back Congress this November.

Is the spill Obama's Katrina?

"Bad show, Mr. President," says John Andrews in the June round of Head On TV debates, concluding the botched Gulf oil spill shows Obama is in over his head as president. But Susan Barnes-Gelt faults him only on doing too little to save the planet. John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month over three taxpayer ballot issues and the unseemly White House meddling in Senate races, while finding agreement on summer pleasures and college football. Head On has been a daily feature on Colorado Public Television since 1997. Here are all five scripts for June: 1. GULF OIL SPILL

Susan: When President Obama addressed the nation from the Oval, he should have said four words: "No more deepwater drilling." Instead he did his best to dance around a subject no U.S. politician will touch: We must change our energy supply and consumption habits. It will be painful.

John: The Gulf oil spill, two months and counting, has unmasked Barack Obama as an incompetent executive and a weak leader – over his head in the presidency. Never mind the politics, this is bad for country and the world. Left and right seem to agree – the spill is Obama’s Katrina.

Susan: A federal judge ruled the moratorium on deepwater drilling is illegal because of the loss of jobs. The White House is right to challenge this - though of course we must address job losses in the Gulf. Let's see - jobs or the planet? No contest - the planet.

John: Obama took huge BP contributions. Salazar gave BP lax oversight. They didn’t seriously address the spill for many weeks. When they finally responded, it was more political damage control than responsible policy for energy and the environment. Plus they trampled the law, as the courts have now found. Bad show, Mr. President.

2. JOB OFFERS TO SENATE CANDIDATES

John: Susan, I’m disgusted. With sleazy Chicago-style job offers to buy off the Senate candidacies of Andrew Romanoff in Colorado and Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania, President Obama dabbled in bribery. The evasive conduct of Romanoff and Sestak is troubling as well. This case cries out for a special prosecutor.

Susan: If the Tea Partiers can't find something stronger than this weak leaf to brew in their tiny tin teapots - they got Trouble - with a capital T. And shame on the party of Lincoln - that would be yours - to focus on this nonsense.

John: Shooting the messenger won’t work on this one. Obama and his White House thugs ignored the law against paying someone to drop out of a race. Romanoff and Sestak tainted themselves by covering for him. Neither should be a senator, and Obama should be investigated.

Susan: Neither Sestak nor Romanoff was offered a job. Romanoff - like thousands of others - applied for various positions during the 2008 transition, long before he challenged Bennet. This is an issue only for cable TV talking heads and desperate Republicans. End of story,

3. CU BUFFS JOIN PAC-10 CONFERENCE

John: What an uproar in college football. So what if the Buffs will leave the Big 12 and play in the Pac 10? Color me underwhelmed. Colorado is not part of the Left Coast. We’re the heartland. Gold plated athletics are distracting CU from the real problems of sagging academics and soaring costs.

Susan: The CU Buffs join the PAC-10? Ho Hum - should I care about this? Probably a bid to shore up the school's TV revenues, the school hasn't hit the television lottery yet. Some think the coach is on the hot seat and it's the wrong move at the wrong time.

John: I love sports and education. I even played a little college football – very little. But sports as big business, NCAA style, and education on the taxpayer’s dime don’t mix well. CU Boulder is a sandbox for leftist politics and a black hole for spending. Address that, Board of Regents.

Susan: If university leadership focused as much on academic excellence as they do sports, this would be a better country. Unfortunately the sports pre-occupation reflects the public's priorities. Isn't a touch down when the airplane comes in for landing and hits the tarmac!

4. JUDGE RAPS DOUGLAS BRUCE IN BALLOT CASE

Susan: Doug Bruce has gone from merely destructive to psychotic! He is in contempt of court for refusing to take responsibility for 3 destructive tax-slashing measures on this November's ballot. His anti-tax crusade is crippling Colorado while he slips into paranoia.

John: Easy there, Rachel Maddow. Let’s talk facts. The spending lobby hates TABOR because it protects taxpayers. Ballot issues 60, 61, and 101 will restore TABOR after liberal judges gutted it. We the people will decide them in November. A courtroom sideshow with Douglas Bruce is beside the point.

Susan: The most conservation members of the business community - the Chamber of Commerce, Colo Association of Commerce & Industry and dozens of professional organizations are opposed to Bruce's wacky ballot issues. TABOR needs to be modified, not strengthened. Colorado's budget vice is strangling the economy.

John: Colorado’s economy isn’t weak because taxes are too low. It’s weak because Big Government and Big Labor, dominated by Democrats, have closed the state for business, especially small business. Corporate lobby groups live off political pork, paid for by us taxpayers. Our only protection is TABOR.

5. MAKE THE MOST OF COLORADO SUMMER

Susan: Summer is my favorite season. The flowers are blooming, the fountains running, the days are long and the parks are beautiful. Go to the mountains, take a hike and try to ignore the nattering nabobs of negativism and their whine festival!

John: We talk of the Glorious Fourth, but all summer out here is glorious. “It’s a privilege to live in Colorado,” as the paper used to say. Have a barbeque, ride a horse, root for the Rockies, lie in a hammock, ring doorbells for a candidate, catch a trout. (And minimize your TV!)

Susan: Turn off the TV, your Smart Phone and news alerts. Read a book, learn a foreign language, cash some fish, plant a garden. Reconnecting with the earth, friends and family is a terrific stress reliever and all the world's anxieties will be there when you plug in again.

John: Since it’s 2010, not 1910, everyone’s Colorado summer can include some TV. At our house it’s a mix of this station and Fox News. Our house also celebrates Independence Day throughout July, volunteers for campaigns, and loves the 14ers. You can hike one, or drive up Pike’s Peak or Mount Evans.

Holder & Napolitano must go

Three jihad attacks on US soil in six months should cost Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano their jobs, says John Andrews in the May round of Head On TV debates. But Susan Barnes-Gelt dismisses the Times Square bomber as "an inept dissident" and condemns talk of jihad and sharia as "fear-mongering." John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month over offshore drilling, the Kagan Supreme Court nomination, school reform, and the McInnis-Hickenlooper race for governor. Head On has been a daily feature on Colorado Public Television since 1997. Here are all five scripts for May: 1. NEW YORK CITY BOMB

Susan: Alert citizens and quick response of law enforcement combined to avoid tragedy in mid-town Manhattan when an inept dissident tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square. The Pakistani-American claims ties to the Taliban. Stateless terrorism may be the greatest threat to America's security.

John: Susan, please. Your “stateless terrorism” is a meaningless euphemism. The threat to America is fundamentalist Islam. Its goal is a global superstate, erasing America. Obama won’t even mention Islam with its violent jihad and its theocratic sharia law. Fort Hood, Detroit, Times Square, all in six months. This president needs to wake up.

Susan: John, your Fox News talking points ignore the fact that US intelligence caught the wanna be Times Square bomber in 53 hours and no one was injured. Your so-called fundamentalist global superstate is fear-mongering and does nothing to mitigate the need for a watchful public and fully integrated intelligence community.

John: Counting on luck for the bombers to fail and then bragging about catching them is NO way to keep America safe from this fanatical enemy. Jihad seeks the destruction of our country, nothing less. This is a war situation, not a crime situation. Obama should fire Napolitano and Holder.

2. GOVERNOR’S RACE

John: It’s a long way from Athens to Denver, but the Greek financial collapse may determine the identity of Colorado’s next governor. People are starting to realize that taxing, spending, and borrowing all will push every state, including ours, over the edge. Republican Scott McInnis gets that. Democrat John Hickenlooper doesn’t. Advantage McInnis.

Susan: Scott McInnis gives flip-flops a bad name. Does he or doesn't he? Give to charity? Support crippling anti-tax initiatives - Prop 101 and Amendments 60 and 61 - slated for this November's ballot? Is he pro-choice - as he claimed in 1998 - or pro-personhood, as he claims today?

John: You’re really making it too complicated. The choice for governor is between a big-city mayor who’s soft on taxes, soft on spending, soft on debt, soft on unions, and a former congressman, former cop, who’s tough on all those things. Colorado can’t afford Hickenlooper. We need the solid steadiness of Scott McInnis.

Susan: Even the conservative-leaning Denver Post suggests McInnis ought to form a closer relationship with the truth! No one really knows what he stands for, what his vision for Colorado's future includes or what kind of executive he'd be. Coloradans don't want a hot-tempered flip-slopper. Hickenlooper's the better choice.

3. OIL SPILL

John: New research shows that mandating wind energy has worsened air pollution and raised electric rates. America needs all the oil and gas we can develop, onshore and offshore. The big spill off Louisiana is too bad, but this tough old planet has survived worse spills from tankers and rigs. The word is still – Drill, baby, drill.

Susan: You mean spill baby spill . . . thanks to Bush's policies - there's virtually no oversight over offshore permitting or safety. The Minerals Management Service is one of the most corrupt federal agencies. A balanced energy policy may include offshore drilling, but the rules of the game must change.

John: I hope Barack and Michelle invite you to their Christmas party, because you sure do pitch those White House talking points. President Obama and Secretary Salazar took office 15 months ago, not 15 minutes ago. Blaming Bush doesn’t work any more. The spill is Obama’s very own Katrina.

Susan: The spill left 11 workers dead and 17 injured. It runs from Louisiana to Florida and threatens to turn north - up the Atlantic seacoast. It's shut down fisheries, damaged habitats and killed tourism. Lax regulators, pitiful Congressional oversight and corporate greed are to blame. Let's hear it for cheap oil.

4. KAGAN TO SUPREME COURT?

John: Supreme Court should uphold the Constitution exactly as written, so as to limit government and safeguard liberty. The court has no business expanding government or inventing entitlements. President Obama doesn’t believe that. Neither does Justice Sotomayor, his first nominee. Neither does Elena Kagan, his latest nominee. She should not be confirmed.

Susan: Elections have consequences - perhaps none more long-lasting than judicial appointments. And as for expanding government - the court's conservatives have jeopardized individual rights, despite the Constitution. Wing nuts from both parties are angry about Kagan's appointment. She's a smart qualified moderate.

John: At 50, if confirmed, Prof. Kagan could be tilting the Constitution to the left for 35 years. We need an 18 year limit for Supreme Court justices, similar to Colorado’s 12 year limit that was on the ballot. In Colorado, at least we can vote liberal justices off the court.

Susan: Kagan is no ideologue. She was a superb dean of Harvard Law School - bringing together a fractious, high profile faculty to deliver a vastly improved academic experience for students. Her experience as a practitioner, political advisor and senior administrator equip her well for a high court dominated by life-time jurists.

5. TEACHER TENURE BILL

Susan: The best bill that came out of this year's legislative session is the educator effectiveness bill. This law will not single-handedly solve K-12 education challenges. But by connecting evaluations of teachers and principals to student success - the measure recognizes that educators are key to quality education – DUH!

John: Colorado parents, taxpayers, and voters should be outraged at the CEA teacher union exerting its muscle to keep bad teachers in charge of our kids and on our payroll. Teacher reform only passed because a few courageous Democrats stood with Republicans to fight for better schools. For once, the greedy public union lost.

Susan: The alternative public, teacher's union - American Federation of Teachers - endorsed the bill. It takes reasonable people on both sides to solve most problems. The educator effectiveness bill won't be a game changer without lots of additional reforms. There's plenty of blame to go around.

John: I agree, keep pushing Now that teacher tenure is tied to test scores, let’s expand charter schools and parental choice. Hats off to the Democrats who defied the union to support this bill, including Mike Johnston and Christine Scanlan in the legislature, Gov. Ritter, and even the Obama administration.