DAY FIFTY-FOUR - DIANE MITSCH BUSH

Oct 22

Day Fifty-four | Diane Mitsch Bush | CO-03
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Team:

THE SITUATION: We’re in Colorado today. (Breathe deeply - you’re at altitude.) The fightin’ third district includes Aspen, Grand Junction, and Pueblo, amongst other cities and towns. It’s pretty rural (and it’s pretty, as is much of Colorado!), and it skews a bit R. Presidential voting underlines that claim: Bush Bush McCain Romney Trump. Since ‘93, it’s only had three terms where it’s been represented by a D.

The current representative is Scott Tipton, who first won this seat in 2010. Since taking this seat, he hadn’t had a race where an opponent got within twelve points of defeating him, until 2018 - when our candidate, in her first run for this seat, got within eight.

THE OPPONENT: Holy cow, did Trumpism ever infect this district. Remember yesterday, when we read about the guy in Virginia’s fifth district who got knocked off in his R primary because he officiated a (same-sex) marriage, and so a guy ran far to his right, and beat him for the opportunity to represent the Rs in the general? You know what Colorado’s third district says when presented with that situation? Colorado’s third district says “Hold my beer” and tries to outdo Virginia’s fifth.

(And succeeds.)

Rep. Tipton got primaried from the right of his party. (His party’s far, far, far, seventy-three-times-removed lunatic cousin right.) Her name is Lauren Boebert, who you may have read about, due to her regular appearances in national headlines pointing out the latest piece of crazy she’s thrown into the air. I’m going to do this in bullet points, because it might be too much to take in paragraph form, and I don't want to throw my keyboard out the window.

She’s as fervent a gun person as one can find. No joke. Really; not exaggerating.
- She lives in a town called Rifle.
- She owns a restaurant called Shooters Grill, which is also in Rifle.
- Employees of Shooters Grill open-carry firearms while they serve you.
- And customers are encouraged to do the same.
Shooters Grill was shut down by the government when Boebert opened it in defiance of Colorado’s public health laws during COVID-19.
She’s said some really inflammatory, verging-on-violent stuff to former TX Congressman and former D presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, due to O’Rourke’s stance on guns.
Lauren Boebert has created videos praising the Proud Boys group, responsible for inciting and igniting violence in protest face-offs across the western United States.
Lauren Boebert is an actual, legitimate, no-kidding proponent of QAnon. She's not QAnon-cozy; she's a QAnon FANGIRL. “Everything that I’ve heard of Q, I hope that this is real. Because it only means that America is getting stronger and better, and people are returning to conservative values.”
YES THIS IS AN ACTUAL CONSPIRACY THEORIST RUNNING FOR CONGRESS WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY YES I CAN CONFIRM THIS IS HAPPENING AND YES THIS CERTAINLY IS PEAK 2020.
She loves herself some Trump: “he’s put his life on the line to serve the American people, to put the American people and their country first...”
Imagine this: she wrote a June 2020 tweet aimed at BLM protestors, that read “Civil order, rule of law, respect, and decency need to be restored!!!”
And that lady who wrote that tweet? She’s such a law-abiding citizen that she didn’t show up for a court hearing in 2016 that was called because she earned a careless driving and unsafe vehicle citation.
- And a warrant for her arrest was then issued by the court.
  - And after being TOLD of the warrant, being SENT a letter saying "uh hey you've been ignoring us so we have a warrant, how 'bout you call us so we can talk about things so we don't have to come arrest you" she continued to ignore the warrant (and the letter) resulting - SURPRISE! - in her arrest. (She eventually plea bargained the matter.)
And, because OF COURSE, she had been PREVIOUSLY arrested for disorderly conduct at the 2015 Country Jam Music Festival (as one does), where she threatened the arresting deputies by saying that she “had friends at Fox News.”
- She also didn’t show up for two court hearings stemming from that arrest, because consistency.
  - And a warrant for her arrest was issued for those failures to appear, as well.

So: if you like your congressional representatives to be hypocritical conspiracy theorists with mug shots from their multiple court warrant no-show arrests who fetishize attaching guns to themselves 25/8, Boebert’s your woman.

OUR CANDIDATE: Well, she’s not a hypocritical, batshit-crazy gun and conspiracy nut, for starters. Good enough? (Good enough, I’m sure. But I should do the bare minimum of a discussion of her resume, I think, out of respect to our process.)

Diane Mitsch Bush is a retired sociology professor with a MA and PhD in sociology and social policy, and she is a former member of the Colorado House of Representatives (statehouse, not federal.) She was also a county commissioner in Colorado.

In the statehouse, she voted for universal background checks and gun magazine limits in Colorado “SHE’S A SOCIALIST GUN GRABBER” Lauren? Oh hi, Lauren ... please stop interrupting while I type ... where was I. (Sorry about that.) Also while in the statehouse, Mitsch Bush voted for state contractors to comply with equal pay standards “SHE’S A BUSINESS KILLER WHO WANTS BIG GOVERNMENT TO” really, Lauren, calm down. I’m talking here. Get out of my paragraph. Ahem. In the statehouse, Mitsch Bush earned a reputation as a policy wonk and pragmatist, and someone who was willing to work with Republicans to create common-sense legislation “SHE’S SUCH A LOSER SQUISH NERD COME BUY RIBS AT SHOOTERS GRILL” I mean COME ON Lauren would you shut up already. Let’s move to a new paragraph; maybe Boebert won’t find that one.

So, to sum up, what we have here couldn't be a more stark contrast: a wild-eyed, fanatical person unmoored from ethics or principles (except about how important guns are) who is eager to amplify debunked theories, encourage violence, and scream for headlines, versus ... well, versus a retired sociology professor who has done thoughtful and collaborative work in the trenches to advance public policy.

Much like yesterday’s race, many district Rs are voting across the aisle due to the fanaticism of their party’s chosen candidate. The national handicappers and polls treat this race as a very close one, and while it tilts a tiny bit R, THE MATH SAYS THAT DIANE CAN WIN.

Sawbuck Patriots, it's go time: click HERE to send $10 (or more!) to support Diane's campaign. Our collective effort will invest $8696 today.

Thank you!

- Alex / www.sawbuckpatriots.com

Alex Clemens

DAY FIFTY-FOUR - DIANE MITSCH BUSH

Sawbuck Patriots, it's go time: click HERE to send $10 (or more!) to support Diane's campaign. Our collective effort will invest $8696 today.

DAY FIFTY-FIVE - JACKIE GORDON

DAY FIFTY-THREE - DR. CAMERON WEBB

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