John Hickenlooper #*%$ Up Again In San Francisco, He Needs To Withdraw From The Race

If there’s one hard and fast rule I have, it’s that Democrats should not attack other Democrats. That being said, I emphatically urge former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper to put the Democratic party first and withdraw from seeking the party’s nomination. He’s had one too many screwball gaffes to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate, the last one just a few hours ago. Hickenlooper got furiously booed at the Democratic Party convention in San Francisco, Saturday, for giving Fox News the sound bite of the year. Man, is this stupid!

One reason why attendees are annoyed by this: It's not like speakers were taking the stage to praise socialism. To them, Hick gave Fox et al a clip to further the next "Dems gone wild" storyline.

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) June 1, 2019

This is a bona fide disaster. Hickenlooper was booed because nobody in the Democratic party is talking about socialism being the answer. If you have heard one Democratic presidential candidate get up to any podium to say, “Socialism is the answer,” would you please contact me immediately? So, I don’t know from whence Hickenlooper parsed together that absurd comment, but in any event, we’re screwed: Fox is going to frame this as Hickenlooper pleading for reason and the wild-eyed pinko commie radical extremists in the Democratic party booing him down, because dad gum it, they WANT socialism! Yeah!

Socialism is still a dirty word, because of the USSR which was anything but a union of socialist republics, it was a hell hole run by dictators, always has been. Of course, the complete irony of this discussion is that the party getting in bed with the Russians is the GOP, but of course, because of gaffes like this, Democrats will be labelled socialist, which is one step below communist, and you know where that conversation is headed.

My opinion is that the man is a buffoon and dead last who we should be nominating for president. Saturday in San Francisco was not his first gaffe, not by a long shot. Politico:

DES MOINES—[March 29, 2019] The man knows how to make an entrance.

During his opening swing through Iowa after declaring his candidacy for president, at his very first campaign stop inside a bustling brew pub here south of downtown, John Hickenlooper arrives to find a crowd of more than 100 voters buzzing about the latest applicant to join the strangest job-interviewing process on Earth. Bending his lanky, 6-foot, 1-inch frame to fit through the crowded doorway of the events room, all eyes on the White House hopeful, the celestial nature of his moment shatters with the pint glass meeting the concrete floor just a few feet away.

It spawns something of a Zapruder film debate: Some attendees say they saw Hickenlooper fumble the glass, others insist he bumped into the man who dropped it, while the candidate himself swears he had nothing to with the accident. Whatever the real explanation, it’s less compelling than what happens next. Hickenlooper instinctively kneels and begins picking up the shards with his bare hands, shooing away staffers trying to stop him, and assuring them that nobody in this bar has more experience picking up broken glass than he has. […]

The candidate’s friends call him “odd,” “quirky,” “eccentric.” For anyone who watched Hickenlooper’s recent CNN town hall—a prime-time event capable of jump-starting a longshot candidacy—these descriptors seem generous. When asked whether he would commit to picking a woman as his running mate, Hickenlooper said he would, then drew groans from the audience by adding, “How come we’re not asking, more often, the women, ‘Would you be willing to put a man on the ticket?’” (He clearly intended to highlight the historic gender imbalance in presidential politics, but the execution made him seem tone-deaf at best or pandering at worst.) Later in the program, Hickenlooper recalled the time he took his mother to see “Deep Throat” due to his ignorance of what the X-rating meant, setting social media ablaze once more and likely sending his campaign staffers scattering for the nearest cocktail hour.

He also published a book of memoirs in 2016 where he talks about his quest to lose his virginity. Please, Mr. Hickenlooper, I beg you: put party first and withdraw your candidacy. The Democrats are facing enough problems storming the castle, we don’t need you tripping over your own shoelaces and slowing us up.

I am aware of your virtues of being a scientist and a self-made millionaire, and you did much to revitalize Denver. I know you expanded public transportation and you are credited with expanding health care coverage. These are laudable achievements and I do laud them.

I respectfully submit that there are other Democrats more suited for the top position on the ticket and that you should withdraw.

BTW, I was born and raised in Denver, for whatever that’s worth. As a fellow Coloradan, now residing in California, I implore you to do the right thing. Just my two cents.