TOWN HALL: Jihad in the local GOP (poll)

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is The Gazette editorial board’s position, presented in an interactive format to initiate discourse. We want to know what you think about the topic. So please vote in the “Your View” poll to the lower right and initiate or join in a Facebook discussion below. Must-see-daily site: Complete Colorado

OUR VIEW: The key to unseating President Barack Obama may be a strong turnout of Republicans in Colorado Springs. Obama should count among his blessings the fact that Springs Republicans are already squabbling.

“In 2012, as goes Colorado, so goes the nation,” said Republican strategist Karl Rove, who called Colorado “the quintessential swing state” during a recent visit to Denver.

Democratic strategists agree, which may explain why Obama came to Colorado twice last month.

“Colorado is not only a battleground state, but perhaps the battleground state for 2012,” said Rick Palacio, chairman of the Colorado Democratic Party, as quoted by Pueblo Chieftain on Oct. 27.

Gov. John Hickenlooper seconded that in a meeting with The Gazette’s editorial board that day.

Obama can count on Denver and Boulder for strong support, regardless of the economy, and Hickenlooper told The Gazette he will likely endorse Obama. To win Colorado, the Republican nominee will need extraordinary support in El Paso County, the state’s most populous county.

“By our analysis, the Republican will have to get 64 to 65 percent of El Paso County for the state to go red,” said El Paso County Republican Party Chairman Eli Bremmer.

For that reason, anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist — president of Americans for Tax Reform — will visit Colorado Springs to speak at the County GOP’s 2011 Reagan Gala tonight. Norquist is not getting paid.

“He’s doing this because he knows that the road to unseating Obama leads through El Paso County,” said Bill Roy, corporate operations officer for the party.

Is conservative tax protester Grover Norquist an ally of anti-American radical jihadist Mulsims? Vote in poll to the right. Must vote to see results. Thanks!

The Norquist visit has become a controversy, but not on the left. It has created a rift among Republicans. David Williams, vice chair of the El Paso County Republican Party, sent mass emails that encourage a boycott of his own organization’s event. State Sen. Kent Lambert and his predecessor, Dave Schultheis, are also promoting the boycott.

In play is a conspiracy theory that casts Norquist as an ally of Islamic Jihadists. That’s because Norquist assists Muslims who try to liberate markets and promote capitalism. The  suspicions of conspiracy theorists are elevated by Norquist’s marriage to a beautiful Muslim woman — never mind that she’s a devoted conservative who used to head the Islamic Free Market Institute.

“It’s a political hatchet job by people trying to make names for themselves,” said Bremmer. “There’s about as much evidence that George W. Bush was involved in the 9/11 attacks as there is evidence supporting these claims against Grover.”

Fortunately, this effort at Republican self-sabotage has backfired. The local party had sold more than twice the tickets anticipated for Norquist’s speech as of Friday.

Norquist, an old friend of Reagan and a genius with a Harvard MBA, is not the enemy. He has served as perhaps the single-biggest obstacle to efforts of Obama and congressional liberals to raise taxes and extract hundreds of billions more from productive Americans. If extremists in the GOP want to re-elect Obama, all they must do is continue their selfish efforts to appear holier-than-thou by creating nonsensical rifts in their party.

That's our view. What's yours? Please use poll to the upper right and comments below. Thanks!

Friend editorial page editor Wayne Laugesen on Facebook, follow him on Twitter

John Schroyer's blog post on boycott

Grassroots Radio Colorado coverage of conflict (See Nov. 10 hour 1 and 2)

Learn about Norquist (Wikipedia)

Must-see-daily site: Complete Colorado