Despondence, anger at Colorado GOP election watch party

0
Rep. Cory Gardner speaks

The place had pretty well cleared out by the time Kay told
me, “Obama is the Anti-Christ.”

Yep, she said it. Now let’s back up. Most of the Republican
Party of Colorado’s election night watch party, held on the club level of
Sports Authority Field at Mile High the evening of Nov. 6, was much more
low-key.

For most of the night, sighs of exasperation were much more
common than hate-mongering on a Biblical level. Worried or unhappy people had
been more than willing to chat with me about all kinds of non-crazy topics.

And they’d endured a great deal of bad news with very few
bright spots, as no battleground states were called for Gov. Mitt Romney. When
Ohio went for President Barack Obama, just before Fox called the whole
election, Dave from Highlands Ranch said to me, pleasantly enough, “It’s over,
baby.”

The crowd, more moping than mad, stuck around for the
combination consolation/victory speech by Rep. Cory Gardner, who’d held his
seat through a challenge by Democrat Brandon Shaffer. Gardner, who represents
the 4th Congressional District from Fort Collins to the southeastern corner of
Colorado, including Longmont, had the unenviable task of taking the stage just
after Fox News called the election.

Gardner was alternately conciliatory, saying he hoped for
greater non-partisanship in Congress, and assertive of the Republican vision of
self-reliance.

“There’s a mandate to do everything we can to find answers”
for the nation’s problems, he said in remarks to the media after the speech.

Asked about the tone and approach of the presidential
campaigns, Gardner said Obama “ran a very splintering campaign attacking two
very honorable Americans. … The president ought to be ashamed.”

Gardner named the economy, tax rates, sequestration and
production tax credits as top priorities when he and the rest of Congress
return to office. Production tax credits are awarded to alternative energy
sources.

Once Gardner was done, the crowd thinned out considerably,
and I found myself at the bar next to five women looking understandably morose.

The group came to Colorado from Texas as part of a
get-out-the-vote program. Maybe it was exhaustion, maybe alcohol, maybe
frustration and disappointment. Whatever it was, they were agitated, and my
media lanyard did me no favors.

“We were fighting two opponents in this race,” George told
me, her voice rising. “Obama and the media.”

She accused me — all journalists, maybe, but there was only
one standing there — of hiding the truth about Obama. She said I was biased and
a disgrace. She said I was bad at my job. She said the media lies and distorts
the truth constantly. When I said I was neutral when I was on the job, her
friend Kay asked if I “even had a conscience.”

And, a few minutes after Kay dropped the Anti-Christ
reference, George did the same.

The economy is ready to grow, she said, but “Obama won’t let
it” because “he wants the power.”

“He’s the Anti-Christ,” George said. “It’s just sick and
wrong.”

Did I ask how they knew Obama is the Anti-Christ, or, if
he’s the Anti-Christ, why he needs eight years instead of four to destroy the
world? I did not. I got the hell out of there.

And no matter how many pleasant, reasonable people I met, I
don’t see why anyone would want to stay.