Backbone Radio

They can be had

Slated on Backbone Radio, May 10 Listen every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver... 1460 KZNT, Colorado Springs... and streaming live at 710knus.com.

Never mind the gloating by liberals in places like the current Time magazine cover, which depicts Republicans as an endangered species. The fact is, public skepticism over Democrat ineptitude could make 2010 a good year for the GOP here in Colorado. You’ve seen the numbers. Voters disapprove Gov. Bill Ritter’s performance by 49% to 41%, according to an April poll. Matched against potential GOP challengers, he trails Scott McInnis and barely leads Josh Penry. His appointee in DC, Sen. Michael Bennett, is disapproved by 41% to 34% and trails Republican Bob Beauprez. They’re a pathetic pair.

My latest Denver Post column, "Are You Better Off?" spells out the logic after this week's wrapup of another underwhelming legislative session with Dems in control. Read the column on our home page just above this post. A Republican comeback in 2010 will depend on good candidates and clear conservative principles, of course. But I believe we'll have those.

Two candidates who have shown the most seriousness about taking on Sen. Bennet are Ken Buck, the Weld County DA, and Ryan Frazier, the Aurora councilman. Both are friends of Backbone Radio, and you've heard from them before. Both will give us an update on this Sunday's show.

Hosting in my place will be Ross Kaminsky and Matt Dunn. I'll be in Washington DC, helping lead a public policy field study with 16 students from Colorado Christian University, where I work now. For details on the Centennial Institute, my new project at CCU, click here.

As for the socialist, secularist, nanny-nagging Democrats, be of good cheer. Their snake oil won't fool Americans forever. They can be had, and we're just the ones to prove it.

Yours for liberty, JOHN ANDREWS

Littwin said what?

Slated on Backbone Radio, May 3 Listen every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver... 1460 KZNT, Colorado Springs... and streaming live at 710knus.com.

So this week's big news is that the "GOP's tent keeps getting smaller." At least if we're to believe an April 29 column with that title from Mike Littwin of the Denver Post. Littwin, spinning furiously, manages to make statesmen of the chameleons Specter and Snowe, martyrs of the low-polling Ritter and Bennet, and goats of Steele, Tancredo, Beauprez, Ken Buck, and Ryan Frazier. Quite a morning's work.

Some friends have asked why I keep Mike as a regular on Backbone Radio, once a month or so, when his take on conservatism is always adversarial and sometimes acid. My answer is that we on the right aren't ready for prime time until we can absorb and rebut the worst that such as Littwin can dish out.

Besides, you have to admit, the man is lively company. His renewable-energy output is ten times that of all the other biomass the left wants to foist on us.

** So this Sunday we'll get another gale from the happy hippie's windmill -- and I'll roar back at him, leaving no misdeed unrebuked. Tune in for the fun.

** Plus end-of-session legislative reports from Republican leaders Sen. Josh Penry and Rep. Mike May, House conservative bulldogs Cory Gardner and Frank McNulty, and Democratic provocateur Sen. Chris Romer.

** Plus Alan Sears of the Alliance Defense Fund on how to repel the ACLU onslaught on religious freedom and what to expect from Obama's first Supreme Court nominee.

Speaking of Obie, did you notice how dissent was patriotic when his side was doing it -- but now if you go to a Tea Party or watch Fox News, you're an object of presidential scorn? Funny how that works.

Yours with a zest for the battle, JOHN ANDREWS

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Against all enemies

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Slated on Backbone Radio, Apr. 26 Listen every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver... 1460 KZNT, Colorado Springs... and streaming live at 710knus.com.

The oath so many Americans have sworn, "to defend the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic," has a quaint and outmoded ring to it in this new age of Obama the Apologist, Obama the Meek. Who believes in enemies any more? We do, here at Backbone Radio. Sorry, all you dreamy pacifists out there. It's still a dangerous world, with plenty of nations and groups who wish us ill. Enemies is the only name for them, and strength is the only language they understand. Wishful thinking in the White House won't change that.

** This Sunday's show will take a global focus and a national security theme. I'll talk about how to protect our country with Richard V. Allen, former Reagan and Nixon adviser... Michael Tanji of the Center for Threat Awareness... and Daveed Gartenstein-Ross of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

** Plus Joseph C. Phillips, our man in Hollywood... and Rob "Sunny" Roseman, veteran of TV news in Denver.

Less than 100 days into the new administration, and we're told the terrorists can't be called that any more, but the patriots who advised on stopping them belong in jail. It's like a bad dream, only worse because this is real. If America is to be defended, you and I must stand strong as never before. In a word, the need is backbone. Here goes.

Yours for America the Good, JOHN ANDREWS

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