I hate you, Colorado Peak Politics

UPDATE: If Agnes Nixon was a neighbor, then Hick’s middle class upbringing sounds a little more suspect, per Philly Mag:

“Agnes Nixon’s home, either once part of or adjacent to Mary Cassatt’s family estate (no one knows for sure because the land records burned in a fire), sits not far from the border of Bryn Mawr. And like its mistress, it is understated, elegant, and divided into distinct parts. Sprawling and gorgeous in that Old Money way, it oozes refinement but isn’t ostentatious. The country kitchen is old and white, the kind that carries decades of memories of ­Saturday-morning pancakes and fresh-baked pies. An oil painting of 19th-century congressman Christopher Rankin, painted by the legendary portraitist Bass Otis, hangs in a gilt frame in the stately dining room. Overstuffed chairs and sofas in pale pastels and chintz dot various sitting rooms.”

With his re-election behind him, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper is showing his true liberal colors as a (yes, in true liberal form, everyone is a keynote speaker) keynote speaker at the Center for American Progress Policy Conference today.  Here’s a link to the conference agenda.

If you were lucky to be sitting in your parents’ basement in your pajamas, you could watch his entire keynote speech.  We were and we did. This is a far left wing event, featuring progressive standard-bearers like Sen. Elizabeth Fauxcahontas Warren, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, John Podesta, Sugar Daddy Tom Steyer and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.  There were even cheers for climate change protesters and the Senate’s stomping on Mary Landrieu the Keystone Pipeline.

Notably, former Democratic Ohio Governor Ted Strickland introduced Hick with the following revelation: “He [Hickenlooper] has faced difficult challenges. He has made courageous decisions that helped the people of his state, and he has remained true to his progressive values. We’re proud of him for that.”

True to his progressive values?  Did Colorado voters realize that Hickenlooper was a liberal to the core when they voted him back into office?

Hick noted that his neighbor growing up was Agnes Nixon, the creator of such beloved soap operas as  All My Children and One Life to Live.  As someone who claims a middle-class upbringing, we have to wonder how middle class an upbringing he has with a neighbor like Agnes Nixon, attended a renowned prep school, and earned a degree from WASP-y Wesleyan.

Hick also ticked off his accomplishments, including universal background checks on gun sales, civil unions, methane rules on drilling, prison reform, and renewable energy standards in rural Colorado:

“We passed legislation based on supporting the growth of renewable energies, and this was in rural Colorado where there’s a lot of conflict about climate change and the causes, and it was certainly not wildly popular in many rural parts of the state.”

And then he talked about how he ran a positive campaign, no negative ads, but did acknowledge some were run on his behalf – a point he refused to concede during the election, and said this:

“We have to take that tone and take action, whether it’s legislative or executive, to really begin to deliver a lot of what we promised in terms of a progressive agenda.”

Funny, Hick never mentioned his “progressive agenda” during any of the gubernatorial debates.  And, he certainly never mentioned that he had to take a certain tone in order to shove through an agenda.  That’s odd.  Do Coloradans feel hoodwinked by a guy who has admitted to purposely duping Coloradans via tone in order to pass some of the most extreme legislation in the country?

He’s been mentioned as a possible VP candidate because he could presumably provide moderate balance to someone like Warren, who spoke right before him. Was this a tryout? Is he trying to get his name out in front of the big-money DC progressives?