Denver Post editorial page editor Chuck Plunkett is weighing in on U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s failure to support Colorado Judge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court and predicts that if Bennet filibusters Gorsuch along with Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, it will hurt him with Democrats back home.
Plunkett said if Bennet toes the Democratic Party line and opposes Gorsuch this coming week, that “breaks with the whole narrative of Michael Bennet” he crafted for himself as a statesman that puts Colorado above politics and that can help return his state to a less partisan way of doing things.
“There would be Democrats who would be seriously disappointed,” Plunkett said of Bennet’s potential opposition to Gorsuch. “That this is just a chance to show that you really are the statesman that you say that you are and you really do care about running the country more than you care about political parties.
Plunkett also revealed something interesting about Bennet’s tactics as a statesman politician. It seems he only pulls these indecision stunts on controversial issues to get something he wants in return for his vote.
There’s a word for that — bribery.
That would certainly explain why Bennet is remaining mum on his vote, which will be cast this week.
Such a tactic would explain the coy game he is playing and why he is ignoring Democrats and Republicans across the state who support Gorsuch.
But Bennet won’t be forgiven if he passes up the chance to put the only justice on the Supreme Court from the West, who understands the western way of life.