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Colorado Republican Dan Maes: Dem's Support For Bikes Is A U.N. Plot


CO Gov. candidate Dan Maes (R) and some mountain bikers.

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Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes knows you might think bicycles and bicycle riding are harmless, but beware: "That's exactly the attitude they want you to have."

The Denver Post reports that Maes, a Tea Party friendly candidate facing former Rep. Scott McInnis in the August 10 Republican primary, has come out against a public bicycle program run by the city of Denver. Denver's mayor, John Hickenlooper, is the presumptive Democratic nominee, and a cycling supporter.

"This is all very well-disguised, but it will be exposed," Maes said at a small campaign rally last week, according to the Post. "These aren't just warm, fuzzy ideas from the mayor. These are very specific strategies that are dictated to us by this United Nations program that mayors have signed on to."

Maes said in a later interview that he was referring to Denver's membership in the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, an international association that promotes sustainable development and has attracted the membership of more than 1,200 communities, 600 of which are in the United States.

It turns out that Hickenlooper wasn't even mayor when Denver became a member of the program, but no matter.

Maes said ICLEI is affiliated with the United Nations and is "signing up mayors across the country, and these mayors are signing on to this U.N. agreement to have their cities abide by this dream philosophy."

The program includes encouraging employers to install showers so more people will ride bikes to work and also creating parking spaces for fuel-efficient vehicles, he said.

Pretty sinister stuff. Wait a sec... So what's the issue? Maes admits that on the surface, things seem harmless.

"At first, I thought, 'Gosh, public transportation, what's wrong with that, and what's wrong with people parking their cars and riding their bikes? And what's wrong with incentives for green cars?' But if you do your homework and research, you realize ICLEI is part of a greater strategy to rein in American cities under a United Nations treaty," he said. Well then: it all becomes clear.

A recent SurveyUSA poll shows Maes leading McInnis 43-39.

Read the rest here.

Comments (61) | Join the Conversation!

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August 4, 2010 12:04 PM   

Is there a drug test scheduled in this dude's future?

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August 4, 2010 12:24 PM    in reply to Richard L. Adlof

Sure there is. But no doubt he'll say he has a prescription for the weed.

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August 4, 2010 1:48 PM    in reply to tinsk

I love to ride bicycles, but unless it's all downhill (like everything else I do) the physical effort of pedaling brings you down. Smoke when you get to your destination.

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August 4, 2010 1:49 PM    in reply to tinsk

it's not weed, has to be the brown acid

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August 4, 2010 3:00 PM    in reply to tinsk

Don't demean medical marijuana. Those attitudes only make it more difficult to have a reasonable discussion of the issue. This guy isn't high, he's an ignorant asshole.

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August 4, 2010 12:04 PM   

Does any of this make any sense????? The is just a guy trying to get votes from those who would never register to vote in the first place. You understand that voter registration is a left wing plot to target and identify people for jury duty and indoctrination.

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August 4, 2010 12:23 PM    in reply to bentbill

It's just another rehashing of the old "NWO wants compact cities" meme that's been flying around the faaaaaar-right for a decade or two. Ultimately, it's another way to remind rural voters that they should keep hating Democrats or anyone else to the left of the John Birch Society.

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August 4, 2010 12:11 PM   

What a fruitcake--but that's an insult to the brains of the average fruitcake. Seriously, where does the Republican Party find these people? I've come to the point where I think they could find saner people among serial killers in prison mental wards. But didn't I read recently that Son of Sam is being touted as a good guy now that he says he's an evangelical Christian?

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August 4, 2010 1:42 PM    in reply to ceilidth

The Republicans don't find them, they find the Republicans.
Does the phrase, "Like flies to s**t" ring a bell.

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August 4, 2010 12:12 PM   

" . . . you realize ICLEI is part of a greater strategy to rein in American cities under a United Nations treaty"

Are you aware of an institution known as the United States Senate, you f**king moron?

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August 4, 2010 12:15 PM   

That man is an idiot.

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August 4, 2010 12:22 PM   

And we all know that the only thing the U.N. is good for is to supply a resolution covering our ass when we want to beat on some other country. Other than that they should just STFU until we call on them again, right?

Anybody else find that smile more like a grimace? I fear to speculate on what's causing him to make that face.

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August 4, 2010 12:25 PM    in reply to cwnidog

Wouldn't you know it, they changed the story photo, instantly turning my scathing ad hominem into an irrelevant non sequitur.

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August 4, 2010 12:28 PM   

This is the fruition of the GOP's strategy of fear and bigotry.They are stuck with and to an extent have been taken over by the fruit-loop brigade -Angle,Rand Paul,Bachman,Emmer(Mn Guv cand).It all but guarantees that their gains in November will be quite modest, historically, given all the sound and the fury.

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August 4, 2010 12:28 PM   

For many of these people, at the core of everything they believe is a very basic urge: to destroy anything thoughtful, well-meaning, or otherwise hippie-like. Seriously.

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slb

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August 4, 2010 5:26 PM    in reply to eric the red

It's what a friend of mine, when she was working as a church organist in a very conservative community, used to predict would be "the seven last words of the church": We never did it that way before.

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August 4, 2010 12:31 PM   

So, the UN cannot stop Hutus from massacring Tutsis or force Israel to do pretty much anything, but they are going to bring the United States to heel by getting us to ride bikes and take showers at work. Okay, buddy you got my support.

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August 4, 2010 12:51 PM    in reply to Matthew

I am curious - how do you write a raspberry (aka bronx cheer)?

bpbpbpbpbpbpbpbpbpbpbpbpbpbpbpbpbpbpbpb.......

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August 4, 2010 12:36 PM   

Isn't CO one of those states that always make it on the fittest states list? why is he fear mongering in a state that loves the outdoors?

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aq

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August 4, 2010 12:54 PM    in reply to Viva!America!

Highest cyclists per Capita in the US. Preliminary reports put it at 3% of commuters are bikers too, and I think that 20% of residents bike at least once a month?

Still, as a cycling advocate, this blows my mind.

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August 4, 2010 12:39 PM   

TPM readers do a lot of mouth agape fulminating about guys like Maes, but despite their setbacks, they are in the ascendancy and will continue to be unless the Dems get their political act together. They work harder to please the sensibilities of the New York Times Editorial Board, who would be behind them in everything that counts, than those pissant local papers owned by rich families where an alarmingly large number of voters the news they don't get from Fox.

Take the whole Bush tax thing. Why isn't every Dem that has a stake in this thing out there saying we are willing to keep the tax breaks that apply to 98% of you, but the R's won't let us unless we keep them for Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, who don't even want them? Say it, say it, and say it again, like they do on Fox Nuts, and your message will get through. I cannot stand how the Dems treat politics like it's an graduate seminar in government by wonk. The same is true in how they are handling the auto manufacturing thing. Where's the families with chronically sick spouses and kids who are getting their treatments because GM stayed open and paid back loans with interest?

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August 4, 2010 3:20 PM    in reply to Harry Truman

I am doing what I can on a personal level. I have registered on some right wing sites, and I denounce the idoits on their own turf with facts. You should see the replies I get. I also send donations to the Dems running against the wingnut candidates.

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August 5, 2010 8:06 AM    in reply to Harry Truman

Amen. I've been asking why the Obama admin and the DNC have been absolutely AWOL on the narratives (the real human stories behind the policies, etc) for the past year and a half, including the healthcare debates.

Barack needs to pull his head out of the oval office and campaign full time for every one of his initiatives every day, not just in personal appearances but on TV and in radio ads, too. Kaine, too. Full Time!

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August 4, 2010 12:48 PM   

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August 4, 2010 12:52 PM   

Yes, this is silly, but the left has its own versions of the U.N.-black-helicopter scenarios. Right now there are leftist and progressive Web sites going on and on about some plan to send dozens of ships, including an aircraft carrier and 7,000 Marines to occupy Costa Rica. It is only on those Web sites and appears to be a chimera. So, there is plenty of nuttiness to go around.

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August 4, 2010 1:10 PM    in reply to Metzengerstein

Yes, but how many left-wing kooks are *running for public office* (with a serious chance of winning) Our nuts are (mostly) marginalized, theirs are taking control.

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August 4, 2010 1:13 PM    in reply to Metzengerstein

Then again, craziness from a few "leftist and progressive websites" isn't exactly the equivalent of craziness from a leading Republican candidate for the Colorado Governor's office, is it?

The difference is that conspiratorial craziness has infected the institutional Republican Party itself, rather than just a few safely-ignored kooks.

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August 4, 2010 1:38 PM    in reply to Metzengerstein

Here comes that false-equivalency again.
The GOP is now entirely the party of crazy. Every day it gets distilled down to 190-proof crazy.

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August 4, 2010 1:45 PM    in reply to Metzengerstein

"It is only on those Web sites and appears to be a chimera. So, there is plenty of nuttiness to go around."

Actually, a few websites for gamblers are also pushing this "story". (Apparently Costa Rica hosts online gambling sites.)

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August 5, 2010 8:08 AM    in reply to Metzengerstein

Haven't heard that one... link, please.

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August 4, 2010 12:57 PM   

Oh my god! The black bicycles are coming for us!

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August 4, 2010 2:57 PM    in reply to ericf

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August 4, 2010 12:58 PM   

Don't be fooled—Communistic approaches to bicycling are only the first wave. Soon, the UN will be sending black ops paratroopers down your chimney and through your windows to extract your precious bodily fluids by force, and Obama will be issuing the orders while dressed in his Kenyan witch doctor costume.

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August 4, 2010 1:01 PM   

"So, there is plenty of nuttiness to go around."

And please point out to us the Democratic candidates for state and national office who are loudly talking about Marines occupying Costa Rica. While you're at it, please supply us with the list of Democrats who were threatening secession during W's Presidency.

Your assertion of equivalent nuttiness is bullshit.

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August 5, 2010 10:26 AM    in reply to bluestatedon

No kidding. It hardly seems possible that these people (some of whom that could win or have already won GOP primary nominations for governor or the US can keep catapulting themselves further and further into the ever-expanding universe of Crazy. And it's not clear who is more pathetic, these loonies or the people who try to rationalize their paranoid delusions. Yes, their attempts to assert equivalent nuttiness are total bullshit.

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August 5, 2010 10:33 AM    in reply to UTMark

Sorry, I meant US Senate.

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August 4, 2010 1:05 PM   

If only the republican's had been so willing to see our bicycle industry shipped off shore... it's all a communist conspiracy!

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August 4, 2010 1:12 PM   

I just quickly perused three blogs vilified and hated by the right wing as far leftist/liberal/progressive: DailyKos, TPM, and Think Progress, which is supported in part by liberal bogeyman George Soros. Oddly enough, there isn't a single mention anywhere on those far-lefty sites about anything having to do with a purported invasion of Costa Rica. Meanwhile, GOP candidates for major state and federal office are continually threatening secession or hinting at resorting to "Second Amendment remedies" if they don't get what they want. So much for your equivalence notions.

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August 4, 2010 1:40 PM    in reply to bluestatedon

"I just quickly perused three blogs vilified and hated by the right wing as far leftist/liberal/progressive: DailyKos, TPM, and Think Progress..."

Daily Kos did indeed have the post, though the person posting it expressed some doubt about the truth of the rumor.

And the truth? From the US Naval Institute:
Two days ago a Global Post blog reported that 46 US Navy warships and 7,000 Marines were on their way to Costa Rica. Yep, you read that right, 46 ships.

The truth is more mundane. There are Marines on their way south, but not to fight. The 600 Marines are part of Operation Continuing Promise 2010, which set sail with USS Iwo Jima on July 12. USS Iwo Jima will be home to 1,600 personnel conducting medical assistance, construction, and other assistance programs in Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Panama, and Suriname.

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August 4, 2010 1:16 PM   

In spite of the fact that the Republican party is dominated by fringe lunatics, there is a better than even chance that they will control Congress after the mid-terms (of course they already control the Senate, so nothing changes there). The only issue is the amount of damage they will inflict on the country before they are voted out again in 2012.

Maes and MacGuinness are both so damaged that the Colorado Governor will be Hickenlooper. The only other question here in Colorado is whether the Republican party is so damaged that the Senate seat will stay in Democratic hands as well. In that race we have a corrupt mainstream candidate (Norton) running against a TeaBagger (Buck), choice is bad or worse on that side.

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August 5, 2010 8:10 AM    in reply to cosliberal

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August 4, 2010 1:19 PM   

This is not an isolated incident, recently in my hometown of Madison WI a decision to create bike boxes and other safety features for bicyclists managed to severely outrage one of the local conservative talk show hosts.

Apparently attempting to set up streets safe for both bicyclists and cars means the we Madison liberals hate cars and want to make everyone ride bikes.

It is incredible the amount of driver outrage bicyclists manage to generate when we ride on the roads, and this is in one of the most bicycle friendly cities in the nation.

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August 4, 2010 1:45 PM   

Ordinarily I try to tamp down my more furious responses these fruitloops, but this one touched my cyclist's sensibilities, so Mr. Maes, here's to you: F**K YOU!!

Now I feel slightly better....

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August 4, 2010 1:49 PM   

Just when you think they can't possibly get any nuttier, they prove you wrong.

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August 4, 2010 2:25 PM   

IF IT WAS UP TO THE UN WE WOULDN'T HAVE INVADED IRAQ YOU NUTTY LIBURALS!!

Thank Gawd, THE GOP, and the Supreme Court we had George W. Bush to start the illegal war anyway, DON'T NEED NO UN PERMISSION SLIP TO DRIVE BIKERS OFF THE HIGHWAY, OR TO GET SADDAM!

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August 4, 2010 4:26 PM    in reply to NobleCommentDecider

I'm sure you mean bicyclist. Driving one of them off the road might get you the universal you're number one symbol. Driving a biker off the road might get you 230 grains of .45 colt ACP coming your way. Maes is serious nutty,but he only just outstrips his party cohort Jane Norton running for the GOPer senate nomination.Some serious whacked out there. Both have been kneeling and puckering for the baggers so it's kind of a oneupsmanship game.

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August 4, 2010 2:45 PM   

My GOD! Why. . . I just taught my son how to ride his first bike, little did I know I was actually indoctrinating him in the coming One World Government!

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August 4, 2010 3:24 PM   

"These are very specific strategies that are dictated to us by this United Nations program that mayors have signed on to."

Adding, "I have it on good authority that the Masons are behind everything you think you know. Not to mention the Jews control the global banking system."

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August 4, 2010 3:37 PM   

Talk about a two-fer: Drive your car. It fight's Commies and the U.N.

Remember, when you ride a bike, the terrorists win.

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August 4, 2010 4:34 PM   

Dan is sure going to be mad at this guy when he reads what he likes to do for fun:

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dan-maes/a/45/b80

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August 4, 2010 4:53 PM   

Isn't it about time the GOP asks itself why it keeps attracting these idiots? Oh yea, "birds of a feather:...

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August 4, 2010 4:56 PM   

The GOP is undergoing a remarkable transformation. Before, Republican candidates pretended to be stupid in order to manipulate stupid people into voting for them. Now the party appears to be actively recruiting stupid people to run for office.

Or maybe I'm just a sitting duck for the UN tanks that will soon crush me and my bicycle.

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August 4, 2010 5:18 PM    in reply to LESD

They don't use tanks, they use fluoride. Sinister or what?

Of course, why the UN, Russia, Saddam or anyone with half a brain would want to try to 'take over' this country replete with poorly educated, crazed, armed, right wing lunatics is never discussed. We don't even have much oil left, and out infrastructure is 50 years out of date.

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August 4, 2010 5:13 PM   

Dan Maes is against riding bicycles but not against sniffing bicycle seats.

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August 4, 2010 6:06 PM   

Jesus Christ, I think the real story is Dan Maes being up 4 points in the polls! Forget fluoridated water, this guy's drinking bong water!

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August 4, 2010 7:04 PM   

These guys are drama writers extraordinaire. They can find a conspiracy under every rock.
Not that I don't believe a few myself, especially the big money rules the world one. But these guys can even find evil in bike riding. That is an accomplishment.
The fact that they are so opposed to any kind of unity is also par for the course.
There's no better way to divide than by using the canard about individualism and at the same time Beckize group efforts and social movements.
They fool fewer and fewer people every day.

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August 4, 2010 7:21 PM   

After all public funded bike trails are a path to socialism. I think this nut needs to come to Iowa and ride on RAGBRAI.

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August 5, 2010 12:25 AM   

Next week - local humane societies are fronts for Communists!! Everyone knows that REAL Amerrrikkkans hate kittens.

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August 5, 2010 1:10 AM   

Is this our future ?
A future where wing nuts have a trial for anything public, healthy or green orientated ?

My GF's father who's in his 70's and lives in Arkansas tried to build a public bike and jogging path and the town went bonkers calling it socialist and/or communist.

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August 5, 2010 8:03 AM   

This country is going down the shitter.

Democrats are no prize but crackpots like this shouldnt be competitive let alone ahead in the polls.

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