Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Second rate reporter says what?

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

People are weird.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

The US Supreme Court is on the ballot in november.

Republicans don’t trust women.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

“But what about the lurkers?”

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Plug It, Unplug It, Don’t Strain

Plug It, Unplug It, Don’t Strain

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Tom Tancredo loves the Mary Jane:

Tokin’ Tom Tancredo? Not exactly. But the former Colorado Republican congressman and presidential candidate vowed to smoke a joint if home-state residents voted in favor of legalizing marijuana, which they did.

Tancredo made the promise in a recently released promotional video for a fledgling documentary about the successful effort to pass Amendment 64.
He was already known to be a surprise-but-solid supporter of the referendum, saying the effort aligns with his long-held conservative views that federal efforts to prohibit adult marijuana use is a prime example of “wasteful and ineffective” government.

“I am endorsing Amendment 64 not despite my conservative beliefs, but because of them,” he wrote in an op-ed piece prior to the Nov. 6 referendum vote. “Our nation is spending tens of billions of dollars annually in an attempt to prohibit adults from using a substance objectively less harmful than alcohol.”

Tancredo, who says he doesn’t smoke pot, also argued the marijuana black market is funding drug cartels and that the United States is spending tens of billions annually on prohibition efforts while studies show Colorado alone could make $60 million a year on state-run production and sales.

If Tom Tancredo can figure this out, why can’t others, including a lot of elected Democratic officials, one of whom smoked pot and more and managed to become President. And no, I don’t mean George Bush.

He’s going to blaze up with some comedian named Adam Hartle, but this story reminded me of the Doug Benson movie Super High Me, which is really pretty damned funny.

Reader Interactions

91Comments

  1. 1.

    cokane

    inshallah tancredo will have an epiphany and slowly evolve out of his evil ways years after this joint smoking

  5. 5.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    Well, good for him. I doubt this will be his first time. Most people have tried it once or twice.

  7. 7.

    Spaghetti Lee

    Pat Robertson is another surprise supporter of legal pot, IIRC. Anyone else thinking they should do a Harold-and-Kumar-type flick?

  8. 8.

    jibeaux

    Who is Doug Benson? Heard him on a Nerdist podcast & he was higher than a kite and accordingly not funny but cracked his own self up. I don’t think Hardwick really wanted to air that one but he was out of material.

  11. 11.

    Suffern ACE

    First time, I got a more than a little paranoid that the pizza guy on the phone knew and would be bringing the cops with him. I can only imagine what Tom Trancero will react to, but I doubt it will be pretty.

  12. 12.

    srv

    Man, you don’t like drones, courtesy bombs and MJ policies… a few more years of this and you’ll be having wetsuit meets with Tancredo.

  13. 13.

    freelancer

    If you liked Super High Me, you should check out Benson’s new stand up album.

    It’s a double album where he recorded both his shows in one night. In between the shows, he gets super baked, doing the same act in the late show and the results are pretty great.

  14. 14.

    Robin G.

    The first and only time I smoked pot was the night of the 2004 presidential election. i waxed poetic for hours, ate an entire cheesecake, and fell asleep. The next morning I was sick and hung over and George W. Bush was still present. Kind of soured me on the whole thing.

  15. 15.

    The Dangerman

    @Yutsano:

    You have In N Out…

    Hmmm. Good point. Decent food and they treat their employees really well. Well, really well for fast food…

    …but claiming to be jonesing for In and Out could lead to wrong conclusions.

  16. 16.

    Bubblegum Tate

    @BGinCHI:

    This makes Tancredo less of a fucking racist dickhead how?

    It doesn’t, but it shows that if a fucking moron like Tancredo understands this issue, there’s no excuse for anybody to not understand it.

  17. 17.

    MonkeyBoy

    Unrestricted access to any drugs is standard Libertarian fare.

    It becomes Randian when the attitude is its good when losers kill themselves or destroy their lives with drug addiction.

    Is Trancredo in that camp? Does he support drug education and drug treatment? Marijuana is a fairly mild drug and people who need treatment for “marijuana addiction” generally have some other comorbid problems that are more pressing.

    What is Tancredo’s attitude toward harder drugs?

  18. 18.

    BGinCHI

    @Bubblegum Tate: Low, low, low bar.

    It’s true though: once they’ve lost geniuses like Tancredo, it’s almost over.

    Man, this is going to really be a different country in 20 years.

  20. 20.

    askew

    I think we might see Obama do something on this in his 2nd term. You weren’t going to see the first black president touch this subject while running for election or re-election.

  23. 23.

    PsiFighter37

    I bet as soon as Tom, Hater of the Browns, lights up and takes a deep hit, he’ll be higher than a kite and telling us just how much he hates the brown folk.

    It would be nice if he said something career-ending.

  27. 27.

    emma

    Ok did you start this before or after you got high? Tancredo can do that because for freaking God’s sake he’s a Republican. The shitstorm that would rain on any Democrat in high office doing this would make all the stuff that has happened in the last four years look like a tiptoe through the freaking tulips, ukelele and all.

  28. 28.

    ? Martin

    @freelancer:

    I don’t like their politics, but what damn good food!

    Politics? They really don’t have any.

    Their foundation supports at-risk kids and families, they really take no political positions at all or fund controversial causes. Yeah, they have their Bible verses, but it’s pretty innocuous stuff: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

  31. 31.

    MikeJ

    @The Dangerman:

    but claiming to be jonesing for In and Out could lead to wrong conclusions.

    Anywhere but Seattle when you tell people you just have to have Dick’s get you strange looks.

  32. 32.

    Yutsano

    @MikeJ: It’s our dirty little secret. And it might contribute to the fact that we have the second largest population of LBGT folks in the US. It’s also hella worth it.

  33. 33.

    Mnemosyne

    @freelancer:

    You must be mixing In N Out up with a different company. Their public politics include things like paying above average wages for fast food jobs and making sure all of their employees have health care.

    They do print very small references to Bible verses on their drink cups, but you have to know where to look for them. They’re printed smaller than the trademark notice on the cup.

  36. 36.

    NotMax

    while studies show Colorado alone could make $60 million a year on state-run production and sales.

    $58 million of which will be splurged on pizza and assorted snackage, leaving $2 million for papers and matches.

  37. 37.

    freelancer

    @? Martin:

    My bad. So many wingnut owners in fast food, I just remembered the Bible verses on the cups and conflated them with Chik-fil-A.

  39. 39.

    Punchy

    I’m married and love my wife, but I’m just gunna hafta fuck that hooker when my state legalizes prostitution.

    /Tommy T

  40. 40.

    ruemara

    @freelancer: It’s easy to get confused when so many pisspoor christians preach and fail to live up to the real message. In ‘n Out seem to stick to the love and decency aspects.

  42. 42.

    Punchy

    I’m a staunch conservative that abhors gambling, but I’m gunna hafta sidle up to the high limit BJ table if my state ever votes for casinos…
    /Thomas the Tanc Engine

  44. 44.

    Roger Moore

    @freelancer:

    I don’t like their politics, but what damn good food!

    Are their politics particularly bad? I know they have biblical references on some of their packaging, but A) the verses they choose seem to be relatively innocuous and inoffensive and B) that seems to be the extent of their putting their views on display. The only other obviously Christian behavior on their part seems to be a belief that Christians should treat their employees decently, which hardly seems objectionable.

    ETA: and it looks like I’m the slow one again.

  45. 45.

    RobertDSC-iMac G5

    We have neither here, but have heard that Five Guys surpasses In ‘n’ Out.

    I’ve had both and In N Out is far better. Five Guys was expensive and not very good, IMO.

  48. 48.

    Punchy

    Sober as a Mormon in a Taco Bell, yet I’ll pledge to slake my drink hole with a scud of 8-Ball if Colorado ever opens a microbrewery in Ft. Colly….
    /T^2

  50. 50.

    Yutsano

    @The Dangerman: Never eaten there, so no opinion.

    @MikeJ:

    The Advocate just named Tacoma (Tacoma!) the gayest city in the US

    There is so much wrong in that statement I don’t know where to begin…

  52. 52.

    NotMax

    @Chris

    While I very, very rarely avail myself of any fast food place, when a new one opens, feel compelled to try it once.

    Latest one here was Fatburger.

    1) Way, way, way overpriced.

    2) My reaction to eating the stuff was, as said on old time radio, “I’se regusted.”

    Never again.

  55. 55.

    pseudonymous in nc

    Don’t tell Tommy T that the reason MJ got banned in the first place was because of bullshit fears of what it did to the not-white folks.

  56. 56.

    The Dangerman

    All this Fast Food stuff is reminding me that my Grandmother had a Diner in San Bernardino. She had some competition from some family named McDonald. She didn’t think it would go anyplace.

    Oops!

    My Family could have gotten in early and I’d be spending a whole shitload more time golfing and less time hanging at dive-blogs like Balloon-Juice (no offense).

  57. 57.

    Or something like that.Suffern Ace

    @Chris: I think the burgers are too dry and the fries are too soft. But the soda fountain machine is kind of fun.

  58. 58.

    Heywood J.

    Sooo….can anyone talk Obama and Holder into joining Tancredo and company there, or are they going to waste another four years pretending that the DoJ has nothing better to do than grief teh potheadz?

  63. 63.

    Jennifer

    Two points:

    First point: all fast food sucks. All of it. Even the stuff you like. Stop eating it for 6 months and when you try it again it won’t taste good, and you’ll never want it again.

    Second point: While the two issues do not in any way equate, marijuana decriminalization/legalization will be the next gay rights, in the sense that the first dominos have fallen and it’s starting to pick up speed. I say this because in November, Arkansas rejected a referendum to legalize medical marijuana by a margin of only 52 – 48. The referendum supporters didn’t run ads; the Family Council ran some against, and threw some racial fear into the ads for good measure, and they still only won 52 – 48 in an election where Fear of a Blah President gave Obama only 37%, which was essentially every minority in the state plus a few scattered white people.

    My 73 year old mother, who during my teenage years was convinced that Reefer Madness was a documentary, and her 91 year old husband both said later that they had planned to vote for it, but voted against when they saw the provision that would allow anyone with a prescription who lives more than 5 miles from a licensed dispensary to grow their own, which they both considered to be way too loosie-goosie. I have to say I agree with that; that’s too lax, especially considering that they set a limit of 30 dispensaries, which virtually guarantees that half or more of the population will not live within 5 miles of a dispensary. Apparently quite a few people voted against because of that provision, and backers say they may try for the ballot again next year.

    That’s in freakin’ Arkansas, which is about as Jesus-soaked as any state in the country. Even allowing for the very real possibility that most of those voting in favor did so because they know someone who’s been growing in the Ozarks, that was a pretty close vote for a “moral” issue here in Jesusland. To me, that says the tide is turning.

  64. 64.

    The Dangerman

    @Or something like that.Suffern Ace:

    You would have blown it all on fast women and gaming tables anyway.

    Hmmm, good point. Plus, I have a lead foot and I coulda been like James Dean (he passed not too far away from my current home). It would have been other BJ’s (Blackjack, for you with dirty minds) instead of Balloon-Juice. Oh, well.

    Fuck! Moderation for BJ. How about Poker, Roulette, and Viagra while we are at it (I want my money’s worth).

  65. 65.

    MikeJ

    @Jennifer: I still have lotsa family there. Some of whom work for UPS and won’t have packages inspected. I doubt they could get the same quality as BC bud, but there’s no waiting at Peace Arch for it.

  66. 66.

    SatanicPanic

    @Jennifer:

    First point: all fast food sucks. All of it. Even the stuff you like. Stop eating it for 6 months and when you try it again it won’t taste good, and you’ll never want it again.

    I have done this before. All I can say is- too much salt sometimes gets to me, so I eat less junk food and less often. But everything else here I disagree with.

  67. 67.

    Chris

    @Jennifer:

    Never done the six month stretch, but I used to give up fast food for Lent and I never had a problem getting back into it.

    Nice work to Arkansas. I have to admit, not the kind of place I’d have expected marijuana legalization to have a shot.

  68. 68.

    srv

    Jindal Takes On Obama! I am sure his speech will make you quake with excitement, as surely Bobo works on his editorial embracing this radical new vision:

    “We’ve got to stop being the stupid party. It’s time for a new Republican Party that talks like adults,” he said. “We had a number of Republicans damage the brand this year with offensive and bizarre comments. I’m here to say we’ve had enough of that.”

    Throughout his 25-minute speech, Jindal rebutted Obama’s defense earlier this week for a robust and active federal government and offered a counter-philosophy focused on growing private businesses beyond Washington without relying on the engine of the federal government.

    “We must lay out the contrast between liberalism’s top-down government solutions and our bottom-up real world philosophy. We believe in creating abundance, not redistributing scarcity,” he said. “We should let the other side try to sell Washington’s ability to help the economy, while we promote the entrepreneur, the risk-taker, the self-employed woman who is one sale away from hiring her first employee. Let the Democrats sell the stale power of more federal programs, while we promote the rejuvenating power of new businesses.”

  69. 69.

    Jennifer

    Maybe it takes longer than 6 months. I pretty much stopped eating it completely so long ago that I can’t remember exactly when it was. After years of not eating much restaurant food period, it’s not just the “fast” food that doesn’t taste good – almost no chain restaurant is good. At least 90% of them oversalt their food by a factor of x3 or more, the rest of it pretty much all tastes like rancid grease or nothing much at all. Even places like Subway – I stopped going there several years ago when I realized that the meat, the cheese, and everything else kind of all tasted like the same very bland thing.

  70. 70.

    MattR

    I am going to stop bitching about having to walk my dog in the cold air of NJ.

    Brian Fitzgerald lives on top of a mountain billed as having some of the worst weather in the world, New Hampshire’s Mount Washington. And with temperatures of 22 degrees below zero and wind gusts of up to 100 mph, it’s living up to that reputation.

    “It certainly makes getting out of bed very difficult,” said Fitzgerald, who lives on the mountain eight days at a stretch as a weather observer for the private Mount Washington Observatory.

    Wind chills on the mountain dipped to minus 85 on Wednesday.

  75. 75.

    Joel

    @Jennifer: Yeah, that’s not really true.

    I spent about a decade without McDonalds, ate some on a road trip a year ago, and it wasn’t bad. It’s not French Laundry or anything, but shit, it’s McDonald’s.

  77. 77.

    Or something like that.Suffern Ace

    @srv: yes. Because there’s nothing that says republican in my mind than someone who says they would be successful if only that government would get out of he way.

  78. 78.

    Jennifer

    @SatanicPanic: I’m not a foodie either. I just like things that taste like something, something other than salt and grease. I’m sure part of it is what you order – the deep fried stuff is going to have that rancid flavor, whereas a burger will taste more like what it actually is.

    But none of it is particularly tasty, compared to what you’d make at home or get in either a more upscale or more down-home local restaurant.

  79. 79.

    Chris

    @srv:

    We should let the other side try to sell Washington’s ability to help the economy, while we promote the entrepreneur, the risk-taker, the self-employed woman who is one sale away from hiring her first employee. Let the Democrats sell the stale power of more federal programs, while we promote the rejuvenating power of new businesses.

    And how exactly are you going to do that, Bobby? You’re not a businessman. You’re a politician. So by definition you and the entire Republican Party have no voice in this. We’ve already cut down taxes and regulations as much as they’ve been in almost a century, so pretty much all that could be done from a government POV has been done. Now the ball’s in their court to start creating the wealth.

    What’s that? It’s not happening? Hmm. How about that.

  83. 83.

    nellcote

    @srv:

    We believe in creating abundance, not redistributing scarcity

    This would be the same Jindal currently throwing people out of hospices in his state.

  85. 85.

    WereBear

    I used to enjoy Taco Bell, until a class action suit accused it of only using 35% meat in their “ground beef” and they indignantly defended themselves, saying it was 73%.

    The whole Google investigation turned my stomach. There’s a reason the food is so cheap. There is very little actual food in it.

  86. 86.

    Closeted epistemic (formerly Lojasmo)

    @Jennifer:
    Yes, goodness. People certainly shouldn’t be able to grow a couple of plants in their house.

    /moron

    Also, Red Robin has grass fed beef and ostrich burgers. Ditch the buns and load up on the condiment bar, and that’s good eats, right there.

    Most other fast food sucks, though.

  87. 87.

    Cassidy

    @NotMax: Five Guys is amazing.

    First point: all fast food sucks. All of it. Even the stuff you like. Stop eating it for 6 months and when you try it again it won’t taste good, and you’ll never want it again.

    Yeah, no. It really depends on where you go and what you get. There is a difference between a Tijuana Flats vs. Chipotle vs. Taco Bell and Five Guys vs. Burger King. Personally, I enjoy McDonalds. And yeah, the tomato sauce and eggplant parmigiana I made Monday was much better than what we find wehn we eat out, but it also took me about 3-4 hours to make and that was not doing my sauce justice. Although, the veggies were fresh from the flea market, so that was cool.

  88. 88.

    Jennifer

    @Closeted epistemic (formerly Lojasmo): /moron – if your goal is to convince people in a socially conservative state to legalize the kind bud for people who have a medical need for it, and you write the law in such a way as to virtually guarantee that there are going to be hundreds of growers all over the state, it’s going to raise questions with folks who otherwise would be supporters when they consider the issues it will create for law enforcement. It was a stupid thing to add into the bill. I can think of a lot of ways it could have been better addressed – for example, stipulating that someone with a prescription who lives an actual hardship distance (not 5 miles) from a dispensary getting a doctor’s note to allow growing and putting that info into a central registry. Because, guess what? Lots of people in this state live over 40 miles from the nearest pharmacy. They don’t have the legal right to manufacture their own drugs. So it begins to look a little cutesy when the medical pot folks want a different standard for their patients. /moron

  89. 89.

    someofparts

    “state-run production and sales”

    NO!

    Price skyrockets, quality tanks.

    a thousand times no

  90. 90.

    JoyfulA

    @NotMax: I went to a Five Guys because it supposedly has the world’s best french fries. It doesn’t, by far.

    But the hamburger was superb. If I liked hamburgers the way I like french fries, I’d go there often, but I haven’t been back.

  91. 91.

    Tonal Crow

    If Tom Tancredo can figure this out, why can’t others, including a lot of elected Democratic officials, one of whom smoked pot and more and managed to become President. And no, I don’t mean George Bush.

    Into the prohibitionist criminal “justice” Hell, but for chance, would have gone the young Barack Obama, never to be more than a marginalized, ground-up, ground-down remnant of his potential. I hope he understands this fact, and is being persuaded by it to change for the better. There is some hope in his comments about Colorado and Washington, but the road back to sanity seems very long.

    BTW, careful John, or the anti-“firebagger” brigades will be at your gates.

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