The Get More Smarter Podcast - A Weekly Show About Colorado Politics

Send us a message! Really!In our second episode this week of the Get More Smarter Podcast, Congressman Joe Neguse (D-Boulderish) returns for another visit to discuss being named the most effective lawmaker of the last Congress; his role leading the messaging arm of the House Democratic Caucus; and how his job is different now that Democrats are in the minority in the House of Representatives.Later, we check back on two of our recurring segments, "That's Bull***" and "The Boebert Report," including the news from Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-ifle) that she's about to be a 36-year-old grandmother. Colorado Republicans are fleeing the party after the selection of Dave Williams as State Party Chair; we'll discuss this as well as why the GOP's insistence on talking about Denver as a crime-infested hellhole is doing them no favors. Also, former gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl has a new podcast/lecture series about why you're wrong; how one candidate for Denver Mayor might now be in the driver's seat for the runoff election; and remembering former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder, who died at the age of 82.  That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!

Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, the Colorado Republican Party has a new chair -- can he possibly be worse than the last one? Colorado has an ongoing gun violence problem, and Democrats in the state legislature are doing something about it. We'll tell you which Republicans have been named the rightiest of them all; and ballots are in the mail for the Denver Mayor’s race, so who better than two dudes who live in Lakewood to break down the final few weeks! But first, Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie joins the podcast to discuss her first few months on the job and to preview some upcoming legislation. Speaker McCluskie also gives us an honest response to the news that former State Rep. Dave Williams is now the leader of the Colorado Republican Party. That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!

Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, are Colorado Democrats really good, or are Colorado Republicans really bad? We have a one word answer for you. In the worst game of musical chairs ever played in Colorado, who will lead the Colorado GOP into the next era of electoral failure, finger pointing, backstabbing, and utter delusion? We take bets! Speaking of sore losers, we’ve got another tragic tale of a Colorado Republican trying to save themselves from themselves and, if we had to guess, it’s not looking good. Democrats are bringing bills to a gunfight; how many Republicans will misplace loaded firearms in the Capitol during this latest effort to curb mass shootings? The battle for the U.S. House majority in 2024 runs right through Colorado, but the districts in play will look very different this time around. And finally, anti-Semitism is alive and well in America. Who could possibly be to blame for such a thing?That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!

Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, you know him as the former political reporter for Fox 31 Denver...or from...the Wall Street Journal...or the Los Angeles Times...POLITICO's White House Correspondent Eli Stokols is back on the Get More Smarter Podcast. Stokols talks about the difference in covering the Trump and Biden administrations, and why 2024 could be 2020 all over again. Later in an unusually-long episode, we talk about how the Colorado GOP's scheme to take over the El Paso County Party backfires spectacularly, and why one of Colorado’s biggest political spenders is trying to find a way to save the GOP from itself. That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!

Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, the State of our Union is….WEIRD. Ian Silverii reports back from the worst seats in the House Gallery because Jason Bane wasn't invited. The great Christy Powell joins us with a new game where we try and explain the inexplicable, for prizes (metaphorical ones). Overtly racist pro-claymore mine lobby Rocky Mountain Gun Owners flies its overtly-racist flag. There is still no bottom with Representative Scott Bottoms. And our 8th favorite member of Congress from Colorado, Lauren Boebert, has some loud thoughts about WHO TURNED OFF MY TWITTER MACHINE???That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!

Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, it’s Groundhog Day! So we’re re-running last year's episode. Just kidding! With the 2023 Colorado Legislative Session in full swing we ask the question on everybody’s mind, is there no (Scott) Bottom(s) to the State House GOP? We have many more occasions to ask the podcast’s favorite question, "What the Buck!?" BUT FIRST, you know him as Colorado’s most (or least) favorite evening news anchor and a man of 1,000 thrift store sport coats: 9News anchor/reporter/producer Kyle Clark joins the podcast to talk about how to cover a jam-packed Denver Mayoral race; calling a lie a lie (and a liar a liar); and the disservice that journalists do for a community when they "both sides" a story into oblivion. That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!

Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, after yet another rash of mass shootings in Colorado and the country, State House Democrats are ready to do something big about it. Did you know almost 1/4th of Colorado Legislators were elected by a few dozen people? We break down the Vacancy Committee influence on Colorado Politics and why such an antidemocratic process is so often used to choose the state’s lawmakers. We talk about some other stuff too, but first, you know him as Colorado’s Favorite Never Trumper: Tim Miller from The Bulwark and Rolling Stone joins us to talk Turning Point USA, The Colorado GOP then and now, and his new book, "Why We Did It: A Travelogue From the Republican Road to Hell."That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!

Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, your hosts Jason Bane and Ian Silverii talk with legendary Colorado politico Alan Salazar and coin a new term from his vast experience. Currently serving as Chief of Staff to Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, Salazar has been a top adviser to Congressmen, Senators, Governors, and even Presidents -- for familiar names such as Roy Romer, Mark Udall, John Hickenlooper, and Bill Clinton. We discuss the traits that these successful politicians all have in common (other than hiring Alan Salazar). Later, Jason and Ian also dive into the debt ceiling and try to understand why Colorado Republican lawmakers refused to co-sponsor a resolution honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!

Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, Republicans say they want to make government smaller, but what happens when they blast it into microscopic pieces? Republicans claim they won a slim majority in Congress because they were talking about issues like inflation, crime, and the southern border, so why are the first things they’re doing trying to ban abortion and launch meaningless partisan investigations you’ll only understand if you subscribe to Tucker Carlson’s newsletter? Meanwhile, Colorado Democrats in the State Capitol have gotten to business in the 74th General Assembly, with an agenda that is laser-focused on the issue that are top of mind for voters; state legislative Republicans, unfortunately, have the same problems as their Washington DC counterparts.That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!

Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, it’s the last episode of 2022 -- you know, the year that brought the biggest Blue Wave Colorado has ever seen! Our soon-to-be-8th favorite member of Congress from Colorado nearly lost her seat; has she learned a damn thing from it? With the retirement of the worst party chair to ever lead the Colorado GOP now a sure thing, who is crazy, dumb, or unlucky enough to lead the red team into a Presidential Election cycle? The one place where Colorado Republicans HAVE seen a modicum of electoral success is a total disaster; will they find a way to lose power there too? Donald Trump is still around, but how "dead" is Trumpism on a scale of 1-8 Freddy Krugers? And finally, we revisit an old Colorado story to try and process the George Santos shitshow.That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!