

The Get More Smarter Podcast - A Weekly Show About Colorado Politics
Colorado Pols and The Bighorn Company
The Get More Smarter Podcast is a weekly overview of Colorado politics. The podcast is hosted by seasoned Colorado politicos Jason Bane of ColoradoPols.com and Ian Silverii, former 9News talking head, former Denver Post Columnist, former Executive Director of ProgressNow Colorado, and current has-been. Each week they dive into the local and national news, and for some reason, have had Governors, US Senators, Members of Congress, and countless local elected officials as guests over the years. The guys are also frighteningly good at predicting the future. No, really. Are you ready to Get More Smarter?
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 23, 2022 • 1h 17min
Does This Look Like it Could Be Weird? (feat. Alec Garnett)
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, the violent white replacement conspiracy theory embraced by many Republican politicians spurred yet another mass shooting in a community of color; we ask why on earth some Colorado Republicans have courted and accepted endorsements from some of the conspiracy’s biggest boosters. Our 7th favorite congressperson from Colorado spent the week blaming Joe Biden for the baby formula shortage and then became one of 9 monsters to vote against helping low income families get it because she’s a lying, callous monster who exists solely to embarrass the good people of Colorado’s third congressional district. The three Colorado Republicans vying for the chance to lose to Jena Griswold this November got together for a debate, and Jason listened to the whole thing so you don’t have to. Greg Lopez, the top-line Republican candidate for governor, has a plan to help Republicans finally win in Colorado, which is essentially to make sure their votes count more than those of Democrats. But first, we interview Colorado House Speaker Alec Garnett once more to wrap up his final legislative session holding the gavel! The Speaker will reflect on his 8 years as a legislator and his two years leading the largest Democratic caucus in the history of Colorado, probably.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!

May 12, 2022 • 55min
Falling on Ridiculously Dull Swords
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, HAPPY SINE DIE to everyone except for the Colorado House Republicans who, despite having the smallest legislative minority in memory, tried to hold the entire legislature hostage until…well they don’t know either. We’ll talk about the bills that have passed so far this session, and a few that might turn into a pumpkin when the clock strikes midnight (which it did). Joe O’Dea is dancing, yeah; our least favorite coup-plotting disgraced-right-wing-professorial-insurrectionist from Colorado is in deep, deep doo-doo; and our 64th favorite county clerk has been barred from overseeing the election her current office is in charge of while she maintains her frontrunner status in the GOP primary to oversee every election in Colorado. 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!

May 6, 2022 • 1h 19min
The One With the Epic Rant About Abortion Rights (feat. Christy Powell)
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, the Colorado legislature protected abortion rights RIGHT BEFORE a leaked memo from the Supreme Court shows they’re poised to overturn Roe v. Wade...and Colorado Republicans remain on the wrong side of this issue that they were POSITIVE would not be important this cycle (whoopsie!). Later, Christy Powell returns to chat campaign finance numbers for statewide offices and provide an absolutely epic rant on abortion rights that you don't want to miss (jump ahead to the 22:45 mark for that, and bring your earmuffs). 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!

Apr 21, 2022 • 56min
Get Off the People's Lawn! (feat. Christy Powell)
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, Christy Powell Strikes Back! She was such a big hit with our listeners that we wanted to bring her back to talk campaign finance (and Ian is not at all worried that she’s going to permanently replace him because she’s smarter, funnier AND taller). Christy reads us campaign finance reports in a French accent...Colorado Republicans are overdosing on their own kool-aid, and blaming Democrats for that, too...the GOP establishment is trying to engineer a ballot full of boring, unelectable candidates instead of a ballot full of insane, unelectable candidates -- and they're doing a bad job! And Lori Saine brags about something that makes no sense whatsoever!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!

Apr 13, 2022 • 56min
For a Better Circus, Add More Clowns
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, we’re going to keep things simple. The Colorado Republican Party held its state assembly last weekend, and it was an incredible disaster. There are not enough words to adequately describe this dumpster fire, but we’re going to try with the help of guest host Christy Powell! 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!

Apr 7, 2022 • 1h 5min
Whose Demon Is It Anyway? (feat. Sen. Julie Gonzales and Scott Wasserman)
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, results from some of the Republican assemblies last week tell us what we already know, the Colorado GOP is screwed. Also, we preview the state assembly with contests for Governor, US Senate, and Secretary of State. A Republican candidate for Congress claims basic healthcare is human sacrifice to the demon lord Ba’al, and we’re not remotely making this up. We don’t say Gay-nahl as the presumptive runner-up for the GOP nomination for governor gets trapped by a pilled radio host, we see if the voter fraud lie rally brought to you by My Pillow and the Tina Peters Legal Defense Grift gets blown away by 25 mile per hour winds, and our interview with returning friend of the pod State Senator Julie Gonzales of Denver and Scott Wasserman, President of the Bell Policy center - we talk housing affordability and ballot initiative madness. You don’t want to miss this interview. 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!

Apr 4, 2022 • 60min
A Mayor in Her Free Time (feat. Dusti Gurule)
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, not to be outdone by the US Senate GOP Primary Field, the Republican candidates for the brand-new congressional district 8 say insane things, in public, and it’s all been recorded! We ask how on earth any of these people plan to win a general election in a competitive district. Heidi Ganahl acolyte, former “visiting scholar in conservative thought” for the “Bruce D. Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization” and disgraced insurrectionist John Eastman may be the thing that finally brings Trump down after all of the crimes he committed in the wide open; our seventh-favorite member of congress from Colorado takes credit for things she voted against because she thinks her voters are as stupid as she is; We Told You So about the Aurora City Council; and we interview Dusti Gurule, executive director of COLOR, fresh off an enormous victory for abortion rights as the Reproductive Health Equity Act makes its way to Governor Polis’s desk in defiance of GOP filibusters and with the support of something between 60 and 70% of Colorado voters, despite what lies lying liars are telling.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!

Mar 27, 2022 • 45min
The GOP Caucus Conundrum (feat. Rep. Joe Neguse)
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, incumbency ain’t what it used to be, especially for the Colorado GOP. We discuss how not one but *both* state GOP caucus leaders got told by their base that they’re just not crazy enough to be a republican state legislator. Meanwhile, the "Big Lie" continues to haunt the red team here in the Centennial State; we take another look into our very cloudy crystal ball and tell you who is going to win so you don’t have to even bother voting; and Colorado’s 2nd district Congressman Joe Neguse joins us to talk about parks, how Colorado can help Ukrainian refugees, and his bill to designate the Amache National Historic Site as the newest national park!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!

Mar 21, 2022 • 1h 1min
The Worst Campaigns This Century (feat. Charles Ashby)
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, we evaluate the worst campaigns we’ve ever seen in Colorado and ask if the current presumptive GOP gubernatorial runner-up’s campaign makes the list, YET ANOTHER State Representative drops a loaded firearm in the state capitol after rushing to committee, we ask why the hell this keeps happening, Colorado House Minority Leader Hugh McKean makes the ballot via petition and then had yet another physical altercation with a member of his own caucus, so things are still going great for House Republicans and later, Charles Ashby from the grand junction daily sentinel returns once again to give us an update on the Tina Peters indictment scandal and why one particular creature comfort is missing from the Mesa County Jail.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!

Mar 15, 2022 • 1h 20min
The Get More Smarter Podcast: Episode 100!
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, we made it into triple digits! Meanwhile, gas prices are up, so are profits for Big Oil. Could these things possibly be related? We ask Oak Creek Colorado bar owner, AAA Colorado Spokesperson, and enormous Deadhead Skyler McKinley what’s driving the increase in gas prices, and it ain’t Joe Biden. The Colorado Governor’s race gets sillier as presumptive nominee Heidi Ganahl currently trails one of her primary contenders who believes among other things that we should let wolves murder people for being homeless, we review some new polling courtesy of ProgressNow Colorado and Global Strategy Group’s Rocky Mountaineer with returning guest Andrew Baumann, and we revisit the doomed recall of Governor Polis and last episode’s guest Secretary of State Jena Griswold. 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!


