

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 14, 2024 • 1h 15min
The Colorado Legislature's Breakthrough Session (feat. Christy Powell)
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, the SINE has DIED; for those of you who for some reason don’t speak Latin, the second regular session of the 74th general assembly has come to an end! Best friend of the pod Christy Powell is back to give us the rundown from under the gold dome at Colfax and Sherman. Then, some Republicans are already denying the results of the 2024 election even though it hasn’t happened yet! Next, Democrats in the US House of Representatives saved Mike Johnson from his own caucus, mostly because they are basically running the House anyway. And we have an update from everybody’s favorite puppy murdering governor of South Dakota, because she just can’t stop talking about the time she shot and killed her own dog or the world leaders she did or didn’t meet. 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, 2024 • 60min
Just...Don't Shoot Dogs, Okay?
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, Ian sings "The Final Countdown" as the Colorado House and Senate race to finish up dozens of bills before the legislature adjourns sine die on May 9th (and there are still some big f***in’ deals left to finish up). Next, the Colorado Republican Party is putting their thumbs, their hands, and their whole bodies on the scales for the worst candidates running in Colorado. We also unveil the REAL Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and check in with our 8th favorite member of Congress from Colorado; a Republican Governor literally shot and killed a puppy; and we’ve got a returning segment where we call out the BS so you don’t have to.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 30, 2024 • 48min
Oh, Buddy...(feat. Rep. Jasmine Crockett)
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, we have a special interview-only episode with Texas Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, who has become a viral sensation for her willingness to say to Republicans what we're all quietly thinking. Crockett talks to us about her expectations as a Freshman Member of Congress; why people respond to her message; how Democrats can win in 2024; and what goes through her mind before she lets her frustrations pour out into a microphone. 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 23, 2024 • 1h 13min
No Odor in the Pod (feat. Christy Powell)
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, Ian is/was coming in from Our Nation’s Capitol, Washington DC, where the GOP Micro-Majority is getting sick and tired of threats and shenanigans coming from…other members of the GOP Micro-Majority. Then, we check in on the smaller, more golden-domed capitol building in the centennial state where lawmakers only have a few weeks left to finish a big ol pile of bills; we ask the perennial question everyone else is asking too, “HOW WILL THEY GET IT ALL DONE IN TIME!?!?!” We also have an unfortunate amount of flatulence-related political content to squeeze out.And finally, we’ll take a look at the Colorado congressional races that are finally starting to take shape (sort of). We’ll get a report from Best Friend of the Pod and unofficial guest host, Christy Powell, who's back to deliver the good, the bad, and the broke from the first quarter fundraising period!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 15, 2024 • 1h
Is Your Refrigerator Running...To FREEDOM?
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME LAUNDRY, or something; Democratic members of Colorado’s congressional delegation fight back against some of the silliest stuff we’ve ever heard of -- six or seven months before the most important election of our lives (again)We have a final update from the absolute clown show that is the Colorado Republican House Micro Minority whose attempted impeachment of Secretary of State Jena Griswold went exactly as we said it would. Then, a member of the same micro minority caucus that I never heard of until 10 minutes before recording this episode left a loaded gun in a bathroom in the State Capitol, and no, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened, unfortunately. Also, we may FINALLY have proof that Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams is a plant by Democrats akin to the plot of the Scorcese film "The Departed" because once again we cannot think of a way we could have done more damage to the State GOP ON PURPOSE than Williams has done by happenstance.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 8, 2024 • 1h 20min
Attorney General Phil Weiser Gets Even More Smarter
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, we’ve got a longer episode because there's lots to discuss. First, there are more than a few problems for Colorado republicans in more than a few congressional districts, and one of them was so bad he lost to Heidi Ganahl in 2022. It’s Budget, Guns and Mental Health down at the State Capitol; we update you on some big fights and some big crazy going down under the gold dome. And...CHEMTRAILS! Seriously.But before all of that, you know him as Colorado’s 29th Attorney General because he is Colorado’s Attorney General! Phil Weiser is back on the pod to chat trust-busting, regulating social media, county-level gerrymandering, bad gas, and much more.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 26, 2024 • 1h 3min
Congressman Jason Crow Gets More Smarter (Again!)
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, the Second Regular Session of the 74th Colorado General Assembly is about halfway over: Democrats are taking big swings at big bills and Republicans are making utter fools of themselves. In other words, it’s a day that ends with “y.” Not-billionaire and not president and not gonna be president former host of NBC’s "The Apprentice" is broke as shit and can’t pay $464 million dollars he owes to the people of NY State for being a criminal fraudster. Who could have seen that coming? And with the U.S. Senate Majority in the balance, it’s looking like Republicans could blow their chances at a majority once again. But first Congressman Jason Crow from Colorado’s 6th congressional district stops by to talk about the Space Force National Guard; the VA in Aurora; Ukraine; gun violence prevention; and saving democracy. 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 19, 2024 • 46min
Sen. John Hickenlooper Gets Even More Smarter
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast...we have a special interview-only episode with the man who was the first guest on the original show way back in May 2016. You know him as Denver's Mayor, Colorado's Governor, and now a United States Senator: John Hickenlooper is back on the pod! 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!

Mar 14, 2024 • 48min
The Scourge of Uncertified Potatoes (feat. Christy Powell)
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast...Christy Powell is back on the podcast, and we’ve got a whole Christy-only special on the halfway point of the Colorado legislative session as a bonus episode! Our unofficial third cohost drops by again to give us an update on what’s going on under the gold dome and to confound us once more with her legislative game "What the F*** are They Talking About?" 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 12, 2024 • 1h 1min
The Craziest B**** in the Target Parking Lot
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, Super Tuesday came and went and left us with the same situation we had beforehand; that’s right, it’s a Biden-Trump rematch, and no, there’s nothing you can do about it. But Dark Brandon is back: President Biden absolutely overcame incredibly low expectations for his State of the Union speech, and (formerly) rising Republican star Dark Katie Britt from Alabama vastly underperformed her basically average expectations.Later, the Colorado House Republicans catch “nopeachment fever” from their colleagues in Washington DC; this time, they’re going after a friend of the pod, and most likely a Fox News hit! They also tried and failed to make abortion and maybe also IVF illegal in Colorado right after even ALABAMA realized the error of their ways and carved out an exception for IVF in their heinous anti abortion law. Next, Colorado Democrats’ favorite Republican Copy Machine Masochist is back! What genre of office equipment will Ron Hanks exact his revenge on in his latest electoral endeavor? And finally, we did it yall: Democrats are finally killing off Colorado’s oil and gas industry -- for the fifth time -- once and for all. Or whatever. 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!