

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

Nov 6, 2023 • 1h 9min
Buck, Boebert, and Body Armor (feat. Marshall Zelinger)
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast…It’s our Buck, Boebert, and Body Armor episode! Jason Bane’s powers of psychic prognostication REIGN as "KenSNBC" makes it official he’s not running for reelection in 2024. Remember, if you want to know what the future holds in Colorado Politics, tune in to the Get More Smarter podcast. We also talk about Lauren Boebert, silly boots, and fully funding K-12 education in Colorado!BUT FIRST, Marshall Zelinger, Politics Guy for 9News, joins us to talk about the mosh pit that’s already forming to replace "CNN Ken," and he does it all while getting an oil change. 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!

Oct 30, 2023 • 51min
Okay, Seriously, Who the Heck is Mike Johnson?
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, there’s (finally) a new Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; while he shares all but one consonant with the new Mayor of Denver, that’s where the similarities end. MAGA Mike Johnson is a real freak; we discuss whether or not he can make Congress function and keep Republicans in the Majority in 2024...or if he’s the gift that Democrats have been waiting for all autumn. Our 7th and 8th favorite members of Congress continue to humiliate and embarrass themselves and the State of Colorado on a national scale. But first...we’ve had a LOT more listener mail recently! It seems a lot of you really got fired up about our interview with Logan Davis about the right wing takeover of the Woodland Park School Board. Take a listen and send us your own comments at angryrants@getmoresmarter.com. 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!

Oct 23, 2023 • 1h 22min
Lauren Boebert Bought 180 Pounds of Candy (feat. Christy Powell)
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast...check your mailboxes, your email inboxes, and your text messages because ballots are on their way in Colorado! Congress tosses another aspiring House Speaker off the balcony; this time it’s legislative terrorist and sexual misconduct ignorer Jim Jordan of Ohio. That makes three down and 218 to go! As "CNN Ken" brushes up his list of TV appearances, failed politicians of all stripes signal really, really loudly that they’d like his job. Have ya Herd? Of Jeff? The guy from Grand Junction giving our 8th favorite member of Congress from Colorado a run for her money, which she just hasn’t raised very much of for her reelection campaign. And we turn our sights back on the building with the gold dome on Colfax & Sherman where Scott "There Is No" Bottoms once again earns his nickname for going to a lower low than he’s ever gone before. And Christy Powell returns with a report from the third fundraising quarter. Who's up, who’s down, and who’s been overpaying for catering at their ex-boyfriend’s bar?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!

Oct 16, 2023 • 55min
Which Comes First: House Speaker or Christmas?
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, it’s going to be pretty hard to be funny as the Hamas terrorist attacks on innocent Israelis quickly turns into a war that will mean far too many deaths of both Palestinian and Israeli civilians. We'll talk about what this means for Colorado and national politics as well. The Republican Party has once again failed to nominate a candidate that can get enough votes in their own conference to become Speaker of the House; "CNN Ken," or is it "KenSNBC," is just a contrarian for the sake of it and is quickly approaching 8th-favorite-member-of-congress levels of attention seeking. The current titleholder, Lauren Boebert, is still indefensibly horrible. A new Colorado State Representative refused to condemn political violence not once but twice; what should we think, and why did Republicans botch this opportunity? And your ballot is on the way this week! We talk about the two statewide initiatives you need to know 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!

Oct 13, 2023 • 1h 1min
A Small Colorado Town's School Board Madness (feat. Logan Davis)
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, we have some extra pod!Logan Davis of the Colorado Times Recorder has been investigating the school board politics in a small town just north of Colorado Springs for the better part of a year, and he’s got a crazy story to tell that everyone with an interest in public schools needs to hear. We've devoted an entire episode to discussing the wild Woodland Park School District, which includes notable characters from the 2006 Jefferson County School Board recall, that has made national news for all the wrong reasons. The hard-right shift in Woodland Park is a test case for a bigger effort funded by some of the most well-known names in Republican politics. This is everything you need to know before it comes to a school board near you. 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!

Oct 9, 2023 • 1h 17min
Who Will Speak for the Speakerless? (feat. Rep. Brittany Pettersen)
Send us a message! Really!Leaves are falling. Blue books are arriving. ELECTIONS ARE HAPPENING! This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, the government shutdown was avoided, Kevin McCarthy’s career was ended, and Democrats were in "array." We’ve got a crazy week in Washington to report back on with a special guest who was there for the action -- Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen! Our 7th favorite member of congress from Colorado, "CNN Ken", seems to have found a way to piss off every single faction in American politics all at the same time...well, except for us, we’re really enjoying this whole thing! Our 8th favorite member of Congress is losing more endorsements and getting attacked by MAGA internet people, and there’s DRAMA on their airwaves; as Colorado Republicans find themselves with the least power and influence in modern history in Colorado, what else is there to do but unify around the time honored tradition of…fighting amongst themselves. 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!

Oct 2, 2023 • 53min
Deputary Secumatary of Shutdowns
Send us a message! Really!By the time you hear this episode of the Get More Smarter Podcast, the federal government most likely will have shut down because of the MAGA clown show, but if it hasn’t -- and it didn't! -- that’s good, we guess. Our 8th favorite member of Congress from Colorado is trying to flood the zone with nonsense to make people forget about #Beetlebert and, well, no one is forgetting about #Beetlebert. Since Rep. Ken Buck is going to be a TV star, the CO-04 Republican Primary Election in 2024 is going to be straight bananas; we walk through the likely clowns that will jam into this particular car. And the second GOP (not gonna be) President debate was a hot mess! Why on earth do we keep having these sad, sad events?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!

Sep 25, 2023 • 1h 8min
The Government May Shut Down, But We Won't! (feat. Karen Middleton)
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, Jason Bane is psychic. Or Ken Buck is predictable. Or both! As the MAGA Shutdown Shitshow careens toward it’s inevitable conclusion, one question remains, will Kevin McCarthy screw up Ian's Yom Kippur plans this year? The scandal known as Beetlebert continues into a third week; will our 8th favorite member of Congress from Colorado ever be able to send a tweet without her replies becoming a hot mess ever again? The deal struck between the Colorado GOP and the Colorado Libertarian Party is going great...for Colorado Democrats. And Donald Trump, like Thanos -- the guy who eradicates every other living being in the universe -- really seems inevitable. BUT FIRST...Karen Middleton, Executive Director of the abortion rights group Cobalt, joins us to talk elections, reproductive freedom, and the 2024 initiative to protect the rights of roughly one half of the population coming to a ballot near you.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!

Sep 18, 2023 • 1h 14min
Beetlebert, Beetlebert, Beetlebert (feat. Micah Parkin)
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, our 8th favorite member of Congress from Colorado is once again making headlines for all the wrong reasons -- this time getting kicked out of a production of the musical version of the seminal 90’s movie, Beetlejuice; the madness continues in Congress under weak loser House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as the MAGA caucus continues to demand things, move the goalposts, investigate Joe Biden and try to shut down the government (hey didn’t they all campaign on crime and inflation, what the hell happened to that?) Our 7th favorite member of Congress from Colorado does a head spinning reversal after doing a Sunday show audition tour pretending to have integrity; and we interview Micah Parkin executive director of 350.org, to talk about a potential 2024 ballot initiative to fight climate change 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!

Sep 5, 2023 • 1h 14min
Mike Coffman, King of Clowns (feat. Juan Marcano)
Send us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, the Chairman of the party of hard work and individual responsibility just can’t seem to…work hard and take individual responsibility. Quad-dicted YUGE loser Donald Trump produced a video name checking several El Paso County Republicans in an attempt to…make them somehow even more unelectable? Former Bruce D Benson Center for Right Wing Grievance and Nonsense at the University of Colorado Visiting Scholar John Eastman is being indicted, disbarred, and generally tarred and feathered, and Fox News is joining in on the fun, I guess. And we have a new installment of a fan-favorite recurring segment! Bur first...Juan Marcano, Aurora City Councilmember and candidate for Mayor of the 3rd largest city in the state joins us to talk about how he’s going to beat Mike Coffman, what it’s been like serving on the city council, and how Coffman's idiotic "strong mayor" proposal was even worse than you thought.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!


