Democrats in Colorado may soon be looking for a doctor in the house. The fact that U.S. Senate Democratic primary candidate Andrew Romanoff defended a doctored photo on his web site on April 16, 2010 to display people of color standing closer to him than they actually were at a rally is a very bitter pill for many Democrats.
There is little that’s more offensive to a minority person, than to be used as a prop, in this case to be “copied and pasted,” for another’s personal benefit. Whether a willing participant or not, it is dehumanizing to all. Yet from Mr. Romanoff there was initially no recognition of even perceived impropriety of this distorted vision of reality.
Instead at first there was a firm refusal to remedy the offense, until it’s defense failed, and it was eventually removed. This is also a clear example of how Democrats have a sick tendency to self-destruct.
Senator Michael Bennet has thus far run a rather straight-forward, tell it like it is about Washington D.C., campaign. Mr. Romanoff has run primarily against Senator Bennet. He professes to be the “people’s candidate” in contrast to Senator Bennet, our appointed incumbent Senator. However, this latest item, though superficially minor and fleeting, seems to fit a pattern of reality distortion in Mr. Romanoff’s campaign that is beginning to define him now perhaps, as the consummate manipulative politician in populist clothing.
Others distortions include cries of outrage that Senator Bennet’s appointment was somehow unfair to voters, yet Mr. Romanoff himself has previously embraced appointed positions as legitimate for those serving in the Colorado state legislature. He claims that Senator Bennett’s accepting of PAC money is a political sin for a Democrat, even though Mr. Romanoff did so regularly in past campaigns. One must wonder, where will the doctoring of realities by this candidate stop? What will the side effects be in November?
Mr. Romanoff is popular among Colorado Democratic activists because he is a well-known politician. We tend to support what we know. But sometimes it’s those we think we know the most, in even the closest of relationships, just like those portrayed in the crisp very real-looking photos on a slick web site, that might not be what they appear to be.
And if that is the case, and it so happens that indeed there was some very bad doctoring done in primary, it might leave many Colorado Democrats asking in November – is there a doctor in the house?
Robert Vitaletti lives in Denver. EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column and has not been edited.
