Colorado Water Rustlers

The Colorado-New Mexico water blunder. The formula for sharing water in seven western states (Arizona, Nevada, California, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico) was decided in 1922.

Now John McCain wants to throw out that agreement and renegotiate it.

McCain wants Arizona, Nevada, and California to get more water and Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico to get less.

This is going to cost McCain bigtime. Two of the states John McCain wants to steal water from are also key swing states: Colorado and New Mexico.

Coloradans in particular are reacting angrily to McCain's proposal to take their water. Here's the Denver Post:

Memo to: John McCain.From: Five million thirst-crazed Coloradans.Subject:

Forget about winning our nine electoral votes next November. We don't vote for water rustlers in this state; we tar and feather them! Yes, fellow citizens of the state whose official motto is "Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting,

" John McCain has thunk the unthinkable — and proposed renegotiating the 1922 Colorado River Compact.

[1]And then to drive the point home:

As a senator, McCain has long represented a state, Arizona, that would love to steal Colorado's water. But now, he wants our votes. Apparently, nobody bothered to brief the candidate who Paris Hilton called "that wrinkly, white-haired guy" that stealing Colorado's water to benefit Arizona, California and Nevada isn't as popular an idea in Colorado as it is in Arizona, California and Nevada.

[2]Oh, that's gonna leave a mark, especially the Paris Hilton bit.

Want to know who's really ticked off?

The Republican candidate for Colorado's U.S. Senate seat, Bob Schaffer:
"Over my cold, dead, political carcass,"

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer said."The compact is the only protection Colorado has from several more politically powerful downstream states,"

Schaffer added. "Opening it for renegotiation would be the equivalent of a lamb discussing with a pack of wolves what should be on the dinner menu."

[3]That's what the Republican said; you can imagine what the Democrats are saying. Before McCain opened his mouth, Colorado was looking like a swing state.

Now, after John McCain revealed his plan to steal Colorado's water a redistribute it, it's very doubtful he can carry the state. New Mexico previously had a Democratic tilt to it, and McCain's water grab plan will probably solidify Obama hold over this state.

McCain can't afford to give up swing states, but with his water grab plan he threw away two of them in one fell swoop.So to sum up, not only did John McCain not "win the week," as some paid pundits have said, this week actually saw McCain's campaign spring a number of leaks that will sink it by November.

Add this to lighting up NV. And keeping Ohio in the dark.

Up Date:

Romney: McCain Doesn’t Speak For McCain When He Suggests Renegotiating The Colorado River Compact

Last week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) walked into a bipartisan wave of condemnation in Colorado when he told the Pueblo Chieftain that the 1922 Colorado River compact, which governs the allocation of the river’s water among seven states, “needs to be renegotiated over time”:

“I don’t think there’s any doubt the major, major issue is water and can be as important as oil. So the compact that is in effect, obviously, needs to be renegotiated over time amongst the interested parties,” McCain said while on his way to the Aspen Institute.

“I think that there’s a movement amongst the governors to try, if not, quote, renegotiate, certainly adjust to the new realities of high growth, of greater demands on a scarcer resource.”

Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) called the compact “sacrosanct,” adding that opening it up “would only happen over my dead body.” Senate candidate and former U.S. Rep. Bob Schaffer (R-CO) agreed, telling the Grand Junction Sentinel, “Over my cold, dead, political carcass.”

The Denver Post editorialized that McCain “displayed a disturbing ignorance of the realities of the West’s scarce water resources.”

Now, one of McCain’s top surrogates, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is claiming that McCain didn’t mean what he said.

Romney told 9News that McCain “has no interest in reopening the compact“:
“Senator McCain has no interest in reopening the compact,” Romney said. “Senator McCain believes as I do that a compact that’s been worked out between the governors and between the states is the right way to go.

States are the ones who build these kinds of understandings. The federal government shouldn’t meddle in that compact.

Salazar’s Press Secretary Matt Lee-Ashley responded to Romney’s comments: “Either Senator McCain is so out of touch with Western water issues that he needs the former Massachusetts governor to defend him, or he really has some interest in overhauling the law of the river that has been in place since 1922.

Both scenarios are troubling.”

Progress NowAction has a petition telling McCain to keep his hands off Colorado’s water.