If you’ve been listening to President Obama lately, you know he talks a lot about Americans helping each other out, having each other’s backs, and creating opportunity for those who deserve it.

This obviously contrasts with the themes you hear a lot from conservatives, who are all about going it alone, and it’s not clear what happens if you go down, even for a little while. Someone might pick up the lifeline and help you out, if you’re in trouble, but god forbid it’s the governement.

One of many conservative talk show hosts in Colorado who sings this tune is Michael heck’ve-a-job Brownie, whose new radio show (with progressive David Sirota) starts today on KHOW during the slot formerly occupied by Caplis and Silverman.

Here’s an example of Brownie’s right-wing messaging in action, from his Feb. 28 KOA show, and it’s an excellent sample of the conservative message machine in action.

Brownie begins below by reading a reading a quote from an Obama speech:

“America is about all being in it together, about giving people a hand up. When our assembly lines grind to a halt, we work together to get them going again. And when someone else falters, we give them a hand up because we are all in it together.”

[Brownie’s analysis begins:] And we’re not all in it together…. I’d like to be the guy who took down Limbaugh… because if I don’t have that desire to grow and get better and do the very best I can, I’m wasting your time…And in terms of giving people a hand up, what’s the difference between giving people a hand up or a hand down?…

[Another Obama quote:] “The idea that we are all in it togetether and that I’m my brother’s keeper ad my sister’s keeper, that’s a value,” said Obama.

[Brownie’s analysis:] Yes, I would agree Mr. President. But the problem is, when you say the idea that we are all in it together and that I’m my brother’s keeper, you literally mean you, the government, the presidency. ..

I absolutely and unequivically disagree with that value. I, individually, am my other individual’s brother keeper. I am my sister’s keeper. I am my neighbor’s keeper. You, the government, are not my keeper….

Listen here: Why Brownie thinks we’re not all in it together 2-28-12 KOA

On KHOW 630-AM, starting at 3 p.m. today, Sirota will be the counterpoint to Brownie.

He’ll undoubtedly do it better than Craig Silverman ever did, because Silverman leaned right himself.

But whether he wins the hot-air-fest against Brownie or not, to survive in this time slot on KHOW, Sirota will need progressives to listen and call in.

On his KOA radio show yesterday (June 11), Mike Rosen asked Secretary of State Scott Gessler about a paragraph toward the end of a  July 10 Denver Post article about Gessler’s efforts to get the Department of Homeland Security review lists of voters.

Rosen read the following sentence from The Denver Post:

“The state has also identified 430 people who contacted Gessler’s or their local county elections office, and asked to be removed from the voter registration list because they are not citizens.”

Then Rosen and Gessler had this exchange:

Gessler: “Well, let me tell you exactly what’s going on. There’s a little bit of a misquote there. We’ve got 430 people statewide over the last several years who either, when they filled out a voter-registration form said, I am not a citizen, and some of them, many of them, were erroneously registered to vote.”

Rosen: They checked the wrong box when they filled out the form?

Gessler: Well, there’s a question as to whether they checked the wrong box or the right box. I think a lot of people are being truthful. They are saying they are not a citizen but they think they have the right to vote, which they don’t. Or they actually wrote us, and there are a lot of people who wrote us. And I say ‘us,’ the state, one of the clerks and recorders or someone like that, and said, please remove me from the voting rolls. I am not a citizen… They were not on the voting rolls. We’ve taken those people off.

Gessler is saying there’s an incorrect statement in The Post, and it appears to come from Gessler spokesman Rich Coolidge, that 430 people contacted the state and asked to be removed from the voter rolls.

What’s the correct figure? He doesn’t appear to know, and that’s what media types need to keep in mind when Gessler makes any numerical utterance.

It’s been fun to watch politicos jumping up and down to catch the attention of  Hispanic media outlets, when there was a time not long ago when such outlets were ignored and ignored again.

Hence, in May, President Obama made what appears to be the first appearance by a U.S. President on Spanish-language radio in Colorado. He spent 20 minutes answering questions from host Fernando Sergio on “La Voz del Pueblo,” which airs weekdays KBNO-1280 AM.

In telling the story of Obama’s appearance on KBNO, I reported that, not to be outdone, Colorado GOP Chair Ryan Call had promised Sergio that Mitt Romney would make not one but two appearances on La Voz Del Pueblo, prior to the November election.

Sergio told me at the time that no dates had been set for the Romney appearances, but Call had promised that he’d get Romney on his show. “The doors are wide open,” Sergio said. “We will be as respectful with Governor Romney as we were with the President.”

Now Call has told Sergio that there was a misunderstanding, and Call was promising to make himself (that would be Ryan Call) available for two interviews, not Romney, according to Sergio.

Now, Ryan Call can give a decent interview, and he even Speaks Spanish, but, let’s face it, most reporters can’t stop turning to bygone Dick Wadhams for comments on GOP matters. In any case, Call is no Mitt Romney.

Sergio says that Call has assured him that Call, as well as Romney campaign staff, will still do their best to land Romney. But there’s no promise.

In response to an email query, Sergio wrote me:

After you wrote the article related to my interview with President Obama, Ryan told me that he never implied that Mr. Romney would be a guest of mine. Rather, he was making himself available to be interviewed and that he would do his best to help me land Romney. I have been in touch with Yohana de la Torre, who works for the Romney campaign, and she also promised to try to schedule an interview with the Governor.

Thus, my cordial conversations with Ryan and Yohana have led me to understand that both will try to encourage the Romney campaign to look into scheduling an interview with me, but there are no guarantees.

To put this situation in perspective, you should know that Romney has already appeared on most of the major talk radio stations in Denver this year.

He’s been on KOA Morning News once in May and again in June.

In February, Romney took time from his busy schedule in Colorado to be on KOA’s Mike Rosen Show, KHOW’s Caplis and Silverman Show, as well as Steamboat Springs’ syndicated Cari and Rob Show (now, like Caplis and Silverman, defunct, though Romney undoubtedly didn’t contribute to the downfall of these shows).

And I could easily have missed a few radio shows that Romney was on.

So if I’m Sergio at KBNO, I’d be expecting a visit from Romney soon, or I might get pissed off, if I’m not already feeling jerked around.

Talking to KHOW’s Peter Boyles June 5, state Senate candidate John Sampson said it was unfortunate that a Georgia judge decided not to scratch Obama’s name from Georgia’s presidential ballot for the upcoming election.

Sampson said the judge should have issued a default decision against Obama for failing to appear in court in person to defend himself in a case brought by some of America’s five-star birthers (though Boyles not among them).

Yet Sampson was on KLZ’s Grassroots Radio Colorado July 5 saying he had no position on Obama’s eligibility, even though he previously said he thought Obama’s  name should be off the Georgia ballot and he was hired by the birthers to testify against Obama.

Sampson told KLZ he was hired by the birthers to testify; he was an expert witness with no opinion. He described his court testimony this way:

Sampson: “I did the Joe Friday routine, ‘it’s just the facts, ma’am.’ There was no opinion in that. I was asked to do a job. I did a job. And regardless of what people think, or what their opinions are, it doesn’t change the facts.”

All Sampson knows, he said, is that:

“Sampson: Mr. Obama is using his social security number that was issued to somebody residing in Connecticut in March of 1977. And there is no connection ever documented between Mr. Obama and the state of Connecticut. So, the question is, how did it come to pass that he’s using that number?”

Snopes and others have debunked Sampson’s claim, and Worley should ask Sampson about the facts.

But who could possibly believe Sampson’s claim that he’s all about the facts on Obama’s SS number, and he has no opinion on Obama’s eligibility, especially when Sampson stated his opinion on a previous radio show, claiming Obama should be, shall we say, purged, from the Georgia ballot?

I’m hoping Worley delves into this next time he sits down with Sampson.

Rep. Mike Coffman is still mostly avoiding reporters, after he went into hiding following his comment at a fundraiser that he’s not sure Obama was born in the U.S. but, in any case, he believes Obama is not an American “in his heart.”

But Coffman is creeping into medialand ever so gently, with appearances on some conservative talk shows (though he’s ignoring Steve Kelley on KNUS). He was on Fox 31 in the morning as well, after the Obamacare decision, but 9News hasn’t been on his dance card.

Coffman’s brief interview on KLZ 560-AM’s Grassroots Radio Colorado July 5 shows what he gets when he cherry picks his questioners.

At one point in the interview he describes Democrats in the new CD 6 this way:

I feel pretty good about the race because I grew up in really what is the most Democrat part of the district, in original Aurora and northern Aurora. They are not traditional Democrats. They are blue-collar, working-class Democrats. They do not share the radical environmental views of the Democrat Party in Washington D.C. They are very pro-military. I have a military background. Probably, quite frankly, on some of the class warfare rhetoric, they’re probably going to buy on some of that, as well as certainly strong labor support. But they certainly don’t line up on every issue. And so there are some avenues in there.

(Listen to Coffman on Grassroots Radio Colorao 7-5-12.)

Anyone except the most sympathetic questioner would be curious about what aspects of the “class warfare rhetoric,” as Coffman puts it, appeal to Dems in his district.

Is he referring to the idea that tax breaks shouldn’t be extended for people earning over $250,000?

Is he referring to the notion that Social Security is more than the “ponzi scheme” that Coffman has said it is?

Does Coffman think Democrats in his district go for these types of things? If so, why?

We won’t be hearing answers to these questions as long as Coffman continues to sidestep real reporters, and his fans in the talk-radio world don’t make their shows more interesting by asking a follow-up question or two when Coffman is on the line.

Last week I reported that the bio and name of Josh Hursa had been removed from the website of the conservative blog RevealingPolitics after Hursa was accused of misrepresenting himself while tracking North Dakota Senate candidate Heidi Heitkamp.

Now NorthDecoder.com, the North Dakota blog that broke the story about Hursa’s misrepresentation, has reported that RevealingPolitics sent two new trackers to North Dakota to video Heitkamp.

The trackers, Caleb Bonham and Drew McCullough, allegedly told NorthDecoder.com that Hursa no longer works with them at RevealingPolitics. So it looks as if Hursa was fired, but we still don’t know for sure.

RevealingPolitic’s Kelly Maher declined again to comment on Hursa’s personnel matter yesterday, adding that she took issue with the NorthDecoder’s assertion that her organization’s funding comes from the Koch Brothers. Maher emailed me:

I’m saddened to read this recent piece as it continues a narrative that is patently untrue regarding our funding and structure. In terms of personel issues, I have to reiterate that we will not comment.

In terms of Drew and Caleb, the fact they were totally transparent, respectful and asked simple and straightforward questions yet Mrs. Heitkamp refused to answer makes it clear she is hoping to run with as little known about her actual stances on issues as possible. It’s sad for the people of that state of North Dakota that Heitkamp chooses not to embrace an attitude of transparency.

Maher is right that Bonham and McCullough are apparently exhibiting the kind of transparency you want in a tracker, unlike Hursa who apparently lied as he tried to gain access to Heitkamp’s inner circle.

When confronted by the NorthDecoder at a Heitkamp event, the trackers readily identified themselves.

The NorthDecoder’s Chad Nodland reported his encounter with Bonham and McCullough, whom he referred to as RevealingPolitic’s “junior varsity team,” on July 3:

On my way to take my 2 year old to the rest room, I encountered two young men sitting in the grass, sort of hiding behind a gazeebo near the picnic shelter. I stopped and visited with them. They told me they were trackers from Colorado. I asked if they worked with “Josh.” They both kind of chuckled and said, “No, Josh doesn’t work with us anymore.”

So it appears that Bonham and McCullough readily answered questions about who they were. If so, that’s the baseline level of ethical behavior you want from trackers.

The Associated Press distributed a good article, which was picked up widely today, about Hispanic voters, pointing out that “there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to courting the nation’s fastest-growing minority group.”

Hispanics back Obama (65%) over Romney (25%), but, reflecting their varied views on some issues, most are independent (46% today versus 31 percent six years ago).

In fact, Hispanics are the fastest-growing group of independent voters in the country, according to AP, citing a new Pew Poll. Other polls say the same thing.

The trend made me think of the Colorado Hispanic Republicans, who still have the following quote from Ronald Reagan atop their website:

“Latinos are Republicans. They just don’t know it yet.”

It seems they know it less and less with each passing day, if you believe the polls.

I asked the Independent Institute’s Jon Caldara if he thought it was dumb or insensitive to blast this quote to a group of people who are independent and apparently proud of it. The quote kind of reminds me of a parent telling his kid it’s bedtime, but he doesn’t know it.

“I am all about sensitivity,” he said, and I told him that’s exactly why I called him.

“Really, what I suggest they say is, all Latinos are Italian; they just don’t know it yet,” said Caldara. “That’s my suggestion.”

“If you’re looking for something to be offended by, you should look somewhere else,” he said. “It’s a stretch.”

Responding via email, KBNO’s Fernando Sergio, who questioned Obama on his “La Voz del Pueblo” radio show in May, wrote that he appreciates Reagan’s desire to be inclusive but he’s not seeing this attitude much from the GOP today. Sergio wrote:

“Unfortunately President Reagan is dead and those who share his vision, such as Governor Jeb Bush, Senator Mel Martinez or former commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez are in the GOP minority. If Colorado Republicans are indeed willing to embrace the Hispanic community, they will have to make an honest effort to listen and learn. The recent failure to pass the ASSET bill in the state legislature due to stern republican opposition is a clear example of how the GOP simply doesn’t get it. Talk is cheap, if the Republican tent is a welcoming place for millions of Hispanics who fundamentally share the values and principles that the GOP champions, we need to see tangible evidence that President Reagan’s dream is still alive. Colorado would be a great place to start!”

Former Congressman Tom Tancredo told me he understood Reagan’s perspective because Hispanics are “strongly pro-life with strong family values, which are associated with conservative.”

Tancredo thinks Hispanics know the GOP position on social issues but it’s not enough to make them vote Republican. He says their  “acceptence of big goverment” goes against conservatives.

“It’s not that they don’t know that the GOP offers that perspective [on social issues], but it doesn’t balance the scales in terms of big government,” Tancredo said, adding that he doesn’t immigration will make much of a difference in how Hispanics vote.

Officials from Colorado Hispanic Republicans declined comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

If you hated KHOW’s Caplis & Silverman, which I didn’t, because it was right (Silverman) vs. more-right (Caplis), and the left was absent, then you’ll love this news: July 16, KHOW will launch The Rundown with David Sirota & Michael Brown 3-7 p.m.

I’ve always wondered whether a real left-right show would work on conservative talk radio. Now we’ll find out.

These guys don’t tow the party line, which makes you wonder how many guests will go on the show. But they’re both smart, yes, even Brown, and so maybe the show can keep the attention of political junkies even without the great guests (mostly GOP) that Caplis and Silverman had.

They’ve co-hosted previously on KOA radio.

Sirota just emailed the note below to his subscribers:

Friends:

Just some news I wanted to pass on to you – Clear Channel Media and Entertainment this afternoon officially announced the launch of “The Rundown with Sirota and Brown” – a brand new radio show that I will be co-hosting with President George W. Bush’s former FEMA director Michael Brown.

The show will launch on July 16th and air weekdays from 3pm to 7pm MT on Colorado’s top-rated KHOW. You will be able to listen to it on your radio dial in Colorado at AM630 or from anywhere on the iHeartRadio app or at www.khow.com.

After 3 plus years hosting the award-winning morning show on Colorado’s progressive talk station AM760, I will definitely miss my current job. Creating a show rooted in journalism has been a truly amazing experience. That journalistic mission is what I am focused on bringing into The Rundown on KHOW – and I’m thrilled at the opportunity. It’s a really big opportunity.

I hope you’ll tune in – and hope you are all having a great summer.

Rock the boat,

David

I hope to catch up with Sirota to discuss the show when he returns from vacation.

During their final, good-bye broadcast Friday, Craig Silverman and Dan Caplis thanked Rep. Mike Coffman for “being a real friend of the show” and for being “accessible.”

Caplis told Coffman, “You never ever ducked us,” which definitely ain’t what 9News and other media types have been saying lately about Coffman’s refusal to answer questions about his statement that Obama is not an American in his heart. (Coffman’s dodgings led Democrats to mock him on a website, AskCoffmanAnything.com, unveiled today.)

If I were Silverman, I couldn’t stomach complimenting Coffman for his grand openness when he’s in the midst of hiding from most reporters in town.

I might even ask him, “Hey Mike, any plans to talk to Kyle Clark at 9News? Or Steve Kelley at KNUS?” (Coffman has been refusing to talk to both.)

Wouldn’t it be great if media types stood up for journalism by asking those types of questions of politicians who are hiding from other reporters? So what if they’re loose competitors. Media figures build up their own platforms nowadays by promoting their competition. And in the case of Silverman, he’s on his way out of the biz anyway.

But Silverman took the insular route, thanking Coffman for being “good enough to come on our show to break your silence” about his birther statement.

Coffman was on Silverman’s show over a month ago, and questions have piled up since then, including a troubling question flowing from Coffman’s comment on KOA radio that his birther comment has been hyped by journalists.

Coffman attacked journalists in a similar vein Friday, telling Silverman that the press “won’t care” about Nancy Pelosi’s remark Friday that Republicans are attacking Attorney General Eric Holder as part of a GOP voter suppression effort.

“That’s unfortunate that she made that statement,” Coffman said. “Of course, it won’t resonate like the statement I made, I’m sure. [Laughs.] The press won’t care about that.”

Coffman is right that Pelosi left the door open for more questions about the GOP’s motivations in attacking Holder, but does that mean Coffman’s birther moment was overplayed by journalists?

Coffman thinks he’s being unfairly targeted for his birther comments, while Pelosi gets a pass.

As if it’s unfair for journalists to simply want to talk to him about it?

What’s a reporter supposed to do when Coffman will only talk to conservative talk-radio hosts like Caplis and Silverman?

Look the other way and forget about the story because Coffman wants it to go away?

I hope not.

Here’s a partial transcript of the appearance of Rep. Mike Coffman on KHOW’s Caplis and Silverman Show Friday, June 23, 2012.

Caplis: …A real friend of the show, a guy I respect so much, Rep. Mike Coffman kind enough to spend a minute with us. How you doing Congressman?

Coffman: Well, not too good. I mean, I’m in my office getting ready to leave and listen to Caplis and Silverman on my way home, and somebody just told me that this is the last show. And it breaks my heart. Is this true?

Silverman: Look at the bright side. It’s another three job losses under the Obama Administration.

Coffman: [Laughs] Oh boy.

Silverman: …You were accesible. That latest controversy, you were good enough to come on our show to break your silence…. I can’t believe what Nancy Pelosi said today, that the reason the House Republicans are going after Eric Holder is because you are a bunch of racists. Aren’t you offended by that?

Coffman: The reason we are going after Eric Holder is we have a dead law-enforcement agent from the United States. That’s unfortunate that she made that statement. Of course, it won’t resonate like the statement I made, I’m sure. [Laughs.] The press won’t care about that. You know, it’s a tough times for the country, and you all helped us navigate it. I loved your show, and I always listened to it when I was driving, when it was on. And I’m really saddened to hear about this. It’s gonna be tough on the Denver Metro area.

Caplis: …It’s been great having you as part of the show. You never ever ducked us. It’s also really been fun watching you emerge as an effective and influential Congressman. And it’s just been great… Craig, I don’t know whether you’ve made your decision but I am going to stay on air, Congressman. It’s just a matter now of working out the details. So hopefully you’ll continue to be a guest.

Coffman: I certainly hope so. But you two were a great team and I love it. And whatever you do, I’m sure you’ll be very successful at.