Ritter's SOS: Partisan, Shrill, Revisionist

The Governor just delivered his final state of the state address. It was at times, surprisingly shrill and partisan. The whole of it had a revisionist undercurrent. One might think he would presage his forthcoming exit from the mansion this year with more grace, modest acknowledgment of the role Republicans have played in driving good state policies, and a more forthright telling of his fabled Colorado Promise.

At roughly the address' midway point, he went out of his way to bash his predecessor's legacy. He went on to cite what he implied has been a far reaching -- but in truth has been a far fetched -- job creation super nova in his energy policy. In this vein, he made no small pretense that he has been a strong friend and ally of the state's oil and gas industry -- even while his drilling rules have clearly reduced the industry's economic incentive for staying in the state to produce more high paying in the first place.

What took the cake though, was that he feigned regard for leaner government! This on the heels of three years of adding thousands of new state employees to the payroll paid for in part by a multitude of slick budgeting gimmicks. And despite the feel good veneer that he was quick to apply over his party's economic mismanagement, many Coloradans watching today haven't forgotten that he and his party drove the steamroller just last year that crushed our state's spending limitation, while at the same time passing last year's wildly unpopular car tax.