He's not as hated as someone like Tennant because he's actually going to win his election for his party, and spine or not, he did end up signing the gun bills.
And say what he wants, his state did expand Medicaid and did their own exchange, so I assume that's why everyone blows off his stance on the ACA. Just like everyone blows off his position on recreational marijuana legalization.
So people didn't actually care about what Tennant said, they just cared that she was losing while saying it? That doesn't really make sense to me. I didn't particularly care about her comments since she's in West Virginia and Manchin basically did the same thing in 2010 (and nobody seemed to care then), but Atlas's thread on the subject would make you think she was Satan incarnate. I didn't particularly care about Hickenlooper's gun comments either, but combined with this one it seems as if it's becoming a trend.
Hickenlooper has always been a moderate (remember, he is pro-fracking). He's only been perceived as liberal because the legislature was very liberal and passing liberal laws, basically forcing him to sign them. He was never out in front advocating for any of those bills though.
It's not really about whether or not he's a moderate though. It's about his ridiculously transparent backpedalling after the fact. He had a choice to veto the gun bill, not to set up Obamacare exchanges, etc. and he didn't. That was his position, so stick with it. The whole "I didn't
really want to do those things, but the legislature/Obama/my staffer MADE me!" is pretty weak and makes him look incredibly spineless.
