Jon Caldara shoots off his mouth, but at least he's a straight shooter

Jon Caldara.

"There's nothing more enjoyable than pissing off liberals," said Jon Caldara, head of the Independence institute, at the think tank's annual ATF -- Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms -- event on Saturday, a free-for-all of free-market talk, drinking alcohol, smoking cigars and shooting guns. But it wasn't as easy as it had been a week before, when Colorado Republicans started shooting themselves in the foot.

Caldara acknowledged that right at the start of his talk on Saturday. "At the end of this," he said, "everyone who's a registered Republican should come up front so that we can get in a circle and shoot each other."

The last one standing could be the Republican Party's next candidate for governor, depending on how the current controversy over Scott Mcinnis works out. In the meantime, both declared candidate Dan Maes and almost (and maybe future) candidate Tom Tancredo were there to talk to the crowd. And then there's Caldara himself.

Last year, when Josh Penry pulled out of the gubernatorial race, a crew of wags put up a Jon Caldara for Governor page. And given McInnis's way-off-the-mark handling of the initial plagiarism charge, a candidate like Caldara, who's s a straight shooter, would be a refreshing change for the Republiican Party.

After all, it's not easy pissing off liberals when Colorado's Republican Party is already doing so much to delight them.