Some of you may remember I got the chance to see John McCain back in March of '05, when he opened for President Bush at a Social Security privatization "town hall" (which lives in infamy, but I digress).

McCain got started with a hilarious deadpan, something to the effect of "Hello, I'm John McCain of Arizona and I've come for your water." Got great laughs, and he's kept using variations of the line ever since when he visits us in Colorado. It's on tape all over the place.

Just one little problem: it's not a joke.

State officials assail McCain's remarks on Colorado River Compact

Water experts of all stripes were left questioning the prudence of Republican presidential candidate and Arizona Sen. John McCain after he told a newspaper the critical 1922 water compact between seven Western states should be revisited.

"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 told The Pueblo Chieftain. "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."

The Colorado River Compact governs how seven Western states, including Colorado and Arizona, share the Colorado River.

"Conditions have changed dramatically," McCain said...

John Redifer, a member of the Colorado Water Conservation Board and political science professor at Mesa State College, said McCain's position makes sense in light of Arizona's needs, but not as a national policy.

"I wonder if he is running for president of the United States or for something in Arizona when he makes those statements," Redifer said. "I'm really kind of surprised that someone running for president … that needs to carry the state of Colorado would make a statement like that."

Colorado's statesmen also questioned McCain's plan, with Congressman John Salazar, D-Colo., saying he is "totally disappointed in McCain."

Salazar, via his spokesman, Eric Wortman, pledged to fight McCain's plan.

"Over my cold, dead, political carcass," Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer said...

That's right, even Bob "Referendum A" Schaffer is posturing on this one. And that's the thing--no one in Colorado could possibly support this and expect to remain in elected office. Colorado's water rights should be "revisited" because of the "reality" of Arizona and California sprawl? Oh my god. Lethal.

More reaction in the Pueblo Chieftain, who broke the original story yesterday:

McCain: Renegotiate 1922 Western water compact

"Senator McCain's position on opening up the Colorado River Compact is absolutely wrong and would only happen over my dead body," Salazar said. "It's an anathema to the fundamental principles of Colorado's water rights and our compacts."

The senator said that when the state's compacts with the lower basin states were negotiated, everyone knew at the time that those states would grow in population faster than Colorado. As a result, the upper basin states' water rights needed to be protected.

"We did not want California to gobble up all of the water supply on the Colorado River, and they would have done that under the doctrine of equitable apportionment," Salazar said. "In my view the compact is sacrosanct. I will fight tooth and nail to make sure that it is not opened up."

Salazar isn't the only Coloradan to be distrustful of downstream states. Two years ago, his successor in the attorney general's office, Republican John Suthers, created a special legal team to prepare for a possible - some believe, likely - lawsuit from those states in an effort to gain more Colorado water.

Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, said there's no need to renegotiate the compact.

"Just last year, the seven states entered into a new implementing agreement, and that agreement is working as intended," Ritter said. "It would be sheer folly to re-open the compact at a time like this when all of the states are working cooperatively on this issue."

McCain stressed that he has no intention of taking additional Colorado water, but emphasized that talks should occur...

This really is nothing short of unbelievable, coming from a man who visits Colorado often enough you might get the impression that he wants to, imagine for a moment, carry the state. So much for that, eh?

Next time McCain lands the "Straight Talk Express" 737 in Grand Junction, they're going to greet him with pitchforks if there's any justice. And those jokes about Arizona plundering our most precious resource? I'm going to spend an hour or two this evening tracking down some seriously toxic Youtubeables. Stay tuned...