U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., defended ObamaCare on the floor of the House in 2009; he voted for it; and he told a small group in Pueblo this week that the new law would eventually cut the deficit big-time and, as The Pueblo Chieftain described it: save Medicare from certain collapse long before then.

So give Salazar a nod for consistency on ObamaCare. But give the citizens of his Third Congressional District credit for seeing through the smokescreen that somehow more government control will result in better health care and cut the deficit. It won’t. As a start to explaining why, here’s the Heritage Foundation’s analysis, “Obamacare’s True Costs Coming to Light.”

Here’s hoping Salazar gets over his jitters and agrees to debate Republican challenger Scott Tipton at the Club 20 event on Sept. 11 in Grand Junction. His constituents deserve nothing less.