Buck: "Yes, I’m the Grassroots candidate." "Tea Partiers are dumbasses." "I’m not a Tea Partier."Denver, CO – Today, Ken Buck made another eye-popping statement, something he seems to do on a regular basis these days.
In an interview with National Review Online earlier today, Buck lets slip with another admission: “I’m not a tea-party candidate.” (NRO, Ken Buck: Birthers are 'Rude' and 'Wrong,' 7/27/10). Which led a top editor at National Review Online to ask the obvious question: “What does Buck mean by that?” (NRO, re: 'I’m not a tea-party candidate,' 7/27/10)
The Colorado Independent reports that Buck spent yesterday trying to shore up Tea Party support and even using Tea Party websites to disseminate his “mea culpa” – which of course only came after he got caught on tape trashing tea partiers.
Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck worked to shore up Tea Party support Monday in the wake of news he called “birthers” in the tea party movement “dumbasses” for hectoring him on the issue of President Obama’s citizenship and right to hold office, a topic Buck has repeatedly dismissed as a distraction. Buck called up leaders of the tea party movement who disseminated his mea culpa. “Ken Buck called me just moments ago and asked for help getting out a message,” Travis Whipple, Chairman of the Longmont 9/12 tea party posted on the group’s website. (The Colorado Independent, Buck Works To Shore Up Tea Party Support In Wake Of Birther Flap, 7/27/10)
“Two weeks before conservatives pick their standard-bearer, Ken Buck is already running to the middle,” said Josh Penry, Norton campaign manager. “Ken’s recent statements beg the question, ‘Who is the real Ken Buck?’”
By first insulting and now distancing himself from some Tea Party supporters, Ken Buck has proven to be especially insincere. As Colorado Pollster Floyd Ciruli told CQ Politics: “He got [the tea party] endorsement and ran with it.” (CQ Politics, Buck Navigates Tea Party Pros and Cons in Colo., 7/26/10)
Norton has earned the endorsement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Conservative Union PAC, the Family Research Council Action PAC, the Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund, and the Pikes Peak Firearms Coalition.
