“If Bennet respects the people of Colorado, he will take down this misleading spot.”Denver, CO—Independent news organizations are weighing in on appointed Sen. Michael Bennet’s latest ad, and they are unanimous in their conclusion-- Michael Bennet’s ad is “misleading,” “false” and takes Buck’s comments “dramatically out of context.”
In the ad, Bennet had his staffers splice-and-dice comments made by Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck, stating that Ken called Social Security a “horrible policy,” and that “Ken wants to end student loans for middle class kids,” both of these claims, and others, proved to be false and misleading.
Bennet prohibited his staff from releasing the videos in their entirety to reporters who were trying to verify whether Bennet was being honest in his commercial, or if he was intentionally misleading viewers.
“It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Michael Bennet is misleading Coloradans,” said John Swartout, Buck’s campaign manager. “Maybe Bennet doesn’t understand that Coloradans expect straight-talk from their senator, even if he is an appointed one. But one thing is sure—If Bennet respects the people of Colorado, he will take down this misleading spot.”
Bennet has a record of misleading Coloradans. In May of 2009, Bennet tried to convince Coloradans “that spending federal dollars can drive down the growing national debt.” (Jessica Fender, “Biden speaks in Denver,” The Denver Post, 5/27/09)
“Coloradans can’t believe that Bennet was trying to ‘drive down’ the debt when he rubberstamped trillions of dollars in spending. They don’t believe he was trying to control spending when he rubberstamped a single amendment that provided over a billion dollars in pork projects that funded a celebration for St. Augustine Florida’s anniversary and funding for the National Tropical Botanical Gardens. This type of reasoning from Bennet is insulting.”
Swartout went on to say, “Bennet thinks that just because he says something, Coloradans will believe him. Bennet has it backwards—He should believe Coloradans when we say we want jobs, and that we don’t want to pass $13 trillion debt to our children and grandchildren. Instead he ignores us and rubberstamps whatever the special interests want.”
“Coloradans want a senator who they can trust to get them back to work and control spending,” added Swartout. “It raises serious questions when a sitting senator says one thing in Colorado, and does the opposite in Washington, or when he intentionally misleads voters.”
