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October 23, 2017 02:22 PM UTC

Vicki Marble's Cub Scout Fiasco Lurches Into Week 3

  • 30 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
State Sen. Vicki Marble, left, speaking to 11-year-old Ames Mayfield

This weekend, the New York Times put the capstone on one of the worst weeks of nationwide press for a Colorado state senator that anyone can remember–Sen. Vicki Marble’s grilling by 11-year-old Cub Scout Ames Mayfield that blew up into massive controversy after the kid was booted from his den by the adult pack leader:

On Oct. 14, five days after the event with Ms. Marble, Ms. Mayfield was asked to meet the leader of the Cub Scout pack who oversees a number of dens in Broomfield, including the one Ames belonged to.

Ms. Mayfield and the pack leader, whom she did not identify, sat down at a Chipotle restaurant that afternoon. “He let me know in so many words that the den leader was upset about the topic of gun control,” Ms. Mayfield said in an interview on Saturday. “It was too politically charged.”

“He communicated that my son was no longer welcome back to the den,” she said.

Ms. Mayfield said the den leader’s response might have been fueled by her decision to post the videos of the senator’s interaction with the scouts online, where they were picked up by the local news media.

At this point, the decision by the leaders of the Cub Scout pack to kick Ames Mayfield out has totally backfired–placing them and their organization in an extremely unfavorable light, over comments from a state senator that inspire absolutely no sympathy. And here’s another detail that hasn’t yet been reported: one of the “den” leaders in the local Cub Scout “pack” that made the decision to kick Mayfield out is none other than former Broomfield Rep. Don Beezley–who readers will remember as a particularly nutty “Tea Party” lawmaker who claimed public education is a “communist model” and that the Americans with Disabilities Act made people with disabilities into “a burden, an enemy” to small business. We haven’t specifically confirmed what role if any Beezley may have played in this decision, but’s a key angle in this story to run down now.

Beezley’s leadership role in this Cub Scout pack most certainly adds to larger questions about what kinds of political activities these kids are taking part in at Cub Scout functions–questions Sen. Marble raised with her very presence. Moreover, if it’s inappropriate for Cub Scouts to ask tough questions of politicians who appear at their meetings, why are politicians at those meetings at all? It’s not like we’re trying to suggest that the Cub Scouts may have been co-opted by right-wing political activists to indoctrinate unsuspecting children and kick out the ones who disagree…except oops, it looks like we just did.

These questions do need to be answered, preferably before one more kid signs up to be a Cub Scout.

As for term-limited Sen. Marble, we’ll be interested in seeing what happens next with her. One of the questions from Ames Mayfield to Sen. Marble concerned her highly regrettable comments in 2013 about “the black race” and chicken consumption, and Marble’s blanket denials in response to Mayfield’s questions could easily be characterized as dishonest. Much like in 2013, Marble’s safe seat means the damage done is to the larger Republican brand more than herself personally. Senate President Kevin Grantham has proven damagingly reluctant to take any kind of punitive action against a member of his caucus, but at some point you have to ask how much collateral damage from Marble’s antics the party is willing to tolerate.

There’s a good argument now that she never should have been allowed to live down “Chicken-gate.”

Comments

30 thoughts on “Vicki Marble’s Cub Scout Fiasco Lurches Into Week 3

  1. AN ACT

    1. Republicans can no longer host or participate in any civic events because they are evil.

    Safety clause. Colorado Pols hereby finds, determines, and declares that this act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety.

    1. I hope this illustrates how absurd your attempt to drive Republicans out of Scouting is. Of course we know the REAL reason why you don't want cis gender conservatives watching over our young boys………

      1. That's funny nutlid.  Didn't seem like Republicans were driven out.  Seems like anyone who asks Republicans tough questions was.  Why did they kick Ames Mayfield out?  Tell me that.  Or are you afraid of tough questions.

        1. You don't spend any time on LGBT sites do you, V? I despise that word, but it's ubiquitous in that arena. I am, however, thunderstruck that Moddy knows it.

          On the other hand, after rereading his remark, I think he may be conflating it with heterosexual.

          1. I scorn it for the same reason I reject "Non Hispanic white. ". I refuse to be defined by what I'm not.  But you're right.  Moldy did get it confused with heterosexual, which is why I ragged on him.   It actually just refers to the 99.3 percent of us who are not trans.  He's still fighting the last Scout war, when they didn’t admit gays. But gay men are men. /p>

      2. . . . why’d you have to go and drag the “Hastert Rule” into this conversation, Fluffynutz???

        (PS. You truly are a cis-idiot, cis-dipshit!)

    2. Such a nasty woman.

       

      Why didn’t she just smile politely (I know, it’s asking a lot from Marble), thank the kid for his interest in current events, and parrot the usual talking points she’s been programmed to recite (i.e., gun don’t kill people, people kill people; repeal and replace; make america great again; more freedom, less gummint).

    3. This is clearly, and without question, the very closest thing you’ve ever had to a good idea on this site . . . 

      . . . unfortunately for you, like so many other of your Wile-E-Doofus plans, this one too would be unconstitutional . . .

      . . . Damn.  As close as you’ve ever gotten, and still in the wrong time zone . . .

  2. Don Beezley's involvement would explain a lot. Dudebro is great at making money and breathtakingly incompetent at everything else. This latest Marble kerfuffle likely would have gone away but for the epically moronic decision to boot the kid. Using the Cub Scouts as a forum for this blatantly wingnutty political event, coupled with the booting, had all the sophistication and richly nuanced subtlety of a bukkake flick. It's precisely the sort of dumbassery one would expect from Beezley in any non-business matter.

    On the plus side, former rep Gabby Giffords has volunteered to campaign for young master Mayfield if he decides to run for the House in 14 years.

  3. If Con Man Cory or Bird Brain Coffman ever again holds a legitimate town hall meeting, we need to send young master Mayfield in to kick and humiliate some major wingnut ass.

    Since the 'librul' mee-dee-ya won't do its job.

  4. New York Times ???!!???

    WTF???

    Who the hell reads, let alone believes, anything reported by that piddly backwater fake-news tabloid?? . . . 

    . . . Wake me whe this story ever gets covered in any of the real press, like Sputnik or RT  Until that happens, if I ever want any honest news, I’ll watch my neighbor’s DVR reruns of O’Reilly. 

  5. I find their excuse kind of interesting.  The den leaders invite a State Senator to their meeting and then get upset when this politician was asked political questions.  Oh for the love of a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte.  You can bet that if the boy had asked Senator Lost Her Marbles if she knew how to make a quilt of rapid fire automatics, he would gotten a FREEDOM badge on the spot.

    1. The "freedom blanket", right, GG?

      According to the Boy Scout site, hunting safety is a part of the approved Scout curriculum. Which is a good thing. (Don't tell Moddy I said so).

      Older scouts with hunting licenses can hunt as part of the "Venturing" program, in which they design their own adventures and badges.

      Scouting is definitely a lot cooler nowadays than when I trudged grimly from door to door, selling Thin Mints and Samoas.

        1. Dang, cook, you really should run for office, or manage someone else's campaign. With those marketing skills, and your culinary magic, who knows what miracles you could work in persuading the public.

  6. Marble —> Beezley —> Who else??

    Good work, Alva. Please stay after this, ultimately someone should report on the sponsoring organization for this particular Cub Scout Pack . . . 

    . . . is it?:

    a). RMGO

    b). CCU

    c). II

    d).  All of the above.

     

     

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