NEW: In DC we found @RepKenBuck, who bolted when we tried to ask why he went both ways on #AHCA. Story now on #HeyNext/#9NEWS. #COpolitics pic.twitter.com/qPy9P2rMYB
— Brandon Rittiman (@BrandonRittiman) April 27, 2017
Rep. Ken Buck has struggled recently to explain a major contradiction in his statements about the American Health Care Act, a.k.a. “Trumpcare”–in the immediate aftermath of the bill’s failure in late March, Buck had told 9NEWS reporters that he was not “sold” on the bill, but then changed his story to claim he had always supported the bill in an op-ed. After that op-ed was Tweeted out by none other than President Donald Trump himself, 9NEWS tried to circle back with Rep. Buck to get an explanation.
And as readers know, Rep. Buck cancelled on 9NEWS’ Kyle Clark at the last minute.
Well, last night 9NEWS aired their followup to the story. Reporter Brandon Rittiman went to Washington to get a straight answer out of Buck, and…well, he wasn’tcompletely successful:
When Congressman Ken Buck cancels an interview set up 10 days in advance, giving us just a few hours notice, and then won’t commit to another time, we go ‘Buck hunting.’
Political Reporter Brandon Rittiman met up with the Fourth Congressional District Representative on Wednesday outside of his office in the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C.
That interview lasted less than two minutes, included a ride in an elevator and ended with Buck walking away…
“What you said was that the president tweeted something that made me change my opinion, and you know all along that I had told people within a few hours after I had talked to you, that I as going to vote yes on it,” said Buck. “The president’s tweet had nothing to do with my position.”
Actually, that’s not true.
The American Health Care Act was pulled from the House floor before receiving a vote late last month.
Immediately after the bill was pulled, Buck told 9NEWS he remained undecided.
In the end, Rittiman wasn’t able to get an answer explaining Buck’s clear contradiction, but Buck’s weird misdirection about Trump’s Tweet bought him a few extra seconds to get past Capitol security–where Rittiman couldn’t follow. Buck didn’t change his story in response to Trump’s Tweet, he changed it before the Tweet in the op-ed Trump later posted–but obviously that doesn’t make it any less of a contradiction.
Buck certainly didn’t come out of this looking like a statesman, and his flip-flop is a metaphor for the struggle of his entire party to keep their dead-horse promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act: something the American people no longer want, and for which Republicans can no longer claim to have a better alternative.
And for a guy who says he wants to “drain the swamp,” Buck sure knows how to hide in one.
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Let me see.
A full of themselves reporter at a TV station, with "reporters" who are all trying to get noticed so they can get a real job and leave, is pissed off that a Congressman cancels a previously scheduled meeting with several hours prior notice.
So the full of themselves reporter's crack new department tracks down the Congressman outside his DC office, does not have a scheduled meeting, speaks to the Congressman in the elevator as the Congressman goes to his office and is pissed off he only has two minutes with the Congressman.
"9 News" needs to change its name to "9 wouldn't know News if it happened right in front of their faces".
Let's see. A full-of-himself representative who forgets he serves at the pleasure of the voters refuses to answer questions the voters would like answered, cancels appointments made weeks ahead, and runs away from a reporter asking him questions next to his office, when he could have paused for a minute..such a good look for Buck. Seriously, do you think Buck had anything better to do? Meet with his donors, maybe?
I am sorry, reporters aren't supposed to be humble and prostrate themselves at the feet of omnipotent representatives.
You two-bit hypocrite bastard. We all know if it was a DEM in 9's cross-hairs, you'd be cheering them on and calling the DEM a coward.
You royally suck as a troll, CarnHolio. I suggest TP for your pie hole. You're smug, boring, repetitive and utterly predictable.
DP
Practicing your Tom Perez -I have a limited vocabulary and don't process information well- so I will call people names and be vulgar response.
Congrats. Thanks for engaging.
Have a nice weekend.
Go suck an orange, pus bag. Oh, and no one failed to notice your transparent attempt to avoid responding to my spot-on characterization of you, you two-bit, predictable hypocrite.
Does Ken Buck have any core beliefs? Other than knee-jerk bigotry and sexism?
Couldn't prove it by me. I assume his Christianity is sincere, but it's definitely not the tolerant, compassionate christianity of , say, Jesus Christ. He believes in guns, at least when held by white people.
Classic Buck quotes over the years: "…Homosexuality….is like alcoholism."
"Vote for me because I don't wear high heels".
To a victim of date rape, " A jury could conclude that this is a case of buyer's remorse".
Voted against naming a post office after renowned poet Maya Angelou.
He used ICE raids that rounded up hundreds of suspected immigrants in Greeley to be a tough guy and play on fears of immigrants
He tweeted that ISIS was a threat to Julesberg, Colorado.
He tweeted specifically that ISIS was operating a camp in Chihuahua, Mexico.
Ken Buck is a climate change denier, who voted against US government buildings using renewable energy, even though the DoD says that climate change is the greatest threat to national security.
Before this comment becomes a diary, I'll sum up:
Buck has a long history of contradictory, opportunistic statements, whether on Trump, the ACA, his own biography (like Bush, Buck was mentored by Dick Cheney. Like Bush, Buck somehow "lost" the Ivy League school, lawyer parents, east coast elite elements of his own life story and became this fake swaggering Western lawman with "bullshit on his boots".
Really, we shouldn't be surprised when Ken Buck contradicts himself. He has no real core beliefs. He is a political opportunist who will say anything to anybody, even if he said the opposite an hour or a day ago.
MJ:
Do you have any core beliefs, other than it is OK to liable and slander those that do not agree with you and a misplaced belief that you are smarter than others?
You are a hack would-be journalist who could not live up to your father's expectations and dishonors his past by posting dishonest "facts" in order to tell your dishonest story.
I will pretend that part of your posting about Buck's belief is sincere, although I sincerely doubt it, and give you the short version because your attention span can only handle so much.
Buck is a Christian in the American Protestant tradition. He does not believe in the Marxist revolutionary strain practiced by some Catholics in South America, which seems to be your version of the same.
He believes in the Constitution.
He believes in the right to bear arms.
He believes abortion is wrong.
He believes in a limited Federal government, which is to say smaller than it is today.
He believes, like Bono, that Capitalism is the best hope to lift people out of poverty, not more government.
He believes in equality of opportunity, not compulsory equal results.
He believes in hard work and doing the right thing.
He does not treat people differently based on labels or their identity.
He believes in law and order and is not afraid to take the heat for doing what he thinks is right. You seem to have forgotten that he was the first DA to charge and convict someone of a hate crime for killing someone because of their sexual orientation. Sorry that does not fit into your bigoted calculation as to who he is.
Your shot that he only believes in Guns for white people is another bigoted statement. Last year he lost one of his closest friends, who he knew since he was a teenager, Winston Hill who was Black. Again, that does not fit into your bigoted calculation as to who he is.
When he was District Attorney he was charged with enforcing the criminal laws. When an illegal alien uses someone else's social security number for a job, that is identity theft, a crime. DA's are supposed to go after criminals
You don't know Ken Buck and seem only interested in defaming him. If you actually got to know him you would understand that you have not revealed anything about Ken Buck's core beliefs. What you have revealed is that honesty is not one of your core beliefs.
AC
MJ alternates between hysterical and Unabomber crazy.
MJ are you stupid or do you just act stupid and know better?
My hunch is the former.
Have you ever read the 14 Amendment?
I didn't think so.
You state it "provides that all people in the US deserve fair treatment".
Please share where it states that. My copy does not say that.
He opposes illegal immigration but supports legal immigration? How dare he make the distinction.
MJ you are not his boss. You are one of the 35% of his district who do not agree with the other 60% of his district that votes for him. He knows you would prefer to vote for Vlad Lenin or Joseph Stalin, but also knows that just like your neighbors, it is best to just ignore you.
AC: Do you know how to click a link? You look for the red text, then you click on it. Had you done that with the 14th amendment link I provided, you would have read:
emphasis mine.
Hate to break it to ya, but 100% of the constituents (not just the R ones) in Buck's district are his bosses. He needs to listen to all of them. As with the United States in general, Democrats tend to be "makers" and Republicans tend to be "takers". Republicans are more likely to expect taxpayer-funded corporate, farm, and other welfare as a matter of course. Dems pay for them, of course.
Don't make Mike Bowman trot out his farm subsidy charts to prove it. On road construction alone, urban areas foot the bill for rural areas:
Rural hospitals are funded largely through the ACA, which the urban areas voted for. The people with the gigantic Trump signs in Roggen drive on maintained roads and have hospitals within an hour's drive because of Dem voters in urban areas. So does Mr. Buck in Greeley.
Democrats tend to be footing the bill. So yes, we do pay Buck's salary, at a proportionately higher rate than others do. Suck it up, buttercup.
Buck has listened to your views and other KOOKS like you. He just doesn't share your solutions are the correct ones. Suck it up Buttercup.
MJ:
As I understand things you are a school teacher. Using your words, that makes you a taker and not a maker.
Your salary is paid by taxpayers.
I am a taxpayer, so I guess I am your boss.
I still did not see in the Constitution where it says all people in the US deserve fair treatment. It seems to provide that they cannot be deprived of certain things "without due process of law" and that they are entitled to "equal protection of the laws".
The process which they are due under the law depends on their status under the law. An illegal alien does not have the same rights under the law and is not entitled to the same process under the law as one here legally.
I still am missing the "fair treatment" clause in the 14th Amendment, have you found it yet?
If you think that teachers take more than they make, then you deserved that "gentleman's C" average you probably graduated with.
As Ken Buck's apparent surrogate or staff member, I equally pay your salary. So there.
Don't twist my words. I specifically noted that urban areas, which tend to be Democratic, pay for the roads and health care that rural districts, which tend to be Republican, enjoy. The taxes Dems pay allow Repubs to play.
Since your reading comprehension is a little weak, "Let me help you". The 14th amendment reads:
Any person within its jurisdiction means any person within US borders or jurisdictions is entitled to due process and equal protection of the laws. A reasonable person can substitute the word "fair" for "equal" and come up with the idea that the 14th guarantees fair (equal) treatment of all people under existing laws.
And, as usual, your pathetic attempts to deflect from the issues at hand – whether Ken Buck's extremist views prevent him from representing his constituents, including women and people of color.
One hate crime prosecuted doth not show fair treatment for gay people; one black friend, no matter how tragically dead, doth not show any effort to overcome personal nor systemic racism.
Policy is, in the end, what matters. Ken Buck's policies harm women, poor people, and members of vulnerable populations. This includes the rural white voters whom you all seem to believe are so solidly behind you.
I probably won't see your response, if any, as I tend to turn you and the other trolls off during the work week.
Powerful:
My sense is Sunday is Unabomber day.
I knew trolling you about Buck would get you going! Good times.
I won't respond to most of your provocations or personal attacks, as you predictably ignored most of the fun facts about Buck I posted. (Dad was actually fine with me being a teacher – and Mom was fine with me being a rabble rouser. We have to love the kids we get, whether in our families or our classrooms.) Anyhoo, here's a follow-up for you:
If Buck only wanted to find criminals using social security numbers in Greeley in 2006, that was information readily available to him as the DA. He had obtained much of it from a raid on a tax service in Greeley. He could have sent a few agents to round up those individuals at their homes or work.
Instead, he chose to create a climate of terror for all workers at the Swift plant – rounding up hundreds of people, making them declare their immigration status, ultimately deporting fewer than half of those rounded up there.
Why, if not to swagger as the Western Lawman he is not?
Then, when the meatpacking industry lost $30 million in production from losing 1/4 of its workforce overnight, Buck and the Chamber of Commerce came up with this idea to make Greeley a Refugee Center, and import thousands of legal immigrants from Somalia, Burma, and other countries to replace the lost Mexicanos in the meatpacking industry. This is generally known in Greeley.
At the same time, Mr. Buck is not averse to ginning up fear of the refugees by tweeting that they are going to attack Julesburg, or are camping out on the border,or other racist nonsense. He does like to keep commerce going, and still give his base the red meat they crave.
If he is such a Constitutionalist, where does he stand on the due process clause of the 14th amendment, which provides that all people in the US deserve fair treatment and due process under law, whether or not they are citizens? For some reason, that's not one of his favorite amendments.
As far as talking with Ken Buck and “giving him a chance”, I’ve called his office or sent emails more times than I have fingers. He does not respond. I’ve posted and asked questions on his town halls in 2016 and 2017. He will not answer them.
He is generally rude and brusque with his constituents – when one caller asked about white right wing violence (the most frequent and deadly kind we’ve experienced during Trump’s first 100 days), Buck rudely non-answered, “Next question.”
So if he wants his constituents to have a better opinion of him, he needs to show that he really does believe that they are who he is responsible to. We do pay his salary. We are his bosses.
Buck should sponsor a real panel discussion about issues, not just belittle and marginalize those who disagree with him (as you, his minion, also do). Until that happens, we’ll continue to battle it out in print on this and other forums.
MJ:
So you have confirmed that stupid is the real you.
I have read the 14th Amendment. Still have not found the "fair treatment" clause you said was in there.
I know the later clauses apply to non-citizens.
I also know that the protections afforded non-citizens are not the same as those afforded citizens because the protections are conditional upon what the law provides and the law provides different treatment for different classes of people.
I hope you are not a reading teacher.
Again, policy is what matters. Not intention, not good will, not fine words, but actions, translated into law by votes.
The Colorado Supreme Court found in 2016 that the ICE raids Ken Buck instigated in Greeley in 2006 were unconstitutional and violated the fourth amendment privacy rights of those whose records were seized at the tax service.
Because you are a word-quibbler, Let Me Help You. Here is the 4th amendment:
Ken Buck at least showed that he was willing to listen to his constituents by showing up at the Longmont town hall, and at two previous small, closed constituent meetings. This is a positive step.
But policy is what matters – we'll be watching Buck's actions – his votes on health care and immigrant detention if/when that comes up. His willingness to vote for the AHCA, and to waffle about his actual position on it, create uncertainty and concern.
As a cancer survivor himself, Buck normally would be one of those forced into the high risk pools for health coverage – with a premium cost upwards of $20,000 a year. However, cagey Congressmembers specifically exempted themselves and their families from the disaster to be inflicted by the AHCA provisions. They would remain covered by the kinder provisions of Obamacare.
Trumpcare 2.0 would eliminate funding for not just abortion, but for maternity care, cut Medicaid funding, and funding for rural hospitals, and harm not just us liberal Dems, in the city but his base rural voters, who will figure it out.
Good luck blaming Obama then.
Still haven't found the "fair treatment clause" in the 14th Amendment?
Given up yet, or are you still looking?
Time to admit there isn't one and you were wrong?
Keep looking.
Actually, Carnholio, MJ has more smarts in her left little toe that you have in your paresis-ravaged brain. Unfortunatelty, her left little toe is her dumbest toe. Whatever you do, don't put your brain against her gall bladder. You will lose, bigly.
My gall bladder is deeply grateful, V. Thanks.