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May 20, 2017 10:25 AM UTC

Ken Buck: "It's Just Very Difficult" to Spread News of "Good Things" Happening in Washington

  • 28 Comments
  • by: Jason Salzman

(There are good things happening? — Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Rep. Ken Buck (R).

U.S. Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) said on a Denver radio show Friday that it was “premature” for the Trump Administration to appoint a special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the last election–and that it’s “just very difficult” at his town halls to get his positive message out “about the good things that are going on” in Washington.

Asked by KDMT 690-AM host Jimmy Sengenberger if he thought it was a “smart move” for the deputy attorney general to appoint Robert Mueller as special counsel, Buck said:

“I think that it was premature,” Buck answered. “I don’t think it was warranted at this time. I can see politically whey they want to remove themselves, the Department of Justice, from this inquiry. And I understand politically why it was done. But as a prosecutor, you wait until you have probable cause before you start doing things like special prosecutions or grand jury or other criminal investigations. So I just felt it was premature.”

Buck is a former Weld County District Attorney.

Buck’s comments came on the day it was revealed that Trump told Russian officials that former FBI Director James Comey was a “nut job” and his firing by Trump alleviated pressure on Trump about his campaign’s Russian ties.

Earlier in the week, a recording emerged of former GOP House Majority leader, Kevin McCarthy, saying he thinks Russian leader Vladimir Putin paid Trump. McCarthy said he was joking, even though he said, “Swear to God” after he made the comment in the audio tape. Multiple Trump officials, including Trump’s Attorney General, James Sessions, have admitted talking to Russians during the campaign.

Buck said Congress and Trump are doing a lot of good work, but “when I go to town halls, trying to the get positive message out about the good things that are going on is just very difficult.”

Asked why, Buck said the media “is fundamentally unfair in this situation; it’s a left-leaning media,” and Trump has “not done us any favors.”

He added that “the left if very well organized and focused on a singular message.”

“I tell ya, Jimmy, I think there are great things happening in the country, and the stock market today is reflecting some of those great things,” Buck said on air. “We have consumer confidence that is outstanding right now. We have low unemployment. You know, I was driving to the airport the other day, from Greeley down to DIA, and I saw five different HELP WANTED signs, and I haven’t see that in years….”

“For some reason, this narrative continues that there’s some sort of collusion between the Trump Campaign and the Russians, and there’s just no hard evidence that leads to that conclusion,” said Buck.

Buck took over Colorado’s Fourth Congressional District when U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) was elected in 2014. Gardner defeated a Democrat, Betsy Markey, to win the seat in 2010.

Comments

28 thoughts on “Ken Buck: “It’s Just Very Difficult” to Spread News of “Good Things” Happening in Washington

  1. "Help Wanted" is a two-edged sword. Does the Congressman blame or thank the policies that lead to this boom, largely enacted over the last decade? (I'll let Moddy chime in on the political math).  Regulatin' numb nutz gunz and the exit of Magpul (sp?) didn't destroy our economy as he so confidently assured us it would. 

    1. I drive that same Greeley – DIA route a few times a month.

      Some of those help – wanted signs Buck passes enroute are for dangerous, low-paying jobs in dairies and meat-packing plants. They have a very high rate of on-the-job injury. There are very few gas and oil drilling jobs, although there are some tanker truck driving jobs.

      By the way, Trump's immigration policies, i.e., "Detain and deport them all!!" may be contributing to those vacant jobs staying open. 1 in 10 Coloradans was born in another country, per Denver Post's reporting.

      Those meat and dairy jobs are essential work, and OK for short term employment. But many people get stuck in there for decades and end up with carpal tunnel syndrome and no paycheck, when the companies abandon them.

      If native born Coloradans don't want to take on "dirty work", and the immigrants are all slaving away for free in ICE detention centers, who will?

      1. So of course the first thing Drumpf would do would be to put a man in charge of Commerce that has nothing but the best intentions for American workers. Or these hard-working folks.  Or these.  Or these.

        If the Congressman wants to #MAGA by following the Colorado experience he should focus on a federal renewable energy standard, end Prohibition at the federal level, think of immigrants as key components of our economy, raise a tax here-and there and drink a six-pack of craft beer once-a-week.  

          1. quote from the article: "tourism industry was surging in Cyprus……"  I suppose it would depend on which part of Cyprus you visit. There is the Greek south; the Turkish north; and the two sovereign military bases still retained by the British.

            Coal country Trump supporters probably aren’t smart enough still to understand how badly they’re being played. After all, they voted for him. 

      2. The Congressman's district now has the distinction of the hosting the poorest town in Colorado, Lamar.   Like the two-edged sword mentioned above, creating the kinds of opportunities in rural Colorado takes a yin (public policy – aka the dreaded 'mandate) and a yang (support by its reps).  On one hand public policy, like a renewable portfolio standard for the state sets the stage for rural development.  The best thing for Colorado would be a 50% or higher standard.  We know that kind of penetration is manageable.  But that would require a different way of thinking in the failed, 51st-state and Republicans and Democrats standing arm-in-arm to push back on the Xcel, Black Hills and Tri-State interests.  As long as the Repubs see the Dems as nothing but an enemy (hard case to make given Buck's words used for this thread) it'll go nowhere.  

        The people of Lamar are really special folks – I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time down there in 2010.  It's a region drowning in natural resources, so it's a massive disconnect when the region is classified a Strike Force area.  If half the Front Range cannabis cultivations were spread from Pueblo south to Lamar they'd add thousands of jobs to the area.  Another 10% in the renewable standard would force another couple billion dollars in wind farms, too. With those two industries there are also all kinds of value-added opps for the region.

        USDA has just announced a re-alignment of it's departments and for the first time taking rural development out of their mission and assigning it into a sub-group.  The new Secretary (whom I think is a decent guy) says its a better model; most rural advocacy groups have a different take.  Time will tell.  

         

      3. More hysteria using poorly sourced fake news. You might want to leave out those behind a pay wall. Have you had a single class in economics?

        1. You don't get to argue both ways, PP.  On one hand you lament the state of our country, low-paying jobs, etc., while on the other hand celebrating the election of a man whose fortune is built on bankruptcies and making his money on labor in foreign lands, all while giving a public educator a lecture on economics.  I don't care which paradigm you're supporting, but you're the equivalent of a drunk wandering from one side of the yellow line to the other.  

          Pick one side of the road.  

          Here's a good piece from Fortune magazine: 

          Here’s What America Would Be Like Without Immigrants

          Enjoy your Sunday with the Ms. and the pooches and we’ll make that cold brew and nachos happen soon.

          1. Immigration is beneficial, illegal immigration is not. Your attemp to diminish Trumps achievements, success and wealth with tired talking points about bankruptcy have been rejected by American voters and only resonate with the Socialist Left, whose numbers are small but vocal.

            Come hungry, best nachos in the Metro area.

            1. I didn't know that Trump has had any significant achievements yet. I wouldn't call Trump-Ryan Care passing the US House by a 4 vote margin "significant." Trump has signed off on CRA resolutions like getting rid of BLM Planning 2.0 that would have allowed for more and better input into decision making by local rural communities; a change not wanted by the oil & gas industry. He has yet to make any of his E.Os. on immigration stick. 

              I'd say that the REAL fake news here is any talk of Trump achievements. But I will agree to no longer bring up Trump's poor business practices, pre-campaign, if you no longer bring up anything about Hillary. After all, she lost and bringing her into any discussion is just a distraction from Trump's new low at a 38% approval rating.

            2. Ummm….the American people didn't reject Hillary, that was the job of the Electoral College.    

              I do admire your amaurotic loyalty to the occupant of 1600 Penn.  You'd fit right in at our family dinners in Wray!  Illegal immigrants certainly are providing benefits for this country (and indirectly to you).  Secondly, when your movement has lost Anne Coulter it might be time to hit the pause button and reflect? 

              Lastly, there are billionaire role models.  Ones who don't think the secretary should be paying a higher tax rate than his/her boss and that another 1%-er tax cut isn't necessary. The #PussyGrabber with the nuclear code isn't one of them.  

              1. I didn't expect you to be a shill for the Chamber of Commerce. The argument that we need illegals to do the work that Americans won't do is perverse and an injustice to the illegals themselves. There is no job that Americans won't do. There are jobs that have inefficient compensation. What you propose is that you want to buy cheep grapes, so get an illegal to do it instead of paying a fair wage. You want your landscape to look nice so get an illegal to do it so you don't want to pay a fair wage. I need my house painted so get an illegal to do it cheep.  Legitimate small businesses cannot compete with those small businesses who hire illegal aliens.  Illegal aliens keep wages down because greedy Americans don't want to pay the real cost to keep a nice landscape, the real cost for grapes, the real cost to get your house painted.

                Ann Colter also told us Romney was a winner…..not so much.

                1. How you got "MB wants to hire illegals to work cheap" from "Social Security compiles millions from immigrants who pay SS but never collect it" is a mystery wrapped in a hot dog bun wrapped in a greasy napkin.

                  Or maybe you're ranting at CHB. Or maybe at me. You need to specify pronouns, like your orange hero.

                2. Actually, Pear, the Denver Post article embedded in MamaJ's first post makes the case for immigration through the lens of an economic model that Congressman Buck aspires to create (low wages, minimal regulation).

                  I think we can all agree that living/just wages are important.  I also think we can agree we should have an immigration system worthy of immigrants.  You call it 'greedy Americans' that want to keep wages low, most of us would call it the Republican Party Platform.

                  Let's take a quick look at Drumpf's Saudi arms deal: there are 3007 counties in the United States; one-half the population lives in 143 of those counties.  As an educated guess, I'd imagine the 'hundreds of thousands of jobs' POTUS claims will be created will be inside, not outside, those 143 counties.  I come from a rural area and care most about jobs and economic activity in the 2,864 counties where we need to right the ship.  I see nothing to date, other than lip minimal lip service, that indicates this man can remember where the 77,000 people are from that effectively elected him.

                  A man who has spent his adult life shitting on a gold-plated toilet in a $100mm penthouse has no fucking clue on how to make these people's lives better. 

                  I do look forward to the beer and nachos.  I suspect there are a lot of things we'd agree upon, we just differ over the delivery method.  

                  1. I think I remember reading the article. It didn't differentiate between legal and illegal. 

                    A bit of hyperbole thinking Republicans are the greedy ones, $400,000 For an Obama speech?

                    Wrong about Trump, he connected with the demographic you want to help. Big problem for the Democratic Party.

                    1. As opposed to differentiating between human and non-human? You remember what The Gipper got for speeches, right?  Or Dubya?  How does what Obama gets paid for a speech have anything to do with this discussion? 

                      I often flinch sometimes when I generalize something as a Republican issue.  I grew up in an Eisenhower Republican household.  The breed of Republicans that had a brain. I'm not sure what to call the animal the party has morphed in to today – other than a travesty to conservative principles.

                      Trump managed to connect with an extra 77,000 people in three states; if he doesn't deliver something other than hyperbole in the next 18 months the mid-terms will be telling.  

        2. When you call a non-screaming woman "hysterical", it's a consciously sexist putdown. But you knew that.

          Which link was behind a paywall? For which are you disputing the sourcing?And yes, I have taken multiple classes in economics, enough to understand supply and demand. Thanks for demonstrating yet again how to be a condescending douchenozzle.

           

           

           

           

           

           

           

           

           

           

           

           

           

           

        1. I read Methland last year, on your recommendation. It was chillingly familiar. Now, we have an opioid epidemic. It's the new big trend. 😔 People are working really hard and injuring or strain themselves, getting prescription s for Oxy or another narcotic pain med, getting addicted. Kids are buying and selling pills. Even in my little "All American Town".

  2. I wonder which Washington the buck has been going to.  From what I know Washington, D.C. is not getting much done, unless you call making Twitter very popular for spreading the idiotic ramblings of a senile old man getting stuff done.

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