July 27, 2010 05:49 PM UTC

Stop Apologizing, Ken Buck: Birthers ARE "Dumbasses"

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• by: Colorado Pols

Politico’s David Catanese reports:

“Will you tell those dumbasses at the Tea Party to stop asking questions about birth certificates while I’m on the camera? God, what am I supposed to do?” Buck says on the tape, according to his campaign.

Buck campaign spokesman Owen Loftus told POLITICO that the candidate spent Sunday explaining and apologizing for the remark in interviews with the state’s two dominant news outlets.

“Ken points out he does gets frustrated at times with those individuals pushing those issues. He shouldn’t have cussed. He regrets the remark. He was venting his frustration to a Democratic tracker and he shouldn’t of,” said Loftus.

Loftus said that Buck, whose candidacy has been fueled in part by Tea Party members uninspired by one-time GOP frontrunner Jane Norton, was aware he was speaking to a Democratic tracker and simply made a mistake. The birther issue has been a tricky one for Buck to navigate: While he signaled he would support legislation to ensure a presidential candidate has U.S. citizenship at a meet-and-greet in June, he has also stressed it is not a priority for his campaign…

And so it goes: just a couple of weeks from GOP Senate frontrunner Ken Buck’s primary, a primary expected to be driven by the energized right flank of the GOP, you can understand how comments like these picked up by a Democratic tracker could be a problem. So out comes a qualified apology from Buck–not an apology that actually takes back his criticism of people who think questions regarding Barack Obama’s citizenship (settled ad nauseum how many months ago?) are a bigger issue than…well, all the other issues facing the country today. But Buck recognizes that some of these people are also the most likely to turn out to vote August 10th–so the decision to apologize was mostly likely very easy.

We don’t think this is going to hurt Buck regardless, and the reason is quite simple: he’s right. “Birthers” are ridiculous caricatures who inhabit the fringe of American political debate. “Birther” arguments really do boil down to racially-motivated mistrust of a President who is a different color than the majority of Americans–period. We’re at the point now where even many “Tea Party” leaders will admit this, though privately like Buck thought he was. Responsible members of both parties agree, with Republicans only slightly less willing to say so as it requires disparaging their own base. But it’s a fact: no amount of evidence will convince “birthers,” because they are not rational participants in the debate.

All of which makes today’s editorial in the state’s newspaper of record–a board that endorsed Buck’s insider opponent Jane Norton–declaring that Buck “went too far” labeling “birthers” as “dumbasses” a truly disappointing read. We understand that the comments section of that paper is totally overrun by such dumbasses, and they therefore might honestly believe that “birthers” are in some way representative of America. But to assert that Buck owes these fringe elements answers to their “sincere questions” implies a legitimacy that they do not deserve.