February 04, 2020 08:56 AM UTC

Ken Buck's Jaws Still Unhelpfully Flapping

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Note that the GOP Senator who first fielded a similar question, Joni Ernst of Iowa, swiftly walked back her answer:

“That was taken entirely out of context. The point is that the Democrats have lowered the bar so far that … regardless of who it is, if you have a different party in the House than that of an elected president, you can have just random comments thrown out there with folks saying we’re going to impeach,” Ernst said when asked by The Hill about her earlier Biden comments.

“So, no, it was taken out of context. I didn’t say what the headlines [said] but simply that we‘ve lowered the bar so much, is this really what the American people want? And I would say no, it’s not,” she continued. [Pols emphasis]

Looks like Rep. Ken Buck is down, however–and not just impeachment right after an election like Sen. Ernst suggested. Buck is ready to rock right now.

And yes, that says more about Rep. Buck than it does about reality.

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AP and 9NEWS reporting–Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, who has been at times surprisingly (and we assume unintentionally) feckless in the defense of President Donald Trump during the years of investigations leading up to Trump’s impeachment, continues to fire off rhetorical broadsides as the final vote in the Senate trial approaches that are unlikely to age well:

Following a senator’s warning that former Vice President Joe Biden could face impeachment the day after becoming president, if he were to be elected, Colorado Congressman Ken Buck said there was no reason to wait…

“Well, I would say this. There’s no reason to wait for that. Vice President Biden could be impeached now,” Buck said. [Pols emphasis] “There’s no reason that you have to only impeach someone that is in office. You can hold the hearings. You can gather the evidence. You can move forward. But the extent of the corruption that you see, at least the allegations of corruption, that you see around the Biden family is very troubling.”

Rep. Buck made these remarks in an interview yesterday on the Fox Business channel, which if you haven’t had the pleasure is where Rupert Murdoch dishes out the conservative red meat too outlandish even for the “mainstream” Fox News Channel! Obviously, the idea of a Democratic House impeaching a former Democratic vice president years after leaving office who just happens to be running for President is sufficiently far-fetched that it wouldn’t even make a believable SNL skit.

So why say it at all? The Denver Post’s Justin Wingerter:

Buck’s spokeswoman, Lindsey Curnutte, said the congressman believes Democrats have set the bar so low that any future president could be impeached under new Democratic standards. Buck also believes Congress has an oversight role and that there are serious allegations surrounding the Bidens, she said.

“In last night’s interview,” Curnutte said Tuesday, “he was laying out Congress’ constitutional ability to impeach former federal officials.”

Morgan Carroll, chair of the state Democratic Party, released this comment: “Ken Buck’s absurd statement demonstrates the serious moral decay of today’s Republican Party leaders. Impeachment is a serious and somber process used only for the most egregious abuses of office.”

For the purpose of distracting from the impeachment trial and undermining its legitimacy with already persuaded base Republican voters, Buck is keeping up a consistent drumbeat. Outside the not-even Fox News but Fox Business conservative news bubble, however, where no evidence to support any of the allegations against the Bidens has ever been uncovered, and a majority of Americans do not buy any of this based on their support for Trump’s impeachment and all evidence against Trump to have been considered?

Buck is just insulting people’s intelligence. Anywhere a GOP seat is less safe than Buck’s own, he isn’t helping.