September 26, 2010 06:33 PM UTC

The "Buckpedal Files," Bush Tax Cuts Edition

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• by: Colorado Pols

It’s been a tough few days for GOP Senate candidate Ken Buck. Beginning with a post last Saturday at this blog with video of Buck’s reversal of position on a national sales tax (once again picked up around the country), the week saw several major stories on Buck’s flip-flop on the Colorado abortion ban amendment, then more video with Buck expressing support for privatization of the Veteran’s Administration–that one landed Buck an ignominious spot on MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann as the “Second Worst Person in the World.”

Something is happening here, folks. We’ve complained, as have many others, that Buck’s wholesale reversals since his primary election win over Jane Norton were not being adequately covered in the press, or were even being openly whitewashed by editorial boards who don’t seem to read what their newsroom reports. An editorial from the major Denver newspaper this week, very candidly pointing out these reversals, is welcome evidence that this may be changing.

And it’s about to get worse for Buck. Last night, we were forwarded the two video clips you can see above. The first is from an interview with Buck by the Washington Post from late last month–in it, Buck is asked if he believes that the Bush tax cuts should be “paid for” or “offset” some way to prevent expansion of the deficit. Buck’s response? “I don’t think so.” Because, you see, tax cuts spur economic growth, and if we had just had some tax cuts instead of that awful stimulus, “people would be back to work.”

But wait, didn’t the stimulus cut taxes for 95% of American families? In fact, wasn’t the stimulus act comprised of over 40% tax cuts? We digress–and it gets better anyway.

The second clip is from an undated interview with 9NEWS’ Adam Schrager on Your Show. We’ll admit that this is a Ken Buck we have never seen before–Buck talks about the obligation to our children regarding the deficit, but says that we’re going to have to “look at our place in the world order,” presumably in reference to vast military spending in the last decade which has added to the deficit. And he says that we will have to–not a misquote, folks–“perhaps raise taxes.”

Now, we don’t know what it’s going to take to get the Ken Buck who doesn’t give a crap about the deficit in the same room with the Ken Buck who does, but we’d say they probably ought to figure out which Ken Buck voters are supposed to believe. As with all of these back-to-back clips coming out of the woodwork of Buck contradicting himself, only one of them depicts how he really feels.

And that sums up Buck’s emerging problem, problems with individual issues but also an overarching theme: you can’t trust Buck. He says whatever you want to hear.