October 04, 2010 10:19 PM UTC

Tipton's "Buckpedaling" Follies Continue

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Pueblo Chieftain’s Peter Roper reports, kind of obligingly we must say, about CD-3 candidate Scott Tipton’s plans for the federal budget:

But cutting is also on Tipton’s agenda. He advocates a 10 percent, across-the-board cut in federal spending, except for defense. He would combine that with a 10 percent cut in the capital gains tax and would impose a flat, 10 percent income tax.

“I want to shrink the size of government,” he said.

Yeah, he does–a whole lot, as the Grand Junction Sentinel’s Charles Ashby reported last week:

“What I’ve been saying consistently since we started is that I believe in local control for education,” Tipton said. “That being said, 70 percent of the Western Slope, 50 percent of the 3rd Congressional District on average is either on federal, state or tribal land, so we need those (federal) dollars. My issue with the Department of Education is, it’s always with strings attached.”

Tipton said his plan for that department is the same as his plan for the entire federal government, to cut it in half… [Pols emphasis]

These two stated positions, printed only one week apart, more or less sum up our problem with news reporting on the CD-3 race thus far: there seems to be a motivation to aggressively slam the incumbent John Salazar over details in a TV spot, while letting Tipton get away with conflicting positions on a matter as far-reaching as “across the board” cuts to the budget.

And, we might add, one of these two positions is ridiculous. Bizarrely, Tipton threw out the “cut the government in half” line as a defense against criticism that he was reversing himself on previous calls to abolish the Department of Education–but he had already reversed himself on cutting the government “in half,” too! It’s a bit confusing in addition to silly, isn’t it?

Bottom line: we truthfully don’t know what the hell Scott Tipton’s position on the federal budget is anymore, all we know is that he has, recently, called for two very different things in moments where it has suited him one way or the other. It’s the perfect situation for a media outlet to, you know, get to the bottom of. Even if it’s a little embarrassing for everybody–Tipton, obviously, and also reporters like Peter Roper, for not ripping him to bite-size amateur pieces long before now.