Last night on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, reporter Gary Tuchman took an in-depth and extremely unflattering look at how freshman Rep. Lauren Boebert’s vitriolic dismissal of the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic is playing out on the ground in Boebert’s district as the Delta variant surges and hospitals struggle to cope.
The result is four minutes of video that would under any normal circumstances end Boebert’s career:
Tuchman starts with a recap of some of Boebert’s more incendiary Tweets on the pandemic, like calling CDC workers “Needle Nazis” and stating that the solution to the Delta variant is to “vote Republican and turn off CNN.” Tuchman tries and fails to get an explanation from Boebert as she’s entering the Capitol. Tuchman then turns his conversation with health workers at Memorial Regional Hospital in Craig, which was forced to reopen its COVID treatment unit due to the recent surge in cases. And that’s where things get very bad for Boebert:
TUCHMAN: How does it make you feel the way Representative Boebert has treated this pandemic, the masks, the vaccine?
ANDY DANIELS, CEO, MEMORIAL REGIONAL HEALTH: You know, I’m embarrassed for Colorado too, quite frankly. I’m embarrassed that she is my representative.
TUCHMAN (on-camera): So you’re the CEO of an important hospital, her district, and you’re willing to go out on a limb and say that?
DANIELS: I am. I think if you’re going to take a stance on health care policy, you might actually want to learn something about health care policy. [Pols emphasis]
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Dr. Matthew Grzegozewski is the hospital’s emergency department chief medical officer.
GRZEGOZEWSKI: She comes from a position of power being our elected official and I think that people are listening to what she’s saying. And a lot of what she’s putting out there is ideology that isn’t fact isn’t medically sound. And it’s putting a lot of people at danger. And it’s quite honestly costing people lives. And it’s frustrating to have to fight against that.
First of all, you have to admire the bravery of these health care workers. Their denunciation of Boebert’s deadly COVID misinformation in this segment is so compelling that it could raise the ire of her radicalized supporters. The willingness of these health workers to speak out in such clear terms against their own congressional representative tells us that Boebert’s popularity even in the heart of her district is tenuous at best–and much like we saw from Politico’s in-depth look at how Boebert plays in Pueblo in June, Boebert has a serious problem that the local media for whatever reason hasn’t yet acknowledged.
It’s time to acknowledge it. Boebert is doing quantifiable harm to the people of her district and the institution of Congress, and her longsuffering constituents are pleading for all of us to look past her diversionary clickbait bombast and see what is actually happening on the ground.
We owe them our gratitude and full attention.
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Okay. If people are so embarrassed, when do they stop digging this hole in terms of the types of people they elect? When they hit rock bottom? Did they hit rock bottom yet? If so, are they going to see it as a challenge to dig even deeper
Sadly, I think they'll be digging deeper, and doubling down. The dark money PACs that have supported Trump and his minions already are donating to Boebert.
I can see it now, equally sadly and paraphrased: if you oppose socialism, communism, defunding the police, and critical race theory, vote for Boebert.
If so, they have no right to say that they're embarrassed. If they really are and they say so, they should put their money where their mouths are and boot her sorry ass out of Congress.
Bingo, CHB. It's not what comes out of her mouth that matters, it's what goes in her
campaignbank account.I'd like to think the redistricting plan's emphasis on developing "competitive" districts would somehow translate into a less Boebert-friendly electorate.
I'd also like to think Boebert will have developed such reputation that it will not matter a great deal how much money she has to spend.
And I'd like to a see someone with a history of public service and a focus on the needs of people in her district instead of the attractions of raising her Q Score (an old-sense of the term, also named Q-Rating) and fund-raising prowess.
Back in the real world, I'm thinking Rep. Boebert will be more popular in 2022 than 2020, have more money, and probably will not be making quite as many gaffes or unforced errors. It's going to take a heck of a ground game to eke out a win.
"I'm thinking Rep. Boebert will be more popular in 2022 than 2020, have more money, and probably will not be making quite as many gaffes or unforced errors"
I agree with all but the last 13 words of your assessment. The gaffes will continue.