Only
"dumbasses" in the Tea Party movement question President Barack
Obama's citizenship, according to one Republican Senate candidate in Colorado.
In response, a spokesperson for GOP rival Jane Norton called Ken Buck a
"self-proclaimed tea bagger who trashes tea partiers when he thinks no one
is looking."
A Colorado Democratic
Party worker taped Buck in a parking lot in June without his knowledge; the
recording was obtained by 9 News and The Denver Post.
"Will you tell
those dumbasses at the Tea Party to stop asking questions about birth
certificates while I'm on the camera," Buck was heard saying. "God,
what am I supposed to do?"
Buck later tried to
walk back his comments, telling a local TV station, "You know there are
times of frustration where I vent and in this case, I vented to the wrong
person under the wrong circumstances."
Asked about the comments on Sunday at
a political rally in Adams County, Buck said he wishes he had used different
language and that he had not lumped all Tea Party members into one statement,
but that he remains frustrated that some people are focusing on birth
certificates rather than the country's $13 trillion debt and its $100 trillion
in unfunded liabilities.
"The
language is inappropriate," he told 9NEWS and The Post. "After 16
months on the campaign trail, I was tired and frustrated that I can't get that
message through that we are going to go off a cliff if we don't start dealing
with this debt.
"It
is not the Tea Party movement on the whole. The Tea Party movement gets it.
It's the Constitution, it's the debt, it's the other issues, but there are a
couple people that are frankly frustrating for all candidates. I mean if you
talked to other candidates and they're being honest with you, they'll say I
know that. Now, they may not have used my choice words, but they have the same
feelings."
Only last week, Buck
found himself in the national spotlight for comments that seemed to suggest
that voters choose him because he wasn't a woman.
"Why should you
vote for me? Because I do not wear high heels," Buck told a crowd at an Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms
picnic sponsored by the conservative Independence Institute.
Buck's opponent, Jane
Norton, wasted no time in producing an ad spotlighting Buck's remarks about her
footwear. It's doubtful she'll produce a new one defending birthers, but Buck's
comments still are probably more likely to cost him votes than win any.
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