GOP Senate Candidate Ken Buck Calls Birthers "Dumbasses"

AP

Colorado Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck has once again talked himself into some trouble - this time by calling certain tea-party activists "dumbasses" for questioning the legitimacy of President Obama's birth certificate.

According to the Denver Post, Buck was caught on tape saying in June, "Will you tell those dumbasses at the Tea Party to stop asking questions about birth certificates while I'm on camera." He added, laughing: "God, what am I supposed to do?"

Buck was speaking to a Democratic operative who had secretly recorded the conversation.

Buck, who enjoys strong support from the Tea Party movement, has since somewhat walked back the remarks, though he focused on language, not content.

"I'm not suggesting the language was appropriate," Buck told the Post today. "But after 16 months of being 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."

In separate comments on Sunday, Buck said the so-called "Birthers" have been distracting his campaign from more important issues like the economy. Earlier this year, he suggested that he may support legislation that would ensure presidential candidates are U.S. citizens, but he has since shied away from the issue.

Jane Norton, Buck's chief rival in the state's Republican primary, quickly jumped on his remarks. In a statement, she said, "My opponent has given more profanity-laced tirades than he has specifics on reforming our unaffordable system of entitlement." She added: "Ken Buck's childish insults about tea partiers once more raise the question: exactly who is Ken Buck, and can we really trust him? And just as pointedly, does Ken Buck have the temperament and character to be a United States Senator?"

But Lu Busse, who runs the 9/12 Project Colorado Coalition, told an NBC affiliate in Denver that while she wishes Buck had used better language, she understands that he misspoke.

"He could have not called us a name," said Busse. "It would have been better to say, 'Why do these people' and he shouldn't have used a bad name, but I don't see it as he meant anything personal to me or to the other people in the Tea Party movement. It was just an unguarded moment and he was frustrated."

This is not the first time Buck has caused a stir for making questionable comments. Buck found himself in the midst of controversy last week after Norton released a campaign spotlighting Buck's comment that voters should vote for him because he doesn't "wear high heels."

A week earlier, Buck was criticized after saying the following about former Congressman Tom Tancredo, who said that the biggest threat to the country was Mr. Obama: "[I] can't believe that guy [Tancredo] opens his mouth."

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[CamileHowe]

The quote in the article "Earlier this year, he (Buck) suggested that he may support legislation that would ensure presidential candidates are U.S. citizens, but he has since shied away from the issue."
Are US constitution not only requires US Citizenship, it requires that the President be born in the US or one of it's US territories. I know this for fact because my son who was born of two US Military (US born citizens) serving abroad, was born in US Military hospital in Germany and cannot be President even though he is a US citizen born abroad. Even if a President had a child born outside the US or one it's territories, his child could not hold the office of the President of the United States. I've read the constitution and it is clear on this point.

[Evergreen5118]

WRONG! Such nonsense is amazing......Where do people get their information?

If both parents are American citizen, their child qualifies as a natural born citizen no matter where he is born and is eligible to be the president.

Section 1 of Article Two of the United States Constitution sets forth the eligibility requirements for serving as President of the United States:

"No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.?

Subsequent rulings by Congress and enacted by federal statute affirm that children born abroad by parents who are both U.S. citizens are not only U.S. citizens themselves, but are recognized as ?natural born citizens.?

FWIW, John McCain was born on August 29, 1936 at Coco Solo Naval Air Station in the Panama Canal Zone to American pasrents and is a natrual born Citizen. McCain, unlike Obama, never released his birth certificate to the press or independent fact checking organizations.

[fedup12]

WOW a GOP'er who calls it like he sees it. AWESOME.

Maybe I could vote for this guy.

[CamileHowe]

I could on every postion he stands for except the abortion (not allowing for incest or rape is too harsh, too extreme. Bummer too because he was my candidate!). Also the constitution clearly states that a President must be born in the United States. It is very clear on this point.

[ge556]

Obama not only has a Hawaiian birth certificate, his birth was announced in 2 Hawaiian newspapers at the time.
Pretty forward-looking conspiracy there, eh?

[CamileHowe]

The constitution clearly states that a President must be born in the United States. It is very clear on this point and it wouldn't matter if a child is born at a US military base abroad by two US born citizens or even the child of the President of the United States because a President has to born on US soil.

[perish2]

The public has never been privy to a photstatic copy of the actual birth certificate on file. We have seen a new issued certificate attesting that there is a record of his birth on file. We have been shown newspaper reports of his birth. We ahve been told by others that there is an official original document on file.

But,

No one has made that document or a photostaic copy of it public. Until or unless such a thing is made public, this controversy will never completely go away no matter how many insults every body comes up with. The only real way to ever end this debate is for the president to ask the state of Hawaii to show the actual original document or a photostatic copy of it.

[OldProfessor]

There is no debate!!! There is a group of losers crying in the political wilderness of a Grand Ol' Party gone mad. We don't care what you think. Your party leaders, AND the US Supreme Court has looked at what is available and accepted it. The State of Hawaii has said their records show he was born in Hawaii. That is it!!! Cry about it!!!

[perish2]

#1 the supreme court has never taken up this issue
#2 Do you believe everything you are told
#3 I believe Obama is a citizen. I am just telling people why so many don't believe and how to put a stop to it.
#4 obviously there is a debate or so many wouldn't be asking Ken Buck about it.

[jimatmadison]

What's funny is that we have dozens of d**a** Tea Partiers on here proving that Buck is absolutely correct. The Tea Party appeals to the racist fringe. Read the posts.

[OldProfessor]

Think about it for a moment...those that question Obama's American birth are in fact questioning the Republican party for not proving he was a Kenyan by birth, they are in fact questioning the Democratic party AND the Supreme Court since they had to deal with the issue at least twice. It comes down to the point that there is no proof the "birthers" would accept and I think Obama would rather they have their energy and money focused on a false issue ....which delivers the message to many people....that the Republican Party is not smart. If they were...they would have shut the "birthers" up. Buck obviously tried but can't take the heat. Too Bad :>)

[duffyn]

If it could be proved that President Obama is not a citizen. It would have been done by now - easily. Hillary Clinton would have done it when she was running against him. Any of the rpugnants currently in office. Two that I hate mcconnel and boehner would have. Sorry but "birthers" are wasting their time. They also have an attorney who has lost many court cases over this and be rebuked by judges but she keeps playing them like a violin and taking their money.

[bradkt1]

Wow...a GOP candidate who actually tells the truth and isn't afreaid to do so. What will these GOP politicians think of next?

This one might even be worth voting for.

[cosmotopper]

As a Republican who voted for Mr. Obama, I have no problem with what Mr. Buck said. The "birthers" are just one of several dim-wit groups within our party who give aid and comfort to liberal Democrats, by clinging to this exercise in futility.

In so doing, they have enabled Obama and his base to advance their goal of transforming this country into an Authoritarian Utopia, in which their elitist, politically correct dogma, evolves into a malignant fascism with the force of law. Keep at it "birthers": Pelosi, Reid, Frank and all the other members of the Democratic Politburo in Congress will love you for it.

[jimatmadison]

Yeah, right. You're a 'Repubican who voted for Mr. Obama'.

Yet, despite the fact he hasn't done anything that goes against what he ran on, he's 'elitist', 'politically correct', and trying to transform this country into an Authoritarian Utopia', evolving into 'malignant fascism'.

Why do you folks come on here and lie all the time? Do you think anybody other than your fellow '*******' Tea Partiers believe you?

[perish2]

I had to go and renew a federal license yesterday. A copy of my birth certificate was required. The signed and notarized copy I provided was a photostatic copy of the actual original birth record on file with the state of Ohio. It looks like a negative of an original filled out by hand in 1959.

My point is that I believe that Mr Obama was born in Hawaii. I am not really certain that even if he had been born outside the country, that he wouldn't still be a citizen since he was born to a U.S. citizen. However, I see no reason on the face of this earth why Mr Obama can't show an actual phot copy of his original birth certificate on file in Hawaii or a photo copy of the microfilm if the state threw out old originals. It sure would shut everyone up. The reason that this has kept on for so long is because not showing the original just feeds the controversy. At some point it becomes less on the nutbuckets and more on the persons who keep the nutbuckets going.

[perish2]

LawyerGM..

Because you have "lawyer" in your moniker, I can't trust anything you write. Is there a problem with my reasoning and if so, why?

[MPHgrad]

I disagree. Those who so vehemently cling to the nonsense that he was born outside of the US would in all likelihood decry whatever documentation he presented as fake. Inanity is best treated with refrain.