October 24, 2017 02:43 PM UTC

Vicki Marble Would Like This Cub Scout Story to Continue

• 13 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

On Sunday, the New York Times published a lengthy story about state Sen. Vicki Marble (R-Fort Collins) that we thought might be the topper to the saga of Marble’s bizarre talk to a group of Cub Scouts in Broomfield two weeks ago. Apparently this will not be the end of the tale, because Marble is making every effort to make sure that this story — which is most certainly not favorable to her — continues to be fodder for local and national media outlets.

Today, the Denver Post published a guest commentary piece from Sen. Marble in which she not only ingeniously rehashes the controversy surrounding her Oct. 9 Cub Scout talk but makes sure to state — again, erroneously — that she was falsely accused of saying words that came out of her own mouth related to a separate controversy from 2013.

This is all in response to a story that first appeared on Colorado Pols on Oct. 12 and has since been picked up by every major media outlet in Colorado and subsequently attracted national attention from the Washington Post, “TIME” magazine, CNN, “Good Morning America,” and the New York Times. Marble said a bunch of absolutely crazy things to a group of Cub Scouts, and videos of those interactions went viral soon after we published the links.

Here’s Jesse Paul of the Denver Post with a story about Marble’s Op-Ed for the Post:

State Sen. Vicki Marble is doubling down on the nationally covered controversy involving her and a Colorado Cub Scout in a Denver Post commentary, blaming the media and the boy’s mother for stoking the situation.

Marble, a Fort Collins Republican, maintained that her 2013 comments during a legislative hearing about mortality among blacks — in which she linked obesity among African Americans to Southern barbecue and chicken — were taken out of context, writing in her Tuesday piece that her words “somehow got twisted by the PC police.”

The comments resurfaced during a heated exchange earlier this month that Marble had with a Cub Scout when he pressed her about the 2013 remarks. A video of the encounter was widely circulated online.

Rather than riding out the bad press or offering an apology, Marble took the seldom-recommended third option of shooting the messengers (in this case, the mother of a Cub Scout and Colorado Pols, which she calls “a progressive hit group“) and attacking the media for not covering for her endless mistakes. Here’s an excerpt from Marble’s Op-Ed today:

The Denver Post recently accused me, in an editorial, of “lying” to a group of Cub Scouts about comments I made years ago that some saw as racially insensitive, when, in response to one question, I provided accurate context that’s always been missing from the preferred media narrative.

That the reporters-turned-pontificators who run The Post’s opinion page were so quick to breathe new life into that false narrative, without the professional courtesy of calling to get both sides of the story, is another example of why so many Americans don’t seem to mind when President Donald Trump pushes back against biased bullies in the press corps.

The original controversy occurred in 2013, during a presentation at the Capitol highlighting higher mortality rates suffered by African-Americans, relative to Hispanics and whites, for reasons ranging from heredity to poverty to lifestyle choices. It’s an issue that I, as a lawmaker, take seriously. And such conversations are necessary to help generate solutions.

One colleague took offense when I observed that some of these problems stem not just from biological factors beyond an individual’s control, but due to personal choices and food preferences, which is something widely recognized as true. That somehow got twisted by the PC police into a case of racial stereotyping, by inserting words or meanings that furthered their narrative but weren’t true. Then, through the echo effect of repeated re-telling, it’s become a political myth. [Pols emphasis]

At this point, we should probably remind our readers that Sen. Marble’s infamous 2013 comments about black people eating too much chicken are political myth only if you believe that audio recordings of Marble’s own words somehow qualify as fake. If you missed why those comments from 2013 are re-surfacing, here’s a brief explanation:

Ames Mayfield, the 11-year-old fifth-grader and dedicated Cub Scout, asked Marble questions about gun control and her 2013 comments during the Oct. 9 Cub Scout meeting. Said Ames: “I was astonished that you blamed black people for poor health and poverty because of all the chicken and barbecue they eat.”

Marble’s response to that question, which you can see and hear and read for yourself, was as follows:

“I didn’t. That was made up by the media. So, you want to believe it? You believe it. But that’s not how it went down. I didn’t do that. That was false. Get both sides of the story.”

This is an absolute, 100% lie from Marble. She most certainly did say these things, and many local media outlets reported on her comments at the time. Again, it’s worth pointing out here that you can listen to the audio of Marble’s 2013 comments at any time. This isn’t a he-said, she-said kind of story; this is a “she-said” story because there is a lot of documented proof of her exact comments. Marble obviously thinks she was misunderstood, but what she actually said is not up for debate.

Perhaps Marble is just acting on some communications advice from the same group of Republicans who tried to sell the public on the idea that they were cutting ticket prices for an event with Vice President Mike Pence because of such high demand. Perhaps Marble thinks that she is somehow going to be vindicated if she just keeps insisting that this is all everyone else’s fault. Whatever the rationale, the only thing that Marble is accomplishing now is making sure her own terrible story gets a third week of coverage.

If that was the goal, then we congratulate Sen. Marble on a job well done.