January 30, 2017 01:07 PM UTC

"Blowhard Brauchler" Gets Called Out

• 3 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Arapahoe County DA George Brauchler, often mentioned as a possible candidate for governor in 2018 despite a checkered history as a prosecutor, has earned a reputation for firing off half-cocked Tweets on a variety of political issues–often about polarizing subjects that have nothing to do with his job. Over the weekend, Brauchler sounded off about the controversy surrounding the appointment of blogger and Trump confidante Steve Bannon to the National Security Council:

“Central casting, send over someone with no credibility who lied to the public about #Benghazi.” https://t.co/dg5PTTvabd

— George Brauchler (@GeorgeBrauchler) January 30, 2017

Brauchler was complaining about former national security advisor Susan Rice, who (like a whole lot of folks on both sides of the aisle) is concerned about Bannon’s appointment to the NSC–which sends a signal that Trump’s politics are going to be inserted into life-and-death national security decisions. But Brauchler doesn’t have a substantive criticism here, just a potshot taken at President Obama’s NSC chief over an entirely unrelated (not to mention grossly overplayed) subject.

That attracted the attention of veteran local TV reporter John Ferrugia:

@GeorgeBrauchler nice line, but to the point: how is Bannon more important to my security than DNI & JCS? With ur BG, u know it’s a problem

— John Ferrugia (@johnferrugia) January 30, 2017

That’s right! Brauchler’s vacuous pontification done got interrupted by the facts of the matter. Which appears to have caught him a little tongue-tied:

I’m not saying he is, only that a repeated liar to America about something so important isn’t a credible messenger. @johnferrugia #Benghazi https://t.co/s9Gsso1dXb

— George Brauchler (@GeorgeBrauchler) January 30, 2017

But Ferrugia wasn’t buying it:

@GeorgeBrauchler 1. point not the messngr. Point is u agree that Barron IS NOT credible source @ nat sec table. political Q vs. my security.

— John Ferrugia (@johnferrugia) January 30, 2017

@GeorgeBrauchler 2. if ur worried about ‘repeated liar’ as “credible messenger’, better look @ man who brought you ‘birther’, crowd size,etc

— John Ferrugia (@johnferrugia) January 30, 2017

And with that, DA Brauchler appears to have clammed up!

Obviously, Brauchler doesn’t want to discuss why Bannon, a right-wing blogger with zero foreign policy experience, might be unqualified to serve at the highest level of the National Security Council. It’s much easier to recycle discredited years-old talk radio punchlines about the previous administration than to deal with the uncomfortable facts of what President Trump is, you know, actually doing right now.

But by the end of this exchange, Brauchler doesn’t seem all that qualified for big league politics himself.