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March 19, 2020 09:39 AM UTC

Rep. Ken Buck's Dangerous Irresponsibility Rolls On

  • 9 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Colorado GOP chairman Rep. Ken Buck (R).

As the Denver Post’s Justin Wingerter reports–after Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado became a national embarrassment as one of only two House votes against the initial coronavirus relief legislation to pass Congress, and one of a relatively small contingent of House Republicans to vote against the second, Buck is doubling down on his “what, me worry?” approach to the rapidly-widening global pandemic:

“You don’t shut restaurants down for 30 days,” Buck said in an interview Wednesday, referring to a policy enacted in Colorado and many other states.

“I have no problem with (stopping) sporting events or things that don’t impact our civil liberties and don’t impact everyday life. Those are things that I think we can suspend for a period of time. But it’s just craziness to shut down businesses or parts of the economy that are absolutely necessary,” the congressman added…

“We don’t have a leader. It was FDR who said, ‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.’ We need leaders to stand up and say we’re going to have a measured response,” said Buck, who is usually a defender of President Donald Trump.

That’s right, readers–Colorado’s far-right lightning rod congressman/state GOP chairman just invoked FDR to criticize President Donald Trump! That is of course interesting, but it’s a distraction from the larger problem here so don’t get stuck on it. There’s no question that the emergency public health measures taken by the state of Colorado along with many others are very painful economically. That’s why Congress needs to pass relief legislation for American workers affected by the pandemic considerably broader in scope than what’s currently being offered by the GOP Senate majority.

With that said, virtually every public health expert literally on the entire planet says these measures, and even more strict isolation measures than exist in most places in the United States today including Colorado, are desperately needed to contain the spread of the coronavirus–or if not contain it, at least spread out the rate of infection enough to not overwhelm the hospitals. If this all sounds old hat to you, that’s because it’s beaten into all of our heads for weeks.

But not Rep. Ken Buck, folks! Buck doesn’t want to hear any of your damn pesky “expert” warnings about any global pandemic. When you’ve already made the decision to blow off the science on a whole range of issues from guns to climate change, ignoring the coronavirus threat comes…well, frighteningly easy, apparently.

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9 thoughts on “Rep. Ken Buck’s Dangerous Irresponsibility Rolls On”

  2. I'm an Italian mom under coronavirus lockdown. Here's what I wish I had done differently before things got bad.

    The virus has ravaged our country. Hospitals in the north are on the verge of collapse. Intensive-care units are full of people who are elderly, but also people who are 40 and 50. The streets are empty, and restaurants are closed. You have to have an authorization paper to walk your dog.

    Only 10 days ago in Rome, this wasn't the case. The government had closed schools and most sporting facilities, but nothing else. Our teenagers were socializing in the evening with their friends. Kids had time on their hands and were healthy and well rested. Did we, as parents, really want them at home on their screens, where they'd been all day?

    1. Had an email last night from a friend, announcing she was one of the ~250 positive cases in Colorado.  Functional enough to send out email — but clear in her warning that she doesn't want any of her contacts to come near her house for the next 3 weeks, at least.

      Nothing like the "close to home" relationship and the extreme estimates in the Imperial College of London's study to concentrate the mind and reinforce a commitment to strictly limiting my outings.

  3. Some economic activity like grocery stores, gas stations and pet stores need to remain open and hats off to all the clerks who continue to go to work and deal with the public, never knowing if that next customer is carrying the curse.  Electricity, water and sewage treatmemt need to be operational as well as the Internet.  It’s the non-essential services like bars or casinos that could become centers of infection that should cease operations at this time.  If Buck thinks bars and casinos should stay open at this time because FREEDOM then Dems should run a good moderate candidate because by November his stance is going to be untenable.  The epicenter of the pandemic in Italy has a ten day waiting time for the crematorium and it is running 24 hours a day.  Relatives are having to store the coffin in the garage until it can be cremated.

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