State Treasurer Walker Stapleton is not funny. Not intentionally, anyway.
We feel compelled to point this out after reading a particularly-sad attempt at political spin from a local right-wing blog that is harder to swallow than a tennis ball.
Stapleton was interviewed last week by Kyle Clark of 9News, not long after Deputy Treasurer Jon Forbes resigned from the job after telling the PERA board to “go f*** themselves,” and the likely GOP gubernatorial candidate was asked some pretty direct questions that he did not answer well.
The entire interview, which you can view below, is not a good look for Stapleton, who says he “understands” the frustration with the PERA board that would prompt his former Deputy to fire off profanities as he storms out of the room. Stapleton also claims at one point that he has attended “at least 90 percent” of PERA board meetings in his six years as State Treasurer, a claim that is easy to disprove. The interview is obviously not a net positive for Stapleton, which is clear just from reading the video description provided by 9News: “Great moments in awkward question asking today when we asked Colorado’s Treasurer whether it’s the official position of his office that the pension board (PERA) members should go f— themselves.”
So it was that on Monday, the right-wing blog Colorado Peak Politics tried very hard to spin the idea that Stapleton is a really funny guy who is great at deflecting difficult questions with humor and a quick wit. Um…yeah:
There are a lot of reasons that people like state Treasurer Walker Stapleton, but perhaps the most obvious is his dry, often sarcastic, sense of humor. Last week, he sat down with 9News’s Kyle Clark, and in the face of some relatively trivial “gotcha” questions Stapleton showed off these winning attributes. It’s worth watching, especially if you’re like us and keeping a close eye on the moves of potential gubernatorial candidates.
When asked about the semantics of how he described his involvement in the drafting of a bill to change the makeup of the board for the Public Employee Retirement Association (PERA), Stapleton replied that while he “didn’t follow Sen. Tate into the drafting room” (ha!) he has long supported the idea and been a champion for the legislation… [Pols emphasis]
…By using sarcasm, Stapleton is able to diffuse needing questions and in many cases point out their silliness.
Hee-larious! If any of this was meant to be a joke — and it’s not clear that Stapleton is even trying to be funny here — we’re not ashamed to admit that we missed the humor entirely. Clark does ask some tough questions of Stapleton, but the questions are both fair and largely predictable. Stapleton’s answers are not very good nor particularly funny.
This is not a “gotcha” interview. This is just a straightforward sit-down that Stapleton does not handle well, which is how a conservative blog ends up writing a ham-fisted defense that reads like something Stapleton himself might have invented.
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That's funny, it looks to me like Colorado Pols is trying too hard to insult Walker Stapleton.
That's because you have you head up your ass. You'd see things more clearly if you just pulled it out.
Why would they bother trying? Every time he opens his mouth, he does it to himself.
Having said that, though, I can see why you're a fan.
Also, why are you flirting with Walker, you've already indicated that he's destined to lose to sure-thing-next-governor Coffman.
What Pseudo said. Walker Stapleton's biggest problem is Walker Stapleton.
Fake Blog and Enemy of the American People Colorado Peak Politics along with wannabe paid troll Moderatus trying to puff up low-energy Walker Stapleton. Sad.
So many red flags here.
How is WS trying to screw me out of my pension funds?
Why does he believe that the taxpayer-funded private consulting firm can both "handle communications" on PERA and on his Governor's race? WTF:?
Why does he care about term limits?
Who is the "rising young Democratic star" who will cochair the term limits rally?
I'm guessing the ambitious Ms. Crisanta Duran.
How can he say that US Term Limits is a bipartisan organization when they are a Republican led and funded PAC, which only ever contributes to Republican candidates?