Ken Buck steps in it at Independence Institute

When I met Ken Buck at the Independence Institute's ATF event Saturday, I asked what he thought about Jane Norton injecting gender into the race with a new commercial asking whether he was "man enough" to be a senator. Buck responded by telling me that Norton had recently said the...

By Patricia Calhoun

July 22, 2010

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When I met Ken Buck at the Independence Institute's ATF event Saturday, I asked what he thought about Jane Norton injecting gender into the race with a new commercial asking whether he was "man enough" to be a senator. Buck responded by telling me that Norton had recently said the difference between the two candidates was that she "wears high heels."

Later, at lunch, Independence Institute head Jon Caldara introduced the candidates in the crowd and called Buck to the mike for a few minutes. When someone in the crowd asked why he should vote for Buck, he responded with this: "Because I do not wear high heels."

He followed up by noting that he wears cowboy boots "with Weld County bullshit, not D.C. bullshit."

But as the clip of his "high heel" quip went viral yesterday (to watch it, click to this Ken Buck post on the People's Press Collective site), the bullshit -- whatever its origins -- was getting pretty deep.

Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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