One year ago we published our original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile of the current U.S. House Representative from Colorado’s 4th District, Ken Buck, who in his original profile, we noted was forced to resign in disgrace from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Colorado in 2001, and in 2005, while working at the Weld, Colorado District Attorney’s office, he would seize the tax information of five thousand people in a raid on a tax service, getting the office sued by the public for violating their constitutional rights by seizing their personal information. Buck is also noted for being terribly misogynist, not just because he supports Personhood legislation or thinks rape and incest victims should be forced to carry any fetus they might end up pregnant with to term… in a 2010 failed campaign for U.S. Senate he stated his superiority because he didn’t “wear high heels”, and because in 2005, while a prosecutor, he refused to charge a rapist who confessed to forcing himself on his victim while drunk with rape because, as he put it, it was simply “a case of buyer’s remorse” from the victim. Adding to that disgusting moment, Buck also is a Birther conspiracy theorist, a climate change denier, and has compared homosexuality to alcoholism (the latter of which is of course classified as a disease), as well as comparing pregnancy to cancer. It was only through the low Democratic turnout in the 2014 elections that Buck managed to sneak his way into Congress, winning with 65% of the vote. Since arriving in Washington, D.C., Ken Buck has voted as hard to the right as just about anyone in town:
- On January 22nd, 2015, an anti-abortion bill, HR 7, was moving through the House, and was halted because even some members of the GOP were put off by the language in the bill regarding its definition of rape. Ken Buck, however, had no problem with that, and voted for it anyway.
- On February 3rd, 2015, Rep. Buck votes for the 60th Republican attempt at repealing the Affordable Care Act. This in spite of the fact that the law is not just working, but better than experts predicted.
- On March 3rd, 2015, Ken Buck votes against funding the Department of Homeland Security as part of a Republican protest of President Obama’s executive orders on immigration.
- May 13th, 2015, Rep. Buck co-sponsors and votes for HR 36, a ban on abortion at 20 weeks.
- On September 11th, 2015, Buck votes against the United States’ nuclear treaty with Iran.
- On September 18th, 2015, Rep. Buck co-sponsors and votes with most House Republicans to defund Planned Parenthood, based on highly edited “sting” videos submitted by a Pro-Life advocacy group that have been repeatedly debunked by investigators.
- November 19th, 2015: Rep. Buck votes for the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act, reacting to the terror attacks in Paris by jihadists from France and Belgium by trying to create greater restrictions to keep out Syrian refugees, of whom exactly zero were involved in those attacks. One terrorist had a fake passport of a member of Assad’s army, apparently to create a false trail to help in their escape, or hoping that the attacks would be blamed on Syrian refugees, and the governments of nations like France and the United States would fall for it and not allow refugees to escape ISIS abroad. And… the Congressman fell for it.
- February 2nd, 2016: Buck votes for HR 3762, the 61st attempt by Congressional Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act (which is still working better than was predicted).
Now, Colorado’s 4th District has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of +11, which is why Ken Buck coasted to victory in 2014. However, in a presidential election year where a lot of Republicans are scared about their presidential candidates scaring voters into voting Democrat across the board, he might not do as well, and that bodes well for his Democratic opponent, Bob Seay. The lean in that district will make Seay a long shot, unless Buck starts shooting his mouth off in a misogynistic way, as he’s prone to do. Don’t rule out an upset in Colorado’s 4th if Buck returns to form.