This almost slipped by in the story about how Ken Buck's refusal to prosecute and admitted rapist, but Steve Benen caught it: to the numerous things Ken Buck thinks should be privatized (including Social Security and VA hospitals), add the Centers for Disease Control.
But if we're inclined to draw lines to protect some government services from this ideological extremism, I'd like to think the Centers for Disease Control would be free from privatization. Buck doesn't seem to see it that way.
During a March appearance on the Aaron Harber TV show, which airs on Denver PBS station KBDI, Buck discussed how wasteful and inefficient the federal government is and said, "I don't believe that the federal government runs anything more efficiently than the private sector. [...]
Harber then asked about privatizing the National Science Foundation. Buck replied it would be better to have industry work with the science foundation rather than have the government run it alone.
"How about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?" Harber asked.
"Absolutely, again, partnering with private foundations, private hospitals, states and local governments, far more efficient than ... having the federal government run something.... I'm not suggesting that people shouldn't get health care or that we shouldn't have a function in our country like CDC. What I'm suggesting is that ... folks that are in control of that program, if they're in the federal government, are going to be a lot less efficient than if they're in the private sector."
The Buck campaign has responded to the remarks, which have begun generating more attention in Colorado this week, arguing that Buck didn't say he'd privatize the CDC, only that the CDC would be better if it were under private control with private-sector employees.
Which is exactly the same BS line he pulled when he started getting criticized on privatizing Veterans Administration hospitals.
What Ken’s saying is that our veterans deserve the best, and I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a lot of people who would say the government does the best [job]. Ken is not for privatizing the VA hospitals.
Buck seems to be lacking some strenght to his convictions, except that women who he thinks have had abortions need to be punished. If he truly believes that Social Security, the CDC, the VA hospitals would be better and stronger if they were privatized, then why is he not arguing for it to happen? And does his teabagger constituency have any problem with Buck's willingness to cave on these core beliefs when challenged?
