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Republican candidate Ken Buck learned again that honesty is not always the best policy, at least not when you're trying to win a primary in a couple of weeks. Buck leads in the polling against Jane Norton but this probably won't help with his Tea Party base. Norton is as far right as Buck so Democrats have watched their missteps with some amusement.

KUSA U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck refers to members of the Tea Party who question the President's citizenship as "dumbasses" in an audio recording obtained by 9NEWS and The Denver Post.

The Colorado Republican candidate's voice was captured on a pocket tape recorder without his knowledge by a Colorado Democratic Party worker in a parking lot before a June event in Crowley County.

He had just come from an event in Pueblo where there was a reference to whether President Obama was an American citizen. The comment apparently comes without provocation from the Democratic Party worker, who has been following and videotaping Buck all over the state of Colorado for months.

"Will you tell those dumbasses at the Tea Party to stop asking questions about birth certificates while I'm on the camera," Buck said to the worker while laughing. "God, what am I supposed to do?"

Asked about the comments on Sunday at a political rally in Adams County, Buck said he wishes he had used different language and that he had not lumped all Tea Party members into one statement, but that he remains frustrated that some people are focusing on birth certificates rather than the country's $13 trillion debt and its $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities.

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Well here's what we get to look forward to if the GOP takes back the House and Senate as Dick Morris predicts here, impeachment hearings. As much of a hack as toe-sucker Dick Morris is, I don't disagree with him that the Republicans would actually hold impeachment hearings over this if they get the House back since Darrell Issa isn't showing any signs of slowing down with feeding this nonsense.

Jamison Foser at Media Matters has a really great post up about the media continuing to carry water for the GOP and criminalizing politics. Go read the whole thing but here are some of his main points.

Media have excuses for Sestak obsession, not reasons:

Long after many reporters insisted that if only the White House revealed whether Joe Sestak was offered a job the story would go away, reporters are getting ever-more-creative in their attempts to justify covering what is quite clearly not a scandalous act. Two excuses dominate: The Obama camp’s promise to be more ethical than predecessors, and its promises of transparency. [...]

First of all, every incoming administration promises to be more ethical than its predecessors. Remember George W. Bush’s pledge to “restore honor and integrity to the Oval Office”? Despite that pledge, reporters could barely pretend to care when Bush’s administration outer a covert CIA operative, or when they tried to turn U.S. attorneys into opposition researchers with the power to issue indictments. Despite that pledge, reporters had to be dragged kicking and screaming to (briefly) cover evidence that the Bush administration had lied its way into war. And despite that pledge, reporters certainly didn’t care when Karl Rove reportedly offered someone a job to get him to drop out of a campaign.

But things are different now: The Obama administration may have offered someone a job to get him to drop out of a campaign! Oh. Wait…

Second: It’s one thing to say the White House promised a higher level of ethical excellence and should be held to that promise, and another to invent, after the fact, ethical transgressions that have never before in the history of the republic been considered ethical transgressions. Yes, the Obama team said they’d be ethically excellent (as does every incoming administration) and yes, they should be held to that promise (as should every administration.)

But that has nothing to do with offering Joe Sestak a job, because offering Joe Sestak a job is not ethically suspect. (It may be politically suspect, but that’s a different kettle of fish.) Nobody considered it ethically suspect when previous presidents did it, and nobody has explained why it should be considered ethically suspect now. It’s like criticizing Obama for failing to live up to his promises of ethical behavior because he wears a blue shirt. It doesn’t make any sense, because you haven’t established that there’s anything wrong with wearing a blue shirt. Read on...

They've also compiled a list of their work now that the "scandal" includes Andrew Romanoff as well.

Myths and falsehoods about the Sestak and Romanoff controversies

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The head of a watchdog group says the White House did nothing wrong by discussing possible jobs with several Democrats if they would refrain from challenging incumbents. Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the job discussions are just politics as usual.

In June and July of 2009, former President Bill Clinton asked Joe Sestak if he would be willing to take a White House appointment instead of challenging Arlen Specter's Senate seat. Republicans like Rep. Darrell Issa have demanded the Justice Department investigate.

White House counsel Robert Bauer argued in a memo Friday that the offer was just politics.

Less than a week later, it was revealed that White House chief of staff Jim Messina presented possible jobs to Colorado State House Speaker Andrew Romanoff if he didn't run against Sen. Michael Bennet.

Sloan told CNN's John Roberts that these types of offers happen all of the time.

SLOAN: There is really nothing improper in that. One of the things that is so odd about this story and the Sestak story is that people are surprised that the political appointments are given out for political reasons. Well that's how these jobs are given out in any administration going back to the beginning of administrations. Politicians get political appointments. Romanoff had apparently applied for a job through the transition office and Messina then called him to check in and see if he wanted those jobs. Obviously, Messina was doing it to try and keep Romanoff out of the primary. Although it was before he had announced that he was definitely running. But Romanoff declined and said he wasn't interested and wanted the Senate seat.

Republicans are just using the job discussions to attack the administration for political gain, according to Sloan.

ROBERTS: You are suggesting that there is nothing illegal about this. Republicans are taking a bit of a different attitude toward it. They have asked the Department of Justice to investigate the Sestak case. Now that this has Romanoff case has come out, do you think they are going to call for a full-blown investigation, maybe not just the DOJ but congressionally as well?

SLOAN: Absolutely. That's 100 percent certainly. This is a great issue for them to jump on, part of the reason is the Obama White House has said it was going to behave differently than other White Houses, more transparent, more ethical than everyone else. And this shows they were horse trading, just like everyone else. It is a great issue for the Republicans that want to dirty up the administration.

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I would like to see more stories like this please.

Maddow: But, first, it‘s time for a couple of holy mackerel stories in the news today.

If there is a benefit to the maddening Democratic Party failure on the issue of the public health insurance option, it could be the revival of the once believed to be extinct hard line liberal base. The AFL-CIO yesterday drew its own line in the sand by saying it would not support Democratic candidates who do not support the public option in health reform. And as David Sirota notes at “Huffington Post” today, threats from the left have shifted the rhetoric of incumbent Democratic Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado.

Here‘s where Senator Bennet started. At a town hall meeting in Pueblo on Saturday, Senator Bennet gave flimsy support to the idea of the public option. He said then that he favored the option, but, quote, “As I stand here today, I think it‘s very unlikely that the public option part of this will pass.” In other words, he was saying he would probably vote for health reform without the public option.

Then, reports circulated that Senator Bennet will likely face a primary challenge from Democratic House Speaker Andrew Romanoff. And now, look at what Senator Bennet has posted at his Web site.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D), COLORADO: I do support a public option as part of this.

(APPLAUSE)

BENNET: I have said I support a public option. I‘ve supported a public option. I support a public option. I‘ve supported a public option. Why? I also support having a public plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADDOW: So, the senator supports the public option after all. Yes.

You know, having been taken for granted and triangulated and on occasion just stomped on during decades of Democratic Party policy decisions, the left may be learning its lesson. If you don‘t lie down in front of the door, you‘re less likely to get used as a door mat.