In a rather disjointed and impromptu call, Sen. Michael Bennet finally joined the Peter Boyles program on the local morning talk radio circuit, asking to remind voters how important the election was and to get out and vote, while the host (Boyles) repeatedly asked him why he had not been available to talk on the program since his appointment to the U.S. Senate in January 2009.
Via CompleteColorado.com, who grabbed the audio soundbite, the entire segment lasts less than three minutes. Boyle’s presses Bennet on his failure to appear on the show:
“I actually didn’t know that ‘why now,’ just to urge everybody to go to the polls and vote, it’s a really important election […] I apologize I haven’t been on, I’ve traveled this state, 30,000 miles […]
Boyles cuts Bennet off, reiterating the repeated attempts made by his show and its producers to get a hold of Bennet over the past 22 months, to no avail. Bennet apologizes, claiming not to know that requests were made.
The exchange devolves from there, as Bennet grasps for answers to questions about the appointment of Stephanie Villafuerte for Colorado U.S. Attorney and the reasons why Gov. Bill Ritter chose to step down instead of running for reelection. Bennet quickly cut the call short.
Last week, Bennet’s campaign stirred up controversy when a staffer sent a list of pre-approved questions to the other main Denver weekday morning show after a similar hesitancy to appear. The hosts posted the questions on their Facebook page–“Folks: This is Hilarious.”
Michelle Malkin has more on the “cut-and-run” segment, including a longer transcript.