November 26, 2020
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock was
in a tough job, period, and he is in a tougher job now.
I don't agree with everything he has done during
the COVID-19 pandemic, but I have supported him and the job he has done. That's why this is so hard to understand.
When he returns from his Thanksgiving
holiday visit with his wife, to his daughter in Mississippi, he must assess the damage -- and heed the no-holds barred views
from both advisors and those outside his pandering circle of associates.
Take a deep breath.
Look around.
Listen.
See if dust settles.
Measure to what extent
an additional apology can work.
It must be a sincere, off-the-cuff, look-into-into-the-camera apology. Even if the camera
is on his laptop and the news conference is virtual and he is in quarantine under the guidelines he himself outlined to city
employees.
It can't be a mere repeat of the the carefully crafted statment issued Wednesday after 9News broke the story
of the Hancocks' disgustingly hypocritical Thanksgiving trip to visit their daughter. (My theory: The tip came from someone
on the inside who had told the mayor, "Uh, Michael, you CAN'T do this" ... and was ignored.)
Take questions, one of which must be: Did you really think nobody would notice?
If there is no way
to salvage his credibility and influence moving forward in the pandemic, Hancock should resign.
For the good of the city.
For the good of the
state, given Denver's leadership and precedent-setting role in Colorado affairs.
And even for the good of the nation, considering
the COVID-19 denialists' eagerness to jump all over the mistakes of those arguing for common-sense approaches for the public
good.
Make
no mistake. I've had it up to here with those who claim to be perfect and those who won't admit to ever having made a mistake.
The problem there, of course, is that in this instance, the majority of those are from the PC/woke wing prone to unconditionally
support Hancock, to wave off his hypocrisy as irrelevant and as something
that can be overcome.
It's actually unnecessary to break this down politically.
While Hancock essentially was
telling Denver residents not to travel for Thanksgiving, he had his boarding pass on his phone. (So to speak.) That's inexcusable,
tone-deaf hypocrisy -- and completely counter to the public good.
I've already seen the pointed references suggsting restaurant and bar owners could
just ignore Level Red protocols and say -- parroting Hancock's remarks and rationalization -- that their hearts spoke ...
not their brains.
This is not red or blue. It is not Republican or Democrat. It is -- or at least should be -- non-partisan.
If Hancock has transformed
every reaction to a COVID-19 related pronouncement into a lazy dismissal -- "You hypocrite! You can't practice what you
preach!" -- he must resign.
I hope I'm clear here. This is not jumping aboard the bandwagon driven by those who have
made it clear they prefer to ignore science and intelligence during the pandemic crisis. They're disgusting. They're idiots.
I'm mad because Hancock has given the idiots ammunition.
He should have known better.
Also see: On the Weld County commissioners
