Spare Change

Colorado Gov. Dislikes His Owens

Posted by Bryan

Bill Owens, Colorado governor, in an attempt to defend former Colorado Governor Dick Lamm, disses his own kids.

This is something I try to stay away from -- using my own children as object lessons when speaking in public. I confess, I've fallen victim to the temptation. I've started off more than one story with, "One time, Cotter was doing something he shouldn't have..."

And in doing so, I may have caused people to misperceive Cotter, just as now the Denver Post's readers all think that Bill's kids are all lazy, sleepy good-for-nothings. It doesn't matter that Owens tried to give them off-hand compliments near the end of the story...you can almost read the condescension in between the lines.