On the June 29 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Caplis & Silverman Show, co-host Craig Silverman and 5280 Deputy Editor Cara McDonald noted how radio host and Independence Institute president Jon Caldara mistakenly claimed he was named “best politician” in the magazine's "Top of the Town" awards. Caldara had misread a June 21 column by The Denver Post's Bill Husted, who correctly reported that 5280 designated Caldara “loudmouth in need of a muzzle.” Colorado Media Matters had noted Caldara's mistake in a June 21 item.
From the June 29 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Caplis & Silverman Show:
CAPLIS: Hey, and in the interest of full disclosure, I mean, one thing that caught our attention in this issue -- and we enjoy it every year, but we particularly enjoy it when we're included --
MCDONALD: I love how you are so subtle about that. You waited and waited --
CAPLIS: [laughs] Yeah.
MCDONALD: -- to just work that in.
CAPLIS: That's right, that's right. No, we're very modest here, if you haven't picked up on that.
MCDONALD: You guys were best bartenders, is that right?
CAPLIS: Yeah, well -- hey, we're striving for that.
SILVERMAN: Well there was a, there was a little Clear Channel confusion with respect to a listing of your categories. Do you want to recount that little situation?
MCDONALD: Well, as an editor, it sort of struck me in my really funny place. It, yeah. Mr. Caldara sort of misread --
SILVERMAN: Jon Caldara --
MCDONALD: Yeah.
SILVERMAN: -- our colleague, our friend --
MCDONALD: He misread --
SILVERMAN: -- our buddy on Boulder High.
MCDONALD: “Loudmouth in need of a muzzle” designation, yeah. He, well, there was there this string of different things cited in, in Bill Husted's column. But instead of this, like, nicely designed blurb-by-blurb thing, it was sort of just a quick little laundry list separated by semicolons. But those were the stumpers, and he mistakenly read the preceding description instead of the description that was with him.
SILVERMAN: So he thought he won --
MCDONALD: He thought he was best politician -- is that right? Best politician?
SILVERMAN: He was, he was hosting --
MCDONALD: No, no --
SILVERMAN: -- for Mike Rosen.
MCDONALD: -- he was --
SILVERMAN: No, he thought he was best politician.
MCDONALD: Best, best politician.
SILVERMAN: And he is a darn good politician.
MCDONALD: Sure. Sure. But -- which you pointed out, which was even funnier -- that would have made Elbra Wedgeworth --
SILVERMAN: Best bartender.
MCDONALD: Best bartender. Which -- oops. And, and then he sort of restated it after rereading Husted's column. But Husted had it right. It was a semicolon, not a, not a colon.
SILVERMAN: So what award did Jon Caldara win?
MCDONALD: Well, did this make you guys happy or sad? Is there a “loudmouth in need of a muzzle”?