Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat,  appeared on Fox News Sunday and had a lot to say about virus death count numbers and the president.

Colorado used to be, twenty years ago, a solid red state. It then slowly switched to purple and now is considered blue. But swing voters could still theoretically push the state into the uncommitted category. Thus Polis, by making these statements, is playing smart politics.

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Fox News: “…Polis pushed back against recent coronavirus death counts, including those conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], days after his own state’s health department acknowledged that its numbers had been inflated by including people who had the virus but died from other causes…Inconsistencies in death counts have been happening on both the state and national level. As of Friday, Johns Hopkins University data counted 85,974 national COVID-19 deaths, while the CDC was reporting 83,947 that same day. There has been concern that even the CDC’s lower number may be artificially high.”

Polis mentions the unmentionable not only in regards to the current policy of the feds and most state governments, he and his state health department are taking on the media and the medical establishment by questioning the death numbers. This also contradicts the talking points of his own party.

All the interests above have a stake in high death numbers. The feds must rationalize turning the economy into a dumpster fire, state governments and medical types must have a reason for lockdowns, the media wants to sell ad time and hit Trump and they need the hysteria to do it, and the Democrats need the same and to distract voters from Biden and his lackluster presidential campaign.

Said Polis, “The CDC criteria include anybody who has died with COVID-19, but what the people of Colorado and the people of the country want to know is how many people died of COVID-19.” That is the question that many other questions stem from.

“No, in fact, one of the reasons we wanted to make sure we reported it out in a better way was to inspire confidence so that it wouldn’t be politicized. These are deaths that should not be politicized.” The implication is that they are. For a Democrat to say this is staggering.

“Look, I happen to be a Democrat, but what I’ve said is he’s the president we have, and I owe it to the people of my state who elected me to work with any president. There’s a time for politics, there’s a time for elections. This isn’t it.”

Fox concluded, “’By and large, I think across our state and across our nation are going to be able to return to school in the fall, it’s just not going to look like any other school year,’ Polis said. The governor said in anticipation of future outbreaks, there could be times when schools convert to online formats for weeks at a time during the year.’ ”

Polis is saying what is on many minds. Combine that with his working relationship with the president and you have a rare bit of common sense from a Democrat governor.