Really? This much hullabaloo over Tina Peters?

We enjoy being distracted by the silliest things, don’t we? Our governor’s commutation of Peters’ sentence is just that — a silly thing.

Just as it was nonsensical for the “Free Tina Peters” crowd to act like she was Martin Luther King Jr. in a Birmingham jail, the temper-tantrum against Gov. Jared Polis’ reasonable action is equally puerile.

Tina Peters is guilty of serious crimes, and for those crimes she should be seriously punished. She is not a hero. She is not a truth teller. She did not prove elections were stolen.

In fact, her actions were an insult to the sanctity of our elections. And unlike what we do with most crime in Colorado, we actually wanted her punishment to deter others from doing it.

In trying to prove the system was rigged, she unwittingly provided evidence in the other direction. She tried to tamper with an election. She got caught. She paid a price.

But the punishment simply did not fit the crime.

No election outcome changed. No office changed hands. No voter was disenfranchised. Hell, kids shoplifting candy cause greater real-world injury than Tina did.

This is her first conviction of any crime, and it’s a nonviolent offense at that.

Meanwhile, there have been car thieves, fentanyl dealers, rapists, attackers and even killers who served less time than Ms. Peters. Yet the very people under the Gold Dome who passed laws making sure those criminals served less time than Peters are now squawking loudest about her early release.

The entertaining part is they see no contradiction in passing laws treating real criminals one way while censuring Polis for basically following the logic they themselves created.

Not only has the Democratic Central Committee officially denounced Jared, dropping down on him all the weight of a feather, but the Colorado County Clerk Association wrote a… wait for dramatic effect… strongly worded letter expressing they were “deeply” disappointed. One has to do something truly evil to earn the “deeply.”

Shall we be honest? What Democrats are truly disappointed in is losing crazed MAGA mascot Tina Peters as a daily reminder to voters that Republicans can still out-crazy Walmart shoppers on Black Friday.

But what they forget is Colorado’s GOP will continue playing Three Stooges long after Tina is released. Maybe even more so.

It makes no sense the left’s wacko wing is piling on Polis. Tina Peters in the news only helps progressive candidates. And Polis’ commutation guarantees Tina gets nothing but airtime.

Forget Nelson Mandela’s release. The coming “Tina is finally free” celebrations will keep the Tina-palooza raging through election season. The media will breathlessly cover every irrelevant rally, interview and Tina sighting.

And voters will be continually reminded there are Trump supporters and election deniers walking among us. Maybe walking by our kids in the park or even sitting next to grandma at church.

And if Democrats truly believed Polis’ commutation represented some moral collapse, you’d expect similar outrage over his other commutations.

Curiously, not so much.

As Corey Gaines pointed out in his must-read Substack, “Colorado Accountability Project,” the media might be too busy going Tina 24/7 to mention Polis also commuted the sentence of police shooter Brandin Kreuzer.

Polis commuted Kreuzer’s sentence on National Law Enforcement Memorial Day because, you know, poetry.

During a crime spree, Kreuzer fired at two Douglas County deputies from his car, hitting one.

Polis justified the commutation by citing a law that didn’t exist at the time of sentencing but now would allow a judge to impose less prison time. According to Polis, the judge surely would have reduced the sentence. Apparently our governor is now clairvoyant.

Besides that, Kreuzer helped people while in prison.

Polis didn’t speak to the victim, Deputy Todd Tucker, who had the perfectly reasonable reaction:

“I’m glad he’s helped people while he was in prison. Good for him, but it shouldn’t weigh on getting out of prison after trying to kill two police officers,” Tucker said. “I mean, I’ve been helping people for 30 years.”

Odd Democrats didn’t censure Polis for freeing a cop-shooter (Um, that was sarcasm, by the way).

Enjoy Tina Time.

Jon Caldara is president of the Independence Institute in Denver and hosts “The Devil’s Advocate with Jon Caldara” on Colorado Public Television Channel 12. His column appears Sundays in Colorado Politics.