Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Upchuck

The inner workings of party politics is messy, clannish, and vicious, and it doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about Democrats, Republicans, or your local bowling league.  We all know that, but we go along with it as long as we don’t have to see the inner workings splayed out in front of us.  All it takes is one self-aggrandizing schmuck to blab about it to the press.

Such is the case with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) who never misses a chance to piss people off.  Usually he’s doing it to people who may deserve it, but in an interview with The New Republic he’s an equal opportunity jerk, taking cheap shots at progressive bloggers by comparing them to the Tea Party except with less influence.

CS: … The left-wing blogs want you to be completely and always anti–Wall Street. It’s not the right way to be.

IC: So are the left-wing blogs as bad as the Tea Party ones in this case?

CS: Left-wing blogs are the mirror image. They just have less credibility and less clout.

Oh, and he takes total credit for getting Elizabeth Warren elected to the Senate from Massachusetts.

IC: One of the people you say has shaped your outlook is Elizabeth Warren. And obviously, she’s someone who has a lot of support from the grassroots of the Democratic Party—

CS: You know I helped persuade her to run. There is a good little story. [Looks to aide] I can tell this. I went to Scott Brown and said, “If you give us the sixtieth vote for the Citizens United rollback,1 we won’t go after you.” I spent a lot of time lobbying him, and met some of his friends and had them lobby him. He said yes. Then he said no. So I wanted to recruit the strongest candidate against him, and I thought that was Elizabeth Warren.

He’s so full of wonderfulness it’s amazing that he can even stand being around himself.

I will stipulate that there are some left-wing bloggers who are anti-Wall Street.  Given its track record over the last few years, it would be an event if there weren’t.  But to lump all of us together is as irresponsible as saying that all the people in the Tea Party are cranky old white men who privileged Jesus-shouting Rascal-riding racist homophobic get-off-my-lawn NRA members.  Some are women.

And to offer Scott Brown a free ride to the Senate in exchange for a vote makes me want to get up and throw something.

2 barks and woofs on “Upchuck

  1. I’m not surprised a politician would take all the credit for something that at best he had a small role in.

    And you forgot to mention that not all Tea Partiers are birther morons; some are just morons.

  2. Well, gee. Thanks for this insight. I never knew Schumer was a self-aggrandizing jerk until now. I’ve always thought I was supposed to admire his leadership and clap when he made a good call. After all, he’s a staunch supporter of Our Man Reid, no? But, oddly, Chuck is acting exactly like so many people who seek the public spotlight and he probably is insecure deep down inside, not unlike Bill C., George W.,Hillary, Ronnie and so forth and so on. One might hope he makes up for his childish lack of self-awareness by doing some good in the Senate.

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