“Was it something I said?”
Everyone has wondered the same thing at some point in their lives, particularly when engaged in an endeavor that’s sure to succeed (according to personal estimation) only to watch in shame and horror as the tide turns and your side ends up in disgraced failure. Colleagues and friends then shoot you quizzical looks and exit the room in anger or sadness, never to return. One can only ask why? Post mortem analysis of the episode almost always reveals that it was what was said and not done that caused the shortfall -- and points the finger back at the person in the mirror. Democrat Senate Majority Leader Charles “Chucky” Schumer must have done a lot of this type of soul searching lately, as nothing he ever tries results in legislative victories for his party. The man is a walking, talking prediction machine, the only problem being none of his forecasts ever come true. Seeing Schumer step to the senate microphone to deliver another round of pomposity and hot air is becoming too much for friends and enemies alike to take. The more Chucky lectures the faster people tune him out. If he has any backers left in the senate, they’re certainly not speaking up for him now. Sooner or later, Schumer should call a vote of confidence tally for himself. “Loser” is perhaps too kind of a word to pin on him these days. The Editors of The Washington Examiner wrote earlier this week:
“Schumer can’t force just Sinema and Manchin to vote on his proposed rule changes. His effort to get everyone on record will also force other centrist Democrats in purple and red states to take firm votes either for or against unilaterally changing Senate rules without the required two-thirds majority...
“The failed votes won’t end there. Schumer has also promised an up-or-down vote on Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, a plan Manchin said he would not vote for in December. Then, Democrats will reportedly begin breaking up the Build Back Better legislation into smaller pieces, voting on government-run pre-K, alternative energy subsidies for billionaires, and free money for nonworking parents as separate items.
“Manchin will most likely vote with Republicans on each of these smaller bills as well, setting up a never-ending cascade of Democratic failure, pouring down into the spring and summer months of 2022 as far as one can see.”
Chucky would cut off his right arm for one or two more “real” Democrat votes, wouldn’t he? Remember how he said a year ago that Democrats would “take Georgia” and then were going to “change America”? The first part came to pass but the second boast? Not so much. Chucky is like the boy who cried wolf one too many times and the townspeople refused to show up to save his rear end any longer. His Empire State Democrat constituents must be so fed up with his blather that they’ll primary him for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez when the time comes.
Why call for a vote when you know you’re going to lose, as Schumer certainly realizes will happen almost every time? It serves no real purpose other than getting the naysayers (Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, Jon Tester, etc.) in trouble with Democrat voters at home. Meanwhile, it doesn’t do much to hurt Republicans, since they’ve already indicated they’re against the concepts being advanced by Schumer, Biden and Nancy Pelosi (you can lump in the socialist crazies in both chambers here, too).
It’s almost as though Schumer enjoys getting beat and looking like a helpless blowhard in the process. Not all Democrats are like this (Joe Biden surely is, however).
Not too long ago I wrote rather glowingly of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s intra-party achievements and asked whether it was even possible for Democrats to replace her because she’d been so singularly effective over the years in persuading -- bludgeoning? -- her different House caucuses to pass the legislation that she wanted. Through sheer force of will or other means that isn’t widely reported or known outside of her office torture chambers, when San Fran Nan says she’s gonna do something, by gosh, she does it.
Of course, the House doesn’t have a filibuster, but why make excuses for Chucky?
Does Pelosi have something that Chucky doesn’t? Stretching one’s imagination a bit, we know there are secret places in the Capitol Building where legislators go when there’s an emergency or impending foreign attack. One guesses the police and Secret Service herded the representatives and senators towards these hidden spots last January 6 when the leaderless mob breached the outer rim of defenses and caused some of the scaredy cats -- like Mitt Romney -- to run for their lives.
Who knows, perhaps years ago Pelosi ordered special chambers to be constructed where she and specially trained Democrat security forces could “persuade” wayward members to bow to her legislative whims. The tools they use (waterboarding, sleep deprivation, starvation, physical brutality) would make the most ardent of CIA “Black Site” interrogators jealous. How else would a shriveled up old elitist hag like Pelosi get all of her rabid socialists and wishy-washy “moderates” (we all know there’s no such animal in Democrat-land) to come together and vote for this wacko stuff?
Many a Democrat has lost an ensuing election because of Pelosi’s selfish and singular insistence on voting as a team and passing crackpot ideas like Obamacare. This year it’s been the bloated “infrastructure” bill as well as Joe Biden’s inflation exploding welfare boondoggle, the “Build Back (More) Better” plan. House Democrats voted for it even though they figured -- or should have figured -- that the Senate wouldn’t go along. Do the backs of moderates now have Pelosi’s whip marks all over them?
Why does Nanny P. always do what she does? It could be that deep down, Pelosi doesn’t want her senate colleagues to succeed, instead preferring to save the positive media adoration for herself alone. Nobody likes a loser, least of all the liberal establishment journos who cover the daily dealings in Congress. Reporters know they can always get a little fiery intensity from the Speaker and some great, Republican-hating quotes for them to meet their deadlines.
Schumer, on the other hand, offers plenty of grandiose predictions and never comes through with anything to show for it. He resented being in the late Harry Reid’s shadow, then, when he finally got his chance to “shine” for the national audience, was pitted against Donald Trump, a much bigger and more accomplished showman who mocked Schumer as a phony who cries crocodile tears and wouldn’t allow the nasally lifetime pol from New York to get the better of the insults.
Like Pelosi, the senate majority leader comes across as a snob, but can’t get beyond his characterization as a glory-seeking opportunist who will say and do anything to further himself. Whereas Reid and Pelosi appear to have advanced through the ranks because of merit and sheer effective nastiness, Schumer seems like a next-in-line schlep who fits the suit and nothing more. Who else were Democrats to choose for their new leader after dingy Harry (thank you, Rush!) hung up his loafers and returned to the Nevada desert?
Reid was a former boxer, a guy who could get away with claiming one-on-one understanding with the average person. Schumer is a Harvard educated lawyer and career politician who’s probably never had a beer with a real working stiff. Where’s the empathy, Chucky?
Schumer also appears envious of counterpart Mitch McConnell. Why? Because despite being a physically unimposing 5’9” man from a perceived backwards bumpkin state (Kentucky), the longtime Republican leader has enjoyed a number of very visible feats over the years. McConnell is so wimpy, slight and unimpressive that he probably would lose a confrontation with a 90-year-old lady on a subway train, yet he manages, through weight of words, to get what he wants.
Let’s not forget that it was McConnell, not John Boehner nor Paul Ryan, who forced Obama to relent on certain budget concessions. Then the “murder turtle” was an essential part of passing Donald Trump’s tax package in late 2017. And Mitch really excels whenever there’s a judicial nomination of any consequence. But for the Kentuckian’s steadfastness, we might have Justice Merrick Garland on the Supreme Court today instead of Neil Gorsuch.
McConnell doesn’t possess stature, but he’s a lot more effective than Schumer (who is also just under 5’9”).
It can’t be easy for Chucky Schumer to be around capable politicians who can return to their states or districts to fundraise and talk about how they intend to push the party agenda the next term. What would Chucky say? Something like, “I’ll make a lot of promises but keep none of them. I’ll blame it all on people who refuse to take orders. I wish I had party discipline like Nancy has over in the House.”
Woe is me. The motto and mantra of pathetic cryin’ Chucky Schumer.
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