Claire McCaskill is on a media tour denouncing not-yet-sworn-in Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. the soon-to-be ex-Senator from Missouri has been all over the radio and in the press denouncing the millennial progressive from New York. McCaskill seems enraged that Ocasio will be in Congress and she won't. And enraged that people love and respect Ocasio and she McCaskill as a used up and worthless old gasbag. Ocasio's twitter feed has more followers than anyone in Congress save Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi-- 1.64 million-- while far fewer people want to read anything the conservative, whiny McCaskill has too say-- just 440,000 people, even though she represents an entire state and Ocasio just a tiny district and even though McCaskill has been a politician longer than Ocasio has been alive.Daniel Chaitin's piece in the Washington Examiner helps to explain why Senator Claire McCaskill was beaten so badly. McCaskill spent over 3 times more than her weak opponent (mostly in shady corporate bribes)-- $38,493,167 to $11,226,806-- only to be trounced, taking only 5 of Missouri's 114 counties and winning just 45.6% of the vote-- a horrible rejection for someone who has been in office since 1983 and in statewide office since 1999. Chaitin starts his piece, "McCaskill throws shade at Ocasio-Cortez," with this sentence:
Outgoing Sen. Claire McCaskill says she's unsure why Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has become so popular among Democrats.
In a gigantic anti-red wave election, the biggest since Nixon's impeachment, McCaskill might not have lost, or at least not lost so badly, if she did understand why Ocasio-Cortez has become so popular among Democrats (nationally).McCaskill was on CNN running her mouth about about AOC again-- as she's been doing, obsessively, ever since her defeat. Manu Raju for CNN:
McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat who's in her final days in office after losing her bid for a third Senate term, told CNN in a wide-ranging interview that her party must begin to focus and deliver on real issues to attract independent and white working class voters-- not pie-in-the-sky policy ideas, such as tuition-free college, that have little chance of becoming law. Her concern: Voters grow cynical after hearing campaign promises that never go anywhere, empowering forces like President Donald Trump to rail against Washington for failed promises, as he did in 2016.Democrats, she suggested, should be cautious about the rise of politicians like the 29-year-old Ocasio-Cortez, who vanquished a Democratic leader, Joe Crowley, in her primary, and have vowed sweeping changes in policy."I don't know her," McCaskill said when asked if she'd consider Ocasio-Cortez a "crazy Democrat" like the ones she decried on the campaign trail. "I'm a little confused why she's the thing. But it's a good example of what I'm talking about, a bright shiny new object, came out of nowhere and surprised people when she beat a very experienced congressman."McCaskill added, "And so she's now talked about a lot. I'm not sure what she's done yet to generate that kind of enthusiasm, but I wish her well. I hope she hangs the moon."But I hope she also realizes that the parts of the country that are rejecting the Democratic Party, like a whole lot of white working class voters, need to hear about how their work is going to be respected, and the dignity of their jobs, and how we can really stick to issues that we can actually accomplish something on."And she concluded: "The rhetoric is cheap. Getting results is a lot harder."
The "pie-in-the-sky policy ideas" the worthless and corrupted old senator was whining about-- $15 minimum wage, Medicare-for-All, free state college educations, the Green New Deal, none of which are supported by McCaskill-- are exactly the kinds of policies that have made the Democrats loved and respected for decades, policies corrupt conservatives like McCaskill have always derided as pie-in-the sky:
• The American Revolution• The Bill of Rights and the forging of a democracy• Universal white male suffrage• Public education• The emancipation of the slaves• The national park system• Food safety• The breakup of monopolies• The Homestead Act• Land grant universities• Rural electrification• Women’s suffrage• The abolition of child labor• The eight hour workday• The minimum wage• Social Security• Civil rights for minorities and women• Voting rights for minorities and the poor• Cleaning up our air, our water, and toxic dump sites• Consumer product safety• Medicare and Medicaid
Perhaps the sugar in all that pie McCaskill is always shoving into her face has warped her mind and that's why she calls Ocasio's popular ideas "pie-in-the-sky." McCaskill has accomplished exactly nothing in all her years in Washington except tamping down on the kinds of policies that would help working families. He 67.43 lifetime crucial vote score from ProgressivePunch is one of the worst of any Democrat's in Congress. The only senators with worse scores are Joe Donnelly (also defeated this year), Heidi Heitkamp (also defeated this year), Joe Manchin and Doug Jones (who was not up for reelection).McCaskill can compare her own twitter feed with Ocasio's if she wants to understand why she's "a thing." Ocasio's is filled with inspiration and ideas for looking forward. McCaskill's is like a cementery. This was the top one on Ocasio's page as I was writing this post:The top one on Grandma McCaskill's page, was a Christmas card of "my 11 perfect grandchildren," very beautiful and sweet but perhaps more suitable for a family scrapbook than for a U.S.Senator's twitter page. Or fine for a senator, as long as she doesn't expect to be "a thing"... with this kind of thing. Ocasio isn't even in Congress yet and she's already inspired THIS:All McCaskill will be remembered for is having her ass kissed on Rachel Maddow's show while she puffed herself up and whined about progressive policies and conservative policies and about everyone but herself. What an utter waste of a U.S. Senate seat she's been all these years-- not to mention a stain on the Democratic Part brand!
