Y’all know that I am not bashful at all about giving Claire McCaskill five different kinds of hell when I think she deserves even just a smidge of criticism. Therefore, it is incumbent upon me, in the sense of fairness, to give her an atta-girl when she smacks down the stupid like she did this morning on CNN’s State of the Union, when she mercilessly pummelled Jim DeMint over holding up the President’s nominee to head up the TSA over his irrational fear that the real threat to America’s traveling public is the prospect that TSA workers could engage in collective bargaining for the purpose of negotiating for better pay and working conditions.
She listened to his nonsense for a few moments, just to be polite, you understand, before she hammered him. “With all due respect, this is nuts, holding him up over whether or not somebody’s going to be able to bargain for a better benefit….This man will get confirmed and he’ll get confirmed by a wide margin. And playing games with the process, all it’s doing is hurting the traveling public because the most important frontline agency to protect Americans right now on flights is being held up over political stuff.”
Watch it:
That’s my Senator. I busted my ass to get her elected. I walked a hundred miles knocking on doors, I phonebanked until I was hoarse, I even did the opposition research that gave her the last nail to drive into Jim Talent’s polical coffin.
When she does me proud like this, I remember why I started talking about “Senator McCaskill” on the first Wednesday in November of 2004. If she keeps a firm grip on that spine she seems to have located lately and continues to smack down the stupid like she did this morning, she will be a shoo-in for reelection in 2012.
Interesting. Notice how Demint ignores the fact that Southers has already been through two committee hearings? So, is he also saying that the Senate “has demonstrated some problems with the vetting process?”
Just asking.
credit where credit’s due. McCaskill comes through on lots of the relatively little stuff.
But I’m still keeping my score card. I’ll vote for Claire if Carnahan fails to take Bond’s seat, but if Carnahan goes to the Senate, and McCaskill continues to fall short on the big ticket votes, I say we don’t hurt the Democratic agenda too badly if we swap’em out – and use McCaskill to provide an object lesson.