{"id":176434,"date":"2020-06-17T19:43:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T00:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2020\/06\/17\/annointed-by-chuck-schumer\/"},"modified":"2020-06-17T19:43:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T00:43:00","slug":"annointed-by-chuck-schumer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2020\/06\/17\/annointed-by-chuck-schumer\/","title":{"rendered":"Annointed by Chuck Schumer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"border: 1px solid black; float: right; margin: 0px 10px; padding: 5px; text-align: center; width: 330px;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"180\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ISJxk9d-6_c\" width=\"320\"><\/iframe><br \/><i>Deer, meet headlights<\/i><\/div>\n<p>And flailing horribly in the primary.<\/p>\n<p>Shumer&#8217;s &#8220;Great White Hopes&#8221; of the US Senate races this year are Amy McGrath in Kentucky and John Hickenlooper in Colorado, and things are not going well fore either of them.<\/p>\n<p>Amy McGrath, who has a compelling life story but little in the way of policy, has <a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/2020\/06\/amy-mcgraths-senate-campaign-is-in-real-trouble.html\">had a terrible horrible no good very bad week<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The largest papers in the state endorsed her primary opponent Charles Booker, as has Alison Lundergan Grimes, who is part of the Democratic Party aristocracy in the state. (Useless, but all aristocracy is useless)<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m thinking that her deer in the headlights performance when asked about police protests in the last debate which was lame beyond belief: (See vid)<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: blue;\">Remember Amy McGrath? Maybe you do. In 2018, the Kentucky Democrat was briefly famous for a viral campaign ad and an ultimately doomed campaign to represent her state\u2019s Sixth Congressional District. A moderate and a former Marine fighter pilot, McGrath is the apotheosis of a particular Democratic electoral strategy: to win in a conservative state, dispatch a veteran with lukewarm politics. That strategy didn\u2019t put McGrath in the House in 2018. But two years later, Senate Democrats tried it again, pitting McGrath against a top prize: Mitch McConnell. <\/p>\n<p>Now she might be lucky to win her primary race. <\/p>\n<p>McGrath faces a robust challenge from Charles Booker, the youngest Black legislator in the Kentucky House of Representatives. Booker has run to her left, and while McGrath holds a major fundraising advantage, Booker is gaining significant momentum ahead of the primary on June 23. Two of the state\u2019s largest newspapers have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2020\/06\/16\/kentucky-democrat-backs-charles-booker-322109\">endorsed<\/a> him, and on Tuesday, Booker earned another major supporter. Alison Lundergan Grimes, who challenged McConnell in 2014, endorsed him over McGrath.<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\"><span style=\"color: blue;\">Proud to endorse my friend <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Booker4KY?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Booker4KY<\/a> for U.S. Senate in the Kentucky Democratic Primary! Together, let\u2019s elect a new generation of leadership in KY! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Booker4KY?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Booker4KY<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mv7TymBLIe\">https:\/\/t.co\/mv7TymBLIe<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/PsD43HrcEt\">pic.twitter.com\/PsD43HrcEt<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: blue;\">\u2014 Alison Lundergan Grimes (@AlisonForKY) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AlisonForKY\/status\/1272858065323294720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 16, 2020<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: blue;\"> <br \/>The Grimes endorsement might be the clearest sign yet that McGrath is in real trouble. Booker already had the backing of a number of progressive politicians and groups, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, but Grimes is no leftist. She\u2019s firmly part of the Kentucky Democratic Establishment, which makes her endorsement something of a surprise \u2014 and an unignorable vote of no confidence in McGrath. The retired Marine is backed by the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, but locals are less convinced.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Also, Booker <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/campaign\/503240-pressley-endorses-booker-in-kentucky-senate-race\">progressive icon Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) just endorsed Booker as well<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Her life story failed to defeat a vulnerable Republican Representative in the last election, and she has added nothing to her toolbox.<\/p>\n<p>And then there is John Hickenlooper in Colorado, whose campaign is turning into a horror show, even if you ignore the fact that <a href=\"https:\/\/40yrs.blogspot.com\/2019\/10\/and-yet-hickenlooper-literally-drank.html\">he literally drank a glass of fracking fluid to demonstrate his support for the fossil fuel industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Now, in addition to his record, we have his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2020\/06\/16\/how-much-trouble-is-john-hickenlooper-an-ethics-violation-his-ancient-slave-ship-comment\/\">his being fined for serious ethical violations as well as having made jokes about slavery<\/a>, both of which are <b>EXTREMELY<\/b> problematic in the current moment:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: blue;\">Democrats\u2019 best pickup opportunity in their battle for the majority in the U.S. Senate has suddenly been complicated by not one but two unforced errors from their star candidate in Colorado, former governor John Hickenlooper. But it\u2019s not clear whether either or both are enough to turn the tide of the race in favor of Republicans. The two controversies:<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">An independent ethics commission in Colorado <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/hickenlooper-violated-colorado-gifts-rules-twice-in-2018-state-ethics-panel-finds\/2020\/06\/05\/7d210698-a7a2-11ea-b473-04905b1af82b_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_4\">said Hickenlooper violated state law on gifts <\/a>when he was governor in 2018 by accepting rides on a private jet and, separately, in a Maserati limousine.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/hickenlooper-apologizes-for-2014-ancient-slave-ship-comments\/2020\/06\/15\/72f55b9e-af66-11ea-856d-5054296735e5_story.html?hpid=hp_politics1-8-12_hickenlooper-1030am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans&amp;itid=lk_inline_manual_5\">appeared to compare a job<\/a> as a political scheduler to the slave trade, in 2014 comments that were unearthed Monday. His campaign immediately apologized for them. \u201cImagine an ancient slave ship,\u201d he said, \u201cwith the guy with the whip, and you\u2019re rowing. We elected officials are the ones that are rowing.\u201d <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"color: blue;\">\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n<p>The first controversy carries a more immediate impact for Hickenlooper. The commission, which was set up as part of an anti-graft law Colorado voters approved more than a decade ago, fined him almost $3,000 for the luxury rides as he was traveling as governor. The commission also held him in contempt for not showing up for the first day of video hearings even though he was subpoenaed.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Hickenlooper\u2019s most immediate contest is a June 30 primary. He\u2019s facing Andrew Romanoff, a former Colorado House speaker, who has his supporters but is not seen as a major threat to Hickenlooper. Romanoff is campaigning on Hickenlooper\u2019s left in support of Medicare-for-all and the Green New Deal and has the support of some younger, liberal activists. (But no endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) or his liberal allies in Congress.)<\/p>\n<p>That may still be the case, given how late Hickenlooper\u2019s ethics violation is coming in the primary and how much Hickenlooper has been billed as the best candidate to beat Gardner among Democrats. Romanoff is trying to leverage Hickenlooper\u2019s ethics troubles to reverse that narrative. \u201cHe represents a threat we cannot afford,\u201d Romanoff <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/hickenlooper-on-the-defensive-as-ethics-woes-unsettle-colorado-senate-race\/2020\/06\/12\/a5935722-ac05-11ea-a9d9-a81c1a491c52_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_20\">told <i>The Washington Post<\/i> recently<\/a>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I am not sure how much Romanoff is a long shot.  Romanoff won the Democratic Party endorsement at the state convention, though that does not count for much in the primary.<\/p>\n<p>Still, this raises serious questions about Hickenlooper&#8217;s electability, which is really the only reason to vote for him, because, as I have noted before,  <a href=\"https:\/\/40yrs.blogspot.com\/2019\/10\/and-yet-hickenlooper-literally-drank.html\">he literally drank a glass of fracking fluid to demonstrate his support for the fossil fuel industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Deer, meet headlights And flailing horribly in the primary. Shumer&#8217;s &#8220;Great White Hopes&#8221; of the US Senate races this year are Amy McGrath in Kentucky and John Hickenlooper in Colorado, and things are not going well fore either of them. Amy McGrath, who has a compelling life story but little in the way of policy, &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[375,550,539,588,374],"class_list":["post-176434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-elections","tag-endorsement","tag-ethics","tag-fail","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176434"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176434\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}