(Just) Seen on PJ Media. The entire Politico article is a good read, but here are excerpts from PJ
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our other local boy looks a bit goofy, but I’d say he comes out well in this interview; candid, anyway (as does Fetterman)
On Friday, Politico released a fun article, “Sex, Drinking, and Dementia: 25 Lawmakers Spill on What Congress Is Really Like.” And it’s pretty flippin’ crazy. Some of the things that congressmen and senators reveal about their private club will make you do a spit-take — so protect your monitor and/or phone screen accordingly:
Biggest misconceptions the public has about their job:
“How absolutely lame it is. You honestly think that life is full of House of Cards or snappy dialogue out of The West Wing. And it’s sad. You’re constantly living out of a suitcase.” —Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.)
“How good of friends some of us are, whose political ideologies are totally separate from each other. Some of my best friends up here are members of the progressive caucus. We go out, have dinner and a beer, and we can even tell jokes with each other, as long as nobody’s listening.” —Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.)
“I was surprised at how thirsty my colleagues are.” —Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.)
What’s the worst thing about the other party?
“The worst thing about the Democratic Party is that I think there’s a number of them in the conference who honestly don’t like this country. I think some of them border on hating it, even down to our foundational documents, such as the Constitution.” —Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.)
“The worst thing about the Republicans is the House Freedom Caucus. The House Freedom Caucus consists of ideological arsonists who are willing to burn everything down — the federal government, the full faith and credit of the United States, the economy — in pursuit of their ideological agenda.” —Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.)
What’s the worst thing about your own party?
“Intolerance. We are sometimes self-righteous, judgmental, priggish.” —Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.)
“Too much of a stagnancy and deference to people who’ve been in office for a long time. There’s just this slowness in making way for a new generation of leadership.” —Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)
“Absolute half-measures, doing just enough to where you can go home and gaslight your voters that you’re doing the right thing.” —Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.)
What do you like least about your job?
“The performance art and having to monetize everything. It’s turned all of us into OnlyFans models just monetizing your latest protest or your latest speech or whatever. There’s not a lot of dignity in it.” —Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.)
“The single most frustrating thing to me is the dramatic turnover in membership. No one remembers how to really legislate anymore. That’s frustrating to me. I’m old school.” —Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.)
How common is all that scandalous, torrid behavior? Is it really like "House of Cards"?
“Absolutely. We’re human beings, right? We’re all sinners, so to even put on the facade that we’re not regular people that are tempted and do stupid things is laughable. It’s ridiculous. So, don’t act like your s**t doesn’t stink.” —Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.)
“I have no idea. I’ve been doing this for 16 years, I don’t think anybody has ever come up to me and said, ‘Hey, I’m cheating on my wife.’” —Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.)
Are politicians showing up drunk to vote on legislation?
“Every time we do an 11 p.m. vote, a minority of the chamber has a zero blood alcohol content. Now, that’s different than voting drunk. I don’t think I’ve ever seen somebody demonstrably drunk on the floor.” —Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.)
“Well, I’ve seen one Republican who, unfortunately for you, has to go unnamed, show up drunk a number of times. There were one or two Dems I thought might be high on something but not drunk.” —Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.)
“If you are prone to substance abuse, everything about this job probably makes it worse.” —Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.)
“I have never seen anybody drunk on the floor. I don’t think anybody drinks around the floor. I knew a couple of guys that might have had a drink, but the guys I knew that had a drink, they never showed it. They could hold their liquor well.” —Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.)
Are there politicians on Capitol Hill who are so overaged that they have cognitive issues?
“There’s no question that somewhere between six and a dozen of my colleagues are at a point where they’re … I think they don’t have the faculties to do their job.” —Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.)
“I have a difficult time sometimes telling between the deterioration of members and a handful who are just not very smart.” —Unnamed House Republican
