basquebromance
Diamond Member
- Nov 26, 2015
- 109,396
- 27,005
- 2,220
- Banned
- #1
i wish all politicians were fun celebs
www.politico.com
excerpts:
“Trump winning kind of showed, ‘Hey, anybody can do this,’” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), a former college football coach elected in 2020. “President Trump opened the doors for a lot of people. He’s not a lawyer. He hadn’t been in politics before. He’s an outsider. So that influenced my decision.”
“I started a trend, didn’t I?” Tuberville quipped.
“I joke that the most expensive walk in Washington is from the House to the Senate,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), another onetime House member. “Celebrity gives you an instant attention, but it also has a downside. You have to prove that you’re more than a celebrity.”
“These celebrities don’t come here with an interest in legislating. They come here with an interest in grandstanding and getting TV clips, because that’s what they’ve spent their entire career doing,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who also began his career in the House after time in the state legislature.
“My worry is that as you get more people here who have no experience in cutting a deal, it makes a place that’s already pretty dysfunctional even worse," Murphy added.
That shift away from Hill deal-cutting practice could be dramatic in the next Congress: All five of the Senate Republicans who've announced their retirements next year are former House members, with collective decades of bipartisanship under their belts.
And the Senate GOP conference could see several new members with zero legislative experience. In addition to Oz and Walker, author J.D. Vance is mounting his own campaign in Ohio.
Fame outside of politics "gets your foot in the door, that gets eyeballs on you, but you still got to perform,” said Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), the current frontrunner in his party's primary to capture that Buckeye State Senate seat next year.
“Trump had that. He obviously was able to convince a large part of the country that he was the real deal,” said Ryan, who's spent 18 years in the House. But he warned that "when the lights come on, you’ve got to be able to perform. People are gonna love you if you're a celebrity, and it's more romanticized. But then they take a good close look at you, and you're gonna pass muster or not.”
And some Democratic candidates have achieved rock star status just by running repeatedly for higher office; former Rep. Beto O’Rourke recently launched a campaign for Texas governor after two consecutive unsuccessful bids for the White House and the Senate.
“It can be hard to go from a position where people like you and say kind things to you … and then when you become a candidate and your words get dissected and it actually matters … how you’re able to handle that is, I think, important ,” observed Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). “I’m not suggesting that a football star or a TV personality can’t do that, but I do think that sometimes it’s just harder for them.”
Despite his own roots in the House, Cramer said he’s come to appreciate higher-profile Senate candidates for at least one reason: “Being elected to Congress isn’t the biggest thing that’s ever happened to them. And I think that’s sort of nice.”
“There’s no question that Donald Trump broke the mold,” Cramer added. “I don’t know that he’s the new mold, but he certainly broke the old one.”
Senate GOP feels another Trump effect: The rise of celeb candidates
House experience isn't necessarily the best way to get traction across the Capitol anymore — as Herschel Walker and Mehmet Oz are proving.
www.politico.com
excerpts:
“Trump winning kind of showed, ‘Hey, anybody can do this,’” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), a former college football coach elected in 2020. “President Trump opened the doors for a lot of people. He’s not a lawyer. He hadn’t been in politics before. He’s an outsider. So that influenced my decision.”
“I started a trend, didn’t I?” Tuberville quipped.
“I joke that the most expensive walk in Washington is from the House to the Senate,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), another onetime House member. “Celebrity gives you an instant attention, but it also has a downside. You have to prove that you’re more than a celebrity.”
“These celebrities don’t come here with an interest in legislating. They come here with an interest in grandstanding and getting TV clips, because that’s what they’ve spent their entire career doing,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who also began his career in the House after time in the state legislature.
“My worry is that as you get more people here who have no experience in cutting a deal, it makes a place that’s already pretty dysfunctional even worse," Murphy added.
That shift away from Hill deal-cutting practice could be dramatic in the next Congress: All five of the Senate Republicans who've announced their retirements next year are former House members, with collective decades of bipartisanship under their belts.
And the Senate GOP conference could see several new members with zero legislative experience. In addition to Oz and Walker, author J.D. Vance is mounting his own campaign in Ohio.
Fame outside of politics "gets your foot in the door, that gets eyeballs on you, but you still got to perform,” said Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), the current frontrunner in his party's primary to capture that Buckeye State Senate seat next year.
“Trump had that. He obviously was able to convince a large part of the country that he was the real deal,” said Ryan, who's spent 18 years in the House. But he warned that "when the lights come on, you’ve got to be able to perform. People are gonna love you if you're a celebrity, and it's more romanticized. But then they take a good close look at you, and you're gonna pass muster or not.”
And some Democratic candidates have achieved rock star status just by running repeatedly for higher office; former Rep. Beto O’Rourke recently launched a campaign for Texas governor after two consecutive unsuccessful bids for the White House and the Senate.
“It can be hard to go from a position where people like you and say kind things to you … and then when you become a candidate and your words get dissected and it actually matters … how you’re able to handle that is, I think, important ,” observed Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). “I’m not suggesting that a football star or a TV personality can’t do that, but I do think that sometimes it’s just harder for them.”
Despite his own roots in the House, Cramer said he’s come to appreciate higher-profile Senate candidates for at least one reason: “Being elected to Congress isn’t the biggest thing that’s ever happened to them. And I think that’s sort of nice.”
“There’s no question that Donald Trump broke the mold,” Cramer added. “I don’t know that he’s the new mold, but he certainly broke the old one.”
