Corey Booker, also known as Spartacus for his off-the-wall and dramatic orations in Congress, again put himself in the spotlight this week. Since the disgraceful exit of Bob Menendez from the Senate, Booker is now the Senior Senator from New Jersey, and there may be no more enormous ego or greater narcissism in the American government. Booker took to the Senate floor and now holds the record for the longest speech, or filibuster, in Senate history. Booker retained control of the Senate floor for over 25 hours, and towards the end of his time, his performance was worthy of consideration for an Oscar for Best Performance in a Dramatic Scene.
This stunt by Booker achieved nothing but to give him attention and accolades from the mainstream media. It was a day-long rant against Donald Trump and everything Trump and the MAGA movement stands for. There was nothing we had not already heard, and this was another cheesy performance by a Democrat that exhibits how unhinged they are as a collective. Other than Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, there is no voice of reason on either Chamber’s Left side of the aisle.
The reaction in mainstream media and online was gushing and predictably partisan. Some of the lines were:
Senator Corey Booker Gives Marathon Speech
Senator Corey Booker Passes 24 Hours
Senator Booker Sets New Record
US Senator Delivers Marathon Speech
All of the reports keyed on the duration and not the content, as there was little that he said that the Democrats had not already uttered. CNN treated this speech as an athletic achievement, noting Booker had fasted and curbed his water intake in preparation. Of course, some Democrats had to share the spotlight like the drama-king from Rhode Island, Senator Whitehouse.
One moment during Booker’s performance was especially painful for us in New Hampshire. Our feckless junior Senator Maggie Hassan rose to speak, and the exchange was a combination of love-fest and comic relief. Maggie Hassan has been launching her own marathon series of daily lies and fear-mongering on Facebook. Every day, she would choose a different program to claim was being slashed to give tax breaks to billionaires. Whether it was Social Security, Medicare, or her personal favorite, Medicaid, she would lay out her doomsday scenario of how Granite Staters would be harmed so Trump and Musk could reward billionaires. Every post was a twisting of the truth to scare the ignorant and insult the Conservatives in New Hampshire.
For twenty-two minutes, she praised Spartacus while he gushingly raised her on a pedestal as the grand dame voice of reason in the Senate. He called her the Badd-ass of the Senate, whose voice he heard in his ear every time he needed to make a tough decision. This man who does not have a piece of legislation to his credit in ten years in the Senate and this partisan woman who only recognizes the half of her constituents who vote for her were putting on a show, and for what cause? None, other than to tear down our President who is trying to save America from herself.
Here is Booker. His voice cracking, barely able to stand, and Mags, bouncing in time to her cadence and signing as if addressing the hard-of-hearing, put an exclamation mark on a wasted effort and day in the Senate when real work could have been done for the American people. These folks are not there for us. They are there to put on a show as they line their silver pockets with our hard-earned tax dollars. It was a disgraceful and embarrassing performance and fodder for SNL.
