Friday on FNC’s “The Ingraham Angle,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) speculated that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was not the driving force behind the Democrats and their refusal to vote to reopen the government.
According to the Louisiana Republican, the so-called far left was dictating the terms of Democratic tactics.
“Senator, listen, it’s no laughing matter,” fill-in host Joey Jones. “But when somebody like Bernie invokes the Civil War, at least, I guess they’re not saying this is worse than Watergate all over again. At least he is going back a few decades. I don’t see it. This is worse than the Civil War, Senator?”
“Well, let me explain what’s going on,” Kennedy replied. “The country was just rocking along, minding its own business, and our budget expired midnight Tuesday night. So, the Republicans went to the Democrats and said, look, let’s just extend the then-current budget for seven more weeks while we negotiate a new one. And to our surprise, the Democrats said, no, we will not vote to do that. In fact, we’ll shut down government unless you agree to give us $1.5 trillion and we’ll tell you how to spend it. Well — I mean, our heads snapped back. Look, I wasn’t about to vote for that. My mother didn’t raise a fool, and if she did, it was one of my brothers, and every Republican felt the same way. So, we said no, and that’s why we’re in a shutdown.”
He continued, “Now, Senator Schumer is getting a lot of the blame, and Lord knows, he deserves it because he instructed all the Senate Democrats to vote to shut down government. But he is not really calling the shots. The group calling the shots is the socialist wing, the moon wing of the Democratic Party, because they’re in control. And the head of the socialist wing of the Democratic Party is Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez. She is really calling these shots. In fact, Senator Schumer is trying to ingratiate himself to the socialist wing of his party and to the congresswoman. And I have to tell you, I don’t hate anybody. I don’t mean any disrespect, but based on her policies and beliefs, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is single-handedly trying to put an end to dumb blonde jokes. I mean, based on her policies, $1.5 trillion, she must be bilingual. She is speaking English and stupid. There is no way we’re going to go along with this, and that’s why we’re in a shutdown.”
Follow Jeff Poor on X @jeff_poor
Read the full article here