I already commented on this anecdote in a recent post but after Sen. Cory Booker's latest antics during Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearings, it is worth reminding people that the New Jersey "statesman" could not even handle a snowstorm as mayor of Newark, let alone serve as leader of the entire nation.
As Lauretta noted, Sen. Booker told his colleagues this week in Senate, "I understand the penalty comes with potential ousting from the Senate. This is about the closest I'll probably ever have in my life to an ‘I am Spartacus' moment," before he supposed released confidential "documents related to Kavanaugh’s time as a lawyer in the George W. Bush White House."
The only problem with this"daring" moment is that "the documents had already been cleared for release and the records representative was “surprised to learn about Senator Booker’s histrionics.” Also, they painted a pretty decent picture of Kavanaugh since the documents "showed that Kavanaugh was against racial profiling in the aftermath of 9/11."
In short, it was a stunt. A performance. Theatrics for the Democratic base. The emails were cleared to be released but he pretended they were not for the sake of the scene. Sen. Booker fashions himself a philosopher king but in reality is nothing but a thespian king.
And he is a bad one at that. Ever since his Newark mayoral days, voters have recognized most of the political actions have been just for attention. This is most evident by the story of Ms. Byer's five kids, a blizzard, and a pack of pull ups.
Booker became famous for tweeting "on it" in response to problems from citizens in the city as their mayor. This became sort of a joke amongst Newark residents because Booker was rarely "on it" and when he was actually in the city, he missed the larger point of his supposed heroic missions. It became so much of a ruse, that the aforementioned Ms. Byer laughs when she thinks of Booker helping her family during a snowstorm. Politico picked up this story in 2016 when there were rumors he could be chosen as failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's vice presidential running mate. She, of course, went with another clown, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA, but the profile gives a great glimpse into the dramatic mind of Sen. Booker.
Here's the story via Politico:
"...a closer look at Booker’s seven-year tenure as mayor here reveals plenty of people ready to tell the other side of the gauzy stories repeated in adoring magazine profiles. Yes, he transformed the city’s downtown Central Ward and put a dent, at least for a time, in Newark’s infamously high crime rate, but he also left behind bruised feelings in the neighborhoods where residents wanted jobs more than cheerleading. And to the residents who forked over big increases in fees and taxes, there remains a gnawing suspicion that Booker cared more about the optics of a social media moment than actually delivering on basic city services.
Barbara Byers is one of them. Remember that emergency diaper delivery? That was her.
“He did come and bring me Pampers,” Byers told me recently on Highland Avenue. Back in 2010, her brother had tweeted at Booker three days after a massive snowstorm that Byers could not get out and was running out of diapers. Booker, as he was fond of saying on his Twitter feed, was “on it.”
Byers laughed at the memory and thinks everyone missed the point: Booker, she said, focused on the individual heroics because the larger task of managing city services eluded him.
“The only reason he brought me Pampers was that it had been three days and our street hadn’t been plowed, she said. “I have five kids and, trust me, I don’t just run out of Pampers. All we wanted was for him to plow our streets. It’s about knowing how to manage a city."
As Sen. Booker continues his journey to the national stage for presidential politics, viewers would probably be best advised to change the channel. His monologues are stale and old at this point. He keeps repeating the same plot over and over and over again.