By ,
Published May 08, 2017
And now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:
Hold the Phone
Buffalo Beast editor Ian Murphy is being lauded by some for pranking Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker into believing he was on the phone with conservative billionaire David Koch. MSNBC interviewed Murphy and called him, "the most important phone caller of the day." CNN gave him the title, "most intriguing person of the day."
But the Daily Caller points out Murphy has written some articles that many find not intriguing but offensive. Two and a half years ago, there was one called "[Blank] the Troops". Quote -- "So, 4,000 rubes are dead. Cry me the Tigris. Another 30,000 have been seriously wounded. Boo [blanking] hoo. They got what they asked for -- and cool robotic limbs, too."
Party Hearty
The United Federation of Teachers knows how to party, even as 5,000 New York City teachers face layoffs.
The Daily News reports the union shelled out nearly a million dollars last year for its 50th anniversary gala. Records show it dropped more than $278,000 on the Annual Teacher's Union Day Ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria and spent $179,000 on training retreats at a Connecticut resort.
The union president, Michael Mulgrew, defends the costs, saying -- quote -- "I'm not going to apologize for spending money to service our members."
Silent Treatment
Georgia Republican Congressman Paul Broun says he was stunned when a constituent asked during a town hall meeting Tuesday -- quote -- "Who's going to shoot Obama?"
Broun issued a statement today explaining why he did not immediately condemn the question -- a silence that was noted in the media today. The congressman says he chose not to dignify it with a response and his office reported it to authorities. Broun says -- quote -- "violent statements are unacceptable."
In My Humble Opinion
And finally, self-esteem is apparently not a problem for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
When the Democratic National Committee wrote a resolution honoring Pelosi for her work as House speaker, she sent her daughter to tell the panel it wasn't good enough. Politico reports Pelosi wanted to add a mention of her fight against HIV and AIDS, a paragraph about her -- quote -- "accomplishments for equality" and a line emphasizing that she's not going anywhere and "will continue the fight."
https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/wisconsin-governors-prank-caller-has-history-of-hateful-rhetoric