Schumer steps up to mic for Democrat messaging

Republicans in Congress should be smiling today after an announcement that Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has appointed Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to handle messaging for the Democrat Caucus in the next Congress.

Schumer’s been in Washington for nearly three decades; before that he served in state government. Schumer’s never done anything but politics and he does love the spotlight, so the appointment comes as no surprise.

Schumer should be known as the man who took IndyMac down. In 2008 just ahead of an election Democrats were set on winning at all costs, Schumer sent a letter expressing concern about IndyMac to regulatory agencies. So much for IndyMac.

That letter paved the way for hysterics and theatrics about what would quickly become a financial meltdown. Democrats took the Oval Office by using the economy as a battering ram. There was of course a side effect—repeatedly expressing despair about an economy may have the effect of increasing real despair throughout an economy. The economy was President Barack Obama’s meme; Democrats’ downfall came as the meme took on a life of its own.

At that point of course Democrats were standing by a couple of their favorite de facto entitlement projects known as government sponsored enterprises—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. When they drove the car into that big bucks sinkhole, they quite naturally blamed Republicans for all that was wrong with the money world. Fox News said the GSE struggles could get worse.

Meanwhile they committed future trillions to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (popularly called ObamaCare), tried to gouge the U.S. populace and transfer more wealth abroad with the stalled Cap and Trade bill (HR 2454) and committed millions to feel-good programs like the GIVE Act. In total control of Washington they spent money like a newcomer at a Las Vegas slot machine and eventually decided to side with foreign countries by suing a US state over the matter of dealing with people who are in the country illegally.

As all that was going on, in a Human Rights Report submitted to the UN Committee that is as great a sham as global warming alarmism, our president further weakened US sovereignty by pledging compliance with the Avena decision. That means, for instance, that a man who confessed to raping and slowly murdering a 14-year-old girl could be convicted and sentenced to death by a state but if no one told him he could talk to his consulate, he’d get a new hearing. That applied by the way even if the murderer had grown up in the US and received a free education despite the fact he technically wasn’t here legally.

It’s no secret Schumer loves a TV camera like my hound dog loves steak, so he’ll soon step up to the mic on all those Sunday talk shows. He will have his work cut out for him. There’s a track record far too long to discuss here, and it’s not pretty.

(Commentary by Kay B. Day/Nov. 19, 2010)