We at Hot Air do not have many kind and supportive words for Democrats in general, thanks to the sharp left turn their party has taken over the last generation. While the media has been transfixed by the Republican nominee and his flaws, little attention has been paid to the fact that Democrats split their support for a full-blown Socialist and a corrupt and incompetent member of a wanna-be dynasty. Democrats they chose the corruptocrat under investigation by the FBI who repeatedly lied for the last eighteen months about her efforts to pervert legitimate Congressional and judicial oversight of the State Department.
Needless to say, we’re not used to cheering on Democrats. However, respect must be paid where due, and so I offer this salute to Florida Democrats — the voters who ensured that the next session of Congress will be Grayson-free. Politico’s Marc Caputo gives us the citation of merit:
Florida Congressman Alan Grayson and his new wife, Dena Grayson, wanted to be the first husband-wife team to serve in the U.S. Senate and House at the same time.
Instead the two became co-losers in Tuesday’s primaries.
Alan Grayson was crushed by his fellow congressman, Patrick Murphy, in the U.S. Senate race. And Dena Grayson — who married Alan Grayson mid-campaign and changed her last name over Memorial Day weekend as she ran for his congressional seat — lost in a three-way race won by state Sen. Darren Soto.
Apparently, Mrs. Grayson thought she was improving her odds with the Grayson brand. Caputo gives a brief outline of just how large a mistake that was:
Grayson once said the GOP alternative to Obamacare was to have people “die quickly;” called a reporter a “shitting robot”; branded a lobbyist a “K Street whore,” likened the tea party to the Ku Klux Klan, accused a Christian conservative opponent of being a member of the Taliban, and got into testy exchanges with Senate leaders. During the Senate campaign, Grayson was rocked by a House ethics investigation into his offshore hedge funds and a POLITICO report concerning allegations from his ex-wife that he physically abused her. He denied the charges.
We’ve certainly followed Mr. Grayson’s colorful Congressional career for the last few years. Alan Grayson’s personality, wit, and actions had made him persona non grata among Democrats on Capitol Hill earlier this year, when Harry Reid announced that Grayson’s “moral compass” didn’t measure up to his standards. Mull that one over for a while.
For some reason, Grayson convinced himself that his ability to win in a non-competitive House district made him a great choice to run statewide, but it became apparent soon enough that he’d lose to Patrick Murphy … even though Murphy, as it turns out, isn’t exactly who he claims either. Grayson’s exact quote from July 2015: “Frankly, one reason why Democrats are willing to crawl over hot coals naked to vote for me is because I’m willing to tell the truth.” As it turned out, Florida Democrats didn’t want to vote for him, clothed or otherwise. Had he just run for re-election to his House seat, we may not have been so lucky. Thanks for the self-delusion, Alan!
As for Mrs. Grayson, she hasn’t been on the public stage long enough to know whether she’d match her husband’s track record for crassness, invective, and chutzpah. However, had she won the primary and the election, we still would have had the prospect of Mr. Grayson popping up on Capitol Hill constantly, sharing his misanthropic antics and … whatever the opposite of charm is. Her defeat ensures that national politics will be Grayson-free, at least for a single turn of the House.
Of course, we’ve had that before too, and Grayson managed to come back. My good friend Jorge Bonilla tells Caputo that Darren Soto might end up holding that seat for life after pushing the Grayson’s to the curb, but he’s not betting the house on it, pardon the pun:
“We have a saying in Puerto Rico: ‘yerba mala nunca muere’ — bad weeds never die,” Bonilla said.
At least Florida Democrats tended the garden this time. For that, we salute you:
As the Washington Post’s Amber Phillips puts it at the end of her post-mortem of Alan’s campaign: “In other words, the best campaign news of all for Grayson may be: It’s over.” Let’s hope so.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member