Tuesday, January 28, 2014

At Brooklyn Young Republican meeting Congressman Michael Grimm revealed too much about himself — what really matters to him — and what apparently doesn’t

Near the end of the Q & A session at the Brooklyn Young Republican Club on Sunday, Mike Grimm revealed his greatest fear about what’s going on in Washington   —   “...[somebody] digging their heels in and shutting down the government...”  —   And then the worst thing in the world for Grimm   —   His  “money dries up....”


In a rare moment of nearly pure truth, the Brooklyn and Staten Island Republican’s words betrayed one of his hidden fears. He indicated that he is terrified that there might be another government shutdown before the 2014 election.  First, he mentioned that shutdowns poll badly for Republicans, but that ain’t the worst of it.  What really scares Congressman Grimm is that his FUND RAISING, even from his best and strongest Republican supporters, WILL DRY UP. Based on that and everything else he said to various people gathered in and around last Sunday’s meeting of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club, Grimm thinks that for practical reasons the Republican majority in the House can do nothing to stop Obamacare, deal with the debt and the debt ceiling, and/or effectively pursue various investigations.

The worst of it is preserved on video.  At about the four minute mark (4:00 subscript on video) into “– Part 2” of the video posted on You Tube by the Brooklyn Young Republican Club on 1/26/14, Republican-Conservative Congressman Michael Grimm makes it clear that “...unfortunately [THEY*] win when [WE**] shut down the government....  All the polling shows that....” (See “Brooklyn Young Republican Club Welcomes Congressman Michael Grimm - Pt. 2 ” posted by Brooklyn Young Republican Club, 1/26/14, published on YouTube [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsWrFtjsXuw] at 4:00 mark on video). [ * & ** :   the actual quote in the video recording says “...they win when they shut down the government...” with the context clearly indicating that “they” meant Democrats or the Obama Administration, but then the syntax makes little to no sense.  Besides, prior to making his recorded remarks, when Mr. Grimm had a brief confrontation with some non-supportive Republicans by the bar in Ceol — while being questioned concerning his support of or opposition to a conservative Republican agenda in the House, he was clear that he thought it was Tea Party Republicans that had dug in their heals and shut down the government.]

It was after mentioning who he thought “wins,” when and if there is a government shutdown, that Grimm made his gaff, which showed everybody  what it all really means to him personally   —   “Money dries up. I had some of my best, strongest Republican friends call me...”  AND TELL ME, “Turn the government back on, turn the government back on....” (@4:15 mark on video).

That was Mike Grimm’s “SHOW ME THE MONEY” moment.

About a half hour earlier, the Congressman had a short debate about his support or non-support of certain conservative initiatives in the House. At that time, he didn’t directly address the questions put to him, but instead Grimm went through a well-rehearsed  litany of  “moderate Republican” talking points: “...we only control one-half of one-third of the government...”; we tried digging our heels in, shut down the government and got killed in the polls”; “I’m there on the front lines in Washington...”  and [paraphrase >>>  ...I think I know what I’m doing and it is nothing like what you think or what you’ve done in politics.....]

Maybe the congressman is right.  After all, who among us has had our fund raising dry up because of the shut down, how many of us had some of our best and strongest Republican friends call and tell us “Turn the government back on, turn the government back on....”

Unfortunately, it looks like all of that has caused the congressman to confuse his campaign funding “Bottom Line” with what he calls the “Front Lines” in Washington, D.C.

It also puts many of the good things that Michael Grimm had to say on Sunday into serious doubt. Things like standing in front of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club gives Congressman Grimm “...some sense of what [he] had when he was in the Marines...”;  or like when Grimm said, “I care more about this country than I do about politics, much more....  The truth is I don’t care about political victory....”

Well, now we know something about what Congressman Michael Grimm really does care about  —  “The money dries up....” and  “... some of my best, strongest Republican friends call me...”









11 comments:

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE & BACKFILL: THE “WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE...” EDITION

MORE BAD PRESS ABOUT CONGRESSMAN GRIMM AND THE PROSECUTIONS RELATED TO HIM AND HIS CAMPAIGN FUNDS

Colin Campbell says this part better than I could on this morning’s Politicker blog: “Congressman Michael Grimm‘s bad headline barrage continues. ‘A shifty associate of embattled Staten Island Rep. Michael Grimm will have to cough up a glittering Rolex watch to the feds after his mob-connected bail suretor yanked a $30,000 contribution, court papers show,’ according to the Post....” (See “Morning Read: ...” by Colin Campbell, 1/28/14, NY Observer/ Politicker [http://politicker.com/2014/01/morning-read-not-going-to-comment-on-those-comments/]; with link to “Rep. Grimm associate has to give up Rolex to feds” by Selim Algar, 1/27/14, NY Post [http://nypost.com/2014/01/27/rep-grimm-associate-has-to-give-up-rolex-to-feds/]).

The Post story yesterday is very bad for the Congressman at this time for almost all the negative reasons you might want to think about.

Anonymous said...

Nice try, Gale... close but no cigar. You're probably right that Grimm did say this and meant exactly what you wrote about it, but "Mickey Suits" can easily weasel out of this one. Don't knock yourself out, no more with this mamaluke.

Plenty of Staten Island Republicans are done with Grimm already; and the only time they wouldn't piss all over the guy is if he was on fire, but nobody wants their fingerprints on him if he loses, and if he wins, they didn't do nothing to hurt him.

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE: THE “BROOKLYN YOUNG REPUBLICAN CLUB” EDITION

The Brooklyn Young Republican Club posted its “official” version of its Sunday, January 26th meeting that featured Congressman Michael Grimm as a speaker ( See “Congressman Michael Grimm Speaks To Young Brooklynites As They Question The Political Game Called Washington D.C.” from the Board of Directors, 1/28/14, The Brooklyn Young Republican Club Webpage [https://blu182.mail.live.com/default.aspx?id=64855#n=1613347994&fid=1&mid=97e1decf-884e-11e3-98dc-002264c2070e&fv=1]).

Notably absent from the BYRC report about Congressman Grimm’s speech and the Q &A that followed was any reference to Grimm’s views about the history and efficacy of shutdowns of the government and/or his personal insights into the political consequences of such shutdowns.

Anonymous said...

Regarding State of Union 4 Republican responses. It looks like dems in 68.

You read it here first.

Mitt Romney will be nominee

Galewyn Massey said...

In 1968 the Dems were in the White House, had control of both chambers of Congress and in Viet Nam; MLK and RFK were both assainated and for three or four days the Democrat Convention was a fight beween demonstrators and Democrat Mayor Daley's police --- for all of that VP HHH didn't have to concede to former VP RMN until the day after the election.

Romney is Dewey without the mustache, Romney doesn't have normal spontaneous reactions and neither did Thomas Dewey. Another Michiganer, Gerald Ford didn't get the nomination again after losing closely 1976 -- and don't go telling me where Romney hails from lately....

Anonymous said...

Gale, query, where are Kassar and Golden on the Grimm meltdown? Kassar, who spends a great deal of time kissing his you know what, and Golden who spends most of his private time secretly hoping Grimm gets lost.....you see Kassar's little puppet, Fran, works for Grimm and Golden, well you know, he wants to be king......of everything...you should post a piece about this.....

Anonymous said...

Don't even think twice about this one. Grimm's deal with the NYS Conservative Party is negotiated at a higher pay grade than any of the people that you mentioned. The NYSCP endorsement of Grimm is renewed annually by a hand full of JHs on November 10th at a very private dining in.

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE: THE “VIRAL VERSION OF MICHAEL GRIMM” EDITION

GRIMM LOSES IT WITH THE CAMERAS RUNNING — MAKES IN CAMERA THREAT AGAINST NY1 VIDEO-REPORTER — GRIMM IS NOW IN FULL DAMAGE CONTROL MODE

There is video that shows Representative Michael G. Grimm physically threatening a reporter inside the Capitol shortly after the SOTU address. The incident shines a brighter light on the embattled Staten Island Republican right after President Obama’s State of the Union address as the NY1 lights did on the Congressman on the balcony of the Capitol. The story has legs and has been made a matter of the printed public record by the New York Times ( See “Rep. Michael Grimm Threatens an NY1 Reporter” by Sarah Wheaton, 1/29/14, NY Times/ Region [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/nyregion/rep-michael-grimm-physically-threatens-a-ny1-reporter.html?hp]) as well as the other city-wide papers. According to the Times report, Grimm can be heard on the NY1 video telling NY1 reporter Michael Scotto -- “I’ll break you in half” -- in footage that had been broadcast by the network. Moments earlier, Mr. Grimm had walked away from an interview when Mr. Scotto began asking him questions about allegations of campaign finance violations. Also according to the Times, “According to a transcript provided by NY1, Mr. Grimm also threatened to throw Mr. Scotto off a balcony.”

Later reports indicate Grimm is now deep in damage control: first, issuing long and convoluted explanations of his hissy fit; and only later, after time to reflect about the deep sheep dip that he was in, making a complete apology to Michael Scotto the reporter for NY1 (See “Rep. Grimm Apologizes to NY1 Reporter For On-Camera Threat” by: NY1 News Updated 1/29/14: 11:35 AM, NY 1 News [http://www.ny1.com/content/politics/political_news/202674/rep--grimm-apologizes-to-ny1-reporter-for-on-camera-threat] this site provides a full video interview with Michael Scotto and video of the incident with a printed subscript of Congressman Grimm making several threats).

I first heard about this on Fox News, who described the initial video as having gone viral.

Anonymous said...

Didn't I tell you not to knock yourself out, no more with this mamaluke?

He is his own worst enemy and his closest advisers are his next worst enemies, he does the "keep your enemies closer" bit backwards, because he has always been a mutt

Anonymous said...

Good thing there was no balcony at Ceol....

Anonymous said...

[GULP] I'll say!!!