MIKE FLYNN: “Recently, Rep. Ciro Rodriquez (D-TX) met with some local constituents about our nation’s current state of affairs. It did not go well.” Video at the link. Plus this: “I want to make two points; Rep. Rodriguez is an elected official with a duty to represent his constituents in Congress, no matter their political persuasion, and, he volunteered and asked for this job. He wasn’t ordered into this position by some judge, as some kind of sentence. He wants this job. It is a bit stunning that, at the first sign of criticism, he loses his temper so quickly. A confident politician would have been able to field this question.”
He’s not confident; he’s scared. He knows he blew it by voting for the bill, he doesn’t understand the bill he voted for, and when the approved talking points don’t work on constituents like they work on the captive press, he doesn’t know what to say. And as we lawyers know, when you’ve got nothing else, you pound on the table, as Rodriguez proceeds to do.
UPDATE: A reader emails: “I watched the video 2x and I can tell you that as a woman who used to be married to a physical abuser, I can detect a woman-abuser a mile away. I flinched for the woman that he approached with that paper in his hand – I thought he was going to smack her with the paper. And when he smacked the table, I had no doubt that he truly wanted to hit her.” Well, I don’t possess such intuitive powers, but he certainly looks like a jerk.
And, yes, this is yet another argument for ubiquitous citizen videocameras, something I’ve noted many times.