Patterico's Pontifications

1/10/2017

FLASHBACK: Just Last Year, Cory Booker Loved Jeff Sessions

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 10:00 am



As Andrea Ruth noted earlier this morning, Sen. Cory Booker is planning to testify against Jeff Sessions tomorrow:

“I do not take lightly the decision to testify against a Senate colleague,” Booker said. “But the immense powers of the attorney general combined with the deeply troubling views of this nominee is a call to conscience.”

Yeah, just one thing about that. Booker was singing a very different tune about Jeff Sessions less than a year ago:

And so this is truly one of my life’s greatest moments. I am humbled to be able to participate here in paying tribute to some of the extraordinary Americans whose footsteps paved the way for me and my generation. I feel blessed and honored to have partnered with Senator Sessions in being the Senate sponsors of this important award.

He didn’t seem so down on Jeff Sessions then.

Booker is not the only one who is set to testify against Sessions despite having buddied up with him in the past. CNN’s report contains this passage:

Democratic Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon, is also expected to testify against Sessions during his confirmation hearings. Lewis and Sessions were pictured holding hands during a march in Selma, Alabama, in 2015.

Follow the link for the photos, which show Lewis holding Sessions’s hand on the Pettus Bridge — a famous location in civil rights lore, where police attacked demonstrators marching to Montgomery. The photos were taken on the 50th anniversary of that “Bloody Sunday.”

Why was John Lewis holding hands with someone he is going to tell us is an awful racist?

The Booker video and the Lewis photos will, I assume, be shown during these hearings. If they’re not, the GOP is even less competent than I thought.

[Cross-posted at RedState.]

85 Responses to “FLASHBACK: Just Last Year, Cory Booker Loved Jeff Sessions”

  1. If it weren’t for double standards libs would have no standards at all.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  2. You are witnessing history. The torch is being passed to the new generation of race baiters.

    elissa (57fdec)

  3. This is the acid test. For Trump and the GOP. If the Democrats nix Sessions’ nomination, Hillary might as well be President with a Democrat Senate.

    nk (dbc370)

  4. No, nk, I don’t believe Schumer is stupid enough to think this is the hill to die on.

    He has one chance, just one, to block a nomination before the Republicans go nuclear.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  5. Sessions will be confirmed.

    elissa (57fdec)

  6. What would his friend T-Bone say? 🙁

    Patricia (5fc097)

  7. @elissa, yes, he will.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  8. @Steve57:If it weren’t for double standards libs would have no standards at all.

    A double standard is really a single standard with an unspoken component.

    @nk:This is the acid test. For Trump and the GOP. If the Democrats nix Sessions’ nomination, Hillary might as well be President with a Democrat Senate.

    I wouldn’t go quite that far but I agree with the sentiment. You can never go far wrong, though, underestimating the GOP.

    Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1)

  9. where was Cory Booker when Senator Sessions was donating a kidney to me, a strong black woman he’d never even met

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  10. where was Cory Booker when Senator Sessions was donating a kidney to me, a strong black woman he’d never even met

    Talking to Larry Craig about the best airport bathrooms for guys with a wide stance?

    nk (dbc370)

  11. impertinence

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  12. Lindsey Graham’s assured his colleagues on more than one occasion that Mr. Booker is a good christian heterosexual

    and Mr. Graham goes with Mr. Booker for a pedicure every week so I think he probably knows what he’s talking about hello

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  13. First, let’s see what John Lewis says about Sessions. My guess is that he won’t call him an “awful racist,” and my further guess is that nothing he says will somehow make it hypocritical in any manner to have joined in the Pettus Bridge commemoration with Sessions as a participant.

    Regarding Booker’s statement, aren’t you pretending that Booker was “honored” to have worked with Sessions, when in fact he was honored to have sponsored the award?

    If you’re going to support Sessions, you might as well argue the actual merits of his case, rather than make-up BS about how people are supposedly hypocritical to oppose him.

    Jonny Scrum-half (d12bd3)

  14. @Jonny-Scrum:aren’t you pretending that Booker was “honored” to have worked with Sessions, when in fact he was honored to have sponsored the award?

    Those distinctions don’t work very well. If the co-sponsor was David Duke you would not be putting in these caveats. If the co-sponsor were Vladimir Putin you wouldn’t either.

    Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1)

  15. Give poor Jonny a break. He feels an obligation to interject but just does not have much to work with here.

    elissa (57fdec)

  16. To be fair, Lewis was on the Pettus bridge in 1962 and Sessions wasn’t.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  17. I agree with elissa and Steve57. Sessions will be confirmed, and he’ll receive a handful of votes from Democrats who reside outside the progressive bubble like Manchin, McCaskill, Casey, Donnelly, Heitkamp, et al. At the end of the day, Senators almost always come to the aid of one of their own (John Tower was done in because some Republicans had an axe to grind and refused to mount a vigorous defense on his behalf). This allows the race baiters to fire up their base, and it’s a good test-run for Schumer to figure out which cabinet nominee they can torpedo.

    JVW (6e49ce)

  18. *1965.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  19. My only real issue with Sessions is that he thinks that civil forfeiture is a good way for police departments to raise money.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  20. Booker is a political opportunist.

    Someone has convinced him that he’s the next Barack Obama, and he’s laying the necessary groundwork for a run for President in 2020 as a trial run, with a more serious effort in 2024.

    This Kabuki Theater is all about appealing to the left-wingers in the Sanders camp.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  21. My memory isn’t what it used to be, but didn’t Democrats have a certain line of attack when opposing the John Ashcroft nomination where they said something along the lines of “John Ashcroft is a fine man and I could vote for him for almost any other cabinet position, but Attorney General is just too important a position in terms of guarding civil rights and Ashcroft is too far outside of the mainstream for that important job”? I expect that is how they will handle Sessions too; they’ll be careful about not accusing him of being an outright racist, but they’ll argue that he just isn’t the right person for what they will laughingly claim is supposed to be a nonpartisan job.

    JVW (6e49ce)

  22. Yet another reason why I don’t support the filibuster and fake collegiality of the Senate. The left will try and destroy anyone and anything to push their agenda. Period.

    NJRob (43d957)

  23. If there is to be any kind of civil forfeiture, the government should have to go to court with the burden of proof being on them to prove the property owner was enriched through crime.

    Patricia (5fc097)

  24. I don’t believe Sessions has any proven experience in selling pardons or squelching investigations. Democrat opposition is well founded based upon his complete lack of experience in areas of the greatest importance to the Democrat Party.

    Rick Ballard (1d7ced)

  25. I expect that is how they will handle Sessions too; they’ll be careful about not accusing him of being an outright racist,

    That ship has sailed, JVW. In 2017 America the very first words of opposition is RACCCCIST!!!

    Sessions with his granddaughter.

    http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Ira-Madison-e1484067490359.jpg

    Rev. HoagieÂŽ (785e38)

  26. Other than my son and saying grace I haven’t held hands with a dude since Red Rover.

    Pinandpuller (c0ca62)

  27. Gabriel Hanna @14 – Do you think that Booker is going to equate Sessions with either David Duke or Vladimir Putin? I don’t, and so I don’t understand why you would bring up those 2 strawman examples.

    You guys are reaching hard to find some hypocrisy – why not just argue on the merits?

    Jonny Scrum-half (d12bd3)

  28. @jonny Scrum:Do you think that Booker is going to equate Sessions with either David Duke or Vladimir Putin?

    A lot of progressives are not above this comparison lately and guilt-by-association has been being used a lot.

    why not just argue on the merits?

    Because there’s nothings whatever wrong with Sessions. He’s being vilified for things he has not done and opinions he does not hold, with no evidence whatever. It’s not anyone’s job to prove he’s not a racist.

    Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1)

  29. Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.

    B.A. DuBois (cb3214)

  30. The Democrats didn’t even bother to run a candidate against Jeff Sessions in 2014 not even for symbolic reasons. Neither did he have any opposition in the Republican primary. He got re-elected without opposition!

    I don’t think it was because they really, really, love him.

    They are all talking about civil rights, but Jeff sessions is known for his opposition to all immigration.

    Jeff Sessions is probably the man most responsible for the election of Donald Trump, and Donald Trump has said that he is very smart.

    Since I heard an excerpt of him talking about heroin, maybe he gave Donald Trump that issue, too.

    Sammy Finkelman (2178a8)

  31. Since Sessions has all his financial paperwork completed and in order 9hes alawyer, after all) they are now complaining that he didn’t turn over all (or very many of) his public speeces, interviews and articles.

    Whatever their real complaints or concerns are, the Democrats aren’t saying them.

    Sammy Finkelman (2178a8)

  32. “I feel blessed and honored to have partnered with this dude with these deeply troubling views” … yeah, Jonny Scrum-half, that doesn’t quite work. Your attempt to portray Booker as consistent is noted but rejected.

    Patterico (31660a)

  33. Trump will get the team he has chosen.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  34. Mr. Sessions will do so much more better on the justice than corrupt chunky-butt Loretta did.

    And in his heart, Cory Booker knows this.

    He can’t possible feel very good about himself.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  35. Gabriel Hanna @28 – I hope that you’re not saying that because, in your view, a lot of unnamed liberals make silly arguments, Sen. Booker doesn’t get to give his own opinion regarding Sen. Sessions as AG.

    Regarding Sessions being “vilified for things” he hasn’t done and having to prove that he’s not a racist, as far as I know Booker hasn’t “vilified” him yet, and I doubt that he’s going to argue that Sessions is a racist. If I had to guess, I think Booker is likely to question Sessions’s commitment to enforcing the Voting Rights Act, but we’ll see tomorrow.

    Why make shit up to argue about when you can simply wait and then argue about what Booker actually says?

    Jonny Scrum-half (d12bd3)

  36. Patterico @32 – I’m not trying to portray Booker as “consistent,” if by that you mean that I think he’s pure and unsullied. He’s a politician, and acts in his own perceived self-interest, just like all politicians and most people.

    I’ll try to be more clear, having thought about it a little more. I’m saying that your characterization of Booker as having “loved” Sessions only last year is, candidly, pretty much a lie that is disproved simply by viewing the video that you embedded, where it’s clear that Booker is honored to have sponsored the award, not honored to be the co-sponsor with Sessions.

    Jonny Scrum-half (d12bd3)

  37. @jonny Scrum-half:it’s clear that Booker is honored to have sponsored the award, not honored to be the co-sponsor with Sessions.

    “I feel blessed and honored to have partnered with Senator Sessions”

    It’s pretty clear what he said.

    Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1)

  38. “I feel blessed and honored to have partnered with Senator McCarthy”

    “I feel blessed and honored to have partnered with Senator Thurmond”

    Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1)

  39. Jonny, unless you think that Sessions will not be confirmed, your Kabuki theater here with respect to Booker is kind of a waste of your time as well as ours, is it not? Are you under the impression that Booker’s testimony is going to sink Sessions? If so, you are the only one. We can all agree that Booker has political ambitions and is looking to get some TV face time to burnish his Liberal bona fides on the left so you need not strive to convince anyone of that.

    elissa (57fdec)

  40. Cory Booker is racist on Mr. Sessions just cause Mr. Sessions is white.

    This is Barack Obama’s legacy.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  41. That cannot be possible Mr feet, because the U.S. Senate to which both Mr. Booker and Mr. Sessions are members is a gentleman’s club and is the world’s greatest deliberative body.

    elissa (57fdec)

  42. Color me dubious.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  43. Scrotastic!!!

    Colonel Haiku (6c3d91)

  44. “Other than my son and saying grace I haven’t held hands with a dude since Red Rover.”

    Pinandpuller (c0ca62) — 1/10/2017 @ 11:18 am

    Pics or it didn’t happen!

    Colonel Haiku (6c3d91)

  45. Gabriel Hanna @37 – Interesting how you quoted only a sentence fragment. I wonder why?

    Come on. If you’re going to go to the mattresses on crap like this, what about when there are real differences? If you don’t like Booker, fine. If you think that Sessions’s past has been distorted or misrepresented, fine. But it’s really disingenuous to intentionally mis-read what someone has said in an attempt to portray them as somehow hypocritical.

    Jonny Scrum-half (d12bd3)

  46. Make these lying Democrats slice, dice, mince, and eat their own words.

    Colonel Haiku (6c3d91)

  47. sCrumbum

    Colonel Haiku (6c3d91)

  48. Elissa @39 – I’d be very surprised if Sessions weren’t confirmed. There’s no way that any Republicans will jump ship.

    But why are you accusing me of wasting time – I’m responding to what I think is a dishonest post by Patterico. Why don’t you say that he’s wasting time by bringing up an issue about which there’s near-certainty regarding the end-result?

    Jonny Scrum-half (d12bd3)

  49. Booker is just Vin Diesel with a sun tan…

    Colonel Haiku (6c3d91)

  50. Jonny–the good lord above knows I get my digs into Patterico when I think he’s off base in his posts. This post is not one of them.

    elissa (57fdec)

  51. Think of this the next time some yohan links to CNN… https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/254191/

    Colonel Haiku (6c3d91)

  52. Any attempt by the lying Democrats to undercut and delegitimize a duly elected president will be called out and noted for what it is, Scrote.

    Colonel Haiku (6c3d91)

  53. Ted Cruz pointed Hebert’s accusations were repudiated two days later in 1986

    narciso (d1f714)

  54. @jonny Scrum-half: Interesting how you quoted only a sentence fragment. I wonder why?

    Because you HAD the whole sentence and then YOU chopped a chunk out, so I emphasized the chunk YOU chopped out.

    Booker said: “I feel blessed and honored to have partnered with Senator Sessions in being the Senate sponsors of this important award.”

    And you said

    “Booker is honored to have sponsored the award, not honored to be the co-sponsor with Sessions.”

    But that is NOT what he said. You left out the “partnered with Senator Sessions in being the Senate sponsors”.

    “Honored to be the co-sponsor” is an accurate paraphrase.

    I am really kind of staggered by what you tried to get away with, and then you turn around and blame ME.

    Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1)

  55. “47. blah blah blah…”

    I just visted Althouse and then came here to Patterico. Wow! Did somebody misplace a “go troll the internet” check from Hillary’s campaign and just got around to cashing it? Pakistan? India? Has to be one of those foreign places on the other side of the globe that doesn’t know the election is over, because all the paid trolls in the US shut down on Nov 9 & 10.

    fred-2 (ce04f3)

  56. A group of black pastors are going to speak out against this smear of Sessions.

    This man is right.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXUX2x3dC4c

    Man Speaks Out: ”There’s A Sickness In The Black Community”

    This s**t needs to stop.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  57. That ship has sailed, JVW. In 2017 America the very first words of opposition is RACCCCIST!!!

    Well, I’m thinking more of how Senate Democrats will respond, not the dipstick media left who can naturally be counted on to go into full-throated whiny demagoguery.

    JVW (6e49ce)

  58. National Review’s Morning Jolt thinks Cory Booker is running for president. I think he’s just been chosen as the attack dog – if Sessions is to be accused of racism, a black person should do it. Andrew Cuomo, though. is almost certainly running for president. He’s going to close the Indian Point nuclear plant, which supplies one quarter of New York City’s electricity and seek hydropower from the St. Lawrence River to replace it.

    For 2017: It’s been touted that Hillary Clinton might run for mayor of New York and she seems to have received the endorsemnt ofd the New York post, which sees her as more conservative tahn de Blasio. If she is serious, she will also seek the Republican nomination. She would need the permission of 3 of the 5 county leaders in New York City to run in the Republican primary and would probably also want no serious opponent. In Virginia, McAuliffe = Clinton has a candidate for Governor but now a candidate supported by Obama suddenly jumped into the race.

    Sammy Finkelman (643dcd)

  59. I wonder if Booker’s imaginary friend “T-Bone” will testify, too?

    All kidding aside, Booker’s despicable attack on Sessions is just another reminder that we (Conservatives) are at war with them (Liberals).

    With the assistance of their willing co-conspirators in the media, they (Liberals) will lie, cheat, steal, and destroy anyone who dares to oppose them.

    There is absolutely no sense – ZERO – in trying to negotiate or reason with the bastards. Anyone who thinks differently is a fool.

    Deuce Frehley (8afd8b)

  60. I think the idea of Corey Booker choosing to come out against the likely next AG is simply too funny to ignore.

    He’s a product of Jersey Politics.

    Has he not paid any attention to the number of Jersey politicians who DOJ has put in jail over the last 30 years.

    Hey Corey — EVERYONE rats eventually. You can’t live in that swamp as long as you did without the rats knowing things about you. Now you’ve just energized the next AG to whisper in the ear of the next US Attorney for New Jersey.

    LMAO

    shipwreckedcrew (99f654)

  61. BTW what’s with this Obama farewell tour and speeches? Did other presidents do this?

    Patricia (5fc097)

  62. “…which sees her as more conservative tahn de Blasio”

    So was Pol Pot. Who isn’t?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  63. More horseshi+ from CNN…

    http://ace.mu.nu/archives/367833.php

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  64. More horseshi+ from CNN…

    http://ace.mu.nu/archives/367833.php

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 1/10/2017 @ 4:25 pm

    What do you mean, more horess+?

    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/890515/posts

    The News We (CNN) Kept To Ourselves [must read]
    The New York Times ^ | 04/11/03 | EASON JORDAN

    Posted on 4/10/2003, 11:16:06 PM by Pokey78

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  65. “I think the idea of Corey Booker choosing to come out against the likely next AG is simply too funny to ignore.

    He’s a product of Jersey Politics.

    Has he not paid any attention to the number of Jersey politicians who DOJ has put in jail over the last 30 years.

    Hey Corey — EVERYONE rats eventually. You can’t live in that swamp as long as you did without the rats knowing things about you. Now you’ve just energized the next AG to whisper in the ear of the next US Attorney for New Jersey.”

    – shipwreckedcrew

    Welcome to Donald Trump’s America, folks – where prosecuting someone because they opposed you politically is viewed as comedic.

    Leviticus (efada1)

  66. after food stamp corrupted the IRS and the DOJ and the FBI

    where did you think we were gonna end up

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  67. @43

    Oh Colonel,

    My Colonel!

    Pinandpuller (d94560)

  68. No homo.

    Pinandpuller (d94560)

  69. @Leviticus:where prosecuting someone because they opposed you politically is viewed as comedic.

    Man are you 8 years behind?

    Gabriel Hanna (678b43)

  70. I feel blessed and honored to have pardoned Secretary Clinton.

    Pinandpuller (d94560)

  71. Well, there’s Menendez, but nobody (read Obama’s DOJ) seems to be in a hurry to bring that case before a jury. Or has it been dismissed and I missed it?

    nk (dbc370)

  72. Booker will probably be prosecuted for graft and real estate-related shenanigans. It’s how Democrats roll, especially in urban environments.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  73. If Booker is unsullied maybe he needs to be running for vice-khaleesi.

    Pinandpuller (d94560)

  74. No, pinandpuller… pics of you playing Red Rover, ya mook, ya! Funny stuff!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  75. A little known fact: it’s illegal to hunt in Mountain View Cemetary in Deming, New Mexico.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  76. er, Cemetery

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  77. Leviticus, I don’t think that shipwreckedcrew said anything that we don’t already know: That U.S. Attorneys are nothing more than corrupt, political hitmen, second-raters who could not get an Assistant AG position, appointed not for their talent, ability or honesty but for the fact that they bundled millions for their President’s party and can be counted on to do what they’re told.

    nk (dbc370)

  78. they are sleazy and no good, these US Attorneys

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  79. The worst were the Shrub’s appointees in South Texas whose job was to prosecute Border Patrol agents who intercepted Mexican marijuana smugglers and endangered the Bush twins’ supply.

    nk (dbc370)

  80. So in the end Sessions gets confirmed and Cory Booker does nothing.

    Gabriel Hanna (678b43)

  81. those nasty bush twins

    racist and vapid is no way to go through life you stupid bush twins

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  82. Leviticus — you been living under a rock?? You know where New Jersey is??

    Heck, there’s an entire Wiki page devoted to NJ politicians in jail.

    There are 44 names listed.

    Rats are everywhere.

    You don’t prosecute him because he opposed you — you prosecute him because a Rat brings you evidence of his past crimes.

    That’s the New Jersey way.

    shipwreckedcrew (99f654)

  83. nk at 77 — actually far from the truth, except in the 7th or 8th year of a 2 term presidency where time in the office will be very short.

    Bush and Obama actually appointed a very high number of former prosecutors — and current prosecutors — into the US Attorney positions after they were first elected.

    If you go back 40 years, those positions were seen as rewards for political supporters/contributors, but that’s not the case any longer.

    There are obviously exceptions, but as a general rule, the last 2 Presidents appointed highly qualified folks into those spots.

    Clinton, on the other hand, named a lot of FOBs and law school compatriots of he and HRC into US Attorney positions.

    shipwreckedcrew (99f654)

  84. A little known fact: it’s illegal to hunt in Mountain View Cemetary in Deming, New Mexico.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 1/10/2017 @ 5:19 pm

    That’s just wrong. You should at least be able to use a bow.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0976 secs.