Patterico's Pontifications

12/21/2021

Fantastically Wealthy Dem Senator Attends Commie Awards Ceremony, Says Whoops! I Thought It Was Just a Labor Event

Filed under: General — JVW @ 12:18 pm



[guest post by JVW]

This one is a few days old, but still a corker:

After receiving backlash from Republicans, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal has insisted that he would not have attended a recent awards ceremony last week had he known it was hosted by a Communist Party affiliate.

The senator went to the event to support three friends who were honored with the Connecticut People’s World Committee’s annual “Amistad Award,” according to the Yankee Institute, a free market think tank in Connecticut. The committee is tied to the Communist Party USA and listed on the Marxist People’s World news site. Blumenthal, however, is now claiming ignorance on that connection.

“My understanding was that this ceremony was strictly a labor event,” Blumenthal told the Hartford Courant. “If I had known the details, I wouldn’t have gone. … Let me just say very emphatically, I’m a Democrat and a strong believer in American capitalism. I have been consistently a Democrat and a strong supporter and believer in American capitalism.”

So his defense boils down to “Hey, I have a gigantic and well-paid Senate office staff and a huge and lavishly-funded political organization, but no one on my team had the inclination to check out what the Connecticut People’s World Committee is all about before sending me to the event.” I mean, isn’t the name of the group somewhat of a clue that we’re dealing with, at a minimum, a Sandersista organization? And is it that much of a stretch to imagine there might be a few Commies rattling about there? Also, what are we supposed to make of the idea that the Senator has friends who win awards from Communist organizations?

The Washington Free Beacon has more on the event, including reporting that speakers who went on prior to Sen. Blumenthal were quite explicit in promoting Communism:

If Blumenthal was unaware before the event of its Communist Party links, he likely knew before he took stage.

Ben McManus, one of the organizers, said the event was being held on the 102nd anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party USA. McManus praised the party for ushering in a “new socialist system” and invited viewers of the ceremony to join the Communist Party USA.

“We invite you to join the Communist Party in this epic time as we make good trouble to uproot systemic racism, retool the war economy, tax the rich, address climate change, secure voting rights and create a new socialist system that puts people, peace, and planet before profits,” McManus said.

A party leader who introduced Blumenthal also issued an invitation to join the group.

“I’m a member of the Communist Party. I love it. I think it’s an amazing organization,” said Lisa Bergmann.

It is unclear whether Blumenthal attended the full event and why he did not pull out of the ceremony before taking stage. His office did not respond to a request for comment.

I am entirely in favor of the First Amendment right of free association, but imagine for a moment the drummed-up media outrage if Rick Scott or Joni Ernst had attended and presented awards at an event sponsored by an organization called The American Sovereignty Movement which had featured speakers extolling the virtues of the John Birch Society and celebrating Rodrigo Duterte’s authoritarian rule in the Philippines. Yet of course Sen. Blumenthal, who has an ugly history of lying about his own background in order to enhance his résumé, is fortunate in that the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN have all studiously ignored the story, because running interference for Democrats is mission central for at least the next year. Again, it’s impossible to believe they would so easily ignore a similar story regarding Rand Paul or Mike Lee.

I’ve made this point before, but I can more readily accept the delusional natterings of a nutcase like our Adorably Ornery Clueless niece or of a legitimate working class schmo like Jamaal Bowman than I can stomach a rich white progressive — especially one whose wealth mostly comes from marrying the daughter of a real estate mogul — who styles himself as a defender of the Common Man. Things being how they are, Sen. Blumenthal seems destined to face off against a weak Republican challenger and cruise to reelection next year, but when the Washington crowd wonders why their reputation sinks lower and lower with each passing year they might want to cogitate on the quality of leaders who ooze up through the respective party sewers.

– JVW

27 Responses to “Fantastically Wealthy Dem Senator Attends Commie Awards Ceremony, Says Whoops! I Thought It Was Just a Labor Event”

  1. Faux noise jesse waters threatens to kill dr. fauci a federal crime.

    asset (8ddca3)

  2. And Putin smiled

    mg (8cbc69)

  3. #2

    Nah, Putin had a belly laugh, a vodka, and sent him a CCCP hockey jersey.

    Appalled (1a17de)

  4. “If I had known the details, I wouldn’t have gone. …”

    Custer.

    ‘Nuff said.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  5. Bloomy was most likely bribed with Siberian Sturgeon Caviar.
    It is magnificent.

    mg (8cbc69)

  6. I am entirely in favor of the First Amendment right of free association, but imagine for a moment the drummed-up media outrage if Rick Scott or Joni Ernst had attended and presented awards at an event sponsored by an organization called The American Sovereignty Movement which had featured speakers extolling the virtues of the John Birch Society and celebrating Rodrigo Duterte’s authoritarian rule in the Philippines.

    I wonder if the commenters at this site who lean left will acknowledge that The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN have a serious leftward bias. Kudos to them if they do.

    norcal (3d2db9)

  7. Blumenthal is 75 years old. Can’t judge him like a normal person.

    I know that “Senate” has the same root as “senile” but that doesn’t mean we have to take it literally. Not that there’s much hope that we’ll ever sweep out the old fogies. It looks like we’re going in the opposite direction, unfortunately. Electing them old to start with.

    nk (1d9030)

  8. There is always a scum at the top of the cesspool

    steveg (e81d76)

  9. or several foaming swirls

    steveg (e81d76)

  10. Claiming ignorance is worthy of a resignation. We have plenty of ignorants in d.c.

    mg (8cbc69)

  11. Blummy sounds like a complete clown.

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  12. Sorry, forgot who he was. Blummy *is* a complete clown and this is further proof.

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  13. Thank you for posting this. When I mentioned it in the open thread, it went unremarked upon.

    Blumenthal, like most of the left, has gone full commie expecting that it will entrench them in power and give them the status they’ve always imagined they’ve deserved.

    I expect they’ll be up against the wall as another thug took over.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  14. I expect they’ll be up against the wall as another thug took over.

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/22/2021 @ 9:01 am

    That’s just creepy.

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  15. [Reposted to correct thread.]
    Country club conservatives and cocktail party communists are less Ying and Yang than they are Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Same rich jerkoffs, mentally masturbating in their idle moments.

    nk (1d9030)

  16. That’s just creepy.
    Time123 (9f42ee) — 12/22/2021 @ 9:26 am

    The left is creepy like that. It’s one of the many reasons they are a problem.

    frosty (f27e97)

  17. Blumenthal, like most of the left, has gone full commie

    They are not yet stealing elections and they are for only limited censorship as of now. Stupid policies and thinking should not be described as communist.

    Sammy Finkelman (c49738)

  18. That’s just creepy.

    Time123 (9f42ee) — 12/22/2021 @ 9:26 am

    If you want real horror, educate yourself about what happens to the “useful” fools during a socialist/communist takeover.

    NJRob (4f0fe5)

  19. @18, your view of what’s going on is out there. Sometimes I can’t tell if you actually believe this stuff or if you’re asserting it for rhetorical reasons.

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  20. @17, I think communist and socialist have just been turned into insults. For sure there isn’t any coherent free market policy that unites the right anymore.

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  21. Maybe he was drunk.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  22. I heard he was sickled pink to be invited

    EPWJ (0fbe92)

  23. Time123 (9f42ee) — 12/22/2021 @ 2:39 pm

    Not a fan of history then? Che, Fidel, Mao, Stalin, and Pol Pot are just hero’s from your bedtime stories? They sure look good on a tee-shirt I suppose.

    frosty (1e6b9e)

  24. @23 My point is that NJRob calls everyone he disagrees with politically a communist or socialist and that doing so robs terms of meaning. Similar to how calling Romney a fascist robbed the term of meaning.

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  25. @24 This group consists of people who self identify as communist correct? That’s hardly a case of false labeling.

    No, @20, for example is the classic marxist deflection “don’t worry about marxism it’s not a real thing anymore but let’s talk about the failure of capitalism fellow comrades”.

    frosty (1e6b9e)

  26. Here’s what I was responding to

    Blumenthal, like most of the left, has gone full commie expecting…

    Most of the left has not gone full commie and (as Sammy pointed out in 17) we shouldn’t describe every stupid policy as emblematic of the most extreme version of its proponents.

    Hope that clears up what I was trying to say.

    Time123 (97645e)

  27. Senator Blumenthal appeared before a group that is, at best, nuts. Celebrating the founding of the Communist Party USA is one of the things they do?

    Nuts because this is no longer the main foreign group or even ideology sponsored or aided by Moscow, if it is still associated with Russia at all.

    Sammy Finkelman (c49738)


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