Alan Grayson, the Liberals’ Problem Child --NY TIMES
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By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN : October 31, 2009
nytimes.com
WASHINGTON — On paper, Representative Alan Grayson, a freshman Democrat from Florida, seems a bit stiff: degrees from Harvard and Harvard Law; a résumé that includes clerking for the United States Court of Appeals under Judges Antonin Scalia, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Robert Bork; an advocate for the aging.
Steve Brodner
Alan Grayson
READY FOR PRIME TIME? Representative Alan Grayson of Florida has staked out turf on the bloodiest of battlefields: cable and talk radio.
But in recent weeks, Mr. Grayson has catapulted himself to national renown for outlandish rhetoric and a pugilistic political style that makes him seem less staid lawmaker than a character on the lam from one of his Orlando district’s theme parks.
First it was his comment, “If you get sick, America, the Republicans’ health care plan is this: Die quickly.”
Then, appearing on MSNBC, he said of former Vice President Dick Cheney: “I have trouble listening to what he says sometimes because of the blood that drips from his teeth while he’s talking.”
Finally, a radio interview surfaced in which he had called a female adviser to the Federal Reserve chairman “a K Street whore” — a reference to her former job as a Washington lobbyist. That one forced him to make a formal apology.
Mr. Grayson could be the latest incarnation of what in the American political idiom is known as a wing nut — a loud darling of cable television and talk radio whose remarks are outrageous but often serious enough not to be dismissed entirely. Mr. Grayson is the more notable because he hurls his nuts from the left in a winger world long associated with the right.
That might just be the point. House Democratic leaders publicly frown on his behavior and have urged him to tone it down, saying he contributes to an atmosphere of incivility. But the incivility is no accident; nor is the bluster. Such antics are often quickly rewarded in the media-crazed wrestling pit of American politics. One talked-about TV appearance leads to three more; every quotable outburst is a potential pitch, spread instantly by YouTube and blogs to an eager audience that can cheer by way of campaign donations made with the click of a mouse.
Some Democrats also say that Mr. Grayson fills a void, defying their party’s inferiority complex, the constant sense that liberals just are not tough enough. They say that as an attention-grabbing motivator of the party’s base, he could prove hugely useful in getting out the message for next year’s midterm elections.
“There is always a feeling among liberals, a psychology that we are too apologetic; we see six sides to the Pentagon,” said James Carville, the Democratic operative and commentator, who met Mr. Grayson in a CNN studio shortly after the “die quickly” speech in Congress.
“He was smart; he’s not just a crank,” Mr. Carville said. “He wanted to be anything but an apologetic, ‘if I said anything that offended anybody’ kind of liberal.” Mr. Carville added that party leaders will view Mr. Grayson as a “torpedo” they can deploy, especially if Democrats lose important governors’ races this week.
“We need guys like that out there,” he said.
Not everyone thinks so. Mr. Grayson joins colleagues like Michele Bachmann, Republican of Minnesota; Pete Stark, Democrat of California; and Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina, in what the decorum-minded see as a bipartisan playpen reserved for political problem children. So for party leaders, the behavior often forces a question: Do you cheer, or wince, or both?
“If you are on our side, you assume that the problem member is mostly likely to be invited on all the Sunday talk shows,” said Representative Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, who recently served as the No. 2 House Republican and is firmly in the grown-up camp.
As for figuring out if and when the leadership needs to intercede, Mr. Blunt said: “That’s when the leaders decide which leader is more likely to deal successfully with the problem.” House Republican leaders, for instance, quickly made clear that Mr. Wilson would have to apologize after he shouted “You lie!” during President Obama’s health care speech before Congress.
Last week, Democratic leaders delivered a similar message to Mr. Grayson after the circulation on Capitol Hill of the radio interview in which he made the K Street remark about Linda Robertson, a Federal Reserve official and former lobbyist for Enron. After a talk with the majority leader, Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Mr. Grayson apologized for that remark, but he makes no apology for his other attacks and freely admits adopting what he views as successful Republican tactics. He recently started a “money bomb” campaign, borrowing the concept from Representative Ron Paul of Texas.
He has even started a campaign site called CongressmanWithGuts.com. (Critics countered with www.mycongressmanisnuts.com.)
“A lot of people think a Democrat with guts is some kind of mythical creature like a unicorn, but it doesn’t need to be that way,” Mr. Grayson said in an interview to explain his approach.
He credited his rhetoric with shifting the health care debate. “Republicans were basically playing rope-a-dope with Democrats for months,” he said. “Now people know what’s at stake. It’s life and death.”
Whether it moved the debate or not is irrelevant to lawmakers more concerned about how the style threatens civil discourse.
“You cringe,” said Representative Earl Blumenauer, Democrat of Oregon and an unabashed liberal but also a buttoned-down gentleman. “We’re at risk of having a self-reinforcing corrosive process that drives reasonable people away.” He added: “It breaks my heart.”
Ms. Bachmann, who has made herself into a TV celebrity with comments that include worrying aloud that Mr. Obama has “anti-American views,” is not one of the cringers. She declined to comment on Mr. Grayson specifically but suggested that neither he nor she should tone it down: “This is the time for outspokenness because so much is at stake in our country.”
Mr. Grayson said he draws a distinction between himself and Republican bomb-throwers.
“What they have done on the right is make people fearful and make people divided,” he said. “What I have done is call out the Republicans for having no solutions to American’s problems. There is a sort of core element of truth that makes what I do effective.”
Mr. Grayson was elected narrowly in 2008 in a district that typically tilts Republican, and some analysts think Orlando voters will end his political career next year.
Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who leads the House Democrats’ campaign operations, said he had counseled Mr. Grayson not to forget the audience that votes. “Just make sure that your style goes over as well with your constituents as it may with a lot of people outside of the district,” Mr. Van Hollen said.
But some Democrats say they view Mr. Grayson as a creature of the times, and that his fighter’s instincts could prove important at a time when the party is defined by President Obama’s conciliatory style. It is not by accident, they say, that even with Democrats fully in control in Washington, it is not a polished voice from the White House or the Congressional leadership dominating the airwaves on the left but an obscure Bronx-born, oddball first-termer.
Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, who is known for slinging devastating zingers at his political opponents, said that Mr. Grayson had the potential to be a smart, serious lawmaker. He said that Mr. Grayson needed to be careful to avoid inappropriate remarks like the one about Ms. Robertson but that the speech on health care was within bounds. “That was legitimate satire,” he said, adding: “I welcome Grayson’s taking the fight to them. I think he has got to be a little more careful about his punches, but I am glad he’s throwing them.” |
