There's something about Alan Grayson that really bugs me

[cali]

I can't quite put my finger on it. It's not his politics. I largely agree with him. I feel about Grayson the way I felt about Weiner when he was a liberal darling. And no, this has nothing to do Weiner's sexting. I'm certainly not implying that Grayson is in any way doing anything remotely like that.

He's just too eager for the limelight. He strikes me as a publicity hound and a showboater who's more interested in having his face in front of a camera than anything else.

It's a gut thing, I guess, but I just can't warm up to him or trust him.

[NYC_SKP]

1. I'm with you. Love the guy but he sure grabs the low hanging obvious fruit, doesn't he?

I fffel the same way about Bill Maher and Weiner.

I can't say the same thing about Elizabeth Warren.

[cali]

5. Warren is thoughtful, reflective.

I don't love Grayson. Just something about him that troubles me. And it's not that he's sort of abrasive. so is Bernie, for that matter. There's something about Grayson that just strikes me as opportunistic and being all about him.

[lumpy]

28. I have the feeling that Grayson is not very bright, that he doesn't think things through.

Have felt that for a long time. Maybe a rocking chair politician.

[mwrguy]

61. He's about 90 IQ points behind Obama

and has relatively simplistic view of things.

[karynnj]

49. The answer may be in the comparison of Bernie and Grayson

I have only lived in VT for 9 months, but I have seen Sanders - a sign of how often he has open forums. Bernie can be abrasive, but I have never seen him as rude or disrespectful - even when he was asked the nth question on F35s coming to Burlington when he had a town hall with the ambassador from Denmark on healthcare. I have seen Sanders at two town halls - and if I had to use one word to describe his answers - it would be "thoughtful".

He was willing to disagree with people - like when a Ron Paul fan suggested that his positions were similar (!) and on the F35, where many progressives are angry with the entire Congressional delegation.

With Grayson, I just don't see any respect for anyone who disagrees with him. Part of my problem with him is colored by the ad that likely helped cause his defeat to a very conservative opponent. It is not honest to edit a sentence from the opponent and use it when it means the opposite of the full sentence. I really can't imagine Sanders -or any credible politician - doing that. Not to mention, it is stupid as it is very obvious that you will get caught. To me, that suggests he has no respect for the voters.

[SunSeeker]

57. Well stated. Wish we could clone Bernie. nt

[JNelson6563]

62. Agreed.

Well said.

[Thinkingabout]

2. Sometimes I get the feeling he is trying to start a Democratic TP and that would not be a

Good thing.

[cali]

6. Never thought of that.

Could be.

[snappyturtle]

3. I don't feel that way now...but I'll keep in mind what you

have said as I see Grayson in the upcoming days.

[Hippo_Tron]

4. The guy's a blowhard and an attention seeker for sure, but...

It would be a lot easier to criticize him for being a publicity whore rather than someone who gets things done, if it were actually possible to get something done in congress right now. At least when Weiner was there, the Democrats were in the majority and people were actually legislating. Right now, there's nothing a low ranking Democrat (or any House Democrat) really can do legislatively, so maybe the best thing you can do is go on television and bitch about the current state of affairs.

[Cleita]

7. He's a politician, but he's speaking for us now, so I support him and

would support him running for President until he proves otherwise.

[cali]

9. I would never support him for prez

as I said, I don't trust him.

[Cleita]

12. I don't trust any of them, except maybe Elizabeth Warren, although she hasn't had time to

be a politician for long yet. Of course I trust Bernie Sanders. He seems to have been able to be in the bowel of the beast without becoming a dishonest, cynic all these years, however, there's not much of a chance he would run for President. Actually, not to worry about Grayson becoming President. He isn't handsome and these days only handsome need apply.

[cali]

19. I don't completely trust any politician but to a large degree I trust

Bernie. I trust Pat Leahy quite a bit and Peter Welch I trust a lot. I also have some trust in quite a few others.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

8. It livens things up a bit

[jenmito]

10. I agree. And I remember when he ran against an R in FL and he edited a video the way

Romney edited Obama's video quoting McCain, but cutting out the part where Obama said, "McCain actually said..." It was sleazy when Romney did it and it was just as sleazy when Grayson did it.

[lumpy]

31. Romney could win the title for Sleazyness.

Unbelievable that the GOP put him up for the job.

[Tx4obama]

11. Check out the Grayson OP on the link below

This one, here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251322031

A dozen of the the hyper-links embedded in that OP take ya to a page to DONATE MONEY to his campaign fund!

The other day I started clicking on those hyper-links to his statements to see more 'info' and all I got was donation pages.

To use the Syria issue as a fundraiser, imo, is pretty f'ing unbelievable and disgusting!

p.s. Until this past week I used to support him 100% - but NOT any more!

[CrispyQ]

73. GreysonForCongress

That number shows up on my caller ID more than any other number. Never has a candidate or organization hounded me so much after one contribution. I would actually give them more money if they would please take me off their calling list!

[Vinnie From Indy]

13. There something about posters that post shit like this that really bugs me!

In fact, you are posting a CLASSIC example of psyops! Well done!

One need only look at the post in a bit more detail to see the Tom Foolery!

You state in your very first sentence that "I can't quite put my finger on it" and follow that with "He's just too eager for the limelight. He strikes me as a publicity hound and a showboater who's more interested in having his face in front of a camera than anything else."

So which is it? You don't know what bugs you or the reason you gave is correct in regard to what "bugs" you?

I hope all DU'ers also note the inclusion by the OP of Weiner and "sexting" followed by "I'm certainly not implying that Grayson is in any way doing anything remotely like that."

Classic, transparent BS!

Cheers!

[burnsei sensei]

16. +1

I seem to recall going to a petition site the other day called dontattacksyria.com
And that petition was all the site was.
There was another site Grayson put up about three years ago for collecting health care horror stories.
No donation pages, no redirects, nothing of the kind there either.
The tone of the OP is sneaking, weasel-like.
I don't give a damn if Grayson is an attention hound. What concerns me is whether or not people are actually listening to what he says. His case against attacking Syria is watertight, and that's what the admin can't stand.
The Syrian gas attack is not our fault.
The evidence for it being Assad's doing is ambiguous.
The Islamists have every reason for wanting a U.S. strike and for wanting the conflict to escalate.
Who is Grayson enabling? Certainly not these people.
We DO require more attention to the problems at home.
Grayson, for all his attention-getting, is right.
Deal with it.

[pennylane100]

18. I totally agree

This is a smear with not one specific fact and it is truly pathetic. The inclusion of Weiner was truly disgusting. Shame on the OP

[cali]

20. that's fucking absurd, honey

psyops? to what purpose, might I ask?

Do tell, genius.

[lsewpershad]

21. +1000

[cali]

24. He's self-serving. He changes positions when it serves him.

<snip>

On AIPAC, Iran and the war on Gaza, Rep. Grayson had the following to say:

GRAYSON: I met with Howard Kohr, the head of AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee], twice last week.

PJV: And what was the gist of the conversation?

GRAYSON: The gist of the conversation was that Iran is a tremendous threat to Israel and needs to be stopped. And I agree with that.

PJV: And what about what is going on in the Gaza Strip; was there any conversation about that?

GRAYSON: Yes, we talked about that. I think what AIPAC often tries to do is to educate Members of Congress who frankly follow this a lot less closely than I do. In my case, I read Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post online four or five times a week, so I am pretty familiar with the circumstances and why the war took place. As a famous Israeli once said, the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

<snip>

http://mondoweiss.net/2010/12/attention-progressives-for-palestine-rep-alan-grayson-wants-to-hear-from-you.html

[Avalux]

44. You are a pot stirrer.

And when your point of view is challenged, you resort to insults. It's impossible to take anything you say seriously because of it.

[GoneFishin]

33. +1. Smells like psyops to me, which would not be necessary if he truly was a bad

democrat. If he was a bad democrat they could simply point out why rather than alluding that "it has nothing to do with sexting " (wink, wink, nod, nod)

[AnotherMcIntosh]

14. He's "too eager for the limelight"? We need politicians like Huey Long who also liked the limelight

If they want populist-type admiration rather than world domination while mingling with the super-rich, so what? Huey Long publicly let it be known that he wanted to share the wealth. Let's hope that Grayson similarly wants the limelight for saying so and will do so.

[shenmue]

15. I got a chill

When he said Syria was 'not our problem.' It's one thing to not want a war, but he said it in the tone I'd use when I don't want to take out the garbage. Like we shouldn't even care. And that's too cold for a person to be.

[lumpy]

35. Yes, that saying, it's not our problem is the same as I don't care'.

[Daniel537]

67. Back in late 2009, when Obama announced the Afghan surge

there was a thread here at DU concerning Grayson's opposition to the war, where he was quoted as basically saying Afghans are a backward people and we should not concern ourselves with what they do to each other. Many posters here criticized him as being a bigot or heartless for those comments, but i wanted to reserve judgment thinking it may have just been his passionate opposition to the war that made him say that, but after his recent scoffing at the crisis in Syria, i think there has to be some truth to that. Even when he's asked whether we should give humanitarian aid to refugees he just says its something we should consider, but won't commit to supporting it. At the very least the man has a Pat Buchanan/Ron Paul-esque view of Foreign Policy. And i agree with those who say he has no respect for those who disagree with him, and i don't think that just applies to the political arena. He seems to play into the stereotype of the arrogant, douchebag elitist liberal, much like Alec Baldwin for example. Which is a shame since his views on domestic policy are spot on, but after taking a closer look at him i don't think i'd want him as anything more than a congressman, if that.

[davidpdx]

74. I agree

While I'm not supportive of attacking Syria, I do believe the US and other countries need to help the Syrian people. The sad thing is there are people here in DU who have had the same attitude. Cold-hearted indeed!

[kestrel91316]

17. I think he is a breath of fresh air, and I applaud his passion and commitment to

progressive causes. I don't expect everyone to think and speak and act exactly the same, like robots. He has earned his soapbox.

[Control-Z]

22. Is this appropriate?

Given he's a DUer? I ask in ernest.

[polichick]

25. Maybe he'll chime in - that would be interesting.

[Control-Z]

34. Yes, it would be interesting.

As well as a tad awkward, I would guess.

[cali]

27. Are you kidding?

people discuss Grayson all the time here. They don't always have glowing things to say. He's a politician, a public figure.

[Control-Z]

32. Am I kidding?

No. I am not kidding. As I made abundantly clear in my original response/inquiry when I wrote:

"I ask in ernest."

[Common Sense Party]

54. Ernest doesn't appreciate it.

He requests that you go someplace else to ask your questions.

[Control-Z]

56. Heh! In all fairness,

I did ask here first!

[Common Sense Party]

58. But even so, the acoustics in Ernest are atrocious!

We would hear your questions better if you asked them OUTSIDE of poor Ernest.

[Control-Z]

59. The acoustics?

That never occurred to me. Well, damn. I've learned something tonight. Thank you for enlightening me!!

[bluedigger]

23. He's a tireless self promoter.

That's how you stay in politics and stay relevant to the national debate. He's also one of the more effective members of the House who knows how to get things done. If we had some more like him we could stop calling it the "Do Nothing" Congress. I'm glad he is in Washington.

[cali]

26. My rep is a progressive. more progressive than Grayson

he's quiet, low keyed, determined, works his ass off and doesn't seek the limelight. And he gets more done in the House than Grayson does.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/katenocera/meet-republicans-favorite-house-liberal

[bluedigger]

36. He's good, too.

Maybe you need to allow for a little variability amongst the members of the House. They may not all fit into your limits of propriety, but that doesn't mean they aren't good in their own ways. Welch doesn't need to promote himself in the People's Democratic Republic of Vermont as Grayson does in Florida.

[Scootaloo]

29. I think we're going to have to disagree, Cali

While I can agree that Grayson can have a grating personality, the kind of guy who'll take over a conversation at a party... i don't really consider that a huge problem. He's from Florida, I've never met a polite Floridian

What concerns me is whether he's effective at pulling towards the left. On that he's not perfect (your post about his AIPAC pandering below shows) but he's still better than most.

[Not Me]

30. Grayson is my Rep.

I voted for him 3 times. Yes, he's brash...but if the rest of the Dems in Congress would grow a set, he probably could tone it down.

It backfired on him in 2010, and I think he's keeping it in check this term; especially with local interviews. He had a large contingent of conservative voters who were embarrassed by his outspokenness and voted him out.
Because of redistricting, the northern part of what was his district has been made a safe Republican district and he now has a largely Hispanic district.

[msongs]

37. Obama is doing tireless war promotion this upcoming week, or did everyone miss that?

national speech, interviews on every media outlet that will have him etc

[ChangeUp106]

38. Like most I agree with his politics

But I feel the same way as you do. That is a big difference between the left and right. The right would never admit their guy might be over the top or too eager for the limelight. I prefer Bernie and Warren much more than Grayson.

[Bluenorthwest]

39. I sure hate the 'there's something odd about cali' framing of things....

And the day you find me a politician who is not seeking the limelight and who is not eager for publicity and on that day I will award you a crisp new $20 bill and my undying respect as a finder of mythical creatures.

[dkf]

40. Used to be skeptical...now I am on-board. We need someone to speak up.

The party leadership is in the pocket of the President.

[bemildred]

41. That's how you get things done when you can't just buy access.

I'm glad he's willing to get up there and disrupt the narrative like that, 'cause I'm not.

[Earth_First]

48. This.

The same was said about Kucinich for years.

When you don't own a lobbyist or two, access and funding is next to impossible.

Kudos, Mr. Grayson!

[flpoljunkie]

42. He's a weird dude. Liberal Jew who worked his way thru Harvard as a janitor

He creeps me out, as well, but I really could not disagree with anything he said in his NYT op-ed today.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/07/opinion/on-syria-vote-trust-but-verify.html?_r=0

[polichick]

45. Thanks for the link - good piece!

[polynomial]

43. The Grayson Paranoia

There are many times my observations of Grayson had the same wonder. Is he for real, so out spoken, very non stereotyped, but over used by the media; yes indeed when Grayson makes a popular point the media will rerun it into the ground.

Exampled in one of his presentations before the Congress that exclaimed that the Republican Health Care system offered was if you get sick to die quickly. Every time I think about that presentation I laugh hard with a chuckle and understand it is with a neutral thought. However very funny sort of like watching an old I Love Lucy rerun to realize how stupid things are.

Yes, Grayson can shift gears. Just as he pushed the envelope before he was defeated. Imagine saying that in an oldie moldy Republican white area. Believe me I am laughing hard now because it took a lot of moxy, or what we commonly call balls. Democratic viewers are just not used to it, now we know neither are Republican Florida white oldie moldies.

[phleshdef]

46. I think Alan Grayson has a picture in his mind of what a good prolific, politician should be...

...and then tries entirely too hard to live up to it. He is a great voice for progressivism, but he is also quite eccentric and naïve at times.

No one is perfect though.

[forestpath]

47. And I wish we had 100 more like him. Democrats who aren't afraid to speak out

and fight back. And who actually act like Democrats.

[stevenleser]

50. Seemed like a nice guy to me when I talked to him

When I interviewed him on Syria, I spent 5-10 minutes chatting with him before and after the actual interview part.

The charge of being a "publicity hound" or "self promoting" made against a politician or pundit/journalist is always amusing to me.

In general in politics, if you aren't getting people to listen to you, you aren't being and cannot be effective. The more people who listen to you the more effective you can be.

It starts with the election.

An election campaign is essentially self promoting yourself to the electorate, grabbing as much publicity as you can to do that.

After that, if you get a lot of people behind you on an issue, its harder for other folks to vote against you. How do you get people behind you? You self promote yourself talking about how you see the issue, grabbing as much publicity for yourself as you can to do that.

Self promotion and grabbing publicity is pretty much in the job description.

[Cleita]

52. I agree with you.

Politicians live in a very strange world.

[Daniel537]

68. I don't buy that.

Barack Obama got the country to listen to him without sounding like a jerk or using cheap slogans. Grayson goes for the low-hanging fruit, which any idiot can do.

[stevenleser]

71. You are arguing against things I did not assert. I didnt say you had to be a jerk. nt

[Vinnie From Indy]

72. I chuckled at that myself.

There are jokes going back to the Founding Fathers about politicians seeking publicity.

What is absolutely the most dangerous place in Wash. D.C.?

Anyplace between John McCain and a TV camera!

Cheers!

[liberal N proud]

51. He is a politician.

No politician should be fully trusted.

[Midnight Writer]

53. A difference between Republicans and Democrats

To a Republican, the more bombastic and obnoxious, the better. Look at their adulation of right wing pundits. The louder the better, even if they are full of BS. The same applies to their politicians. Look at Joe Wilson (SC). He disrupts the State of the Union by shouting "You lie" at the President, and gets over a million dollars in campaign contributions within the next week. They love that crap.

To a Democrat, the loud-mouth bomb thrower makes them uncomfortable. They look for a nuanced, well-reasoned argument and a good-mannered demeanor. That is why Leftist talk radio never took off. Compare the demeanor between Chris Hayes and Bill O'reilly. Or Rachel Maddow and Sean Hannity. Then compare their ratings. There is an entertainment factor at work here and the Right wing knows it and exploits it.

I had lunch with a couple of my Liberal friends the other day and they were distressed over Ed Schultz.

"He's too loud." "He shouts all the time." "He makes me think of Rush Limbaugh."

I suspect the same dynamic is at work with the "I can't put my finger on it, I agree with everything he says but he makes me uncomfortable" attitude towards Alan Grayson.

It takes all kinds to make a party, and I think a passionate liberal bomb thrower like Grayson needs to be part of the mix.

[Midnight Writer]

55. As John Barth put it

The intellectual doesn't care what your position is, so long as you can defend it cleverly. The common man doesn't care what your reasoning is, he just wants to know what side you are on.

This explains why a GW Bush can spout a few simple slogans and trump a John Kerry or Al Gore with their droning delivery of well-reasoned arguments.

[fujiyama]

60. My irritation is that he seems to be playing for the lowest common denominator

which is the simple isolationist crowd.

Now, that's fine in the sense that he's trying to get a coalition together to oppose this resolution (and I really hope he succeeds because I vehemently disagree with the President on this), but his "Syria doesn't involve us" line, while true to an extent, strikes me as a fairly lazy and pretty shallow line of opposition.

[daleanime]

66. Which is why it's only one of several reasons that he uses....

start with the easy stuff and work your way up to the harder.

[darkangel218]

63. I dont trust him either. nt

[struggle4progress]

65. The rules are: you can't do anything if you don't get elected; and getting elected is always

a local game

My advice to him would be Don't showboat -- BUT he got himself elected a second time after a smackdown, so I guess he understands his district better than I understand it, me being hundreds of miles away from there and all

[Tippy]

69. Grayson is a big disapointment...I supported him way back ..

Like cali I can't put my finger on it, something has changed and I don't trust him like I once did

[ancianita]

70. You know me, I'm going to like him. So far, within the constraints of the 113th, he's given me no

reason not to. Given the House minority's piss-poor effort on domestic legislation or their public waste of time and money in hounding Obamacare, I'd rather see a Democratic voice in the minority get some media play than what I've seen in past years.

I see him as eager to shut down RW media momentum, unlike other Democrats in Congress. Having lived in Florida 'til my twenties and seen the temperament of sharky politics that embattle Democrats down there, I think he's a product of that area and prefers hard to soft politics.

I certainly prefer him to the douchebag from my current state of Illinois, Dick Durbin, who puts his finger up into the wind before publicly speaking. The soft spoken of the party no longer carry big sticks; they don't build awareness or get much public engagement in politics. They certainly don't get their so-called opposition party members to sit up and listen beyond ALEC echo chambers.

Perhaps it's that Democratic voices have been so dampened or ignored in media over the years that one amplified Democrat who consistently steps up and loudly provokes attention to traditional Democratic Party principles seems weird in contrast. I think he's calling in new party members by reminding purple state unregistereds which party is more worthy of their vote.

You probably don't trust my judgment after my backing Weiner, but I myself just don't trust the soft spoken hedging that passes for moderate politics in general anymore. Anyway, trust gets built over time, and he's got mine with his vote record.