On the Monday, April 28, PoliticsNation on MSNBC, during a discussion of the arrest of New York Republican Rep. Michael Grimm, the Washington Post's Dana Milbank played up the possibility that this scandal and others involving GOP congressmen could hurt Republican candidates in other parts of the country. Milbank:
But even beyond his seat, you now have the Congressman who's out because he bought cocaine. Here in Washington, you've got the kissing Congressman. You've got this now. It begins to develop a sort of narrative that may make it trouble for some of his Republican colleagues.
With the various Obama administration scandals apparently not entering his mind, he later added:
So this is the sort of question other Republican candidates are going to be asked. Do they support Michael Grimm and the sorts of things he's accused of being doing? That's how it can have that sort of echo effect far beyond New York.
The Washington Post columnist also blamed gerrymandering for making it unlikely Democrats will retake control of the House of Representatives.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Monday, April 28, PoliticsNation on MSNBC:
DANA MILBANK: But even beyond his seat, you now have the Congressman who's out because he bought cocaine. Here in Washington, you've got the kissing Congressman. You've got this now. It begins to develop a sort of narrative that may make it trouble for some of his Republican colleagues.
(...)
AL SHARPTON: Is it not, though, even though when you referred to him others that are Republicans in the House that are not running or that have problems, you still have a long way to go to regain the Democratic majority in the House, though.
MILBANK: Right, that's basically not on the table just because of gerrymandering the way the districts are structured, but this may blunt some of the momentum that some of the Republicans had.
Now, if you think about this, a lot of this, this is all basically precedes him being elected to the House, but it's talking about hiring of undocumented aliens, and it's talking about evading taxes. So this is the sort of question other Republican candidates are going to be asked. Do they support Michael Grimm and the sorts of things he's accused of being doing? That's how it can have that sort of echo effect far beyond New York.
