In fawning puff piece aired on Tuesday's NBC Today, correspondent Craig Melvin was delighted by three Democratic congresswoman – including left-wing bomb-thrower and DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz – sharing a Washington D.C. townhouse when Congress is in session: "For Florida's Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Alabama's Terri Sewell, and New York's Carolyn Maloney, it's all business during the day. They're congresswomen. Oh, but by night....This is like a sorority house." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
Schultz declared: "It's a sisterhood, for sure." Melvin observed that New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney "is less a house mother and more the landlord." Maloney explained: "Well, when I was first elected, I lived alone....I was used to a husband and two children and a cat and pandemonium, chaos at home. So I decided to buy a house and fill it up with friends, which is exactly what I did."
Melvin dished: "No surprise the three Democrats spend many nights talking policy and strategy, but there are chores." Maloney announced: "I love to garden. I do the gardening, no one else gardens." Schultz chimed in: "I started cooking recently, actually." Melvin was impressed: "Debbie Wasserman Schultz in the kitchen."
Melvin sympathetically added: "But the roommates do share shoulders and ears." Schultz noted: "When Carolyn lost her husband, when I went through breast cancer, you're coming home every day, and, you know, we – people think of us almost as robotic. But we have real people's problems. And it's been wonderful for us to have each other."
Comparing the group to an online sitcom, Melvin cheered: "It's a rewarding, unique living arrangement that conjures up images of Amazon's series Alpha House." He added: "The online comedy is loosely based on the real-life adventures of three male U.S. senators, who also live together." A picture appeared on screen of New York Senator Chuck Schumer, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, and California Congressman George Miller.
Maloney joked: "They're the Alpha House, we're the Zeta House." Melvin laughed out loud before touting a "sorority house secret." Maloney mentioned: "We now have a Republican living in the basement."
Here is a full transcript of the March 11 segment:
8:47 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: When Congress is in session, lawmakers, of course, spend a great deal of time away from home. So where do they live when they are in Washington? As NBC's Craig Melvin shows us, three congresswomen came up with a clever arrangement.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Ladies of the House; Congresswomen Share A Home In D.C.]
CRAIG MELVIN: For Florida's Debbie Wasserman Schultz...
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ [D-FL]: Who else is at our table this evening?
MELVIN: ...Alabama's Terri Sewell...
REP. TERRI SEWELL [D-AL]: What do people in Alabama think?
MELVIN: ...and New York's Carolyn Maloney...
REP. CAROLYN MALONEY [D-NY]: We have this hearing and we have to get down to it.
MELVIN: ...it's all business during the day. They're congresswomen. Oh, but by night...
SCHULTZ: So he didn't – did he not come up?
SEWELL: No.
SCHULTZ: Oh, okay.
MELVIN: This is like a sorority house.
SCHULTZ: It's a sisterhood, for sure.
MELVIN: At their three-story D.C. townhouse, Maloney is less a house mother and more the landlord.
REP. CAROLYN MALONEY: Well, when I was first elected, I lived alone. I had an apartment and I was used to a husband and two children and a cat and pandemonium, chaos at home. So I decided to buy a house and fill it up with friends, which is exactly what I did.
SCHULTZ: We've got a lot going on.
MELVIN: No surprise the three Democrats spend many nights talking policy and strategy, but there are chores.
MALONEY: I love to garden. I do the gardening, no one else gardens.
SCHULTZ: I started cooking recently, actually.
MELVIN: Really?
SCHULTZ: Yup, I did.
MELVIN: Debbie Wasserman Schultz in the kitchen.
SCHULTZ: Yeah. So I'm in the kitchen at 11:00 at night with Terri on the stool keeping me company.
MELVIN: The key to household happiness?
SEWELL: We all have our own bathrooms.
MELVIN: But the roommates do share shoulders and ears.
SCHULTZ: When Carolyn lost her husband, when I went through breast cancer, you're coming home every day, and, you know, we – people think of us almost as robotic. But we have real people's problems. And it's been wonderful for us to have each other.
MELVIN: It's a rewarding, unique living arrangement that conjures up images of Amazon's series Alpha House.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN [ACTOR, ALPHA HOUSE]: I never thought of myself as being famous. I guess I am. I'm in Wikipedia.
MELVIN: The online comedy is loosely based on the real-life adventures of three male U.S. senators, who also live together.
[IMAGE ON SCREEN OF SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL), REP. GEORGE MILLER (D-CA), AND SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY)]
MALONEY: They're the Alpha House, we're the Zeta House.
[MELVIN LAUGHS]
MALONEY: They're tequila, we're more green tea.
MELVIN: No late-night five card stud with six-packs, but there is a sorority house secret.
MALONEY: We now have a Republican living in the basement.
SCHULTZ: I don't know who it is. I've seen the back of his head.
SEWELL: Yes.
MELVIN: For Today, Craig Melvin, NBC News, Washington.
