美国国家公共电台 NPR McCaskill Blames Senate Defeat On Democratic 'Failure' With Rural America

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

It's that time on Capitol Hill when the incumbents¹ who lost their elections start to pack up their offices.

CLAIRE MCCASKILL: Well, we - we're packing, definitely. We've packed a lot. I mean, that's completely empty. So think of all the tchotchkes that hung out there (laughter).

MARTIN: Missouri Democrat² Claire McCaskill lost her Senate re-election bid to Republican Josh Hawley. As a Democrat in a red state, McCaskill positioned herself as a moderate. And as she gets ready to leave, she's got a warning for her own party.

MCCASKILL: I think this demand for purity, this looking down your nose at people who want to compromise, is a recipe for disaster for the Democrats³. Will we ever get to a majority in the Senate again, much less to 60, if we do not have some moderates in our party? People want to say, oh, if you were just, you know, more single-payer, Claire, if you were just more to the left, well, a lot more people would have turned out to vote - wrong. Believe me. I know them all.

MARTIN: So then how does a self-described moderate Democrat win in Missouri?

MCCASKILL: I think a self-described Democrat can win in Missouri after the Trump⁴ era. I believe the pendulum⁵ will swing back. And we'll get back to the place where we can cut those margins⁶ in rural Missouri and do well in other parts of the state and still prevail statewide. I don't think this state is gone.

MARTIN: Who's your best Republican friend in the Senate?

MCCASKILL: Susan Collins. It's not close.

MARTIN: That friendship makes sense in that you are both in the middle. Is there someone who is more squarely on the conservative end of the spectrum⁷?

MCCASKILL: I get along with everybody. You know, Rob Portman and I have worked well together. Pat Toomey and I have done some good work together. So I would say that, you know, there's just a handful. I mean, you know, I mean, I just think Tom Cotton's kind of rude. You know, he just is not very friendly. You know, Ted⁸ Cruz has gotten more friendly. You know, I think he's kind of figured out that trying to be the lonely pure soldier for the Tea Party didn't quite turn out the way he had hoped it would. And he has certainly been much more warm and friendly and funny. There's very few of them. You know, it's probably very rude of me to name names. But, you know, what the hell, right? (Laughter).

MARTIN: But as you talk about the need for compromise and consensus⁹, do you lament¹⁰ the fact that there aren't those closer ties, personal relationships?

MCCASKILL: I don't think that's the problem. I think the problem is the politics of compromise. There's really - people have black armbands on around the Democratic caucus¹¹ because we feel like we've lost Lindsey Graham. You know, he is somebody who was willing to step outside that bubble from time to time and really do the hard work. We're mourning right now because we fear he's gone.

MARTIN: I want to ask about the newfound power that your colleagues in the House will have come January. They'll have the power to subpoena¹² or have power to hold the Trump administration accountable in a new, more robust¹³ way. Do you think that there is an inherent risk in that?

MCCASKILL: I think they've got to be careful with their oversight¹⁴. If we focus on just going after Trump, he will blame Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats for every problem he has. And frankly¹⁵, a lot of his mistakes have been pointed¹⁶ out, and it hasn't really moved a lot of the voters that we need to move. So I just want them to be very cautious and careful. So the American people don't think this is just about Trump bashing.

MARTIN: McCaskill is thinking about future elections, but not as a candidate. Instead, she wants to help a new generation of women in politics.

MCCASKILL: I think I can really help other women, you know, understand that really difficult balance you have to have as a woman of being strong and opinionated, but very careful that you don't go too far over the line so that you're in the B-word territory. And that's a really hard balance. And a lot of it has to do with being willing to be self-effacing and have a sense of humor.

MARTIN: But isn't it annoying, to say the least, and, I mean, infuriating at most to have to be charming and funnier than male candidates?

MCCASKILL: Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's awful. But I'm just being realistic.

MARTIN: I do want to remind people of this particular anecdote¹⁷ when you were in the state legislature. And a state senator who has now since passed away wasn't so happy with you about a particular issue and on the floor of the state Senate called you a whore.

MCCASKILL: His son was the attorney general. And I was going after the nepotism¹⁸ that was going on in his budget, courtesy of his father, who was a very powerful state senator, I might add. Well, yeah, the speaker of the House, when I was a young legislator, I went up on the dais to ask him how I could get my first bill out of committee. And he asked me if I brought my knee pads.

That's the kind of stuff that in the early '80s, a young, single lawyer from Kansas City endured in the Missouri state legislature. I got through it with a sense of humor. And, you know, I kept saying to myself, I'm going to have better jobs than these guys before this is over, and as it turned out, I did.

MARTIN: Claire McCaskill was elected to Congress in 2006 after years of working in state government. But she says right now, that is not what voters want.

MCCASKILL: The American electorate¹⁹ is pretty fickle²⁰ when it comes to presidential politics. They want a new bright and shiny object. Donald Trump was new and bright and shiny. I think it was a fake shiny, but it was new and different. This is something where there's two things. They are inspirational. And they make people believe they can change something. And I can't tell who is going to be capable of that important duo. My gut²¹ tells me is probably going to be somebody who doesn't work in Washington.

MARTIN: Currently. It's going to be an outsider.

MCCASKILL: Correct. I'll just tell you, if you're of Washington, it hurts. You don't see very many campaign posters with the classic picture of somebody on the steps of the Capitol. It's like nobody wants to acknowledge that they hang out here anymore. And there's a reason for that - we're really unpopular.

MARTIN: Does that make you sad?

MCCASKILL: Yeah. Oh, it makes me very sad. You know, my experience makes me such a stronger senator. So it does make me sad because people who are good at this don't get any credit for it because there are just political hacks²² that have been there too long. Time for a change.

MARTIN: What's your last day in this building?

MCCASKILL: I think it will probably be the end of the week, like the 14 will probably be the last day.

MARTIN: And what will you feel on your last day?

MCCASKILL: I'm already feeling it - proud. I will feel sad. I will feel honestly excited about the future. I think I just have to keep reminding myself how lucky I am. I've gotten up every day. My feet have hit the ground. I thought, whoa, boy I get to do this one more day. How lucky am I? So I've got to just stay on the positive. But there'll be a great deal of emotion just because this has been my life.

MARTIN: Outgoing Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri.

1 incumbents   

教区牧师( incumbent的名词复数 )； 教会中的任职者

参考例句：

• In general, incumbents have a 94 percent chance of being reelected. 通常现任官员有94%的几率会再次当选。
• This arangement yields a wonderful gain to incumbents. 这种安排为在职人员提供了意外的得益。

2 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

3 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

5 pendulum   

n.摆，钟摆

参考例句：

• The pendulum swung slowly to and fro.钟摆在慢慢地来回摆动。
• He accidentally found that the desk clock did not swing its pendulum.他无意中发现座钟不摇摆了。

6 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

7 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

8 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

9 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

10 lament   

n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹

参考例句：

• Her face showed lament.她的脸上露出悲伤的样子。
• We lament the dead.我们哀悼死者。

11 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

12 subpoena   

n.（法律）传票；v.传讯

参考例句：

• He was brought up to court with a subpoena.他接到传讯，来到法庭上。
• Select committees have the power to subpoena witnesses.特别委员会有权传唤证人。

13 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

14 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

15 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

16 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

17 anecdote   

n.轶事，趣闻，短故事

参考例句：

• He departed from the text to tell an anecdote.他偏离课文讲起了一则轶事。
• It had never been more than a family anecdote.那不过是个家庭趣谈罢了。

18 nepotism   

n.任人唯亲；裙带关系

参考例句：

• The congressman lashed the president for his nepotism.国会议员抨击总统搞裙带关系。
• Many will regard his appointment as the kind of nepotism British banking ought to avoid.很多人会把他的任命看作是英国银行业应该避免的一种裙带关系。

19 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

20 fickle   

adj.(爱情或友谊上)易变的，不坚定的

参考例句：

• Fluctuating prices usually base on a fickle public's demand.物价的波动往往是由于群众需求的不稳定而引起的。
• The weather is so fickle in summer.夏日的天气如此多变。

21 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

22 hacks   

黑客

参考例句：

• But there are hacks who take advantage of people like Teddy. 但有些无赖会占类似泰迪的人的便宜。 来自电影对白
• I want those two hacks back here, right now. 我要那两个雇工回到这儿，现在就回。 来自互联网