You got to give Steve Lonegan this; he certainly is not afraid to make a complete horse's ass out of himself. Apparently, the old phrase "tis better to be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt" is one he hasn't heard of. And he certainly doesn't lack for bluster. After all, this is a guy who not only predicted he would win the special Senate election last week (despite all evidence to the contrary), but that said victory would single-handedly win the shutdown fight for the GOP.
As we all know, that did not happen. And now Lonegan needs a scapegoat. Perhaps his idea to have Sarah Palin campaign for him wasn't the brightest move? Yeah, right. Nope, Lonegan's loss is all that dastardly shutdown's fault:
Republican Steve Lonegan, who ran against now Senator-elect Cory Booker (D-NJ) says he would have beaten Booker if it weren't for the government shutdown.
"There is no doubt in my mind or in the minds of any of my campaign staff that the shutdown cost me the election," Lonegan said in an interview with the New Jersey Star-Ledger on Monday. "If I had known it was going to happen and that it was going to be handled so badly in Washington, I wouldn't have run for Senate."
Say
what? You lost by double-digits, Steve and you only got that close because it was a special election on a weird day. Don't start fantasizing yourself as an unstoppable juggernaut robbed by the cruel hand of fate.
But i's not just the shutdown that's to blame. He's naming names too. More, from Tiger Beat on the Potomac:
Lonegan, who lost to Cory Booker in last week’s election by eleven points, called himself the “single biggest casualty” and said he was gaining momentum prior to the shutdown. He pointed a finger at Republicans who he said “fumbled” the shutdown, specifically Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) for speaking out against the strategy to defund Obamacare.
“They drove a stake into our heart. That’s the first time we started to see the momentum move against us. They both should be primaried for what they did,” Lonegan said.
But Steve! Didn't you whole-heartedly support the shutdown? Well it turns out, he was forced to go along.
To this, he said he “had no choice.”
“You either have to attack your party or be a team player. I was a team player,” Lonegan said.
Yeah, just like Ted Cruz. You do seem to share the same creepy affection for the Wasilla Grifter.
I don't know why Lonegan's bothering to make these ridiculous excuses. After all, this is what you say after you lost:
“I said to myself, ‘Who wants that job anyway?’” Lonegan said to laughs.
Sad to see someone make an even greater fool of himself trying to spin losing a race for a job he never wanted in the first place.