ADVERTISEMENT

DNC Chair Recalls “Goose Bumps” for Candidate She Didn’t Endorse in 2008 Primary

Debbie's Waffling Switch

February 24, 2012

Shark Tank has video of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D., Fla.) introducing President Obama to a crowd of supporters in Miami on Thursday.

Wasserman Schultz, who chairs the Democratic National Committee, set the stage by urging the attendees to remember the "euphoria" of election night in 2008.

"I want to ask you all to remember the feeling of euphoria that you felt on that night," she said. "Because I can tell you, I can still conjure that feeling up. I still get goose bumps that I felt that night."

The congresswoman’s comments are striking, given her enthusiastic support for Obama’s primary opponent, Hillary Clinton, in 2008.

Wasserman Schultz was asked about this on a recent episode of "Fox & Friends," but had trouble explaining herself.

DWS: I remember how forcefully I supported Hillary Clinton because you know when I grew up I was raised to believe that a little girl in America could grow up and be anything she wanted to be, even President of the United States. Hillary Clinton has been an amazing Secretary of State under the President Barack Obama, and that's because we had a remarkable field of qualified candidates who ran for president and now -- and actually right when that primary ended, two days later, I endorsed President Obama and spent the rest of the campaign fiercely advocating for him. And now I'm proud to support him for his reelection, because he's done an incredible job as president of the United States.

Wasserman Schultz, who has been described by Newsweek columnist Howard Kurtz as "a non-stop broadcaster for Team Obama, sometimes delivering her points in robotic fashion," has a history of taking contradictory positions.

Earlier this week, the congresswoman sought to deflect blame away from President Obama regarding the rising price of gas.

"The Republican field, like Mitt Romney, thinks that we just need to remain tethered and dependent on foreign oil because all they would do is more and more drilling, which is a very shortsighted approach and it would do nothing to prevent people who are struggling to put $80 into their gas tanks to be able to make sure that that’s more affordable," Wasserman Schultz said on MSNBC.

But in 2005, she was blaming President Bush for high oil prices:

DWS: It’s obvious that the Republicans don’t have the joints that they need on the side of their neck, because their heads don’t appear to go this way. [shakes head side-to-side] They only go this way [up-and-down] like this bobble-head elephant.

Apparently, they only know how to say yes, Mr. Speaker, Yes Mr. President, Yes CEO of the oil company, I’m happy to do your bidding and whatever it is that you’d like.

Their necks, unlike ours, don’t appear to go horizontal, side-to-side. Because if they did, then their voting record would reflect ours, and the values of the American people, a lot more closely, and they would have not voted in favor of the energy bill that they put forward last summer.