When Chuckie Met Jammie

Silenced

So I had the occasion to attend the St. Patrick's parade in Pearl River, NY this afternoon, which is held annually the Sunday after St. Patrick's Day. It's one of the larger parades held in the area and thousands were on hand. Leading off the parade was Bronx Congressman Eliot Engel, who few recognized, although I did a shout out to Eliot and asked him how things were at his house in Maryland. He did not look pleased.

But the highlight of the afternoon, or lowlight depending on your perspective, was seeing the odious Chuckie Schumer come schlepping along, desperately seeking attention. Curiously enough he was being greeted mostly by indifference. As luck would have it, someone nearby mentioned AIG, and that's all Chuckie needed to begin hamming it up.

"Did you see me on TV, did you see me? I told them if you don't give back those bonuses we're going to tax 100 percent of it. One-hundred percent!"

Never one to miss an opportunity to sandbag an unctuous pol, especially when he's standing three feet away, preening for all, I said, quite loudly, "When are you going to return 100% of the money you took from Bernie Madoff?"

The blood drained from his face as he fell silent, possibly for the first time in his life. A moment of pure hilarity that I wish I had on camera to share. Finding myself among kindred spirits, a fellow to my right then chimed in with "Hey, how about telling Chris Dodd to give back the money he got from AIG!"

Talk about silence being golden. He quickly then moved on along the parade route, no doubt cursing my existence.

A moment I shall always treasure.