This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 8, 2009 - U.S. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., told Saturday night's banquet crowd at Democrat Days that she was going to avoid offering partisan "red meat'' in order to lay out a seriously substantive take on the nation's financial troubles, and what Democrats in Congress and President Barack Obama are trying to do.
Still, McCaskill couldn't seem to avoid sticking her verbal fork into Republicans.
She contended that the only announced Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, is more familiar with the Washington roads from Capitol Hill to the lobbyists' offices on K Street than he is with "the back streets of rural Missouri."
And McCaskill then touched off chuckles when she observed dryly, "Alaska doesn't know that we have our own 'Sarah,' " -- an obvious comparison of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with former state Treasurer Sarah Steelman.
Among other things, both women are well-known Republicans, popular with social conservatives and physically attractive. The latter attribute has sometimes made Palin and Steelman the brunt of critics' assertions that they have more beauty than brains.
But after her speech, McCaskill said she wasn't implying any of those things about Steelman or Palin. In fact, she said her comparison wasn't meant as an insult at all.
"Both are great communicators, and are willing to stand up to their parties at time,'' McCaskill said. "I just was making a comparision."
In other words, her comments weren't meant as red meat. Maybe just appetizers.
