- The Washington Times - Thursday, June 27, 2019

Sen. Cory Booker, reacting to widespread laughter at the facial expression he wore while fellow Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke broke into Spanish mid-debate, said he was smiling ’cause he was strategizing.

“I just knew [O’Rourke] had laid a gauntlet down,” Booker said on CNN in an after-debate interview with host Anderson Cooper, The Hill reported.

Oh, is that what Ridiculous Moments In Political History are being called nowadays?

Either way: Too funny.

O’Rourke, in answer to a question from NBC debate host Savannah Guthrie, broke from his native English to gush out some Spanish — ostensibly, to let the non-English speaking voters of America know, “Hey, I’m with you, 100 percent, man, I’m with you.”

And flash, flash went the cameras — homing in on Booker’s face, two podiums to O’Rourke’s right. The moment proved priceless in the meme world. In the vernacular, it was a real WTF face.

So Booker, on CNN, explained what he was thinking.

“I was talking a little bit with [Julian] Castro,” Booker said, The Hill reported. “Both he and I knew, as people who can speak Spanish, that now we were gonna bring it as well.”

And bring it they did.

It wasn’t long before a full third of the panel of Democrats broke out in a language other than English. Along with one of the debate hosts, from Telemundo. What a show.

Kudos to the Dems for showing they can speak another country’s language. 

Now if only they could learn to talk the American talk — you know, the one that says socialism and progressivism and pure wealth redistributions that take from the haves to give to the have-nots and will-nots have no business in American politics.

Then, even Americans in what politicians call flyover country — their disparaging term for the heart-and-soul types of this great nation — might be willing to sit and listen to what Democrats have to say. For at least the length of a two-hour debate, that is.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter @ckchumley.

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