For a while I was not sure Senator Chuck Schumer truly existed.
Originally published February 20, 2009 | 09:13 AMIt seems like every time the Majority Leader of our Senate, Harry Reid, (I'll call him Harry from here on out) steps up to a podium filled with microphones there is Senator Chuck Schumer (I'll call him Chuck from here on out) standing behind ole Harry.
Chuck stands there and smiles, shakes his head, looks around and smiles some more. One day I noticed Chuck's movements seemed to be sort of mechanical and repetitious. Then I noticed that Chuck sometimes smiled at the wrong time. It seemed he was not paying close attention to what Harry was saying. This bothered me and I determined to find out if there really was a Chuck.
I got into my car and started driving to Washington D.C. On the drive up, my mind was spinning with possibilities. About half way to D.C., I was toying with a likely scenario for this quandary of mine…
Ø There really is not a Chuck.
Ø Harry felt a need to have loyal back-there support whenever he spoke to us folks back home.
Ø He thought of when he had gone to a Disneyland and he had seen those mechanical Disney creations standing all over the place directing him to restrooms, exits, rides, etc.
Ø Sometimes they were animals and sometimes they are very realistic looking people things.
Ø Harry had gone to the Imaginers at Disneyland and told them of his dilemma and they created a standup loyal supporter that looked like a Senator and they named him Chuck.
By the time I got to the outskirts of D.C. I felt fairly certain that this is what had happened but I was determined to find out for sure.
I found out when the next time Harry was going to be making a momentous announcement to the media (actually this happens every 53 minutes). I disguised myself as a walking potted plant and snuck around to the side of the podium as Harry was speaking. There it was! I had confirmation of my beliefs! Chuck was behind Harry, as usual, and there was a tether rope that connected Chuck from his belt buckle to the back of Harry belt thru a hole in Harry's suit coat. Chuck was on wheels and every time Harry went anywhere, Chuck was sure to follow.
Right then and there I decided to hold a news conference of my own to tell the folks back home the real truth about the connection between Harry and Chuck. I thought that the best place to hold such a news conference was in the imitation office of the imitation Chuck. I gathered several reporters who were too far back in the gaggle surrounding Harry's ongoing news conference to really hear anything being said. I led them to imitation Chuck's office and, when I opened the door, there was the real Chuck taking a nap on a couch.
The end result of all of this is I was right but I was also wrong. There is a real Chuck (who sleeps a lot) and there is also an imitation Chuck (who follows Harry everywhere he goes).
Later I asked Harry about how this amazing scenario had come about and he was very open about the whole history of the Chuck on Wheels. One very interesting thing he told me was that the Disney people had, at first, offered to sell him a spare Goofy on Wheels but Harry smiled and said, with a twinkle in his eye, "I was too smart to fall for that. No one would believe that Goofy could be elected Senator".
Would I kid u?
Smartfella?
One of my dear readers sent this...
