Rep. Lauren Boebert made a memorable stand (see below) on social media after failing to vote on the McCarthy-Biden compromise bill that suspended the U.S. debt ceiling and prevented the U.S. from defaulting on its debt.
With her casual look and backwards baseball cap, Rep. Boebert posted a close-up video in which she waxed victorious and claimed she didn’t vote for the bill — or against it — because essentially why should she bother? It was, as she put it, a “cr*p” deal.
Call it a protest — there’s absolutely no way to ever justify adding another $4-6 trillion in debt.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) June 3, 2023
This is more DC self-created garbage that I will always fight against. pic.twitter.com/kzWcN5COwn
But video released by CNN producer Morgan Rimmer purports to show Congresswoman Boebert running up the Capitol steps in a rush — according to Rimmer’s caption — to make the vote.
The CNN producer’s story is that, rather than making a principled stand against the bill as she claimed, Boebert was simply late in getting to the chamber and missed the vote. Her subsequent claim — that she held herself above even condemning the McCarthy-Biden legislation with her vote — was a political message thought up in the aftermath, according to Rimmer.
Rimmer describes it this way:
*running up steps*
Me: They closed it.
Boebert: They closed it?
*keeps running*
Here is a clip from that night outside the Capitol, showing Rep. Boebert running up the stairs as though she was trying to make the vote, and me telling her that it had closed already.
— Morgan Rimmer (@morgan_rimmer) June 4, 2023
*running up steps*
Me: They closed it.
Boebert: They closed it?
*keeps running* https://t.co/Zwr6Jp3JnH pic.twitter.com/HG76kWv7NJ
Comments on Rimmer’s post offer both sneering at Boebert for her alleged insincerity and, on the opposite side, distrust of the veracity of the video, its timing, and the narrative supplied.
The comments, in their divergent takes, represent the current polarity of the body politic, wherein Boebert gets cheers from the right even if she did make up the story and is slammed by the left for allegedly being disingenuous.
One commenter writes, responding to Rimmer: “There’s no proof this was from that night outside of you saying it.” The video’s veracity, when it’s called into question, is best summed up by this reaction: “Is this legit? Can’t be…it’s too perfect.”
[NOTE: In a show of how optics sometimes count more than political priorities, others are impressed with Boebert’s athleticism: “Solid running, though— especially in heels, and a skirt. Up the stairs even, without even losing speed.”]
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