“She’s just not very bright, bless her heart, but those artificial limbs give her a leg up.”
Perhaps another idiom.......
Listening to Duckworth talk is a challenge to most listeners.
Reporters have to exercise care so as not to make a politically incorrect comment about Duckworth “sticking a foot in her mouth” or making “a stump speech.”
It may be a case that she is one of those persons who simply does not do well on television.