I don’t think you can understand how they operate without being in their shoes.
Once they get to Washington, they slide into a lifestyle of such power, privilege and material wealth that it’s almost impossible to comprehend if you haven’t been exposed to it.
I think it’s utterly seductive and utterly addictive.
I think they are virtually all seduced, to the point that they’re almost out of their minds, like those people who murder a wife or husband in order to be with a new, younger lover. Some are literally psychos, but others are relatively sane, but weak in character.
So, within a few months or maybe a year of getting to Washington, most of these people are completely seduced and it’s like they’re possessed from that point on. All they think about is “how do I get reelected.” That’s it. Nothing else matters. How can I get reelected so this beautiful dream lifestyle I’m in doesn’t end.
That’s why you get these dinosaurs like McCain and Thurmond and Pelosi who keep running for office into their eighties and nineties.
So, my answer to your observations concerning Portman and Ayotte is this: they are not the people they were when they first ran for office. They are pod people. They have been taken over by the Washington disease. They jump into McConnell’s pocket because they see that as their best shot to keep the lifestyle that has seduced them.
Yes, that’s a very good analysis and sadly I think that’s what happens. You start hanging around with people who tell you “this is really how policy is done” and “Forget all that Tea Party stuff. You really can’t do that here.”