to describe congressman schumer in a private meeting. we all agree on that, right? the specific charge is that you called him a putz-head and for those not familiar with yiddish, i read an excerpt from the dictionary of yiddish, putz he says is, one, a term of contempt for a ass, fool, or jerk, or two a term for a simplen the or yokel. an easy mark. it literally means the male sex organ but it that s rarely used. so it gets down to one simple issue. did you use the word to describe your opponent? yes, i did and i used it in the context of being silly and foolish. did you mean it as a term of contempt for your opponent? a term of foolishness. yes, i did call him a putz-head. political debates are always good, but they are rarely this specific kind of challenge for the moderator to keep a straight face. the statement he made, yeah, it s a slur, it s a vulgarism,
good, but they are rarely this specific kind of challenge for the moderator to keep a straight face. the statement he made, yeah, it s a slur, it s a vulgarism, it doesn t bother me. that s not the issue. have you ever called anyone a putz yourself? i may have, but i tell you something, i wouldn t lie about it. that was 1998. he lied about it. he did lie about it. that was the issue. 1998, the incumbent senator from new york was a republican, he d already been elected three times, he was running for a fourth term and along came this feisty democrat challenging him for his seat and that democrat was so aggressive, he raised so much money, he went after senator al d amato so relentlessly that it drove the senator to distraction. he s a three-term senator that everyone thought was so tough but he lost it. he calmed his opponent a putz-head at a public meeting and he did lie and his democratic challenger got it on the record, nailed him with it to the point where he was answeri
joining us now in his first interview since becoming minority leader in the senate is senator chuck schumer. great to see you. great to be here. a little this is your life. i remember that well. one interesting thought. so d amato came out and it was reported he called me this name, putz-head. he said i never would, i don t lie. and his slogan against me too liberal for too long. we came back at one with him which we used the whole campaign too many lies for too long. and he denies it and guess who pulls out the rug from under him? ed koch who was totally on d ama d amato s side. he was mad at me because when he ran against dinkins i didn t support him because i thought new york was a racial tinderbox. yet ed koch can said i cannot tell a lie. he said it. and that was that. so i think a lot of people don t know your back story about how you first of all that you started getting elected to office when you were so young,
dictionary of yiddish, putz he says is, one, a term of contempt for a ass, fool, or jerk, or two a term for a simplen the or yokel. an easy mark. it literally means the male sex organ but it that s rarely used. so it gets down to one simple issue. did you use the word to describe your opponent? yes, i did and i used it in the context of being silly and foolish. did you mean it as a term of contempt for your opponent? a term of foolishness. yes, i did call him a putz-head. political debates are always good, but they are rarely this specific kind of challenge for the moderator to keep a straight face. the statement he made, yeah, it s a slur, it s a vulgarism, it doesn t bother me. that s not the issue. have you ever called anyone a putz yourself? i may have, but i tell you something, i wouldn t lie about it. that was 1998. he lied about it.
president, but they just lost seats in both houses of congress. they ve only got two-seat majority in the senate. their new president has the lowest approval ratings of any president-elect in the modern era and their incoming president, incidentally, i know it s a sore spot, he lost the popular vote by more votes than any incoming president ever in the history of this country. and so, democrats are thunder struck that they lost, but they re not exactly starting from scratch here. and the new guy taking charge for them on capitol hill has a history of winning uphill political battles, even when they get ugly to the point of being funny in retrospect. joining us now in his first interview since becoming minority leader in the senate is senator chuck schumer. great to see you. great to be here. a little this is your life. i remember that well. one interesting thought. so d amato came out and it was reported he called me this name, putz-head. he said i never would, i don t lie. a