Indicted Menendez playing race card is utterly despicable (Opinion)

The historic nature of it is shocking. For the first time in American history, a sitting United States senator has been indicted twice. The hubris of it is stunning. Indicted U.S. Senator Bob Menendez is playing the race card.

You’ve heard the story by now. This time it’s abuse of power, sharing sensitive information with the abusive, authoritarian nation of Egypt, accepting bribes for political favors, etc., all alleged by prosecutors after a years-long federal probe.

Read about it all here if you haven’t. The federal investigation has generated evidence that is jaw-dropping.

Seized from Menendez’s home were gold bars worth well over $100,000 allegedly given by Fred Daibes in exchange for political favors. Also part of the alleged bribery was the $480,000 in cash that was found in various crazy locations throughout his home.

One of the assertions made by Menendez in reaction to all of this? In a statement reacting to his latest indictment Bob Menendez said, “Those behind this campaign simply cannot accept that a first-generation Latino American from humble beginnings could rise to be a U.S. senator…”

Ah. There it is. The race card.

When you’ve been in power for this long, living a lavish lifestyle, don’t you dare play the race card. Don’t you dare try to come off like some beleaguered, put-upon Latino as if you’re just another hard-working guy in the barrio who can’t get a break.

When you’ve got nothing real to fight back with against these charges, his playbook calls for the emotional tug of a system going after him because he’s Latino. Sorry Menendez, no one‘s buying this. You ARE the system. And in my opinion, you’re part of its corruption.

Oh, there’s another hysterical thing he said at a defiant Monday press conference. Which ironically happened on Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday emphasizing atonement. He’s clearly not going to atone for anything. During this presser he tried to explain away the $480,000 in cash by saying the following:

For 30 years, I have withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from my personal savings account, which I have kept for emergencies and because of the history of my family facing confiscation in Cuba. This may seem old-fashioned, but these were monies drawn from my personal savings account based on my income I have lawfully derived over those 30 years.

See? More of the race card. More of the beleaguered Cuban victimization to explain why he has that nearly half a million in “emergency money.” Yeah, right.

But you know what he didn’t explain? He didn’t explain how the people who were accused of offering him this bribe have their very DNA and fingerprints on some of the cash and the envelopes in which it was stuffed. Do you know why he didn’t explain it? Because he couldn’t explain it. That’s why.

All Menendez can do now as he grasps for straws like a man drowning in his own scandalous quicksand is desperately throw out the race card and hope to God somebody buys it.

Sorry, Bob,.New Jersey isn’t buying any more of your bull$hit. We’re all stocked up.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

You can now listen to Deminski & Doyle — On Demand! Hear New Jersey’s favorite afternoon radio show any day of the week. Download the Deminski & Doyle show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now.

Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.