Morning Dose of Mean: Shelia Jackson Lee Uncensored

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) has a mouth on her. Many reporters covering Capitol Hill have known this for years -- they hadn't heard the foul language straight from Jackson Lee, but they'd heard war stories of working for her and her calling her aides names like "stupid mother f--ker." Some lasted awhile. Most did not. Today The Daily Caller's Jonathan Strong unleashes Jackson Lee behind the scenes in a seven-page saga. In it, he interviews former staffers who finally open up to the press about what it was like working for Lee. One aide on the receiving end of bullying nicknames proudly tells the story of standing up to the Queen. He pulled her aside and said, astonishingly, "Congresswoman, I'm a man before anything else." Strong's story calls her the "boss from hell." STRANGEST DETAILS: She has called aides in the middle of the night to get her garlic. These were called "garlic runs." Lee apparently took supplements. In another instance, she made an aide pick her up from the airport wearing a "green hat." Strong had no luck interviewing Jackson Lee. It wasn't without trying. The reporter came face-to-face with the congresswoman off the House floor, a strange interaction in which she scans him from the waist upward. He said, "Congresswoman, I need to interviewing you." She walked away. He tried to track her down at her office. It was a no go. Jackson Lee wasn't talking. As bold as this latest account is, Strong is not the first conservative publication to take a stab at Jackson Lee. Every decade, it seems, Jackson Lee gets smacked with abominable press... First in February, 2002, former TWT Editor and now Quorvis partner Sam Dealey wrote a blistering account of the congresswoman for The Weekly Standard. He spent weeks staking out her apartment at Hill House on Capitol Hill. The result? A story bearing the headline: Sheila Jackson Lee, Limo Liberal. The gist: Jackson insisted on being chauffeured in a government car the "200 paces" to the Capitol, something that appeared to be against House rules. One day Dealey questioned the driver, who hailed a Capitol Police Officer over, saying the congresswoman was being "stalked." The author ultimately referred to Jackson Lee as "Queen Shelia." Strong's story also refers to Jackson Lee as the "Queen." The headline in bold red: Meet the 'Queen'.

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Morning Dose of Mean: Shelia Jackson Lee Uncensored

Betsy Rothstein

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Betsy Rothstein