Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) honored outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder with an ancient Roman reference Thursday afternoon.
“AG Holder was like ‘Horatius at the Bridge,’ ” Schumer wrote, “preventing or slowing down the regressive march to take away people’s hard-earned rights.”
According to historical and legendary accounts, Horatius was an officer who defended Rome from invasion by bridge during the Roman-Etruscan Wars. One version places him at the end of the bridge opposite the city, preventing foes from crossing while his allies dismantled the structure behind him. His subsequent swim to friendly territory amid a downpour of projectiles was “an act of daring more famous than credible with posterity,” one historian wrote.
One could see how Schumer’s simile may have been a stretch. Twitter certainly did.
@SenSchumer you never were going to get my vote, but now I think you should be removed from office due to you being completely delusional
— Steve (@steveo_moose) September 25, 2014
@SenSchumer Promise me an intern tweeted that for you………
— Craig Lambert (@lambert_craig) September 25, 2014
@SenSchumer Chuck. Can I call you Chuck? That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.
— C. Irwin (@Bookwormdearlor) September 25, 2014
.@SenSchumer Eric Holder isn’t the one who preserved your right to be a delusional dipshit. Go find a camera and try to ban something.
— Anthony Bialy (@AnthonyBialy) September 25, 2014
@SenSchumer lol
— John (@BigJohnSudz) September 25, 2014
And then there’s this:
@SenSchumer The right for Mexican druglords to get weapons from the US government or the right journalists have to be spied on, for example.
— ryuge (@0ryuge) September 25, 2014
And, of course, this.
@SenSchumer sure he was and that must be some good stuff you’re smoking
— Rambling Mother (@RamblingMother) September 25, 2014
That was quite the volley of Parthian arrows on Schumer’s tweet, eh?
