Is Spartacus no longer 'Spartacus'? Sure looks that way with New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker suddenly backtracking on his claim to ancient Roman heroics at the Senate's confirmation hearings on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. According to the Hill:

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) told The Hill Thursday that he did not intend to compare himself to Spartacus during last week’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings — a moment that put him squarely in the political spotlight but also led to some mockery. 

Booker, who is widely seen as preparing for a White House run in 2020, says he has no regrets about his “Spartacus moment."

“It doesn’t take away from the larger point and, again, all of this is about the larger point. We have documents that have been hidden from the public, that shouldn’t have been hidden from the public,” Booker said Thursday of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation proceedings.

So he admits he was a doofus, and his imagined heroics - his wild flailing grandstanding over whether a judge should have a job - were kind of dumpy.

Obviously, this is an other example of a leftist ego on the downflate. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand retreated from her grandstanding call to abolish ICE, and presumably, all borders, and now Booker is saying he's no longer Spartacus. Both Democrats want to be president, and some sort of little birdie has told them that saying nutty things isn't going to get them that.

In Booker's case, what we see is an overactive ego, a massive sense of grandeur (over a routine legislative confirmation hearing), and a grand desire to be the people's hero. Sounds like the Senate job is boring him, not surprising for someone who thinks he's made for bigger things.

In his case, the backtrack is there because his Spartacus moment has made him an amazing figure of fun, even on the left.

The Hill noted that some TV show from Showtime, unpromisingly named 'The Circus,' came by and "camped in the hallway" to film him, while Twitter was on fire. Nothing a big ego can stand more than being laughed at by the public, given that he expects to be adored and heroicized. How very embarassing.

Now he's denying the whole thing and it's not helping, given that we heard him the first time. Conclusion? He's not quite leadership material.

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