Sen. Claire McCaskill a.k.a Cruella de Vil

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In the Senate, pet names usually are kept private.

But Sen. Claire McCaskill, a decidedly more conservative Democrat from Missouri, has a name for herself in conversations with Sen. Richard J. Durbin, the considerably more liberal Democrat from Illinois and No. 2 Democratic leader.

Cruella de Vil.

McCaskill has been known, she reports, to invoke the name of the cartoon villainess from Disney’s ‘101 Dalmatians’ who hunted dogs for fur.

When Durbin voices frustration about McCaskill’s votes against Democratic legislation, she says, she explains to him: ‘Dick, I’m not trying to skin puppies here.’’

‘Now, every time I see him, I just say, ‘Call me Cruella de Vil’.’’

Read more in The Swamp.

-- Mark Silva