On Politics: Once-staid Sen. Mazie Hirono emerges as fierce, outspoken defender of Democratic policies, principles

Gone are the days of Mazie Hirono being Senator “Walk On By.”

When Hirono was representing Hawaii’s rural 2nd Congressional District, colleagues would say Hirono never altered her stride as she walked by a press gaggle. She had nothing to say to the news media and not knowing her, the press had no questions for her.

That was Hirono 1.0.

Today, Hirono 2.0 has plenty to share and the media seek her out for her comment. Her opinions come out clearly, without equivocation.

When Hirono says something, there’s no need to deconstruct or parse her comment; ask her a question and she will tell you what she thinks, straight, no sugar added.

Perhaps we are actually talking about Hirono 2.5, because for those who have known Hirono over the years, besides transforming her circumspect comments, there was also a cussing-like-a-bosun’s-mate Mazie. For example in an appearance on MSNBC’s “All In With Chris Hayes,” Hirono commented on former President Donald Trump claiming he would not take responsibility if the government shuts down over the holidays in 2018.

“Any effort on his part to blame the Democrats, it will be such bullshit that, as I said before, I will hardly be able to stand it,” she said. Before she would say, “Now that’s off the record.” Today it is live TV.

Religion, a subject politicians usually steer clear of, is another subject that Hirono does not fear.

Discussing the strong Catholic faith of U.S. Supreme Court member Amy Coney Barrett during her Senate confirmation hearing, Hirono was dismissive of the Senate’s Bible-pounding members.

“There’s supposed to be this thing called separation of church and state, which is becoming blurred. … What I care about is the use of religion as basically trumping every other right. I was presiding over the Senate, and Senator Tuberville says something like, we should bring morality back and God and prayer should come back into our schools. I’m sitting there going, What? But that is the view of too many Republicans,” Hirono said in a recent New York Times interview.

Hirono describes herself as a Buddhist largely because of its tenets, “a way of living and being, which is to be compassionate and kind.”

Saying that those “are good things to follow,” Hirono admits “I’m not perfect in that. I can be very terse with people. Part of it is that I don’t think many of my colleagues have dealt with short Japanese women. So here I come, and I’m saying, “[expletive] you” to them, and they don’t quite know how to react.”

What voters know today is that Hirono has become a fierce defender of a Democratic political stance in the face of daily Republican opposition. If there’s compromising to be done to reach a political deal, Hirono is in the game — but if the match-up is with simple GOP obstruction, Hirono won’t play.

In her new autobiography, “Heart of Fire,” to be released later this month, Hirono declares there has been and will be no cooperation with the current Republican establishment.

“My expectations of the most xenophobic, misogynistic, corrupt and self-dealing president in history could not have been lower, yet he would sink beneath even that, plunging the nation into one crisis after another,” she writes. “There was no end to the cruelty, compulsive lies, and outright fraud perpetrated by Trump and his enablers.”

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.