Mary Miller vs. AOC
Miller got, as they say, ratioed.
A twenty-four-hour Cruz
Every time I see Ted Cruz, I am glad that I am someone with more scruples. And a better beard.
Beep, beep
Heather Cox Richardson: “While Republican lawmakers continue to grab headlines with outrageous behavior and obstructionism, President Biden has been derailing them in the only way no one has tried yet: ignoring them and governing. Only two weeks into his administration, this approach appears to be enormously effective.”
Speaks softly, doesn’t lie
From This American Life, an Iowa farmer: “Trump has no feeling. Absolutely none. That’s why I like Joe Biden, because he has a soft voice and he doesn’t tell lies. I wanted someone who cares for someone or something besides himself.”
Nail-biter and others
Peter Sokolowski of Merriam-Webster looks at words of the 2020 election.
A Vivaldi for our time
The Four Seasons Total Landscaping.
Just say no to interregnum
There is no throne. There is never not a president. And we don’t (yet) have a declaration of martial law.
Joe and Kamala
After the psychopathy and sycophancy of the past four years, the sight of well-adjusted, apparently authentic humans prepared to assume positions of leadership is nothing less than giddying. They’re just like us, sort of, but with a great deal more courage.
Edged in black
“Mistah Trump* — he lost.”
The best thing I’ve read today
Philip Kennicott, writing in The Washington Post about Trumpism as “a chronic condition of American public life,” “a lifestyle disease rooted in sedentary thinking.”
Music to wait by
Mildred Bailey, “Georgia on My Mind.”
To read today
Heather Cox Richardson’s latest Letter from an American might be just the thing you, too, need to read today.
A message to Senator Doodyhead
I left a message for David Perdue (R-GA), who was in the news this week for making fun of Kamala Harris’s name.
Biden–Simone
A Joe Biden ad with a Nina Simone recording.
A commercial to go with it
“A spray-tanned, drugged-up pitchman for Regeneron.” Now there’s a TV commercial. Or a “TV commercial.”
A concise description
“A spray-tanned, drugged-up pitchman for Regeneron”: on MSNBC, David Plouffe just offered this concise description of Donald Trump*.
Advice from Colbert
“Susan, if you want to make Mike Pence shut up, you have to ask him to say ‘Black lives matter.’”
I feel sorry for Daniel Dale
Daniel Dale’s fact-checking and Kamala Harris’s rope-a-dope.
Harrison FTW
Jamie Harrison is an impressive candidate — a plainspoken truthteller. I can easily imagine him running for president in the not-distant future.
Debate advice
C-SPAN’s split-screen.
Stalling vs. declining to act
Curious phrasing in the Illinois news segment dropped into NPR’s Morning Edition this morning: Senate Democrats are seeking to stall any nomination to the Supreme Court. But: In 2016, Senate Republicans declined to act on Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland. The verbs caught my ear.
Chris Miller, ugh
Our representative in the Illinois House is a fool.
Calamari on the beach
Many people found Rhode Island’s presentation delightful. But mileage varies. I found this bit deeply, unintentionally weird, in that low-budget-TV-commercial way.
She’s all that
I especially like the note of reconciliation in her presence on the ticket: she criticized Biden sharply at the first Democratic debate; Biden asked her to run with him; she said yes. As the song says, Let’s work together.
Airing of grievances
As we all know, Trump* is a teetotaler. But the affect here is that of an angry, drunken elder holding his family hostage at the dinner table.
Tammy Duckworth responds
In The New York Times, Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) responds to attacks on her patriotism from the Trump* world.
Alexander, not great
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee) is not exactly a profile in courage.
Death wishes
Donald Trump expresses more interest in preserving “beautiful monuments” than in preserving American lives. Truly, Trump equals death.
A dark thought, but I’ll air it
The Trump* cult — No mask? No test? No problem! — really is a death cult.
The Lincoln Project
I’ve been impressed by their ads for a while now. But it’s the latest, snark-free one that made me decide to give some money to The Lincoln Project.