Yes, I do 'feel a little bit dumber'
.. and other thoughts
Went out for drinks and dinner with a good friend Wednesday night and got back in time to catch most of the Republican presidential debate. I viewed it the way it was meant to be viewed: after a couple of stiff Makers on-the-rocks.
This event was marked by many of the same problems that plagued the first: the noisy audience and the absence of the frontrunner. Unlike some of the my colleagues, I think the selection of Fox to host the GOP debates was a good one. The Fox moderators are much more likely to ask questions of interest to the Republican voters who will vote in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary (though unaffiliated voters may participate in the latter).
This debate differed from the first in that it was hard to hear the responses to many of the questions because the candidates were often clamoring at the same time, or as ABC News put it in a headline: Candidates shout over each other for relevance in second GOP debate.
Leave it to the Lincoln Project, a group of Never-Trump Republican ex-pats, to encapsulate it perfectly in this hilarious but heavily edited video (the Bulwark produced its own as well):
As is often the case at these “debates,” there wasn’t an awful lot of talk about policy. The events are now known in Beltway parlance as the “kids’ table debate” — so named because big daddy Trump has the grown-up table to himself, while on the other side of the dining room, the kids fight it out for that last piece of chocolate cake.
I’d say the highlight of the night was when, after an tense exchange with Vivek Ramaswamy about TikTok, which Vivek had recently joined, Nikki Haley snarled, “Honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber.”
However, as Charlie Sykes of the Bulwark noted, “But even that was a bit warmed over, since she borrowed it from one of the great movie scenes of all time.” (Adam Sandler’s retort is also great):
At any rate, it was a shitshow, and I’m not inclined to watch the third debate slated for November in Miami. Facing dozens of indictments in multiple jurisdictions and in danger of seeing his (allegedly fraudulent) business empire in the state of New York evaporate, Donald Trump won the debate by virtue of not showing up, which tells you all you need to know about the current state of the Republican Party. And no amount of hectoring by the likes of Chris Christie will change that.
In case you missed it and are sufficiently non compos mentis to watch the replay, you can see it below, starting at 43:40 (why the absent Trump was included in the thumbnail image I do not):
Government shutdown
It now looks like it’s a virtual certainty that the federal government will shut down at midnight Saturday. The reasons, it seems, is that current Speaker of House Kevin McCarthy is the weakest in my memory because he had to make so many concessions to fringe elements of his party to finally be elected on the 15th ballot back in January.
One of those concessions included a rule — forced on him by the so-called Freedom Caucus — to allow a single House member to introduce a vote to remove the speaker. Imagine being so desperate to obtain the position that you would agree to such a condition. If McCarthy survives, his legacy will likely be a government shutdown. Talk about being defined by your worst moment.
RIP Dianne Feinstein
Late word is that Sen. Dianne Feinstein has died at 90. Agree or disagree with her positions, but she leaves a long legacy of capable government service, dating back to the steady leadership she showed as acting mayor in 1978 when the San Francisco mayor and a supervisor were murdered in City Hall. I was a junior in college and recall watching the scene below live on Canadian television.
Like many denizens of the nation’s capital, Feinstein overstayed her welcome, having become enfeebled in recent months and unable to perform many of her duties, but still refusing to resign. Rest in peace, Senator.
P.S. Question: Whom will Gov. Gavin Newsom appoint to take her place? Jockeying had already begun for Feinstein’s seat because she had announced she would not stand for reelection next year. Politico is reporting that Newsom is under pressure “to act fast to appoint Feinstein’s temporary replacement,” in light of the current budget crisis and the Democrats’ ultra-slim majority in the Senate.
Other reading material:
My latest column for CTNewsJunkie:
- Fighting ‘Food Deserts’ – Can Hartford Run A Supermarket?
As regular readers know, I have become obsessed with the lack of an ethics code in the Supreme Court of the United States. ProPublica has unearthed yet more material on Justice Clarence Thomas, this time concerning his association with the Koch brothers. Even if Thomas technically broke no rules, how could he be so blind to appearances? Answer: he doesn’t care and there are no guardrails to constrain him, so as far as he’s concerned, ethics nerds, such as yours truly, can go f*#ck ourselves.
- Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events
It's sad that Feinstein will be remembered not only for her pioneering accomplishments as a public servant in earlier life, but for clinging ferociously, whether out of disorientation or ego, to a gig she ought to have relinquished for the benefit of her constituents.
As usual, spot-on AND entertaining.