Left Jabs

For all its faults, I’ve generally regarded 60 Minutes as real journalism, practiced by real journalists. Even so, their political coverage of late has been irksome — with too much both-siderist nonsense delivered none too subtly. The lead story on the March 21 show , however, went beyond both-siderist, to what I hope I’m misconstruing as subversive. The thirteen-minute segment featured an interview with former Associate Deputy Attorney General Michael R. Sherwin, a career prosecutor who until leaving office two days before, was in charge of DOJ’s investigation into the Capitol insurrection. It was a jaw-dropping interview, at least to a non-lawyer. For thirteen minutes, Sherwin took us through the investigation in startling detail, pointing out some of the rioters in the Capitol photos, outlining the kinds of charges they might face, and generally getting viewers salivating over the prospect of righteous restitution. But to anyone in the legal profession, the interview set off ...

Last week, Mitch McConnell voted to confirm Merrick Garland as Attorney General. Twenty Republicans actually crossed the aisle to do the same, an amazing thing in this day and age. But without Mitch, it would’ve been just one more Kamala tie-breaker. The speculation is that this was Mitch’s way of telling Garland — and Joe Biden — that stealing that Supreme Court seat in 2016 was nothing personal. And it wasn’t. I have no doubt Mitch would have tanked anyone Obama nominated. Anything to further vandalize that administration. Garland just happened to be there. But while Mitch surely thinks, in his own head, that it was nothing personal, he knows Joe Biden holds no such illusions. Because when Mitch sabotaged the Garland nomination, he blew a hole through history, full stop. And for Biden that was personal. He was there, in the White House. It’s nothing new that the obstruction of that fifth reasonable voice on the bench was a major disaster, and it only got worse when Trump drew...

In just fifty days, Joe Biden has taken plenty of us — including me — by surprise. He is clearly rising to the occasion, displaying skills few knew he had. He has learned the trick of under-promising and over-delivering, and when he makes a promise, he knows ahead of time that it’s a sure thing. He also has an apparent gift for delegating the right jobs to the right people. He lets them do their thing while he gives them cover, benignly hovering above the fray. So far, it’s working. Let’s hear it for old white guys with something left in the tank. So the fifty-day mark seems a good time to step back and make a few observations, not so much about Biden, as because of him. Boring but Radical It was Ted Cruz, of all people, who nailed it, albeit unintentionally. In a tweet last week he proclaimed Joe Biden “boring but radical.” He was being nasty, of course, because nasty is all he knows. But to me, it was validation. After four years of total batshit craziness, it turns out b...

I don’t often make up words, or approve of those who do. But “numbskullduggery” was irresistible. It came to me as I was thinking about the numbskulls who stormed the Capitol on January 6, as the dirt on them continues to populate the news cycles. So far, everything I’ve heard confirms what I thought from the start. These were mostly brainwashed losers, up to the kinds of mischief losers get up to, but on a much larger stage. Yes, some were organized, though not very well. Yes, some were armed, but hadn’t thought through the consequences. Yes, some had military training, but don’t seem to have been very good at it. In other words, numbskullduggery says it all. These guys were not ready for prime time. And when I say “guys,” I’m being gender-neutral. This was an equal-opportunity idiocy, and some of the women who’ve been implicated make me question my assumptions of female superiority. Some of these ladies are right up there on the numbskull-meter with their male counterparts, e...

The Trump legacy is still a work in progress, but the outlines are already on full display. I tried to watch the Former Guy’s CPAC speech. I really did. I hung in there for almost two minutes before I needed a shower. But at least one thing came through loud and clear. In the last four years, Donald Trump gave all Republicans a license to lie, cheat, and steal just as much as their natures allow. And that license has not expired. Trump led by example, and they were happy to follow. We would now be hard put to find a single Republican public figure who doesn’t enjoy the ethical code of a playground bully. Every one of them now lives permanently in an alternate universe where cruelty, inhumanity, and death are policy positions. They see no Covid, no climate change, no dilapidated infrastructure, no racism. They see not a single reason why government should step in and do anything. Fifty senators are content to watch the country incinerate. Imagine what the Bi...