In Case You Missed It (v122)

Time to settle into a comfy chair and catch up on last week's posts, in case you missed anything.

I listened to three Democrats for your Sunday School this week: South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. 

They all put in good words for President Biden, tried to dispel fears about his age, and reminded us why we need him to be re-elected in November.  Here's a bit of Shapiro, referencing Ezra Klein's NYT comments.

Shapiro agrees with Klein that "the stakes could not be higher," but said Biden'll be the guy, and he'll have Shapiro's support.

...we’ve got to go out and make that case. The president, the vice president and those of us who are privileged who support him and have a front-row seat to this, we've got to go out and do this important work now.  

He said we all are "going to have to stand up and be counted" on whether America will continue "to be a voice of freedom and democracy..." and he's confident voters,

 ...just as they did in 2020, they will rise up; they will demand more; they will seek justice; and they will look to defend freedom in this nation, and they will reject Donald Trump.

Switching gears for your Extra Credit, I focused solely on Jake Tapper's chat with former Rep. Liz Cheney who, of course, is persona non grata with the MAGA crowd. She was not impressed with recent comments from Snitty Snitty Bill Barr, who recently said he'd vote for Trump over Biden even though, he also said,

Voting for Trump is playing Russian roulette with the country. Voting for Biden is outright national suicide.

She said he's "absolutely wrong," and even though she hasn't endorsed anyone, she "certainly would never support Donald Trump." Why?

...we know what Donald Trump will do because he's telling us every day. And anybody who has spent any time overseas, who has spent any time studying the history of autocracies and of autocrats knows we have to listen to what Donald Trump's saying. So electing Donald Trump's not Russian roulette. Electing Donald Trump would mean putting in power a man who's committed to unraveling our constitutional framework. So Bill Barr is just wrong on that.

I was Wondering on Wednesday about Choco Tacos, and about a proposed 'trucker boycott' of NYC, among other things,. The boycott was proposed by a trucker named Chicago Ray who tweeted about the boycott as a response to the penalties in the NY financial fraud case.

I'm just one of the many millions of Truckers who believe in God and love this Country. I stand with Trump bc Trump stands with me. Truckers for Trump ain't just a slogan, it's real.

Trump was delighted, as you might imagine, to "have so many Great Patriots" on his side, and so on. But then, Chicago Ray deleted his original tweet, put up another one in which he stressed he was not encouraging anyone to do anything - and then deleted that one, too. And I can't help wondering, is he still a Great Patriot, or not?

I took a more serious turn on Thursday, where I highlighted one more Sunday School interview in a Quick Take. I was not familiar with Charlemagne tha God until I watched his taped conversation with Jon Karl. Here's how things kicked off.

Karl started with a quote from his guest, who said the 2024 campaign is "a race between the cowards, the crooks, and the couch." Here's how he defines those three Cs.

...the crooks are the Republicans. The cowards are the Democrats, because they don't fight hard enough on anything. And, you know, the couch is voter apathy. And, you know, that's -- that's who everybody is up against in 2024. 

He doesn't know if anyone benefits from the couch winning, but that's what it feels like will happen; even his audience isn't energetic. He said "nobody wants to see the rematch" between Biden and Trump, and that's why he feels the couch will win.

Charlamagne's very quotable, and he had a few in the interview that I think really hit the mark, even though a lot of Dems might be mad at him for saying the quiet part out loud. 

Friday was a two-fer: first, an OrangeVerse entry in which I turn former president Donald Trump's words into verse, and there was my usual Friday feature, TGIF, where I attempt to identify folks I think had a good week or a bad one. 

There were political references, of course, including Rep. Dean Phillips, who's running for president on the Dem line, who had a good week.  There also was a culture reference, one that didn't mention Taylor Swift. 

Beyonce has her first #1 single on the Billboard Country chart, the first Black woman with that achievement in the history of the chart. And some folks don't seem happy about it.

Sure, if a Black woman either native to country music or coming up through the country music ranks would have achieved a similar goal, it would speak to the opening up of the genre to women of color. But that’s not what’s happened here at all. Instead, Beyonce is leveraging her global superstar status earned in the pop and R&B/hip-hop world, the enthusiasm of her Stan army the Beyhive, and the coercion of country music’s institutions to ensconce herself atop the genre.

On the other hand, people are line dancing all over the place to the song - including the Savannah Bananas - does that mean this whole thing is a wash?

See a snippet you like? Click the link and check out the full post - and be sure to stop back this week for more of the pastiche.

TGIF 2/23/24

Let's get right to the good week / bad week lists, shall we?

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), a 55-year-old guy running for president as a Democrat, thinks Sen. Amy Klobuchar (also D-MN) shouldn't be running for re-election in November. It's not because of her age (63), it's that this is her 18th year as a senator, and if she wins re-election, she'll serve at least 24 years.

Turn it over to other Americans who wish to serve the public. We're precluding other generations of Americans from participating, and what do they do? They kind of give up. And that's what's happening all around our country right now.

He's not wrong - I mean, if folks never leave, what chance do we have for new people, new outlooks, and new ideas to come forward?  I'm all for term limits, I really am. And if Phillips wants to make a point, he'd call out these House colleagues who have declared for re-election: James Clyburn, 83, first elected in 1992; Nancy Pelosi, 83, first elected in 1987; Steny Hoyer, 84, first elected in 1981; Eleanor Holmes Norton, 86, first elected in 1991; Bill Pascrell, 87, first elected in 1996; Hal Rogers, 85, first elected 1981; and Maxine Waters, 85, first elected in 1990. 

I'm giving voters in Wisconsin a shout-out: the Republicans in the state opted not to fight the latest redistricting maps, not out of the goodness of their heart, but because they were afraid if they took the maps to court, they'd end up looking even more fair for voters than they did in the redrawing. And now, a bipartisan ethics group has referred former president Trump's Save America PAC and a host of Republicans for prosecution for their role in trying to skirt campaign finance laws in the 2020 election.

 

There's a measles outbreak in Florida, which is really sad, especially since there's a highly effective vaccine that's been available since 1968; it's so effective the disease was declared eliminated from the US in 2000.  The outbreak is only a few cases now, but time will tell how long that'll be the case, thanks to the state's Surgeon General, Joseph Ladapo. Per the Miami Herald, Ladapo sent a letter to parents acknowledging the common practice -- keeping unvaccinated kids home from school - but  

Ladapo, then, however, wrote that, “due to the high immunity rate in the community,” the Department of Health “is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance.”

It's too hard, I guess, to follow the science.

Remember the My Pillow Guy, and his "Prove Mike Wrong" contest, offering to pay $5M to anyone who could prove he didn't find evidence of election fraud? Yeah, a guy named Robert Zeidman proved it and asked for the $5M. Feet were dragged, arbitration ensued, and a judge ordered the payment, plus interest from last April be paid within 30 days. 

Beyonce has her first #1 single on the Billboard Country chart, the first Black woman with that achievement in the history of the chart. And some folks don't seem happy about it.

Sure, if a Black woman either native to country music or coming up through the country music ranks would have achieved a similar goal, it would speak to the opening up of the genre to women of color. But that’s not what’s happened here at all. Instead, Beyonce is leveraging her global superstar status earned in the pop and R&B/hip-hop world, the enthusiasm of her Stan army the Beyhive, and the coercion of country music’s institutions to ensconce herself atop the genre.

On the other hand, people are line dancing all over the place to the song - including the Savannah Bananas - does that mean this whole thing is a wash?

Who made your lists this week?

Sunday School 2/18/24

I visited three classrooms Sunday to hear what the Democrats were saying, starting with the This Week classroom, where Jon Karl talked with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. 

Karl asked, "What worries you about... a Biden-Trump rematch?" In part, the gov said

this election really is about all of us and whether or not we’re going to rise up and use our voices and ultimately our vote to protect our fundamental freedoms, to scream out for the kind of country that we want, to protect this 247-year experience that began right here... 

Regarding the tight polls in PA, Shapiro correctly noted that the campaign hasn't really started yet, and polls have frequently been wrong in his state. Echoing Jon Stewart, he added

And I would say to folks who are worried about the numbers, stop worrying and start working. 

He gave several examples of how Pennsylvanians "voted for freedom and against extremism," over the past few years, and promised that he'd "do everything in my political power" to make the case against Trump and for Biden.  

Karl mentioned Ezra Klein commenting in the NY Times that Biden should bow out of the race and let the delegates choose the nominee. 

I think Biden, as painful as this is, should find a way (of) stepping down as a hero, that the party should help him find his way to do that, to being the thing he said he would be in 2020, a bridge to the next generation of Democrats... Retirement can be, often is, a trauma. But losing to Donald Trump would be far worse."

Shapiro agrees with Klein that "the stakes could not be higher," but said Biden'll be the guy, and he'll have Shapiro's support.

...we’ve got to go out and make that case. The president, the vice president and those of us who are privileged who support him and have a front-row seat to this, we've got to go out and do this important work now.  

He said we all are "going to have to stand up and be counted" on whether America will continue "to be a voice of freedom and democracy..." and he's confident voters,

 ...just as they did in 2020, they will rise up; they will demand more; they will seek justice; and they will look to defend freedom in this nation, and they will reject Donald Trump.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) was in the Meet the Press classroom with Kristen Welker, who asked if the Senate Intelligence Committee was going to call Robert Hur to testify. Klobuchar suggested in the upper chamber, they have "many other things" they need to do, legislating tech and dealing with fentanyl among them. 

She also said it would be "up to the president and his lawyers," to address Hur's comments about Biden, but said she's been with him, talking about both domestic and international issues, and she said "he was focused. His recall was good." Her colleagues have said had similar experiences, she said.

...I think that we've got to evaluate what's happening right now by, one, what he has done... and focus on what matters to the American people and compare what he is doing to what we've got as the alternative on the Republican side, which is Donald Trump who is nothing but standing up week by week for chaos.

Welker mentioned growing chatter from Dems about Biden's ability to win a second term, and like Karl, she picked something from Klein's column.

He is not up for this. He is not the campaigner he was even five years ago. The way he moves, the energy in his voice. The Democrats denying decline are only fooling themselves.

Klobuchar disagreed; she listed several Dem wins, none of which really rebutted Klein's point. And, she added,

Time and time again the American people have stood with the policies and the work of Joe Biden because they do not want to go back to the chaos and madness of Donald Trump.

Welker said that "the vast majority of Americans say they are not feeling it" on Biden's handling of the economy, and asked whether it was time for Biden to hang it up. 

Again, I'm a believer in President Biden because I believe he is a good moral person that has the backs of the people of this country... I am proud to be supporting Joe Biden for president.

Welker pushed back about voters not feeling it, and after listing more policy wins, Klobuchar said

He is not running, as the president has said, against the almighty. He is running against Donald Trump. And time and time again, the voters have made clear where they stand on Donald Trump.

Given the choice, moderates and independent voters will go for "someone who believes in democracy" and fights against the Putins of the world, 

as opposed to Donald Trump, who literally a week ago said that Vladimir Putin should be able to do whatever the hell he wants... 

My last stop? The Face the Nation classroom where Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) spoke with Robert Costa. Noting the Congressman was "optimistic" about Biden's re-election campaign, Costa asked, "What keeps you up at night, politically? "

Clyburn said "the misinformation efforts that are underway throughout this campaign" keep him "wide awake."

I've heard so much from people sharing with me things that just aren't true. So much from people who seem to feel that everything they see or hear via the internet has some substance to them. And so that's the thing that keeps me up, whether or not we're going to have a campaign for the presidency free of all of these interruptions and all of the misinformation.

When prompted, he mentioned the AI robocalls in New Hampshire and said similar shenanigans are happening in his state; for example, Dems are being invited to participate in the GOP primary, and folks "saying things over the air that just aren't true." 

Costa switched gears, asking if the administration's support of Israel's war with Hamas could dampen turnout "among young voters and others," Clyburn expressed concern about Israel/Hamas, and Russia/Ukraine, too. People are looking for someone

who can lead us through this stuff. And nobody is better equipped to do that than Joe Biden. He – has the experience. He has the wisdom. He has the demeanor. He has the relationships. He has what it takes to get this country to where it needs to be and to maintain the relationships we need to have with our allies around the world. That you're not going to find on the other side of the aisle.

He's shared his personal thoughts about Netanyahu with Biden, he said, and interestingly, I thought, Clyburn added that while Biden doesn't share all his thoughts publicly

...I know this, he feels about the way I feel when it comes to Netanyahu... his leadership has not been good for Israel. We stand firmly with the people of Israel. But I've always had a real problem with Netanyahu, and that continues to be today.

Costa, the former newspaper guy, did something remarkable - he asked a follow-up question! Two of them!

Costa: You say you have a problem with Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and you say you've spoken to the president privately about this. Does he have a problem with Netanyahu?

Clyburn: I've shared with the president what my feelings are about Netanyahu. He is going to develop his own feelings about that. He hasn't told me exactly what –

Costa: But does he agree or disagree with your assessment, Congressman?

Clyburn: Well, he's accepted my assessment. I have not asked him whether or not he agreed with me. In fact, I just let him know, 'This is the way I feel. I'm not running the country. You do what you feel is in the best interest of the country.'

Last two questions. First, in 2020, Biden pledged to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court; he got Clyburn's endorsement in return. Is there a pledge this time around, too?

He should continue to manage the country the way he's managing it... I would say to him, keep doing what you're doing.

And finally, 83-year-old Clyburn is running for re-election in November. Costa wondered how 81-year-old Biden should handle the age question as the campaign progresses. The answer? talk about his experience and wisdom, and maintain connections with people.

Clyburn's going to be visiting New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia, he said, 

carrying the president's message of experience, of a steady hand, of maintaining our trek toward a more perfect union, doing the things that are necessary to maintain our relationships around the world and move this country forward on behalf of all.

He closed by telling Costa he's "fond of saying, this is a great country, in no need of being made great. We've just got to figure out ways to make this country's greatness accessible and affordable for all of our citizens. And Joe Biden is doing that. And we have got to stay focused on that."

Out of the mouths of octogenarians, or something.  

See you around campus. 

Sunday School 7/4/21

I did a drive-by of a couple of Sunday School classrooms yesterday: CNN's State of the Union, and Fox News Sunday.

Dana Bash talked with Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) on SOTU; here are some highlights.

• With only 42% of eligible Arkansans vaccinated and "younger adults that's now getting hit with the Delta variant," the gov says they're focusing on making the vaccine accessible and that "everybody knows the need. He thinks the vaccination rate is good enough that "we can avoid the surge in hospitalizations that puts us in jeopardy" for a third wave, but said "in a rural state, in a conservative state, there is hesitancy" to get vaccinated. 
• He supports the bipartisan infrastructure bill, saying that it's paid for "the best news." He likes that it's "limited to the traditional infrastructure of roads and bridges," and funding for some water and broadband projects. He doesn't want it tied to the other bill, noting that "we have more money than we could spend right now in terms of some of the federal money that's flowed in our direction."
• He's sending National Guard troops to Texas, but denies it's political theater. He called what's happening at the border now "disaster. It's a human tragedy," with the Biden administration policy changes. He'd never use political donations for something like this, as Gov. Kristi Noem (R-Trump Dakota) is doing, saying that responding to other states "in terms of disaster" is a state function" and he'd consider it "a bad precedent to have that privately funded."
• He wouldn't rule out a run for president in 2024, but said after his term ends next year, he wants "to be engaged in the national debate. It's important, the direction of our party, our country."

Also in the SOTU classroom? Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC).

• He said the new Select Committee on the insurrection might be able to avoid having Former Guy testify; he "would not want to see a former president testifying in such a situation as this." If that's what it takes, though, he'd be OK with it, noting that "this is more than any one person. This is country... since 1776, this country has been in pursuit of perfection. And we need to keep that pursuit going... this is a great time for us to re-dedicate ourselves to what we have all been looking forward to for a long time, liberty and justice for all."
• Dems have always been for voter ID, just equitable ID requirements. When you tell me that you got to have a photo ID, and a photo for a student for an activity card is not good, but, for a hunting license, it is good, that's where the rub is." He doesn't know anyone who's against IDing themselves when they go to vote. "But we don't want you to tell me my ID is no good because I don't own a gun and I don't go hunting." And that voter registration card you receive? That should be a valid ID for voting. 
• He doesn't agree with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-Filibuster), saying "we need to get rid of the filibuster for constitutional issues, just as we have done for budget issues." For arguments on political issues, like building a wall, or how high it should be, the filibuster is OK, if extended debate is allowed. But now, "we will allow a senator to sit downtown in a spa somewhere, pick up the telephone and call in the filibuster, and effectively stop voting rights and other constitutional rights... won't even come to the floor to argue his or her position. That's what is wrong with this filibuster..." 
• He still has hopes for police reform, saying " I think we're going to get there." He says there's still time, and that "it is teetering on some divisions between the sheriffs and, say, the police chiefs, but we can reconcile those. I'm holding out hope that we get this done, because it needs to be done."

Mike Emanuel sat in for Chris Wallace down the hall to the right. He had Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in the guest chair. They talked about infrastructure, COVID, the border, and about Afghanistan. To do that justice, I'll save it for this week's Extra Credit. 

See you around campus - assuming, that is, that you made it through yesterday's birthday unscathed. 

Sunday School 1/10/21

Let's dive in to today's classrooms, shall we? 

First up? Former Trump Chief of Staff (etc. etc. etc.) Mick Mulvaney, who talked with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press. Let's see if Chuck redeemed himself after last week's embarrassing scrum with Sen. Ron Johnson. 

Mulvaney said he doesn't know about the president's current state of mind, but he said the Trump of eight months ago or so would have dealt with things differently.

I thought that we'd never be here. I thought the president would be presidential. Clearly, that system has broken down. And whether or not the president is different or the people advising him are different or both, I don't know what's going on inside the Oval Office now, and I don't know what's going on inside the president's head.

And he said that policy differences or differences in style, personality traits you don't like, those are all

different than what happened on Wednesday. Wednesday was a fundamental threat to the United States. It speaks to what makes us American. It's an existential type of thing. It's not, it’s not superficial. It's deep and it's real and it's different, which is why you saw so many resignations this week, and didn't see them over the course of the last couple years. Wednesday changed everything.

Chuck played some of Trump's quotes, using "character is destiny" as the framework, and wondered how Mulvaney and others could say they never saw this "version of Donald Trump," and he wondered how this wasn't the inevitable ending. Mulvaney's response was, well, perfect Trumpeter.

Yeah. And I know it's, I know it's easy for folks now who've never liked the president or always disagreed with his policies or really disliked him as a person to say, “Why didn't everybody see this coming?” But keep in mind, so many of us that worked with him every single day didn't see him through a filter. In fairness, you saw him oftentimes -- you've had some face to face with him -- but most people saw him through the filter of a media that didn't like him very much. We saw him every single day. The reason that I wrote in The Wall Street Journal six weeks ago that I thought the president would leave presidentially is because I had evidence to that end. I had stories. I had background. I had seen that type of president, and I never thought I'd see what I saw on Wednesday. Yes, the rhetoric was very high and very fiery. You and I both know, however, that American politicians do this on a regular basis. I can pull you similar clips of Maxine Waters telling people to take to the streets. It's different though, when as you said in your entry, that people took him literally. I never thought I'd see that. I never thought I’d see a day in our country where people from any side of the political spectrum would storm the Capitol in order to intentionally stop the Constitutional transfer of power, which is part of what was happening on Wednesday. That's what's different, Chuck, that the country is different than I expected. 

I can't help laughing when people indignantly tell me that Maxine Waters and the president of the United States are on equal footing. Honestly, I can't not laugh at that.

Final question? "Should Trump be ostracized from the Republican Party as you know it?" Mulvaney said that's going to happen, but he thinks "the ideas will live on." And, he added,

But I think if you have any role at all in what happened on Wednesday, that you sort of, you don't deserve to lead the party anymore. The ideas are bigger than the people. But I think, I think the voters will take that into consideration... I can't tell you the number of people who've supported me for a decade who’s saying that Wednesday was a bridge too far. They love Trump, they love the policies, they were really pleased with the successes of the first four years, but he lost them on Wednesday. And I think that's, I think that's the right thing. I think people need to know that what happened on Wednesday is just different.

Next, we have DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, who talked with Margaret Brennan on CBS' Face the Nation. The first question was whether DC is prepared for the inauguration and what comes after that. Brennan did note that a public emergency has been declared, and that there will be several thousand National Guard troops in the city.

Bowser admitted that preparations for the inauguration "has to be different than any other inauguration," and that she's engaged DHS and asked that they take extra steps, and she's also going to be asking the president to declare a "pre-emergency declaration" that'll allow for more federal participation.

She said she doesn't know who planted the pipe bombs at the DNC and RNC, and that the FBI is looking into it.

Who we saw charging the Capitol building were trained people in many cases, former military, former law enforcement. I think we may find other- other trained people, trained at marching and surging and sieging buildings. So, we have to take it seriously. We too, have to take seriously how we're spreading our resources. That's why we're very focused on making sure that the federal government is providing enough coverage for federal facilities, including the- the Capitol, but many federal buildings across the district so that other law enforcement, our- our law enforcement can focus on other threats across the district's eight wards.

Brennan questioned a letter she had sent on the 5th to the Pentagon and Justice Department discouraging "any additional deployments without immediate notification and consultation with the police if such plans are underway." Brennan wondered if that might have "played a role in the underreaction."  Bowser said no. Rather,

that letter calls attention to the federal government or other federal policing agencies and asks the federal government to coordinate with us if they were going to be on DC streets. That letter has nothing to do with the Capitol or other federal facilities.

Obviously, that letter was a reaction to the federal government's over-reaction last June to the Black Lives Matter protests; the law enforcement presence then, and their actions, have been compared to what was around last Wednesday, and to say the differences are striking is a gross understatement. 

And, I'll close with House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC), who talked with Jake Tapper on CNN's State of the Union. Clyburn said he was doing well, and he praised his security detail, while saying that "the shame is the fact that the leadership above them did not give them the right kind of directions. And, therefore, they were not able to be -- effectively doing their jobs throughout."

Tapper changed the subject to impeachment, wondering if articles would be submitted on Monday. Clyburn said they papers would be drawn up or finished on Monday, and possibly there'll be action Tuesday or Wednesday, but he thinks it will be this week. He congratulated  Rep. Jamie Raskin for "a job well done" on the article that's been drafted, saying that.

...he brought into that article the issue that concerned me. And that is whether or not we would ignore what the president did regarding the vote down in Georgia that is the presidential vote in Georgia. We heard him on the phone talking to the secretary of state, in fact, almost ordering him, begging at one time and ordering at the other time, and threatening him with criminal action to overturn the vote, to find him 11,700-some-odd votes that he needed in order to be declared the victor. That is impeachable. And I think it should be brought into the discussion. Now, I know the state laws were -- are applicable, as well as local laws. But I think that we in the House of Representatives has got a responsibility to maintain the integrity of a federal election. We tell the people all the time that your vote is your voice. Well, our vote is our voice. And we must voice disapproval of what the president did.

Tapper noted that an impeachment trial in the Senate could start as early a 1PM on January 20th, but noted "it could distract the Senate from considering any Cabinet nominees for Joe Biden, passing coronavirus relief."  Do you have any concerns that Congress will be distracted if this trial goes forward, instead of focusing on the Cabinet and coronavirus?

Clyburn said both he and Speaker Pelosi have concerns, and then he turned on Mitch McConnell.

Mitch McConnell is a pretty good legislator. And he's doing what he thinks he needs to do to be disruptive of President Biden. But I would say to Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi is smarter than that. We will take the vote that we should take in the House. And she will make the determination as to when is the best time to get that vote and get the managers appointed and move that legislation over to the Senate. It just so happens that, if it did go over there for 100 days, it could - let's give president-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running. And maybe we will send the articles sometime after that.

I'm getting stressed just thinking about that possibility, aren't you? Hurrying to get the article(s) done, and they'll not be bipartisan to any degree, and then waiting to send them over to the Senate? It's like Deja vu all over again, right?

Tapper turned to suggestions Clyburn made that there might "be some Capitol Police officers who aided the rioters, who were complicit in the attack," and that "something else was going on untoward here." He asked what evidence there was to support the statements. Clyburn said he has an 

unmarked office that you have got to know exactly where it is. It is where I spend most of my time doing my work... And that office is where I do most of my work. And for some reason, these people showed up at that office. But the office where my name is above the door -- or on the door and my position above the door was not disturbed. So, I'm just saying, they didn't go to where my name was. They went where I usually hang out. And so that, to me, indicates that something untoward may have been going on.

And the final question has to do with race, and Nancy Pelosi's comment that the insurrectionists "have chosen their whiteness over democracy."  Tapper wondered if Clyburn agreed was what happened on Wednesday.

Oh, many of them, absolutely. I can't tell you how many times in my life I have heard people say to me, to my teeth, so to speak, that that is what is paramount with them. Why would anybody be going there with this so-called Confederate Battle Flag? I have been telling people all the time there is something else about that flag that people don't focus on. That has never been the Confederate Flag. And when people tell you it is all about heritage, it is not about heritage. That flag was never adopted by the Confederacy. They always rejected that flag.  Nathan Bedford Forrest put that flag out here when he was forming the Ku Klux Klan, or when he was running it, though he said he didn't found it. But the fact of the matter is, that flag has been adopted by skinheads and white supremacists in Germany. You can't -- it is illegal for the swastika to fly in Germany. So, they took that flag. So, when that guy walked in there with that flag, he wasn't talking about the Confederacy. He was talking about his whiteness. That flag is the flag of white nationalism and the flag of white supremacy.

Tapper left it there, and so will I. 

See you around campus. Wear a mask. Stay out of crowds. And if you know anyone in the videos from the attack on the Capitol, the FBI would love to hear from you. 

Sunday School 11/8/20

For today's Sunday School, we had an interesting cast of characters to choose from. Utah's Sen. Mitt Romney was in three classrooms (I've got one of them); House Majority Whip Rep Jim Clyburn of South Carolina was scheduled for two (I've got him, too); and so was Maryland's Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. 

Others wandering around?  My Sonofa Gov Andrew Cuomo; South Dakota Gov Kristi Noem; Stacy Abrams (I've got her) and Sen. Joe Manchin of WVA (I've got him, too). 

Let's start with Clyburn and Abrams and their visits to the CNN State of the Union classroom, with Jake Tapper in the host's chair. Clyburn was asked about the little family feuding going on in the Democratic Party, specifically concerns that the progressives have made it hard for the party by forcing them further and further to the left.

Clyburn noted that he's long not been a fan of sloganeering, and pointed to a conversation he had with the late John Lewis.

John and I sat on the House floor and talked about that 'defund the police' slogan, and both of us concluded that it had the possibilities of doing to the Black Lives Matter movement and current movements across the country what "Burn, baby, burn" did to us back in 1960. We lost that movement over that slogan... and so, we saw the same thing happening here...

We need to work on what makes headway, rather than what makes headlines. 

As they say, "damn straight, Skippy."

In his chat with Stacey Abrams, whom many are crediting with delivering Georgia for Joe Biden, Tapper wondered about Dems and minorities, given that the president made "some inroads" with minority groups himself.

Abrams said, as pretty much every Tom, Dick and Harry has said since last Tuesday, "the Latino community is not a monolith." And while Latinos will be behind Biden's victories in Arizona, Nevada and even Georgia, the key is consistent engagement.

We began early on saying that this is not about black and white; this is about pulling together coalitions of people of color, of the poor, of the disadvantaged, of the marginalized, and being consistent with our engagement, not waiting for an election to meet them, and certainly not waiting until the end of an election to acknowledge their value.

We have been doing this work from the very beginning. But I also want to acknowledge the very strong work of progressive whites who've been working to help build these opportunities as well. We are not a majority-minority country yet. And that means that this is a coalition that has to be built and sustained across racial lines, across demography, across geography, because our mission should be the protection of our democracy and the action of progress for all.

I'll give her a "damn straight, Skippy" as well. 

I picked Meet the Press for my Mitt Romney interview, where Chuck Todd asked him about alleged 'rigged' voting, which the president is alleging. The question, in a nutshell, since we know it's possible that someone might have voted for Joe Biden for president but chose to vote for a Republican for Senate, does Romney think that if one vote on that ballot is 'rigged,' the others could be too.

Well, I think that's a pretty fair point... I think you make an important point, which is a lot of Republicans, a lot of voters, voted for Republicans but did not vote for the president. And that suggests to me that conservative principles are still in the majority in our country.

On that point, Todd mentioned Romney's 12-point win in Cobb County, in the Atlanta suburbs, which was the same margin Biden won by. So, while maybe there are still conservative values, is there a suburban problem for the Rs?

Romney noted that the Ds have their own problems, too. But he did make an interesting point.

...I think if you look at the numbers and look at the pickup that Republicans had in statehouses across the country, in Congress and holding the Senate so far, versus our loss in the presidency, you'd suggest that the presidential race was more a matter of a referendum on a person. And that when it came to policy, we did pretty well.

Back to the suburbs, Romney admitted the Rs have challenges, that they need to do better with young people and minorities, and that he thinks they can get the suburban women back, but "we've got some work to do."

And on whether it's still Donald Trump's Republican Party, Romney said Trump is the most powerful voice in the GOP.

He will have an enormous impact on our party going forward. I believe the great majority of people who voted for Donald Trump want to make sure his principles and his priorities are pursued. So, yeah, I mean, he's not - he's not disappearing by any means. He's the, you know, the 900-pound gorilla when it comes to the Republican Party.

A very angry 900-poung gorilla, it would seem.  

Finally, let's check in with Margaret Brennan's conversation with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin on Face the Nation. She asked him about the election being a wakeup call for senators, and what president-elect Biden's first order of business should be. 

Manchin said Biden wants to be a president for everyone, and that's exactly what he'll have to do.

Joe Biden got elected in a very, very contested primary, and all the nuances that were thrown on the Democratic Party is not who we are. He was not for any of this stuff. And I think Jim Clyburn said it best, that was an albatross around us. Basically, labeling every Democrat as a socialist or supporting socialism, that's not who we are. It's not who I am. It's not how we were raised. And it hurt a lot of good Democrats in rural America, Montana, for one. Other places around the country.

Brennan wondered about West Virginia going "ruby red" for Trump and wondered why the Dem's message break through there. It wasn't a good message he said, because the Dems had been tagged as socialists before they even had a chance to "remind people who we are."

Here is the thing, four years ago in rural America, in America in general, voted for Donald Trump because Democrats were mad, independents were mad. They thought they'd been left behind...They went from being mad to being scared in 2020. They were scared of this socialism that was thrown out there by a radical part of the so-called left that was throwing all this out, that basically scared the bejesus out of people and that hung on and hung on strongly. And it's not who we are. It is not who we are and it's not what we're about. And I have fought against that. Joe Biden has fought against that. We're not for New Green Deal. We're not for all the things that he's talked about, Medicare for all. We can't even pay for Medicare for some. We've got to take care of a lot of things.

Manchin took pains to separate Biden from the Green New Deal, when Brennan pushed on that. He said Biden's plan is all-inclusive and that we have to remain energy independent

To have the most powerful nation on earth, we can't be dependent on foreign-- on any foreigners-- foreign countries for our energy sources.

Innovation, not elimination, he believes. And he talks like Biden is on the same page with him.

Finally, Brennan wondered what the Biden administration would be able to get done, and whether the message from the election is that the Dems need to be moderate.

Manchin said he's always been moderate, and that he'd encourage his fellow Dems to "find the middle" if they can. He said they're not going to be able to govern "from the extremes or from the fringes" and, he added, 

... I've always said I'm fiscally responsible and socially compassionate. I believe most Americans are, my moderate Republican friends and the moderate Democrats. We've got to govern from that middle, that moderate middle. Joe Biden has always been there. He knows how to work across the aisle. He'll reach out first and make this Senate work and give it every chance he can... There'll be more and more crossing over wanting to work in a more moderate, moderate Senate. I really believe that.

Brennan was skeptical, and she didn't offer a "damn straight, Skippy" to Manchin. But I will. And I'll have more on the moderates vs. progressives stuff as things unfold. 

See you around campus. Keep your sense of optimism, keep your sense of joy, keep your happy feet moving - but listen to me when I tell you, keep your masks on. We're depending on you.