Signs of Life in the GOP

Two events of the recent past cause me to hope that the GOP is slowly evolving from the unprincipled, immoral, and unethical lapse it has suffered as a party lo these past seven years.

The first is the pushback on Governor DeSantis’ statements last week on American support for Ukraine. Nuanceologists of the NatPop Right parsed his words and found nothing objectionable; in fact, they pointed to the consistency of what he said with what President Biden has been saying as proof of the continuity of policy and modesty of his view. Particularly important has been the citation of his use of the words “…becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them…”. These language particularists point to the word “further” to claim that what we’ve done and are doing is presumably, a vital national interest; only that going FURTHER is not. Secondly, they point to the rather obvious fact that territory is disputed in order to wash this fantastic understatement in legitimacy. That DeSantis was very much committed to arming Ukraine in 2014/5 should not be forgotten, and that Democrats were very much OPPOSED to arming Ukraine then should ALSO not be forgotten. That either is important now seems dubious.

The sudden spine-growing of GOP Senate leadership (and likely Presidential candidate Governor Sununu of New Hampshire) in opposing DeSantis’ views was heartening to behold. There remains a rump of Reaganites in the GOP (and in the remnant roaming the ideological desert with me), or at least the whiff of Reaganite thinking when it comes to pursuing vital national interests (as in, economically bleeding Russia dry at pennies on the dollar. Honestly, what we are accomplishing vis Russia is a CIA wet dream). Whether this positive focus will remain front and center as primaries begin and wing-nut America comes out to the polls, we shall see. But for now, I’m satisfied.

The second positive trend is the lack of reaction to the calls for street demonstrations by Donald Trump, who appears to think that he will be indicted this week by the Manhattan DA. I fully expect the Win-nut Caucus to rally to his defense, but if that is ALL the reaction he gets, we’ll all be much better off.

March Madness

Longstanding and attentive readers (H/T The History of the Americans) are no doubt aware of my great love/hate relationship with the University of Virginia Men’s Basketball Team. We are currently in the midst of a low-point in that relationship, after Virginia frittered away yet another big second half lead to lose to a lower seed in the NCAA Tournament. I am tormented by the legion of UVA fans who (perhaps rightly) believe that winning the Tournament four years ago washed away all program sins that had accreted to that point and provided inoculation against future sins for (to some) up to ten years. I am somewhat less forgiving, and for some odd reason, I think trends matter.

Kihei Clark is the UVA fan base litmus test. He has single-handedly won a TON of games for UVA since the title—I cannot begin to recount how many games where NO ONE was shooting well, but Kihei threw up 14 pts and 5 assists and we grinded (ground?) one out. I also cannot begin to recount how many four point “where did Kihei go?’ games he’s had. His career has clearly benefitted from the fact that opposing team blocked shots do not count as turnovers—because if they did, much of his statistical gaudiness would disappear. I also think that opposing team points per possession on possessions after he has been blocked approaches 1.5 pts, but I’m just spitballin’ there. All of that said, I wonder if UVA fans spend enough time pondering how many 6’1” point guards have simply not wanted to come to UVA over the years because they knew they’d ride the pine behind a coach’s favorite?

The Sweet 16 is set and I am unenthused. I’d like to switch allegiance at this point to Miami, but will not do so as it would surely bring their immediate defeat.

As for the Conservative Wahoo Bracket Challenge, here are two screenshots displaying the state of play. Beautiful and talented high school classmate and mother of two boys with multiple UVA degrees Stephanie Wilson is in the lead!!!!