There was a good story in the New York Times over the weekend describing the “journey” made by many in the GOP over the last eight months, one in which they moved from the horror of the realization that the monster they had enabled for four years had escaped the lab, to today’s stance that a bunch of tourists (or was it BLM provocateurs? It is so hard to keep up.) engaged in civic demonstration had gotten a little rowdy without the proper supervision that Nancy Pelosi was duty-bound to provide. The nation was lied to daily for four four years by a man who raised dishonesty to high art, and now that he is out of office, the zombie party he left behind knows only his deceit. Three votes, three slim votes from a majority, the power-seeking lackeys in the House GOP have cashed in any claim to character, clearly believing that if WE JUST GET THE MAJORITY BACK EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY. Well it will not.
The Senate version of the party is no better, with the show-ponies there similarly beclowning themselves this week through their Twitter accounts. Some examples?
First there is Ted Cruz, Republican Senator from Texas who clearly took his own party out of contention for the title he cites below (it is a .jpg, so the clip won’t work), as Bill Kristol conveniently pointed out.
Next there was the show-pony of all show ponies, Marco Rubio of Florida, who I supported in 2016, raised money for, and knocked on doors for (these being the acts for which I will suffer Dante’s remedies), dipping into the Boob Bait for Bubba file to criticize the Secretary of Defense for exercising COVID precautions that were suggested to his travel party BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE COUNTRY THEY WERE VISITING. My response tweet is included.
Returning to the House GOP, let us look in on utterly unprincipled Elise Stefanik, who really isn’t stupid, but who realizes how dumb here constituents are:
What are those constituents like? Well, this unfortunate fellow is from Missouri (state served in the Senate by the execrable Mr. Hawley, but you get my drift), who, from his sickbed, described his anti-vaccination stance as stemming from his being from a “…strong conservative family”.
This is not conservatism, and this is not the GOP that I grew up in. It is a movement suffering from mass psychosis that has effectively stolen and mangled the concept of conservatism to the point where it no longer resembles anything recognizable from that most honored of political temperaments.
Conventioning in a Time of Pandemic
I am this week, along with a considerable number of others, attending the Navy League of the United States’ annual Sea Air Space Symposium at National Harbor, Maryland. This is a massive trade show, usually held in April or May, cancelled in 2020, and delayed until August of this year in the hopes of the pandemic having receded. I have attended for a number of years, and because it is 80 miles from my home, I tend to bunk overnight in one of the hotels close by, as I am this week.
For a guy like me (hired gun, consultant, no booth to man), shows like this are relatively benign, even enjoyable. I walk around, run into people I know, chat them up, sit and listen to speeches and panels, and pretty much just “work the room”. Things are a lot tougher on the folks who have to man the booths, and I have a good deal of sympathy for them.
Two months or so ago, this all looked marvelous, as the US was giving COVID the Heisman and we appeared to be galloping toward real life again. Then came the Delta Variant, and about 10 days ago, I began to wonder whether this was even going to happen. Now, we’re not a bunch of sweaty conga-line dancers in Provincetown, but there’s a good crowd and the thing is abidingly indoors. All of the news and hyperventilating on social media began to get me worried, even though I have a good deal of confidence in the vaccines and even more confidence in my ability to do math and see that the vaccine is really quite effective in 1) saving lives and 2) preventing hospitalization.
So to sorta split the difference, I’ve been wearing a mask when in crowds, and taking it off when I’m in detached conversation with another person. I realize that this is crude, in that if the person I’m talking to has it they may transmit to me, but that’s a good bit different than just mass exposing myself as I meander around.
A LOT of people are wearing masks, though they probably comprise only 10 % of the attendees or so. Keeping fingers crossed.