Through the Split Screen, Darkly …
The fourth time, unfortunately, was not the charm for Kevin. It is an unforced error. Kevin McCarthy spent his entire adult political life leading up to this particular moment in time. What can’t he close the deal? The winds of History were at his back. Inflation; low Presidential approval ratings. There was also the raw political fact that only two Presidents since the Second World War saw their party gain House seats in midterms -- Bill Clinton in 1998 and Bush the Younger in 2002 — and both had approval ratings in the 60s. Biden’s midterm approval rating, by comparison, was an unflattering 40%. How could Kevin McCarthy mess things up with those significant advantages?
The split screen optics of President Biden in bucolic, temperate Kentucky touting bipartisanship on infrastructure, contrasted against the Congressional dumpster fire is clearly calculated to rasp.
It is also calculated to show grown up leadership and its alternative. While Republicans were trying to figure out if former President Trump’s endorsement helped Kevin out of his fresh, burning Hell, the current President took a victory lap, flexing the results of $1.64 billion in funding awarded to the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project connecting Kentucky and Ohio across the sun-kissed Ohio River. “To a slave to ambition like McCarthy, though, that exercise in public self-abasement probably paled beside seeing Hakeem Jeffries, a Brooklyn Democrat, get nine votes more than he did—even though Republicans had won a narrow majority in the new House,” summed up John Cassidy in The New Yorker.
The President was joined by Mitch McConnell, Republican Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. Biden is breaking out “The Beast,” or the United States presidential state car (aka, "Cadillac One", "First Car"). The Beast — a hellaciously tricked out armored limousine — is the official state car of POTUS. “Intended to look like a stretched version of a Cadillac XT6 sedan, it’s one of a dozen that make up a contract initially estimated at $15.8 million and designed to help the commander in chief survive virtually every possible form of attack from a terrorist or assassin,” wrote Paul A. Eisenstein for NBCNews. “And, if the president is injured, the Beast has an extensive range of medical supplies on board, including a refrigerator full of the president’s own blood type.”
The Beast was last seen rolling up to Westminster Abbey on the sneaky for the Queen’s funeral …
Because that’s how Joe Biden rolls!
This is clearly a delicious moment for BidenWorld, despite the underlying shame that one of the American branches of government is, for the moment, quite dysfunctional. During the midterm campaigns — just a few, short months ago on the other side of the calandar — POTUS was effectively radioactive material. No one wanted to campaign with him or feature his Presidency in ads, which must have been personally painful. Ohio Democratic Senate candidate Tim Ryan and Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nan Whaley did not appear with Biden on the campaign trail during the closing days of their campaigns last year. Neither did Senate candidates this summer in key races in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Arizona appear with the President. In Maine, Biden skipped campaigning with Reps. Chellie Pingree (CD-1) and Jared Golden (CD-2) for their reelection fights. Aforementioned Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, of Kentucky himself —! — shunned Biden during the midterms. Nothing personal, of course, its just politics.
Plus ça change! Now we have the performative theatrics of Boebert, Gaetz and Greene — who are, predictably having a crack up of their own —around the dumpster fire. Is this the so-called red wave? The tongue of flame emanating from the dumpster fire that is the hot Congressional mess?
Yes, indeed it is.
Madame Speaker?
I almost want to boost for Dolly Parton for Speaker of the House with gusto, but I think I've already in the past year floated her name for Vice President and Governor of Tennessee …
“Biden deserves partial credit for reducing U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, ramping up diplomatic efforts to end the war, and approving drone strikes more sparingly than Trump and Barack Obama.” (Matthew Duss and Stephen Wertheim/TNR)
“The Guardian described the attack that began on December 20 as a ‘serious incident which has affected our IT network and systems,” writes Max Tani. “The paper closed its offices, telling staff to work remotely for several days around the Christmas holiday.” (SEMAFOR)
But in a memo to employees this week, chief executive Anna Bateson said that the company’s offices will remain closed until at least January 23. Two Guardian staffers told Semafor that a tiny skeleton crew continues to go into the London office.
“By giving voice to the ideals of the forgotten Americans who believe that love is love, women’s rights are human rights, and hedge-fund managers deserve special tax breaks, (Kyrsten) Sinema has made our nation’s Congress more representative of its people …” (Eric Levitz/The Intelligencer)
“I just don’t know if I want Drax to be my legacy,” said Dave Bautista. (Samantha Berguson/Indiewire)
“All kidding aside, 2022 was a pretty good movie year for most of the genres we love. The big one, however, the comic book movie space, hit a rough patch,” writes Borys Kit. “… Horror had a banner year, both in terms of box office hits and quality.” (THR)