CSotD: Waiting for Milton, Harris & Trump

Gary Varvel (Creators) offers a sensible if not groundbreaking reminder that democracy belongs to the voters. Such messages don’t need to plow a whole lot of new ground, but they have value, particularly in a bizarre world in which people are being urged to distrust the system.

We’ve seen school budgets get shot down by crabpatches and tightwads, only to be put back up for a vote and then pass because the people who didn’t show up the first time are suddenly aware of the value of voting.

But this isn’t a local election, and, as with the UK’s Brexit vote, if only the partisans show up, well, there are no do-overs.

Juxtaposition of the Day

Mike Luckovich

Rob Rogers

There are so many whirling hurricane cartoons now, and whenever a storm threatens, that you kinda wonder what people drew before we had that wide overhead perspective.

These two provide an interesting juxtaposition, because, while I don’t think either of them is talking about Milton the Monster Hurricane, Luckovich makes a general observation that seems to at least include the response to the storm and the issue of climate change, while Rogers personifies the overall raging storm of Trump, specifically listing his lies, mismanagement and general toxicity.

My own opinion, sitting up here in the Northeast and somewhat immune to Milton, is that Rogers nails the more critical factor.

But perhaps if I were in the Southeast, I’d be more focused at the moment on getting through the next few days and would be more stirred by Luckovich.

The big issue, as Kevin Necessary points out, is that we had a system that should have worked, but was hobbled at best and disabled at worst by political shenanigans.

A certain amount of politics is bound to creep in: Bush was criticized for flying over Katrina’s damage, but it was a reasonable step, because first responders were too busy to be pulled off the line for a grip-and-grin. The shoe has gone on the other foot this time, though Harris was more specific about trying to stay out of the way until things settled down a bit.

However, while natural disasters are no time for politics to begin with, they’re certainly no time for spin, propaganda and outright lies.

Nor are they a time for insensitive buffoonery, and I’ve seen several references to tossing paper towels, though we’ve long since discovered Trump’s inability to recognize and relate to other people’s pain and distress. I guess those who think he’s funny or brave or brilliant will continue to do so.

Juxtaposition of the Day #2

Non Sequitur — AMS

Walt Handelsman

I got a chuckle out of Wiley’s piece, which ran in the Sunday papers and thus, given the lead time, was not necessarily a reflection on a particular disaster. But Handelsman, having been through Katrina and with no issue of lead time, is looking ahead to Milton as well as reflecting on the results of Helene.

It’s not entirely about hurricanes anyway. Insurance companies have been raising rates and dropping coverages in all sorts of places for all sorts of reasons, and it makes you wonder if for-profit insurance is still a viable enterprise?

That sounds absurd at first: What would you put in its place? How could you replace a massive industry that has functioned for so many years?

But we once said that about Ma Bell, that with all the wires and switching stations and boosters and whatnot, you couldn’t open the telephone industry up for competition.

And yet, while I can’t remember when I switched to MCI, it was at a time when Maxwell Smart pretty well had the cell phone market to himself. In fact, I was on MCI before I even owned a cordless phone.

I suspect my grandchildren’s kids will one day be as puzzled by insurance companies as their parents are by pay phones.

Juxtaposition of the Day #3

Eric Allie — Counterpoint

Dana Summers — Tribune

Where’s this coming from? Is someone on Fox News rattling on about word salad?

Suddenly all the people who were complaining that Harris wouldn’t give interviews are complaining that they can’t understand her.

I’ll grant you that, if you ask her the time, she’ll tell you how to make a watch, but, while she does give lengthy answers, there’s nothing incomprehensible about them. It’s generally accepted that Adlai Stevenson lost to Ike because he was too intellectual, but I’m not hearing that in Harris’s words, which seem sensible and down to earth.

In any case, look who she’s running against: Cary Grant’s biggest fan. I wouldn’t bring up the topic of word salad as a reason to vote for him instead of her.

It can be fun to read his meandering speeches and joke about taking the keys away from Grandpa, but there’s nothing funny about handing the nuclear codes to Grandpa, and it’s heartening to see the New York Times finally bring up the topic of his decline.

Perhaps it will inspire other media to quit sanewashing his quotes and probe the topic, but, then again, it’s like Boss Tweed said,

I don’t care a straw for your newspaper articles; my constituents don’t know how to read, but they can’t help seeing them damned pictures.

So keep the damned pictures coming.

Garth German points out another puzzling thing, which is how the Republicans blame Harris for things totally outside the power of the vice-president, and I think he does well to quote Adams, who was not only more eloquent that VP John Nance Gardner — who pronounced the office a bucket of warm spit — but went on to become an important and influential president.

There’s also a history lesson, in that the Robber Barons made Theodore Roosevelt vice-president to get him the hell out of the NY governor’s office, where he was enacting reforms they didn’t like.

It seemed like a great way to get rid of him until McKinley stepped in front of a bullet and they found themselves awash in trustbusting and ecological action.

But there’s this: George HW Bush was elected on the strength of Ronald Reagan’s popularity, but when he ran again on his own record, he lost to Bill Clinton.

Sometimes a bucket of warm spit is a cool hand.

(Stay safe out there)