CSotD: Waiting for the Electitian or Someone Like Him

Lalo Alcaraz (AMS) takes a leap of faith, given that Ossoff/Perdue remains too close to call as I write this and so was hardly a sure thing when he was creating this one.

Of course, it can be argued that Warnock’s win and the closeness of this race is, in itself, enough to trouble, if not totally stall, the GOP’s drive to complete the Trump revolution, but I was at a paper in 2000 that began their press run as soon as the AP called it for Gore and then had to pulp several hundred copies when the story fell apart.

But it’s a hit — a very palpable hit — however the final count comes out, though it is a greater strike at McConnell and the GOP whose agenda he has been directing, than at the preening figurehead in the White House, who has done quite enough to destroy his own credibility and legacy without help from Stacey Abrams.

 

Bob Gorrell (Creators) is a staunch but thoughtful conservative, and he has stepped off the crazy train, becoming not the first to draw a parallel between Trump and Queeg, but perhaps the most remarkable, given his prior loyalty.

Kind of like having Mel Ferrer walk into the party and tell Fred MacMurray and Van Johnson, “You boys did the right thing.”

 

And, in fact, he came back with this commentary that seems aimed at both the phone call and the quasi-legislative farce scheduled for Congress today.

It’s a plain statement, necessary and sufficient, and, again, a great deal more noteworthy given its origin.

 

Juxtaposition of the Day

(John Darkow, Cagle)

 

(Jack Ohman – WPWG)

Darkow and Ohman play upon Bob Woodward’s reports of Nixon’s increasingly erratic behavior in the last days of Watergate, when he was reported to wander the White House at night, talking to the portraits of former presidents.

Ohman offers a mashup of Nixon’s madness and his famous denial, while Darkow’s portrait of madness needed no caption and might have even been better without one.

But Nixon went mad nearly on his own, his resignation coming in large part because the GOP would no longer defend him.

This time around, it’s a different Republican Party, the moderates and true conservatives having mostly jumped ship, leading to this second

 

Juxtaposition of the Day

(Steve Sack – Star Tribune)

 

(Mike Luckovich – AJC)

 

(Bill Bramhall – NYDN)

One of the frustrations of debate, since the days of Newt Gingrich but particularly in the past four, has been that aspiring fascisti have been treating the Constitution the way they treat the Bible, reading into it whatever justifications they can pry out and ignoring all the parts that go against their pre-determined intentions.

Just as you can’t simply demand that these faux-Christians adhere to scripture, so, too, you can’t simply demand that they uphold and defend the Constitution, because, in both cases, they’ll claim to be doing just that.

Bramhall’s take seems largely dependent on the final count in the Ossoff/Perdue race, but it will matter even if we just go back to an Obama-like situation with sanity and good intentions in one branch and stubborn, doctrinaire roadblocks in the other.

The times, they are a-changing.

 

But whatever happens, there will be holdouts like Chip Bok (Creators), who doesn’t require facts upon which to base his accusations and, in fact, draws for this cartoon on lies and rumors that have been soundly, undeniably disproven.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan may have said that you’re entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts, but he’s dead.

Long live Kellyanne Conway and “alternative facts.”

 

While Rick McKee (Cagle) is auditioning for a spot on the growing list of people being sued by Dominion Voting Systems.

I don’t know how it works for cartoonists, by the way. They could, of course, purchase their own liability insurance, or they could be defended by their newspaper, if they are employed by one, or by their syndicate.

However, I do know that I’ve signed contracts with newpapers that included a pledge not to furnish them with actionable materials.

And when I had my reporter’s notes subpoenaed, my publisher and the paper’s owner were in my corner, but, before the grand jury convened, the publisher resigned, the paper was sold and I felt a cold wind on my backside. Fortunately, the cops withdrew the subpoena

Sometimes things work out, but, if you’re gonna test fate, it should oughta matter.

And, hey, Fox and Newsmax have good lawyers and deep pockets. When they abjectly apologize to Dominion, it’s a clue you might wanna take.

 

And here’s something else: You can’t simply trust people in high places to make solid judgments.

Kevin Siers (Charlotte Observer) offers a comparison between those who question our governmental system and one of the most famous traitors in our history.

 

It’s a worthy commentary, but I’d add this similar portrait, of James Wilkinson, a contemporary of Arnold who was responsible in large part for his dissatisfaction, having greatly discounted Arnold’s heroism at Saratoga as part of a plot to replace Washington with Horatio Gates as commander of the army.

Wilkinson has not dissuaded by failure in that attempt and became a spy for the Spanish, tipping them off to the Lewis & Clark expedition and suggesting they send cavalry to stop it.

Then he made common cause with Aaron Burr’s traitorous plot, escaping conviction largely on a technicality.

After which, and despite of which, he was made head of the Army of the North in the War of 1812, in which his blatant, headstrong incompetence led to bloody defeats in Canada.

It’s that “despite of which” that catches my eye and serves as a reminder that you can’t rely on the system to weed out idiots, incompetents and traitors.

And also that it doesn’t matter which of those categories someone falls under, if he’s harming your country.

Jefferson recommended a free press and universal literacy as our best safeguards. He was right.

But I like Stacey Abrams’ use of telephones, clipboards and shoe leather, because it’s not what people know that matters.

It’s what they do.

(She already knew that, of course.)