Left leaning political satire and serious analysis
Below is the bullet-point summary of the MAGA/GOP’s 2024 Party Platform, which they dub as a “common sense” guide to cure what they believe ails us. After you read it, I think you’ll agree wit Albert Einstein’s observation about common sense. Another quote by the curmudgeon H.L. Mencken also fits, “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear and simple . . . and wrong.”
Today, on Meet the Press, Chuck Todd encouraged Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) to name names as possible Joe Biden Democratic party primary opponents. The congressman, a common sense warrior, had not previously named names, except, slyly, his own. He had to be prodded, but he appeared ready to be prodded, and prodded he was by Todd an exemplary prodder.
Throughout the eight minute interview, Phillips was as his House webpage describes him:
Dean is an eternal optimist, radical pragmatist, and problem solver, and as Representative for Minnesota’s Third District, is on a mission to restore Americans’ faith in government by inspiring a new era of collaboration in Congress.
Whoever a radical pragmatist is, nowadays it’s considered a No Labels Party/Commonsense Majority fan, a stubbornly centrist group who many Democrats and Republicans hold at arms length; bipartisanship at last. How often does “common sense” or “no labels” run afoul, after all? It turns out, often. A natural objection to such common sense arguments is that “they beg the question against intended opponents” because the commonplace things labeled so cavalierly as common sense have to actually be proved out, and often they cannot be:
“Common sense said the sun and the moon were the same size; science showed this to be wrong. Common sense said the Earth was the center of the universe; science showed this to be false. Common sense said matter was solid; science has shown this to be false. And so on. Progress in understanding has come to be seen as the accommodation of common sense to the scientific worldview.”
On the other hand, that Donald Trump would rise above real estate swindler was never remotely common sense. And now he has risen from business swindler to enemy of the state. Common sense is dynamic, often experiential, not scientific. It is never stagnant as common sense doors keep opening and closing, always arriving out of confusion and always leaving as experience and rationality dispense with it. To experience Donald Trump is to defy common sense and replace it with intractable emotional stupefaction, now in its eighth year.
So common sense no labelers have their work cut out for them, especially in times of mass confusion, dissembling, and truth and fact denialism. This is both enabled by and caused by a decade of extreme bipartisanship and sedition-mindedness, especially among the Republican/MAGA base.
Courtesy of Meet the Press, Chuck Todd, a master of pushiness, Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, a third termer, we learned who he’s suggesting enter the primaries to take on Joe Biden. He believes everything about Biden (and Harris) is exceptionally positive, nonetheless he avidly encourages other Democrats to knock him off his bully pulpit and into unemployment. Is that common sense? His thoughts on these matters indicate that he forcefully believes it is: Biden is terrific, let’s vote the bum out! And, Philips maintained, Biden’s job performance numbers are low, and the “data speaks the truth.” Another common sense truth.
His attitude reflects semi-popular political memes: it’s time to move on, or turn the page, or “pass the torch,” or what-not. He scrupulously avoided Chuck Todd’s loaded remarks that it’s motivated by Biden’s age, or his poor poll numbers: “I adore Joe Biden. He saved this country.” He seemed to be moving in on meaningless generalities, like the “country wants to move on.” But as common sense is it advisable to make the primaries a gauntlet for the guy “who saved the country”?
In any event, Phillips had stayed clear of naming names of possible challengers but Todd led him down the garden path. Phillips suggested that he’d “like to see a moderate governor, hopefully from the heartland, from one of the four states the Democrats will need, particularly . . .” At “particularly'” Todd leaped in as he often does with his splendid supercilious grin, to impose his iron will. He asked, “Let’s see, is it Gretchen Whitmer [MI], or is it Tim Walz your own state governor [MN], help me out here . . .” Phillips helped him out, suggesting Josh Shapiro [PA], and J.B. Pritzker [IL], concluding, comically and ironically, “Some of these people have asked me that I not use their names . . .” Imagine their blood pressure!
Phillips actually named without endorsing any candidate or even admitting he was naming names. He had his cake and ate it too, escaping the interview without enclosing himself entirely in impolite politics. He was but a polite messenger who does not need to be shot; shoot Chuck Todd who wrenched those names out of me!
Aside from all that, Phillips made some good, common sense “suggestions” about who he’d like to see in the GOP primaries to frustrate Biden. His sensible approach named governors in certain swing states the GOP lost in 2020 (despite their claims of victory). Each of those GOP losses was uncomfortably close. Among them were electoral vote heavyweights Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Their constituents are happy with their governors: Josh Shapiro (PA) and Tony Evers (WI). If one of these popular governor were to snatch the presidential candidacy from Biden and then unsurprisingly carries his state in 2024 that might very well be the key to the election. I’ll not consider the idea that one of these governors would replace Kamala Harris in the VP slot; Biden does not seem to me to be able to pull that trigger. I swear that this is all just simple common sense.
Yet, it’s not necessarily so. Despite Biden’s presently low job approval, the power of incumbency is strong: since 1964 there have been only three one-term presidents, Jimmy Carter, H.W. Bush, and Trump. Also, Biden owns what President Teddy Roosevelt named “the bully pulpit,” giving him almost perfect access to the networks. The record of one-term presidencies is in his favor, as mentioned above. Yes, his age is a bother to many, and that is understandable. The GOP, however, nags incessantly about doddering old Joe, but they express no reservations about Trump, who would enter the presidency a 78 year old, obese, and batsh*it crazy.
I do agree with Phillips, there are excellent Democratic presidential candidates out there. His confidence borders on conceit, though. A conceit paired wit a common sense attitude which relies on data “speaking truth” is to put too many eggs in one statistical basket. And who says it’s “time to turn the page,” Reagan heard the same. Common sense says that, and common sense is always and everywhere a moving target.