URLs du Jour

2021-10-06 (Sinema Edition)

[Potty Humor]

  • But Senator Sinema should tow the line! A tweet from a member of the media elite:

    Ms. Navarro-Cárdenas is apparently being considered for the token conservative spot on "The View". Which doesn't involve a spelling test, she hopes.

    But she has powerful backers, like Emily Jashinsky of the Federalist: An Unqualified Endorsement Of Ana Navarro For 'The View'

    Times like these call for clarity. It’s important to know exactly where the well-coiffed denizens of our chattering class stand. With democracy hanging in the balance, these so-called talking heads play a critical role in bringing the forgotten voices of people with personal drivers into the discourse. It’s in that spirit I’d like to formally endorse Ana Navarro as the new host of “The View.”

    Few pundits could dream of matching Navarro’s consistency as a clueless flack for the political establishment. When Mitt Romney lost in 2012, there was Navarro, haunting Harvard’s hallowed halls with prescient pre-Trump musings like, “I think you’re going to see voices in the Republican Party become more vocal, louder talking about inclusion, talking about diversity.” Fresh off a stint with Jon Huntsman, Navarro took on the human form of the RNC autopsy, nudging conservatives to moderate for the sake of political expediency.

    Come, swim in the gentle waters of cosmopolitan privilege, she beckoned, where the rosé flows as freely as the pablum, where nothing matters but book parties and superficial virtue. So long as you say something about civility or “inclusion” or “diversity,” you can casually promote the interests of corporatists who are bulldozing the country for profit. And you can do it with a blowout!

    I note that both Ana and Emily find it useful to accuse their targets of being corporate shills. Must resonate in the focus groups.


  • Welcome to the new normal, Charlie. Charles C. W. Cooke points out that according to the old, busted rules, Activists’ Confronting Senator in Bathroom Is Not Normal.

    [Sunday] afternoon, on the campus of Arizona State University, a cluster of left-wing political activists followed Democratic senator Kyrsten Sinema into a bathroom. They filmed her as she entered one of the stalls, filmed her while she occupied one of the stalls, and filmed her as she left the bathroom in shock. “We need to hold you accountable!” the activists maintained, to the sound of awkward flushing. “We can get you out of office if you don’t support what you promised us!”

    The condemnation was . . . well, non-existent. Reporting on the incident, Newsweek led with the fact that, as of last night, the video had “been viewed 4 million times on social media.” At the Washington Post, the key takeaway was that “frustration over Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s refusal to fall in line with other Senate Democrats and pass legislation central to President Biden’s agenda” had “boiled over.” On Twitter, meanwhile, the Daily Beast contended merely that Sinema had “locked herself in [the] bathroom to avoid young activists.”

    Charlie goes on to point out that if it had been right-wing troglodytes pursuing (say) Elizabeth Warren into the can… well, would have been entirely justified if security personnel had shot them dead.


  • From our "Uncannily Accurate Metaphor" Department. Jim Geraghty notes that it's just another canned play from the lefty menu: The Piranhas Come for Sinema.

    The progressive Left — represented not just by Democratic politicians but by activists, aligned groups, institutions, cultural figures, and certain journalists — operates on the mentality that anyone who stands in the way of it getting what it wants must be destroyed.

    Joe the Plumber. Brett Kavanaugh. The Little Sisters of the Poor. Brendan Eich.

    And right now, Kyrsten Sinema — who has never voted against the Biden administration’s position in the Senate — is the target of the progressive Left’s wrath. On Sunday morning Politico’s Playbook newsletter thought the biggest story of the day was that Saturday Night Live was making fun of Sinema:

    After everybody else is on board with investing in roads, Sinema: “I want no roads.” Biden: “Why?” Sinema: “Chaos.” [In reality, roads are one of the few things Sinema has made clear she wants.]

    After Sinema is asked what she actually likes: “Yellow Starbursts, the film ‘The Polar Express’ and when someone eats fish on an airplane. . . . As a wine-drinking, bisexual triathlete, I know what the average American wants.”

    Politico seemed convinced that this impression will shape how Americans feel about what’s going on in Washington. New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg cites the sketch this morning and fumes, “It sometimes seems as if what Sinema wants is for people to sit around wondering what Sinema wants.” Oh, those silly women, never knowing what they want! Even Freud was baffled by it! Goldberg wishes Sinema were more like John McCain and concludes that, “There’s a difference, it turns out, between being a maverick and being a narcissist.”

    I'm pretty sure this is standard Alinsky.

    I'm unlikely to agree with Senator Sinema about much, but I note that our New Hampshire Senators, Jeanne and Maggie, are unlikely to show a tenth of her backbone.


  • Not irrelevant at all to my theme today. Professor Jacobs quotes David French and adds a comment.

    David French:

    We cannot be empathetic only to our allies. We cannot allow fear of law enforcement excess to deprive fellow citizens of the protection they need. And we have to recognize both that threats and harassment are always wrong and that in our present moment they’re especially dangerous. Our nation is playing with fire. It’s imperative that it stop now, or the angry and the cruel will ignite a blaze that we cannot contain.

    The whole post is good and important. Always remember: there are people out there — the professional media and social media are dominated by them — who want us to hate one another, who make bank when we hate one another. Flee those people as you would flee the plague, because they are a plague. Don’t threaten them; don’t attack them; just get away from them. Don’t feed their fire with the oxygen of your attention, or else, as David says, we’re not gonna be able to extinguish those flames. 

    That's not an excerpt, that's the whole thing. You're welcome.


Last Modified 2024-01-31 6:05 AM EDT