Monday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Monday, September 23, 2024
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28 comments
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About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
Follow Steven on
Twitter and/or
BlueSky.
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Well, somebody’s got to be first.
I checked out the CNN/Roy Wood version of “Have I Got News For You”. Wood does a surprisingly good job. His persona from The Daily Show wouldn’t have worked, but he is a steadier, more mellow host that I expected. They need to figure out their panelists, though. On the second episode one of the “informed” panelists was a straight up politician and sounded like it.
I’m standing vigil while wifey is struggling in ICU…..but I caught a fragment of a show in the waiting room, could have been on PBS or BBC, that I’d like to know more about , if anyone is acquainted with it.
It seemed to be a panel like discussion that featured a couple of journalists, a couple of secretaries of state, Mick Mulvaney, a social media executive, jeh Johnson. Each played a role in a thpothetical election interference scenario.
Does anyone recognize this? I’d love to see the whole of the broadcast?
@Bobert: sending good thoughts to you and your wife
@MarkedMan:
I’ve long been a fan of the original Brit version*. Have not watched the CNN version, yet. But the UK cycles its hosts – pols, comics, actors. Boris Johnson was a frequent panelist and host. David Tennant (Dr. Who) is a frequent host, and Victoria Coren Mitchell** and others. It works because UK television runs a lot of panel shows, some political, most not. There’a a sort of repertory theater troupe of panelists who collectively have a lot of experience at banter and witty repartee.
*The recently canceled Mock the Week was better.
** My wife in an alternate timeline.
@Bobert: its called Deadlock on PBS. Gonna watch it myself.
It probably was obvious, but I notice that Trump is only coherent when spewing out hate. His comments make sense, he talks in complete sentences, and there is a kind of linear thought process. It’s when he talks policy that he starts in with the Hannibal Lecter stuff, windmills cause cancer and the like. Kind of like the alzheimer patients who sound crazy for a while but every once in a while are completely lucid. For Trump the hate is what he feels comfortable with.
@Lucysfootball: Good observation. It’s notable that his hate is pretty simplistic and doesn’t require a whole lotta cognitive processing.
My wife is on tour, so it’s me, the dogs and the cat. Every time she’s away I come to the same conclusion: I need a hobby. I walk the dogs, have breakfast, shower and work. That brings me to noon. And then. . . Yeah. I should build model ships or something.
@Bobert: sending good thoughts for your wife’s recovery.
@Mister Bluster: a life well lived. May we all be able to reflect with such joy and satisfaction near the end of our lives.
@Monala:..near the end of our lives.
If we could only know when that will be…
@Bobert:
All the best to you and your wife.
@Michael Reynolds:
Do what I do: Loll around and read.
@Mister Bluster: I was showing Mr becca some Ozark photos over at B-J. He was properly impressed.
He knew of OH through me and my sharing of his comments over the years. When I told him of his passing, his expressed condolences were sincere and heartfelt. I must have mentioned the escapades of OH more than I realized.
@MarkedMan: Yes, as if we need more evidence that Trump is ignorant, dumb, lazy, and nothing more than a BSer. Grade school bullies tend to speak decently when picking on other kids, but when asked about the chapter they were supposed to read….
ETA: I hope your wife is okay, Bobert. And sad to hear about Ozark.
I guess you could say that I became politically aware during Ike’s campaign for re-election in the fall of 1956 when I was eight years old in the third grade. There was a large flatbed truck with rails on the sides that came down my suburban street adorned with red, white and blue banners and bunting and large pictures of Ike’s smiling face. Patriotic music came over the speakers mounted on the top of the cab and campaign workers stood on the bed of the truck throwing candy at all the neighborhood kids.
We had a song that went like this:
I remember my dad, an Ike supporter, telling me that it wasn’t very nice to say that.
@becca:..Ozark Hillbilly…
Like others here I never met him personally. I did spend a few years working in the vicinity of his stompin’ grounds. I met all kinds of folks there and I know why he called The Show-Me State Misery. (It wasn’t just the roads.)
Matt Gaetz claims that five assassination teams are out to get Trump: two domestic and three international (Iran, Ukraine, and Pakistan).
Interesting article in the Times (no subscription needed). It turns out that among the youngest contingent, men are more likely to be active in a church than women, bucking a long established trend. It’s a pretty in depth article and doesn’t really try to answer why, which I appreciate as it would just be “experts speculate” type of stuff.
I liked the article and am still processing it, but one thing did occur to me: here are these conservative young men who no doubt scorn affirmative action, who would adamantly assert that you should put the best person for the job in charge, but who nonetheless believe they should be put in charge of their family merely on the basis of their sex.
@CSK: If Matt Gaetz knows this and the Deep State doesn’t, shouldn’t somebody be asking Matt Gaetz some pointed questions?
@gVOR10:
Indeed. Gaetz didn’t offer any evidence for his contentions.
DJT stock is now under $13, down from a high of $66.
Trump’s personal stake has dropped from a high of 6 billion, to 1.5 billion. He’s lost 4 1/2 billion dollars in six months. Of course that 1.5 is a fantasy number. If he started selling his shares it would send the stock into a death spiral of panicked selling.
Very much on-brand for the 6 bankruptcies man. How many Trump Bibles will he have to sell to make up the loss?
@Michael Reynolds:
Well, he can always fall back on the silver medallions, gold sneakers, and superhero digital trading cards.
Meanwhile, Melania is adding to her personal pile o’ cash.
http://www.rawstory.com/melania-trump-campaign-2669255193/
@MarkedMan:
That wasn’t my experience teaching college students. On the other hand, there may have been yet another sea change that I missed. Either way, I try to avoid assigning the biases that my generation brought into the forefront on people I don’t actually know. (…”who no doubt scorn…”)
@CSK:
McDonald’s
Burger King
Melania
Dairy Queen
Dunkin Donuts
Well, it looks like there is one ethical Republican in Nebraska:
Wow, who IS this guy?
So, the most ethical Republican they have is a former Dem.
Of course.
@Jen: Well, ethical is as ethical does. Apparently he wants to run for mayor of Omaha, and the odds of him winning that election would plummet if his slogan was “Vote for the guy who made you politically irrelevant!”
But hey, I’ll take it…