Wednesday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Wednesday, September 25, 2024
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59 comments
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About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor 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).
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Chalk this up to random musings on psychology. Over the years I’ve noticed that coffee mugs have gotten bigger and bigger and bigger. This morning I walked into the breakroom kitchen to get my coffee and one of the guys came in and put his very large mug into the microwave. “Third time I’ve had to heat it up today! Always happens…”, he said. I didn’t ask, but wondered why he just doesn’t get a smaller mug? In fact, I get my coffee cup from the company provided china sets in the cabinet right next to the microwave. The biggest is about 12 ounces and the smallest 10 or 8. I always take the smallest. I sit down, have my coffee and it’s hot the whole way through. Then, if I want another cup a couple of hours later, I refill that one. What’s the point in letting half or two-thirds of it get cold and reheating it?
Random political thoughts of the morning:
– Favorability ratings: Harris 47.3% Favorable, 46.5 Unfavorable. Trump 43.0 Favorable, 52.4 Unfavorable. Question: How do these ratings translate into vote polling? Doesn’t seem to be a lot of correlation.
– Living in Texas, we are not bombarded by ads; however, why are the Democrats not going negative on Trump WRT to his supposed strengths: the economy and foreign policy. Negative partisanship works. But it seems as though they let him get away with his BS on those two topics.
@MarkedMan: Same goes for wine glasses. We have wine glasses handed down from decades ago and they are pretty small (maybe 4oz). Today’s glasses can easily hold 10-12 oz. We use the small ones to incentivize lower consumption.
Here is a great (and detailed) analysis of J. D. Vance
“DavidLurie”
Here is a sampling (there is lots more):
and this:
and this
Too now, Vance is become an extreme Catholic of an atavistic version. I suppose he still thinks evolution comes from the Devil though.
@MarkedMan:
Two years ago, for some reason we had an exchange of mugs at the office. I got one that is tall, narrow on the bottom, and widens toward the top. I think it’s as big as 15 regular mugs as regards capacity. I like it because of the unusual design, and because I can use it to drink juice or soda or water in addition to coffee or tea.
The thing is I don’t fill it to the top when I get coffee. I put in abut as much as fits in a regular sized mug. Because, yes, otherwise it grows cold before I finish it.
@Scott: The purpose of the larger wine glasses, at least in theory, isn’t to add more wine, but rather to provide a volume for the bouquet to concentrate.
@MarkedMan: About 20 years ago I tried to improve my knowledge of wines. I read, I studied, I tasted. The education never took. I find I’m just as happy with box wines as anything else. So I’m a peasant who quaffs. Oh well.
@MarkedMan:
Most of the places I go to now offer 9 ounce pours. The theory was good but just didn’t hold up especially where the wine is offered through draught beer systems.
@Scott: I have a real taste for beer, but little for wine. I can tell the difference between different batches of the same beer at my local breweries, and I once noticed a difference in a beer I had only had a half dozen times, then a four year gap (an offering from Brewery Ommegang whose production had been transferred to a different plant when Duvel bought them). But wine? It’s red or white. It has bubbles or it doesn’t. If it’s white? Maybe sourness, oakiness, and harshness. If it’s red? Tannins. Intensity. That’s about it. My go to bottles are all relatively cheap – Bogle Old Vines or Merlot for red, and there’s a couple of different whites but lately we really like Vino Verde.
My wife hasn’t been able to drink reds in years, so it’s usually box wine red for me.
RE: wine sizes…every time we go over to Europe, I’m struck by how logical it is to offer different sizes of wine. We were in Germany not long ago and you could order a 1 dl., 2 dl., or 3 dl. pour of wine.
In addition to recognizing that not everyone wants a glass with half a bottle’s content, it also allows the diner to order portions suitable for a course–small glass of one wine with appetizers, and a small glass of another with the meal.
@MarkedMan: What are you? Some kind of furriner? Or Democrat? This is ‘Murica, bigger is always better. Come outside and look at muh pickup truck.
I was reading part of the transcript of one of Trump’s rallies in Pennsylvania. I’ think I’m starting to understand one element of his appeal. He tells people he will personally solve their problems. Your auto insurance is too high? He will, as your president, halve it. That is his solution. No details, he’ll just solve your problem. The fact that it is nonsense doesn’t matter to them. And he somehow conveys to them that he cares about them on a personal level, even though the list of people that Donald Trump cares about consists of Donald Trump, and possibly Ivanka. A lot of the people at his rallies are unhappy with their personal situation in life. They want the government to fix things, but only for them. They need to know that the “others” are to blame, and that someone will go after the others. And make sure that the others are worse off than they are. IMO Trump is a savant in getting people to fall for his lies. It’s not just the rubes at his rallies. He has spent a lifetime convincing people to invest in his casinos, his DJT stock, etc.
I don’t know if you can combat his appeal to his followers. I would like to see a Harris ad where she tells people what a president can’t do. A president cannot replace the federal income tax with tariffs. A president cannot do anything about high insurance rates. Insurance isn’t even regulated at the federal level, by law the states have that authority. And a president can’t punish people who didn’t support her.
@Pete S: That’s because “provide a volume for the bouquet to concentrate” was always just a cover story. More wine was always the goal just like more ABV is the goal of home/craft brewing.
[…]
ETA: “They want the government to fix things, but only for them.” Ayup!
@MarkedMan:
I just recently switched from big mug to china cup. 6 ounces maybe? I fill it with water first, nuke it for a minute, then coffee. I don’t exactly know why I decided on the change.
Back when I was working in restaurants and also writing the restaurant review column in the paper (ethics? Say what?) I had a pretty good palette for wine. But it’s something you kind of have to stick with and I never cared enough to make it a lifelong thing.
It’s good to know your limitations. I would never spend $1000 on a bottle of wine because I don’t have a palette sufficiently educated to differentiate between a top shelf red Bordeaux and a decent California Cab. Of course if that attitude got around here in Vegas, restaurants would be very sad. I guarantee you that 90%+ of guys who order a $1000 Dom or Cristal could not differentiate them from a $100 Veuve Clicquot yellow label in a blind taste test. As always, drink what you like.
If you’re liking Vino Verde, try its grown-up sibling, Albarino. (That’s the Spanish, for Portuguese, make the ‘b’ into a ‘v’, insert random ‘h’ and turn the ‘o’ sound into ‘oo.’)
@gVOR10: Hah! I’ll park my Mini Cooper in the bed of that truck!
Check out the original Mini comparison! It really would fit in the bed of that truck. Of course, with the extended cab shown here, you’ld have to leave the tailgate down.
@just nutha:
Yep. The giveaway is there when you watch video of actual vintners who carry around sturdy little 4 oz. glasses. Or, not that you see this much anymore, but a sommelier who carries basically a spoon.
At LGM Paul Campos quotes political scientist Gary Jacobson saying something I think explains a lot:
I don’t know why we spend money on fusion research when motivated reasoning is clearly the most powerful force in the universe. It’s conventional wisdom that people vote on tribal affiliation. GOPs have been amazingly successful in creating an artificial “anti-elite” tribe.
@Michael Reynolds: Many years ago when my sister-in-law got married she had the reception at her house and they served decent champagne, probably $20-25 bottle in today’s money. At one point the immediate family got invited upstairs for a thank you and we toasted it with a very expensive champagne. Don’t remember what it was but it came in a special box and had a hand painted bottle. I tasted it and thought, ‘hmm, I really don’t notice the difference between this and what I was drinking downstairs, lucky me!’ Unfortunately when I had another glass of the downstairs bubbles, I immediately noticed the difference. My lesson? Never drink the good stuff and I’ll be more than happy with the mediocre ones.
@Michael Reynolds:
The vast majority of what we think of as our sense of taste is actually our sense of smell. It doesn’t take a large sample to differentiate by smell.
@just nutha:
Definitely true for a good few years, but in the craft breweries I frequent, lagers, pilsners, sessions and other similar lower ABV’s have gradually replaced IPAs and Imperial Stouts in terms of number of offerings. And I am happy about that, for sure. I can watch a whole baseball game, get four half-pours or two halfs and a full (I always like to try a variety), and still walk out of there more or less intact (if the Orioles won, that is).
@MarkedMan:
Is that really true? I thought that the winemakers saw Courteney Cox drinking wine out of Big Carl on Cougar Town and presumed that wine-drinkers have stepped up their in-take big time and decided to fill that void. I kid, I kid, not a wine drinker but I am aware that one of the things you are supposed to do with many wines is let it breathe for a few minutes before you take your first sip.
@MarkedMan: I’ve been amused by the fact that the Mini, not to mention the Clubman, is huge compared to the original Mini. Also, I noticed a Mini a couple days ago with a monochrome, darker red, on red, on paler red, Union Jack on the roof. It’s nostalgia marketing, but how many people still remember the old Mini, much less Union Jacks on the roof? I guess it’ll remain a mystery akin to Harley marketing. How do you maintain the outlaw image when most of the riders are middle class retirees? Hell’s Orthodintists.
(I’m an old SCCA guy. I fondly remember Minis with 18″ wide slicks on the required 10″ wheels. Looked like rolled up sleeping bags. No motor, but they could out-corner anybody.)
Lucysfootball- I think lots of people on the left se Trump as a moron, and he says a lot fo stuff that reinforces that belief. However, that ignores the fact that he is a salesperson and a very good marketer. He is good at reading the mark (the voters) and then telling them what they want to hear. He personalizes it saying that he and only he can deliver the needed fix. A lot of those people are legitimately unhappy about some stuff so he tells them what they want to hear.
To me, and I think most on the left it sounds like a grifter lying to the people he is about to cheat. However, in context, he is reinforcing what these people have heard from right wing media for years. That same media reinforces what Trump says after he says it while also lying about left wing positions. Also, to be fair, the left has ignored and at times even vilified or made fun of some of those same people.
Steve
@MarkedMan:
Probably Perrier Jouet. Lovely bottles. Decent Champagne.
@gVOR10:
At age 17 I was hitchhiking around the UK. Finally realized, oh yeah, stand on the other side of the road. First ride was in an original Mini, going like a bat out of hell on the wrong side of the road, to my as-yet-unadjusted senses. No roller coaster has ever equaled the terror.
@inhumans99:
Mostly reds, and mostly older reds at that. A bottle of Menage a Trois is ready to go. Likewise any white wine you or I are likely to buy.
@gVOR10: Re: New Mini versus Original Mini. There’s a picture for that too! Couple of things to bear in mind though. The original Mini Cooper would not have survived any kind of a modern crash test. Not even the most trivial. And the front seats were none too generous and the back seat was essentially useless. In contrast, when my two kids were pre-teens we took long road trips with a 2005 two door Mini Cooper and my wife and I had plenty of room up front (I’m 6′ 1″) and the kids never complained in the back. We now have a 2015 four door giving us some more room in the back seat and a bit more cargo, and the kids are adults, but we still pile in on occasion for trips under an hour. Still no complaints.
@Michael Reynolds:
I just looked that up. It was, indeed. They gifted us a bottle at our wedding and that came with two hand painted wine glasses as well.
@Michael Reynolds:
This is probably generally true, but I had an experience that kind of blew my mind a bit re: champagne. I had the chance to drink from a bottle of Krug (probably around $250) and wow, the difference from a $50 Moet was marked. The Krug was SO much better. Was it $200 better? Well, IMHO it was. As in, I’d actually be willing to spend $250 to drink it again.
But generally when it comes to wine, we have our couple favorites that we drink regularly, and those run anywhere from $15-$50.
This may explain some of Trump’s appeal to the godly:
http://www.slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/09/donald-trump-2024-president-election-shooting-christians.html
By the way, palate not palette. Which occurred to me while I was driving the dogs to the groomer.
This is Republican governance
The reporter who won the Pulitzer for breaking the story on Brett Favre’s hijacking of federal welfare funds is now facing jail because the Republican party wants her sources. And just to be perfectly clear… The Republican Party wants to ruin the lives of her sources.
This story is a perfect encapsulation of exactly how Republicans govern — and have always governed, and will always govern. This is The Republican South. This is what happens both in small towns and big towns —- coverup of corruption and attacking not the corruption but the person or persons who exposed the corruption.
There is not now — and never was, and never will be — any such thing as a “good Republican.”
@Michael Reynolds:
Agreed generally, but its often a good idea to let Australian and New Zealand sauvignon blancs sit for 15 minutes or so. They often have a noticeably stronger sulfite presence, added to protect during longer shipping times for a fairly delicate white. The odor completely dissipates in minutes.
Republicans should just not be let near dogs.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/24/project-2025-kevin-roberts-killed-dog
Also, it’s weird that the leading two paragraphs are 80% similar in terms of information. Neither quite gives a full accounting, but there is so much overlap in what they do contain.
Not all writing has to be great writing, I guess.
@Gustopher: Republicans should just not be let near dogs.
Little children can sometimes make a lot of noise and be disturbing. Kevin Roberts has four children. Kristi Noem has three children. Are those the true numbers, or were these the children who “made the cut” and weren’t noisy and disturbing?
@charontwo: The thing is, I think there’s a germ of a point there. Being connected to a community – that includes people of a variety of ages – has a very significant influence on behavior. The community might be a bunch of criminals – in which case you will likely become a criminal, too.
And of course, a church-centered community will have its focus which is likely to include “good behavior”, but we all know churchgoers who are also criminals. But other churches – less likely to be evangelical megachurches IMHO – just focus on doing the best they can for themselves and their community.
With the megatrend of atomization, the number of such groups that exist and one can join is dwindling. This is a problem, but I don’t really know how politics can address it.
@MarkedMan: Don’t drink beer or wine–exclusively a (cheap) hard liquor person.* My view on this question comes from 1) hearing every one of the several people I’ve known who home brewed or made homemade wine telling me that the challenge is to figure out a fermentation process that will boost the alcohol content. And, 2) my grandmother entrusting to me the “family secret” for what made Grandpa’s special white wine so special–he made 45 gallons of wine and added 5 gallons of moonshine to the barrel before the bottling phase.
*I was just reminded that I need to go to the liquor store and buy something. I just finished the bottle of rum I bought for my birthday in 2o23 and am out of liquor now. (I should probably skip it and just drink in bars, but I do like a coffee nudge from time to time.)
@Mikey: Years ago, I went to a cigar and whisky (ey?) tasting event. One of the pours was a very expensive 25-year+ aged single malt, and I. too, could tell that that tipple was a world apart from the other premium whiskies we were sampling. But for the most part, Reynolds is probably right about distinguishing one sample from another in our everyday lives (and how often do I ever say that he’s right about anything?).
[…]
“but how many people still remember the old Mini…”
I do, but I was recently watching Danger Man (Secret Agent in the US), and almost every episode opened with the little white Mini (or was it a Morris Minor?) zipping around the traffic circle. What always amazed me was that Patrick McGoohan could fold himself into one of those cars. I don’t think I’ve ever been that flexible.
@CSK: I grew up in a similar milieu–though we weren’t charismatics in those days–and was in an “independent and non-denominational” evangelical church at the height of the Moral Majority. This still gob smacks me all the same.
@Scott:
Au contraire. Five ounces of wine tastes totally different in the bottom of a large well-shaped glass than it does in a glass that it fills nearly to the brim. It’s hard to do blind tests of this (for obvious reasons) but the effect is striking. In particular, the toy glasses used at many wineries for tastings are pointless — there’s no way to tell how that wine will taste in a real glass.
My large Riedel wine glasses that I never fill more than 1/3 full were one of the best purchases I ever made.
@Michael Reynolds:
That’s what I had with dinner last night. Yum. In Portugal, you can also get a lightly sparkling Alvarinho that is to die for on a hot day.
@Michael Reynolds: You’ve probably answered this in the past, but what kinds of dogs do you have?
@Neil Hudelson:
Also Rhone whites (chateauneuf du pape blanc, cotes du rhone blanc, Hermitage blanc, etc.) Some of that gluey smell blows off and what’s left is yummy.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
As I’ve mentioned, I wasn’t raised in any religion, so I’m triply gobsmacked. In fact, I feel like a space alien encountering something like this.
I made the “mistake” of trying a really nice single malt (The Balvenie Port Wood 21 Year). It’s just lovely.
Same sort of thing with wines and champagnes–when I’ve had a really nice one, I’ve noticed the difference.
And yes, the glass does have an effect on the taste, at least for me.
@DrDaveT: Good to know. My Italian grandparents served wine, even at family dinners, in 6-ounce tumblers, so I wouldn’t know.
And, we need a joke today. A friend of mine shared a New Yorker article that made the claim that this joke is the best joke ever:
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Might I suggest: https://beatboxbeverages.com/products/fruit-punch-11-1-abv
You may consider me a very fine Bad Idea Sommelier.
The Fruit Punch Beatbox lacks the chemical taste that afflicts many of its siblings. This allows a much more pleasant quaffing. So pleasant that you won’t notice that you’ve drunk two of them and are now fighting to stop your friend from petting a skunk on your way to the warehouse rave.
Also, they sell Beatboxes in a large bladder and I want one right now. I’ve spent all day reading an insurance policy. I’m on page 128 of 169. The next 30 pages are all exclusions and I have to read those extra carefully.
Don’t let your kids go to law school
Aaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnd here’s our fresh hell:
https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/22-republican-ags-threaten-to-make
@Lucysfootball: It’s the kind of messaging the US public has been steeped in since the Boomers. He’s using what has become a deeply familiar voice to many. Familiar is comforting.
As you say he’s a gifted con man. Key to that ability is knowing when you are losing your marks, and he’s already looking for excuses for losing.
I think the Internet is broken. Seriously. Today I was telling someone about Hachiko (dog who escorted his owner to the subway every day and then went home on his own, only to return to the station again 15 minutes before the man’s train arrived so he could walk home with him. Man dies at work. Dog spends years going to the subway at the same time, waiting for an hour, and then returning home alone.) And then I got one of my, “Oh shit, I’m telling a story that makes no sense. It’s gotta be wrong”. I’ve been to the Hachiko stop, more than once, and there is so much traffic surrounding it no dog could walk there and back on its own. (Spoiler: it turns out it was in the 30’s, not the 60’s as I half remembered, so virtually no car traffic.)
So I did what one would do and googled it. I found a likely looking link, clicked on it, and it confirmed everything I knew. I started to pat myself on the back, but then hesitated and reread the article. It had that feel of generative AI. So then I had to ask myself: were its “facts” based on reality, or just the internet zeitgeist about Hachiko? In other words, was it just repeating back to me the same wrong but popular version of the facts that “everyone knows”?
The Internet is going to become useless for a lot of stuff, very quickly. At least I’m old enough to remember how to use a library…
@MarkedMan: I had that problem when a boyfriend introduced me to good scotches. After you have had a good smoky malt like a Laphraoig it’s very hard to go back.
This says all you need to know about Saudi Arabia’s “investment” in Jared Kushner:
Speaker Johnson bailed out by Democrats again.
Trump wants to jail 132 Republican representatives.
@Scott: I recall a discussion here awhile back about how approval doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll vote for someone. For instance, I have positive impressions of Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger because of their courage and integrity. But I would never vote for either of them unless they were running against an absolute shitshow of a Democrat, because I don’t agree with their political views.
@Beth: Hmmm… I haven’t consumed fruit-flavored alcoholic beverages since the days of Zapple and Annie Greensprings. Maybe it would bring back fond memories. Disco. Still believed I could be musicologist. Good times, those.
@Gavin: hold up. The gop has its historical base as an urban, progressive party. It is conservative governance. Much bigger than any party label. Don’t act like Jim Crow was the gop when instituted. It was conservative politicians. Parties change ideology over time.
@wr:
We have a very pretty mutt who we think is some blend of Golden Retriever and Papillon. She’s got a Jennifer Coolidge., floozy-ish vibe. And we have a Pug, with the obligatory underbite. She is not pretty. She looks a bit like an Alien chest-burster. Both had tough lives before we acquired them.
@MarkedMan:
You have seen the future. Well, I say future. . .
@Mister Bluster: I feel like Mike Johnson is the best Republican Speaker we could get at this time in our history. I am relieved that he is a negotiator, not a weasel, or a rock-thrower.
I would love to know what Mike Johnson, who has an adopted black son, said in private to Rep. Higgins.