The Bricktosser

The Clinton Travel Office Scandal seems so quaint in comparison.

I just tried making this point yesterday and some people will not hear it.

As a USian I don't get the complaint. It's it some weird offense taken, or just aesthetic dislike?

Same!

Shock Treatment is criminally underrated/ignored.

Similarly I've heard people downplay Regan's communication skills, because they disagreed with him. Nope, sorry, Reagan was an amazing communicator (of very bad ideas).

They lead the caucus (of caucuses, as you note) in each respective chamber. That job is building the consensus and keeping members from staying too far when it matters. (Schumer does in fact suck at that.) That sausage-making is at odds with national messaging and inspiration. Anyone would fail.

This is semantics.

The party leaders of each chamber have specific jobs that make it hard for them to be good national representatives. There's a reason such people always have terrible national approval ratings regardless of party.

OTOH, if you just want "Dems suck" gotcha points, here have 1000

The job of caucus leader is very different than just generally "leader." The things that job requires are specifically at odds with being a statesman or inspirational leader.

I said elsewhere, it's like asking the guy who works the sausage grinder to also be the salesman.

The structural problem isn't the people in those seats, it's what we expect from them.

The party really ought to elect an opposition leader outside these roles because these roles are fundamentally not suited to be both spokesperson and caucus-wrangler. Thune, McConnell, Pelosi, Johnson, same issue

I didn't disagree but the chamber speakers are always going to be weak as national public leaders. They're almost always deeply unpopular with the general public and only middling with their own base. I can't think of a particular exception except maybe Newt Gringrich, and only with his base.

House and Senate majority and minority leaders almost always have terrible approval ratings. The needs of the job (wrangling a caucus, allocating resources) are orthogonal to public leadership and messaging. It's like asking the guy who runs the sausage grinder to be the salesman too.

The regular criticisms of Schumer and Jeffries stem almost entirely on the structural problem that these roles aren't conceived as national leaders and spokespeople, but as internal leaders. True for the majority leaders too, but they have the president to be a figurehead.

I often wonder if Andrew Hickey and Kirk Hamilton listen to each other's podcasts. They are such great compliments to each other.

Not going to @ them cuz that's rude.

This is happening because the Republicans in Congress are allowing it to happen.

Swamp Thing and Abby Arcane

two page spread from Swamp Thing, with Wood adding a spectacular red backdrop to a single panel, in the same tone as Abby's shirt

Wood's variations on greens and light yellow adds to a trippy 2page spread

Tatjana Wood, in the mix of Moore, Veitch, Bissette, Totleben etc on Swamp Thing, was the equivalent of a great bassist in a band---if not appreciated enough, absolutely essential to the whole. RIP.

I can't agree, PS1 games, if they don't hurt your eyes (I get it, some people are superficial) have a huge amount of variety.

I can't play Raiden 2, Skullmonkeys, Wipeout (a good version anyway), Metal Slug, Castlevania, Devil Dice, Spyro on an N64.

Many PS1 treasures are just top flight 2D games

Underrated, PS1 has a huge number of excellent 2D games as well, that N64 wasn't really qualified for

Anyway I agree and Aaron is wrong on this one.

The running theme of Le Carre novels is: being a spy is the worst profession ever.

I love em.

My go to example of a movie that nails the book perfectly.

I can’t wait until this is over and I stop seeing people pretending to be experts on my district who probably didn’t know who Biss was before 2025

Biss is not corporate. That's something you made up

Why?

I am never going to get over the fact thar so many Americans died that corpses stacked up in nursing homes and hospital morgues, that refrigerator trucks had to be brought in for the overflow, and that the big takeaway from Important Pundits is there should have been *less* mitigation.

I might have watched it at home, but Now You See Me.

The recent entry in the series reminded me all over again of how mad I was.

I once booked a hotel a year later than intended. Thankfully they weren't full when I showed up.

Great, brief relationship thread right here.

I'll never understand "wife guy" as an insult. Of course I'm a wife guy, my wife is awesome.

I am not always on board with complaints that something in a headline should have been put this way instead of that way, but “their story falls apart” is much too soft for me in this case. One’s story does not gently fall apart like a popsicle stick house.

And that’s not what gets you suspended.

I've wanted to try this

Faust but with a happy ending!