Adrastos, Campaign Notes, Fog Of History, Gret Stet Politics, Political Crack, Television

Here Comes The Same Old Feeling

Last night, I split my viewing time between election returns on MSNBC and our epic West Wing rewatch on HBO MAX. It’s the reelection season on the latter, which means the creepy and sinister Ron Silver character pops up as a handler. I had forgotten that Connie Britton played one of his people. She’s the one who gets along with the Bartlett gang: her boss is obviously based on the creepy and sinister Dick Morris.

Let’s move on with this de facto potpourri post.

Yesterday, I predicted that Reverend Senator Warnock would continue his senate ministry by defeating his truly terrible opponent. It was a deeply cynical move to anoint Herschel Walker as his challenger. Joy Reid nailed it on air and on the Tweeter Tube:

I told you that this contributed to Walker’s loss:

Joy retweeted these words of wisdom from my countryman, recovering Republican Tom Nichols:

Radio Free Tom is NOT a malaka, but he knows what the word means. He has one of the best Twitter handles. It’s worth saving the platform just to preserve it. It’s such a good handle that I gave myself an earworm:

I hope that the next celebrity candidate will have a brain. Some of Herschel Walker’s back story is reminiscent of another former Heisman Trophy winner; only that guy was smart enough to get away with murder. Did I just call Herschel a dumbed-down OJ Simpson? Yes.

Georgia voters should have election fatigue. Warnock has now won four races in the last two years. The man deserves some time off as well as credit for being such an exceptional candidate. He kept on message and ran a campaign calculated to win over swing voters and ticket splitters.

New York Magazine’s Ed Kilgore has written a swell piece praising the Revsen. Is that a thing? It sounds like Bennifer to me. It works better than Profsen…

It’s time for a marginally relevant musical interlude from the great Boz Scaggs:

Boz gives good earworm.

Candidates matter. In August, I wrote about the Gruesome Foursome of Oz, Masters, Walker, and Vance. Only the hillbilly elegist prevailed despite the valiant efforts of Tim Ryan. The others lost to excellent candidates: Fetterman, Kelly, and Warnock. The three men couldn’t be more different: they proved that there’s victory in diversity or is it the other way around? Beats the hell outta me.

The eat a peachy Allman Brothers meme at the top of the post says Georgia, Georgia, Georgia. It’s a tribute to the late Tim Russert and his Florida 3X. Perhaps it should be Atlanta, Atlanta, Atlanta. That’s where the votes are in the Peach State:

I’ve felt envious watching Georgia morph from a pure red state to a purple-ish state, at least in federal elections. The Gret Stet of Louisiana was the last state in the Deep South to turn ruby red. As late as 1995, Democrats held all statewide offices.

In 1992 and 1996, the Clinton-Gore ticket won the state with a little help from eccentric billionaire, Ross Perot who used this country classic as his campaign song:

Election return watching in Louisiana was once like last night in Georgia 3X. We also have a run-off system: if not, Senator Mary Landrieu would have won a fourth term in 2014. She led in the first round before losing to Double Bill Cassidy. Landrieu may have been a Blue Dog but she’s pro-choice and delivered for the state in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the Federal Flood.

In Landrieu’s three senatorial victories, she traded leads with her opponents all night long. Orleans Parish always reported last, which led to a Landrieu win until the 2014 runoff. That’s why I remained confident that the Revsen would win in the end with so many votes out in Fulton and Gwinnett counties. Repeat after me: Atlanta, Atlanta, Atlanta.

My colleague Cassandra mocked the gloomy mood on Libtwit at the halfway point last night:

A savvy analysis except for all the damn exclamation points and questionable use of question marks. At least that gave me this swell Stills & Collins earworm:

Despite John Bel Edwards’ upset victory over Diaper Dave in 2015, the Louisiana Democratic party has been a mess for the last fifteen years. Unlike their counterparts in Georgia, they haven’t focused on party building, instead forming that proverbial circular firing squad. Instead of building on the Edwards win, they’ve been unable to get their shit together culminating in their inability to endorse ONE challenger to oppose Neely Kennedy.

Oy just oy.

Speaking of our fake idiot senator, he campaigned with the genuine idiot candidate in Georgia saying shit that was ridiculous even by Neelyism standards.

I hate kale. I dislike the term woke. Am I still a high IQ stupid person? That sounds more like Neely to me.

Charlie Pierce wrote a funny piece about Neely’s latest hicking it up episode. Who the hell walks around with bags of kale? It reminds me of Willard’s “binders full of women” gaffe in 2012.

It’s time to circle back to the post title. As I compared the Georgia election night present to Louisiana election nights past, I thought of a fine old song by a pop-prog super band. The last word goes to Asia:

 

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