A Handful of Kooks

@Brandon9000,

Quote:

(...) Entertainment over governance. Under Trump, the G.O.P. is less a governing party and more an ongoing entertainment complex. It doesn’t have supporters; it has audience members. The Trump show has certain story lines: Washington is an unholy mess that will never get anything right. America is in chaos. Joe Biden is an inflexible left-wing radical who will never tack to the middle. Only Trump can save us. Passing this package [the border deal] would have upended all these narratives. The package had to be destroyed in order to save the story.

Showmanship has eclipsed even simple governance. Republican senators just ditched a compromise that could have passed, and they are already heroically parading behind ideas that have no shot at getting 60 votes. As Mitt Romney put it: “Politics used to be the art of the possible. Now it’s the art of the impossible. Meaning, let’s put forward proposals that can’t possibly pass so we can say to our respective bases — look how I’m fighting for you.” (...)

David Brooks

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@hightor,

He seems pretty popular.

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@Brandon9000,

Yeah, they love him. I think they like the rally experience, too, and the idea that they represent a powerful political force.

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@hightor,

Mind reading arguments are automatically invalid.

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@Brandon9000,

You're so disputatious.

It's neither mind reading nor an argument, just an observation based on my experiences in rallies and protests, some study of crowd psychology, and a discussion with a friend who attended a Trump rally in 2016.

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@hightor,

"I think they like the rally experience, too, and the idea that they represent a powerful political force."

I repeat, any argument based on the premise of reading someone's mind is invalid.

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@Brandon9000,

So you're saying it's possible they don't like the rally experience or reject the idea that they represent a powerful political force? That's not what I heard from my friend, nor does it square with interviews with participants in MAGA rallies. Have you been to one yourself?

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@hightor,

I can so this forever. You stated what other people like, and concluded it explained their actions. Any argument based on the premise that you know what someone is thinking is automatically invalid.

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@Brandon9000,

I'd be happy to discuss Trump rallies, their appeal, their effectiveness, etc. I'm not interested in having an "argument" over something so inconsequential.

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@hightor,

Now, that's a mature sentiment. The problem is that I don't know any discussion we could have that wouldn't quickly become an argument, especially with the peanut gallery jumping in. You know your profile is basically non-existent.

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@Brandon9000,

Quote:

The problem is that I don't know any discussion we could have that wouldn't quickly become an argument...

Well, reading, science, nutrition/exercise, the history of science, and early American history are all interests we share. As well as an appreciation of George Reeves and a love of NYC. I'm currently reading Caro's The Power Broker – it might interest you if you haven't read it. I'm just a few years older than you and grew up in Rockland County, thirty miles north of the GWB.

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@hightor,

I believe that "The Adventures of Superman" might be my favorite show of all time. It was naively written and low budget, but every episode was good. I'm incapable of watching the episode where he gives the blind girl a ride around the world without crying. When I got married long ago to a woman from Eastern Europe, I made her watch every episode with me. After a while, on her own initiative, she was spontaneously saying things like, "Golly, Superman, are we glad to see you!"

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@Brandon9000,

Love the story about your wife!

So many of those lines became indelible parts of my childhood. My two brothers and I would work them into practically every conversation.

"Now all I have to do is sound like Sir Henry." - The Last Knight

"Wouldn't you like to know." - The Machine that Could Plot Crimes

"That's right, sister, I'm not your crummy friend." - Jimmy the Kid

"You ought to know, Mr. Skrag – you put it there." - Dagger Island

"In Mexico, a man would be 'keeled' if he had five 'ay-ces'." - The Bully of Dry Gulch

The music was pretty good, too.

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I love the ending of "The Machine that Could Plot Crimes" and the music at the final moment when the audience sees that Mr. Kelso has sent the crooks the wrong way down a one way street.

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At the end of "Test of a Warrior", Perry White is wearing a ceremonial headdress and Olson refers to him as "Chief" – White's ready to explode and then suddenly softens, "Well, I guess this time you can call me Chief."

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@hightor,

I had forgotten that.

These episodes have never stopped holding magic for me and even now on the hundredth viewing, an episode affects me.

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@Brandon9000,

Do you recall Soupy Sales? Sandy Becker? Claude Kirschner? Uncle Fred Sayles? They all did kiddie shows – growing up in the Tri-State area and having access to all the TV channels from NYC made for some pretty rich children's entertainment.

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@hightor,

I remember all except Fred Sayles. I have a specific memory that I was watching Claude Kirschner as a very, very small child when it first occurred to me clearly that death is inevitable and permanent. I had, of course, already known it, but that was the moment when I really got it.

Soupy Sales went on to be a regular on the reboot of "What's My Line." I believe he had been on the original show a few times.

I heard that one of the reasons we don't see re-runs of "Sky King" is that many episodes were lost in a fire.

Recently, a YouTube reactor reacted to "Superman: The Motion Picture." She said something like "Christopher Reeve was the best superman. Prove me wrong." I said, "I think George Reeves from 'The Adventures of Superman' was the best but I can't prove you wrong because most likely you won't look." She replied "Challenge accepted!" However, it seems as though she actually did not look because I could never get her to reply about it again.

Speaking of things that younger people don't know, did you like the real "Avengers?"

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@Brandon9000,

Yes, "Avengers" was good – so classy. I think some of it went over my head!

"The Time Tunnel" suddenly sprang to mind. I think it lasted one season.

Here's a "Superman" story. I was working at a craft school and sitting at a lunch table with some of the staff and one of the visiting instructors. They were discussing a particular firing technique for ceramics and someone, presenting a sample, asked the instructor what he thought of the results. The guy thought about it for a bit and then said, "No comment until the time limit is up." Which, of course, is the recorded message that Clark Kent used in "The Human Bomb".
I immediately called him out on it and we had a nice little conversation about the series.

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A Handful of Kooks

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