This fellow waves at me every time I cycle past. And Paddy waves back. ’Tis no day at the beach, to be workin’ on the railway.
Paddy on the railway
Month: June 2019
We’re bucked
They laughed at Paul Revere, too.
But Field Marshal Turkish von Turkenstein (commander, 1st Feline Home Defense Force) was right. They’re out there, and not even an augmented Wall will stop ’em.
Speaking of spooked deer, Kamala Harris apparently hit Smilin’ Joe with The Big Light last night, and by all accounts I’ve read this morning he did not handle it well, not one itty-bitty bit.
This is the thing that makes me nervous about Smilin’ Joe. He’s old, and he’s white, and like Gore, Kerry and The Hilldebeast before him, he believes it is His Turn, and that all these other people are horning in on his act.
“G’wan, get away from me, kid, y’bodda me.”
Maybe he gets the nomination. Maybe he even wins. I don’t have a feel for the deal yet.
But he looked an awful lot like Spike in that spotlight last night.
‘NBC will not be able to predict the winner. …’
After the briefest of discussions …
“You wanna watch the debate?”
“Nah. You?”
“Nah.”
… we decided against encouraging further silliness from NBC and the Democratic National Committee.
Finding some way to watch would have been a pain in the ass — we don’t have cable, and can’t get much of anything over the air without a rooftop antenna — and then there would have been the actual watching, which, ick.
Charlie Pierce found Tim Ryan full of the bafflegab, Elizabeth Warren on her game, Beto O’Rourke so light of weight that he “spent the evening looking as though he had to be tied down to keep from floating out the door,” and Julián Castro “the one Texan who knew what he was talking about.”
Kevin Drum found Beto “talking in platitudes,” Castro “clear and well-briefed,” Warren “OK for now,” and John Delaney “very annoying.” He also found the general unwillingness to discuss climate change an indication that the candidates “were afraid of saying something that will be interpreted as asking people to make an actual sacrifice.”
Mother Times and the WaPo (that would be a great band name, no?) are awash in the usual morning-after hooey about “divisions among Democrats,” and who “won” and who “lost,” if that’s your idea of a good time.
Meanwhile, Field Marshal Turkish von Turkenstein (commander, 1st Feline Home Defense Regiment) remains on the alert. He remains convinced that the Revolution will not be televised.
Colbert and Maron
If you’d just as soon skip tonight’s Democratic beauty pageant for something, anything else, well — have I got a podcast for you.
No, it’s not another edition of Radio Free Dogpatch. This is the real deal, two pros, Marc Maron talking with Stephen Colbert.
I loved “The Colbert Report,” and Herself is nuts for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Maybe you’re crazy for both of these aspects of the guy’s personality.
Well, lemme tell ya, there’s a lot more where those came from. The chorale of voices in Colbert’s head make mine look like a barbershop quartet. And yet somehow, he has them all singing instead of screaming.
I wish they’d had more time, but somebody had a show to do. Maybe there will be a rematch.
In the meantime, if you need a little sumpin’-sumpin’ for dessert, check out Maron’s chat with David Letterman.
De ’bate, boss! De ’bate!
Welcome to “Fantasy Island,” with a side of “Survivor.”
A couple fantasies should get voted off the island after tonight’s Democratic “debate.”
I steeled myself for the ordeal yesterday by riding the New Mexico Touring Society’s Frost Road Loop, which was something of a spin down Memory Lane. It includes a few bits from the old state road championships circuit, where in 1991 Your Humble Narrator took second in the Masters 35 race after a late crash took out all of the serious contenders save for Laurence Malone (yes, that Laurence Malone).
Yesterday I finished first, Laurence Malone being elsewhere, along with everyone else. I’m still waiting for my gold medal, bouquet, and podium ceremony, though.
My take on the Frost Road Loop was a 40-mile round trip from El Rancho Pendejo, with a couple thousand feet of vertical gain, and it made for a nice change of pace from my usual rides, though NM 14 is under construction through much of Cedar Crest, the Old Route 66 shoulder was slathered in debris and gravel past Zuzax and Tijeras, and the wind — de wind, boss, de wind! — was much in evidence on the homebound leg because I got the traditional late start.
I think we had a little pollen-and-smoke action going on, too, because the snotlocker and eyeballs were grumbling a bit afterward. Not as much as they will be tonight, though. This “debate” is liable to be hard on the nose, eyes and ears.
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