MSNBC posted an article yesterday whose sub-heading says, "By now, there's no reason Democrats shouldn't understand why voters are split almost down the middle when it comes to the party that owns the issue of 'democracy.'"
Oh, cool, "Maybe the party itself has muddied the waters." It's one thing to say some Democrats haven't run strong campaigns (which may be true or not) -- but to suggest Democrats have "muddied the waters," that this is a "but both sides" issue because literally-fascist Republicans (who don't appear to understand or at least just care what fascism *actually* is and so support *actual* fascist policies and fascist candidates) say, oh, no, it is *they* believe "democracy" is at risk...is pathetic. Next, perhaps we'll see MSNBC write "Victims in horrific mass school shooting call for stricter, safer gun laws. But gun-owners are split on protecting schoolchildren, so maybe the victims themselves have muddied the waters.
0 Comments
Back in the 1980s, Sylvia Fine wrote and hosted three PBS specials on musical comedy, Musical Comedy Tonight. (For accuracy's sake, the first was actually 1979.) They were wonderful, and happily you don’t have to take my word for it because they won a Peabody Award and got two Emmy nominations. Fine was the wife of Danny Kaye and wrote much of his specialty material, and is credited for having a major impact on his career. (He appeared in the second of of the three specials.) She also had two Oscar nominations for Best Original Song, “The Five Pennies” and “The Moon is Blue.” The specials were somewhat adapted from a class she taught at USC, but with the significant bonus of using major stars to help make her points. So, as hugely entertaining as they were, there was actually scholarly aspect to them. At least one of the specials was done in a small theater in Los Angeles, which I know because I went there with a friend to watch it recorded. I have some vague recollections of it, and checking the iMDB, that appears to have been the first one. If so, that's where this clip is from. This is a round-about way to continue our Ethel Merman Anything Goes, folderol, but from another angle, because this comes from the first of those specials. It’s medley of three classic songs from Anything Goes, beginning with Ethel Merman performaing a solo version of “I Get a Kick Out of You” and then, after a interesting conversation with Fine about the creation of the Cole Porter show, they're joined by, of all people, Rock Hudson who sings a duet with Merman of “You’re the Top,” accompanied by Sylvia Fine at the piano. It's then followed by Merman in a production number re-creation of the title song. By the way, Anything Goes had quite a remarkable score by Cole Porter. Written in 1934, it had five songs that became standards -- the aforementioned "I Get a Kick Out of You," "You're the Top" and "Anything Goes," along with "Friendship" and the ballad "All Through the Night. That's seriously impressive. I was scrolling through the on-screen TV guide a few nights ago and noticed that tonight on a very old (of course…) rerun of Perry Mason, one of the guests is…Erle Stanley Gardner! I checked iMDB, and it’s the only time he appeared on the show.
In other words, it took nine seasons before the Perry Mason show asked the man who created and wrote the "Perry Mason" books to do a cameo!! Gardner plays “Second Judge,” so for all I know he doesn’t have any lines, though maybe they gave him one. I like such things, so I set my DVR to watch. (All the better since I can fast-forward to the courtroom scenes.) But it also has a good cast, with Jackie Coogan (renowned as a child actor who starred with Charlie Chaplin in The Kid and later got famous again as "Uncle Fester" on The Addams Family) and Estelle Winwood (who had a long Hollywood career, but is perhaps best known today for playing the "Hold Me, Touch Me" old lady in The Producers. And oddly, Dick Clark. For those interested in such whimsical things, the episode airs tonight (Tuesday) on MeTV at 11:30 PM Los Angeles time. It's called, "The Case of the Final Fade Out." I completely understand the well-deserved focus on Kanye West ongoing barrage of anti-Semitic and violent comments, reaching a peek with him basically dismissing any threat that Adidas would cut ties with him.
Indeed, Adidas was put in a somewhat tricky position because Adidas isn’t his sponsor, but his business partner and an important one. And so, they risk losing business if they’re even able to end the partnership. But then, they’re also risk losing business and credibility if they don’t end their relationship with him and remain partners with a virulent, violent anti-Semite. Made all the more pronounced when White Supremacists draped banners on a 405 Freeway overpass in Los Angeles in support of West, saying that he’s right about Jews. Not really the kind of association one would think Adidas wants, whatever the financial cost of finding a way out of their contract. And West appears to have kicked in the Law of Unintended Consequences, as another partner, Balenciaga dropped its relationship with him. Which also not only shows Adidas that a company can break ties with West, but puts pressure on them to do so. And then yesterday, his talent agency CAA dropped him from their roster. And Vogue broke off their relationship with him. And production company MRC is not releasing a completed documentary on West. And now, this morning Adidas did cut ties with Kanye West. (Go figure, he was wrong, it turns out there was something Adidas could do about it...) To be clear, it’s not like Kanye West will be financially hurt much if at all by any of this. If he doesn’t earn another nickel in his life, he’s still doing great. (After Adidas dropped him, Forbes magazine already removed West from their billionaire's list, significantly plummeting his net worth to $400 million. That's a huge loss of wealth. It's also a massive amount of money.) That said, we don’t know his financial ties and if he’s leveraged and has outstanding loans, and how losses from other business cutting ties will affect his finances. So, it could be a problem for him. But not only do I doubt that, in terms of real-life "problems," I also don’t care. This isn’t about money. It’s about a virulent, violent anti-Semite. If he wants to buy the far-right, extreme social media company Parler, and post his hate-filled rants, he has that right to become a human pariah surrounded only by White Supremacists for support. And others have the right to demean him as much as possible. But like with Trump, this isn’t about Kanye West. It’s about the near-total silence of the Republican Party, whose leadership has shown cowardice in action and putting its own racial hate and anti-Semitism front and center. It was silent went Trump went on his anti-Semitic rampage about Jews and Israel. And it’s silent about Kanye West. When a Hollywood talent agency shows more morals than the Republican Party – or most anybody – you know you’re scraping the bottom. Last week, I posted a couple of videos from a 1954 TV adaptation of Cole Porter's musical Anything Goes, where Ethel Merman recreated her famous starring role of nightclub singer 'Reno Sweeney' from the original 1934 Broadway production. The show was a huge hit playing 420 performances (about a year), which was major for that era. In fact, it was the fourth longest-running musical of the 1930s, and had one of Porter's great scores. As I had noted, Merman had one of her rare starring roles, repeating her role of 'Reno Sweeney,' in a 1936 movie version. And here below is a scene from that, with her singing of the score's famous songs, "I Get a Kick Out of You." You'll note Bing Crosby who co-starred. The staging is a bit weird, to say the least. But it's the song that's a joy. I did notice one lyric that got changed for the movie. The line, "Some get a kick from cocaine" was apparently too much for the ears of day's movie audiences, so it got rewritten as "Some like that perfume from Spain." Even if the line doesn't complete sense (whatever "that" perfume is from Spain...), it makes enough sense by sounding exotic, and actually perfectly (and cleverly) fits the original line that follows -- "I sure that if / I took even one sniff / that would bore me teriff -- ically, too." The other day, a friend asked me if I had any predictions about the Mid-Terms. And I had to tell him that I just don’t have any strong guesses. I certainly don't have a sense of optimism like I often try to bring as an overall perspective for most elections, though lest it seem otherwise I'm equally not pessimistic either. I just don't know yet, even with two weeks to go. Perhaps more will become clear by Election Day. But even that seems unlikely. Hence -- I don't know.
I do feel comfortable that it won’t be the blowout of Democrats that was once predicted by many. And I think the Democrats should retain control of the Senate – but I do not remotely feel comfortable about that as a serious prediction. After all, I don’t know what will happen in Pennsylvania, and if Tim Ryan can hold on in Ohio. I think they both should, and think Raphael Warnock should win (and is finally creating very slight distance) – but wouldn’t bet on any of them. In fact, I wouldn’t even place a bet on John Fetterman in Pennsylvania – his lead has not only tightened, but consistently so. I don’t have a clue what will happen in New Mexico – Democrat incumbent Catherine Masto-Cortez has been solidly behind much of the race, but now it appears only 1-2 points. Incumbent Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire looks like she’ll hold on to her Democratic seat – but “looks like” is still up in the air. I’m sorry that it looks like Marco Rubio will likely hold on to his GOP seat. So, that’s why “should” is a very flexible term. And while I actually think Democrats could win the House (for reasons I’ll get to in a moment), I suspect they won’t. National polling on that is meaningless. Initially Republicans were far ahead there, then Democrats took a surprising lead, but not Republicans have pulled ahead again, but only by two points. But since there are 435 independent districts, it just doesn’t matter what national House polls say. It’s certainly better to be ahead than not – but a Republican can win a red House district by 40 points and a Democrat can win a purple district by two points, and both winners end up in the House. Though not related to control of Congress, there are several governor races of note that were all excepted to go Republican, and that appears to be the case. I’m sorry it doesn’t look good for Beto O’Rourke in Texas, even if that’s tightened a bit. And sorry that Ron DeSantis seems safe. And that Brian Kemp appears poised to win over Stacey Abrams. But I’m especially sickened that the lunatic, deep fascist Kari Lake will win in Arizona (and has the possibility of being positioned as “a new face for the GOP”). That one is still close, so it’s one I’m most hopeful for a turnaround. On the hand, it looks like Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmir in Michigan should hold off the challenge. There are two factors we don’t know which impacts all of this. One is if the polling numbers for MAGA voters will again be undercounted, and the other is if the fury at overturning Roe is being undervalued. My pure guess is that MAGA numbers aren’t being undercounted – not only is Trump not on the ballot, but also I think that MAGA voters have become emboldened to be vocal by Trump and so are less likely to lie to pollsters about their support than in years previous. As for the abortion vote, because we’ve seen actual results in special elections of the Roe outrage being undervalued, that the outrage will provide a greater turnout across the country than poll numbers show. I know polls show that abortion has dropped as a top reason for voting – but people vote for more than one reason, and those for whom it is a top reason are, I believe, virulent in their anger to vote. And hopefully that will push some close elections into the Democratic column. After all, a shift of just 2-3 points in many races can alter the results. But…I don’t know. You will note that “I don’t know” is a recurring theme here. My biggest reaction, though, is how utterly galling the Republican Party has become in throwing away any sense of being honest and supporting basic decency. The pure lies and delusions transcend soulless and disreputable (like Kari Lake saying that she truly believes that if the Founding Fathers, JFK, and Martin Luther King were alive today, they would all support America First polices. Happily, MLK’s daughter wrote back to disabuse her. I replied back that, in fact, JFK and MLK were alive when the America First movement began, and they not only did NOT join, but they spent their lives fighting against those positions. And that it could be argued that they were both killed because they supported democracy and freedom. What bothered me is that her opponent on the debate stage, Katie Hobbs, was not reported as responding how she should have. Not just disagreeing, which I assume she did, but saying bluntly, “If you truly believe that, then you are ignorant of history and reality, and are actually delusional. And here’s why…”) And that Republicans officials are flocking to Herschel Walker, one of the most wildly-unqualified people ever to run for the U.S. Senate, purely because they want to control the Senate, never mind the cost, speaks loudly to who they are. (And though he’s not a candidate, the silence of Republican officials about Kanye West’s violent anti-Semitic comments speaks loudly to who the party is.) The short version to all this, but especially Republican silence (and occasional defense) of Kanye West, is that any Republicans who’ve been whining about their party today being called fascist now have one more reason to add to the list. I also find that Republican Kevin McCarthy’s talk about defunding Ukraine to be profoundly disturbing, and even that description is the oh-so polite term. Given that he is in the shaky lead to become Speaker should Republicans take control of the House, his words are basically a dog whistle to Putin to hold on, you’ll have your opportunity soon to go ahead and roll over a democratic country. Separate all this, though related to Congress, I was angry at the New York Times for publishing two articles on Marjorie Taylor Greene last Monday. Yes, two of them. One was a massive profile for the NYT Magazine, and the other was about her “comeback” in the GOP – where the only critical comment in it I saw was that a few Republican officials were concerned that her “style” – her style! -- might hurt them in the Mid-Terms. Needless-to-say, it’s horrific that she has gained a voice in the Republican Party. Chalk up another reason in that “Why are We Republicans Called ‘Fascist’ List?” In the final days of the election, where early voting has already started in many states, I remain hopeful that Democrats will aggressively use Republican insistence that if they regain control they’ll cut Social Security and Medicare. And ban all abortion. But Democrats have to use it and loudly and vociferously. We’ll see. I don’t know. (tm) The closest I have to something that could be called "optimism" is that if Republicans take control of either house of Congress (let alone both), Joe Biden is still president and will veto anything draconian the GOP will pass. And further, if Republicans take control of Congress I feel confident (based on seeing their growing hubris without merit) that they will be their own worst enemy by trying to be as reprehensible as possible by passing bill that please their racist, hate-filled base. And so they will pass bills to ban abortion in all states, and ban the use of contraceptives and ban mixed marriage and cut Social Security and cut Medicare. (All of which President Biden will veto.) And they'll vote to impeach President Biden. Maybe several times to beat Trump's record. And hold hearings to demonize Dr. Anthony Fauci and science. And vote to shut down the government. And maybe even vote against raising the debt ceiling, which will undermine the economy. And they will give people like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert more authority in the party. And...they will not propose any actual policies to actually help people. And after all that -- I do believe the solid majority of the public will hold that against them and even increase President Biden's approval, because that's what has happened every time Republicans have shut down the government and when they impeached Bill Clinton for no reason the public thought justified. Now, add in all these other monstrous attempts to impede freedom and democracy. While offering nothing. Zero. (Hey, we're still waiting for Trump's Big Beautiful Health Care, not to mention all his Transportation Weeks.) And all that will be a massive hurdle they'll have to get past in 2024, having revealed themselves as the actual, literal fascists they are. So, I call that Long-Term Optism. As for this election -- well, we'll find out... |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
Archives
May 2024
Categories
All
|
© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2024
|