Good morning, it’s Friday, Oct 6, 2023, and the day of the week when I share a quote meant to be enlightening and uplifting.
It was a little difficult this week, if your frame of reference is official Washington. I found myself recalling the words of Michael Fanone, the Washington, D.C., police officer who was viciously beaten at the U.S. Capitol by the MAGA mob on Jan. 6, 2021. After meeting with Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy months later, in June 2021, Fanone was asked by reporters for his reaction.
“This experience for me is not something that I enjoy doing,” said the ex-lawman. “I don’t want to be up here on Capitol Hill. I want to be with my daughters.”
Fanone added one other thought: “I need a drink.”
That’s exactly how I felt after watching House Democrats unanimously vote in lockstep with eight incoherent Republican rebels to defenestrate McCarthy this week, the first House speaker in U.S. history. Unlike John Boehner, who famously enjoyed a glass (or two) of merlot, McCarthy isn’t a big drinker, but I imagine he felt the same way Tuesday night. And so, to recapture the optimistic spirit of the Morning Note, I’ll reprise three or four of my favorite quotes about wine, ending of course, with Benjamin Franklin, whom I’ve quoted before in this space on this same subject.
First, I’d direct you to RCP’s front page, which contains the latest poll averages, political news and video, and aggregated opinion pieces ranging across the ideological spectrum. We also offer the usual complement of original material from our stable of columnists and contributors. Recent highlights include the following:
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RCP Takeaway. Tom Bevan, Josh Kraushaar, and Andy Walworth join me to discuss the next House speaker, Trump’s legal woes, and the DNC vs. No Labels.
House Mutiny Reveals Cracks in Constellation of Pro-Trump Universe. Phil Wegmann reports on Kevin McCarthy’s downfall and the aftermath that has left the House GOP fractured.
McCarthy Fallout: GOP Fundraising Jitters. “Money,” former California political boss Jesse Unruh liked to say, “is the mother’s milk of politics.” Susan Crabtree observes that House Republicans may miss how much of it the former speaker brought to the party.
Media Coverage of Ukraine War Dwindles. Kalev Leetaru analyzes the sharp decline in news segments and mentions of the conflict in Eastern Europe.
Era of “Just Do It” Government. Peder Zane says the Biden administration’s tendency to keep its agenda opaque makes him nostalgic for the days of a certain 1960s Democratic president.
Meet the Other Kevin McCarthy, Political Orphan. Scott Klug asserts that walking on eggshells and avoiding hard discussions is not the way to plow common ground.
D.C.’s Revolving Door Swings for the Eco-Green Eyeshade People. In RealClearInvestigations, Kevin Mooney uncovers how federal architects of a new rule requiring businesses to measure their carbon footprints have joined a start-up poised to reap millions by performing those calculations.
CFPB Steamrolls on Credit Card Penalty Fees. At RealClearPolicy, Bruce Fein contests the controversial agency’s disregard for the best interests of consumers and small businesses.
The Economics of “Free Stuff” Is That There’s No Free Stuff. At RealClearMarkets, Charles Musick examines how the U.S. is proving Frederic Bastiat’s 1848 dictum on the great fiction of the state.
Indifference Will Kill Social Security. Also at RealClearMarkets, John Tamny predicts it won’t be a lack of money that finally does away with the giant entitlement program.
Most Intense Lightning Ever Observed by Science. An extreme electrical storm can be unsettling anywhere, but at RealClearScience, Sonja Behnke shares one for the record books.
The End of Hegemony Is Not the End of America. At RealClearWorld, Anthony Constantini addresses the current teeth-gnashing over BRICS.
Meeting the Challenge of Deterring Two Nuclear Peers. At RealClearDefense, John Harvey submits that Washington must modernize its own weapon systems as well as its strategies for possible conflict with both Moscow and Beijing.
Why Aren’t Republicans Seizing This Winning Issue? At RealClearEnergy, Daniel Turner asks whether the GOP might be overlooking a great opportunity on the West Coast.
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— “Wine is the most civilized thing in the world. In Europe we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food and also a great giver of happiness and well being and delight. Drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating and to me as necessary.” — Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast
— “Once, in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were forced to living on nothing but food and water for days. — W.C. Fields, My Little Chickadee
— “Few things surpass old wine; and they may preach
Who please, the more because they preach in vain,
Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter,
Sermons and soda-water, the day after.” — Lord Byron, Don Juan
— “In vino veritas, says the wise man — Truth is in wine. Before the days of Noah, then, men, having nothing but water to drink, could not discover the truth. Thus they went astray, became abominably wicked, and were justly exterminated by water, which they loved to drink. …
“We hear of the conversion of water into wine at the marriage in Cana as of a miracle. But this conversion is, through the goodness of God, made every day before our eyes. Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards; there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy. The miracle in question was only performed to hasten the operation, under circumstances of present necessity, which required it.” — Ben Franklin, in a 1779 letter to André Morellet, a Jesuit philosopher and drinking buddy
And those are our quotes of the week.
Carl M. Cannon
Washington Bureau chief, RealClearPolitics
@CarlCannon (Twitter)