I misremember who said it but the line "he was elected precisely because he had no redeeming qualities, it was a message sent to the first black president that the worst most unqualified white man would be given what the most erudite black man worked his whole life to achieve" was always all of it

In the '90s, Henry Santoro at WFNX used to (mercilessly) refer to him as Kevin Dando on air. No great meaning behind it - it just became a Boston pastime to take the piss out of him and Juliana Hatfield for being mildly talented kids from privilege who skated by on their looks. And money.

I don't think so - I'm seeing everything, once I'm in.

They have a new, sub-literate audience to cater to now? Maybe soon we can expect the All Things Considered slightly discordant horns theme to be replaced by truck commercial Corporate Country guitar riffs.

That's true! We could also call the RW version the "I need Daddy to see me, and validate me as a lethal Big Boy!" Which is probably just the subtext of this entire administration.

I'm just glad they're not adding in the bizarre Right Wing, arms-bowed-ridiculously-outward-and-inward, "Jesus, why is my suit jacket so tight?," aspirational fascist power pose. Maybe this is the milquetoast centrist capitulation stance?

Counterpart.

Even as I write this, I’m reminded that this country is so inured to violence—particularly against black men—that the man who literally strangled Jordan Neely to death on the subway was not only found not guilty, but rewarded with a job in Silicon Valley and a box seat at the Army-Navy game.

Word.