Behind the headlines, but not too far

Image from MI Printing.

TOM BROKAW: Well, I really think that, behind the headlines-- this is the Washington Post this morning, and it says that, "Obama sees 2014 as key to his legacy." What we have going on here, 18 months out, are both sides positioning themselves for trying to retain control on the Republican side of the House, and maybe even win the Senate; the president trying to build a legacy of some kind. There's a whole lot of politics in this, as there is in everything else. Kind of two villages, clashing with each other, who seem to occupy a separate universe. (via driftglass)

Drifters didn't get a chance to take formal note of what is to me the most amazing part of this horror, which is that Brokaw knows perfectly well that it's not a question of both sides at all, and is too cynical, or insufficiently sober (has anyone else noticed how drunk he has sounded whenever he pops up on TV over the past ten years or so?) to disguise it. Because that first clause of analysis, from "What we have going on here," says it's about "both sides" but isn't. How many parties are trying to retain control on the Republican side of the House, or maybe even win the Senate? As I count all the parties that have control on the Republican side of the House and haven't won the Senate yet this cycle, I can't get past one.

And then he realizes that grammar has let him down and it's oops, did I let the cat out again? and adding an additional clause, not about the Democrats, who scarcely exist, but the president, who has to be accused of the parallel crime of wanting to, um, accomplish something (the swine! the bloody show-off!).