"Someone told me — it might have been you — that Harris is warm and funny in person. But she’s a lousy politician..."

"... and it showed when she flamed out of the Democratic primary before the Iowa caucus. Fixing the border is not mission impossible. It requires a mix of tough-minded security provisions of the sort past Democratic administrations were willing to put into place; ambitious legislative proposals to create broader avenues for legal immigration; a willingness to accept 'Remain in Mexico' as an interim policy provided we help the Mexican government ensure humane conditions for migrants; and long-term security and economic assistance for troubled Latin American states."

Said Bret Stephens to Gail Collins, in "Welcome to the ‘Well, Now What?’ Stage of the Story" (NYT).

Collins responds: "We could have an argument about some of your details, but it seems sort of silly to pick a fight over the administration’s position on Mexico when there doesn’t always seem to be one."

Silly? Why is that silly?! I'd say it's desperately serious, and it's ridiculous to allow the absence of a position to avoid the question whether it's possible to take a good position. 

Collins and Stephens do seem to agree that the Democrats need a 2024 candidate who is not Biden and not Harris. That is, Stephens excludes Biden and Harris, and Collins proceeds directly to sorting through the possible candidates. She names Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg. She says when she tried to remember the name Buttigieg, her brain served up the name Peter Bogdanovich. Stephens says his brain did a similar thing: He wanted to say Gina Raimondo, but his first grope for the name got him to Gina Lollobrigida.

 

There's some old-school politics for you.

"Cotton appeared to be referring to Hawley, his potential rival for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, whose campaign sent out a fundraising email Wednesday..."

"... promoting his plan to object to Pennsylvania’s electoral votes. The email was sent shortly before a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, bringing a temporary halt to the counting of the Electoral College vote and leaving offices and hallways in the Capitol ransacked." 

The Hill says, commenting on this tweet from Tom Cotton (which says "while," not "shortly before"):

Some senators, for political gain, misled supporters about their ability to challenge the election results--some even sent out fundraising emails while insurrectionists stormed the Capitol.

That stops now--Republicans ought to focus on countering the Democrats' radical agenda. pic.twitter.com/e0JDg2bsJy

— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) January 7, 2021

"The Georgia results broke the back of Trumpism. His phone call to Brad Raffensperger was hunker-in-the-bunker bonkers."

"The President’s coattails are toxic. He under-performed all five Republican congressmen in Wisconsin, who won election without difficulty. Had he matched their performance, he would have won the state. Georgia, we should note, elected a Republican legislature in November and until today had two Republican U.S. senators. Republicans in November flipped two Democratic seats to take 10 of its 14 House seats even as Trump lost the state for the first Republican defeat in 28 years..... As for the crazies who would suspend the Constitution in order to install Donald Trump for four more years, they are our version of the Squad and their social justice warriors. Tuesday 2021 is on Donald Trump.... It will take some time for the Republican party to detoxify itself from Trump’s paranoid narcissism. But the man did show the way to a worker-oriented, traditional values political movement. The party’s task is to find someone with the common touch who isn’t batty. So far, Sen. Tom Cotton looks good. Maybe Ben Sasse or Nikki Haley. Like they say after hurricanes, we will rebuild."  

Says David Blaska (on his blog).