Hillbilly Elegy

[Russell Letson]

I use "in the queue" pretty frequently--when my editor asks whether I'm going to review a book he's had sent to me.

And to address John's take on Vance: The "current social media" reaction to him is not unreasonable, given his about-face on Trump and the public policies he is now supporting (and the value systems implied by them). And his "childless cat ladies" remark--even in the less-snotty form of the "childless left"--is either tone-deaf or a deliberate, um, dog-whistle to various far-right factions and figures (Viktor Orban, Elon Musk).

I haven't read Hillbilly Elegy, nor do I feel the need to--no amount of up-from-poverty storytelling is going to get me to buy into Vance's sketchy politics, let alone his shitty tastes in mentors and heroes. His publicly-visible trajectory and recorded utterances tell me what I need to know about him as a politician. I don't need to look into his soul. (Which in any case seems to have already been sold.)

[Cornflake]

Senator Vance told The American Conservative magazine in 2021, “I think our people hate the right people.” That tells me as much as I need to know.

[Rob Hanesworth]

Jul 29, 2024 12:21:15 GMT -5 Cornflake said:

Senator Vance told The American Conservative magazine in 2021, “I think our people hate the right people.” That tells me as much as I need to know.

I don't hate the right people, though I am generally more fond of the left people. 😉

[Russell Letson]

But they are both sinister and gauche. And not all that dextrous.

[Marshall]

I prefer to hate the wrong people. Or so it seems.

[TKennedy]

Jul 29, 2024 12:51:58 GMT -5 Russell Letson said:

But they are both sinister and gauche. And not all that dextrous.

très clever Russ-

[Russell Letson]

Adaptation of an old joke--one of my grad school friends used to say that he was ambisinister. (Then there's the bandit/gunslinger character played by Alain Delon in Red Sun: Gauche, which is to say Leftie.)

[TKennedy]

Concerning Italian racing bike pedals they are stamped D and S as one has reverse threads.

[Dub]

Jul 29, 2024 14:05:06 GMT -5 Russell Letson said:

Adaptation of an old joke--one of my grad school friends used to say that he was ambisinister. (Then there's the bandit/gunslinger character played by Alain Delon in Red Sun: Gauche, which is to say Leftie.)

I’ve always been taught that sinister is left and that gauche is unsophisticated. Or am I being gauche?

In any case, I try to be ambidextrose (sweet on both sides).



On edit: Just because sinister is left doesn’t necessarily mean that being left is sinister.

[Russell Letson]

In Paris, la rive gauche is the left bank of the Seine--which includes the Latin Quarter and various bohemian precincts. La rive droit is more upscale, at least traditionally. I suspect that both sides of the river are equally expensive these days.

The association of gauche with awkwardness and questionable manners (gaucherie) is almost certainly rooted in handedness bias.

[Dub]

I often wish I’d been to Paris.

[epaul]

I just noticed that my cat is right-pawed (as I watched her quick repeated jabs to the nose of my daughter's new, and undeterred, puppy over the weekend).

(handedness might be a mammal thing. I never noticed my gecko to show a preference one over the other.)

[jdd2]

We drive on the left, but that's right.

[Rob Hanesworth]

Jul 29, 2024 21:06:32 GMT -5 jdd2 said:

We drive on the left, but that's right.

Some people drive on the right and some drive on the left. I don't want to offend anyone so I drive in the middle.

[aquaduct]

Jul 29, 2024 6:00:03 GMT -5 millring said:

What I know of Vance, I like. That is: I liked the book. It was well-written and a gut-wrenching story told well. If you had any first hand experience with the Appalachian culture described in the book, you'd probably get it.

And the current social media ridicule of him and his history is both hypocritical and childish.

That said, he was a horrible pick for VP. And rather than help Trump's chances, it actually highlights Trump's weaknesses in the race.

The Democrats may be entirely captive to the institutions (corrupt as they may be), but they are the institutions of the Democrat's devising, and as such, a Democrat will not be working with those institutions fundamentally against her. And a realistic view of the world is that the institutions are not going anywhere. Maybe those institutions cannot be salvaged. I doubt that they can at this point. It was at least a 75 year trek to get them where they are today. But you can't run the government as a lone wolf. You can't have the institutional government against you and expect to run it at the same time.

Vance went through none of the usual vetting, debate, and discussion that usually precedes such a pick (contrast the current discussion about who Harris will pick. There was none of that.). So, Vance is a bright guy with almost no government experience, and the institutional government is already adversarial to him. He doesn't stand a chance to be in the number 2 seat.

I'd have to gently disagree. I think Trump (and obviously Vance) are in the catbird seat at the moment. Most folks only see the continuing hackneyed back and forth. But what most folks fail to remember is that Trump already had one term with it. And he made the most of it.

Again, from the Bonhoeffer piece James clued me into recently, "Yet at this very point it becomes quite clear that only an act of liberation, not instruction, can overcome stupidity." And there's the rub. The radical and still largely not understood fracture of the current system in the overturning of Chevron. An act of liberation if you will.

That makes the huge Democrat con generated systematic curve we've been living under has finally broken. And DJT is the architect. Trump's stock is way up for his prescience, and Vance is a great backstop. Not a yes man and not afraid to disagree, but an articulate fighter who's geared to help take on the inevitable idiocy of Democrats running possibly the most radical hard leftist in today's politics. The system is currently crumbling under Harris as she speaks (and annoyingly giggles). And I guarantee she has no answer.

Once the noise dies (I think it was Jeff who offered my favorite piece of political advice- give everything 10 days, it'll all change) you'll still be seeing Chevron randomly creating chaos in the politically comfortable set. Incidentally, the next SC term begins in October, one month before the election.

And maybe I'm wrong. But this election so far is anything but business as usual.

Buckle up, should be fun.

[jdd2]

In a call earlier today, my brother, a 78 year old republican leaning guy, was pretty dissatisfied with Vance. He was complaining about it, but admitted that the comparison to jethro on the beverly hillbillies was not far off.

Meanwhile, since my vote is in illinois doesn't count much (not at all a swing state), I've donated a little bit (a first!) to kamalaharris.com.

[Hobson]

I'm reading "Fragile Neighborhoods" by Seth Kaplan. Early in the book he references Vance's book. It occurred to me that just a few weeks ago I had no idea who Vance was. I'm somewhat curious about his book, but probably not enough to read it. I think I already know too much about him.

[millring]

Jul 30, 2024 16:03:43 GMT -5 Hobson said:

I think I already know too much about him.

I wouldn't count on it.

[jdd2]

Jul 30, 2024 16:37:02 GMT -5 millring said:

Jul 30, 2024 16:03:43 GMT -5 Hobson said:

I think I already know too much about him.

I wouldn't count on it.

Only about a week now until vance is locked in/can't be dropped. So you'll continue to learn more about him.

[Marshall]

Jul 29, 2024 14:12:33 GMT -5 TKennedy said:

Concerning Italian racing bike pedals they are stamped D and S as one has reverse threads.

So are the pedals on everyday bicycles. I don't know about D & S. But they all are reverse threaded. Otherwise you'd spin one off while pedaling.