Good morning. Iâm Walter Shapiro, and I will be your pretty good helmsman this morning. I fear I canât be a Great Helmsman because that title is reserved for Chairman Mao. Joe Biden is in Rome, where he is the second Catholic president ever to meet with a pope. John Kennedyâs 1963 audience with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican was the first. As the online New York Times pointedly noted, âMr. Biden, who is usually tardy to meetings, pulled up to the Vatican at noon on the dot.â During the first season of Saturday Night Live, there was a running joke about a recently deceased Spanish dictator. Every week, Chevy Chase, during the Weekend Update news segment, would deadpan, âGeneralissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.â Thatâs how I feel about Bidenâs perpetually stalled legislative package. I keep hearing Chaseâs voice intoning, âThe Biden agenda is still in limbo.â We will have more about Bidenâs downsized $1.75 trillion spending plan in a few paragraphs when The New Republicâs tireless Grace Segers gets her well-deserved shout-out. Two stories this morning highlight the legacy of morally reprehensible conduct under Republican presidents. The Wall Street Journal reveals, on the front page of the print edition, that the Biden administration is negotiating a legal settlement of $450,000 per person with immigrant families who were separated from their children under Donald Trumpâs heartless and legally dubious âzero toleranceâ policy. And the Times reports on a Guantánamo detaineeâs harrowing account of his brutal torture during the worst days of the Bush-Cheney regime. The description by Majid Khan, in the first torture story ever delivered in open court, is a reminder of the enduring shame of âenhanced interrogation techniques.â And a special treat for those following the controversy over Trumpâs conspiratorial and inaccurate letter about the 2020 election that was published without any fact-checks by the Journalâs right-wing editorial page staff. In an editorial this morning, the Journal justifies its permissive factual standards in a way that isnât exactly flattering to the Former Guy: âWe think itâs news when an ex-President who may run in 2024 wrote what he did, even if (or perhaps especially if) his claims are bananas.â A brief pause at the breakfast table and a glance at the print Tabloid of Record (a.k.a. the New York Post) produced the latest on a certain out-of-office politician: âCUOMO SEX RAP. Former gov charged with âforcible touchingâ will be arrested.â  At NewRepublic.com, we feature Graceâs adroit summary of another exhausting and frustrating day on Capitol Hill: âAt this point, you could be forgiven for being confused about whatâs actually happening in Congress. In fact, if it makes you feel better, itâs not entirely clear whether members of Congress know whatâs happening right now.â Abdul El-Sayed offers a smart piece on Bidenâs shrinking poll numbers, reminding the political doomsters that itâs mostly about Covid-19 and not his policies. And Tana Ganeva brings us an against-the-grain article on the downsides of those ubiquitous Crime Stoppers tip lines. Hoping that next week brings a dollop of clarity for us all, Walter Shapiro, staff writer |
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