Old Pols, New Faces
Thanksgiving is the most American of all our holidays.
How did you celebrate it? Did you share a meal with your family? Did you eat too much?
In the name of transparency, I confess I did, muttering yes when they offered me a piece of yummy apple pie and another of pumpkin, along with a generous dollop of whipped cream. Mea culpa.
After I finished my Friday chores, I drove to the edge of Boothbay to check in with her nibs, Ms. Pigette, who holds up a mailbox beside Route 27, the road off the peninsula. When I got out of the car, she waved me away.
“I am busy. Go away,” she said as she buried her snout in her smartphone, snarling at the person at the other end of the conversation who happened to be a staffer at the White House switchboard.
“I know. I know. You already said that. But I want to know why the most powerful man in the world insulted me,” she said.
After arguing with the White House operator for about 15 minutes, she was finally connected to a guy who said he was a part-time, third assistant to the deputy press secretary. He tried to explain that the President was not speaking to or about her last week when he snapped at a reporter who asked a question about the Epstein files he didn’t want to answer.
Instead of changing the subject (as usual) to say how his economy is doing well, or how he had ended a handful of wars in the last week or so, he just snapped at her. “Quiet. Quiet, Piggy,” he said.
“So, you are telling me he was not telling me to just shut my yap,” asked Ms. Pigette.
“That is what I just said,” said the very important-sounding, part-time, third assistant to the deputy press secretary.
“Well. If he is snapping that way at a reporter for asking a pertinent question, he is starting to sound like a crotchety old man,” said Ms. P. At that remark, the bureaucrat slammed down the phone, ending the call.
“Now, old man,” she said, turning to me. “What do you want?”
I told her I just wanted to see if she survived the Thanksgiving holiday and, maybe, give her a hand if she needed to charge her phone.
“Yes, I survived the holiday by myself. What do you think I did, as I am stuck beside the road holding up a mailbox while everyone else ate turkey and watched way too much football? However, my phone is up to snuff because a nice person stopped by and gave me an early Christmas present, a solar phone charger.
Oh, and I am so sorry I disrespected you, old dog. I just get so frustrated dealing with some senior citizens, present company accepted. It seems like our nation, on both sides of the political aisle, is being run by the senior citizens club.
Look at the geriatric record. POTUS is 79, Angus King is 81, Janet Mills is 77, and Paul LePage is 77. Bernie Sanders is 84. Joe Biden is 83.
Sure, they have lots of experience and seem to be doing pretty well, but they, and you, Old Scribbler, are not as sharp as you once were. And it is not going to get any better. Like it or not, your brain cells are sliding down the chute.” They ain’t coming back, so if the political leaders are too old, who is next in line, I asked her.
“Well, I don’t know. POTUS seems to have a firm hand on the GOP/MAGA crowd. But does his clout transfer to the younger VEEP? If not, there could be a real GOP/MAGA political brawl in the future.
As for the Democrats, they are stuck with a bunch of has-beens. They are looking for new faces, like the governors of California, Illinois, or Pennsylvania, or maybe one of the newly elected women in Virginia or New Jersey.
Maybe, just maybe, POTUS and his myrmidons are creating their own rival, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona).
The SECDEF (or SECWAR), if you prefer, has asked the Navy to investigate and court-martial him after Kelly and other elected vets said soldiers should not obey illegal orders.
And Kelly, a retired Navy Captain, combat pilot, and astronaut, is married to (and caregiver of) former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was shot during a campaign appearance. He is a tough guy with an admirable soft side.
The SECDEF attacks have drawn beaucoup attention to Kelly. Will the new exposure entice the public to take a long look at a new face who is a combat pilot/spaceman/senator and the caring husband of a wounded congresswoman?
Could Kelly parlay the SECDEF attack into a candidacy?
Hummm?

