Biden and age; a climate-change protest at the opera; Bill Buckley and Archie Bunker; the joy of Pittsburgh; and more
Some people were chortling over something a Fox reporter did the other day. As one account says: The reporter “tried to highlight concerns about Joe Biden’s age by noting that the president has faced questions on the subject — then played a clip of a reporter asking whether he is ‘too old’ for a second term.”
That does not sound chortle-worthy so far. But the account continues,
What the correspondent, Lucas Tomlinson, failed to note in the package that played on Fox News Sunday was that he is the reporter who shouted that question.
“Mr. President, are you too old to be running for reelection?” he asked in the clip.
“That’s stupid,” Biden replied with a laugh.
I would like to make one point: It is not a stupid question. It is a question that many, many people are asking, including supporters of the president. It is a fair question. And it is one that Biden ought to be able to deal with.
“That’s stupid” won’t cut it. Biden should take the concerns seriously, and give serious answers. For one thing, it would help him politically.
(Ronald Reagan had a famous one-liner, on the subject of age, in a general-election debate in 1984.)
It would take self-sacrifice for Biden to stand aside and let there be an open competition for his party’s presidential nomination. It would take humility. It would take a heightened sense of patriotism — of patriotic duty.
To ask a president not to run for reelection is to ask a lot. Too much, probably. I understand. I have an ego and ambition too. Wild horses couldn’t stop me from running for reelection.
But it would not necessarily be right.
In 2024, there is a great deal at stake.
• On Wednesday night, there was a debate between Republicans — four of them. Four candidates for president. But not Donald Trump, who is the frontrunner by miles.
I know this makes sense tactically. It makes tactical sense for Trump not to debate. All the politicos say so. I can’t help feeling, however, that there is something unmanful about not debating. You mean, you can’t stand in there and slug it out, or reason it out, with your rivals?
Chris Cox was in Congress for many years. I once heard him say, “I always give my opponent as many debates as he wants. For one thing, I think it sharpens me.”
I admired that.
• Twenty-five years ago, I was making a point about Ross Perot. I prefaced it with, “Now, far be it from me to knock a man who has made three billion dollars, but . . .” Bill Buckley corrected me with: “There is zero correlation between business success and political judgment.”
Vivek Ramaswamy makes me think of this. So does Elon Musk. And others.
• I know there can be no third political party in America — no significant one. It’s an iron law, apparently. (Is it written down somewhere?) But with Trumpism dominating the Republican Party, I think there ought to be a conservative one. Even if we could hold our convention in one Denny’s.
• Last week, the Metropolitan Opera staged Tannhäuser. Here is the second paragraph of my review:
The performance last night was interrupted early in Act II by a protest: a climate-change protest. The audience was furious. Eventually, the show was able to go on, ending just before midnight. The audience cheered heartily.
Allow me to excerpt several paragraphs from later in my review. I wish to make some comments afterward.
It was while [Christian] Gerhaher was singing that a man in the audience started yelling. He unfurled a banner, too, from the top of the house, stage left. . . .
I will reconstruct things as best I can.
When the man was finally subdued, another protester, on the opposite side of the house, started yelling, and unfurled her own banner.
The show stopped. The Met’s general manager, Peter Gelb, made an announcement, asking for our patience. The show resumed — when another protester started yelling. How many were there, positioned in the house?
Again, the show stopped. Again, Mr. Gelb made an announcement. He handled the situation very smoothly, very calmly. “We will not be defeated,” he said. The show resumed once more — and proceeded uninterrupted.
I was not the only critic to write a review, of course — a review that was part news report. At least one critic was sympathetic to the protesters. And unsympathetic to the audience members who were upset with the protesters. Unsympathetic to management, security, and police, too.
Let me ask: How would this critic have felt if the protesters had not been climate-change protesters but, say, anti-abortion protesters? Doesn’t the cause make a difference in how people perceive things?
As I have often said — wearily, maybe cynically — there is little principle in the national noise and much tribalism.
Okay, let me now say something pretty “out there.” Maybe cancellation-worthy. Commenters and tweeters should have a field day.
Sitting in the opera house, I had a sneaking respect for the protesters. Just a modicum. What they did was deplorable, of course. Inexcusable, unjustifiable. Illegal? (I would hope so.) But . . .
No “but.” Rather, an observation: These people were true believers. I could tell. They weren’t playacting. They weren’t enjoying a lark. This was not “rioting for fun and profit.” I could hear the true belief in their voices.
These people are fanatics. They believe that the planet is burning up and that we — people in general — are sleepwalking into catastrophe. Into planetary suicide. They are desperate to wake people up. To jolt us all into action, before it’s too late.
They are radicals, extremists — thinking they can do no other. Thinking they have to resort to extreme measures, for the common good.
Of course, there have been such people since the beginning of time. Often, they are very dangerous.
“But”? No buts. Still, an observation, a reflection.
Sitting in the house, I thought of us pro-lifers. Do we truly believe what we say? About what abortion is, what it does? What it means? Do we act like it, as we go about our daily lives?
What have I ever done for the pro-life cause? Write articles? (They are good ones, I like to think.) Vote for pro-life candidates? Give a thumbs-up to anti-abortion protesters as I drive or walk by them? Is that enough?
I don’t know.
• Oh, there are so many other subjects to discuss, but you’ve got to get on with the weekend and whatnot. I’d like to tell a story and maybe show some pictures.
Norman Lear, the television producer, has died at 101. (For the obit in the New York Times, go here.) He was responsible for All in the Family, among many other shows. All in the Family was Bill Buckley’s favorite TV show. He once said it set the cause of conservatism back ten years — because the “conservative” on the show, Archie Bunker, was a bigot and an ignoramus (if lovable at times). Nonetheless, Bill got a kick out of All in the Family.
You had to be in front of your television, you know. You couldn’t watch it on your phone whenever you wanted. You had to be in front of your set at 8 on Saturday night.
Bill accepted an invitation he felt he could not turn down — to Nelson and Happy Rockefeller’s, for a dinner honoring Henry and Nancy Kissinger. It was on a Saturday night. Which was a shame.
But Bill found that he was seated next to . . . Carroll O’Connor (the actor who played Archie). Night saved!
• A symbol of old Pittsburgh:
• Seeing such a place, you know what I always think of? The Bad News Bears, the 1976 movie. The team — the Little League baseball team — was sponsored by Chico’s Bail Bonds.
• The crèche at St. Stanislaus Kostka’s. (We’re still in Pittsburgh, by the way.)
• A larger one, in the middle of town:
• A sign in the window of Boulevard Glass & Metal:
• Behold the City of Pittsburgh Christmas Tree — the 108th. It’s a 33-foot blue spruce.
• I see that Venice is not the only city with a Bridge of Sighs . . .
• Where the Steelers play. (I forgot to bring my Terrible Towel.)
• Where the Pirates play. (I can’t help thinking of Willie Stargell and “We Are Fam-i-ly.”)
• Behold the inimitable: a Primanti Bros. sandwich:
See you soon, Pittsburghers and non-Pittsburghers alike.
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