TygrBright
TygrBright's JournalWhat Kind of a Guy is Anthony Fauci?
This kind of guy:
We just got off the phone from a holiday call with friends. He's an about-to-retire physician, she's a musician. Naturally, what's been going on with the family was the bulk of the call, and they trotted out this anecdote.
Their younger daughter, after some years of trying first this and then that, without finding her passion, finally decided to go into nursing. Not just nursing, but a specialty in emergency services. She has TOTALLY found her passion, and plunged right into it. ("OMG, weren't you worried?" I wanted to ask... but didn't. They're parents, of course they worried, but they are so proud of her...)
And then this summer she fell ill.
Not COVID, but a brain tumor.
Dad- the retiring physician- got his daughter into the NIH for treatment, based on the specific type of tumor and some work going on there related to it.
Daughter shows up at NIH, and, since she is a health care professional herself, she gets a tour. Not on the floor she'll be on, but on a different floor, her guide casually mentions "That's Dr. Fauci's office."
Daughter who is a total gushing fangirl says "Oooooh, can I see?" They grin and show her the outer office, and she timidly asks "Can I meet him?" But of course they have to regretfully tell her that "busy" doesn't even begin to describe him, so sorry... So she asks, "Can I write him a note?" and they hand her a pad and pen and right there, she dashes off a fan letter.
Then she goes down to her floor to be prepped for surgery. Surgery goes well, they move her to a regular room, to recover.
The next day, a visitor shows up.
Yep.
Dr. Fauci.
Wanted her to know he got her note, wanted to thank her for that and for her work.
Yeah, they got a selfie, even.
And that's the kind of guy Dr. Fauci is.
You know, the guy PRESIDENT-ELECT Joe Biden has made his chief medical advisor?
That Dr. Fauci.
Wow.
amazedly,
Bright
There is an opportunity waiting for GOP pols smart enough to see it...
...and gutsy enough to grab it.
Admittedly, two qualities in notably short supply among that demographic.
All the same, it would only take, maybe... six or seven? To start.
If it were the right six or seven... others might join them.
Which GOPpie pols would be eligible?
They're the line slime, the back benchers, low profile folks from moderate suburban districts who mostly toe the line from leadership, but who have avoided making big public leaps onto the MAGAt bandwagon. They always wash their mouths out after a session teabagging Moscow Mitch and they manage to evade questions about whether they were under his desk with a certain amount of skill.
They're generally Republicans because their parents were, and everyone they knew in school was. They got a leg up from various internship or legal clerkship programs, because they're part of what used to be called "the Establishment" back when there was such a thing. They still think the Constitution means something. Mostly for people like them, but they're willing to let others ride in the back of the bus if they're not too uppity.
What they really want is for things to go back to some semblance of what they think of as 'normal' in the sense of Wall Street running things, America being respected around the world, people going to some Country Club Church (or Pentecostal Tabernacle if they live in the hinterlands) on Sunday but not talking about it otherwise, reverence for the law and the institutions of the Republic, civility in public discourse, and a moderate respect for science as long as it doesn't interfere with their quarterly dividends.
In other words, old-style "conservatism" that recognized its survival was to some extent predicated on compromise and not allowing economic and social inequity to become too grotesque, and on a shared understanding of reality and stipulation of provable fact.
That kind of Republican. I don't love them any more than I love fungus, but I recognize they have a critical role in the political ecosystem.
And they have an opportunity, right now, if they exist, if they can grasp it. Here's how it could play out:
They withdraw from the GOP. They form an independent caucus with a vague, non-ideological label that harks back to old-school GOP politics. (If they're really smart, they'll reach out to the Lincoln Project crowd and get some suggestions.) They quietly make it clear that they are no longer beholden to Moscow Mitch & Co. and they become part of the clean-up squad rooting out the most egregious corruption and treason, but while doing so, they also hold the line on their irrational pie-in-the-sky "fiscal responsibility" bullshit, deficit hawkery, slow-down-progress agenda.
I think if they did this, especially with some help from the Lincoln Project crowd, they could form the nucleus of a resurgent Republican Party, perhaps with a slightly different name, and regain their grasp on Major Party status within three election cycles. One of them could possibly get elected President in 2032 or 2036.
The question is, are there any left with the brains and courage to try it?
Time will tell.
speculatively,
Bright
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