A really human Washington would have been a delight. I can't remember if this is apocryphal, but think I remember reading that some soldier's diary described him as the single foullest-mouthed man he'd ever met.

Maybe … but if there's a reading that strengthens a story's internal logic (intentional or not), why not go with it?

It actually seems rather sharp. When we've done something wrong, and resort to after-the-fact justifications, we always start by telling them to ourselves … and then tell them to others for quasi-practice—as if, the more you say it, the more true it becomes.

There are statements you can't do that with?

"Were GWAR playing the Super Bowl …"

Sens. Sasse, Graham, Flake, and Lee; Reps. Amash and Ros-Lehtinen, both Presidents Bush, Tom Nichols, John Podhoretz, Charles Krauthammer, David French, Leon Wolf, Robert Kagan, Mike Murphy, P.J. O'Rourke (okay, so he's libertarian), Ben Shapiro, Erick Erickson, David Frum, most of the staff of National Review, the Fed…

Yeah, that'll change the way they vote next time.

No Pimm's? Obviously, we can't be friends.

Also: How come that bassist owns that Rickenbacker, and I don't?

If I had to write all his monthly paternity checks, I'd be an evil trickster too.

Well, I still say Ace Frehley looked pretty good for his age.

[YIANNOPOULOS and MAHER begin speaking, but confusedly notice that the mikes are dead.]
[The HOSTS discover two BASEBALL BATS underneath the prop table.]
[Cut to Camera 4: Handpicked CREW MEMBERS lock the studio doors from the outside.]

Well, well, well! The most diabolical haters this side of the Mississippi.

My two cents: I can understand what you're saying, and I'm not unsympathetic. On the one hand, Mitch McConnell's dodge was probably legal/procedurally allowable. But on the other hand, it sure didn't feel kosher; and the next time a Democratic Congress uses that tactic against a lame-duck GOP president, I won't like…

And you're suggesting that this particular fringe belief was decisive in electing Trump? Please excuse me if I'm misinterpreting the "rode that lie into the White House" part.

Which particular lie are you referring to? (Horrible when one has to ask that question, isn't it?)

I already can't remember a thing about that movie except the title, and it feels pretty good.

Look, y'all are going to have to get your stories straight about which kind of young student we're supposed to hate a guy for having been.

Plenty of folks on the Right would unquestionably have lost it. But in the big picture, no serious-minded person would have cared, and it wouldn't have hurt Obama's career the slightest bit. And one doubts this'll hamper Gorsuch's confirmation at all, either.

There's a thought. If I'm ever somehow obliged to watch this movie, I'll try shutting my eyes and replaying old Peter Falk scenes in my head.