Zorn: Good people on both sides?

I'm perfectly prepared to lose friendships over this election.

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Eric Zorn is a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Find a longer bio and contact information here. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. Paid subscribers receive each Picayune Plus in their email inbox each Tuesday, are part of our civil and productive commenting community and enjoy the sublime satisfaction of supporting this enterprise.

Mid-summer break

I’ll be in vacation mode the next three weeks so posting will be much lighter than usual. Sunday’s news — I will not call it a surprise — that President Joe Biden has chosen to abandon his candidacy for reelection and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris is the contest to succeed him seems to have given a significant boost to dispirited Democrats. It has also and thrown a scare into Republicans, who have been planning to run by criticizing Biden’s mental fitness and performance in office.

I’ve been calling for Biden to step aside ever since the debate disaster and I’m very glad he did the noble, selfless thing. Harris may or may not win in November, but I strongly believe her chances are better than Biden’s, and that there is plenty of time for voters to take their measure of her either way.

I’m very interested in your views. Please post to comments.

Oh, please!

This has been showing up in my social media feeds fairly often lately. I have a strong reaction to it, which I will share. But read it only after you vote below

Me? I recoil at this treacly sentiment for how it trivializes extremely important differences in outlook, turning them into mere reasonable-people-can-differ disagreements on the order of Cubs/Sox or pineapple on pizza, yes or no.

I can get along with people who want to elect a man who seems eager to take away my rights and freedoms along with the rights and freedoms of people I know and love. I can coexist with people who would love to force their religion on others, who have hate in their heart for those not like them, who don’t give a damn about the environment and who are willing to set aside most of the principles they claim to live by to vote for a uniquely toxic aspiring dictator for president.

But I can’t love and respect them. Not if my love and respect has any value whatsoever.

These aren’t quibbles about tax, health care, public safety or education policy, but matters that fundamentally define civic character. I find galling the suggestion that sharp differences in these areas are superficial and even the suggestion that supporters of Donald Trump share my goals but just have a different idea of how to reach them.

When I made this case to a friend, he gently suggested my attitude was similar to the attitudes of those who can never love and respect people with different religious beliefs because their existence is an affront to God. Hasn’t a version of my sentiment been the root of actual warfare through the ages? I didn’t have a good answer for this, other than that there is no violence in my heart, just flabbergasted contempt.

So I’m interested in what you think.

Abe Lincoln vs. Madison Avenue

Most of the obituaries for comedian and actor Bob Newhart, who died at 94 last week, mentioned this classic comedy bit:

They also referenced the famous final scene in the last episode of “Newhart,” in which his character wakes up as the character in his previous sit com:

The entire series finale of “Newhart” is here.

The week’s best visual jokes

In the spirit of summer reruns. I’m posting here some of the best visual jokes from the early days of this feature, which started in late 2021:

Vote for your favorite. I’ll share the winner in Thursday’s main edition.

Usage note: To me, “tweet” has become a generic term for a short post on social media. And I will continue to call the platform Twitter if only to spite Elon Musk:

On this issue and perhaps this issue alone, I am with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett:

There’s still time to vote in the conventional Tweet of the Week poll!

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Contact

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