The world of PBS Newshour Friday

A legitimately elected Democratic President explains why we need to do something substantial about climate change, which presents "an existential threat to human civilization on this planet as we know it" and, more mildly, "a deadly threat to the future of our civilization." Al Gore calls Trump’s deregulation proposals ‘literally insane’ PBS Newshour 10/12/2018:

He even challenges Judy Woodruf on repeating a tired and painfully false Republican talking point in both-sides-do-it style. Apparently thinking that "reaching your hand across the aisle" knowing that you'll only draw back a bloody stump isn't an optimal approach, he even calls that nice Mr. Trump's environmental policies "literally insane," like it says in the title.

Dang hippie! Next he'll be telling people they should go out and picket against destructive oil pipelines and boycott polluters.

Then there is the weekly Shields and Brooks Clown Show, whose value typically hangs on whether Mark Shields has had a sufficient caffeine fix beforehand to be able to actively engaged. Shields and Brooks on President Trump’s ‘angry mob’ rhetoric PBS Newshour 10/12/2018:

He apparently was a bit coffee-deprived on Friday:

Judy Woodruff:

How are Democrats countering this, I mean, this approach by the president, Mark? ...

What — how to [sic] Democrats come back?

Mark Shields:

Well, the first thing they ought to do is stop picketing and stop boycotting and organize.

Speaking as an actual professionally trained "Alinskyist" organizer (from once upon a time with the United Farm Workers union), I gazed at the screen for 10 minutes wondering just how Mark Shields thinks picket lines and boycotts happen. Or voter canvassing and get-out-the-vote efforts, for that matter.

I tried to think of some snarky comment in direct response. But I came up blank. And I still got nothin'.

I guess that, in his half-woke state on Friday, Mark was trying to deliver a version of a get-out-the-vote message. But it got mushed together with the stock condescending conservative response to liberal-left protesters, i.e.: I don't have a problem with what you said, but I don't like the way you said it!

Mark also fretted about incivility and blah, blah. Bobo weighed in with - of course! - both sides do it:

I think, in this age, having the moral high ground is a bit of an advantage, a major advantage. And because of Donald Trump's behavior, he has put the Republicans at a moral disadvantage.

How 2018 is different in this regard from 2016, when the Republicans swept the ticket from top to bottom, Bobo doesn't explain.

And keeping go — staying high, staying reasonably civil, not totally going into the gutter with Donald Trump strikes me as the right Democratic strategy and the right strategy for any movement, because once you go down there, you self-corrupt.

And so I — one begins to see — Eric Holder said, if they go after us, we kick them. You're beginning to see a lot of people getting so angry about Kavanaugh and other things, any means necessary. To me, that is a mistake just for the soul of your party.

Yeah, Bobo was pretty much phoning it in, too.

Half-woke Mark responds this way:

Let me say, I agree with David.

I think it's not only the right thing to do, but the wise thing to do. I think it's in the best interests of the country. And I would say, at a practical level, you can't compete with Donald Trump. He's just better at it than anybody else. [my emphasis]

Not to nitpick. But even a less-then-stellar candidate like Hillary Clinton beat him by three million votes in 2016. So there's that.

Remember, Mark and Bobo are Very Serious People.