Walter Shapiro

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@pattmlatimes True, but most supporters in 1994 assumed that it would be easy to reauthorize it in 2004. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

It gave me a jab of joy to see that I am mentioned in my favorite language column (now that Bill Safire has gone to the Great Grammarian in the Sky) as a fervent defender of "jab" as a superior alternative to "shot." — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

It's been nearly 27 years since the assault weapons ban was added to the 1994 crime bill. As the witty conservative economist Herb Stein once said, "If something can't go on forever, it won't." That's why I believe that the gun lobby will soon have its moment of reckoning. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@pattmlatimes I love this. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

In "Catch-22" there was a Loyalty Oath mania. As I recall, airmen were required to recite the Loyalty Oath every hour in case their loyalty to the Allies had disappeared during the prior hour. You simply can't be too careful about disloyalty in wartime. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@JennyLynBader Even if the host is the "bog in the history department"? — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@lrozen Thank you for highlighting this glorious thread about reading and tiny bookstores and adults who are helpful to curious children. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Fascinating story by @margotroosevelt about a serious legislative effort in California to create a state-owned bank that would solve the banking needs of the poor and save them from the mercy of check-cashing services and even worse. https://t.co/DKazbGFTG2 — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

From my piece on GOP fund-raising: "The problem for Republicans is that, when it comes to small donor fundraising, Trump is both the party’s savior and its albatross." — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Why I love Facebook and its helpful hints: "Based on the groups that you have interacted with, you might like Northeast Beekeeping." The algorithm should know that I'm a Southwest Beekeeping kind of guy who hates clunky verb forms like "interacted with." — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@ChrisRRegan @DavidYazbek Well played. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

RT @laurareston: "It's easy to imagine Trump funneling the money he raises into the coffers of some of the most militant and deranged Repub… — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Manfred Ball is designed as baseball for people who hate baseball. The rest of us have to suffer. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

I don't normally get caught up in political messaging. But this from recovering pollster @dianefeldman is so smart. Sample: "Voter suppression" is vague and abstract. "Election cheating" is tangible. And no one has ever won a vote by shouting "racist." https://t.co/Lsyje0K361 — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@joshgerstein Made me laugh. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

I love the typo in your original post: "But the WORD has plenty of poets and historians." — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

I count five major "unlikely" events in that single sentence: 1). Cuomo runs again; 2). Cuomo wins primary; 3). Giuliani Jr. runs; 4). Giuliani Jr. wins primary; and 5). Anyone in NY calls a race in a Democratic state "epic." — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

RT @newrepublic: As corporate donations to the GOP decline, establishment Republicans are struggling to raise money, and extremists are rak… — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@VBass @TomLevenson @clubatomique About a decade ago, I played around with writing a book on 1913 because it contained everything that the right-wing hated. In hindsight, I wish I had. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@jennifereduffy Sorry about that. But my observation was prompted by reading a wonderful A.J. Liebling account of crossing the Atlantic from England on a Norwegian tanker in late 1941. And while I grew up reading WWII stories like these, I suddenly flashed on how long ago 1941 was. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@rbdoeker I realize that this sense of cycles has a long historical tradition. Please take a bow Oswald Spengler. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@rbdoeker God knows I don't want to get into an argument over this. But the problem with historical cycles is that the number of examples is rarely more than 4 or 5. It could just be the random weirdness of life and chance since a coin lands heads 4 times in a row about 7% of the time. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@rbdoeker I recall reading it. But it seemed a tad mechanistic in its assumptions. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@grego119 No. But World War II shaped the culture of the 1950s and early 1960s. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

I just realized that we are as close in time from the end of World War II as Pearl Harbor was from Lee's surrender at Appomattox. For a babyboomer, it is hard to believe that WWII is the midpoint between the Civil War and 2021. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

It was the basketball version of “High Noon” which is 85 minutes from 10:35 to noon. That’s real time as well as movie time. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@Graniteprof You have all the breaks in NH. My team, the Nattering Nabobs, is tied for last. And we don't even draft until Saturday. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@Graniteprof If NH becomes a beauty contest, I am betting heavily on Henry Cabot Lodge on a write-in. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Before you go too Doomsday on the NH Democratic primary, remember two other factors: 1). It not lost on Democrats in DC that NH has two House seats that are usually in play; and 2). There are compromises like NH sharing the same kickoff day with SC. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@ozarkspider It's in the section on Obits. Patton isn't in the title, but he's a big part of the piece. — PolitiTweet.org