WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

The notion that Capitol Hill denizens are brilliant 4-D chess players is pure myth, the product of too many press hagiographies of the “Game Change” variety and too many Hollywood fantasies like “House of Cards” and “West Wing.” The average American politician would lose at checkers to a zoo gorilla. …

Remember Ted Stevens explaining that the internet “is not a big truck”? How about Hank Johnson worrying that Guam would become so overpopulated it would “tip over and capsize”? How about Oklahoma Republican Jim Bridenstine noting that just because the Supreme Court rules on something, that “doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s constitutional”?

There’s a reason aides try to keep their bosses away from microphones, particularly when there’s a potential for a question of SAT-or-higher level difficulty in the interview. But the subject elected officials have the most trouble staying away from is each other. We’ve seen this a lot in recent weeks with the ongoing freakout over newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Lest anyone think any of the above applies to “AOC,” who’s also had a lot to say since arriving in Washington, remember: she won in spite of the party and big donors, not because of them. … AOC’s supporters sent her to Washington precisely to make noise. There isn’t a cabal of key donors standing behind her, cringing every time she talks about the Pentagon budget. She is there to be a pain in the tail, and it’s working. Virtually the entire spectrum of Washington officialdom has responded to her with horror and anguish.

— Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone