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Jim Newton
Itasca, Ill.
Vice President JD Vance has given me newfound insight on, of all things, history. In Peter Baker's recent NY Times column on Vance, Baker quotes the VP saying "If you've ever met him (a conservative columnist who criticized the administration's Iran policy) in person it's quite obvious the man has never missed a burrito." Baker reminds us that similar insults aren't particularly rare in today's political climate, but that Vance has taken it to new levels.
I agree, but former President Richard Nixon's first VP Spiro T. Agnew comes to mind. Agnew gems like "pusillanimous pussyfooters" and "nattering nabobs of negativism" raised eyebrows because such chatter stood out among lawmakers in 1968. Even Nixon saved his choice expletives for recordings never meant to be public. JD Vance's inadvertent perspective makes me appreciate the relatively civil Vice-Presidential conduct of Spiro Agnew.
Never thought I'd say that.