High Spirits
After a run of teetotalers, Kamala Harris finds joy in politics in a traditional place.
From my new column in Taki’s Magazine:
Steve Sailer
August 21, 2024
During an unusual stretch in United States history in which many of the candidates for national office, such as Donald Trump, Tim Walz, Joe Biden, Mike Pence, Mitt Romney, and George W. Bush, have been teetotalers, Kamala Harris is restoring American political tradition by finding joy in the bottle.
An oenophile, the California candidate is an ardent personal supporter of her home state’s famous wine industry, while also displaying habituated knowledge of European vintages. The owner of Washington’s Cork Wine Bar enthused in 2020:
“She can talk about different varietals. She can talk about differences between California oak and French oak…. She knows what she likes and doesn’t like, and knows why she doesn’t like it…. She does like her California wines, but she does have a great appreciation for Old World wines as well, because we don’t do domestic wines at Cork.”
We live in an era in which Americans seem more interested in the drinking habits of dead presidents like Ulysses S. Grant than of live contenders.
The first fifty years of American presidents were all hard drinkers by 21st-century standards, but not by the norms of their voters, who consumed remarkable amounts of whiskey.
Read the whole thing there.
I don't believe for a minute that Walz has been on the wagon since his DUI. Just look at him for God's sake.
I wouldn't describe Grant as an alcoholic, according to the classic definition (someone who is addicted and needs to drink daily); your description of binge drinker is more accurate. He could go long periods without touching a drop when he was focused and had problems to solve. His autobiography is a classic.