Fun to be back on Hoppy Kercheval's show. Plus: Covid reality will win. And, SNL cast revolts. Yawn.
By Gary Abernathy
Great to be a guest again with Hoppy Kercheval
Hoppy Kercheval is the dean of West Virginia radio broadcasting. He’s been hosting a daily politics-oriented talk show on the West Virginia Metro News network for nearly three decades. Hoppy leans to the conservative side, but he’s pretty independent and regularly has guests from across the political spectrum. He respects his guests, but he’ll challenge them, and he’s a thorough, thoughtful and knowledgeable interviewer.
When I worked in West Virginia Republican politics for the better part of 2001-2009, Hoppy regularly invited me on his show. There were stretches when I was on the show every week. But my last appearance was in 2009, shortly before I returned to Ohio to work.
So I was happy when Hoppy emailed me Thursday and invited me to come on the show today to discuss my Washington Post column on President Biden’s address Wednesday to a joint session of Congress. It was fun to reconnect with Hoppy, and also hear from several West Virginia friends who texted and emailed me after they heard the interview.
Here’s a clip, and the podcast of the whole April 30 show can be found here. (Sen. Joe Manchin was on right before me.) Thanks, Hoppy, it was great being on. Hope to do it again soon.
Eventually, covid reality will overwhelm politics
The Washington Post today reports good news on the covid-19 front:
The spring wave of coronavirus infections that began in March is subsiding in most of the country, with 42 states and D.C. reporting lower caseloads for the past two weeks. Hospitals in hard-hit Michigan and other Upper Midwest states that were flooded with patients in mid-April are discharging more than they’re admitting. The daily average of new infections nationwide has dropped to the lowest level since mid-October…
…Multiple factors are driving the ebbing of the spring wave, said Natalie E. Dean, a University of Florida biostatistics expert. “Things are all very encouraging, even despite the circulation of these variants, because so many people are vaccinated and because there had already been a fair amount of infection, and because we’re moving into the spring,” she said. “There could be smaller, local flare-ups, but in general, things are looking really good as we move into the summer.”
While there are those who, for their own baffling motivations, will never think it’s time to get back to normal, the reality will soon become apparent to everyone -- to the degree that politically motivated restrictions and warnings will increasingly be shrugged off by a population smart enough to decide for themselves how to live and work.
Along those lines, great news heading into the summer from Kings Island and Cedar Point, sister amusement parks in Ohio – no masks outdoors. And, frankly, hardly indoors either, because of this: masks are required indoors “unless actively eating and drinking.” Safe to say, people are “actively eating and drinking” a lot when indoors at Kings Island.
SNL cast revolts over Elon Musk, and everyone yawns
Finally, going into the weekend, here’s the kind of story that explains why Hollywood is less influential or respected than at any time in history. Some cast members of Saturday Night Live are unhappy that Elon Musk is set to host the show on May 8. Why? No, I don’t mean why are they upset. They’re upset because they can’t pass up any chance to out-woke each other. I mean, why should anyone care?
Beginning with Donald Trump’s presidency, Saturday Night Live traded a reputation built over four decades of being a funny, clever show dedicated to equally skewering both sides of the political aisle in favor of slavishly catering to the left and its politically-correct narratives. Elon Musk, being rich and all, and apparently not appropriately devoted to the Progressive Handbook, is offensive to the Enlightened Ones of SNL. Over the years, various cast members have bulked over different guests, including when Trump hosted the show, as well as Sarah Palin and many others.
Read it and weep. And have a nice weekend.
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