Ten finalists in the brand new Tweet of the Week poll. Here's a hint as to which one is my favorite:  Last week's winner was "Genius. Until last Thursday, if you Googled 'Trump' and 's-------,' all you got were hotel reviews," by @Gramiq. That's the Twitter handle of Brandon (Manitoba) University marketing and communications director Grant Hamilton. And his success actually made the news up in Canada!  My column for today, Wednesday, Failure to ask 'then what?' will prove Democrats' undoing in shutdown fight, neatly (I hope) threads the needle between the despair of progressives and the reassurances of moderates in the Democratic Party about the precipitous end Monday to the brief government shutdown.The Democrats are very slightly better off today than they were Friday just before the shutdown began. They have brought the long-simmering issue of what o do about the so-called "Dreamers" — immigrants who were brought to this country illegally as children — to a full boil and have bought a couple of weeks to make their case. But the Democrats will cave on the government shutdown threat in early February and they will get rolled by Republicans on the issue of immigration. Because they have no choice.
I'm expecting — already getting — some pushback on this conclusion from my more radicalized friends. But let's be real, here. Swing voters and moderates side with DACA recipients, but don't — and won't — see securing the futures of these young people as worth shutting down the government for. And it's a battle that can be won at the polls.  I've written many columns in more than 30 years at this pulpit, and Game on! Pritzker parries the 'insider' charge, Kennedy lashes back is certainly one of them. It picked up on and then picked over a moment in the Democratic gubernatorial endorsement forum at the Tribune Editorial Board last Friday. I wrote it in kind of a hurry, and though the sentences and paragraphs hang together OK, the whole is less than the sum of the parts. In other words, I had things to say but not a clear focus as to what, overall, I wanted to say. Life doesn't always give us enough time to think before we type, alas.
 I admit this because that column stands, for me, in sharp distinction to last Friday's column, Don't boycott the State of the Union speech, kill it once and for all, which I'm really proud of for its structure and punch.The State of the Union speech is now just an intensely partisan opportunity for grandstanding and showboating — an extended infomercial for the current administration, with its laundry lists of boasts and aspirations and its introduction of special guests in the hall whose presence is intended to underscore a political point. Opponents of the president use what opportunities they find to applaud sarcastically, groan or make gestures of disapproval. For all of its pomp and ceremony — two raucous standing ovations for the president before he even speaks a word? — the event lacks dignity as much as it lacks purpose.
Reader response was mostly favorable, but I was surprised to get a few emails like this one: Would you be vomiting the same foul crap if it were ex- President Obama getting ready to give the address? My best guess is no because you would have (vile anatomical references deleted). I am extremely concerned whether the media has our nation's best interests at heart or are the intent on destroying it. That being said, where exactly is your heart? What exactly are your intentions by spewing this vile crap? Who do you really work for? The CIA? Is this part of the mockingbird operation or some similar program to keep the nation divided other purposes? What exactly is the purpose of this article?
Dude! Yes! My dislike of the SOTU festivities is non-partisan. And if it were my intention to divide the nation by spewing, I could hardly be doing better than the oafish narcissist in the Oval Office. The purpose of this "article," like all my columns, is to provoke constructive thinking. And maybe — I can't tell you if this is true or not, obviously — please my puppet masters at the CIA. I'm going to nag you to subscribe The Mincing Rascals on iTunes or wherever fine, free audio podcasts are served. WGN-AM's John Williams anchors a really good news-review chat show that includes me, Steve Bertrand, Scott Stantis, and, when we're lucky, Kristen McQueary.
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