Good Monday morning to you,

Let’s start with a quick note about Bob Dole, who died Sunday. He could be highly partisan, but he also did some things Republicans today would never consider doing. Twice in the Reagan years—when he saw that the 1981 tax cuts were blowing a hole in the budget deficit, and then when it became apparent that the Social Security Trust Fund was at risk of going broke—Dole helped push tax increases through Congress. Budget expert Bruce Bartlett called the first one “probably the largest peacetime tax increase in American history.” And Ronald Reagan, of course, signed them. This is something that would never, ever happen today because of Grover Norquist’s tax pledge, and it’s one of the main reasons, maybe the main reason, why compromise is impossible now.

Also on the Dole front, and another marker of what has become of the GOP in our time, is the story of how, in 2012, the Senate voted against ratifying a United Nations convention on people with disabilities. Dole, of course, was a big champion of disability rights. Dole was retired by then, but he came back to the Senate to lobby personally for ratification. Oh, and he was in a wheelchair. And most Republicans voted no. I wrote about it in The Daily Beast at the time. Sick stuff.

Omicron has now been detected in 17 states, according to the New York Times tracker. Anthony Fauci said something semi-reassuring on CNN Sunday: “Thus far, it does not look like there’s a great degree of severity to it. But we have really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe or it really doesn’t cause any severe illness, comparable to delta.” It’s possible, people are hoping, that omicron is both (a) highly transmissible and (b) not serious in terms of health effects, which is the combination that would help establish herd immunity. We could use a break like that.

Politico reports that Joe Biden wants a “no drama” December and that many Democrats are saying that one thing he should not do is set a public deadline for passing Build Back Better, because such a deadline would really just strengthen, guess who, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. Senator Tim Kaine: “We all feel like it’s coming to a decision point. I don’t know that announcing a public deadline would really get [the White House] anything and it might cause some people to get their hackles up.” Three more weeks of watching those two will be plenty enough. What a relief it will be to stop having to think about them every day.

On a happier note, the Kennedy Center Honors were held Sunday night (to be broadcast on CBS on Wednesday, December 22), and the reason this was good news is not only because the president and first lady showed up (the Trumps never went) but because the glorious Joni Mitchell was there, after what I understand to have been a very tough few years healthwise. Brandi Carlile did “Big Yellow Taxi,” and Norah Jones sang “Circle Game.” I for one can’t wait. Some of these Kennedy Center performances are fantastic. If you’ve never seen Heart’s version of “Stairway to Heaven” when Zep was honored, watch it. Amazing. 

At NewRepublic.com today, read Eric Garcia on Dole’s legacy on disability rights; Richard Kahlenberg on the continuing toll of housing and school segregation; and Patrick Caldwell on why Republicans won’t help Democrats address the debt ceiling.

Until mañana,

Michael Tomasky, editor

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Friday’s question: When and for what disease did General George Washington order inoculations for all of his troops during the Revolutionary War?

Answer: In early 1777, at a point when fully 90 percent of U.S. troop deaths were caused not by the British but by smallpox. You can read more about it here.

Today’s question: As a young Republican member of the House of Representatives, Bob Dole voted for the Civil Rights Act in 1964. How many House and Senate Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act?