Bret: I’m as outraged as you are by the new bills in Alabama and other states, which are expressly written to flout the law and bring about a challenge to Roe v. Wade. Even Trump is distancing himself from the Alabama bill, which effectively outlaws abortion in all cases — including rape and incest — except for when a mother’s health is at “serious” risk.

Gail: I have to admit I’m not exercised about a special exemption for victims of rape or incest. It plays into the religious right’s conviction that you shouldn’t have sex unless you want to get pregnant. So a two-inch fetus is an unassailable human being, except when the woman was an unwilling participant in getting pregnant.

Bret: Then again, if it does come before the high court, I’m fairly certain Roe will be reaffirmed. John Roberts, the chief justice, cares deeply about the legitimacy and authority of the court, and he understands that overturning Roe would destroy both. In February of this year, he sided with the court’s liberals to block a restrictive Louisiana bill. And having the court reaffirm Roe for another generation, the way the Casey decision did in 1992, would be good for the country.

Gail: Sure hope you’re right.

Let’s move on to the Democrats and the presidential race. Which would you rather do first, make fun of Bill de Blasio or talk about Joe Biden? Am I wrong in feeling you’re a big Biden fan?

Bret: Our colleague Jennifer Senior had a perfect takedown of our mayor and his, er, lackadaisical work habits: “The city that never slept,” she wrote, “now has leadership that can’t get out of bed.” I would only add that electing one useless New Yorker to the White House has already been a tragedy. Electing yet another would be a farce.

Gail: Jennifer’s piece was a wonderful reminder of how much of the mayoral day is spent being driven back and forth from Brooklyn for a workout at his favorite gym. But it’s interesting — he’s actually accomplished some important things as mayor. Particularly pre-K expansion. It’s just that even when he’s being effective, he’s such an awful personality, nobody wants to cheer him. And then there’s the hundreds of millions in public money his wife has spent on her own personal, apparently totally useless mental health initiative ….

O.K., done ranting. On to Joe.

Bret: As for Biden, I’m warming to him fast. It’s not that I agree with him on policy questions — I don’t agree with most Democrats in the field. Nor do I think he’s the cleverest guy ever to run for president. But I admire his obvious decency, his knowledge of Washington, his lack of partisan rancor and the reassurance he would bring to both America and the world that a sane and decent person sits in the Oval Office. I also like the fact that he doesn’t feel the need to pre-emptively cringe in the face of his party’s left-wing Furies .