And here a little bit of self-congratulation seems in order.
Trump, clearly pleased with both his pick and the production, couldn't help but engage in a revealing bit of self-congratulation. "So was that a surprise?," Trump asked no one in particular.
During last week's first Republican debate, her unnerving presence might have been enough to make Bush say (in response to a question from Bret Baier about family dynasties), "In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it," a bit of self-congratulation that made no sense at all.
The phrases that make him grind his teeth don't necessarily make me grind mine – apparently, "any time soon" is the one kicked him over the edge – but he's fingered "progressive" as an empty bit of self-congratulation, a charge that earned me some brickbats when I wrote about it here.
The Trump team's latest bit of self-congratulation comes from something of an unexpected source.
It was a chance for reflection and a bit of self-congratulation, not least for helping the nation rebound from its worst economic downturn in more than half a century — though he was careful to credit the American people and acknowledge their continued unease.
Vinterberg can be permitted a small moment of self-congratulation.
"I beat him up pretty good," Combs said in a rare moment of self-congratulation.
An appealingly breezy survey of Simon's half-century in pop — from his folky mid-'60s hits with Art Garfunkel all the way up to a danceable cut from his 2016 studio album — this performance was a celebration rather than a funeral, with none of the solemnity (and only a bit of the self-congratulation) you might've expected from a master preparing to hang it up.
Oddly, in fact, it's Derek's redeeming qualities that are the hardest to take – a sense of self-congratulation at the refinement of its own sentiments that has a little bit of the bully in it too.
I experienced a momentary feeling of self-congratulation.
