With Friends Like These............

The last thing the Democrats need is for their own members to turn on them.  I'm talking about Donna Brazile, in her new book that trashes Hillary Clinton, specifically, and Elizabeth Warren, who piled on by saying the DNC rigged the primaries in favor of Clinton.

 Ronald Reagan had a pretty good idea when he said that no Republican should say anything against a fellow Republican.  Their grievances have stayed in-house until the current batch of politicians, who seem intent on eating their young.

I'll admit I have only read excerpts of Brazile's book, but they are enough to convince me that she is pretty bitter these days about Hillary, who she wholeheartedly supported during the campaign.  Makes me wonder what has caused the about-face now.  Could it be because she is now out of a job and she had been counting on a place in the Clinton cabinet?  Or, maybe she's just trying to hit all of the talk shows, a feat which she has accomplished, handily. So, her fifteen minutes are up.

Then, there's Elizabeth Warren.  Warren supported Bernie Sanders, which is fine, even though he isn't a Democrat and has never lifted a finger to help in the Democrats' fund-raising efforts. But, after he lost, we could expect Warren to do exactly what she did, which is to switch her support to Clinton. Now that it's all over but the whining, you'd think she wouldn't sink to calling the primaries "rigged" in favor of Clinton. 

The Democrats are working to get their act together as much as is possible for Democrats. Now is not the time for their members to take their personal beefs out on their party.

They had big wins in recent elections, most notably in Virginia.  Let's see what happens in the 2018 election.

Stay tuned. 

More Hillary Distraction

As I understand it, at least at this point, Hillary Clinton and the DNC made a deal to share contributions.  The deal was offered to Hillary and Bernie, but Bernie declined, probably because he didn't want to share with the DNC, not being a Democrat and all.  Or, maybe he knew he just wasn't going to raise as much money as Hillary, at first anyway. Whatever.  The deal wasn't illegal. So, Trump can stop calling for an FBI investigation.

I suspect that if Bernie had agreed to the fund-sharing, he would now be claiming he didn't get as much out of the deal as Hillary.  I don't know this, of course, but it seems to be the way things are going.

I also suspect that the media has cherry-picked this from Donna Brazile's book in order to do some more Tsk-Tsk-Tsk-ing at Hillary, as they have done since the 1990's. I'm not going to read the book to find out.

It's not that I am all that crazy about Hillary as the candidate. I was one Democrat who was telling everyone I didn't think she should run because she had too much baggage.  And, I thought she would be much more effective as a Senator, for a much longer time.  We'll never know if I was right.

At any rate, it is obvious that the DNC needs a complete overhaul. They have had problems for a while, now, and if they don't get busy, we're going to have to suffer the Comrade Trump until at least 2020, and possibly 2024. It makes cold chills run up and down my spine.

And, imagine how much damage the Republicans can do by 2024 if they stay in the majority. Having NO checks and balances in our government is the pits.

The DNC needs some new rules and some new blood.  As much as I love Joe Biden, he's just too old to be running for president, and, Elizabeth Warren is too abrasive.  She's better off where she is, too, whether she knows it or not.

It seems to me that the Democrats are two entities - the DNC and the rest of the Democrats throughout the country.  It has always seemed that way to me.  The DNC  is made up of the "insiders" and the rest of us are just waiting to see what we will have to vote for in the next election.I think we need some Democratic leaders who come from the masses of ordinary Democrats.

And, we need a better slogan than "A Better Deal."

Stay tuned.

Conspiracy? What Conspiracy?

Oh, I do love a good conspiracy theory.  I especially love the ones about the Kennedy assassination. Not only do I love them, I believe them - mostly.

I, along with millions of others, watched the assassination live on television, and I can tell you that when the shots range out, the television cameras swung around and focused on that grassy knoll. Don't try to tell me there wasn't someone there. Don't patiently explain that the sound is skewed because of the way the buildings are situated.

Years later, when I visited that same grassy knoll, I was pleased to see the card tables other theorists had set up, with all kinds of pamphlets that they were handing out to anyone who would take them. I saw the window through which Lee Harvey Oswald waited for the Presidential motorcade to reach just the right place so he could get JFK in his sights and fire. I believe he shot JFK.  I just don;t believe he acted alone, because I don't believe he could snap off three perfect shots in so short a time.

Why no, I'm not a ballistics expert. Why do you ask?

Yesterday was the day that the President was supposed to release the rest of the reports from the FBI that were supposed to clear it all up and lay to rest all our theories. What he released, at the request of the FBI and CIA,  was a wad of papers, heavily redacted, and far short of the Three Thousand or so documents  that we are supposed to take for the truth of the matter.  Rats! Now I have yet another conspiracy theory.

New theory: The FBI and CIA were reluctant to release the documents, so they convinced Pres. Trump to release a relatively small number hoping to satisfy everybody, and with the promise that they would "revisit" the subject in six months,  What are they trying to hide?  Is it the fact that they messed up their investigations?  You're welcome.

Stay tuned.

There They Go Again

They're after poor Hillary again, trying to convince us that she and the DNC are to blame for the infamous dossier that came to light after the election. But, their hopes have been dashed, whether they realize it or not.

It seems some as yet unnamed Republican hired a company named Fusion GPS to do opposition research on Donald Trump. This unnamed Republican was a foe of Donald Trump, and then, when the campaign was over, the unnamed foe gave up, leaving Fusion GPS with a juicy dossier put together by a former MI6 operative named Christopher Steele.

Then, the DNC hired Fusion and Steele to continue their research, which resulted in the dossier being made public.

Clinton at first denied any knowledge of the dossier, but finally acknowledged that the DNC did pay for the Steele research.  I don't know what happened after Trump finally won, but the dossier stayed in the news and now Mueller and the various investigative committees are trying to find out who hired Fusion to begin with.  Fusiion seems to be resisting.

Meanwhile, there are parts of the dossier that have been proven true and other, salacious parts, that no one seems to be able to confirm.

Here's the thing. Opposition research is common and candidates don't have to admit doing it if they don't want to.  Smart candidates do opposition research on themselves just to see what kind of dirt, other candidates are finding out about them. It's all part of the game, and there's no scandal in it, except the information, if any, gleaned from said research.

So, the Republicans can sit down and shut up and worry about their own reputations.  They're not looking very good right now, and it's going to get worse.

Stay tuned.

Mid-Term Defections

It's usually a good sign for the party not in the majority when members of the opposing party start resigning and deciding to retire.  But, I wonder if this is a typical mid-term. 

Trump is celebrating, because he thinks he has won the war.  And, he may have.  The latest rat to leave the hopefully sinking ship is Jeff Flake. of Arizona.  Will Arizona voters turn around and vote Democratic in the election?  Or, will the GOP put up someone even worse than Flake, and will voters flock to him like they have other far right wing candidates? 

Will the Republican party split in half?  Or will the right wing wackos simply take over entirely and banish the few sensible members who are left. If so, where will the Moderates go?

I can't help but wonder why in the world the Republicans are allowing Trump to divide the party. I can only think of two possible reasons.  One, they are more afraid of Pence than they are of Trump. Or, Two, they are waiting until they are able to pass a bill that will get them the tax breaks for the rich that they want.

Stay tuned.

Is It Asking Too Much?

Is it asking too much that the President focus on the important things and speak truth rather than lies?  That he not try desperately to find a way to use nuclear weapons, but to find ways to avoid it? That he show respect to all people, whatever their beliefs, race, or nationality?  That he dig deep and find empathy for those who have suffered from natural disasters? That he find a way to express sorrow to parents, spouses, children and other family members of fallen service men and/or women?  That he surround himself with people who know more about government, and when they offer assistance to him, he accepts their advice? Is it asking too much that the President appeal to the better angels of the citizens who wish their own country harm?

Is is asking too much to expect the President to simply be a decent human being?

Is it asking too much that members of the House of Representatives and Senate act as agents of "checks and balances" as they were elected to do?  To ask them to have the integrity to do what they know is best for the country, rather than what is best for the Party? To pass bills that they know will be for the good of the people, and raise them up, instead of tearing them down? 

Is it asking too much for them to simply be decent human beings? 

I don't think it was an accident when both former presidents Bush and Obama made similar-sounding speeches admonishing both President Trump and his followers. I think they are so alarmed at the direction this country is going that they were compelled to speak out.  And, I hope they will influence other people of integrity to speak out, too.

It's time to drown out the naysayers who want nothing more than to bring down our government, and who better to do it than former office-holders of both parties?

Stay tuned.

Protest Votes Are Dangerous

I realize I haven't posted since before the election.  That's because the election left me speechless. What a travesty.  I understand, and even agree that big changes need to be made in Washington. I even understand the rationale behind a "protest vote" to get the attention of the elected officials.  But, this particular protest vote?  If you are serious about your protest, you ought to make sure that the person you are voting for is someone who will not bring down the entire government.  If that was the actual goal of your vote, shame on you.

People were so focused on the Presidential election, they forgot that the people who are doing the most harm are the people in the House and Senate. They are the ones who should have been voted out of office if we were so determined to make positive change.  Trump would have been irrelevant if one or the other (or both) Houses had been flipped. It is never a good idea when both houses and the White House are held by the same party - either party.  When that happens, there are no checks and balances.

When I turn on the TV every morning, I listen to the latest inane tweets that came from the President while he wandered the halls of the White House in his robe and jammies in the early hours of the morning.

It's just a distraction and it's all the media can talk about, when they ought to be watching not what he says, but what he does.  They still haven't figured that out. There is a lot of talk about Trump's ability to drive the news cycle. Well, he can only drive it if they let him, by going on and on about what he tweets.  They can report what he tweets and then move on to more important things that are being obscured.

The 2016 election just shows how dangerous protest votes can be.  On a much smaller scale, when Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas, he enraged everyone by raising the price of auto license tags. So, when the next election rolled around, and we were still mad, we decided to teach him a lesson.  We thought by voting for his opponent, Frank White, he would get the picture when he saw how many fewer votes he got, but we didn't think he'd actually lose the election.  Well, it backfired on us, and we had to endure Frank White as Governor, and everyone made fun of White and us until we could re-elect Bill Clinton.  So, who learned a lesson?  We did.

I hope the Trump voters will realize their protest has backfired on them.

Stay tuned.