Thomas Sowell on the Decision We Face
Voting for an out of control egomaniac like Donald Trump would be like playing Russian roulette with the future of this country. Voting for someone with a track record like Hillary Clinton’s is like putting a shotgun to your head and pulling the trigger. And not voting at all is just giving up.
Nobody said that being a good citizen would be easy.
In case you’re thinking: Trump is so scary we’d better vote Hillary, Sowell points out some hard facts:
With Hillary Clinton as president and Democrats in control of the Senate, she can appoint Supreme Court justices with as much contempt for the law as she has demonstrated herself, and Senate Democrats would rubber-stamp her choices.
Democrats have already shown their desire to stifle the free-speech rights of people who disagree with them on global warming and other issues. Hillary Clinton has made no secret of her desire to have the Supreme Court reverse its decision that corporations and labor unions both have free-speech rights.
The Obama Department of Justice has already been looking into ways that anti-racketeering laws can be used to threaten individuals and organizations that challenge the global warming scenario that has been used to promote more government control of what fuels can be used.
The Second Amendment right to have a gun is at least as threatened as the First Amendment right to free speech would be if Hillary Clinton gets to pick Supreme Court justices. The lifetime tenure of federal judges means that whoever is in the White House for the next four years can change the course of American law for decades to come, losing our freedoms irretrievably.
So if you want to give the country to a shrill harpy bent on eroding all our constitutional protections and entrenching incentive-crushing entitlements even further, vote Hillary.
In case you were thinking: I’m convinced! Let’s vote Trump! today’s news has some sobering reality for you:
Donald Trump asked a foreign policy expert advising him why the U.S. can’t use nuclear weapons, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said on the air Wednesday, citing an unnamed source who claimed he had spoken with the GOP presidential nominee.
“Several months ago, a foreign policy expert on the international level went to advise Donald Trump. And three times [Trump] asked about the use of nuclear weapons. Three times he asked at one point if we had them why can’t we use them,” Scarborough said on his “Morning Joe” program.
Scarborough made the Trump comments 52 seconds into an interview with former Director of Central Intelligence and ex-National Security Agency Director Michael Hayden.
Stupid Joe Scarborough! We can’t trust him! Surely he made this up! Except . . .
1. Re: Scarborough's terrifying report on Trump and nukes, Trump has said the same thing publicly (HT: @randomsubu) pic.twitter.com/gxP7XRE3Au
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) August 3, 2016
The full transcript makes it clear that Trump is not eager to be the first to use a nuclear weapon. But if you’re honest, you know that to Trump, only his ego matters. He’s busy saying “I’m not there yet” regarding endorsing Paul Ryan, who has endorsed him, because those are the words Paul Ryan first used when asked about endorsing Trump. Party leaders are going ballistic, but it helps Trump’s ego. Trump has said he doesn’t mind losing the Senate to Democrats, even though that would mean he could never get a decent judicial nominee confirmed, or get any meaningful legislation passed. Why? Because losing the Senate wouldn’t hurt his ego. All that matters is that he wins. The country can go hang.
So if you want to entrust nuclear weaponry to a guy whose decision whether to use them will be based primarily on whether it will vindicate his bruised ego, vote Trump.
There’s only one conclusion, which Allahpundit has been pushing hard as of late.
Harambe 2016!
P.S. In case you’re concerned that your vote for Harambe may not count, I’ve checked California rules for the general election, and there are appear to be no rules against writing in an ape with no brain activity. Indeed, under well-established California law, candidates fitting that description may be elected governor or even Senator.
This kinda sucks
Patterico (bcf524) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:44 amSowell is funny to read as he tries to talk himself into the notion that Trump wouldn’t be that bad:
To which you automatically think: yeah, and if he becomes President, that won’t taint the party worse? Sowell’s one step ahead of you:
Even before you can make the obvious point in rejoinder, Sowell makes it for you:
The passage as a whole reads remarkably like someone talking to himself, trying to convince himself it won’t be that bad, and (because he’s smart) failing miserably.
Patterico (bcf524) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:49 amGood point.
But perhaps we can analyze things so that it is less of a gamble.
Trump said yesterday. by the way:
1. “They” [I don’t know the antecedent] have no choice but to vote for him because of the Supreme Court.
2. Hillary Clinton only knows how to lie.
3. Hillary Clinton is bad for the country because she has “terrible relations” with Vladimir Putin.
Sammy Finkelman (7fce49) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:53 amI’m leaning towards Hillary being worse because the rest of the Federal government will hold the water for Hillary. Trump would likely encounter actual opposition from the other Federal branches.
Dejectedhead (c21a67) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:57 amMr. Trump is the way to go for sure
This is how we get the car out the ditch!
happyfeet (a037ad) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:58 amThe more people I find on the Never Trump side, the more I admire the company I find myself in.
SPQR (670c50) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:05 amThe last three Presidents, particularly the current one, remind me of a dog chasing a car and finally catching it; ‘now what?’
Obama seems to fancy himself a small-beer Mandela. I’m… not sure what kind of model these other two will fashion themselves after, consciously or not.
Dumb question: is there a minimum voter threshold for the results of a US national election to be binding? I.e. if only 15% of the electorate shows up and votes, is the election still valid?
JP (bd5dd9) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:15 amEasy pick for me, he wants to protect Americans he is pro Israel and he will appoint conservative judges.
No way you bring up a family like Trumps, without love. I do believe you exaggerate ego with accomplishment.
This whole Nuclear thing is a good thing other countries should respect the USA .
Jake (6faba3) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:16 am#6 SPQR,
Hillary, Barack, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Alan Grayson are all on the #NeverTrump side! (LOL)
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:17 amThe #NeverTrump side hate Trump more than they love America.
Jake (6faba3) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:20 amLooks like The Donald has you guys buffaloed as well.
What better way to keep one’s enemies on the defensive than to have them think you are a bit unstable and unpredictable.
As Trump has said many times, he’s not going to do an “Obama” and pre-announce his tactics… e.g. when we’re going to invade, when we’re going to leave, how many troops… etc.
This is insanity. Much better to be a leader who has ALL options on the table, and NEVER giving the enemy a heads up as to your plans.
LIKE DUH!!!
Rather clever of The Donald to ask the simple question of why can’t we use the weapons if we have them?
Strikes fear and speculation in the hearts of our enemies.
Whose side are you on, Pattericans?
Only two choices now.
PTS (ce7fc3) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:25 amIn spite of all the reasons I dislike Trump,
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:27 amI’m not going to believe what some unknown source supposedly said.
I wonder what targets he had in mind?
mg (31009b) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:31 amCruz Supporter, you are doing a fine job of full Trumpkin. And making my point.
Never go full Trumpkin.
SPQR (670c50) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:32 amHarvard?
mg (31009b) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:33 amWell Sowell may be funny as he tries to talk himself into a position where Trump wouldn’t be that bad.
He would be tragically brain dead if he tried to talk himself into a position where Hillary wouldn’t be that bad.
Skeptical Voter (1d5c8b) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:35 amI reluctantly support Russian roulette instead of suicide. A complication here is that if Trump were to spare us that choice by firing himself as the nominee, then the rules would not automatically make Pence the nominee.
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2016/08/02/Here-s-What-Happens-If-Trump-Decides-Quit
Andrew Hyman (b12b60) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:36 amI would imagine so, JP. Witness the usually low turnout for local-only races. Since the vote was held and you blew your opportunity to be heard, who’s fault is that? Consider too, it isn’t one nation-wide race, it’s 50 individual contests being held on an agreed date set by federal law. That’s 50 different sets of laws regarding elections and 50 different constituencies voting in varying numbers. Just so long as the state doesn’t try cancelling voting day whatever numbers they put up is how they have to count. Does that make sense?
Bill H (971e5f) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:38 amMeanwhile, here are the written orders from PACER by which U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Paul Curiel in San Diego yesterday —
Neither ruling is a bit surprising, but only one of them — the summary judgment ruling against Trump — would have been reversible error had the loser been able to appeal: If Judge Curiel had instead released the video files as the press wanted, there is absolutely zero chance the Ninth Circuit would have reversed. (The remaining principled judges on the Ninth Circuit would have recognized that a pretrial ruling about temporary release of evidence is the sort that should almost never be second-guessed and that is instead almost always committed entirely to the sound judgment of trial judges. And the rest, comprising only Democrat appointees, would have recognized that they’re Democrats, so they’re certainly not going to lift a finger to help Trump.)
Beldar (fa637a) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:40 am“So if you want to entrust nuclear weaponry to a guy whose decision whether to use them will be based primarily on whether it will vindicate his bruised ego, vote Trump.” Straight from the Lyndon Johnson playbook against Barry Goldwater. Cheap ploy, do you really think that he would kill millions of people to vindicate his ego? If you believe that then indeed you should vote foe a lying, crooked women. Go on record and say you think Trump is insane. Say it and back it up with facts.
otto (6b48e6) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:42 amCorrect
Dustin (ba94b2) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:43 amRe #11 above, from the stupidest Trumpkin shill who regularly comments here:
There are two candidates who have a realistic chance of winning the presidency, yes. But one’s choices as a voter are not limited to casting a vote for one of them.
Is the concept of “neither” too advanced for your tiny little mind?
Beldar (fa637a) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:44 amMeanwhile 400 million (Dr evil pinky) danegeld to the sepah, carry on.
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:45 amYes, it makes perfect sense, particularly the point about state electoral laws, thanks Bill.
I’d assumed as much but having recently voted in a local (not US) referendum where a minimum vote threshold was unmet, and the result was therefore considered invalid, it made me wonder if there were any similar laws in the US.
JP (bd5dd9) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:55 amOtto, now Trump is Barry Goldwater? That’s good weed you are smoking.
SPQR (670c50) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:56 am@ otto (#20), who asked in part:
I don’t know the answer to that, but I certainly can’t rule it out. I accord Trump zero credibility, and he’s never had nukes before. We do know for a certainty, though, that he has a life-long practice of using litigation and the hardest of hard-ball business tactics to justify breaking his word, intimidating those who’ve relied on his promises, and attacking those who’ve insulted or defied him.
It’s obvious to the entire world that he should be focusing exclusively on beating Hillary Clinton now. Instead, the entire world watches as he devotes a night of his convention to re-fighting Ted Cruz. The entire world watches as he then decides to attack the Khan family. Tomorrow it will be something else equally as preposterous.
Is it preposterous that he’d nuke Denmark? Yeah, probably — there’s enough friction built into the command and control structure to slow him down long enough for someone to conduct a coup, constitutional or otherwise. Or at least I hope there is; I really don’t know.
But could he do something equally as stupid, for which the levers of control are more directly in his tiny little hands? Something that could set off a shooting war in the South China Sea or Estonia, which then turns into a nuclear exchange? Oh yes, I worry about that, and I don’t think it’s at all unreasonable when I look at the chaos, devastation, bankruptcies, and ruined lives Trump has already left in his wake when he’s merely had the powers of the rich and utterly corrupt.
Beldar (fa637a) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:57 amAnd no, I’m not conflating litigation (my day job) with thermonuclear war. I’m just saying that Trump’s career shows him acting irrationally, without restraint, and using every tool or method or medium available to him to strike back at whatever’s or whoever’s annoying him at the moment. Trumpkins imagine that he’ll be more controlled as president. I imagine he’ll be exactly the same as he’s always been and exactly the way he’s campaigning, which is wildly out of control.
Beldar (fa637a) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:59 amWe are fine with Iran getting Nukes but Trump they are worried about. Typical Liberals
Jake (6faba3) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:02 amNever been a big Trump flagwaver, but he (or Hillary) is the choice given to us. Sowell is correct, no one ever said being a citizen would be easy.
With regard to Trump, though, one must ask the question: “Is all of this part of an act and is he really smarter than that he let’s on?”
Think about this. We are in a period where our own president has clearly demonstrated that he is willing to undermine our own allies and sell out our country to our enemies (The Iran nuclear “deal”, more flexibility with Putin, the original refusal of missile defense for Poland, etc.). As Colonel Ralph Peter’s noted; “The President is a pussy!” Now how does one regain credibility, or at least bargaining power coming from that recent history? One way to make your adversaries question what you are doing. If Trump makes our adversaries uneasy, so what? Our adversaries want an American president who will do what they want; they don’t care about the benefits to the U.S.
Now, I have no crystal ball, nor do I claim any special powers to foretell the future, but if I were trying to maximize my leverage as a potential future president, this is not much different from what I would do. I would want all of my adversaries wondering just how far I’d go, especially after an administration that was not willing to pushback at all. Trump just does it without finesse; he’s a blue collar mentality in a Manhattan penthouse, and the sanctimonious, self-congratulating bien pensant class can neither respect or deal with that: Quelle horreur! How gauche!!” He is, in temperament, one of those people in the phone book that Wm. F. Buckley preferred to have running the government rather than the cloistered, inbred registry of Harvard and Yale alumni that we have today.
T (aa8afc) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:04 amBeldar
You are a fool, traitor and Hillarybot.
“Neither” merely assists the status quo.
In this elecetion’s case, it is crucial Hillary is defeated. The Status quo is killing America, or haven’t you noticed?
Therefore, enabling the status quo is a gutless, self defeating and unintelligent thing to do masked by thinking you’re really, really clever. Can you wrap your little brain around this?
Stay home if you like you Hillarybot, and we’ll send you a DIY Orchiectomy kit to complete the process since you’re well into the procedure.
Have a nice day
PTS (ce7fc3) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:04 amA simple fact in the scrum gets you moderation now.
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:07 amjoe scarborough is a poncey cable tv propaganda slut with no credibility
everyone knows this
happyfeet (a037ad) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:08 am@ Jake (#27), who managed to tell a lie with almost every word of this:
Working backwards:
I’m not liberal. I’m not typical. You’re right that I’m worried about Trump having control of nukes. You’re wrong that I’m fine with Iran getting nukes. And I don’t include myself willingly with you as part of any “we.”
If you can’t honestly state your opponent’s positions, then you can’t engage in persuasive discussion about them. You’re just engaging in random drive-by insults.
Beldar (fa637a) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:10 amThey pretty much all are, but he seems to doing doubletime trying to impress mika’s family.
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:15 amMr. Trump’s been around since like the 70s and he never ONCE done nuclear bombs on ANYBODY
why would he change just cause he got made president?
he wouldn’t duh
when you’re president doing nuclear bombs on people isn’t even a good idea usually cause of there’s lots of better alternatives like doing John Kerry on them
happyfeet (a037ad) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:16 amIt seems we are focusing on debatable things and not the big picture.
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:20 amHonestly, at this point I’d be glad to compound for nothing worse than President Tim Kaine.
SarahW (3164f0) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:29 amHe at least has a Richmond sensibility and a value for the first amendment. If it’s wrong to hope Hillary has another drunken introduction to a cold marble bathroom floor, I can at least hope that Putin really does ha it in for her and that she can be got for her own crimes.
There is a running joke about ‘President’ Ash Carter on a variety of (mostly right-leaning) blogs.
It’s not as frivolous as one might think.
JP (bd5dd9) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:35 amUnqualified opinion has some value, like insoluble fiber it keeps the contents of the intestinal track moving to conclusion, but let’s just entertain some data from the public domain.
Recent elections have set affiliations of likely voters in a range approximated by GOP 23%, Donks 34%, Indies 43%. Hard data on this year’s crop will be gathered in the first weeks of October. Moreover, barely 50% of eligible voters have cast ballots in recent contests for President.
As of the end of May, #nevertrump#butthurt comprises 15-20% of Republican affiliates, presumably the vast majority otherwise likely voters.
Trumpkins on the otherhand, include a significant percentage of their number in Indies, and of those
many who normally do not vote. Figures for the increase in participation in GOP primaries are as high as 60%, some of whom could be Donks but given the tight contest on the Left that contribution was minimized.
#NeverTrump of course, intends to stay home or vote for Hillary Rotten to teach the RNC a lesson. It is unlikely however that the RNC will be persuaded simply on the numbers alone. #nevertrump will find it necessary to demonstrate value added to excuse the party’s non-compete status bringing them on board over its natural unwillingness to tolerate bad behavior.
DNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:35 amThere is a point where every person gets so desperate that they will consider sacrificing every principle and value in order to survive (or stay afloat). I think that’s where we are as Americans in this election because there are no decent major party candidates.
No one here would choose either of these flawed candidates as close friends. No one here would trust either candidate to raise and instill values in their children — unless they believe nannies will raise them, not the candidates. No one here can honestly believe that either candidate cares more about us than they do about their own bank balances.
In the past, the GOP has nominated candidates who we might be friends with, or trust to raise our children, or who believed in more than money. Reasonably decent people with values at least somewhat similar to our own, so we felt we could justify trusting them to do what we might do. The one thing I know about this election is these candidates are nothing like me or anyone I respect or trust.
DRJ (15874d) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:38 am35. It’s what ankle-biters do, piddle and make noise.
DNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:38 am@beldar #20
otto (6b48e6) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:40 amNow that you have backed off your outlandish statement ( note, you did what you accuse Trump of doing) you claim the he “Could” get us into a war and your backup to that is because he is a “ruthless tycoon” but you give no facts ,just a ad hominem screed.Show me evidence that he is a war hawk, not that he fired someone who was incompetent. BTW Trump was against the Iraq war.
The yougov has him with 80% gop, 77 conservative and 31 Hispanic.
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:42 amI think we may be heading for something to cause both of teh Clintons’ power to fall. That is a possibility. This would happen only when they thought they had won. But I can’t see exactly how. * Do we deserve that to happen? Putin would have to miscalculate, too.
* She won’t quit even if it’s indisputable she did favors for Russia in 2010 and 2011. I don’t know what kind of revelation could cause her to drop off the ticket.
IT WOULD HAVE TO BE PART OF A PLEA BARGAIN. And Obama would have to endorse the idea.
I don’t think either vice presidential candidate is very capable. They’re both “company men.” I was hoping for better vice presidential candidates, but got that with neither.
Sammy Finkelman (643dcd) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:46 amAnd he raised 64 million in July.
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:47 amIf Trump were wiser, he’d make any discussion about nukes a discussion about how Barack has enabled Iran’s evil mullahs to move the ball down the field toward proliferation. Also, how Barack is sitting idly on his golf cart while North Korea test fires nukes into the ocean.
Instead, with his crazy talk about using nukes, Trump is shifting the conversation about a crazy man with nukes to be about himself.
Oh my God, we could have had a Rubio/Jindal ticket.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:47 amMore and more commenters here seem consumed by rage, so obviously they are desperately afraid about their lives/future and probably with good reason. They have my sympathy but I would stay as far away from them as possible in real life and plan to do the same here. There is no reasoned discussion anymore, just Trump-fueled rage and fear.
However, I’m genuinely curious if Trump can win this way. I don’t see how.
DRJ (15874d) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:49 amWere relying on the game of telephone now, didn’t we realize the flaw in this right years ago?
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:49 am39. I refused to vote for either Nixon or McGovern in ’72. My failure did not affect the outcome, Nixon won in a landslide. I was just 21, my first chance at voting.
#NeverTrump does not have the luxury of youthful irresponsibility.
DNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:52 amRage no a clearheaded look at what we face and ignoring the chaff.
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:53 amDNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:35 am
the problem is that affiliation is fluid,, esppecially in states without party registration. Donald Tumps candidacy causes people to say they are no longer Republicans.
Therefore if you adjust a poll to get fixed percentage of “Republicans” you’ll overstate the Trump vote. Of course polls now usually tilt about 3% or 4% at least toward the Democrat.
Sammy Finkelman (643dcd) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:53 am46. We are not consumed by rage, rather disrespect for shallow, selfish carelessness on the part of the entitled.
DNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:54 amDNF:
Morning Jolt notes we now have Election Month, not Election Day.
Sammy Finkelman (643dcd) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:55 amI read your post thinking that you were coming to your senses. Sorry I was wrong.
Mike K (90dfdc) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:55 am50. You are out of your depth.
DNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 9:55 amThey just like the sound of crashing into rocks.
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 10:01 am18. JP (bd5dd9) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:15 am
No, and not even all the Electoral votes have to be cast.
Sammy Finkelman (643dcd) — 8/3/2016 @ 10:03 am54. For example, Election month has nothing to do with affiliation polling. Or again, pollsters make a number of qualifications for the data, such as people intending to vote for Trump do not announce their intention because of blowback from all sides.
Last time polling in October changed a great deal in the final weeks. Pew came out quite accurate, and one other that escapes memory.
DNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 10:04 amDRJ,
If Hillary wins, she’ll put a few lefties on the Supreme Court. They’ll remain there until the year 2044, or whatever.
They’ll erode federalism.
And federalism is explicitly why Texas remains Texas.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 8/3/2016 @ 10:12 amBut once a solidly left wing Supreme Court rules on this appeal or that appeal, Texas’ days as Texas will be numbered. Eventually, it’ll evolve into Texachusetts or Texafornia — except without California’s desirable climate or natural geographic beauty.
Toyota didn’t just relocate to the Plano/Frisco area for the lovely weather and beautiful scenery — because there is none there.
2012 exit polling showed 23% white over 45 with no college degree.
mg (31009b) — 8/3/2016 @ 10:14 am2016 forecasts show a 30% increase in people joining the group of dolts with me.
Roughly 10 million more voters for Trump.
Nukes come in all flavors. A small, 900 pound, air launched, U. S. antiaircraft missile from the 1960s had a yield in the Kiloton range. Tactical nuclear weapons, weapons packing Kiloton yields launched from artillery and short range missiles, were a major part of our deterrence of the Soviet Union’s armored divisions that were massed along the Iron Curtain. Iran and North Korea may not be able to make such devices today due to technological limitations, but North Korea is trying hard to overcome their deficiencies based on their recent tests. And Iran has enjoyed an enormous windfall in foreign currency as part of the U. S.’s appeasement program that will allow them to buy what they cannot build themselves. Perhaps from Russia. Realistically, if these actors get such devices, then they could deny access to any number of coastal areas where our Naval air power currently holds sway.
It is reasonable to ask experts about this problem. Say Iran blows up an aircraft carrier as it transits the Straight of Hormuz using a number of such devices to overwhelm the defenses. Do we respond with city busters, or tactical devices aimed at Iranian military targets, or do we apologize and ship another $400 million in unmarked Euros and Yen to appease Obama’s new pals.
Clinton and Obama have done all they could to ensure that these rogue states can develop their own nuclear weapons. The future is going to be very ugly as a result. I don’t hold it against Trump if he is asking about this. It is evident that he needs to make better choices when choosing a national security consultant. A consultant who isn’t buddies with Scarborough for a starter.
BobStewartatHome (a52abe) — 8/3/2016 @ 10:14 am45. “If Trump were wiser,”
Wisdom and I have crossed paths but never walked together. We constantly keep a look out for those who are familiar with wisdom, like an old shoe but nothing ever pops up and sticks.
My early fave, Walker, still thinks backing the establishment Ryan is a winning gambit this election. Cruz’ early pursuit of faithless electors was branded “foolish” by #NeverTrump Kristo. Roobs has no gift, etc., etc., etc.
DNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 10:15 amGood God you’re relying of dadgum will you be citing Lee gang next.
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 10:24 amI’m not saying Trump isn’t an idiot on many subjects, but the “asking about nukes” anecdote doesn’t strike me as scary. The idea that nobody can ever use nuclear weapons, or the human race will just up and die is pernicious nonsense. Both of the only inhabited cities to be nukes were inhabited within a decade, and are inhabited now. Is being blown into your own shadow somehow worse then being incinerated in a firestorm? Is dying of lingering radiation exposure somehow worse than dying from the effects of non-nuclear burns?
I sometimes think that political discussions of the global scene might be a great deal more rational if we had used the occasional nuke between 1945 and now.
C. S. P. Schofield (850e8d) — 8/3/2016 @ 10:28 amDoes Trump have attention issues?
Heh. It’s funny to see you worry about federalism and Texas, CS. We Texans may be dumb but we aren’t that dumb.
DRJ (15874d) — 8/3/2016 @ 10:30 amDNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 10:04 am
Of course. It’s a separate issue – a different way in which campaigns can guess wrong. Good polls should ask people in October if they have already voted.
I’m saying that trying to weigh by affiliation can be misleading, because the identity of the presidential candidates changes voter affiliation.
This is besides of course turnout varying in different elections.
And also probably more people who vote for the Democrat for president don’t vote in down ballot races than people who vote for the Republican.
Sammy Finkelman (643dcd) — 8/3/2016 @ 10:32 amAccusing Trump of an itchy nuclear trigger finger is ridiculous and overwrought charges like this are what brought him to where we are today. The people making the charges don’t even believe them.
Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1) — 8/3/2016 @ 10:35 amCruz supporter and House GOP wheel, Tim Huelskamp successfully primaried in KS.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/08/nevertrump-ks-lawmaker-loses-primary-pro-trump-upstart/
DNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 10:41 amPuTS, the Trumpkin habit of calling people who demonstrate more intelligence, more principles and even show a command of actual facts, “traitors” is but one reason I’m proud to be #NeverTrump.
SPQR (a3a747) — 8/3/2016 @ 10:41 am68. “Trumpkin habit of calling people who demonstrate more intelligence, more principles and even show a command of actual facts,”
A rich fantasy life revealed.
DNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 10:46 amwhat also comes in all flavors is oreos
which are made in Mexico now cause of how the thuggy thuggy union poopers got so greedy
happyfeet (a037ad) — 8/3/2016 @ 10:54 am“Never go full Trumpkin.”
That’s a keeper, SPQR.
Leviticus (efada1) — 8/3/2016 @ 10:55 amYou might just as plausibly accuse Trump of desiring the Secret Service to shoot children from Air Force One while he laughs and drops $100 bills on the screaming crowds, as accuse Trump of starting a nuclear war in a fit of pique.
An American President cannot launch nuclear weapons merely with a word from his royal mouth and the commenters here are smart enough to know that.
Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1) — 8/3/2016 @ 11:02 am“Trumpkin habit of calling people who demonstrate more intelligence, more principles and even show a command of actual facts, “traitors” is but one reason I’m proud to be #NeverTrump.”
Wonder who he’s talking about? Certainly no one on this blog.
Maybe he means the Hillarybots and Castratis… keepers of the self-immolation flame, you know, the waxen wing masturbation groupies.
PTS (ce7fc3) — 8/3/2016 @ 11:05 amDRJ,
I missed the joke; why is it “funny” that I’m concerned about federalism?
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 8/3/2016 @ 11:13 amFederalism is the entire point of having individual states, as opposed to just having “one big country.”
That scenario is the only way Trump realistically still has a chance. What is the source of that?
Gerald A (76f251) — 8/3/2016 @ 11:13 amSowel puts the choice well, as does Austin Bey: http://observer.com/2016/08/ultimate-media-privilege-hillarys-crimes-versus-trumps-mouth/
If Trump wins this is in large reason why – but it is not just the Media that is guilty, the RNC has been licking the azz of the controllers of political correctness with no exceptions – and it is the rare GOP leader/elected official who has not cow-towed to their media masters.
Steve Malynn (4bc33a) — 8/3/2016 @ 11:19 amThe la times poll has him back up, so does prd a new outfit.
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 11:23 amI think of Trump as the Joffrey Baratheon of this election — an immature, spoiled prince who will lash out at whoever presses any of his buttons.
I think of Hillary Clinton as Cersei Lannister — the queen mother who will remember every slight until the day you suddenly find out where all of those barrels of wildfire have been stored.
And maybe Thomas Sowell’s next article can be a summary of tunes to go on a playlist for whistling past the graveyard.
Karl Lembke (e37f42) — 8/3/2016 @ 11:28 amI expect Pence to withdraw from the race this week,
Kevin M (25bbee) — 8/3/2016 @ 11:31 amI think George Carlin had a quote to the effect of “imagine how dumb the average American is, then remember that half of them are dumber than that.”
This election is casting light on that reality. In spades.
Leviticus (3010ff) — 8/3/2016 @ 11:38 amUnder California law, write-in votes are only counted if they match a name that has been submitted by a person wishing to conduct a write-in Campaign. This came up in 1992 when MANY people wanted to vote for Perot in the June party primaries (mostly GOP but some Dem), but Perot had not filed with the state as a write-in candidate for the primaries. Quite a few people wrote his name in anyway, and the votes were never counted.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 8/3/2016 @ 11:39 amPoor H L Mencken. His famous quote that
is about to be disproved.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 8/3/2016 @ 11:42 amThe la times poll has him back up
The LA Times poll is best read: “Oh, please don’t go Mr Trump! There are still parts of the GOP left standing.”
Kevin M (25bbee) — 8/3/2016 @ 11:43 amthe RNC has been licking the azz of the controllers of political correctness with no exception
It is ONLY though the good grace of the RNC that Trump got to keep his bound delegates, even after many of them had soured on Trump, and even though many of them never actually wanted Trump.
If you had a national GOP primary today, Trump vs Cruz vs Kasich, it would not go Trump’s way.
Can you imagine FOUR YEARS of this crap?
Kevin M (25bbee) — 8/3/2016 @ 11:49 amI think of Trump as the Joffrey Baratheon of this election
And where is Tyrion? Or even Tywin? God knows we could do better.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 8/3/2016 @ 11:52 amseriously what is your track record at this point, the polls seem to be receding back to before the conventions, which is typical, red queen’s bounce, is probably chinese takeout,
meawhile about the 400 million dollar danegeld, the transit cop that signed on to the jayvee
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 11:57 amshe seems to be testing the more selective zero barrier, doc brown’s endorsement didn’t really help,
http://redalertpolitics.com/2016/08/02/gallup-poll-hillary-drops-lowest-level-millennial-approval/
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 11:59 amWhen Ryan endorsed Trump, Trump’s primary was over. Ryan was merely endorsing the GOP’s nominee. Ryan is still engaged in his own primary. Why should Trump endorse Ryan at this stage? The voters in Ryan’s district may remove Ryan themselves. Unless Trump declines to endorse the winner in that primary, there is no story here. But, I guess #NeverTrumpers gotta #NeverTrump.
Anon Y. Mous (9e4c83) — 8/3/2016 @ 11:59 amI think I’ve reached a decision.
I’ll vote for Trump.
TheNaBr (0c7c2f) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:02 pmI can agree with Sowell, that Clinton will be a disaster left to her own devices,
and Trump may be as well, though not to the same degree of certainty and likely in different ways.
What will happen to the GOP, I don’t know. I really don’t have much in common with people who think that Cruz is Lucifer and Trump is a better option. If I had millions to spare I would start a “throw (almost) all of the bums out” PAC.
Just don’t keep insulting my intelligence telling me that Trump is better.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:02 pmYes, if I was in a blue state I would probably write in Cruz,
in an iffy state like PA I will probably cast the most effective vote against Clinton,
as I have said before.
Karle Lembke
You could be right but most of Patterico’s Bannermen gleefully call him “Littlefingers”.
Pinandpuller (a12946) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:08 pmNo, the issue with Trump and Ryan shows how much petty personal animosity controls him. He trashed a tea party conservative over personal stuff,
now he trashes a gope leader to back a tea party person.
I don’t mind if Ryan loses,
but it will be a rude wake up call to the GOPe who thought that they could make deals with Trump.
The Trump is for the Trump,
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:08 pmand don’t forget it.
no I was dissapointed that cruz chose such a sectarian strategy, when he could have been better, I chalk it up mostly to some of his advisors, like alice stewart, who used to be on team huckabee,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:09 pmKevin,
Not so. Hillary! is engaged in a race to bottom with Trump, and she doesn’t have to carry the baggage of the GOPe, nor will her frequent lapses into incoherence be reported by the media. Heck, she hasn’t had a press conference in ages, and the press doesn’t care. The press probably finds her as unpleasant as we do, and is grateful for the chance to look the other way. Both candidates are battling hard to lock up a solid majority in the bottom two quartiles.
A vote for Hillary! is a confession of an ignorance that is even grander than anything Trump requires from his supporters. Regrettably, Trump seems to be unable to exploit her many weaknesses in this regard. He’s more concerned with bullying those he’s already beaten. He didn’t even see the opportunity of thanking Cruz for Cruz’s call for every voter to vote his conscience. So he is a man for these times, but Hillary! set the bar there in the first place. Let’s hope that Trump starts hammering on her record of failure, lies, and obstruction of justice. These issues will find traction if he can break through the press’ curtain of silence.
BobStewartatHome (a52abe) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:11 pmI sincerely doubt Trump has finished with providing proof so Newt may be a little premature in leaping from the train. Alternatively, the check didn’t clear, even on the third try.
Rick Ballard (51a159) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:15 pmThere is much higher potential than usual for the polls to be significantly off this year. I think they will be off by more than usual but if Clinton is ahead by 5% on average right before election day, will Trump still have a realistic shot? I don’t think so, but never say never.
Gerald A (76f251) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:16 pmah you thought he was just a misunderstood parent,
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/08/khizr-khan-republicans-cowards-moral-sense-160803065800720.html
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:16 pmmeanwhile 700 individual soldiers are being targeted by islamic states,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:18 pmshe doesn’t have to carry the baggage of the GOPe
No, but she has to carry Obama’s baggage, her husbands baggage, the baggage Bernie left on her doorstep and her own baggage.
Frankly I am not terribly upset with the “GOPe” (which among other things brought 31 governorships, 31 statehouses utterly controlled, 8 split vs a mere 11 controlled by Dems, a solid House majority, a Senate majority and parity on the Supreme Court.
They narrowly failed to elect Romney, and mostly because many of the people who turned out for Trump stayed home or voted 3rd party in 2012, then complained that Obama won.
A feat that has taken years, and which Trump is single-handedly destroying just to prove that his daddy was wrong when he put poor Donnie on the potty backwards.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:21 pmso we have some unnamed expert, who supposedly spoke to morning joke, who dadgum of think progress deigns worthy, is that correct,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:22 pmI sincerely doubt Trump has finished with providing proof
I have utter faith in Donnie’s ability to prove himself maximally unacceptable.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:24 pmnarcisco,
Apparently Trump is on record bringing up the nuke subject himself.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:25 pmThere is much higher potential than usual for the polls to be significantly off this year.
Spoken like a true dead-ender. Usually this kind of talk waits until mid-October.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:26 pmI’m beginning to think Trump has a Dr Jekyll Mr Hyde thing going. Knowing the little I do about Pence, I keep asking myself if Trump is really the guy we see the horrid 10sec video clips of. Why would he join the ticket? Because his reputation is at stake, which has to be worth more then a step up on the political latter and given the fact he appears to be a God Fearing Christian man. And Trumps children are so well behaved, even if nannies raised them wouldn’t the Dr Jekyll rub off somewhere?
I have also read some personal reports from folks (one being a Christian man) that have nothing but very high praise for Trump and the way he interacts with them personally.
I don’t think very highly of Meg Whitman and I could careless who or what she votes for. Perhaps Meg is against Trump because he talks like he wants to shut off her supply of cheap illegal alien help?
MSL (a8c328) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:31 pmRight now I see the election as “Sack of Weasels” versus “Sack of Rabid Weasels”. It is true that the rabid weasels are less certain to act like weasels, but I’m not sure that makes them the better choice.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:31 pmyes, and there is a history, re authorization of tactical nuclear weapons going back to the 50s,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:31 pmPerhaps Meg is against Trump because he talks like he wants to shut off her supply of cheap illegal alien help?
To be fair, H1-B is cheap LEGAL alien help.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:34 pmI’m talking about you, PuTS.
SPQR (670c50) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:36 pm#107 Kevin M
MSL (a8c328) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:39 pmMeg had the other illegal types for House keeper child care stuff. Not really a specialty position H1-B was intended for.
Meg had the other illegal types for House keeper child care stuff
Perhaps, but as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, H1-B is more meaningful.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:57 pmWell, that is a question, the one about nukes, that should be asked, especially by a neophyte. I as assuming, of course, that the question was hypothetical. The rest of the political class acts like the presidency is just an office where a leader makes a few speeches, goes to summits in foreign capitals, and gives away free stuff like a national Santa Claus. Look away from those people trying to kill us, from that debt the size of Godzilla! They mean nothing.
Patricia (5fc097) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:57 pmAssuming the story is true, at least he *asked*. It would have been rather disconcerting if he dealt with someone stealing his parking spot by asking the Pentagon to fetch him a Davy Crockett mini-nuke launcher.
M. Scott Eiland (1edade) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:58 pmit’s charitable to say, the company has had issues for a while, between the fiorina and whitman years,
http://www.rcfp.org/browse-media-law-resources/news/hewlett-packard-settles-journalists-spying-scandal
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 1:00 pmFret vs. threat. All this silly chatter about nuclear codes in the hands of an ‘unfit,’ reckless, ‘cowboy’ president ready to nuke a nation on a hair-trigger because they crack wise about his comb-over says more about the mindset of the ‘inside the Beltway’ crowd and cable news talking heads than average Americans in the real world. Too much binge watching of House of Cards and VEEP. It’s fodder to feed the beast. Pundit posturing. Think-tank ‘experts’ jockeying for jobs…. or simply, ‘squirrel’ hype by an email-challenged opponent.
When was the last time America was truly frightened–if not terrified– over a possible thermonuclear exchange – when ‘competent’ and ‘fit’ leaders were in office? Pick and choose your Cold War dates. The apprehension early in the first term of Reagan, perhaps? Possibly one of the multiple Arab-Israeli wars? Or the realest one of all: the Cuban Missile Crisis. Those of us alive to recall the terror of those 13 days know how a frightened nation looks and acts and responds.
Today’s fret: the threat of Pokémon hunts through vet memorials.
This is August. And the beast needs fed. Your choice for fall: four seasons of Dallas or four seasons of Maude.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 1:10 pmwell the cuban missile crisis, was provoked because of a callow leader who didn’t follow through with his promise, and denied the consequences of same, until it was nearly too late, had we invaded at that moment, we would have faced tactical nukes,
http://spectator.org/hillarys-khan-job/
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 1:13 pm@39 There is a point where every person gets so desperate that they will consider sacrificing every principle and value in order to survive (or stay afloat). I think that’s where we are as Americans in this election because there are no decent major party candidates.
Americans? No. Conservatives, yes. As Hugh Hewitt lamented on one of the cablers: ‘If Hillary wins, conservatism is dead.”
That’s desperation. And Presbyterian Trump, to whom all things are negotiable, is the ‘Hail Mary.’ Because neither candidate is a conservative. So it’s a win/win for America, regardless of he victor. The modern conservative movement– born, 1964– died, 2016. And all is ‘right’ with the world.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 1:24 pmLiving rent-free inside that head of yours, Beldar has to be thinking of redecorating.
Bill H (576c5e) — 8/3/2016 @ 1:27 pmman of mystery, is having seances with von braun again or is it korolev,
the discussion is ignorant of history, when we were overrun near the manchurian border, macarthur seriously considered use of nukes, harry turtledove, has considered how that scenario might go,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 1:32 pm@118- See 114. Pick and choose your Cold War dates.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 1:36 pmnow the problem is there have been at least two top stavka official, general makarov and nagovitsyn, to my reckoning who have recently threatened nuclear retaliation,
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/08/03/socialist-french-president-says-donald-trump-sickening-makes-want-retch/
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 1:39 pm@110. Meg’s tenure at eBay was poor. She got her butt kicked in CA and is a confidant of Romney. ‘Nuff said.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 1:39 pmOthers do that but I haven’t said that in any previous election. I thought all those people who thought there was a huge hidden vote for McCain based on the so called “Bradley Effect” were delusional.
In a Barrons interview, Jeffrey Gundlach, CEO of money manager DoubleLine Capital predicts the polls will be off.
Another reason is that Romney’s loss was largely because a lot of the Trump demographic stayed home in 2012 (and the fact that the Obama campaign had an unusually sophisticated GOTV operation) and some polls model turnout based on prior elections.
Gerald A (76f251) — 8/3/2016 @ 1:44 pmthis is the second iteration,
https://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/fallout.html
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 1:45 pmof the earlier walker on the plank, mssr. hanna,
http://romesentinel.com/editorials/thoughts-on-hannas-vote/QBqphb!oKv0UXguWy5svSXk0L2UCQ/
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 1:58 pmEvery four years we have a crap game called presidential elections. I never thought I would miss Truman.
gbear (defc54) — 8/3/2016 @ 2:11 pmKevin M.-
Weasels vs rabid weasels….
That is an interesting concept…
Narciso-
Not sure what you mean about Cruz being sectarian,
Calling McConnell a liar,
Falling short of endorsing Trump?
I think a person needs to be a decent person who still has their own soul before they are anything else, including/especially a politician.
Cruz gave Trump plenty to work with had he been so inclined, imo.
And “all the people” mad at Cruz must have thought he was an act.
Maybe he is,
but for an act he is the unusual one, keeping his campaign promises.
Is there any hope at all of any meaningful change from going down the path we are on? The Republican party wants to maintain their power and perks while we are slip-sliding away.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 8/3/2016 @ 2:12 pmI think a person needs to be a decent person who still has their own soul before they are anything else, including/especially a politician.
nonono
the first thing a person needs to be a decent person is to arrive at a determination that he or she will do their utmost to defend the village and the wider lands against the depredations of the stinkypig
pls to join us
happyfeet (a037ad) — 8/3/2016 @ 2:20 pmno that’s fine some of the things glen beck put him up to, instead of following the image sabo followed up, the whole princess bride deal,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 2:28 pmAs Shemp said, Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was Syracuse. This guy is as bad as that Teachout thing.
urbanleftbehind (21a52e) — 8/3/2016 @ 2:31 pmwe try to ignore shemp as much as possible, the brain slugs don’t settle in as much,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 2:35 pmWaiting out Bratton/the jogger part 2?
urbanleftbehind (21a52e) — 8/3/2016 @ 2:35 pmhttp://abc7ny.com/news/police-evidence-missing-howard-beach-jogger-was-strangled/1454922/
so he’s been well rewarded for his treachery,
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-york-city-police-commissioner-bill-bratton-to-join-teneo-2016-08-02-15203921
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 2:42 pmBLM is demanding that NYPD disband, and have the city allocate the budget toward “the community.”
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 8/3/2016 @ 2:44 pmI bet they want that money to be used to build and maintain more libraries!
There’s rumors that Bratton wanted the NYPD to go CPD-’68 on the Monday BLM gathering but was given the stand down order.
Weird question – are Wisconsin primaries open primaries where you can wait until you sign in to declare your ballot choice? If yes, somebody is gonna Cochran.
urbanleftbehind (21a52e) — 8/3/2016 @ 2:51 pmPTS – If I am invited to a banquet and determine for whatever reasons, I will not eat, I am well within my rights. I would be a fool to partake of the offering of Ptomaine Hillary and Trichinosis Trump.
Having said that, it more and more feels like the USA is the boy who is given the choice of punishment by his dad: Belt or Cat O’Nine tails.
Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:10 pmThe Day Hitler Found Out Hillary Was Abusing His Email!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs2_mqdfaJM
PTS (ce7fc3) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:15 pmThe first debate:
“You know your red tie makes you look like Dan Rather… Of course, your paisley tie makes you look like Morley Safer. I think it’s safer to look like Rather – unless you’d rather look like Safer.”–Hillary to Trump or Maude to Walter?
“Don’t be so glum… rich folks are always happy.” — Trump to Hillary or J.R. to Lucy?
This fall, your choice: four seasons of Dallas or four seasons of Maude.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:18 pmI’d much rather see Victoria Principal or Charlene Tilton on TV for the next four years instead of Bea Arthur lecturing us while wearing one of those feminist pantsuits!
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:23 pmI do know that if HRC wins the pace of our American denouement into a police state wherein only the law abiding will be hounded to the Stygian depths is absolutely certain. The government is so short of cash they will grab yours and force you to win it back.
America the indispensible will be opposed at every turn, by our allies because we’ve hosed them, by our enemies because we are helpless fools.
It will not go well for any who through sins of omission or commission aided or abetted that outcome.
DNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:25 pmGerald A,
Trump will benefit from the GOTV efforts conducted by Toomey, Rubio, Portman and Burr in PA, FL, OH and NC. Those states are ‘must win’ for Trump and the four incumbent Senators are reasonably proficient in mounting statewide campaigns. They are also reasonably proficient in mounting registration campaigns and Toomey, in particular, is doing a great job in PA. I doubt it will be enough to offset the Philly plantation vote for Clinton but much of that vote is top line only so Toomey may well be able to prevail.
The polling for those four states is much more important than the national beauty contest and Trump is really not doing terribly badly.
Rick Ballard (51a159) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:26 pmsadly they canceled the dallas remake with jordana brewster and the other gal doing roughly those roles,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:27 pm126. If you knew nothing else, knowing Cruz is privately a Pentecostal while publicly a Southern Baptist will render your assessment beguiled.
DNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:31 pmjulie gonzalo, interesting tidbit, brewster, who you’ll recognize from fast and furious,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:32 pmher grandfather was kingman brewster, the president of yale university in the 60s, when he declared that the panthers couldn’t get a fair trial, among those who agreed was a young hilary rodham, who thought the murder of alex rackley was a govt plot,
As for the ego thing, Trumps ego is one of the things that reassures me about him, he wants the Trump name to be respected, and will want the legacy of making America great again.
As for the nuke thing, there might be a tiny chance Trump would nuke an enemy, but Hillary has already had a part in enabling America’s enemy to nuke us.
Fools still making moral equivalence between Trump and Hillary are only lying to themselves, and only to guard their own fragile egos. Y’all really need to get over yourselves.
LBascom (0b9b35) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:35 pm144. Seminal.
DNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:37 pmA captain commands a company of soldiers. A company is 80–250 soldiers in 3-6 platoons.
So Cap. Khan’s job would be assigning the Sgt. of the guard to post pickets at checkpoints.
Yet, as the story is told, Cap. Khan was killed by a car bomb along with civilian passers by.
No other soldier injured in the incident.
In today’s pearl clutch of stories about the wonderful and tragic Captain Khan, there was one by his former commander, Dana Pittard .
Pittard says Cap Khan was well liked and respected.
That’s fubar. Captain Khan doing retail guard duty is fubar. It would be like the Chief of police writing parking meter tickets.
Why would a captain, with 250 men at his disposal, be at the traffic stop checking drivers licenses?
That’s inconsistent with the story of the brave and well liked Captain giving his life so his troops might live.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:38 pmMoral equivalence? I don’t think that means what you think it means. Is there a moral equivalence between what you flush down the toilet and what a dog leaves on a sidewalk? (You choose which is Trump and which is Hillary.)
nk (dbc370) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:39 pmpapertiger,
nk (dbc370) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:41 pmGo soak your head (after you take it out of Trump’s ass).
Captain Khan being blown up at a checkpoint is akin to you or I having our mobile phone service go out, and the company sends Richard Branson to fix it.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:44 pmwar is hell, hasn’t changed since sherman said it, it took another three years to retake the city, under petraeus, and ultimately it was given up thanks to red queen, solon, and zaphod,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:46 pmClinton can’t even break 50% in the new Fox poll.
What a loser.
Rick Ballard (51a159) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:49 pmand they’ve dialed it to eleventy, her skill at not being seen, like in the python sketch is a modest talent, now not being heard could be a challenge,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:51 pm“Captain Khan being blown up at a checkpoint is akin to you or I having our mobile phone service go out, and the company sends Richard Branson to fix it.”
– papertiger
By that (moronic) standard, no Captain should ever be killed in action. Which is not the case.
Hit Crtl+F, type “captain,” and click through that list to see why your water-carrying is (as usual) as transparent as it is shameless.
Leviticus (efada1) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:55 pmWe keep hearing from #nevertrump that DJT is an egomaniac, doubtless different from narcissist like JEF, for whom no evidence can be brought to convince him he ‘effed up.
Clearly the two diagnoses present differently, they are not equivalent.
HRC for her part, will also go to her grave without admitting a wrong, she may dissemble, but never change her behavior, e.g., Comey “does not believe she lied” and her server was an inattentive mistake.
DJT does not exhibit that predilection either. While not admitting errors as errors he nonetheless blabs his conduct without artifice. Equating him with the other two is simply obstinate, willful hypocrisy.
DNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:56 pm“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue, shoot someone and not lose any voters.” – Donald Trump
“When you’re holding a double-barreled shotgun, use both barrels.” – J.R. Ewing
This fall, your choice: four seasons of Dallas or four seasons of Maude.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:56 pmLets say Cap Khan was important for interpreting the local jibber jabber.
Then it makes the story double plus fubar. Cap Khan should be at the guard house conducting interrogations, not at a check point being blown up.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:00 pm146. I dunno, I’d a thought the point merited examination, but these civilians seem to think otherwise. You must have pizzed them off bad.
DNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:02 pmAnd the Bushes hired Hinckley to kill Reagan. Trumpkins, mein Gott!
nk (dbc370) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:11 pmin anbar province there was a company commander, who was a police officer, who kept the fatalities down the whole year he was there, he negotiated with the sheikhs an earlier version of the petraeus strategy, that was a rare exception, specially in places like diyala province,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:13 pmYou must have pizzed them off bad.
DNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:02 pm
Couple threads back I inadvertently outed them as queer. Didn’t mean to. But try putting that genie back in the bottle. Amirite?
papertiger (c2d6da) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:13 pmWant to look at something about the First Lady you want that’s not a moronic fantasy? http://nypost.com/2016/08/01/melania-trumps-girl-on-girl-photos-from-racy-shoot-revealed/ NSFW
nk (dbc370) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:15 pmyeah well ted cruz’s sicky sacky fantasized about playing in traffic
cause of she had a mental illness in her head
happyfeet (28a91b) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:17 pmIf someone would pay me money to take pics of my junk, you would never see me…
…here anyway. ;D
papertiger (c2d6da) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:20 pmMakes one wonder why all those Texas millionaires let her manage their money.
nk (dbc370) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:21 pmyeah what’s up with that
happyfeet (28a91b) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:23 pmOTOH if someone would pay me money to point at people and yell “racist”, or more likely pay me money to stop pointing at people and yelling “racist”, well…
That situation would never come up.
I have scruples.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:23 pmwell perhaps in the Horde,# AOS sense of the word,
I try not to let my analysis and sentiment mix,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:24 pmnk,
Those pics are much more interesting than the Roy Cohn speculations! (LOL)
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:26 pmand if nico wins next year, well it will be an interesting encounter, between first ladies,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:31 pm146. papertiger (c2d6da) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:38 pm
I think he’s supposed to have ordered everybody else away, and volunteered to check out the car himself. The care, in other words, was sopposed to be in some way suspicious, but couldn’t just be ordered away. It could make sense, as a trap. Like someone claimed he had information that would protect American soldiers.
http://heavy.com/news/2016/07/humayun-khan-khizri-army-captain-son-speech-video-watch-democratic-national-convention-muslim-soldier-iraq-trump/
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/hsmkhan.htm
Washington Post article, Wednesday, June 16, 2004:
When I heard a bit of this story, it struck me that captain Khan’s father was campaigning to have his son issued the Medal of Honor, although he didn’t say so. Now sometimes, a family’s campaign is not justified. So, if there is something wrong with the story it wouldn’t surprise me too much. It would surprise me even less if, as is the case, the father was associated in some way with the Clinton family.
Both the father and Donald Trump, by teh way, were dealing in non sequitors.
Sammy Finkelman (7fce49) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:34 pm161. The spread of a day earlier by porn impresario Murdoch was much to be preferred, including a rear view.
Another reason to vote agin Granny.
DNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:37 pmEd from SFV
Ed, thanks for your comment. You are absolutely correct about the banquet choice. But in that case the worst will be you’re a bit hungry for awhile and the uneaten food gets thrown in the dumpster.
In the case of the election I don’t think the comparison fits in that the stakes are immense for the country and it is a zero sum game… IOW one side or the other gains by non-participation depending on their standing. I don’t think this is disputable logically or mathematically
Yes we have two bad choices… but one is basically unknown as a policitian/ruler and the other has a long record of lies, living off the people, deceit,and high crimes were they prosecuted.
The number one issue in the USA is jobs and the economy. Number two I think is security.
With Hillary we get more Obama quasi socialist/progressive/politically correct crap and someone who is a clueless sociopath. I think Hillary’s performance with Chris Wallace last Sunday nailed it. The look on her face when she said Comey had said she’d told the truth to the FBI and doubling down for the umpteenth time that she didn’t send or receive classified material, really aced it. I think she must be delusional or something on top of being a sociopath.
I really don’t give a damn that Trump says some dumb things about unimportant issues and puts his foot in his mouth at times. I don’t give a damn that MSM caught him today unable to say what part of the bible was his favorite.
Trump legitimately beat 16 contenders for the top spot.
Hillary screwed Sanders with the help of lies, the media and chicanery at the DNC. What else is new.
Not countering Hillary helps her
PTS (ce7fc3) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:39 pm170. Thank you, most helpful.
DNF (755a85) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:39 pmpapertiger (c2d6da) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:23 pm
Somebody made an offer to pay $5,000 to the first person who called Donald Trump a racist the time when Donald Trump appeared on Saturday Night Live last November.
Larry David, the producer of Saturday Night Live did it before anyone else could. He collected the money, too.
http://time.com/4104041/larry-david-donald-trump-racist/
Sammy Finkelman (7fce49) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:40 pmTrumpkins think we’re voting for a “ruler.”
They’re okay with that.
Beldar (fa637a) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:41 pmLater on, the U.S> armrmy adopted the practice of just shooting at any car that went too close where it wasn’t supposed to be, often at an improvised temporary checkpoint. That killed many innocent Iraqis. One person devised the staregy of putting up a sign about roadwork to keep cars away, but that history got lost and they started killing Iraqis again.
Sammy Finkelman (7fce49) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:46 pmSammy , it sounds nice all written up like that.
But imagining the situation, a car at a non lethal remove from a clutch of heavily armed men.
“If you come another foot closer we’ll blast you to Allah” …
and from the clutch emerges the Chief of Police to stand alone in the kill zone with Muje.
I don’t know. A training exercise maybe. Showing the greens how it’s done?
papertiger (c2d6da) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:46 pmYou just can’t make this stuff up.
While Clinton spoke today in Warren Buffet’s home town (he was with her during her speech) she said among other things:
“…we are going to raise taxes on the middle class!”
Don’t forget. The Democrats care for the little guy and plan to bring Wall St to its knees.
PTS (ce7fc3) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:47 pmIf it’s the nico I think you are talking about, that would make him the ultimate pimp. The mid-2000s pre youth riots version was the Gallic Tim Pawlenty.
urbanleftbehind (847a06) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:48 pmno, tiger it’s war, whether it happens in grozny, sanaa, kabul, or lagos, that is the nature of the conflict in the 21st century.
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:48 pmTrump rulz!
Ted droolz!
LOL!
happyfeet (28a91b) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:49 pm“OTOH if someone would pay me money to point at people and yell “racist”, or more likely pay me money to stop pointing at people and yelling “racist”, well…
That situation would never come up.
I have scruples.”
– papertiger
What if someone would pay you money to be shameless Trumpkin flack on conservative political blogs?
If you have scruples, I haven’t seen any evidence of it.
Leviticus (3010ff) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:51 pmall the discernment one thought had been acquired in the last decade and a half seems to dissappated,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:56 pmbut narciso, your interpretation leads to none of Cap’s men willing to follow orders, or Cap Khan was incompetent in his ability to direct men.
Contrary to the commander’s testimony.
Same people who made Pvt Lynch out to be Audie Murphy in a skirt.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:57 pmyou want to second guess a soldier who fought the enemy and kept them from our shores, shirley,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 5:00 pmAnd three times [Trump] asked about the use of nuclear weapons. Three times he asked at one point if we had them why can’t we use them,” Scarborough said on his “Morning Joe” program.
Why did Trump have to ask three times? It sounds like Trump sorted those fellows out of contention for advisory roles and they feel kind of sore. I mean, was the answer so obvious that they felt they could brush off the question twice or three times? I don’t know, did they actually answer Trump the third time? Are we all to embrace the idea that Truman was wrong? I haven’t bought into these leftist narratives as readily as Patterico has been able to buy into it.
jcurtis (a860e0) — 8/3/2016 @ 5:01 pmWhat if someone would pay you money to be shameless Trumpkin flack on conservative political blogs?
You think I should send him a bill? In my experience it works the other way around in politics.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 8/3/2016 @ 5:02 pmPaper tiger shares his deep thought “Then it makes the story double plus fubar. Cap Khan should be at the guard house conducting interrogations, not at a check point being blown up.”
A friend of mine who out ranked Captain Khan was killed in Iraq when he moved forward to the lines to negotiate a surrender. So I’m unamused by bullshit from chairborne commandos like you.
SPQR (a3a747) — 8/3/2016 @ 5:06 pmhere’s another atypical hero, although he wouldn’t call himself that,
On September 8, 2009, near the village of Ganjgal, Meyer learned that three Marines and a Navy corpsman, who were members of Meyer’s squad and his friends, were missing after being ambushed by a group of insurgents. Under enemy fire, Meyer entered an area known to be inhabited by insurgents and eventually found the four missing servicemen dead and stripped of their weapons, body armor and radios.[10] With the help of Afghan soldiers, he moved the bodies to a safer area where they could be extracted.[11] During his search, Meyer “personally evacuated 12 friendly wounded and provided cover for another 24 Marines and soldiers to escape likely death at the hands of a numerically superior and determined foe.”
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 5:07 pmIf you have scruples, I haven’t seen any evidence of it.
You ever see me extorting money from people, you be sure and point it out.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 8/3/2016 @ 5:07 pmMr. Trump is a uniter cause of he brings us all together in the common purpose of making America great again.
How is that so hard to understand?
happyfeet (28a91b) — 8/3/2016 @ 5:08 pmnow after all that, his subsequent employer gave him a bad rep, probably because they were trading in guns to the taliban, and mcclatchy disputed his act of bravery, and as you know ‘friends don’t let friends, read mcclatchy’
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 5:16 pmI feel his pain but think Clint Eastwood got it about right.
crazy (fcf2fd) — 8/3/2016 @ 5:17 pmmaybe they misunderstood red queen’s tribute to the men in blue,
http://www.weaselzippers.us/287583-pipe-bomb-reportedly-explodes-on-hood-of-police-suv-in-maryland/
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 5:33 pm@146 papertiger
You make an excellent point.
I once worked at a place where, a few years prior, there had been a pressure vessel accident (an improperly secured ring blew the door off of a vulcanizer). I’m not sure if the guy who died in the accident was actually at fault but it was expeditious for the company to put the blame on him and cut his wife a check.
Capt Khan may not have been following proper command procedures but it’s easy enough to label him a hero (not saying he’s not)and walk away without asking too many questions.
Pinandpuller (0845e7) — 8/3/2016 @ 5:44 pmThe second debate:
“A conscience is like a boat or a car. If you feel you need one, rent it.” — Trump to Hillary or J.R. Ewing to Sue Ellen?
“God’ll get you for that.” — Hillary to Trump or Maude to Walter?
This fall, your choice: four seasons of Dallas or four seasons of Maude.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 5:45 pmthings that make you go hmm,
https://twitter.com/VictoriaCoates/status/760847534579290114
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 5:53 pmThe rest of you all can go to [edit]! I’m going to Texas.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 8/3/2016 @ 5:57 pm@176 Sammy Finkleman
A strategy soon emulated by the LAPD when encountering ladies delivering newspapers.
Pinandpuller (c16705) — 8/3/2016 @ 6:00 pmYes we have two bad choices… but one is basically unknown as a policitian/ruler and the other has a long record of lies, living off the people, deceit,and high crimes were they prosecuted.
Correcting the above to allow it to match reality
kishnevi (1c16da) — 8/3/2016 @ 6:19 pmYes we have two bad choices… but both are narcissistic sociopaths who have a long record of lies, living off the people, deceit,and high crimes were they prosecuted.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:46 pm
it wasn’t just any car.
It was a taxi.
Which meant just about anybody could be in there, including someone important in Iraq who had a right and more to be inside the base.
Captain Khan just misjudged how much time he had to decide between the two possibilities, or how close he could get. He was waving the taxi away.
This was still relatively early in the Iraqi insurgency. He was only the 66th American soldier killed in Iraq to be buried in Arlington. They had maybe just started with the car bombs. Later on they would shoot at any suspicious car that got close enough to be a danger if it was a car bomb.
” One person devised the staregy of putting up a sign about roadwork to keep cars away, but that history got lost and they started killing Iraqis again.”
The phrase I was looking for, instead of “history” was “institutional memory”
Sammy Finkelman (7fce49) — 8/3/2016 @ 6:27 pmkishnevi (1c16da) — 8/3/2016 @ 6:19 pm
But one of them shows signs of incompetence.
And maybe we should choose the incompetent person. You want a crook to be incompetent.
Sammy Finkelman (7fce49) — 8/3/2016 @ 6:31 pmWayback at comment 11, Trumpkin 1 said
What better way to keep one’s enemies on the defensive than to have them think you are a bit unstable and unpredictable
Problem is that Trump is making our friends and allies think he is unstable, unreliable, and unpredictable.
Obama has been unreliable, but at least he is predictably unreliable.
I am not too concerned that a Trumpian fit will start nukes flying, but everything else short of that could happen. Especially a Europe and Asia submitting to Putin and China rather than gamble on Trump having their back if he woke up on the right side of the bed that morning: and a Putin and China taking as much advantage of that as they can.
kishnevi (1c16da) — 8/3/2016 @ 6:31 pmMore of what we’ve had to live thru for these last 7.5 years? GTFO!!!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/3/2016 @ 6:40 pmI think that people who would even think about voting for Clinton are unstable and not worth spit.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/3/2016 @ 6:42 pmmeanwhile there has been another incident in russell square,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCYTI6Sh4kY
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 6:57 pmI can imagine just how the conversation went actually. This policy wonk off-handedly said “conventional forces are our only option…” and Trump asks why nukes, as a policy and military weapon can’t be used. The wonk no doubt assumed his own reasoning on this subject to be beyond question and brushed it off, but Trump wanted his answer.
And I doubt very much that Trump was satisfied with the answer that by policy tradition, our enemies get the first shot in a nuclear exchange.
Mr Black (7c41e5) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:03 pmI think that people who would even think about voting for Clinton are unstable and not worth spit.
mg (31009b) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:08 pmI second that.
like this example, I know I’m not drawing direct parallels,
http://www.hoover.org/research/reagans-real-reason-sdi
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:15 pmAnd I doubt very much that Trump was satisfied with the answer that by policy tradition, our enemies get the first shot in a nuclear exchange.
I doubt anybody told him that. We do not have a “no first strike” policy.
nk (dbc370) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:17 pmNarciso (205), the contest for the allegiance of the 4th quartile escalates. Trump unleashes Commodore 64 app only to discover that VOD is the venue he needs to dominate.
BobStewartatHome (f2b3a5) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:19 pmMemo to MSNBC:
Subject: Atomic cock-tails
Your attempt this news cycle to use the ever shallow-minded Scarborough and the always overacting O’Donnell, along with their talking-head lackeys, to spook viewers about an unstable Trump with the nuke codes in hand is simply laughable. And simple, period.
‘The squirrel might go nuts’ is the very much the thin edge of the wedge. Hard cheese, old boys.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:26 pmCaptain Khan takes one for the team.
https://youtu.be/oK_lJrGZf7U
papertiger (c2d6da) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:27 pmI love how all the people who were totally cool with the Iranian Mullahs having nukes are now like, “Hey, someone who says unpredictable things in public shouldn’t have access to the nuclear codes!”
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:29 pm(LOL)
hey they bought hook line and sinker,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:30 pmNaw. That’s the official Pentagon version of events.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:30 pmTerrorist attack in London.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:32 pmThose Anglicans are making trouble again!
@216. ‘Jehad’ The Ripper?!
DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:39 pmBad for London, but I have been conditioned to cringe at the mere mention of a Russell Square Park due to the conditions and actors in its Chicago counterpart. Based on a recent FBI takedown of some nearby LK brabches, the Chicago version might be turnt up as well.
urbanleftbehind (847a06) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:53 pmDick Morris fact checks Bill’s speech about Hillary.
Gerald A (76f251) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:58 pmbut of course,
http://dailycaller.com/2016/08/03/exclusive-bill-clinton-got-millions-from-worlds-biggest-sharia-law-education-firm/
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:03 pmAlways something afoot w/Dick Morris.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:30 pmlike falstaff with prince hal.
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:33 pmAll us Trumpkins object to the way CNN has been discussing Our Donald.
One Liz Mair, some kind of angry View type feminazi contributor, called The Donald a “loud mouth dick” on live TV.
I hope the standard of equal time is enacted here and someone goes on hannity and calls Hillary a “loud mouth c$nt”
The discourse may not be civil, but the rules should be
Just sayin’
PTS (ce7fc3) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:44 pmwell liz and rick wilson, are the kind of crackerjack rocket surgeons, that the top men employ.
narciso (732bc0) — 8/3/2016 @ 8:53 pm219. Gerald A (76f251) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:58 pm
It’s reallya sad commentary that it takes about a wek for something like this to appear, or start to get around.
The speech was delivered Tuesday, July 26, 2016, and it is possible no transcript of prepared remarks was released, because the CNN transcript (as delivered) is dated Wednesday:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/27/politics/bill-clinton-speech-transcript/
Dick Morris made his video commentary Wednesday, a transcript of it is included in this web page dated Saturday:
https://patriotpost.us/articles/44049
And it gets linked her only the next Wednesday.
There is much left out of Dick Morris’s commentary – there is more to say; some of it he gets a bit wrong; in other places he neglects to fill people in about what it meant, and some of it is new to me because I’m not really all hat familiar with the details. Bill Clinton also took care in some places to make it more bulletproof, or less vulnerable to criticism.
It is been noted by others that this was, in part, the kind of speech a husband might give on abig anniversary – Donald Trump noted that there was something left out which he didn’t want to say (that would be his philandering and why they didn’t get divorced) Bill Clinton makes it sound a little bit, without actually saying so, that he was strongly physically attracted to Hillary, but it was probably calculation – he needed a co-conspirator. The story about how he met her is probably mostly true, because he has told it to other people, and he’s not making a lie stronger than it needs to be to serve its purpose. And he actually mentions the Vietnam War, albeit only in passing. His whole speech is dedicated to making her sound like some kind of social worker type or latter day Eleanor Roosevelt (whom he didn’t mention at all because most people don’t know much)
There were other criticisms made by other people. One I didn’t hear is that he skipped over mostly is that he skipped over everything about raising Chelsea from her birth till she was 17. He makes it sound like he glad to be a parent – he’s probably glad now, but then it was probably a political calculation – to seem ordinary, Hillary needed to be a mother.
They saw as little as possible of Chelsea. Bill and Hillary were constantly sending her away to camps, whatever was available. Chelsea talked about notes her mother left, each one to be opened on a separate day. That was clever of Hillary – a lot of impact for little effort. They didn’t really begin paying attention to her, I don’t think, till she was a teenager. Bill paid more attention maybe, because he had to make sure she was on his side, and this wouldn’t be a Patty Davis/Ronald Reagan situation or worse.
Dick Morris gets the Watergate committee firing wrong. He says she “was fired from that job for taking home evidence and hiding documents that they needed in the impeachment inquiry.” That is totally wrong.
First of all, it wasn’t the Watergate committee, which is the name used for the Senate Committee in 1973. It was the House Judiciary Committee impechment inquiry in 1974. There was a special staff hired for it, and John Doar was put in charge and did not report to anyone but the whole committee. She was not fired from that – that job terminated early when Nixon resigned, and she was not continued on by Jerry Zeifman, who had never been her boss, and had been out of the chain of authority over her. She was was one of three people he did not issue letters of recommendation to.
She was hide material, but wasn’t let go at the time.
The unethical thing Jerry Zeifman talks about is that Hillary was commissioned to write a brief about whether or not Nixon should be entitled to have an attorney appear before the committee – she said no. But just four years before, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas had been given permission. (In the 1960s they were getting really strong that in any proceeding anybody needed counsel in order for it to be fair.)
Zeifman mentioned this history to Hillary Rodham when she told him whhat she was going to say, and the next thing he knew, the committee records (where the point more was the legal reasoning than the bare fact that Douglas had been granted permission to have counsel) were secreted in her office, keeping them away from minority counsel to the commmittee. Zeifman was the majority counsel. The Democrats lost the argument, by the way, and Nixon was granted the right to counsel.
What Jerry Zeifman may not have realized, was that that was all completely at the instigation of John Doar, and it was John Doar who was unethical.
I also think Hillary faked a transcript of Nixon talking to make him look worse, and ddi this whle not being on the list of people whjo were supposed to make transcripts. Very ew people actually heard the tapes.
Dick Morris also never explains what the Black Panthers were and what that case Hillary was involved in was all about. He’s right to mention her partnership in the Rose Law Firm was not earned, but he should explain a little bit more about what kind of work she did. It was all influence peddling. Her whole job was a payoff to the Governor.
I didn’t know the details about CHIP program, although it didn’t sound right the way Bill Clinton told it. Dick Morris is wrong that the 1994 health bill was rejected because the meetings were all held in secret. It was rejected because it was a terrible piece of legislation. And it was known actually that her whole task force had nothing to do with writing it up. That was just to make it look like it was the proodcut of study.
I noticed that Bill Clinton said:
I’m not sure that Hillary actually said that phrase outlined in bold. Bill Cliknton even seemed to say it less loudly. Notice also Bill Clinton acknowledges that applying the phrase to the LGBT community is a reeat of something said earlier, something not mentioned before. When Chelsea mentioned the Beijing declaration on Thursday she didn’t say Hillary said the phrase the other way, too.
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/7/28/12319276/chelsea-clinton-dnc-speech-transcript-democratic-convention-2016
As I have said, human rights are women’s rights, and not the other way around.
Sammy Finkelman (f0ed15) — 8/4/2016 @ 4:10 amFrom a woman who hasn’t flown commercial in years?
She’ll do for climate change what Jimmy Carter did for cardigan sales.
Or maybe she is talking about “protection” in the Tony Soprano sense of the word.
JP (bd5dd9) — 8/4/2016 @ 5:59 amIrrespective of our respective opinions of Trump, I also have no regard for Liz Mair. She’s the one behind the bad blood between Trump and Cruz over the wife-photo war. In my opinion, she’s as much a gold digger as Drudge, Hannity, and all the other pro-Trump opportunists except that she’s panning the NeverTrump field. Is there a limit to how much these Super Pacs can pay in “salaries and expenses”, does anybody know?
nk (dbc370) — 8/4/2016 @ 7:05 amnk (dbc370) — 8/4/2016 @ 7:05 am
Taking a shot at this:
The limit is how much money they can raise, and how much of that they can pay without committing fund raising fraud.
I think as long as maybe at least 3% or 5% or so is spent on the purported purposes, and nothing is spent on a clearly unrelated purpose, they are OK.
If the law requires salaries to be disclosed, or other kinds of accounting to be made, which I don’t know, they might be in trouble with their contributors, but not with the law.
They have to use the money for the purposes raised, and anything they take personally has to be accounted for as income and reported to the IRS. Maybe there could be a problem with an excess salary, or perhaps with a variable salary that was tied to money raised.
Sammy Finkelman (f0ed15) — 8/4/2016 @ 8:31 amIt’s times like this that make me happy to live in a state where the presidential vote is a foregone conclusion. I’m writing in my neighbor’s name. He seems nice.
matt d (d4aa6f) — 8/4/2016 @ 9:03 amRich Galen’s two last columns:
http://www.mullings.com/dr_08-01-16.htm {Where has the GOP gone?]
http://www.mullings.com/08-04-16.htm [He fell off, and waved goodbye, to the Trump train, but Hillary is Unfit. He only will vote for Congress]
Sammy Finkelman (643dcd) — 8/4/2016 @ 3:23 pmmatt d (d4aa6f) — 8/4/2016 @ 9:03 am
I don’t think you can actually do that. This is noiot like an election for Governor. You’re not voting for president. You’re voting for a list of Electors.
The write-in will be a vote for an elector. If this is correct, you can write in as many names as there are Electors in your state. This needs to be checked out.
Sammy Finkelman (643dcd) — 8/4/2016 @ 3:26 pmI want to see an “I’ll quit if she quits” challenge from Shorty. He can be on the twenty instead of la coyota if he is successful and both are out.
urbanleftbehind (ffd4cd) — 8/4/2016 @ 3:34 pmAs hopefully someone has long since pointed out — if you can’t deal with giving either of them your vote, there’s always Johnson.
IGotBupkis, "Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses." (225d0d) — 8/4/2016 @ 8:29 pmat one convention, they jeered cops and law enforcement, and nominated a serial lawbreaker,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/4/2016 @ 8:34 pm