Month: August 2015

Here’s the link to my review:

“http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/08/meryl_streep_unleashes_her_inner_redneck.html

The commenters don’t like Meryl Streep and they don’t like the review.  They’re a sullen bunch.  I think Ricki Rendazzo is another Archie Bunker  — a lovable redneck.

Someone tried to label Hillary’s problem as “Servergate”, but I think Emailgate is better.  The server is only part of the story.

The Hive is in tumult.  It continues to receive signals from the Queen, but is hesitant to descend on Hillary.  It has defended the Clintons for twenty-three years.  To turn on her now feels traitorous.  Maureen Dowd has the task of clarifying the Queen’s desires.   Tomorrow we should see a column giving guidance.  If she writes approvingly about Biden she’s telling him, and the Hive, that the Queen wants him to run, and will have his back.  This may be all he’ll get, for now.  The Queen doesn’t want to be held directly responsible for destroying Hillary.

Can Joe trust the Queen?  Is she really through with Hillary, or is she just angry at her for her sloppiness and recklessness?  Joe’s been playing this game for a very long time.  He’ll figure it out.  He only runs with the Queen’s blessing.

On a personal level, there’s always been something tacky and low class about the Clintons.  Their vulgarity and arrogance does not really appeal to the Queen, which will make it easier for her issue the final edict, when the time comes.

“Off with her head.”

I was a defender of Nixon, for a while.  Some of my liberal friends at law school read every single word that was printed about Watergate, so I had to match them in order to make a case.  I remember every day it was something new.  Week after week.  It was overwhelming.

We’re a long ways away from that on Emailgate, but that’s where we’re headed.  Pulitzers are available, and the press is starting to sniff around.  Right now nobody would put serious money on Hillary.

Here’s a prediction.  Lincoln Chafee will be the Democrat who challenges her on Emailgate.  Either at the October 20th debate or before, he’ll call her out.  In his mind she is a political hack who voted for the Iraq War for purely political reasons.  She deserves to go down, and Lincoln Chafee is the man with the guts to do it.  Like his father, he’s a decent and patriotic man, and one with courage.  Go Lincoln.

My wife makes me go to a chick flick now and then.  There’s a geezer chick flick out with Meryl Streep called “Ricki and the Flash” that we saw a couple days ago.  There’s a political angle to it, so I wrote a review and sent it to AT.  I’ll print or link to it tomorrow.

Good cc today.  Wyoming Rep. Tyler Lindholm will be calling Senate Majority Leader Eli Bebout soon.  We’d like Eli to sponsor the bill in the Senate, and try to find out exactly what Senate President Nicholas’ problem is.

Virginia Delegate LeMunyon will provide Biddulph with a list of competitive House and Senate races in the coming November election.  Dave thinks he did some good with his robocalls in a primary race, so he wants to pitch in in the general.  A good strategy.

Georgia Senate Majority Leader Bill Cowsert is hosting his South Carolina counterpart at a box for the Georgia-South Carolina football game next month.  He says he can arrange to let South Carolina score a touchdown if we get a commitment on our Resolution next year.  So if you see something funny happening in that game you’ll know the deal was cut.

Gary Banz and Dave Guldenschuh are working closely together in Oklahoma.  With Dave’s help, Gary Banz will get Oklahoma next year.  That’s going to happen.

There’s a real similarity between the 2012 Republican primary and this time.  A big name, well funded, establishment favorite that the conservative wing of the party doesn’t like.  Conservatives were desperate for an alternative to Romney.  How the hell do you think Herman Cain, of all people, could be the leader for a week or two?  And Crazy Newt Gingrich, a complete nut, is then the leader for a while?  It was anybody but Romney.  But there wasn’t anybody.

The animus against Jeb! is much stronger, and more widespread, than it was against Romney.  Trust me on this one. I’m talking, in part, about myself.  It’s because he’s a Bush, and we know what the Bushes have done to conservatism.  Bush I squandered the conservative political legacy of Ronald Reagan.  Bush II ruined the Republican brand for a decade.  This is almost personal with these Bushes.

So Jeb! can’t win like Romney did.  Which means he can’t win.  The field is too strong.  He’s not that good.  So when Bush faces reality, who’s left standing?  If Kasich’s still on his feet he’d be a favorite to make it to the final round, a mano y mano with Rubio or Walker, or Cruz.  The old steel cage death match.  May the best man win.  Good theater.  Good politics.

In the mean time we have the Trump spectacle to enjoy.

Just make sure to watch from a distance.

Jeb! is a meme, a mockery of the Bush logo.  I thought of the Jeb! meme a few days ago, and put it out in one of my American Thinker pieces.  The commenters ate it up.  Half of them adopted Jeb! in their comments.  Now big foot liberal columnist Eugene Robinson, writing in the WaPo, has picked up on Jeb!

If the Jeb! meme spreads far enough it could become a way for anyone to express disdain for Jeb!, his logo, and his campaign.

Go Jeb!

Not everybody who feels fed up with the politics of this country is supporting Donald Trump.  Ted Cruz, in particular, seems to be appealing to this sentiment as well.  Actually, if you’re not fed up with Washington D.C. and damn near everybody in it you’re really not paying attention.  Trump and Cruz are winning the Anger Primary.  I’m sure a lot of people backing Carson and Fiorina and Paul and Walker and Rubio are pissed off as well.

One of the reasons we’re all pissed off is the Republican Party’s failure to stand up to Obama’s unconstitutionalism.  Another reason is the performance of the Republican Congress from 2003 to 2007.  They had the House, the Senate, the Presidency and a majority of the Supreme Court.  Time to cut spending, right?  Time to cut down the size and scope of the federal government, right?  Time to enact meaningful entitlement reform, right?  So what did President George W. Bush, Speaker Denny Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist give us?  Almost half a trillion in deficits  — and that’s it.

I’ve known a whole lot of Republican politicians very well over the course of my life.  A few of them were corrupt, and a lot of them were dimwits, but most wanted to do the right thing.  One, former Alaska Governor Jay Hammond, was a great man and a great political leader.  I saw what one man, of conviction and courage, can accomplish in politics.

I think Ted Cruz and Rand Paul and Scott Walker and John Kasich and Marco Rubio are all men of conviction and courage.  And I think every one of them is pissed off like the rest of us.  Ronald Reagan was pissed off when he ran against Jimmy Carter in 1980, but you couldn’t tell.  He was not an angry candidate, the way Trump, and to a lesser extent, Cruz are.

Here’s the bottom line:  women don’t like angry men.  It makes them uncomfortable.  And women decide elections.  Barack Obama was more appealing to women than either John McCain or Mitt Romney, and that’s why he beat them both.

Not that there isn’t a time and a place for anger.  It’s just rare.  Michael Dukakis displayed no anger when asked about the hypothetical rape and murder of his wife.  That’s when anger is called for.

Great politicians, like the Gipper, use anger to their advantage.  When Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” he didn’t have his happy face on.

But that was highly unusual.  A savvy politician very rarely shows anger.

So when you do it, you want to make it count.

JR Dunn edited my piece and put it up at the AT Blog section.  My suspicion that he had some kind of problem with me has proven unfounded.  He’s one of the better regular writers at AT, and has a good piece of his own today calling out he Trump people as dopey.  Here’s my unedited AT piece:

Hillary Clinton cannot be taken out by Joe Biden.  But if Barack Obama, or the New York Times, chooses, she’s toast.  If the President, or the Times, give Joe assurances that they’ll put her down he’s going to run.  If he passes, it means the White House and the Times have decided she’s still the best chance they’ve got in 2016.

They’re asking themselves a lot of questions.  Is Bernie-mania a fad or is it a sign that the progressive base of the party is in full revolt against Hillary?  He’s up by seven in Hew Hampshire and drawing enthusiastic crowds of 30,000.  How is it possible that Bernie Sanders, a quirky old socialist from Vermont, has transformed himself into a political rock star?  Could it simply be that he’s a genuine person, an anti-Hillary?  And if they don’t dump her soon, are they going to be stuck with her?

The Times has enough dirt on Hillary to take her out ten times over.  Can they keep a lid on it for over a year longer?  How much of what they have can they keep to themselves?  Do they really want to start covering up and making excuses for the Clintons all over again?

Obama and Valerie Jarrett are asking themselves who would best defend the Obama legacy?  The Vice President, his biggest cheerleader, or haughty Hillary, who they’ve never respected?  And are they capable, even if they try their best, of keeping all the Congressional investigations at bay?  There are a lot of balls in the air, and they can’t afford to let even one fall.  Wouldn’t it be easier to throw in the towel on her, and leave her to her own fate?  All it would take is the appointment of a special prosecutor, which would be easily justified.

Then comes the $64 question, for the Times and for Obama.  Who would have a better shot in 2016, Joe or Hillary?  Given her performance to date, it’s easy to see them going with the old pro.

Biden’s had winks and nods of approval.  He’s waiting for a commitment.  If he gets it he goes.  He has tremendous confidence in his political skills, is in great shape, and loves to fight.  He sincerely believes he’s ready to step in the Oval Office on day one and be a great President, one who will be a world historical figure.

Joe Biden may not be dead broke, but he doesn’t have a lot to show for a lifetime in politics.  Though he’s been in high public office for over 40 years, his net worth is only $600,000.  He’s a lawyer, he’s had plenty of opportunities to cash in.  He just wouldn’t do it. He and his family have seen others make fortunes in the course of their political careers, but they’ve never seen anything like the Clintons.  While he and others he respects have kept their noses clean and made do, Bill and Hillary flaunt their ill gotten gain.  This rankles all the Bidens, including Beau.

It’s hard to overstate the bond between Biden and his deceased son Beau, who as a small boy lost his mother.  In “What It Takes”, Richard Ben Cramer’s masterful account of the 1988 campaign, he tells the story of a meeting in Biden’s home after the plagiarism scandal hit.  Everyone knew Joe had to quit the presidential campaign, but Beau, just out of high school, was the last holdout.  His stepmother, the rest of the family, and all the advisers and consultants said it was over.  Not Beau.  He wanted his dad to hang in there, keep fighting, never give up

This gives his deathbed wish even greater poignancy.  Say whatever you want about Joe Biden, but he is passionate in the love of his family.  Beau believed in his dad, and said he should run.  Joe believes in himself.

Do Obama or the Times believe?

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/08/if_joes_in_hell_win.html