Month: September 2015

The Donald has given her a once-in-a-campaign opportunity. By criticizing a woman’s appearance, hers, he’s opened himself up, as never before.  She’s holding her fire, for now, which is smart.  She’ll want the whole country watching when she sticks it to him.  At the debate next week, preferably in the early going, she needs to turn to Trump and say, “I must say, Donald, that your hair is just fabulous tonight.”   After the debate she can tell the press that she’s hoping the Donald will share his hair stylist with her.

God knows how Trump would react.  Reality TV, baby.

Fiorina looks like she’d be a good Secretary of State.  I saw her in person at ALEC two years ago, so I’m not surprised at her success.  She can get through to people, and has a great story.  If she really wants to rip into Trump she can talk about her start in business: typing envelopes.  She could compare it to the Donald’s, who started with a few hundred million from Daddy.  Money which, if invested in an index fund, would have produced as much profit as all of the Donald’s vaunted deal making has produced.

Jindal’s out today calling out Trump as an egomaniacal opportunist.  All well and good, Bobby, but you need a stiletto, not a broad sword.  Needle him, have some fun.  One of these candidates is eventually going to display some wit, which will be helpful.

Punditry is a tough  business.  Stu Rothenberg is a guy worth reading.  He actually has some interesting analysis.  But, like a stock picker buying at the top of the market, he chose the moment of Trump’s peak popularity, yesterday, to announce a major shift in his thinking.  We now have to take the Donald seriously.  Gee, thanks, Stu.  Way to time your call.

Yesterday I said Sanders had a way to appeal to blacks, starting in South Carolina.  In the WaEx Byron York does some excellent reporting on Bernie in Iowa, where, as of today, he’s leading.  I’m getting the impression that Democrats don’t mind the Socialist tag on him.  At least he’s a genuine socialist.  Hillary’s a genuine Clinton, which means she’ll say and do anything: whatever it takes.  All she’s really got going for her is her victimhood.  Her husband has made a fool of her, taken advantage of her, and used her.   Seduced and abandoned.  A lot of women sympathize.  It’s just not enough.

I see Kasich being taken seriously here and there.  It’s real simple, folks. If you assume Jeb! crashes and burns, where does all that support go?  Christie?  Fuggedaboutit.  Walker?  The man is simply not that bright.  I hate to engage in looksism, but as I study the man closely, especially about the mouth, he looks a little slow.  His lower lip sags down toward his chin, giving him a mildly retarded look.  He’s smart enough to be an extremely successful Governor in a very tough environment. I read his book.  He is unintimidated.  It accounts for his success.  But he is not an intellectually curious man, and he has been so focused on his job as Governor that he doesn’t really understand what’s going on in the rest of the world.  He’d make a great Cabinet Secretary, maybe Secretary of Labor.  Just kidding.  Or not.

Which leaves Don Juan of Florida.  A 44 year old one term Senator of no particular accomplishment.  His big try at legislating was an immigration bill that he had to walk away from.  Oh, he’s Hispanic.  I was born and raised in California, and moved back here fourteen years ago.  Let me tell you something about Chicanos in particular, and Hispanics in general.  They don’t give a rat’s ass that Rubio is “Hispanic”.  He’s not one of them.  Trust me on that.

So, take your pick, Rubio, Kasich or Cruz.

They’d all kick ass.

We’re there, or close.  I doubt we’ll see a lot of erosion in his support for a while.  But he’s at or near his peak.  At the Iran rally today he was off his game.  He wasn’t ready to explain his opposition, other than to call it the worst deal he’s ever seen in his life.  He got off a good line, guaranteeing the return of four Americans held in Iran if he’s elected.  We just have to trust him on that.  His main point was that he is a winner, and we’ll win so much when he’s President we’ll get bored with it.  Then he tried to top himself.  We’ll not only be winning, but “winning bigly”, whatever that means.  It was awkward, off key.

Contrary to Parson Cruz, and most of the Trump Tribe, he wants to let Syrian refugees in.  This isn’t going to win him any supporters.  The Parson’s more of a hard ass than he is, on this issue.  His support of affirmative action is going to cost him, once it’s well known.  I’m sure he’s got a few more tricks up his sleeve, but the basis of his appeal has been out there for some time, for all to see.  If you haven’t bought in yet, you’re not likely to.

In Colin Woodard”s American Nations, he says New York City ( or New Netherlands, as he calls it) is a separate and distinct American subculture, as unique as New England, the Midlands, Appalachian Scotch-Irish, and all the others.  It’s a money culture, cosmopolitan and amoral.  Trump is the embodiment of New York City, which has never been popular in the rest of America, and is not today.  This will catch up to him.

The fact is that the Donald has always been a crony capitalist.  His Dad showed him the way long ago, when he was the largest non-family donor to the Hugh Carey campaign for Governor of New York in 1974.  Real estate developers expect a return on their investments, in property or in politicians.  You can’t operate in the real estate game in New York without greasing the wheels.  It’s all just business.  But it is corruption, too.  At some point, perhaps soon, he’ll have to defend his career of pay to play.

Joe Biden’s a likable guy, just not that bright.  On Labor Day he’s pounding the podium, yelling about American workers’ stagnant wages.  I guess he doesn’t realize that the price of labor is subject to economic reality.  When you increase the supply of labor, by massive immigration, you lower its price.  We want workers to be scarce, and make employers compete for them.  This is what Big Business abhors, which is why they’ll subvert their own country for cheap labor.  Trump gets that part, and it accounts for his performance to date.

Oddly, Bernie Sanders is the only Democrat who also does.  Bernie just doesn’t talk about it too much.  Maybe he will when he gets to South Carolina.  Blacks don’t care much for Bernie, we hear.  Maybe if he tells them the truth, that the Democratic Establishment is selling them down the river in exchange for Hispanic votes, maybe that will make an impression.

As I’ve mentioned occasionally, politics is arithmetic, and includes division.  In political division, you try to divide the opposition.  You want factions on the other side fighting with each other.  Blacks and Hispanics are the two building blocks of the Democratic coalition.  But blacks don’t like immigration, despite what their political leaders may say.  And, on the ground, blacks and Hispanics don’t like each other.  Most prison violence, and high school fights, at least in California, are black vs. Hispanic.  Hispanics and blacks wage gang turf battles in southern California constantly.

If the California Republican Party has a future, it is in luring Hispanics away from the Democrats with the promise of economic development and good, high paying jobs.

Actually, that’s how we can win blacks, too.

A federal lawsuit, based on California labor law, could kill Uber.  It would make employees of its drivers, thus driving it out of business, eventually.  But Uber has a way out.

The company’s supposed to be worth $50 billion.  One quarter of one percent of that amount, or $125 million, can get them out of danger.

If it is true, as I read, that Uber’s potential liability derives from California law, change California law through an initiative.  Call it the Freedom to Work initiative.  For a few million you gather the signatures.  Spend $100 million or so on a campaign to pass it.  Introduce the voters to the thousands of Uber drivers who make or supplement their living working when they’re able and willing.  Let the defenders of the nanny state tell all the Millennials that this service that they like so much they just can’t have.  Because?

It’s private sector vs. the government campaign.  Uber would win it, and in the process help every California Republican on the ballot, all of whom would support it.  If Rep. Devin Nunes runs for the Senate, this issue, along with the drought  — which Democrats have done nothing to ameliorate  — could make him competitive.

Somebody on the internet succinctly made the best argument rebutting Hillary’s email defenses.  As Secretary of State, she conducted business using her email account.  How do you conduct the business of being Secretary of State without discussing classified information?  You can’t.

The Queen continues to send signals to Uncle Joe.  The latest public wink and nod is a NYT story revealing that a high level intelligence team has concluded that at least two of her emails contained Top Secret information.  The source — the Queen  — is more important than the story.  Because Uncle Joe, and everybody else, knows the Queen can take Hillary down.  She’s telling him that, if he runs, she will.

It more and more looks like it’s coming down to Jill Biden.  She really doesn’t want to go through this. At all.  But she hasn’t said no.  And when she sees her husband of over 40 years coming home from a Labor Day Rally, all pumped up at the reception he’d received, she knows  what would make him happy.  I feel for her.

Because she’s such a God awful candidate, Hillary would be the ideal Democrat to run against.  But because you never know, I hope Biden beats her, just as I hoped Obama would beat her eight years ago.  The Clintons are thoroughly corrupt, a political crime family.  Even the most remote possibility of them returning to the White House must be avoided.  So go Joe!

Think about the dynamic of a Biden vs. Anybody But Bush as the Republican.  Biden (and Clinton, for that matter) are the defenders of the status quo.  They can’t run a Change campaign, because Obama’s been a perfect President, so what needs changing?   The Republican promises a wholesale reform of Washington, top to bottom.  Clean house, and start fresh, with new ideas and new people.  Biden has nothing to campaign on, except as a reactionary defending all the special interests which are on the tit.  It would be a Soak the Rich campaign, which isn’t going to sell.  Soaking the rich won’t give us 4% growth, which is the only thing that will save us.  Soaking the rich won’t get you a job.  Somebody once said, It’s the economy, stupid.

It still is.

I’ve noticed something about Ben Carson.  He’s black.

Watching news shows which discuss his rise in the polls, you wouldn’t know it.  He’s just another friendly, soft spoken brain surgeon.  Perhaps some commentators have also noticed he’s black, but they’re keeping it to themselves.  Since he’s impossible to dislike, a man of genuine warmth and real accomplishment, bringing up his race somehow diminishes him, which no one wants to do.

In fact, there is probably another brain surgeon out there, who’s just as nice and well spoken, who happens to be white, or Asian.  They wouldn’t be taken seriously.  People like the kindly Doctor because he’s the kind of black American we wish we saw more of.  Some may support him to demonstrate their lack of prejudice, but most, I think, do so because he holds the promise of bridging the black/white divide in this country.  We’d like to get along with all of our fellow Americans, including, particularly, blacks.

Like everybody else, I hoped Obama’s election would help race relations, but it was not to be.  It’s almost like the 60’s and the Civil Rights Act.  When it passed in ’65 it was thought of as a great leap forward, a great benefit to the blacks across the country.  A year later, life hadn’t changed in the northern ghettos.  The law had changed, but everyday reality was the same.  Blacks believed the law would improve their lives, and when it had no real effect they were angry and resentful.  A promise had been made, of progress, and it was broken.  So the great northern race riots of the 60’s ensued.  Detroit never recovered.

The poisonous state of race relations today may be a kind of repeat of the 60’s.  Obama’s election was a watershed moment for black Americans, and always will be.  But what benefit has the average black received?  Life in West Oakland is worse today than when he took office.  Wages, employment, housing are down.  There are a whole lot of very angry black people in this country.  Black Lives Matter is just another iteration of the Black Panthers from the 60’s.  So far we’ve had Ferguson and Baltimore.  The situation on the streets of our cities is ominous.  Cops are reluctant to do their job, and the thugs sense it, and take advantage.

Obama has a duty to address this situation, and I expect that he will.  But he is such a smarmy politician that he’ll make sure he encourages the maintenance of a certain level of animosity toward whites.  That’s what successful black (and Democrat) politicians do in this country. It’s reflexive.  But it’s not all the fault of the politicians.  That’s what a lot of black people want to hear.

After we finished my first year of law school I got a summer job at West Coast Detectives.  Babbie was crazy about this private detective on TV, Mannix, and I decided I could do that.  They got me a Teamster’s card and sent me to work in a food warehouse in the San Fernando Valley, Pacoima.  I’m undercover, and it’s a little dicey.  The place is about 20% white, 40% black, and 40% Chicano.  There’s definitely some racial tension.   I make friends with this guy named Buck Jump, a  big white guy.  For some reason the blacks liked this guy, and through him I got to know a few of them.  We got off work at 5:00 a. m. and one day we go to Buck’s place to watch some Olympics.  They had boxing on, and these black guys were the most racist sons of bitches I’d ever seen.  They’d go crazy rooting for any black guy, from any country, fighting any white guy.  They were rooting for a Nigerian over an American white.

I didn’t get to know these guys that well.  But it opened my eyes.  There’s a lot of black racism in this country, and I’m afraid it’s getting worse.

I don’t have a good feeling about all this.

Here’s the link to my piece in AT:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/09/jeb_and_the_donald_need_to_go_one_on_one.html

If Jeb!’s people have a better idea we haven’t seen it.  But they’re highly paid professionals, so I’m sure they’ve got something really clever they’re working on.