Month: September 2015

A friend of mine told me about a black kid he knew in Oakland.  A good kid, soft spoken and a little shy.  There was one kid in particular who bullied him, stole from him, and just made his life miserable.  So he got a gun and killed him.  He didn’t know what else to do.

I was reminded of this watching Gingrich on a Sunday show.  They asked him what he would do if he was running against Trump.  He said he had no idea.

I’ve admired Gingrich since his historic win in ’94.  He made his bones, and nobody can take that away from him.  He turned out to be erratic, and something of a drama queen, with an unseemly love of himself.  But he’s always been a smart guy, and when he said he didn’t know what to do with Trump I took that as a personal challenge to come up with something myself.  I submitted it to American Thinker and will either link or publish tomorrow.  The inspiration was that black kid in Oakland, who I imagine to be Jeb!  His tormentor is the Donald.  No, I did not suggest Jeb! pull a gun on him.  I think Jeb! does need to challenge him to a one on one face off, with Rush as the moderator.  Newt always liked to think outside the box.  This is something a little different.

The point is, Jeb! has to do something.  He can’t continue on his current path  — it leads nowhere.

Kindly Dr. Carson is tied with Trump in some poll.  All this tells you is that the polls, insofar as they predict an actual outcome, are worse than useless.  They’re a distraction.  While they don’t predict, the polls inform.  The kindly Doctor has great appeal to the Republican electorate.  He’s the antithesis of Trump, and proves that decency and personal honor are still political winners.  Girls like to have a fling with the macho, macho man.  But they want to marry a kindly doctor.

We’re in a flood tide, and it surges unabated.  The disarray in the enemy camp is more evidence.  If I’m a Democrat I’m tearing my hair out.  Hillary says she was too busy to think about things about email accounts when she became Secretary.  I guess that’s why she went to such great lengths to hire and pay a guy to set up her private server.  The scary thing, for the D’s, is that she thinks people might believe such crap, and that the sycophants who surround her are no better.  It’s odd, she’s been with Bill for so long, and still she doesn’t know how to tell a convincing lie.  It’s a gift, and she just doesn’t have it.

The nice thing about having Trump in the race is that he makes everyone else look normal.  When he does fall by the wayside, and a winner emerges, whoever that is will be mainstream in comparison.  It will be something of a relief to have this boisterous showman off the stage.  A return to normalcy.

Actually, I’ll miss the Donald.  I’ve been in politics 50 years and I’ve never seen anyone like him, at least in this country.  Schwarzenegger was a pussy in comparison.  I hope it doesn’t end badly for the Donald.  I like to think that, at least in part, he’s running because he’s worried about our country.

And he really does want to make it great again.

The Village People say everybody ought to be a macho, macho man.  But not everybody can.  Take Jeb!  Please.

The real macho, macho man called him out.  It was a challenge he couldn’t ignore, and one he couldn’t handle.  His response to this insult to his manhood is to point out that his tormentor has not been a consistent conservative.  Pretty strong stuff, Jeb!  He’s throwing punches in a knife fight.

So how do you handle a macho, macho man?   Ridicule.  Apparently, in addition to a lack of balls and brains, the Jeb! team doesn’t have a sense of humor.  Trump is, in fact, ridiculous.  Everything about him is so outlandish he’s a sitting duck for some biting sarcasm.  Make fun of him, in a light hearted way.   Talk about his hair, or his women, or his egomania.  Mock him, with a gentle touch.

Macho, macho men don’t like to be laughed at.  It provokes them into doing stupid stuff.  Trump is no exception.  If you want to see him lose it, and go over the top, it will happen when someone pokes fun at him and the audience starts laughing.  Real men are not macho, macho men.  A macho, macho man is trying to prove, to flaunt, his manhood.  Real men don’t do that.  They just act like men.  But to act like a man you have to be a man, and maybe that’s really Jeb!’s problem.  I don’t know much about the guy, but I wonder if he’s ever really manned up?

There are a lot of really bright people working in all these campaigns.  The next debate is a week and a half away.  Somebody will come up with some zingers for the macho, macho man.  If somebody paid me I’d do it myself.

Another thing that will eventually bring down The Man is his ignorance about politics, governance, and the Constitution.  The questions Hugh Hewitt asked him were bullshit, gotcha stuff.  Nobody cares if he doesn’t know the leader of Baluchiistan.  But I don’t think he knows diddly squat about the Constitution.  I could be wrong, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard him criticize Obama for violating the Constitution.  That would never occur to him.  He doesn’t have a favorite Bible verse because he’s never read the Bible.  Has he ever read the Constitution?  Probably not, and when that is exposed  — and it will be  — he’ll look like a dope.

People are starting to wonder if Trump could actually be elected.  I guess they’re serious.  Well, on the other hand, there were supposedly bright and well informed people who told me, six months ago, that Jeb! was a lock for the nomination, and everybody else was wasting their time and money.  People say the darndest things.

I wish I knew somebody at Saturday Night Live.  They must be doing stuff on Trump, of course they are.  But that song, “I’m a Macho, Macho Man!”, is so perfect for a skit that it’s got to happen.

They don’t vote as a bloc, but they have tendencies.  The ethnic Catholics of the Midwest, aka Reagan Democrats, can decide elections.

This came to mind yesterday evening as I happened to hear Texas Ted on the Levin Show.  He’s no longer Texas Ted, he’s now Parson Cruz.  They were talking about the jailed county clerk in Kentucky, and “Ted”, as Levin calls him, sounded very much like an evangelical preacher giving a Sunday sermon to the faithful.  It struck me that that’s part of the problem I’ve always had with him.

I was raised as an ethnic Catholic.  My mother and her family were from Irish and German Catholic immigrant stock, and I was an altar boy who was instructed by the nuns at St. Cornelius grammar school in Richmond.  Catholics have an aversion to Bible thumping evangelists.  Back when I was a kid some of them were anti-Catholic.  I don’t think that’s true very much today, but the discomfort remains.  American Catholics are not evangelical or charismatic.  A Catholic Mass is a very formal, low key affair.  If you feel some religious enthusiasm coming on, keep it to yourself.

Maybe I’m a little oversensitive, but whenever I see a politician coming on like a preacher, I get turned off.  Cruz definitely had that effect on me from the Levin show.  It could be a problem for him.  It’s something to keep an eye on.

I’ve mentioned before Cruz’s other big problem, arrogance.  He’s so certain of himself, and enamored of his own intellect, and so experienced in the techniques of debate, that he has not a glimmer, not a scintilla, of humility.  Has Parson Cruz ever told a story on himself, one where he came out on the short end?  He probably can’t think of one.

Self deprecation is one of the greatest political tools.  In the second debate with Mondale, when the Gipper joked about how old he was,* he sealed a landslide.

I think Kasich’s childhood was similar to mine.  He’s an ethnic Catholic, Czech and Croatian.  After his parents were killed he joined a Protestant Church, but the boy is father to the man, and his religious sensibilities will always be the ones he absorbed in his youth.  You’d think he would know how to communicate with his fellow Midwest ethnic Catholics.  In fact, I’ll bet he does.

In most things in life, the more experience you acquire, the better you get.   Politics is no exception.  You’re better off with the old pro.

I liked being an altar boy.  You were up by the altar, in front of everybody, and you got to ring bells, and pour water and wine, and hold a plate under communicants.  My Grandmother and Aunt Mary were devout Catholics, and I liked doing things that pleased them.  I remember having to memorize all the Latin responses.  I can remember them today.

Ad Deum qui laetificat, juventutem meum.

I go to the altar of God, the joy of my youth.

“I will not take advantage of my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”

It’s routine for politicians to do the two step.  For Republicans, take a step to the right in the primary, and a step to the center in the general.  John Kasich seems to be doing a three step. A step to moderation at this stage of the contest, to be followed by a step to the right when the field is winnowed down, and then the third step to the center in the general.

Actually, his strategy will be determined by who his principal competition will be, once the field has narrowed.  If Jeb! is still around he may want to stay more in the middle.  If Jeb! is gone he may emerge as the de facto “establishment” candidate, freeing him to move to the right.  If it comes down to Kasich vs. Cruz and Rubio he’ll want to stress his conservative credentials.  It seems to me that he’s maintaining his flexibility, which he needs to do in a volatile race.

He took a shot at Bush II the other day, complaining about the $5 trillion he pissed away, in an oblique shot at Jeb!  I thought it was $3 trillion, but he knows better than I do.  It’s a great line of attack, because in taking on Bush II he’s not only going after Jeb!, but, by implication the Republican Congressional leadership which actually spent all the money.  Republicans are angry at Congress for its fecklessness, and unwillingness to stand for conservative principles.  Kasich will win points for criticizing those in his own party for reckless spending.  Now may not be the best time.  This is a long campaign.

At some point he will have to do foreign policy.  This will be a speech I will listen to very carefully.  I’m an anti-war Republican, and that’s what I want to hear.  Keith Faber told me that Kasich thinks nation building is a crock, and that he even had misgivings about the first Gulf War.  So we will see.

I think the American people are anti-war, and that’s what they want to hear.  Who are we going to fight, the Chinese?  Are you crazy?  The Russians?  For what?  For Europe?  The Europeans have a long history of internecine warfare.  If they want to keep at it, so be it.  It’s their call.  It’s not our job to defend them.  We don’t need anybody to help us to defend our own shores.  We can do that on our own.  So let the Europeans solve their own problems.  Same with South Korea and Japan.  It’s your problem.  I’m all for going into the Middle East, killing as many terrorists as we can, and then getting the hell out.  It’s called a police action.

The Donald is now an official Republican.  This is very good news.  The man is capable of anything, including a third party run.  Now that that’s off the table he can be treated like any other candidate.  He took a shot at kindly Dr. Carson for not employing many people as a brain surgeon.  What a guy.

One of these Republicans, on the way to Simi Valley, needs to go to Rep. David Valadao’s district in the Central Valley and endorse his water bill.  The environmental left is vulnerable on this one.  They waste so much water on the stupid delta smelt that they look like idiots.  It’s a damn bait fish, and is thriving in reservoirs not part of the Delta.  This district is very heavily Chicano, and they elect Republicans to Congress.  Everybody wants to appeal to Hispanics.  Valadao, a Portuguese-American, has figured it out.

Maybe somebody should listen to him.

Wargaming the nomination involves judging the quality not only of the candidates, but their campaigns.  Most of them are underwhelming as of now.

Rubio’s campaign decides it would be smart for him to attack Trump for implying, in his slogan, “Make America Great Again”, that America is not a great country.  What, he’s trying to win the semanticist vote?  Come on, Marco, you’ve got to be able to do better than that.

Walker goes off on the Iran deal, saying anybody who doesn’t tear up the thing on the first day is a pussy.  Oh, Scott, you’re such a tiger!  We’re so impressed.

Bush’s main line of attack against the Donald is to say he’s not a conservative, and Jeb! is.  Really inspiring stuff.  The kind of thing that will cause a mass exodus from the Tribe of Trump.  So Jeb! doubles down (and is immediately nailed by Drudge) and says, “El hombre no es conservador.”    I can see these people at a Trump rally, as the word begins to spread, from one to another, at first in whispers, then becoming a roar, “EL HOMBRE NO ES CONSERVADOR!” and running from the building.

And then on Special Report they lead with a story of Kasich tearing up at a New Hampshire event, soul hugging people.  When Johnny from Ohio left Congress, and  got himself a gig on Fox, and made some friends there, not a lot of people noticed.  It may turn out to be the best move, and the best set of friends, he ever made.

The bill I talked to my Congressman’s staff about  — statutory interpretation of the 14th Amendment with respect to birthright citizenship  — has been introduced by Rep. King of Iowa, HR 140, and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.  Why not?  Beats me.  D.C. lawyer Mike Stern tells me twenty-two years ago Harry Reid introduced it.  But he’s evolved.

Some high school kid in Troy, Ohio wants to pretend that he’s a girl, so of course they the school tells the girls he can use their bathroom.  Tolerance, don’t you know.  The girls aren’t buying it.  What about the parents?  If you had a daughter in high school, and she tells you this guy at school is pretending to be a girl, and go to the girls bathroom, what do you do?  Shrug your shoulders?  Another story, unconfirmed, of a school sending a little girl home because of her Wonder Woman lunch pail.  Superheroes use violence, so verboten.  If you let them get away with this stuff you deserve it.

If Obama doesn’t come out with a forceful defense of the police, and a condemnation of their killers, I’d be surprised.  It’s Politics 101.  If he doesn’t do it there really is something seriously wrong with this guy.

Sometimes I think of the Left as a zit, or a boil, that needs to be popped, or lanced.  There’s some ugly stuff in there.  Make sure it comes to head so you can get it all.

Around fourteen months from now might be perfect.