Month: September 2016

Carefully, very carefully, if she’s your political opponent.   You simply can’t treat a woman they way you would a man.  Nobody likes to see a man beat up on a woman, no matter how much she deserves it.

Trump saw insult comedian Don Rickles a few too many times, and he seems to enjoy insulting people.  If he insults Hillary Clinton, no matter how much she deserves it, it will cost him, big time.  The worst thing he’s done in his entire campaign was to disparage the Gold Star mother of Capt. Khan.  That still has not been forgotten, or forgiven.  If he veers in that direction Monday night he’ll lose it.  You’ve got to be cool, like Reagan, and his “there you go again” line.

No one’s ever seen Trump calm.  That would shock the political world.  A subdued version of Donald Trump could win the election, if such a thing exists.

This thing is better than the Super Bowl!

My grey matter has been grinding away, and I finally think I’ve got this Murkowski thing all figured out.  Not to brag on it, but it’s maybe the best shot I’ve taken in my political career, which goes back 38 years, to the 1978 Alaska Governor’s race.  I can’t figure out how she can respond, and I’m a hell of a lot smarter than she is.  All I can say is, at around 10:00 p.m. Pacific, November 3rd, tune in to the U. S. Senate debate in Alaska.  That’s when you do the hit, in front of the whole State.

I have a vengeful streak in me, and I admit it.  If you don’t have one, you don’t belong in politics.   Babbie and I had a wonderful life in Alaska, and I have no regrets for the 27 years we spent there.  But I feel like Marlon Brando in “On the Waterfront”.   I could have been a contender.  But the Murkowskis made sure that never happened.

They not only lied to me, they lied to a lot of people, like State Senator Johne Binkley of Fairbanks, who was much closer to the Murkowskis than I was.  When Frank ran for Governor in 2002 Binkley agreed to support him, on the condition that he would be appointed to serve out the term, or at least be strongly considered.  Frank had a list of ten that he was supposedly picking from, which included Binkley.  The brightest, most qualified people in the State.  But after he’d thought about it for a while, it occurred to him that the person who was actually best for the job was his mentally challenged daughter.  Binkley was so pissed off that he ran against Frank in the 2006 Republican primary, and beat him.  But they were both beat by this peppy gal from Wasilla.

On the radio this morning Begich was being coy about maybe running for Governor in 2018, as a way to prepare for the 2020 Senate rematch with New Dan Sullivan.  I hope he does.  We can always revive BAAMB.  From what I can tell Original Dan Sullivan, or Mayor Dan, is the best Republican candidate for Governor, and he purportedly wants to run.  I’d look forward to working for him.  I knew his father, George, who was a great Alaskan.

My Uncle Fritz knew George Sullivan when he was the U.S. Marshall in Valdez after the war.  Uncle Fritz really liked him.  He called him Sully.

Former Senator Mark Begich just announced he will not be running on 650 KENI’s Rick Rydell Show.  He referenced this group, Bipartisan Alaskans Against Mark Begich, out of California, that has no further reason for existence.  I’m taking him at his word, and will file FEC Form 3-X later this morning to dissolve BAAMB.

Bipartisan Alaskans Against Murkowski, on the other hand, is coming together nicely.  An EIN, a bank account, and a proposed budget are all in the works, along with planning for the first expenditure.

Surprisingly, Begich did not come out and endorse Independent Margaret Stock.  He only praised Joe Miller’s improvement as a candidate.  Curious.  Rydell had mentioned some polling that Begich supposedly had access to, but didn’t ask him about it, and Begich didn’t talk about.  Again, curious.  If there was polling that made Begich’s chances look good, he would have mentioned it.  That way he could play the martyr, giving up a shot at the Senate, because he needs to spend time with his family.  So I suspect those poll numbers didn’t look so hot for him.

The worm turns.

What it is, is exactly clear.  Mark Begich is going on  my old radio station, 650 KENI, this morning at 8:00 a.m. Alaska time to announce he will not be running for the U.S. Senate as a write in.  He will urge all his fellow Democrats, and the Independents who elected him to the Senate in 2008, to support the Independent, Margaret Stock.

Now the road will be open for BAAM.

I hope to meet a guy in Mokelumne Hill today to talk about running for the California Assembly as a Libertarian.  He’s an ambitious politician, and if he’s smart enough to be pro-2nd Amendment, he could win.  If he agrees, it will make it easier to line up a candidate in Northwest California.

 

She thinks I’m playing piano in a cat house.

Tomorrow I’ll make the switch in party registration, to Libertarian.  It’s the party of the future here in California.  The Republicans can’t be salvaged.  They’re hostages to the Christian right, and those people are anathema to the rest of the State.

What will happen is there will be a Libertarian challenge to either or both of the sitting Democratic State Legislators  in California’s northwest District, which includes Mendocino, which provides 80% of the legal pot in this country.  Certain to be challenged is Assemblyman Jim Wood.  Depending on circumstances, Senator Mike McGuire may be as well.

Pot’s going to be legal in California after the November election, and those thieves in Sacramento are going to try to tax the crap out of it, all aspects of it, including the farming.  For revenue starved Democrats, it’s easy money.  Somebody needs to represent the farmer’s interest in all this.  That will be the Libertarian legislative candidates next year.  Before they file, they cut a deal with the few Republicans there are in the district.  Keep all the Republican candidates out.  Clear the field.  They can run somebody against the Libertarian next time, and a Libertarian is better than a Democrat.

In my legislative District, the Democrats have no chance.  They can’t win.  So the Libertarian candidate gets all the Democrats to clear the field for him to run, one on one, against the incumbent Republican.

Babbie and I have been back in California for 15 years, and it’s taken me this long to see the political solution in this State.  It’s the Libertarians, beginning in Northwest California, where all the pot’s grown.  From there it will spread across the State, and eventually be able to win state wide.  Socially and politically, libertarian.

I actually may have a candidate in Mendocino, if she’s willing.  She’s shown signs of ambition in the past, and is old enough to be ready for anything.  She’s the younger sister of a friend of mine, and she lives in the District.  She and her brother are big time, old school, Teamster’s Union Democrats.  Their Dad was the President of the Bay Area Teamster’s Union, and a very rough guy.  So becoming a Libertarian should be no big deal.  Besides, as a Libertarian, you can have any kind of politics you want.  Just be yourself, and call that Libertarian.  You, personally, are what Libertarianism is.  It’s self defining.  It’s a very slippery concept, libertarianism.  It can be a party of convenience.

But that’s all ATE, after the election.  The sense you get is that Trump’s going to win this thing.  For a lot of people, including me, it’s hard to get your head around.  A move toward Trump would  help BAAM immensely in its task.  Today was a day for patience, for BAAM.

As the leaves turn.

“Hell or High Water” was made for, by, and is about these Trump people.  Jeff Bridges is the redneck Texas Ranger, and as a lawman, he must oppose their vigilante justice.  But the hero, Chris Pine, and his crazy brother want justice done, inside or outside the law.  It’s an instant Pettyjohn family classic, right up there with “Raising Arizona”, “The Big Lebowski” and “American Hustle”.   Take a break and go see it.

Babbie and I saw it in Walnut Creek, a hotbed of political correctness.  I was laughing out loud as Bridges unleashes his great inner redneck, but no one else dared to laugh.  This film will be more appreciated in the American heartland, not so much in the high PC zones.

Darren had a girl friend who worked in a downtown Bozeman sun glass shop where Bridges bought things.  Babbie got her to get an autograph from him, which she has put in a frame under his picture prominently displayed in her girl cave.  He scrawled “For Babbie, Jeff Bridges.”  At least she has good taste.

He was in Montana in 1977 shooting “Rancho Deluxe” when he met a girl working as a maid at the resort where he was staying.  She resisted his efforts to court her, and only his persistence paid off.  They have three daughters and spend a lot of their time on a place around 40 miles from Bozeman.

If you’re as old as I am you remember his dad, Lloyd, who played a bad ass scuba diver on a TV show called “Sea Hunt’.   Jeff is a chip off the old block.