Tag: John Kasich

The Moment of No Return: If Trump Reaches 1,237 Delegates Tonight, What Then?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics7 Comments

GOP-for-H-600-LII believe that the Republican Party is stuck in a cycle in which their desire to protect their own hindquarters and cushy “jobs” have lead to a self-imposed isolation from the very American Citizens who were responsible for their having those cushy “jobs” in the first place.

I believe that average Americans, like you and me, have the power to relieve them of the burden of such a stressful job, and send others to Washington, who will listen to their “bosses”. – kingsjester, 2/27/16

The New York Times reports that

The temporary alliance between Senator Ted Cruz and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, formed to deny Donald J. Trump the Republican presidential nomination, was already fraying almost to the point of irrelevance on Monday, only hours after it was announced to great fanfare.

With the pact, the two candidates agreed to cede forthcoming primary contests to each other. Mr. Kasich would, most crucially, stand down in Indiana’s primary on May 3 to give Mr. Cruz a better chance to defeat Mr. Trump there, while Mr. Cruz would leave Oregon and New Mexico to Mr. Kasich. It appeared to be a measure of last resort, but initially it seemed like a breakthrough.

Mr. Cruz trumpeted what he called the “big news” in Indiana, a state that appears pivotal to stopping Mr. Trump from winning a majority of delegates. “John Kasich has decided to pull out of Indiana to give us a head-to-head contest with Donald Trump,” he said.

But at his own campaign stop in Philadelphia on Monday, Mr. Kasich tamped down Mr. Cruz’s triumphalism. Voters in Indiana, Mr. Kasich said, “ought to vote for me,” even if he would not be campaigning publicly there. He added, “I don’t see this as any big deal.”

Under the best of circumstances, the arrangement between Mr. Cruz and Mr. Kasich would seem to be a long shot — more of an expedient to stop Mr. Trump from taking a big step toward winning the nomination next week in Indiana than a permanent joining of forces.

Far from forming any kind of unity ticket, Mr. Trump’s surviving challengers have both vowed to triumph in an open convention in Cleveland, and they remain irreconcilable on key matters of policy. Their agreement dealt only with three states, leaving an open question as to how directly they might compete with each other everywhere else.

Mr. Cruz’s campaign privately advised supporters on Sunday not to endorse tactical voting, whereby his supporters might switch their allegiance to Mr. Kasich in states where the Ohio governor is running stronger against Mr. Trump. “We never tell voters who to vote for,” read the suggested Cruz talking point. “We’re simply letting folks know where we will be focusing our time and resources.”

Mr. Trump, who has taunted his opponents throughout the race for their Keystone Kops approach to undermining his campaign, seemed to relish the continuing strain between his remaining rivals. On Twitter, he mocked “Lyin’ Ted Cruz” and “1 for 38 Kasich,” referring to the latter’s dismal winning record in the Republican race, for being unable to beat him on their own.

“So they have to team up (collusion) in a two on one,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Shows weakness!”

At a campaign rally in Rhode Island, Mr. Trump boasted that his opponents were united against him, and said he welcomed their “collusion.”

“Actually I was happy,” he said, “because it shows how weak they are.”

Allies of both Mr. Cruz and Mr. Kasich did not exactly disagree with that assessment, and acknowledged that the prospect of imminent disaster in Indiana had been the impetus to reach their deal, such as it is.

Still, aides to Mr. Cruz and Mr. Kasich seem acutely aware that they risk turning off voters who find the arrangement unseemly. Even before his rivals’ agreement, Mr. Trump had complained repeatedly that the nominating process was “rigged” against him.

With Mr. Trump expected to win all five of the East Coast states that vote on Tuesday, the next opportunity to slow his campaign will come a week later in Indiana. Republicans believe he must be stopped there if they are to deny him the nomination.

“Unseemly”

What an interesting word.

The word “unseemly” is associated with the world of “Professional Politics” like peanut butter is associated with jelly, or Michael Moore with All-You-Can-Eat Buffets.

How does an action become perceived as unseemly?

Usually, an action becomes perceived as “unseemly”, when it goes against the moral and/or ethical standards of those who are witnessing it.

Other words for the polite word, “unseemly”, are “shady”, crooked”, “slick”, and “conniving”.

However, in this case, perhaps the word “desperate” would serve the description of the situation better.

Kasich has only won one state, of all of the previous primary elections held. Politically, he is now a non-entity. He is only serving himself by remaining in the race, feeding his own ego.

Cruz, was, by all reckoning, mathematically eliminated from a first ballot nomination after the New York Primary.

Little did I know that, as his campaign for the Republican Nomination progressed, this “New Maverick”, Ted Cruz, would align himself with those whom he had fought so hard against in the Senate “on behalf of the people”.

I realize that Donald J. Trump has his shortcomings, as well.

However, as a political candidate, when you promise to fight against the “Washingtonian Status Quo” and then you join forces with its purveyors, in order to get elected, you may gain some potential voters, but you also disillusion a lot of your base.

Just like Captain Jean Luc Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, it appears that “Man of the People” Ted Cruz has been “assimilated”, with the Vichy Republicans playing the role of “The Borg”.

If Trump gains the magic number of 1,237 Delegates in today’s Primaries,  the Professional Politicians, are going to face a situation that they have denied the possibility of, since Donald J. Trump announced that he was running for President of the United States of America.

The Republican Establishment is about to be hoisted on its own petard.

Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t the Republicans supposed to be the opposition party?

Just like the slavish Main Stream Media believe that President Barack Hussein Obama walks upon the water, the Establishment or “Vichy” Republicans, must idolize or at least respect the Democratic Party, because for the past 7 years, they were Hell-bent on copying them in their actions, words, and deeds.

Just look at their track record over Obama’s tenure in the Oval Office.

As we say in Dixie, they ain’t done squat.

Inconceivably, like a bunch of Democrats, when Primary Season arrived, they expected us to forget their lack of intestinal fortitude, while in office, and elect those who were just like them to the Presidency in November 2016.

Oh, we  remembered them all right. But, not in the way they wanted us to. We did not remember them as leaders. Oh, no. Rather, Americans, here in the Heartland, remembered them with all of the fondness that the French Resistance remembered the Nazi collaborators, or Vichy French, after World War II.

What slays me is the fact that the Establishment Republicans still seem to be quite content, in their moderately left-leaning stupor, to be totally oblivious and tone deaf of their Base, average hard working middle-class Americans like you and me.

You know, the people who actually put them into office.

They keep on making bad choices.

They have pushed for maintaining the Washingtonian Status Quo because they erroneously believe that new citizens, provided through amnesty, will vote for them instead of the Democratic Party, who are ready to be their own personal Santa Claus and buy their votes with free admission to the Welfare State.

Spineless Vichy Republicans have been a barrier to Republican victory for as long as I can remember. Like Quakers, Establishment Republicans seem to believe that passive resistance and reaching out to their sworn enemies as “friends”, is the way to defeat those who oppose you.

It has been especially bad during Obama’s reign, as the House and Senate Republican Leadership apparently cherished their friendship with the Democrats more than they did the wishes of the folks back home. Yes, they talked a good game, but so did Jon Lovitz in those “Liar Sketches” during the old days of Saturday Night Live, back when they were actually funny.

Yeah,  my wife Morgan Fairchild. Yeah, that’s it. That’s the ticket!

And, now, with the reality of this evening’s results upon them, like Godzilla rising from Tokyo Harbor, the Republican Establishment are looking ridiculous in their scrambling desperation, as a Benny Hill Chase Scene (cue Boots Randolph’s “Yakety Sax”).

Note to the GOP Elite:

You guys are now facing the same situation that faced Victor von Frankenstein, in the classic movie: You have created this “monster”.

…a pi$$ed-off base who are voting for an outsider, a non-professional politician talking directly to the people.

And, you have lost control.

Your only hope is to catch this lighting in a bottle and to ride this lightning bolt all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

However, if past actions are any barometer, I doubt that you are smart enough to grasp this reality.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

 

Strange Bedfellows: GOP Elite and MSM Still Pushing For Brokered Convention

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

Chicken-600-LIEven though this article hit the Internet, yesterday…it is no April Fool’s Joke.

This stupidity is real.

Bloomberg Politics reports that

After months of tense dealings with Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, the Republican National Committee’s biggest challenge is beginning to take shape: how to navigate a scenario in which Trump leads his challengers in votes and delegates heading into the convention, but loses the nomination.

On Thursday in Washington, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus met with Trump and his inner circle, with the billionaire and his aides inquiring about delegate rules and protocol. Trump is poised to head to the party’s July convention just short of the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. His leading rival, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, is already stoking the flames of a “Stop Trump” movement, and organizing an elaborate operation to win every delegate at the Cleveland convention.

Trump has been adamant that the candidate with the most votes and delegates—even if that candidate misses the majority threshold—should be the party’s nominee. In an MSNBC town hall on Wednesday, he described the process as “unfair.”

 “I have millions of more votes—that’s my leverage,” Trump said.

A Bloomberg Politics national poll in March showed that 63 percent of Republican voters support Trump’s view that the candidate with the most delegates and voters should win the nomination.

But party rules dictate a series of votes to determine the nominee, should he or she fail to break the 1,237-delegate threshold. RNC officials have launched a public-relations push in recent weeks to educate voters and the media about the process. They described it on their website and planned to host a conference call with reporters on Friday. The push signals the beginning of an effort by the party to lay the groundwork for what could unfold, and encourage voters to support the result.

“Donald Trump may well end up having the most votes anyone has ever gotten in a Republican primary this time. That was true for Mrs. Clinton and she didn’t get the nomination,” in 2008, said Ron Kaufman, a member of the RNC’s rules committee. “The thing that the party has to do is to make sure the voters believe their votes matter to keep them in the party for November.”

A Pew Research Center poll taken last month underscored how difficult that task may be. Just 38 percent of Republican and GOP-leaning voters said the party would unite solidly behind Trump if he’s the nominee, while 56 percent said disagreements within the party will keep many Republicans from supporting him.

RNC officials at Thursday’s meeting raised concerns that Trump could portray the party as having tainted the process in favor of a particular candidate, said a person familiar with the meeting who asked not to be named so as to discuss the matter more freely. Trump declined to state one way or the other what his strategy would be, but reiterated that he expected to be treated fairly in the process, the person said.

The party said in a statement released Thursday that Trump and Priebus “had a productive conversation about the state of the race.”

Kaufman said party officials “have to make sure the RNC runs the convention by the rules, openly, honestly and transparently. And making sure people understand the rules so it’s clear that we’re doing it by the book.”

That’s what voters—both Trump critics and detractors, and those still undecided—say they want. “The establishment has been picking our candidates for years,” said Pattie Krych of Appleton, Wisconsin, who said she’s undecided between Trump and Cruz. “They just need to let the process play out. If Trump wins, so be it—he’s who we picked.”

A similar story was posted yesterday by NPR, suggesting that Americans would not vote for Trump, even if he wins the Republican Nomination…citing the very same Pew Research Poll.

Are you beginning to sense a pattern, boys and girls?

Can you say, “making the news, instead of reporting it”? Sure, you can.

Can you say, “Vichy Republicans committing Political Party Suicide?” Sure you can.

It’s a troublesome day in the neighborhood.

In 2004, the Media Research Center reported that

Journalists at national media outlets are more liberal and less conservative than nine years ago, and while in 1995 they were upset that the media were too critical of President Clinton, they are now disturbed that the media are going too easy on President Bush, a just-released survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found. Five times more national outlet journalists identify themselves as liberal, 34 percent, than conservative, a mere 7 percent. The poll also discovered that while the reporters, editors, producers and executives have a great deal of trouble naming a “liberal” news outlet, they had no problem seeing a “conservative” outlet, with an incredible 69 percent readily naming the Fox News Channel.  

Can you even imagine what the actual percentage of Liberals in the MSM is now, 12 years later?

I’m pretty sure that the percentage of Conservatives left in the Main Stream Media, rivals that of white guys in the NBA.

Probably less.

As I have related in previous posts, I was a Radio News Director during college from 1978-1980, with a staff of 20 student reporters, who each received credit for producing and delivering a 5-minute newscast, once a week, on our College Radio Station.

I can remember sitting in the lecture hall of the (then) Memphis State University Journalism Building, listening to Dr. Williams, whom we all swore did the first newscast of KDKA, America’s first radio station, in 1920.  The class was “Introduction to Journalism” and Dr. Van Williams was telling us that the ” key to being a good journalist was objectivity”.

The Main Stream Media firmly believes that it is their job to serve as a Propaganda Arm for both the Democrats in Congress and President Barack Hussein Obama and his Administration, no matter how costly their programs might be to the American People.

President Ronald Reagan once famously said,

It isn’t so much that liberals are ignorant. It’s just that they know so many things that aren’t so.

Which explains the gross overestimation by “Broadcast Journalists”, such as Brian Williams and Andrea Mitchell, of their own intelligence and potential popularity through their subjective coverage, aimed at a gullible audience.

Now, about the apparent strategy by the Republican Establishment to circumvent the Will of the People:

For those of you who have been living under a rock, like those guys in the old Geico Commercial, a brokered political convention comes about when no single candidate has secured a pre-existing majority of delegates (whether those selected by primary elections and caucuses, or superdelegates) before the first official vote for a political party’s presidential candidate at its nominating convention.

In other words, the Leaders of the Political Party choose their Presidential Candidate, regardless of the votes cast in the State Primary Elections.

With the Republican Establishment embracing the heathen philosophy of today’s Far Left-controlled Democrat Party, and to even being discussing the possibility to take away our Constitutional Right of Self-Determination through the use of the Voting Booth away, to quote the Democrat Party’s “inevitable” next Presidential Candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton,

At this point, what difference does it make?

The desire to win an election should not cause a Political Party to go against the wishes of their own Primary Voters.

And, their own “condescending benevolency”, sprung from an overestimated sense of superiority, for dang sure does not bestow upon the Republican National Committee,  the “moral imperative” to decide our Republican Presidential Candidate for us.

Now, I’m just an average American, sitting here outside Memphis, Tennessee (Detroit South) in the Northwest Corner of Mississippi, but it seems to me, as I’ve said before, that average Americans, especially here in the Heartland, are a stiff-necked people.

We tend to stand up on our hind legs when someone tries to force something (or in this case, someone) upon us that we really don’t trust, or care for.

Hey, Republican Establishment!

To quote the legendary songwriting team of John Lennon and Sir Paul McCartney:

You say you want a revolution?

One poll does not an election make.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Trump, the Vichy Republicans, and the “Condescending Benevolency” of a Brokered Convention

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

Final-Say-600-LADuring last night’s Republican Townhall on CNN, the 3 remaining Primary Candidates, Donald J. Trump, Senator Ted Cruz, and Ohio Governor John Kasich, each vowed not to support the winner of the Primary Election…if it was not himself.

Given this, we may be headed toward a Brokered Republican Convention, , even if Trump receives the necessary votes to secure the Republican Nomination.

A perceived eventuality, which would please the Republican Establishment, and their chosen Vanguard, their failed 2012 Presidential Candidate, to no end.

After losing the Presidential Election in 2012, Former Massachusetts Governor and Legacy Member of the Republican Establishment, Willard “Mitt” Romney, was interviewed by the Boston Globe. During that interview, he proceeded to voice his disagreement for a position which, with Donald J. Trump well on his way to winning enough votes to secure the Republican Nomination as their Presidential Candidate, he is whole-heartedly supporting.

Romney, who was pilloried during the GOP primaries by many Tea Party supporters, said the presidential nominating contest should be altered to diminish the influence of caucuses and encourage states to select candidates through broader primary elections.“I’m concerned that there’s an effort on the part of some to move toward caucuses or conventions to select nominees, and I think that’s a Utah, for example, longtime Senator Bob Bennett was defeated during a convention by Tea Party-backed Mike Lee.

Romney did not criticize the Tea Party specifically, “although a mistake,” Romney said.

“I think we should reward those states that award delegates to the convention based upon primaries. Primaries are the place where you see whose message is connecting with the largest number of people,” he said.

Romney’s plan would probably limit the strength of the Tea Party, whose activists have proved effective in caucuses, where they can rally their most ardent supporters. Romney said he was less concerned about diminishing the influence of Iowa, which holds strong to its tradition of having a caucus, than with other states moving in that direction.

“I’m concerned that kind of approach could end up with a minority deciding who the nominee ought to be. And that I think would be a mistake,” he said. “I think we should have the majority of the party’s voters decide who they want as their nominee.”

Romney said he is most focused with altering the presidential nominating contest, but he would also make his views known in some states that use caucuses and conventions to select Senate nominees. In ugh he did say the government shutdown strategy was “counterproductive.”

“Tea Party members will continue to have an influence in the thinking of the American people, and certainly in my party,” he said. “That, I think, is separate from the effort by a few people to move toward a shutdown as a tactic to stop Obamacare. Obviously that didn’t work.”

CNN.com reported yesterday that

In a storyline that could be ripped from a House of Cards script, John Kasich’s campaign is looking to coordinate behind the scenes with Ted Cruz’s in a mutual effort to deny Donald Trump enough delegates to win the Republican presidential nomination. They even tried to get 2012 nominee Mitt Romney to help broker it.

The only problem for team Kasich is that Team Cruz is not interested.

Kasich adviser John Weaver told CNN that Romney urged Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe to contact the Kasich campaign, but Roe has yet to do so.
 
Roe told CNN he did speak with Romney, but declined to disclose details of their private conversation. A Romney spokeswoman also declined to comment on discussions he has had with the campaigns.

So, Romney flip-flopped. I know…you’re shocked.

Please allow me to clarify Romney’s present position on a Brokered Convention.

The failed Presidential Candidate has always been, and will always be, a member of the Republican Establishment.

He was chosen by them to give a now-notorious speech on Thursday, March 3, 2016, in which he basically called Trump everything but a “Child of God”, thereby publicly starting the Establishment’s tone-deaf push for a Brokered Republican Convention.

The inimitable Mark Steyn offered the following analysis of Mitt Romney, during the 2012 Republican Primaries:

Romney’s is a benevolent patrician’s view of society: The poor are incorrigible, but let’s add a couple more groats to their food stamps and housing vouchers, and they’ll stay quiet. Aside from the fact that kind of thinking has led the western world to near terminal insolvency, for a candidate whose platitudinous balderdash of a stump speech purports to believe in the most Americanly American America that any American has ever Americanized over, it’s as dismal a vision of permanent trans-generational poverty as any Marxist community organizer with a cozy sinecure on the Acorn board would come up with.

This same “condescending benevolency” is the prevailing attitude among the Establishment (Vichy) Republicans, which is the foundation for all of their decisions, which usually are diametrically opposed to the wishes of those who voted them into office.

Their tone-deafness is “for our own good”.

As Romney alluded to in his speech, in the view of the Vichy Republicans, we would be ill-served if we select Donald J. Trump as our Republican Nominee.

While the refusal to support one another by the three Republican Candidates last night, could be brushed away as “Political Rhetoric”, the Backroom Political Shenanigans, which wandered out “into America’s Living Rooms” on live TV on March 3rd, is another matter, altogether.

That last Republican Brokered Convention was in 1860, when “the Rail-Splitter”, as he was dubbed by Party Hacks, Abraham Lincoln, beat William Seward on the third ballot, an election whose impact is still being felt, to this very day.

During a recent interview on Fox News Sunday, with its host, Christ Wallace, the Godfather of Conservative Radio Talk Shows, Rush Limbaugh, was asked  about the possibility of a GOP Brokered Convention,

“What happens if the ‘Establishment,’ as you put it, keeps [Trump] from getting the nomination?” Wallace asked Limbaugh.

“Well, you keep a sharp eye, who runs this convention? The ‘Establishment,’ these guys, whoever they are … the Republican Party, they run it,” Limbaugh said, adding that if Trump does not earn the 1,237 delegates majority necessary to receive the nomination and the GOP takes it away from him, “if that happens, there’s a walk-out. If that happens, then you’ve got utter chaos, because it will exemplify, typify exactly what has happened to the Republican Party at its base.”

This attitude of “condescending benevolency”, which I brought up before, is the Tie That Binds the Modern Republican Establishment with their Democrat Brethren, across the Political Aisle.

The attitude that they are the Intellectual Superiors of those Americans who are actually the providers of their phony-boloney jobs, is the reason that a “rank outsider” by the name of Donald J. Trump, is beating the Professional Politicians in the Republican Primary.

If the Establishment Republicans do not accept the reality that is before them, and support the people’s choice for the Republican Nomination, the Republican Party will fail to win the White House, after 8 years of Americans suffering under the Worst President in American History, proving the accuracy of the verse of scripture found in the Old Testament that states:

Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. – Proverbs 16:18 (KJV)

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

 

 

Jeb! to Meet With Republican Candidates Today…Except Trump. “Red Rover, Red Rover…Send Donald Trump Over!”

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

Hold-Nose-600-LAThe definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again…and expecting different results. – Albert Einstein

Foxnews.com reports that

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, after ending his campaign last month, is returning to the 2016 fray to meet with the remaining not-Trump candidates in his home state on Thursday – potentially the first step in an effort to power-broker a consensus alternative to take on the Republican front-runner.  

It’s unclear whether Bush plans to endorse anyone before Florida holds its all-important primary on Tuesday. But the former candidates sense a quickly closing window to pick their horse as Donald Trump racks up ever-more wins and delegates.

Another former candidate, ex-HP CEO Carly Fiorina, announced her endorsement earlier Wednesday for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz during a surprise appearance in Miami.

Fiorina, who dropped out of the 2016 race in February, called Cruz a “leader and a reformer” and urged voters to rally around Cruz as the candidate who can challenge Trump.

“Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are two sides of the same coin. They’re not going to reform the system. They are the system,” she said.

Sources confirmed to Fox News that Bush plans to meet Thursday with Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich while the candidates are in Florida for a GOP debate Thursday night. He has no plans to meet with Trump.  

…While Bush was in the race, Trump was relentless in his criticism of Bush’s family, his “low energy” and the big-money super PACs supporting him – which could explain why Bush does not have plans to meet with Trump in Florida on Thursday.

Evidently, despite having his clock cleaned, in his bid for the Republican Presidential Candidate Nomination, Jeb! believes that he has a winning strategy to offer the remaining candates, who like he did, appear destined to lose to Donald J. Trump.

Why is Jeb! doing this?

His was a failed campaign from the start…a homogenized, low-energy, Vichy Republican-sponsored effort, reminiscent of his Father’s, George H.W. Bush’s, Destiny and Power Campaign in 1980, which he lost to the greatest American President in my lifetime, Ronald Wilson Reagan.

H.W.’s  uninspired campaign promise was that he was “a president we won’t have to train”, as opposed to both Carter and his chief competitor, Reagan.

During Jeb!’s Campaign, he followed a similar tact, frequently taking two-sided shots at his primary foes. The younger Bush’s argument was that America shouldn’t elect another first-term senator as president, slamming Sitting President Barack Obama, a former senator, and both Rubio and Cruz.

Unfortunately for H.W., and, fortunately for us, he soon learned that experience took a back seat to ideology in the 1980 Republican primary race, just as it has in 2016.

Back then, just as today, Americans are angry…fed up with empty promises, made by the Washington Elite.

George H.W. Bush’s “inability to project great conviction” in 1980 was mirrored in his son’s “low-energy” label in 2016. While H.W. was seen as weaker than Reagan in 1980, Jeb! was perceived by the Base as being weaker than Trump in 2016.

Jeb!’s meetings today are a continuance of the Republican  Establishment’s Campaign against Trump, born of a desperation, which has been building to a fever pitch, once the Republican Establishment realized that Trump was well on his way to garnering the required number of delegates to lawfully receive the Republican Nomination as their Presidential Candidate.

On March 3rd, Failed Republican Presidential Candidate, Mitt Romney, came on National Television, on behalf of the Republican Establishment. His speech began thusly:

Now, I’m — I’m not here to announce my candidacy for office. And I’m not going to endorse a candidate today. Instead, I would like to offer my perspective on the nominating process of my party.

Back in 1964, just days before the presidential election — which, incidentally, we lost — Ronald Reagan went on national television and challenged America, saying that it was a time for choosing. He saw two paths for America, one that embraced conservative principles, dedicated to lifting people out of poverty and helping create opportunity for all.

And the other, an oppressive government that would lead America down a darker, less free path. I’m no Ronald Reagan and this is a different moment in time, but I believe with all my heart and soul, that we face another time for choosing, one that will have profound consequences for the Republican Party, and more importantly, for our country.

I say this, in part, because of my conviction that America is poised to lead the world for another century. Our technology engines, our innovation dynamic, the ambition and skill of our people are going to propel our economy and raise the standard of living of Americans.

America will remain, as it is today, the envy of the world. You may have seen Warren Buffett. He said, and I think he’s 100 percent right, that “The babies being born in America today are the luckiest crop in history.”

Now, that doesn’t mean we don’t have real problems and serious challenges. We do. At home, poverty persists. And wages are stagnant. The horrific massacres of Paris and San Bernardino. The nuclear ambitions of the Iranian mullahs. The aggressions of Putin. The growing assertiveness of China and the nuclear tests of North Korea confirm that we live in troubled and dangerous times.

“Mittens” also said that

Frankly, the only serious policy proposals that deal with a broad range of national challenges we confront today come from Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich. One of these men should be our nominee.

Now, I know that some people want this race to be over. They look at history and say a trend like Mr. Trump’s isn’t going to be stopped. Perhaps. But the rules of political history have pretty much all been shredded during this campaign.

If the other candidates can find some common ground, I believe we can nominate a person who can win the general election and who will represent the values and policies of conservatism. Given the current delegate selection process, that means that I’d vote for Marco Rubio in Florida and for John Kasich in Ohio and for Ted Cruz or whichever one of the other two contenders has the best chance of beating Mr. Trump in a given state.

First, Life-long Vichy Republican Moderate Romney would not know “Conservatism” if it French-kissed him. That is why hundreds of the Conservative Base stayed home in 2012, rather than vote for him in the Presidential Election.

Second, all the current polls show that Trump is on-track to beat both Kasich and Rubio in their home states.

Rut ro, Rooby Roo.

Here’s some advice from ol’ KJ, if I may be so bold: you members of the Republican Establishment need to climb down off of your bar stools at the Congressional Country Club, and travel outside the Echo Chamber of the Beltway, where actual, average Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, trying to provide for their families, while attempting to make a better life for their children and grandchildren.

You are not helping what, at this point, appears to be the inevitable fact that the next President of the United States will be a Republican.

The problem you face, as the Republican Establishment, is that is will not be one of you.

The public wants new ideas. We are tired of dancing to the Washington Two-Step.

That is the reason for the popularity of Donald J. Trump. He is saying the things that Americans have been wanting to hear for some time now.

That is the reason that he is in the process of running away with the Republican Primary Elections.

Contrast the energy and the “Populist Movement” behind Trump to the candidates whom the Democrats are offering: two old white folks from the Northeast Corridor, one who is as crooked as a dog’s hind leg and the other, a demented old socialist, who resembles Doc Emmett Brown from “Back to the Future”.

You “Vichy Republicans” as I have referred to you as being for the last several years, are looking a Gift Horse in the mouth.

You are positioned to sweep the nation, on the way to placing your Party’s Candidate in the Oval Office, buoyed by a Grassroots Movement, the likes of has not been seen since the 1980 Presidential Election, which put into office the greatest president in my lifetime, Ronald Wilson Reagan.

All you have to do to be successful is something that you seem to have forgotten how to do, since you were swept into Congressional Power in the 2010 and 2012 Mid-Term Elections.

You need to pay attention and actually listen to the voters who gave you your cushy jobs, instead of trying to tell us what we should believe and attempting to shame us into voting for a Professional Politician of your choice, who only represents the Washingtonian Status Quo.

You need to stop backing the wrong “horse”.

As Ronald Reagan, himself, said, at CPAC in 1975,

It is time to raise a banner of BOLD COLORS! Not PALE PASTELS!

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Trump Wins MI, MS, and Hawaii. Why? “I’m a Unifier.” No Brag. Just Fact?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

Fliped-Off-600-LALast night, American Entrepreneur and Businessman, Donald J. Trump, won 3 out of the 4 Republican Primaries by securing victories in Michigan, Mississippi, and Hawaii. Senator Ted Cruz won in Idaho, with John Kasich and Marco Rubio being shut out.

Per usual, Trump was exuberant following his victories.

Realclearpolitics.com reports that

At a press conference held after his victories in the Michigan and Mississippi Republican presidential primaries, Donald Trump called on the Republican party to come together and unify behind him.

“Given your statement to Major [Garrett] about how easy it would be to beat Hillary Clinton do you agree you’re going to need to get mainstream Republican politicians, the establishment as it has been labeled behind you? And if so, what do you say to them tonight, given so many are pouring their money in to trying to beat you?” FOX News’ Campaign Carl Cameron asked Trump.

“I say let’s come together folks,” Trump said Tuesday night. “We’re going to win. I say let’s come together. Carl, the answer is not 100 percent but largely I would say yes. Some people you are just not going to get along with. It’s okay.”

“I am a unifier,” Trump said in Jupiter, Florida tonight. “I unify. You look at all of the things I built all over the world. I’m a unifier. I get along with people. I have great relationships. I even start getting along with you, right? Campaign Carl. But, no, I get along with people. And I really say this, Carl, I think it’s time to unify.”

CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS: Given your statement to Major [Garrett] about how easy it would be to beat Hillary Clinton do you agree you’re going to need to get mainstream Republican politicians, the establishment as it has been labeled behind you? And if so, what do you say to them tonight, given so many are pouring their money in to trying to beat you?

DONALD TRUMP: I say let’s come together folks. We’re going to win. I say let’s come together. Carl, the answer is not 100 percent but largely I would say yes. Some people you are just not going to get along with. It’s okay.

But largely I would like to do that and believe it or not, I am a unifier. I unify. You look at all of the things I built all over the world. I’m a unifier. I get along with people. I have great relations. I even start getting along with you, right? Campaign Carl. But, no, I get along with people. And I really say this, Carl, I think it’s time to unify.

We have something special going on in the Republican party. And, unfortunately, the people in the party, they call them the elites or they call them whatever they call them. But those are the people that don’t respect it yet. We have millions and millions of people, I’ve discussed it before. We have millions and millions of people coming up and voting, largely for me.

It’s a record. It has never happened before. In 100 years what is happening now to the Republican party has never happened before.

Now, before you dismiss Trump’s claim to be a unifier, look at what he is accomplishing and how it is happening.

  1. In order to be an effective President, you have to build a Coalition. The most effective President in my lifetime did.

On July 27. 2012. John Heubush, Executive Director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, wrote the following op ed for The Daily Caller about the succerss of Ronald Reagan’s Presidency:

…How in the world did Reagan do it? Experience.

Matching wits with Jack Warner (of Warner Brothers) as head of the actors’ union and Jesse Unruh (speaker of the California State Assembly) as governor taught Reagan to come to the bargaining table prepared. “I’d learned while negotiating union contracts,” Reagan wrote, “that you seldom get everything you ask for.” (Years later, the press asked him about negotiating with Gorbachev. “It was easier than dealing with Jack Warner,” Reagan shot back.)

Although the Democrats were in a tough position after the Carter years, their big trump card was that nothing would get done unless Reagan won over a substantial number of them in the House. It’s no wonder that O’Neill was so full of braggadocio.

Somehow Reagan had to build a coalition.

The strategy to get the Economic Recovery Act passed by a conflicted Congress had two major parts.

First, Reagan would use his tremendous skills as a communicator by making repeated televised appeals to Congress and the American people. “Every time he spoke,” Reagan Chief of Staff Jim Baker recalled, “the needle moved.”

Second, the Legislative Strategy Group led by Baker and Ed Meese “did the grunt work” of inviting Democrats to the White House, while the president worked the phones. “I spent a lot of time in the spring and early summer of 1981 on the telephone and in meetings trying to build a coalition to get the nation’s recovery under way,” Reagan wrote. At the time, he even noted in his diary, “These Dems are with us on the budget and it’s interesting to hear some who’ve been here ten years or more say that it is their first time to ever be in the Oval Office. We really seem to be putting a coalition together.

2.  In order to become President of the United States, you must garner more votes than the other party’s candidate. This cannot be done simply by relying on the votes of your own poltical party.You must have ‘crossover votes”.

Back on August 15, 1984, Mark Green, in an article written for the New York Times, titled, “Reagan, The Liberal Democrat”, wrote the following…

…If Ronald Reagan holds to this path, he may soon end up back among the Americans for Democratic Action, which he fled and renounced in the 1950’s.

Not surprisingly, ideological fellow-travelers such as the commentators William F. Buckley Jr. and Pat Buchanan have expressed dismay over their champion’s apostasy. Mr. Buchanan worries that by flirting with the idea of a summit meeting, the President ”is playing with the national security of the U.S.”

Mr. Reagan’s election-year liberalism appears designed to win over those political independents and weak Democrats who might otherwise recall him as the man who has opposed all but one of the major civil rights laws and nuclear arms control pacts of the past two decades.

Will it work? Only if these constituencies believe his reversals to be principled and permanent – and that seems unlikely. To conclude now that Ronald Reagan has suddenly become pro-environment, pro-arms control, pro-food stamps and pro-regulation is to believe that a sow’s ear can become a silk purse merely by declaring itself so.

Besides, swing voters faced this fall with the equivalent of two Democratic tickets may just as well decide to vote for the real McCoy rather than the imitation brand.

Sound familiar?

Every day, on Political Websites and Facebook Political Pages, Conservatives and Liberals, alike, are arguing from dust to dawn, whether Trump can actually win the presidency.

One of the oft-repeated arguments that they present is a modern version of the final argument that Mark Green made in his article:

Why should Liberals vote for Trump, when they can vote for Clinton or Sanders?

The answer to that is as obvious as Kim Kardashian’s brunette roots (if you actually noticed them in the two “nekkid [that is when you are sans clothes and you’re up to something] selfies” that she just released).

The Democrat Candidates STINK ON ICE.

Would you vote for them?

The indisputable fact of the matter is that, in “Open” Primaries, Trump is doing even better than he is in those primaries in which only Republicans can vote.

Trump is building a Coalition.

Americans are fed up with the Washingtonian Status Quo.

We are tired of professional politicians empty promises and their failure to properly address the issues facing America, in any way, except a self-serving one.

While I would never equate Trump with Ronaldus Magnus, they do have this much in common: Like Reagan, Trump is unabashedly America and an advocate for American Exceptionalism.

Trump speaks of “possibilities” and is offering a view from outside of the Washington Beltway.

The reason Trump is winning so many votes, including those of Democrats?

He is offering the possibility of a brand new “Morning in America”.

And. voters are desperate to wake up from this Long National Nightmare.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

 

 

March 3, 2016: The Day That The Republican Establishment “Mooned” Its Base

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

GOP-Great-600-LI-1Indeed, we gave birth to an entirely new concept in man’s relation to man. We created government as our servant, beholden to us and possessing no powers except those voluntarily granted to it by us. Now a self-anointed elite in our nation’s capital would have us believe we are incapable of guiding our own destiny. They practice government by mystery, telling us it’s too complex for our understanding. Believing this, they assume we might panic if we were to be told the truth about our problems. – Ronald Wilson Reagan, March 31, 1976

In the middle of a day which saw the Grand Old Party attack its own Political Primaries Front-runner, with a savagery unseen during the 7-year reign of Petulant President Pantywaist, the following self-serving example of the Vichy Republicans’ oblivious nature broke on CNN.com:

Washington (CNN) – Mitt Romney has instructed his closest advisers to explore the possibility of stopping Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention, a source close to Romney’s inner circle says.

The 2012 GOP nominee’s advisers are examining what a fight at the convention might look like and what rules might need revising. 

“It sounds like the plan is to lock the convention,” said the source.

Romney is focused on suppressing Trump’s delegate count to prevent him from accumulating the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the nomination.

But implicit in Romney’s request to his team to explore the possibility of a convention fight is his willingness to step in and carry the party’s banner into the fall general election as the Republican nominee. Another name these sources mentioned was House Speaker Paul Ryan, Romney’s running mate in 2012. 

You don’t have to read too far between the lines of the speech Romney gave Thursday at the University of Utah to see the imprint of this plan. He urged voters to support the candidate most likely to prevent Trump from racking up delegates in their states — saying he’d back Florida Sen. Marco Rubio if he were voting in the Sunshine State, Gov. John Kasich if he were voting in Ohio, or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the states where he polls as Trump’s strongest foe.

“If the other candidates can find common ground, I believe we can nominate a person who can win the general election and who will represent the values and policies of conservatism,” Romney said.

According to the source, Romney does not expect Rubio, Cruz or Kasich to emerge as the single candidate that can accumulate 1,237 delegates and outright defeat Trump before the convention. So the only way to rob Trump of a victory would be to keep him from reaching that magic 1,237 number.

For those of you who don’t know, a brokered political convention comes about when no single candidate has secured a pre-existing majority of delegates (whether those selected by primary elections and caucuses, or superdelegates) before the first official vote for a political party’s presidential candidate at its nominating convention.

In other words, the Leaders of the Political Party choose their Presidential Candidate, regardless of the wishes of the American Voters.

In Former Governor and Presidential Election Loser. Mitt Romney’s scripted attack on Trump yesterday, he spoke, to a great extent, in the same didactic tone in which Barack Hussein Obama has insulted, cajoled, and lectured us in for the past 7 years.

The day-long attack continued last night, during the Republican Candidate Debate, held by Fox News at the historic Fox Theatre, as The Washington Post describes:

Billionaire Donald Trump entered Thursday night’s GOP debate as the race’s front-runner — but he spent much of the night on the defensive, struggling to explain his positions to skeptical moderators, arguing with his rivals, even trying to drown out their arguments with shouted insults.

“I won 10 states,” Trump said at one point, reasserting his dominance on a night when it seemed to be under assault. “I am by far the leader!”

Throughout the debate, both Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) returned to the furious attacks they had mounted on Trump a week before. Rubio, as before, assailed Trump with an eye toward moderate voters — asserting, again and again, that Trump was an unserious con man who was simply telling them what they wanted to hear. Cruz made a different pitch: Aiming at conservatives, he repeatedly sought to assert that Trump was a closet liberal, who had donated and befriended conservative enemies such as Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Trump replied, as before, that he was beating them both. Which he is. With the anti-Trump vote still split between Cruz, Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, it will be hard for a single challenger to pass Trump.

…The debate reflected the degree to which Trump has changed the GOP’s discourse — at one point, he made an unprompted joke about his genitals — but also the degree to which the other candidates have mimicked his style. Cruz often treated Trump like a child with a temper tantrum, urging him to “breathe” with mock concern. Rubio repeatedly interrupted Trump, as Trump had interrupted others, saying “False. False,” as Trump tried to make a point.

Kasich, as he did in the last debate, did not participate in the attacks on Trump. Instead, he seemed to be holding his own private event at the side of the stage, ignoring the fighting next to him and trying to speak directly to voters.

At the end of the debate, all four candidates onstage refused to break the last taboo of a party debate. The other three said they would vote for Trump, if he became the GOP nominee. Trump said he would vote for one of them, if the nominee turned out to be somebody else — a vow he has made, and then reconsidered before.

But first, Trump mocked the idea that he might have to face the choice at all.

“Even if it’s not me?” he asked, as if the idea were something he hadn’t thought of before.

The way that the Republican Establishment is orchestrating their failing attacks on Donald J. Trump reminds me of “Blazing Saddles”:

We must protect our phony baloney jobs, gentlemen! Hrumph!

During his speech yesterday, Mitt Romney said,

I understand the anger Americans feel today. In the past, our presidents have channeled that anger, and forged it into resolve, into endurance and high purpose, and into the will to defeat the enemies of freedom. Our anger was transformed into energy directed for good.

Pardon my bluntness, Governor, but

You guys don’t understand squat!

The anger that you are witnessing, that has propelled an outsider to the undisputed lead in the Republican Primaries, is one which has been building since January of 2009, when a Lightweight, who seems to have as much in common with us as a Martian would, was inaugurated as President of the United States of America.

That anger, a result of his anti-American actions and resulting policies, which have affected Americans’ daily lives, has been exacerbated by you out-of-touch, pompous professional politicians that comprise the Republican Elite, whom, in your desire to “reach across the aisle” and “go along to get along”, have distanced yourselves from the average Americans, here in “Flyover Country”, who elected you to Congress in the first place.

Meanwhile, average Americans, like myself, remain mired up to our necks in an abysmal swamp of bills and taxes, living paycheck-to-paycheck, afraid to make a move, for fearing of drowning in an ocean of debt.

Seemingly forgotten, among all of your self-righteousness and empty promises, are the 94 million Americans, who are no longer, largely through no fault of their own, participating in our Workforce.

You want to talk about anger and frustration?

Try looking for work, when you are over 55 years of age.

It makes you want to give up…daily.

But, I digress…

Anger has played an important part in the forging of this great country, which will be lucky to survive Obama’s final year in office.

It was anger that formed our country….an anger over being held captive to “Taxation Without Representation”…an anger which, as a prime example of history repeating itself, Americans are experiencing, even as I type this blog.

It is this anger, which has propelled Donald J. Trump to his lead in the Republican Primary Race…and those, like yourself,  who prefer your beloved “Washingtonian Status Quo” know it.

Hence, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s alluding to it in her Rebuttal to this year’s State of the Union Address, something which has never been done before.

When delivering a Rebuttal to the SOTU Address, the Opposition Party’s Spokesperson is supposed to discredit the sitting President, not one of their own.

In conclusion, concerning the “Mantle of Anger”, I, like Trump, wear it proudly.

And, judging by the reality of Trump’s overwhelming lead in the Republican Primaries, I am not alone.

It is an American’s Right…and Heritage.

And…it shows that you and your fellow Vichy Republicans, don’t have a clue.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

 

The Republican Debate: Rubio Attacks! Cruz Attacks! Trump Responds! Did Anything Actually Change?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

Fliped-Off-600-LAAfter the debate last night, when the dust settled, according to CNN, there were 6 things that we learned about the Republican Candidates for that Party’s Presidential Nomination.

In today’s blog, I present their analysis and then, I analyze their analysis.

Hey, us “rubes”, here in “Flyover Country” are entitled to our opinion, too. Aren’t we?

CNN.com reports that

Donald Trump is leading the race, but Marco Rubio owned the stage — finally turning against Trump in a late effort to block the real estate mogul from running away with the Republican nomination.Rubio attacked Trump’s character. And Ted Cruz followed up by questioning Trump’s conservative credentials. 

The big questions of the night: Which senator did a better job convincing voters they can best take on Trump? Did Rubio’s attacks and interruptions show a new side of himself? Did Cruz do enough to persuade people he’s worth another look? Or did Trump’s dismissive counters — Rubio is a “choke artist,” while Cruz is a “liar” — leave him looking like a strongman swatting away the sorts of politicians that turned his supporters furious in the first place?

Here are six takeaways from the final Republican debate before Super Tuesday:

Rubio stands up to Trump 
From the opening minutes, Rubio mercilessly prodded, slammed and taunted Trump, talking over him in the sort of sustained way that Jeb Bush never could.

Rubio called the real estate mogul’s Trump University “a fake school.” He invoked Trump’s business record to question his sincerity on immigration, saying: “You’re the only person on this stage that’s ever been fined for hiring people that worked on your projects illegally.”

When Trump dismissed those allegations as old news, Rubio shot back: “I guess there’s a statute of limitations on lies.”

Later, as Trump insisted that the crux of his health care plan would involve allowing insurance purchases across state lines, Rubio pressed for more specifics, saying that “now he’s repeating himself” — an ironic response from a candidate who has been mocked as robotic for repeating talking points at speeches and debates.

“I don’t repeat myself,” Trump said.

“He repeats himself every day,” Rubio answered, adding that Trump’s refrains are all familiar: “Everybody’s dumb, we’re gonna make America great again, we’re gonna win, win, win…”

Rubio also got in a memorable retort on Israel. Even as Trump called himself “totally pro-Israel,” he said he didn’t believe there was any reason for labeling Israel and the Palestinians as the “good guy” and the “bad guy.”

“The position you’ve taken is an anti-Israel position,” Rubio said.

When Trump said he was simply a “negotiator,” Rubio shot back: “The Palestinians are not a real estate deal, Donald.”

Through it all, Rubio kept a smile on his face — almost as if to say to the audience, “Can you believe this guy?”

Rubio finally showed a fire in his belly last night, because, as I reported last week, with Jeb! quitting and going “home to Mother”, Rubio, has been selected as the Republican Establishment’s “Guy”.

Why Rubio was relentless against Trump 

For Rubio, it was now or never. His attacks, and those of Cruz, weren’t necessarily new in substance — Trump isn’t a conservative, Trump is untrustworthy, and so on — but what stood out was Rubio’s sense of urgency to put himself center stage with the billionaire front-runner.

What it was about: Lighting a fire under the donor class and GOP establishment.

Rubio has to demonstrate that he’s worth a massive investment — right this minute — to try to block Trump from winning a nomination that the establishment grows more convinced by the day is his for the taking.

“We have an incredible decision to make, not just about the direction of America but the identity of our party and the conservative movement. The time for games is over,” Rubio said in his closing statement.

“I know you had a lot of choices to make, but now it’s time to narrow it down and I’m asking you to get behind me … so we can bring an end to this silliness, this looniness.”

The new “Chosen One” has a problem, however.

The Republican Voters don’t want to vote for him.

With 19 days to go until the Florida Republican primary, Trump has a 16-point lead over Rubio, according to the latest Quinnipiac poll. Even as the Junior Senator from Florida, Rubio has failed to win any of the early nominating contests, facing absolute must-win situation in the state he represents in the U.S. Senate. If Trump wins Florida’s 99 delegates, it would probably “all be over, but the shoutin”, as regards Trump’s securing the nomination.

Trump’s counterattacks draw blood

An underestimated Trump quality: His counterpunches often play extremely well with conservatives who distrust politicians and the media.

For instance, an early exchange, when Rubio asserted that Trump is “the only person on this stage that’s ever been fined for hiring people that worked on your projects illegally.”

Trump’s response: “I’m the only one on this stage that’s hired people.”

Another of his one-liners may have been the most damaging. “This guy’s a choke artist, and this guy’s a liar,” he said, turning to first Rubio and then Cruz.

Expect to hear more of that in the days ahead. Time and time again, Trump has proven that he owns the post-debate.

Whether it’s leveraging his massive influence on social media to wage a war against Fox’s Megyn Kelly or driving home his best lines of attack by calling in to every news television show on the air, he has a way of shortening the half-life of bad headlines.

As soon as the debate ended, he mocked Rubio’s perspiration.

“It looked like he just came out of a swimming pool. He was soaking wet,” Trump told CNN’s Chris Cuomo. “He’s a meltdown guy. I mean I look at him, he’s just pouring sweat. … We need somebody that doesn’t sweat.”

Boys and girls, Trump did not become a billionaire by being an idiot.

Remember, he is a master at “owning the stage”. He is also an American Businessman, who has negotiated multi-million dollar deals. He knows that perception is a powerful thing and a sharp, strong, effective comeback stays with the listener longer than the original accusation does.

Trump shows why he’s winning

He was hit from both sides of the stage Thursday night, but Trump managed to score some points of his own.

He consistently owns some issues that none of his rivals fight him for.

Trump laid into Mexico and China, blasting U.S. trade policies and giving Americans a direct outlet for their anger about job losses and wage stagnation.

He used former Mexican President Vicente Fox’s attack in a Fusion interview, when he said he’s “not going to pay for that f—ing wall” that Trump wants to build, to showcase his strength in the face of adversity.

“The wall just got 10 feet higher,” Trump said.

Yesterday, all across the Internet, Trump opponents from both sides of the political aisle, were posting a quote from him, in which he said that he liked “uneducated people”.

The quote came back to bite them in the hindquarters, because it was proven to have been an incomplete quote.

As I have written,

Trump is riding the crest of an ever-growing anger over the inaction of Professional Politicians, whom, after being voted into National Office by their constituents back home, have literally bitten the hand that feeds them, tossing Ma and Pa Kettle aside for Big Money Donors and the Political Prestige of “reaching across the aisle”, i.e.. “selling out”.

Did Cruz do enough?

He spent much of his time attacking Trump, too — but Cruz was clearly Robin to Rubio’s Batman in going after the front-runner on stage.

The Texas senator’s line of attack was designed to undercut Trump’s conservative credentials. And if that was the goal, he had some success — with Trump asserting at one point that “millions of women are helped by Planned Parenthood,” a group that is anathema on the right.

Mostly, though, Cruz waited for openings that were never there — because Rubio had spotted them first.

Cruz did regain his footing late in the debate, laying into Trump for donating to Democratic politicians and deflecting Trump’s goading that he not “get nervous” by saying, “I promise, Donald, there is nothing about you that makes anyone nervous.”

But the most raucous debate yet was about personality, and Cruz showed less of it than Rubio and Trump.

His best line might have come at the start of the debate.

“In 2013 when I was leading the fight against the ‘Gang of Eight’ amnesty bill, where was Donald?” Cruz said. “He was firing Dennis Rodman on ‘Celebrity Apprentice.'”

Cruz’s problem — Rubio’s attacks showed a new side of the Florida senator, and that may get him more of a second look than Cruz gets.

It “may”.  But, then again, with the anger and resentment toward the Establishment (Vichy) Republicans by average Americans, here in “Flyover Country”, Rubio’s newfound “Establishment Creds” “may” stop his “surge” dead in its tracks.

Also, there are still a lot of Americans who still like Senator Cruz. I like him. I just don’t see any “coalition-building” happening in his campaign.

‘Can someone attack me, please?’ 

That was Ben Carson’s unsuccessful effort to work his way into an explosive exchange between Rubio, Trump and Cruz.

There were five candidates on stage. But Carson and Ohio Gov. John Kasich were both off to the side — their refusal to engage with other candidates, or criticize anything at all, turned both into afterthoughts.

Asked to judge his whether his opponents understand the importance of winning the support of Latinos, Kasich delivered a line that underscored his entire night, starting his answer by saying: “I’m not going to talk about that.”

But Carson may own social media for another line. When it comes to choosing a Supreme Court nominee, Carson said, he would look examine “the fruit salad of their life.”

It is a shame about Dr. Carson. He is a great American and a very good man.

However, it is time for both him and Gov. Kasich to call it a day and “suspend” their campaigns.

Going into Super Tuesday, it’s time for preliminaries to be over with. It’s time to separate the wheat from the chaff. It’s “Crunch Time”.

“This is it. Make no mistake where you are.”

“Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.”

“When the going gets tough…”

Oops, sorry. I got carried away on the Cliché Train…again.

Anyway, it is time to focus on the top three Candidates for the Republican Presidential Nomination.

Because, the way this campaign is shaping up, the Republican Nominee may be decided on Super Tuesday.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

 

Hillary Goes on the Warpath Against Voter ID. Dead Voter Bloc Applauds.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

th (13)Well, the “Queen of Mean” Hillary Rodham Clinton has taken up the fight against requiring proper identification at America’s Voting Places, and, the Republicans are fighting back…finally.

Breitbart.com reports that

Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” former Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) reacted to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton accusing Republicans of intentionally attempting to disenfranchise voters based on race, age and poverty level and said she insulted the people of Texas who overwhelmingly supported the law.

Perry said, “Well, I think it’s way outside the norm of ridiculous, if you want to know the truth of the matter, to call out the people of the state of Texas, that’s what she did, I just happened to be the governor that signed that legislation and support it, and the vast majority of the people of Texas support it, and what Secretary Clinton did was saying the state of Texas didn’t.”

He continued, “Why would you say that you need a photo id to get a library book or to get on an airplane? This is a state issue, and this is an issue that the people that the state of Texas overwhelmingly support. so you know, I don’t know who she is playing to, but she is not playing to the people of Texas and I don’t think she is playing to the Americans that believe that the sanctity of the vote is really important and you need to have a photo id to go and vote. And the people of Texas wanted it, and whichever state Hillary Clinton considers to be her home state, she goes home and argues there to not to have it.”

“I think we make it pretty easy in the state of Texas for people to vote. again, I don’t know what her beef is with the people of the state of Texas about voter id but I think she is on the wrong side of the issue,” he added.

In a related story…

Newsmax.com reports that

Ohio Gov. John Kasich accused Hillary Clinton of “demagoguery” Friday over a lawsuit filed against his state’s voting rules, saying she should pick on another state, such as her own, where voters have far fewer days to cast a ballot.

“If she wants to sue somebody, let them sue New York,” Kasich told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” program. “We have 27 days of voting. In New York, the only voting that occurs is on Election Day. What is she talking about?”

On Thursday in Houston, Clinton accused potential Republican presidential rivals Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Chris Christie and Rick Perry of being governors in states that have passed laws making it more difficult for Americans to vote.

She called them members of a GOP group that have cut the numbers of days set aside for early voting and have demanded voter ID laws.

Kasich’s state of Ohio, meanwhile, was named along with Walker’s Wisconsin by Democrats in a legal challenge over voting changes. While Clinton’s campaign is not officially involved in the lawsuits, one of the attorneys involved is Marc Elias, her campaign’s general counsel.

Kasich said Friday that he likes Clinton personally, as she has been kind to him, “but the idea that we are going to divide Americans and use demagoguery, I don’t like it.”

He further called the idea of coming into Ohio and saying the state is trying to suppress the vote “silliness.”

“Don’t be running around the country dividing Americans,” said Kasich. “Don’t come in and say we are trying to keep people from voting when her own state has less opportunity for voting. She is going to sue my state? That’s just silly.”

Ohio has multiple days for voting, Kasich again pointed out, adding: “In New York, where she is from, they have one day. Why don’t you take care of business at home before you run around the country using these demagogic statement that we don’t want people to vote?”

Let’s talk about “disenfranchisement”

There was a big stink about in a few years back, in my hometown of Memphis, TN.

In fact, the Black Democrat Mayor of the city got personally involved on the side of the “disenfranchised”

However, things did not go exactly the way that the Mayor planned, as the Commercial Appeal reported on October 17, 2013…

The Tennessee Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the state law requiring photo identification to vote, ruling against the City of Memphis’ efforts to overturn the law and to require election officials to accept photo IDs issued by the public library for voting purposes.Unless the city or the two Memphis residents who joined the city’s lawsuit take their challenge into federal court, the unanimous ruling ends the city’s efforts to allow the library-issued cards to qualify for voting. The Memphis Public Library created the cards at the request of Mayor A C Wharton in early 2012 because he was concerned that the state’s Voter Identification Act of 2011 would block citizens from voting for lack of driver’s licenses or other acceptable forms of photo ID required by the act.

Memphis registered voters Daphne Turner-Golden and Sullistine Bell, neither of whom had driver’s licenses at the time, attempted to vote in the August 2012 primary using their new library-issued photo ID cards but were turned away by election officials.

Before the November general election, the city and the two residents filed suit, arguing that the photo ID requirement by the state violated state constitutional protections and that the library cards were valid identification because the original 2011 law permitted photo IDs “issued by an entity of the state.” But the state attorney general’s office argued that “entity of the state” meant a state agency, not a local agency.

The trial court in Nashville rejected the city’s claims but the state Court of Appeals affirmed part of the city’s case, holding that the library cards were acceptable identification under the act, but also concluding that the photographic identification requirement was constitutional. Because early voting for the 2012 general election was under way, the Court of Appeals ordered election officials to accept cards from the Memphis Public Library. The Supreme Court granted review in November of 2012 and ordered election officials to continue to accept cards from the Memphis Public Library during the general election.

On April 23 of this year (2013), the state legislature changed the 2011 law to specifically exclude cards issued by municipal libraries.

Because of the 2013 amendments, the Supreme Court first ruled that all issues pertaining to the validity of the Memphis Public Library cards were moot. In addition, the Court ruled that the individual plaintiffs, Turner-Golden and Bell, had legal standing to challenge the law but the City of Memphis, which did not have a vote, did not.

The Court held that the version of the law in effect at the time of the 2012 primary election met constitutional standards, concluding that the legislature has the prerogative to enact laws guarding against the potential risk of voter fraud and determining that the additional requirements placed on voters were not so severe as to violate protections set out in the Tennessee Constitution.

Race has. unfortunately, always been a divisive issue, used by Democrats as a way to energize Voting Blocs.

Unfortunately, for the Democrats, in this case, their cries of “disenfranchisement” makes their leading Presidential Candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton, look as if she is grasping for straws.

All of the protestations from Democrats, alleging some sort of prejudice in the requirement of proper personal identification, in order to exercise the right and privilege of voting, are simply a vehicle by which to continue the voter fraud, which they have been so famous for in the past.

 I understand, that by requiring voters to have appropriate identification, authorities are “disenfranchising” the “Dead Voter Bloc”. However, that’s the whole idea of it.

If, as is the case in Tennessee, proper identification is free of charge, why are Hillary and the rest of Democrats, making such a big deal out of it?

Gosh, Hillary and her fellow Democrats aren’t advocating for Voter Fraud on purpose, are they?

Does Bill like girls in blue dresses?

Until He Comes,

KJ