Marco Rubio

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What’s left for Trump to say?

Posted by noonante on March 1, 2016
Posted in: Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

The latest statement by Donald Trump would knock an ordinary mortal out of the race for the Presidency, but Trump has proven, again and again, that he defies the laws of gravity.  At one of the Sunday morning talk shows, he did not disavow support from David Duke, former grand wizard of the Klu Ku Klux Klan.  He said he did not know Duke and needed to learn more about the white supremacist groups lining up behind his candidacy.

Taking the Republican front-runner at his word, it is disturbing that a candidate for President does not know who David Duke is since he raises his racist thoughts every couple of years.  Of course in the fact-free zone that is the Republican primary, knowledge of actual facts is not regarded as a qualification for the office.  One might think, however, that you do not need a lot of research to condemn groups that advocate white supremacy.  While Trump later said he had a faulty ear piece and did not understand the question, the candidate revered for “telling it like it is,” clearly talked about both Duke and white supremacists in his answer.

But the traditional mores of politics do not apply to Donald J. Trump.  Which of the following would not result in the departure of any other candidate?

  • Proposing to ban all adherents of a religious faith from the country;
  • Characterizing Mexicans as rapists and criminals;
  • Ridiculing a disabled person by mocking the disability;
  • Criticizing a reporter for her tough questions by implying she was having her period;
  • Praising Vladimir Putin;
  • Criticizing the last three GOP nominees for the Presidency, including John McCain because he was captured in combat;
  • Demeaning your Republican opponents, most recently by calling Ted Cruz a “liar” and Marco Rubio a “choke artist;”
  • Fighting with the Pope.

If Trump performs as expected on Super Tuesday, it would mean the race for the GOP nomination is effectively over  –  at least if he were any other candidate. But the so-called Republican establishment is aghast at the prospect of Trump as the party’s leader.  It’s not because of his vile positions or vulgar behavior, but because it will harm the electoral prospects of down-ballot Republican candidates.

It’s also not because it would deprive a qualified opponent  –  possibly excepting John Kasich  –  from securing the nomination.  Loathsome Ted Cruz is not only reviled by Democrats, but by his Republican “colleagues” in the Senate.  Marco Rubio has been displaying his true mettle in recent days by suggesting that Trump may have urinated in his pants during the last debate, and lately suggesting Trump has a small penis.  To think that this is the year the Republicans supposedly had a deep bench of candidates.

That Thursday night debate serves as a microcosm of the state of the Republican Party.  Saint Ronald Reagan must have been rolling over in his grave to see his commandment to never speak ill of a fellow Republican being so universally ignored by the leading candidates.  Amidst all the shouting, the insults were pointed and personal, with only Kasich and Ben Carson not taking part.

At one point, Donald Trump said that his health plan replacing Obamacare would not have people “dying in the streets.”  Setting aside that Trump, like all other Republican politicians, does not actually have a plan, Ted Cruz actually went after him  –  without offering any assurance that his own non-existent plan would not result in people dying in the street.

But if anything embodied the obliviousness of the Republican establishment from both reality and the concerns of the many voters backing Trump, it was a question by moderator Hugh Hewitt.  He prefaced it by saying that the threat to religious liberty “keeps me awake at night.”  He wasn’t referring to ISIS beheadings or a proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the country.  Rather, it was merchants  –  in the United States  –  having to provide “flowers or baked goods” to customers who were gay.

There are certainly matters that could keep me awake at night  –  Donald Trump becoming President near the top of the list  –  but a gay couple buying cupcakes is not one of them.  So if Trump does become the nominee, we can hope that it might become the impetus for a party that relies so heavily on fear-mongering and obstructionism to conduct a real and meaning self-assessment.

 

A trip to New Hampshire

Posted by noonante on February 9, 2016
Posted in: Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , , , , , , . 2 Comments

My political junkie brother proposed a trip to New Hampshire in advance of the Tuesday primaries.  I thought it a brilliant idea and am embarrassed that I had not thought of it.  That would make me one of the few such junkies to not have done so.

We met a number of interesting people on our trip.  While my intent was to get the thinking of the state’s residents, most of the people we met were also political junkies.  The first two people we met were not only from Massachusetts, but one was from our home town.  Then there was the Philadelphia resident who had been making this journey since 1984.  Going to our second event of the day, we met three people who had come from the same event we were at, but one of them actually lived in the state.

We went to three events on Sunday, the day following the debate that will forever be known as the “Rubio debate” should his promising campaign collapse. We planned a second day in which we hope to see two of the most personality-challenged Republican candidates  –  Carly Fiorina and Ted Cruz.  A major snow storm targeting Massachusetts forced us to cut our trip short and miss “Coffee with Carly.”

Serendipitously, our first event was a Rubio pancake breakfast in Londonderry scheduled for 8:30.  I was surprised to see a table offering muffins and fruit before the pancakes, but was even more surprised to hear that there would not actually be pancakes.  According to the campaign, the anticipated crowd of 800 forced them to abandon the plan. We then, however, had to wait 90 minutes for the candidate to appear, who then said that he “hoped” there was food.  I had hoped there was food too since I had not had breakfast.  But, the campaign could not find a Legion hall, Rotary, or local church that could handle pancakes for a crowd?

Rubio delivered a standard stump speech, including the comment about the President knowing exactly what he is doing –  perhaps the only thing he has said that I agree with. In fairness, however, I do not fault him for that.  I just drove around to three events that day and did not have to deliver a speech or otherwise perform, and I was tired at the end of it.

So Chris Christie’s event  –  yet another dose of serendipity  –  was a surprise.  I arrived late because I was talking to a real live New Hampshire voter in the parking lot.  He lived in the neighborhood and was taken aback by the number of cars which he estimated to be twice that of a recent Donald Trump event.  He is also the only person who told me who he was going to vote for  –  Jeb!

When I got in the Christie event, he was in shirt sleeves taking questions from the crowd, so I do not know if he began with his own stump speech.  There was none of the surliness or bullying that have often been ascribed to him.  (By the way, how can you bully someone running for President as some commentators accused him of doing with Rubio in the debate?)

The guy is a natural and gifted politician.  He was thoughtful, knowledgeable, charming and funny.  If New Hampshire is indeed a retail politics state where its voters appreciate direct contact, it is difficult to see how Christie could not be successful.

He had several compelling anecdotes.  One was about the little girl crying because her home had been destroyed by Hurricane Sandy and his response to her  –  “Your home is with your parents.”  Another about running into James Gandolfini at a Broadway play and being told “You know it’s all make believe.”  It wasn’t clear whether he was referring to his TV show, the Mafia or politics  –  or all three.

But his line that brought the crowd to its feet had to do with who would be the strongest candidate to face Hillary Clinton at the first debate.  Christie observed that she did not want to see him walk on stage “because she’s been running away from Federal prosecutors for six months.”  Not true, of course, but it got the crowd going.

From there it was on to a Bernie Sanders event.  I had been carrying a large camera bag to the previous venues without anyone asking to look into it.  This time it  –  and I  –  were searched by Secret Service agents.  If you thing the TSA is intrusive, don’t go to something being secured by the Secret Service.  When we got into the hall, there was a media corral that looked like something you might see at a major sporting event.

Sanders delivered his standard stump speech, and the event seemed more like a rally than a town hall sort of thing in front of undecided voters.

When we left and walked to our car in the distant overflow parking lot, we started counting the number of New Hampshire license plates.  It may not have been one of every ten cars, but it was surely at most one in eight.  And many of the people we met at the earlier events were from out-of-state.  While we attended three packed events  –  we could never sit down  –  it is not clear what percentage of the crowd were potential voters on Tuesday.

Yet there were New Hampshirites (Granite Staters?) who said they were undecided and attending events to learn more about the candidates.  It’s a testimony to our political system that so many were willing to wait 90 minutes, many standing the whole time, to participate in the process.

I was also struck by the people who were not only undecided, but undecided about which primary they would vote in.  I was surprised to hear that for some the choice was Bernie Sanders or one of the Republicans.

Yet another impression I had was that two candidates were viewed with a high level of animosity  –  Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

So in a campaign that has produced surprises within each party, confounding the pundits and other “experts,” I think we can expect more of the same from New Hampshire and down the road.  As someone who often writes about horse racing and enjoys the occasional wager, I cannot end without a longshot prediction.  He may not win, but I think Jeb Bush is primed for a surprisingly good result tonight.

Trump is the one

Posted by noonante on January 17, 2016
Posted in: Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Near the end of Thursday’s debate among the top seven Republican contenders I came to the conclusion that Donald Trump would be the nominee.  Not only was this his best performance in any debate so far  –  a bar that is not too difficult to pass  –  but at times he was actually coherent and thoughtful.

When I began covering the last round of debates in 2011, I would take detailed notes to record interesting positions or statements that might require some fact-checking.  This time around I realized there was no point.  The positions of each candidate were predictable with only minor variations:  Obama is a complete failure  –  either a weakling who does nothing or a semi-dictator who openly flouts the Constitution to do what he wants;  Hillary would be more of the same;  Benghazi;  Planned Parenthood;  etc., etc., etc.

In the fact-free zone that is the right-wing fever swamp, the truth is what you say it is.  Thus, we have Marco Rubio saying that the President has “ten times” travelled the globe apologizing for America.  Mitt Romney tried the same approach four years ago and it was a claim debunked by impartial fact-checkers.  Chris Christie denied contributing to Planned Parenthood or supporting Sonia Sotomayor.  He did both.  And on and on and on.

There was a rare moment in this debate when there was actually a substantive discussion on an important issue, having to do with tariffs.  I could not begin to explain it, but, then again, neither could Ben Carson.

In the absence of meaningful policy discussions based on actual facts, the demeanor of the candidates becomes all-important.  The debate format places the candidates in order of poll numbers, with the most popular being center-stage and the least popular occupying the ends of the stage.  As the debate progressed, I visualized a giant saw loping off the ends of the stage with Jeb Bush and John Kasich falling off it.  Described by the pundits as the only adults in the room, neither has exactly captured the mood of the likely Republican electorate.  Kasich talks about his Washington experience from 20 years ago.  Bush, on the verge of being the biggest disaster ever on the national stage, at one point asked viewers to compare the present with the end of his brother’s presidency.  He apparently forgot the massive financial fraud that threatened the world’s economy, as well as the war waged on false pretenses that continued to claim American lives.  Carson can’t be far behind them in finally departing.

That would leave two remaining “establishment” candidates to confront Trump and Ted Cruz.  To say that each has significant flaws would be a major understatement.  Rubio clearly has no compunction at making stuff up  –  from the Obama apology tour to Clinton being investigated for criminal behavior to Obama wanting to take away guns  –  but telling the truth does not appear to be a prerequisite for a viable candidate in the GOP primaries.  But, he not only appears callow, but has a speaking style reminiscent of the articulate adolescent who thinks he can’t be caught if he keeps on talking.

Is there anyone who can really see Chris Christie as President of the United States?  His tough-talking shtick appeals to those who thing toughness means talking that way, even if what you are saying is hollow and meaningless.  Also, there is also a reason he is unpopular in New Jersey, and all those he has intimidated over the years will be coming out of the woodwork.  And while speaking the truth may not be a valued commodity in the political realm, two of Christie’s falsehoods  –  contributing to Planned Parenthood and supporting an Obama nominee to the Supreme Court  –  run counter to what the right-wing believes are essential values.

So we are left with Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.  In my opinion, Cruz is the most loathsome figure currently on the national stage.  It’s not just his smarmy oleaginous attitude, but his complete lack of doing anything that does not conform to his ideological world view.  Trump has raised a new birther issue with Cruz, who was not born in this country but has a mother who is an American citizen.  While I think it is an issue  –  regardless of the legal merits  –  that should not affect his being on the ballot, there are those in the Republican electorate who may think differently.  At least his place of birth, Canada, is predominantly white, unlike Kenya.

In in future dictionaries, the phrase “coming home to roost” will be accompanied by the smirking visage of Donald J. Trump.  Ever since Barack Obama became President, Republican leaders of all stripes have vilified him, whether for Obamacare or his supposedly weak foreign policy.  Nothing the man did or say could ever be given credit for fear of provoking outrage from the right.  Any actual compromise  –  rare as they may be  –  provoked charges of treason.  So it should be little wonder that a forceful and compelling figure could arise in this atmosphere and attract significant support among an electorate.

It is an electorate that tired of promises from Republican politicians that it would repeal Obamacare.  Never mind that even if they got the votes in Congress, they would not be sufficient to withstand a Presidential veto.  It is an electorate that is repeatedly told that Obama has weakened America abroad.  Never mind that he finally got Osama bin Laden, or that he reduced significantly the threat of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon.  All we really need, according to them, is someone who talks tough.

One of the most revealing aspects of this GOP debate is the scorn heaped on the President for the American sailors captured by Iran.  Never mind that they were captured after mistakenly sailing into the waters of a foreign country or that they were released without harm within hours.  Never mind that the immediate release is undoubtedly the result of improved relations with one of the region’s two major powers.  It was the photographs of the capture.  Never mind that in the last Republican administration, they refused to allow photographs of American caskets arriving at Andrew Air Force base from the combat in Iraq.  Theirs is a hypocrisy that has no limits.

Trump is not only the logical result of a political view that cares little for reality, but he has now become what may be an inevitable nominee.  He was initially dismissed as a clown whose offensive statements and lack of political subtlety would sink him.  I think he is a clown and offensive, but has three traits that I think bring him the nomination.

The first is an uncanny sense of what appeals to the electorate  –  in this case those who vote in a Republican presidential primary.  His comments about Mexican and Muslim immigrants repulse many in the general electorate, but have apparently struck a chord among those in the Republican base.  He dismisses criticism of his bigoted statements as “political correctness,” a comment for which he is applauded.

The second is a quick-witted critique of those who are running against him or have criticized him.  It may not be his one-line comments about Jeb Bush that have reduced the presumed front-runner and most well-financed candidate ever into someone who could be out of the race in three weeks, but they certainly have not helped.  His assertion that “others” have raised questions about Ted Cruz’ eligibility to be President will necessarily distract the Cruz campaign.

Finally, this most recent debate has demonstrated that Trump has become a seriously improved candidate.  Lest you think that is insignificant, consider that Hillary Clinton, who first ran eight years ago, appears to not only have not upped her game from back then, but is repeating some of the same mistakes.  Trump handled two issues having obviously prepared for them.

The first was the comment made by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley following the State of the State in which she decried the anger that appears to animate the Republican base.  Trump embraced being angry, reciting his usual litany of why he is.  You don’t have to agree with him on the substance to appreciate that he handled the matter skillfully and with aplomb.

Then there was the odious Cruz’ remarks about “New York values.”  Trump devastated him to the extent that Cruz ended up applauding his answer.

In this second year of the campaign, Trump has gone from being universally derided by the “experts” as a charlatan or clown  –  or both  –  to being on the verge of springing the most remarkable upset in modern American history.

 

GOP kicks off 2016 political season

Posted by noonante on August 7, 2015
Posted in: Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I don’t know how we made it through the last 33 months without a presidential debate, but thankfully our nightmare is at long last over.  In words a thought I would never utter, Fox News put on a spirited, lively and informative debate last night.  At least the second group of moderators  –  Megyn Kelly, Chris Wallace and Bret Baier  –  did.  More about the crew moderating the “kids’ table” debate later.

Although the chances of my voting for any of the 17 candidates in a general election are pretty low, here are some impressions from the two events:

  • John Kasich surprised me with his grasp of issues, as well as for his empathetic views on those who are less fortunate and on same-sex marriage.  He has run afoul of Republican orthodoxy for having the temerity to actually accept federal Medicaid dollars for low-income Ohioans, but explained it to voters who twice nominated a so-called “compassionate conservative” for the presidency.
  • Marco Rubio also impressed me.  He was articulate and knowledgeable.  One thing that surprised me about him is how large his ears are  –  a feature that is not exactly an impediment to becoming President.
  • Jeb Bush and Donald Trump were the least surprising candidates.  Bush continues with his plodding style that is unlikely to get anyone excited.  Trump, of course, gets lots of people excited  –  some for, some agin.  He did candidly acknowledge that he gives a lot of money to candidates  –  including Democrats  –  because he expects something in return.  He contributed to Hilary Clinton so she would come to his wedding!
  • The moderators in the earlier debate –  the “kids’ table” or the “happy hour” debate  –  were as bad as the later group was good.  Martha MacCallum and Bill Hemmer appeared to be auditioning for promotions in the Roger Ailes/Fox News hierarchy.  The underlying assumption to many of their questions was an acceptance of right-wing heterodoxy as reality.  Should mosques be placed under surveillance?  How do we stop government hand-outs?  The second group, by contrast, asked specific policy-related questions, often tailored to a particular candidate’s previous positions.
  • Lindsey Graham will take us back to war in Iraq with ground troops.  Ben Carson  –  a doctor  –  will resume waterboarding because he is opposed to “politically correct wars.”
  • Carly Fiorina was clearly the star of the early group.
  • It is unclear why either Jim Gilmore or George Pataki is running.  Neither adds anything not offered by another candidate, although you could say the same about at least another half-dozen.  Both of the former governors stress they were in office on 9/11  –  a dubious qualification at best, and reminiscent of how Rudy Giuliani was able to convert that into winning exactly one delegate.
  • Rick Santorum remains capable of turning any issue back to abortion.  In response to a question on same-sex marriage  –  a group that likely does not have many unwanted pregnancies  –  into his staunch record opposing a woman’s right to choose.  Apparently, this was in case anyone does not already know that about him.  Mike Huckabee topped that with a statement saying “scientists” have proven that human life begins at conception because of some muddled description of DNA testing.

In terms of actual policy positions, there is not much variability among the 17.  All are opposed to funding Planned Parenthood, but with one exception opposed to abortion.  (Pataki is the lone pro-choice candidate, and as one moderator pointed out, a pro-choice candidate has not won a Republican primary in the last 35 years.)  All are opposed to the nuclear deal with Iran, although Fiorina seems to be the lone pragmatist acknowledging it was the best we are going to get.  Immigration?  You can probably guess.  Obamacare?  Please.

The most remarkable omission from the list of debate topics is a subject that should have been foremost  –  race relations.  There was no mention of it during the first debate.  In the second debate, there was a question to one candidate (Scott Walker) about “Black Lives Matter,” but nothing approaching a discussion.  Then the last question of the more than three hours of debate was one about the state of race relations  –  to Ben Carson.  There were, however, questions to several candidates about whether he had received a “word from God,’ that was then incongruously mixed in with a question about veterans.  In fairness, however, the Democratic candidates have not exactly covered themselves with glory when the matter of race comes up.

All in all, however, I thought the second Fox crew did an excellent job in managing an unwieldy group of 10 candidates in the two hours (including commercials) allotted.  We at least know more about each candidate than we did two days ago.

Musings on the week that was

Posted by noonante on February 19, 2013
Posted in: Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Here are some random observations from last week’s news:

  • You may have heard the pope abdicated his God-given job.  As one who was raised Catholic, was an altar boy and attended a Catholic high school and college, I would have to say that selection of a successor will have less impact on me than the meteor that crashed into Russia.  While it is nice to think that the new guy will finally set the Church straight on the enabling culture of child sex abuse and rape, you would have to ignore the widespread acceptance of that culture throughout the Western world by the very people who will be electing Benedict’s replacement.  As one of Canadian ancestry, however, I was excited to see that one handicapper had a Canadian as the pre-conclave favorite.  I have an image of Cardinal Ouelett pulling cassocks over the heads of fellow cardinals and pummeling them until they give in.
  • While nothing gets the mainstream media more excited that being able to speculate on something that could happen (such as the election of a pope) to save them from having to cover actual newsworthy events, they outdid themselves with coverage of Marco Rubio taking a drink of water.  The media could have covered the fact that Rubio offered no new ideas for the Republican Party to counter Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, thereby continuing to delay the reckoning that might have occurred following November’s election, but nothing beats a politician embarrassing himself, no matter the insignificance of the event.
  • Speaking of embarrassing behavior, when are Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham going to realize that continually saying stupid things on Sunday talk shows does not make them this century’s version of Henry Clay?  They are delaying the approval of Republican Chuck Hagel to be Obama’s Secretary of Defense because, in McCain’s view, Hagel does not recognize the success of the surge in Iraq, and Graham wants to know more about Benghazi  –  in which Hagel had no involvement.  Graham topped it off by saying the March 1 sequester (for which a Pentagon chief would be essential) could be avoided if Obamacare were eliminated, a program that almost everyone knows, no matter how reluctantly, is happening.
  • While they undoubtedly consider themselves immune from embarrassment, the International Olympic Committee has eliminated wrestling as one of the guaranteed sports in the 2020 Olympics.  Quick, name another sport that is not a track and field event that was in the Olympic renewal of 1896.
  • Finally, if we thought the last two years would end sentences that contained the words “Boston Red Sox” and “embarrassing,” we have a starting pitcher hurting himself in the first 20 minutes of spring training  –  pulling a hamstring covering first base.

That’s it for now.  I just saw a snowflake fall in Saratoga Springs, raising the hope there could be enough of the white stuff to cover up all my unraked leaves.

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