Category Archives: national news

media news, national news, political news

Clinton, Trump share mutual loathing of media

hillary media

Donald J. Trump gets the headlines with his ridiculous rants about the media.

The Republican presidential nominee keeps yapping about the “dishonest,” “corrupt” and “failing” media outlets that give him bad press. In truth, I believe he actually loves the media, which keep giving him the coverage he craves.

Hillary Rodham Clinton has another kind of relationship with the media. She doesn’t trust them. Interesting — yes? — given the Democratic nominee’s own trustworthiness issue with Americans whose votes she seeks as she campaigns for the presidency.

Let’s just say that both of these individuals have media relations issues.

Clinton’s is the more elusive to pin down and in many respects is more troublesome.

She rarely conducts full-blown news conferences, opening herself up to tough questioning from the media. Her answers are calculated and calibrated to produce certain reactions. They too often backfire, particularly when the media detect such elusiveness.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/hillary-clinton-media-press-problem-226944

I am not going to accept the idea that the media have been kinder and gentler to Clinton than they have to Trump. This is not meant to excuse Clinton’s lack of accessibility. However, to suggest that the Democratic nominee has been somehow “shielded” by the media seeking to protect her from tough questions ignores an obvious fact — which is that the media themselves have sought to shed light on the many issues that keep dogging Clinton.

Meanwhile, Trump keeps alleging that the media are in cahoots with Clinton that the candidate and the Fourth Estate are conspiring to “rig” the election to produce a Trump defeat.

Pardon me, sir, but you’re doing a pretty nice job of blowing up your campaign all by yourself.

The media have a responsibility to be the public’s eyes and ears. That role shouldn’t be trifled with by candidates who, for differing reasons, keep suggesting the media somehow are out to “get” them.

Trump’s circus act, I believe, is mostly for show. Clinton’s reticence is more deliberate and strategic.

Trump’s antics are getting more play but they are giving Clinton’s team plenty of wiggle room to stiff-arm the media whenever it can.

business news, national news, political news

Pence pledges to release tax returns … and Trump?

tax-return-form

Mike Pence isn’t exactly “going rogue,” to borrow a phrase coined eight years ago by another candidate for vice president, former half-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

But the Indiana governor — and the Republicans’ nominee for vice president — is saying something his running mate isn’t saying.

He plans to release his personal tax returns before Election Day.

It’s a departure — and a welcomed one at that — from the refusal by GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump to release his tax returns.

Pence assures us it will be a quick read once they returns become known. I believe him.

Trump’s returns — which also should be released for public review — seem to present some issues for the GOP presidential nominee.

Is Trump as rich as he boasts? Has he given anything to charity? Has he paid his “fair share” of income tax, or any at all?

I welcome Gov. Pence’s decision to release his returns.

I do not, though, expect Gov. Pence to talk his running mate into following suit.

national news, political news, religious news

Utah up for grabs in race for president? Seriously?

trump-temple-hammer-copy

We’ve been “treated,” if that’s the right word for it, to the most unconventional presidential election campaign in memory.

Let’s ponder this bit of intelligence from the campaign trail.

Utah might become one of those “battleground states.”

Yes, that well might be happening as Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump battles Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton.

You see, Trump has said some things that offend Utahans.

Big deal, you say? He’s offended lots of folks all along the way. Veterans, people with disabilities, Latinos, women, Muslims.

Oh, yes, about those Muslims who have been singled out by Trump. That’s where the Utah story starts to take root.

Mormons comprise a large majority of Utah residents. They understand — and recognize — religious bigotry when they see it. Their forebears went through lots of discrimination and persecution when they settled in Utah. Indeed, there remain remnants of it to this very day.

Trump, of course, has proposed banning Muslims from entering the country. He is fostering a fever-pitch fear of terrorists by injecting an element of religious profiling. How do you think that plays with a key Republican voting bloc that knows a thing or two about such profiling?

Utah also hasn’t voted for a Democrat for president since 1964, when President Lyndon Johnson was elected in that historic landslide. That’s 12 presidential elections.

Mormon culture also fosters an overwhelmingly pro-family environment. Devoted Mormons embrace conservative lifestyles. They aren’t likely too keen on the flamboyance and opulence that Trump flaunts as he traipses across the country.

You want an unconventional election result? The bizarre nature of this campaign would be buttoned up quite nicely if Donald Trump were to actually lose Utah to Clinton.

Consider, too, that 2012 Republican presidential nominee (and devout Mormon) Mitt Romney — a fairly iconic political figure in Utah — has declared his unwavering opposition to Trump’s candidacy.

If Utah becomes a contested battleground for Trump and Clinton, you likely can bet the farm that the Democratic nominee is going to win this election in a gigantic rout.

media news, national news, political news, Uncategorized

Mean streak is showing itself

don trump

Nicholas Kristof and I have one thing in common.

We both hail from Oregon. He’s a self-proclaimed farm boy who was reared in the rainy western region of the state; I grew up in the big city of Portland.

He writes opinion pieces for the New York Times. I write for myself.

OK, we have one more thing in common: Neither of us wants Donald J. Trump to be elected president of the United States.

Kristof wrote a column today in which he states that Trump is appealing to the nation’s collective mean streak. It’s there, buried deep beneath the decency of the vast, overwhelming majority of Americans.

Here’s Kristof’s column. Take a few minutes to read it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/14/opinion/sunday/donald-trump-is-making-america-meaner.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

Kristof’s column includes this passage, which I want to bring to your attention.

“I wrote a column recently exploring whether Trump is a racist, and a result was anti-Semitic vitriol from Trump followers, one of whom suggested I should be sent to the ovens for writing ‘a typical Jewish hit piece.’ In fact, I’m Armenian and Christian, not Jewish, but the responses underscored that the Trump campaign is enveloped by a cloud of racial, ethnic and religious animosity — much of it poorly informed.”

It is frightening, indeed, to believe that some folks who are backing a major-party presidential nominee would say such a thing to a member of the media — or to any human being, for that matter.

This, though, is part of the political environment with which we must deal as Election Day draws near.

This has become a sad, sorry campaign for the most powerful public office on Planet Earth.

media news, national news, political news

Trump finds an old nemesis: the media

doanld

Donald J. Trump is not known for his self-awareness or for an ability to look inward.

He likes to assess blame everywhere else, even where no reason exists to assess such blame.

The Republican presidential nominee has launched another tweet storm in which he blames — get ready for it — the media for his collapsing poll numbers.

There you go. Blame the media.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/trump-on-nyt-their-reporting-is-fiction-226988

It’s a time-honored dodge that politicians use on occasion whenever they seek to divert attention from the real problem at hand — which usually happens to be the message they’re peddling.

He said the media are giving Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton political cover. Trump said the media don’t cover his rallies in an appropriate fashion. He said the media are distorting his message.

It’s the alleged Clinton-Mainstream Media alliance that I find most interesting.

I guess Trump hasn’t read much about the coverage the media have been giving to — in no particular order:

Benghazi, the e-mail controversy, the Clinton Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative, her husband’s dalliance when he was president, the Whitewater real estate probe, her reluctance to meet with the press regularly, her own negative poll numbers, the public perception that Clinton isn’t “trustworthy.”

So now he’s suggesting the media are to blame because his own poll numbers are plummeting and that he cannot seem find a message — let alone stay on one?

The word “delusional” comes to mind.

national news, political news

Counting down the days …

clinton-trump

A strange habit has grabbed hold of me.

I am finding myself counting down the days to Election Day. All that’s left is for me to put a short-timer’s calendar on the cabinet next to the desk in my home office.

We’ve got 86 days to go.

The last time I watched the calendar with such intensity, I believe, was when I was in the U.S. Army. The first calendar went up when I arrived in Vietnam in March 1969. Then I got home and I put another one up in Fort Lewis, Wash.

I haven’t been so anxious for the end of something as I was then.

This time, I am awaiting the end of this presidential election.

I am particularly tired of listening to Republican nominee Donald J. Trump say things that have nothing to do with public policy. His latest riff now is that the “only way I’ll lose” the election is if it’s “rigged.”

The culprit? Why, it’s “Crooked Hillary” Rodham Clinton, of course!

As for Clinton, I am weary of listening her try to avoid explaining why so many voters dislike her, why they distrust her.

My dear late mother used to warn me about “wishing your life away.” I would tell her, “Gee, Mom, I can’t wait for the weekend. I wish it would hurry up and get here.” That’s when she would issue the wise admonition.

Well, Mom? I’m at it again.

I cannot wait for this campaign to end.

Moreover, I just might put up that short-timer’s calendar.

national news, political news

Trump still not listening to advice

GettyImages-583518404

Eighty-seven days to go before Election Day.

Public opinion surveys are showing a clear trend: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is opening up a significant lead over Republican candidate Donald J. Trump.

The so-called “battleground states” are leaning increasingly toward Clinton.

So, where is Trump campaigning today? Is he in one of those battleground states battling Clinton tooth-and-nail?

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/trump-connecticut-why-is-he-campaigning-there-226959

No. He’s in Connecticut. The Nutmeg State hasn’t voted GOP since 1988. It won’t vote for Trump this time, either.

And this, I believe, sums up just why Trump is losing this campaign.

He’s got a campaign manager, Paul Manafort, who supposedly is an experienced hand. Is Manafort sending Trump into the belly of the beast? Does he actually believe Trump has a shot of winning Connecticut?

My guess: Probably not. Trump is continuing to march to his own cadence.

For someone who knows nothing about politics and even less about government, this is the “strategy” of a loser.

national news, political news

Big crowds don’t necessarily equal big votes

Unfiltered-Voices-From-Donald-Trumps-Crowds

I’m enjoying listening to and reading comments from Donald J. Trump’s fans — some of whom are friends of mine — boast about the size of the rallies he is attracting.

The Republican candidate for president’s rallies, they keep saying, are far bigger than those who listen to Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

That’s proof, they say, that Trump is making a comeback. That he’ll win in the end and be elected the 45th president of the United States.

I feel the need to remind them all of this indisputable fact … which is that big crowds don’t necessarily translate into big vote totals.

* George McGovern drew big crowds in 1972. They were loud, boisterous, enthusiastic and dedicated to their man. I know. I was among them. He lost the election that year by 23 percentage points to President Nixon.

* Gary Hart drew big crowds, too, in 1984 as he campaigned for the Democratic nomination. His fans were zealous. He didn’t even get nominated. The Democrat who did, Walter Mondale, lost “bigly” to President Reagan.

* Twenty years earlier, Barry Goldwater had the fervent support of the GOP’s conservative movement. They packed auditoriums and stadiums to hear their guy. Goldwater lost the 1964 election to President Johnson; yep, that was a landslide, too.

* Bernie Sanders just this year was drawing huge crowds. The crowds loved him. Did he win the nomination? No. Clinton did.

This election will decided by which candidate has the better “ground game.” Who between them has an organization ready to mobilize voters? Who is better equipped to target voting blocs? Which of them is going to develop the better ad campaign?

Crowd size? Sure, it’s nice to speak to more than just family and friends. The size of the crowds or the decibel level of their cheers, though, do not guarantee a thing on Election Day.

national news, political news

It may be too late for Trump to ‘turn it around’

donald-trump

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s lead over Donald J. Trump is large — and it’s getting larger.

The pundit class, though, seems somewhat fixated on how the Republican Party’s presidential nominee can “turn it around” if he has a chance of defeating his Democratic Party opponent.

My own view is that Trump likely is well past the point of no return.

Will a speech do it? Does he need to embarrass Clinton at any of the three joint appearances scheduled? Forget about the VP encounter between Tim Kaine and Mike Pence; that won’t change a thing.

It looks for all the world as though Trump’s interminably long record of insults and his astonishing demonstration of ignorance about anything involving public policy has done him in.

How in the world does this buffoon/clown/carnival barker/con man/narcissist persuade voters now — at this point — that all that prior stuff was just a joke?

He cannot help himself. He cannot resist the urge to veer off into some nonsensical rant whenever he delivers what passes for a “campaign stump speech.”

He vows to “unify” the Republican Party, then he trashes the GOP leadership. Party hot shots are deserting him in droves. I heard last night that Trump was coming to Texas for a fundraiser, but the biggest donors in the state aren’t going to show up.

The only possible way for Clinton to lose this election would be for something truly terrible to come out about her. Or … she would have to drool all over herself or somehow revert to some form of Trump-like campaign stump-speech riff that makes as little sense as the stuff that’s been pouring out of Trump’s mouth for the past year.

Sure, the first thing is entirely possible. We might learn something egregious about Clinton. Then again, the most scrutinized and examined political candidate of the past quarter century has weathered lots of storms already.

I once wrote on this blog that the election figured to be a blowout. Then I thought Trump might make a race of it. I’m back to believing a rout is in the making.

https://highplainsblogger.com/2016/05/time-to-handicap-the-fall-election/

 

media news, national news, political news

‘Patriot’ tosses out the ‘t-word’ to media

Original caption: Benedict Arnold. Treason of Arnold. He persuaded Andre to conceal the papers in his boot. --- Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

I can think of few things worse to call someone than a “traitor.”

“Child molester” comes to mind. So does “murderer.”

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/08/12/trump_rally-goer_to_cnn_reporter_i_am_a_patriot_and_you_are_a_traitor.html

But the guy noted in this video link has decided that he is an “American patriot” and that a CNN news crew comprises “traitors.”

He uttered that epithet at the end of a Donald J. Trump campaign rally where, I am guessing, the Republican Party presidential nominee had some unkind things to say about the media.

The barbs Trump likely slung at the media got the requisite cheers from the crowd.

And then it produced this response from the self-described “American patriot,” who also felt the need to offer the middle-finger salute to the camera crew.

Nice …

Everyone’s entitled to their opinion.