Category Archives: political news

national news, political news

Facing an unhappy choice this fall

Clinton-and-Trump

It’s time to make an admission.

Others already have said it, but I’ll chime in with this: The election this autumn presents the unhappiest choice I’ve ever faced since I voted in my first presidential election way back in 1972.

At this very moment, I am not yet rock-solid certain what I’m going to do when I go to the polling place.

Republicans have nominated a certifiable buffoon/goofball/fraud/con artist as their presidential nominee. Donald J. Trump is unqualified at every level one can mention to sit in the Oval Office and make decisions as our head of state and government.

Democrats have nominated someone who is far more qualified — on paper — than Trump. Hillary Rodham Clinton, though, is trying to face down that darn “trust” issue. Is she to be trusted implicitly to tell us the truth when we need to know it? That is where I am having trouble with her candidacy.

Who’s left? The Libertarian ticket led by former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, whose signature issue is to legalize marijuana? The Greens, led by Jill Stein?

I’ve already declared in this blog that Democrats have gotten my vote in every presidential election. The first presidential ballot I ever cast, for the late Sen. George McGovern, remains the vote of which I am most proud.

I happened to be — if my Marine Corps friends don’t object to my stealing their service’s motto — one of the “few, the proud” to vote for Sen. McGovern. Then came Watergate and the resignation of President Nixon two years later and one became hard-pressed to understand how it was that the president won by as large a landslide as he did.

The next election four years later gave me a bit of heartburn. I truly admired President Ford and I didn’t really feel comfortable with Jimmy Carter. Well, you know what happened, right?

I’ve been comfortable with my choices every election season since.

Until this one.

You can count me as one of the millions of Americans who’s unhappy with the choices we have. I’ll have made up my mind in time for Election Day.

I’ll just keep it to myself.

national news, political news

Paging Dick Cheney … hello?

Vice President Dick Cheney, speaks at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Thursday, April 10, 2008, in Washington. Bush administration officials from Vice President Dick Cheney on down signed off on using harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists after asking the Justice Department to endorse their legality, The Associated Press has learned. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Is it me or does anyone else wonder what’s become of Dick Cheney?

The former vice president — from 2001 to 2009 — has been so very quick since leaving office to jump back into the political fray. He’s been critical of President Obama’s foreign policy, of Vice President Joe Biden, and oh yes, of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Well, the Republicans have their nominee. Donald J. Trump — who appears to be a classic Republican In Name Only — is now doing political battle with Democratic nominee Clinton.

But wait a sec, man? Cheney’s been nowhere.

I think I might have a clue. It’s because two of his former bosses, President George W. Bush and President George H.W. Bush — whom Cheney served as defense secretary — can’t stomach Trump’s candidacy. They despise the man for the way he’s run for the presidency, not to mention for the way he brutalized John Ellis “Jeb” Bush — W’s brother and Poppy’s son — during the 2016 GOP primary.

Whatever, the Bush family’s loathing of Trump seems to have silenced a loyal Bush guy.

Don’t misunderstand me here. I don’t necessarily want to hear from the former vice president. It’s not that I find his political world view all that appealing.

I guess I’m just miffed that Dick Cheney’s silence had robbed me of some material on which to respond.

media news, national news, political news

Now … who will get my local paper’s endorsement?

2 Comments

th

This just in … The Houston Chronicle has endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton for the presidency of the United States.

The Chronicle said in its editorial that it normally waits until the end of the campaign to make its recommendation. It backed Mitt Romney in 2012.

This year, it’s different, according to the Chronicle. The paper’s editorial board has made up its mind. The nation needs a “steady hand” in “these unsettling times.” The hand doesn’t belong to Republican nominee Donald J. Trump.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/7/29/1554307/-Houston-Chronicle-endorses-Hillary-Clinton-for-President-says-Trump-is-danger-to-the-Republic

I don’t know why I should care, but I do wonder who will get the backing of my local newspaper, the Amarillo Globe-News, where I worked for nearly 18 years. I quit my job there at the end of August 2012.

I have no contact with the AG-N’s editorial board, which comprises the publisher and its director of commentary. I can only offer an educated guess how they’ll go, given the paper’s history of backing Republicans for president — and given the paper’s corporate ownership, which has a visceral loathing of Hillary Clinton.

My guess is that a lot of newspapers are going to weigh in early — and perhaps often — on this race. They’ll decide, perhaps as the Houston Chronicle has decided, that there’s no reason to wait. Whether they’re favoring Clinton or Trump, let’s get it out there on the record, they might surmise.

As for the Amarillo Globe-News, they’re likely to preach to the proverbial choir by backing Trump, who’s likely to carry on the Republican tradition of capturing a majority of votes in Amarillo and the Texas Panhandle.

The serious stunner would be if the G-N backs Clinton.

Don’t look for hell to freeze over.

My interest will lie in how the paper makes its case for Trump and how much of this individual’s record it will ignore.

https://highplainsblogger.com/2016/06/good-luck-editorialists-in-making-your-decision/

 

national news, political news

Trump’s disrespect is a bottomless pit

Donald Trump gestures while speaking surrounded by people whose families were victims of illegal immigrants on July 10, 2015 while meeting with the press at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, where some shared their stories of the loss of a loved one. The US business magnate Trump, who is running for president in the 2016 presidential elections, angered members of the Latino community with recent comments but says he will win the Latino vote. AFP PHOTO / FREDERIC J. BROWN (Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)

Donald Trump’s list of disrespected opponents has grown by two.

They are the parents of a fallen U.S. Army officer who was killed in combat in Afghanistan. They spoke at the Democratic National Convention this week against the Republican presidential nominee.

Trump’s response was, well, typical Trump.

The father of the soldier told Trump that he’d never “sacrificed.” Trump responded with a ridiculous retort about how he has built all those structures. Then he ridiculed the mother of the soldier. Why? Because she didn’t speak.

Yes, the couple is Muslim, as was their heroic son.

Some comments out there have asked about the “Have you no decency?” quotient. Have we reached that point as it regards this individual.

* He has mocked a reporter with a severe physical disability.

* He has made tasteless comments about a female journalist who asked him tough questions during a televised debate.

* He has referred to a female celebrity as a “fat pig.”

* He has accused the Mexican government of “sending” criminals across the border into this country illegally.

* He has mocked the heroic military service of a U.S. senator who served more than five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.

But in this year with all the “conventional rules” of decorum tossed into the crapper, Trump gets away with it.

Does the Republican nominee have any decency?

My own conclusion is a simple “no.”

national news, political news

Now a Gold Star Mother draws Trump’s fire

trump

Donald J. Trump has criticized a U.S. senator’s heroic war record.

He’s mocked a reporter with a serious physical handicap.

He has ridiculed women as “pigs,” said Mexican immigrants are rapists, drug dealers and murderers.

Now he’s gone after a Gold Star Mother and her husband whose son was killed in combat in Afghanistan. And, oh by the way, the family in question is a Muslim family.

Khazir Khan delivered remarks the other evening at the Democratic National Convention in which he said Trump had sacrificed nothing. Khan and his wife, Ghazala, sacrificed their son, a U.S. Army captain who died when a bomb exploded in 2004.

How did Trump respond to this criticism? He said he’s “sacrificed a lot” by building structures and employing “tens of thousands” of people. Then the GOP presidential nominee decided to take on Ghazala Khan, who didn’t speak at the DNC, leaving that task to her husband.

Trump said Mrs. Khan likely wasn’t allowed to speak, continuing his harangue against Muslim tradition that puts men at the forefront while keeping women in the background.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-draws-backlash-for-comments-on-slain-soldiers-father/ar-BBv3xzN?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp

Well, suffice to say the criticism has come from leaders in both political parties. Jeb Bush’s former communications director called Trump’s remarks “inhuman.” Hillary Clinton’s campaign boss John Podesta asked, “Is there nothing sacred?”

Nothing is off limits to Trump. Nothing at all.

The most stunning aspect of Trump’s response was his equating his construction projects to the sacrifice borne by the parents of young American heroes who give their full measure of devotion.

This individual is simply un-bleeping-believable.

national news, political news

Trump might get his wish after all

cover-chelsea-and-ivanka-600x300

Donald J. Trump says he wishes his daughter Ivanka and Chelsea Clinton weren’t such good friends.

That churning in my gut tells me he might get his wish before this presidential campaign ends.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, says he plans to “take gloves off” as he campaigns against Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Big surprise, eh? Hardly.

But what about Ivanka and Chelsea? And their husbands, for that matter? The in-laws of the two nominees happen to be friends, too.

I’ve thought this might become one of the more interesting back stories of this campaign as Mom and Dad battle it out to see who voters will elect to become the next president of the United States of America.

I don’t know too much about Ivanka Trump, other than what I’ve read recently about her, that she’s an intelligent and engaging young woman.

As for Chelsea, well, we’ve all sort of watched her grow up before our eyes. She, too, is intelligent and engaging.

My curiosity, though, might be drawn to whether she’s able to compartmentalize her relationships the way her parents so famously have been able to do.

Bill Clinton got impeached by the House and was put on trial in the Senate, which acquitted him of the charges brought by House members. He was able to continue working through the rest of his presidency with the very men and women who voted to impeach and to convict him.

Hillary Clinton then ran for the Senate in 2000, promising to reach across the aisle to work with Republicans who wanted her husband kicked out of office. Who became one of her best friends in the Senate? Republican John McCain, who was among those who voted to convict the president.

Did their daughter inherit that ability to put the nastiness aside to preserve her friendship with the daughter of a famously crass politician who’s shown quite an ability to say just about anything to and about his political foes?

We’re about to find out.

national news, political news

More than a ‘dime’s worth of difference’ this time

George-Wallace

The late George Wallace once decided to run as an independent candidate for president because he said “there ain’t a dime’s worth of difference” between Democrats and Republicans.

Suffice to say that the segregationist Alabama governor — who actually was a card-carrying Democrat — couldn’t make such a claim today.

The Democrats have concluded their nominating convention one week after the Republicans concluded theirs.

And, oh brother, is there a difference between the two major parties’ presidential nominees — Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald J. Trump.

I guess I’ll start — and finish for the purposes of this post — with temperament.

Trump’s temperament could be summed up in any number of hideous statements he has made for the past year. Let me single out just one, which he said today.

It had to do with former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an avowed non-friend of Trump. He spoke at the Democratic convention and declared “I’m from New York and I know a con when I see one.”

The “con,” of course is Trump.

So, what was Trump’s response to Bloomberg’s criticism?

He called him “Little Mike,” poking fun at the ex-mayor’s shorter-than-Trump’s physical stature.

There you have it. He cannot argue substantively about anything, so he is left to make ridiculous, petulant statements about someone’s physical attributes.

This well might be the very thing we’ll hear from this individual for the next 100 days until Election Day.

And yet …

This guy continues to draw support from voters who, by golly, are infatuated with someone who “tells it like it is.”

The campaign likely will far surpass the negativity of campaigns conducted during any living American’s memory.

Pay attention, though, the quality of the retorts, rebuttals and rejoinders you’ll hear from Trump and Clinton.

Yep. There’s far more than a dime separating these two candidates.

national news, political news

Now … let’s measure the bounce

th1WB6RMI3

Steve Schmidt is a dedicated Republican strategist and smart fellow who helped manage Sen. John McCain’s campaign for the presidency in 2008.

I believe he has laid out with clarity what American political junkies need to wait for in the next few days.

It is that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton needs a significant post-convention “bounce” to put her in a position to make history by becoming the first woman elected president of the United States.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/clintons-pledge-steady-hand-at-moment-of-reckoning/ar-BBuZdrd?li=BBnb7Kz

Schmidt said on MSNBC tonight that Clinton must lead GOP nominee Donald Trump by a large margin by the “middle of next week” or else “Democrats are going to be in trouble.”

So, we’ll wait for the public opinion surveys that well might tell us where this campaign is heading.

For my money, I thought Clinton’s acceptance of her party’s nomination did what she wanted it to do. I believe she wanted to cast herself as the anti-Trump. She did continue the brightness vs. darkness theme, painting the country in much more vivid hues than the Republicans did at their convention this past week.

Here we go.

Let’s hold on — with both hands — for what looks like will be a wild ride to the finish.

national news, political news

Democrats channel The Gipper

BBuYGTG

I can almost hear the phrase that it’s “morning in America.”

Yes, that well might be the Democrats’ mantra as they plow through the final day of their presidential nominating convention.

“Morning in America.” That was the theme of President Reagan’s re-election campaign in 1984. Democrats sought to paint the country in dark and frightening terms. They failed. Reagan won in a 49-state landslide.

What a change in roles, a reversal of what we’ve seen for so many years.

It’s been Republicans who’ve stood next to The Flag, who’ve spoken to Americans’ basic love of country. This year? That role belongs to the Democrats, who are countering Republican nominee Donald J. Trump’s dark portrait of the country he seeks to lead.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-trump-and-clinton-a-partisan-role-reversal-on-the-state-of-the-nation/2016/07/28/2cd6a51e-54de-11e6-b7de-dfe509430c39_story.html?postshare=9371469750811484&tid=ss_tw

Democrats are about to hear from their presidential nominee, Hillary Rodham Clinton, as they adjourn their convention and hit the campaign trail to wage political battle with Trump and the Republicans.

She’ll speak to her steadiness. She is likely to remind us of some of the statements that have come from Trump — such as how our military is a “disaster,” how our leaders are “stupid,” how the country is lost, desperate, despairing.

I am pretty sure we’re going to hear something quite different tonight from Clinton, who’ll echo the sentiments expressed for the past three days from those who’ve said that America is “still the greatest nation the world has ever known.”

Don’t you remember when Democrats bemoaned our future? Don’t you recall the Republican rejoinder? It was that the nation’s “best days are ahead.” Well, this campaign is going demonstrate how the roles have switched.

Democrats can thank Donald Trump for their resurgence and uninhibited joy they now are able to express about their country.

I guess the question that we’ll get answered once this year’s ballots are counted is whether Americans see their country as a dark place of doom we heard from Republicans or whether they have embraced the optimism and hope we’re hearing from Democrats.

business news, national news, political news

About those tax returns, Mr. Trump

3 Comments

tax-return-form

Let’s revisit an issue that seems to have re-entered the debate over Donald J. Trump’s presidential candidacy.

Tax returns.

The Democrats’ vice-presidential nominee, Tim Kaine, brought the issue up again Wednesday night while accepting his party’s nomination. He asked out loud and in front of the nation why the GOP nominee won’t follow custom and release his tax returns.

He wondered — again out loud — whether Trump is hiding anything from the public whose votes he is seeking.

There’s no law requiring presidential and vice-presidential nominees to reveal their tax returns to the public. It has become a custom since the 1976 election between President Ford and former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter.

For four decades, candidates have released this information for public review.

Kaine and others have wondered many things about Trump’s personal financial information.

* Is he as rich as he says he is? I mean, he boasts constantly about his vast wealth.

* Is he giving sufficient amounts of his income to charity?

* Is he — as Sen. Kaine wondered — paying his “fair share of taxes”?

* Are there some foreign investments that need careful scrutiny? Hasn’t the candidate vowed to “put America first”?

* Does the real estate mogul have some connection with Russia, which has become a serious discussion point in recent days?

Trump has said he can’t release his returns because of an on-going audit. Internal Revenue Service officials say an audit does not preclude someone from releasing his or her returns.

Who’s lying here? I tend to believe the IRS version of what’s allowed and what is not.

Trump’s campaign is based in large part on his business acumen. He says he wants to do for the country what he’s done in private business. If that’s his major selling point, well, it seems to me that the public has a right to examine precisely what he has done in his business life.

The public also has the right to determine whether the income he has earned and the taxes he has paid match up the way they should — and must — for all the rest of us.

The nominee has said he’s “on your side.” Let’s see for ourselves.