Category Archives: political news

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Rove: Trump as GOP nominee would be disastrous

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Karl Rove came to Amarillo to hawk a book and to speak to an organization called the Senate 31 Club, which is run by the office of state Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo.

Seliger inherited the club from his predecessor, the late Teel Bivins.

And today, he brought in the man known around the country as “Bush’s Brain,” as Rove helped elect George W. Bush twice as Texas governor and twice more as president of the United States.

Rove is considered one of the smarter political operatives around.

His view of the crazyĀ race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination?

He got right to the point today during a luncheon in the packed main dining room at the Amarillo Country Club in which he talked about his latest book, “The Triumph of William McKinley.” Seliger asked Rove to offer a comment on the current campaign

“If Donald Trump wins the nomination his chances of being elected president are slim and none,” Rove said.

The real estate mogul/reality TV star’s poll negatives are the highest among any of the remaining GOP candidates, Rove said. He continues to trail the still-presumed Democratic frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, in every poll taken.

I found it interesting that Rove would bring up Trump’s four bankruptcy filings, suggesting — to me, at least — that they will be factor that kills Trump’s chances of ever attaining the Oval Office.

The Democrats, Rove said, “will find every paint contractor, lawn care person, anyone who got screwed in these bankruptcies and put them on TV.”

If it’s Trump leading the Republican ticket this fall, the party stands a good chance of losing control of the Senate. The key race there? Florida, said Rove, which will have an open Senate seat because Marco Rubio — who’s also running for president — isn’t seeking re-election.

“If we don’t win Florida, we don’t keep the Senate,” Rove said.

Rove didn’t get into why Trump continues to lead the pack. He didn’t explain the candidate’s curious appeal to the “base” of a once-great political party.

I’m continuing to wonder whether that curious thing called “political gravity” will pull Trump back to Earth. However, given what’s transpired so far in this wild-and-crazy campaign, I’m not willing to wager that the Republican Party that many of us remember will be able to gather its wits in time to stop Donald J. Trump.

national news, political news

Bloomberg giving Democrats the jitters

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 26: Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg speaks on stage during the opening ceremony during Day One of the 2013 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 26, 2013 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Michael Bloomberg is creating a certain buzz as the presidential campaign starts to gear up.

The former New York mayor is pondering whether to run for president as an independent.

Not surprisingly, Democrats are trying to talk him out of it. Why? They consider him a potential spoiler in the party’s bid to retain control of the White House.

My own hunch is that Bloomberg won’t run if the Democrats appear set to nominate Hillary Rodham Clinton for president.

If it’s Sen. Bernie Sanders? And if the Republicans nominate Donald Trump? Well, then it becomes dicier for everyone involved in the election . . . in both parties.

This brings back memories of Ross Perot. Perot, the Dallas billionaire, ran twice for the presidency, in 1992 and 1996. Republicans keep saying that Perot’s strength decimated GOP President George H.W. Bush’s chances for re-election, handing the election to Arkansas Democratic Gov. Bill Clinton.

The jury, though, really is still out on that. I’ve seen plenty of evidence that suggests that Clinton would have defeated Bush that year without Perot on the ballot, that Perot attracted nominally more Republicans than Democrats, but that his candidacy wasn’t necessarily decisive.

See analysis here.

Bloomberg’s entry into this race as an independent is hard to gauge.

He’s a friend of Hillary Clinton. He once was a friend of Trump . . . before the two men got tangled up in some business deal.

Given the utter madness that has enveloped the 2016 campaign to date, I am not willing to assume a single thing about what Bloomberg might do and what effect it will have.

Let’s just chalk this up to one more nod to the craziness that’s brought us to this point.

 

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Trump wins by not showing up

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And the winner of last night’s Republican Party presidential debate is . . . ?

The guy who wasn’t there.

That would be Donald J. Trump.

Why did he win? Because he’s the individual most of American politicalĀ pundit classĀ is talking about this morning.

This individual’s ability to manipulate the media, those in the know, the public is simply astonishing. It’s the sole reason he remains the Republican frontrunner for the party’s presidential nomination.

His ability to control the media narrative, of course, has not a single thing to do with any single idea he’s put forth. Trump’s showmanship is beyond belief.

He staged a rally for veterans while the rest of the GOP field was bashing each others’ brains in. Trump even lured a couple of his rivals from the “undercard” debate — Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum — to the vets rally to yammer about how they, too,Ā were going to be faithful to veterans’ concerns and needs.

The veterans rally, of course, was a plug for Trump and had little to do, really, with the issue of veterans care. Every American already wants to do all they can to care for the veterans who are returning home from war. It has become a mantra — as it should.

Trump’s manipulation of this event, though, is what is so astonishing and is what gives this guy his political staying power.

The record is full of events that would have doomed a candidate who didn’t have Trump’s self-promotion skill set. The insults he has hurled at his foes, at media representatives, at foreign leaders, at voters themselves would have sent any other candidate to the proverbial showers long ago.

Not Trump.

He’s still standing at the head of the line. He boycotted a GOP debate because he’s feuding with one of the moderators.

But we’re still talking about him.

The guy’s a genius at one thing . . .Ā and it has nothing at all to do with becoming president of the United States of America.

 

media news, national news, political news

Media need an intervention for poll addiction

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Frank Bruni has it right.

The New York Times columnist has declared that the American media are addicted to polls. They can’t report on them enough. The issues driving the Democratic and Republican presidential primary campaigns? Who needs ’em!

We need to write about polls.

Broadcast outlets lead with them. Print media report on them constantly.

Bruni noted that during the Christmas-to-New Year break, Iowa voters were polled 11 times about their presidential preferences. The media reported on those polls dutifully.

The most hilarious element of all this is how media types keep bemoaning the fact that the media cover these campaigns like “horse races.”

I’ll admit that I am one of those who become fixated occasionally by polls.

Some of them are quite ridiculous, actually. National polls showing voter preferences between party primary candidates present one example. I’ve noted in this blog before how meaningless those polls are, given that the candidates — say, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders — won’t face each other nationally; they are running state by state.

But hey, let’s poll voters nationally anyway.

Perhaps we can lay some of the blame for this fixation on Donald J. Trump, the leading GOP candidate for president. He loves polls. They’re huuuuge, as he says often . . . especially when they place him in the lead. Polls that place him behind someone else? Meaningless. They don’t count. Who cares about ’em?

Bruni notes in his essay, though, that Trump often starts his stump speeches off with results from the latest polls.

The media then report it.

I hope to hear itĀ from a major newspaper newsroom or a broadcast/cable TV studio: Stop us before we report on polls again!

legal news, national news, political news

Let’s ask High Court to settle Cruz eligibility

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The U.S. Supreme Court is in session.

Sure, the justices have plenty on their individual and collective plates. How about giving them one more issue to decide?

Let’s petition the court to decide whether U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is constitutionally eligible to run for president of the United States.

An essay in Salon suggests that upon closer examination, Cruz’s “natural born” credentials are showing signs of weakness. I’m not sure I buy that notion. I believe he’s eligible to run, despite being born in Canada; hisĀ father is Cuban, but his mother is American. U.S. law granted young Teddy citizenship the moment he came into this world.

But the question is swirling nonetheless over whether Cruz qualifies as a “natural born” U.S. citizen.

What harm can be done by asking the court to take up the issue? It comprises a conservative majority. Oh, wait. The court is non-political, yes?

What might happen if the highest court in America decides against hearing the case? That could be construed as a tacit endorsement of the notion that the Texas Republican senator is, indeed, eligible to seek the presidency.

I don’t believe the issue is a terribly complicated one to settle once and for all.

The federal law that grants citizenship to anyone born to an American citizen — regardless of where the birth occurs — either is constitutional or it isn’t.

I believe Ted Cruz is qualified to seek the presidency.

Furthermore, I also believe it’s time for the nine men and women who sit on the U.S. Supreme Court to decide this issue — for keeps!

Just one more point . . .

Cruz criticized the court this past year for its narrow ruling allowing gay marriage, saying that “five unelected judges” shouldn’t be deciding what’s legal and what isn’t.

Would the senatorĀ say the same thing if, say, five unelected judges rule in his favor on the “natural born” citizenship question?

military news, national news, political news

GOP fretting like crazy over Trump, Cruz

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The drama being played out in the inner circles of the Republican Party national network is among the most fascinating things I’ve ever seen.

Two men have emerged as co-favorites for the GOP presidential nomination — and the party brass is none too happy about either of them.

Donald J. Trump has managed to insult his way to the top of the still-large GOP heap; U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas antagonized his Senate colleagues to the point that it’s no generally understood that, well, no one on Capitol Hill likes, or even respects, the junior senator.

Republican statesmen, such as Robert Dole, say a Cruz nomination would bring “cataclysmic” losses to the party; it could cost Republicans control of the Senate and bring Democrats within striking distance of getting control of the House.

Aw, but today’s firebrands label the likes of former Sen. Dole as “has been,” “loser,” “RINO.”

That’s their view. It’s not mine.

Trump is now calling himself a conservative. His prior public statements about such things as abortion and universal health care betray his claim, according to so-called “true conservatives.”

But there he is. Looking down from atop the GOP heap. He’s going after Cruz’s eligibility to run for president. He’s feuding with a broadcast journalist. He’s managed to insult Iowa voters, Hispanics, Muslims, our allies abroad, every working politician in Washington, D.C., women, reporters and editors . . . and others I can’t even think of at the moment.

Hey, it’s all OK with those who think Trump is “fresh.”

Wow!

As for Ted Cruz, well, he took his senatorial oath in January 2013 and began hunting for every open microphone he could find. He had his presidential ambitions planned out even before winning a contest in his first political election . . . ever!

He’s trampled over Senate colleagues, broken long-established Senate rules of decorum by calling the body ‘s majority leader a liar. He questioned whether decorated Vietnam War veterans, such as Secretary of State John Kerry and former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, had a true appreciation for the military; and this came from someone who never donned a military uniform!

The Republican Party has a problem, all right.

What will the GOP do? How will it denyĀ either of these men its presidential nomination?

Given that so few of us have ever seen such intraparty angst, I’m afraid the Grand Old Party is on its own.

Good luck, ladies and gents.

 

national news, political news

‘Mano a mano,’ Sen. Cruz?

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So-o-o-o, Ted Cruz wants to take on Donald J. Trump in a one-on-one debate, eh?

He said yesterday he is willing to go “mano a mano” with The Trumpster, a fellow Republican presidential candidate.

The young Republican U.S. senator from Texas is misusing a Spanish phrase that has come to be translated loosely to mean “man to man.”

It actually means “hand to hand.” I would think the son of a Cuban immigrant knows better.

Which means that Cruz is challenging Trump to a fistfight. Or perhapsĀ a fight withĀ clubs. Or brass knuckles.

I get that he means face to face, man to man. But come on, Ted. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

Frankly, I believe I would pay real American money to see these two fellows actually go mano a mano.

 

 

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Sanders support may be elusive

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A word of caution is due for those who believe U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders has some serious momentum building as he seeks the Democratic presidential nomination.

I’ve seen the polls that show Sanders’ huge base of support among young people. He leads Hillary Clinton by wide margins among voters who are 25 years of age and younger.

That’s the good news — from Sanders’ standpoint.

The bad news? Young people don’t vote with nearly the same intensity as their elders.

I’ve seen the data locally. Potter and Randall County elections officials sent out data that suggest that younger voters didn’t turn out as many folks hoped they wouldĀ in the November municipal election. Older folks turned out — as they usually do.

It’s a pattern we’ve seen over many decades at many political levels. Whether voting for president or mayor or sheriff, young Americans aren’t dedicated to voting.

This is why I remain dubious about the support Sanders and his campaign brass keepĀ hyping as he seeks to peel away the presidential nomination from the one-time prohibitive Democratic Party favorite.

The Iowa caucus is coming up. Sanders said a large turnoutĀ will bode well for his chances. True enough. A large turnout can be made more possible by the participation of young voters.

History, though, isn’t on Sanders’ side.

 

national news, political news

Who’s afraid of Megyn Kelly?

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The individual who vows to stare down Russian strongman Vladimir Putin while making America “great again”Ā appears to haveĀ come down with a case of the quivers.

Donald J. Trump’s tough talk about how he’ll make Mexico pay for the wall, how he’ll take the oil from the Islamic State and how he’ll make Russia toe the line around the world has backed out of a debate with several other Republican presidential candidates.

His reason? Well, he hasn’t exactly told us.

Trump bails out

He calls one of the debate moderators, Fox News’ Megyn Kelly a “lightweight.” He said she doesn’t like him and then adds that he doesn’t like her, either.

Trump said Kelly was mean to him in that first Fox-sponsored debate when she asked about his views of women.

Trump’s latest stunt has demonstrated beyond a doubt — as he’s done so many times before — that he is totally, utterly and categorically unfit to become the next Leader of the Free World.

How on God’s Earth do we take this guy seriously? I don’t, but hey, that’s no surprise. What still amazesĀ me, though, is that others continue to tell those ubiquitous pollsters how much they love and adore this clown who’s so willing to stick it in the eye of those who adhere to that dreaded “political correctness.”

But he just can’t bring himself to stand in front of an American broadcast journalist and answer tough questions.

Vlad Putin, wherever he is today, is likely laughing out loud . . . at Trump.

 

media news, national news, political news

Trump to skip debate because . . . of moderator

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What in the name of all that is petulant do we make of this latest development in one of the strangest political campaigns in anyone’s memory?

Donald J. Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican Party’s presidential nominating campaign, is going to skip a GOP debate coming up Thursday, according to his campaign manager.

Why? He doesn’t like the moderator. He doesn’t think the moderator, Fox News’s Megyn Kelly, will treat him fairly.

It’s all about the moderator.

Trump is demonstrating a level of narcissism that, frankly, takes my breath away.

During the first GOP debate, Kelly started the questioning by asking Trump about some statements he’d made about women. It went downhill from there. In a hurry!

And it hasn’t gotten any better.

Trump now is sounding like a candidate who actually fears a journalist who — during that first debate — was just doing her job.

OK, Trump won’t say he fears Kelly. It just looks that way.

This is astonishing in the extreme. A man who says he wants to become commander in chief of the world’s most powerful military establishment, who wants to become head of state of the world’s most exceptional nation, who wants to tackle the most difficult problems any human being ever can confront is now going to boycott a debate because he doesn’t like the moderator.

Amazing.

I am done projecting that the latest Trump stunt spells the end of his campaign. I thought that moment had come many times before, only to be proven wrong by those poll numbers and the so-called “loyalty” of Trump’s supporters.

They have confounded almost everyone with an interest in this presidential campaign.

Me included.

Trump is fond of calling his opponents and critics “losers.”

He now wears that label himself. My guess is that he’s so very proud of himself. For what? For chickening out of facing difficult questions from a broadcast journalist.