Monthly Archives: July 2016

national news, political news

Now … let’s measure the bounce

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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 muchĀ more vividĀ 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

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

Yes, that well might be the Democrats’ mantra as theyĀ 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 toĀ 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.

local news

Puppy Tales, Part 23

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Dog ownership is a bit more complicated than cat ownership.

You mommies and daddies of puppies know of which I speak.

Toby the Puppy went to the doctor this morning. He suddenly had lost his appetite. He was still full of his usual spunk and affection. His disposition was as sunny — and goofy — as always.

He just wasn’t eating. He also was spitting up a little bit. It was clear. Nothing foreboding in whatever it was he was coughing up.

With our kitties, we might not have panicked. Well, we didn’t actually panic last night and this morning. But we felt strangely compelled to take him to the doctor’s office this morning. We didn’t have an appointment, so we had to wait for the veterinarian to “work him in” between surgeries and other appointments.

We got to the doc’s office when it opened. The doc showed up a few minutes later. A few minutes after that, they called for Toby.

The vet tech asked: What do you want to do? I asked: What are the options? Blood work, she said, or we could just “treat him symptomatically.”

Let’s go with the blood work and take it from there.

Twenty minutes later, we got the results. He’s fine, the doctor said. A little dehydrated. He’s just got some kind ofĀ bug.

He got a shot for the nausea and a shot of fluid that would be absorbed into his system to hydrate him.

I went to work this afternoon and then returned home.

“Tell Daddy you’re feeling better,” my wife instructed Toby as I walked into the house.

He jumped all over me. Yes, he’s better.

So help me, this puppy is likeĀ caring forĀ a baby all over again.

Well … almost.

 

business news, national news, political news

About those tax returns, Mr. Trump

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Let’s revisitĀ 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.

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

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

*Ā 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.

national news, political news

Democrats do their job … on both fronts

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Presidential nominating conventions historically aim to do two things.

They seek to paint their nominee as more qualified than the other party’s nominee and they seek to illustrate why the other guy is the wrong choice for the country.

It must be said: The Democratic National Convention — to my ears — as accomplished its mission.

The Democrats brought out the all-stars Wednesday night to do their job.

Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is unfit for the job he seeks. You heard it time and time and time again from the big hitters in the heart of the Democrats’ lineup.

Former Defense Secretary and CIA Director Leon Panetta said Trump has no plan to make us safe; Vice President Joe Biden reminded listeners that Trump has always put himself first; vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine wondered out loud whether Trump is hiding anything by refusing to release his tax returns.

Perhaps the big surprise was that former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a self-described independent and billionaire businessman, told us how Trump parlayed his inheritance into a business that has resulted in repeated failure.

Then came the cleanup hitter, President Barack Obama, who well might have given the speech of his political career as he tore into Trump, reminding voters that Americans comprise a nation of people who don’t want to be “ruled.” The country is a family of achievers, believers and optimists, he said. The darkness and dystopia painted by Trump and the Republicans have no basis in reality.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/winners-and-losers-from-the-third-night-of-the-democratic-convention/ar-BBuYgTk?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp

Oh, and then the big hitters turned their love toward Hillary Clinton.

And it was Obama who told the cheering crowd that no candidate ever has been more qualified to serve as president than the party’s newest presidential nominee. Her husband, the 42nd president, cheered right along with the rest of them.

Political conventions often in recent times have turned in snooze fests. Not this year. Both of them generated their share of excitement, unpredictability and tension.

Trump got a decent bounce out of his GOP convention. It’s Clinton’s turn now to wait to see how the public responds to her event.

Her task tonight, though, is h-u-u-u-g-e.

She’s got to follow the president of the United States.

national news, political news

Trump’s dark picture turns on beacon for Democrats

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Vice President Joe Biden just finished speaking to the Democratic National Convention crowd.

I now shall echo something that MSNBC’s Chris Matthews just said about Biden’s speech. It is that Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump’s dark, foreboding and gloomy picture of America has given Democrats license to yell “USA! USA!” at their national convention.

It’s “cool to be corny,” said Matthews, who added that Trump has “opened the door” for Democrats to cheer their country.

What does all — or any — of this mean to the outcome of the election?

I haven’t a clue.

All of what we’re hearing tonight and likely Thursday at the DNC is that theĀ nation that Republicans have described — a country in decline, with a military that’s a “disaster” — is one that I do not recognize.

national news, political news

Heed this guy Kristol, Democrats

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William Kristol doesn’t want Donald J. Trump to be president of the United States.

The founder of the Weekly Standard conservative publication has been at the forefront of the Never Trump movement. He’s a neo-conservative ally of the Bush family and is a former chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle.

It’s with that backdrop that I offer his warning to Democrats: Do not take Trump lightly.

I don’t know if he’s singing Trump’s praises or is seeking to gin up Democratic Party enthusiasm behind their nominee, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Kristol told Politico: ā€œShe’s up like 5 points over Trump, who has made all these mistakes and he has more room to grow, I think, because he could reassure people if he runs a semi-intelligent, semi-normal campaign, whereas what’s she going to do? I mean, there’s no reintroduction of Hillary Clinton that could be possibly be made at this point, I think.ā€

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/bill-kristol-democrats-trump-226089#ixzz4FdvbzfvU

My hunch is that Clinton’s team and the Democratic Party brass has no intention of taking Trump lightly as they commence their campaign this fall.

Still, it doesn’t hurt to hear such advice from someone on the other side who, truth be told, is a sort of closeted ally.

As Politico reported: “Kristol, like most mainstream Republicans, underestimated Trump badly and assumed he would burn off like a bottom-shelf casino hangover and reason would prevail.”

So far, though, reason hasn’t yet prevailed in the Republican Party, as Trump’s nomination for president has shown. It’s that lack of reason, in my view, which should give Democrats reason to go full-bore after the GOP nominee.

national news, political news

Trump keeps straying over ‘the line’

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I’m trying to process this latest bit of news regarding the Republican Party’s nominee for president of the United States.

Donald J. Trump — if I understand this correctly — has called on Russia to locate some missing e-mails belonging to his Democratic Party opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton. He has suggested the Russians shouldĀ hack into her e-mails, those that were deleted from her personal account while she was serving as secretary of state.

If they do, Trump said, they would be rewarded by the American media.

I’m left to wonder: Has a major-party presidential nominee just asked a major geopolitical foe of this country — of his country — to put our national security into potential jeopardy?

Aren’t there charges that could be filed in relation to such utterly reckless and dangerous rhetoric coming from someone who’s about to start receiving classified briefings from the president’s National Security Council?

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-calls-on-russia-to-find-hillary-clinton%E2%80%99s-missing-emails/ar-BBuXlAC?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

If the Russians were to hack into some cyber storage area where those e-mails might be kept, what on Earth else would they be able to find?

Clinton and the Democrats are calling Trump a “dangerous” individual. They are echoing the language uttered during the primary season by his Republican foes.

This irresponsible suggestion by the GOP presidential nominee only demonstrates the grave danger he would pose as our head of government.

Unbelievable!

media news, national news, political news

O’Reilly: Slaves were ‘well-fed’ … seriously?

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Bill O’Reilly once taught history to students.

I wonder if he imparted this little tidbit to the young’nsĀ  gathered in his classroom, which is that the slaves who helped build the White House were “well-fed” and well-cared for.

I also wonder if he told them the rest of it, which is that under federal law at the time, they still were considered to be “personal property” of their owners, that they were three-fifths human and that they were no better off than, say, farm animals.

O’Reilly made his feelings known about slavery the other day after first lady Michelle Obama told the Democratic National Convention about living in the house built by slaves. She spoke also of the pride she feels that her daughters have been able to play on the White House lawn, given the slave labor that went into building the structure.

O’Reilly just had to chime on in his “O’Reilly Factor” cable show by seeming to suggest that slave life was OK because the slaves’ masters fed them well and gave them “decent lodging.”

Well, I feed my dog well, too. My puppy lives in a nice home; he’s comfortable. But for crying out loud, he’s still a dog!

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/michelle-obama-bill-oreilly-fact-check-white-house-built-slaves-well-fed-decent-lodgings#.V5jR0-nbQk4.twitter

I likely shouldn’t give a damn what Bill O’Reilly thinks. The issue, though, is that many Americans do give a damn.

I have members of my family who glom onto his commentary. They worship the guy. Thus, if O’Reilly says it, why it justĀ has to be true … or so these family members have actually told me.

It might be that the crux of O’Reilly’s critique of the first lady’s comments were that slaves were among the workers who helped build the White House, that others were part of the construction crew as well.

But geez, man, why suggest that their living conditions somehow justifies the ownership of human beings as pieces of property?

national news, political news

Election will be decided by the Battle of the Bounces

WATERLOO, IA - SEPTEMBER 27: Voting booths are set up for early voting at the Black Hawk County Courthouse on September 27, 2012 in Waterloo, Iowa. Early voting starts today in Iowa where in the 2008 election 36 percent of voters cast an early ballot. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Donald J. Trump got a “bounce” out of the Republican National Convention this past week.

The RealClearPolitics average of polls tells us that Trump is in the lead by a little bit.

This week, it’s the Democrats’ turn and that party’s nominee, Hillary Rodham Clinton, figures to get a bounce from the convention that has nominated her.

The question then becomes: Whose bounce will be greater?

Followed by this question: Will the candidate with the bigger bounce be able to sustain it until Nov. 8?

From my perch here in the middle of Flyover Country — in the most Republican region of arguably the most Republican state in the country — my gut is telling me Clinton’s bounce will be significant once the Democratic convention is gaveled to a close.

Sure, we’ve got two more days to go before the end of this phase of the presidential election campaign. Anything can happen, I suppose.

Remember, too, that this is the most unconventional election season in anyone’s memory — as Donald Trump’s nomination by the GOP illustrates so dramatically.

Let’s just follow the bounce.