Tag Archives: Joe Biden

national news

Who are the undecided?

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Political pundits from coast to coast to coast are pondering the effect of the second and final presidential joint appearance with Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Namely, which of them persuaded the “undecided” voters spread across the land.

I am left to scratch my head and wonder: Who in the world is actually undecided at this stage of a campaign that has been raging for more than two years?

I’ve seen the polls that put Biden ahead by roughly eight to 12 percent across the board. The former vice president’s lead has been steady, if not overwhelming. I can find few undecided voters tabulated in any of the major surveys conducted.

Are there enough undecided voters to swing the balance from Biden to Trump as we head into the final week of this campaign? If there are, then they are lying to pollsters.

I want to remind everyone who actually cares that in 2016, the public opinion actually called it correctly between Trump and Hillary Rodham Clinton. They said the polls would tighten down the stretch; they did. They also said Clinton would lead Trump by two to three percent by Election Day; they had that right, too.

Clinton defeated Trump in what I will call the “actual vote” by nearly two percentage points. Trump, of course, won the presidency because he captured enough Electoral College votes. There you have it. Game over.

Who, though, really is undecided about Trump this late in his term as president? You either endorse the way he has conducted himself or you don’t. Count me as a serious voter who opposes Trump’s reelection. Hell, I opposed his election four years ago with everything I could muster.

I am trying to discern whether there really is enough of an undecided voter cache to claim for Trump to turn a losing re-election effort into a winning one. I don’t see it.

Then again, I didn’t see Hillary Clinton losing to Trump; I don’t feel too badly about that, as virtually no one in America saw Trump scoring a political fluke for the ages.

Get busy, Joe Biden. Time is not your friend.

media news, national news

Sick of the anger

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(Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald John Trump is an angry man.

He is too angry. He is too riven with insecurity. His narcissism is beyond belief and redemption.

I want to speak briefly today about the anger. I am sick of watching him rail against “fake news” that is nothing of the sort. I have had my fill of him contending that the media are against him because, well, they just are. I long ago lost tolerance for his anger-laced epithets against his presidential predecessors, chiefly his immediate predecessor, Barack H. Obama.

I didn’t watch the final debate Thursday night he had with Joe Biden. I didn’t need to watch it to help me decide who to support in this year’s election. I was without TV reception, so I’ll catch it later.

I keep reading that Trump was on his better behavior, that he didn’t interrupt Biden or the debate moderator as he did in that first sh** show.

Imagine getting four more years of Trump’s anger emanating from the White House. I cannot go there. I will not go there. I cannot stand the thought of him being re-elected to a second term.

Joe Biden is not pretending to be Mr. Happy Joy-Joy. He is a serious public official. He also is devoid of the anger that Donald Trump demonstrates every single day.

I want my president to speak to me seriously, but without rancor.

national news

Simple decency, anyone?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I am going to share something that arrived on my Facebook news feed. It comes from a friend of mine in Amarillo, Texas; he is a retired physician.

I will post it here … and then I will get the heck out of the way.

Oh, The Humanity!
I saw something on television yesterday that moved me greatly. Obama was standing outside the Philadelphia football stadium, waiting his turn to address a crowd in their cars in support of Joe Biden. No coat, shirtsleeves rolled up, mask on, clear space around him. On the periphery were a young black woman with a toddler, maybe four, both masked. The mother urged the girl to approach Obama, which she did very hesitantly, looking back to Mom. Obama recognized the problem: he is 6’1″ and a semi deity. So he squatted down to the child’s height, extended his arms and the child ran to him. What moved me was the simple decency of the act. I could easily picture George W., Clinton, George H.W., Reagan or Carter doing the same thing. Trump? No way.
national news

The ‘most important line’

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

CNN political analyst Chris Cillizza listened to Barack Obama peel the bark off Donald Trump’s hypersensitive hide Wednesday and came away with what he believes is the former president’s most cogent line about his successor.

Cillizza writes: “And with Joe and Kamala at the helm, you’re not going to have to think about the crazy things they said every day. And that’s worth a lot. You’re not going to have to argue about them every day. It just won’t be so exhausting.”

As Cillizza noted in his own analysis, the discussion won’t turn on specific policy statements. Instead, he writes, “It’s about a country absolutely exhausted by Trump — his norm-busting, his misinformation, his junior high school bullying, and his tweeting, his tweeting, his tweeting.”

There you go.

I admit to being worn out by Donald Trump. Every single day of the presidency on this individual’s watch has been exercise in “Can he top the previous day?” Sadly, Trump has managed to do it.

I don’t want, as President Obama said, to awaken every morning wondering what in the world the president has done to cast a pall over this nation.

I want normal behavior in the president. I want Joe Biden to restore the dignity that used to personify the office.

national news

Muzzle the Donald? Awesome!

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The presidential debate commission has come up with a capital idea to restore some semblance of order and decorum at the next joint appearance featuring Joseph Biden and Donald Trump.

In a way, I am borderline glad it took a sh** show of the type that unfolded in that first encounter to get the commission to act.

You remember, yes? Trump hogged the air time by interrupting Biden a few dozen times during the 90-minute gabfest, prompting the former VP to say, “Will you shut up, man?” It was the quip of the night, I’m telling ya.

For this event, the commission has agreed to install mute devices on the candidates’ microphones. While the other one is speaking, the candidate who is supposed to listen quietly will be unable to blurt out an epithet. At least the TV audience won’t hear it.

To be honest, I am surprised the Trump campaign team agreed to this change in format. Why the surprise? Because the candidate calls the shots and Trump  doesn’t usually like to be dictated to by some rank debate professional who knows a thing or two about how these events are supposed to unfold.

It should be a show. For me, though, I’ll be unable to watch in real time. My wife and I are RVing it at a site with zero TV reception. I’ll just have to read all about it.

Still, I doff my cap to those who managed to cobble together a joint appearance format that has the potential of being conducted with a modicum of decorum and dignity.

Now, that of course will depend if Donald Trump decides to power through it. Or … he might he walk out as he did on Leslie Stahl, who was trying to interview him for a “60 Minutes” segment on CBS. I am looking forward to seeing how that debacle unraveled.

national news

The end is near

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

OK, settle down. I don’t mean The End, as in … you know.

I mean the end of a presidential campaign is coming up. It’s right around the corner. They are calling this the “election season,” given that so many Americans are voting early.

My wife and I did. So did our sons. We are among the 30 million or so Americans who have decided to cast our ballots early to ensure they get counted, given the suspicion that Donald Trump is trying to lay over the entire electoral system. Think of that for just a moment: The doubt is coming from the individual who took an oath four years to protect the system. Now he wants to fear it, to believe it’s corrupt, that it’s fake, phony.

What a moron!

But the end of the season is coming along. We’re 13 days to go when they shut down the polls from coast to coast to coast and start counting those ballots.

I cannot speak for anyone other than myself. I want former two-term Vice President Joe Biden to win this election just about more than any single candidate I’ve ever wanted to win — with the possible exception of Barack Obama in 2008 and Hillary Clinton in 2016.

My intense desire to see Sen. Obama win the 2008 contest had more to do with the historic nature of his election than his opponent, the late Sen. John McCain, for whom I had great respect given the suffering he endured during wartime in defense of this country. Eight years later the intensity ratcheted up again as Hillary Clinton sought to defeat Trump. I believed then and I do today that she is eminently qualified to serve as president.

Now it’s Joe Biden who has earned my undivided attention. I have been aware of him since he first won election to the U.S. Senate in 1972. I knew about the tragedy that befell him as he prepared to take office with the death of his wife and daughter in a motor vehicle crash.

He served in the Senate with distinction until Barack Obama tapped him to run as VP in 2008.

And yes, I am aware of his missteps, such as his failed 1988 presidential campaign when Biden got caught copying the rhetoric of a British politician.

Joe Biden is the man of the hour today. I want him to win bigly. I want Trump to be shown the door and I want Joseph Biden to be given the chance to deliver on his pledge to restore dignity to the presidency.

I want this season to end.

Donald Trump

Trump might concede … really!

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I am going out on a limb just a bit with the following observation, so I hope the limb doesn’t break.

I am placing a scintilla of faith that Donald Trump, if he loses the election to Joe Biden, will concede the presidency to his challenger. He won’t necessarily do it in the type of fashion to which we have become accustomed, but he is likely to bow out.

I say this understanding that I am likely to be laughed out of the proverbial room. I’ll stick with my story.

Trump has blathered and bloviated incessantly about what he believes is a corrupt election process. He said he would contest any result that produced a winner other than himself. For that matter, 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has advised Biden against conceding a result if Trump ends up winning. I don’t believe Joe Biden will heed HRC’s goofy advice.

As for Trump, we all know he appears desperate to remain in power. Those who know him best advise the rest of us never to blow off something he says, that he is a man of his word. So, when he threatens to challenge an electoral result, we should take him seriously.

I stand by the notion that Donald Trump is as phony as the university he once pitched and is as phony as the billions of dollars he claims to possess in his financial portfolio. He is as phony as the success he touted on his way to winning the 2016 presidential election and he is as phony as pandering to the evangelical Christian movement that continues to hang on his every prevarication.

Do I think he actually would go through with a challenge if Joe Biden manages to score an indisputable Electoral College and actual vote victory next month?

No. I do not.

I believe instead he would make some sort of concession speech that acknowledges that Joe Biden won the election, but that he would promise to keep tweeting his brains out for as long as he is president … and well beyond.

As I’ve asked in previous proclamations, don’t hold me to this as a firm prediction. I am just going to harbor a glimmer of faith that some semblance of reason might prevail in that numbskull’s noggin.

State news

Can it be, that Texas is state to watch on Election Night?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

When someone as experienced — or “grizzled” as some might suggest — a politics watcher as Dan Balz speaks to matters political, I am inclined to heed his wisdom.

So … the venerable Washington Post political analyst has said that Texas might emerge as the nation’s most intriguing state during this Election Season.

How so? How can this once boring Republican bastion become such a hot spot for political pundits around the world? How can Texas possibly hold the key to whomever gets elected president of the United States next month?

Balz says we got a glimpse into a possible near future with Democrat Beto O’Rourke’s near-victory over GOP U.S. Sen. Ted “The Cruz Missile” Cruz in 2018. Balz figures O’Rourke’s close finish is harbinger of things to come. One of those “things” might be the reemergence of the Democratic Party in a state that has been locked in a GOP vise-grip for the past three decades.

The state’s changing demographics have nearly everything to do with it, Balz figures. Texas is becoming increasingly Latino. Indeed, the Latino population is on track to become the largest ethnic group in the state. Latino voters, therefore, might be inclined to vote more Democratic than, say, Texas Anglos.

I will this offer this no-brainer prediction: If Joe Biden manages to pick off Texas’s 38 electoral votes next month — which few pundits predict will occur — there is no way on God’s Earth that Donald Trump can win re-election.

Indeed, Biden is running neck and neck with Trump in this state, which in itself is a sign of big time change in Texas.

As Balz wrote in a column published in the Houston Chronicle: Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, said Trump “catalyzed” the demographic changes that already were at work. “If we say what explains why Texas has become much more competitive in 2018 and 2020, it’s Donald Trump’s presence in the White House. He is a drag on the Republican Party.”

The intrigue with Texas, though, stretches down the ballot, where Democrats might pilfer more offices held traditionally by Republicans. So, as Dan Balz notes, stay tuned for these ballots to be counted. There well could be a surprise or two to be revealed.

national news

Deja vu? Um, yep!

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden holds onto a significant national lead over Donald Trump.

Time to celebrate? Pop the bubbly corks? Toast the dawn of a new age — or the return of a more decent age in politics?

Hold on. Democrats traveled down this road before, just four years ago. Remember that “President” Hillary Rodham Clinton led Trump at this stage of the 2016 campaign. Oops. Then she lost.

Trump eked out a fluke win, losing the actual vote by nearly 3 million ballots but slithering into office with a narrow Electoral College win.

What must the Democrats do to avoid a repeat of that monstrosity of a result? Here’s one idea from the Peanut Gallery: Keep Biden on road and do not let up one little, teeny tiny bit.

Biden’s message has been consistent. He wants to unite the nation. He can deliver on that hope. Trump has given up any pretense of unity as he struggles, scrambles and flails in his attempt to hold onto power. He campaigns as the grievance candidate and from my vantage point, it isn’t going over with the vast segment of the nation that opposes his re-election.

Hang tough, Joe. Keep the fire burning. Keep reminding us of the terrible job The Donald has done. Speak to the majority of the nation that appears to long for a return to decency, dignity and decorum in the nation’s most exalted public office.

national news

Trumpkins hang tough … astounding!

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I must admit to a certain astonishment as I watch Donald Trump seek re-election as president of the United States.

It comes as I watch those members of the Trumpkin Corps continue to make excuses for their candidate’s astounding behavior. I admit to watching Trump at those rallies he stages and am shocked and amazed at how little substance he offers. Indeed, his rants and riffs are bereft of any policy initiatives.

He prances and preens in front of those adoring fans of his as if he’s a TV star … oh, wait! I forgot that he once was one once upon a time. He mocks Joe Biden because the former vice president chooses to wear a mask while speaking in public. Hey, we do have a pandemic among us that is still killing Americans by the hundreds every day.

Trump gripes about the news coverage he gets. He has taken aim at the moderator of the next “debate” scheduled for later this week with Biden, NBC reporter Kristen Welker.

Trump continues to deploy his Twitter account relentlessly, ad nauseum.

And still … the Trumpkins out there think he’s just the bee’s knees, the greatest thing since pockets on shirts, the alleged “messiah,” the guy who “tells it like it is.”

They ignore the president’s failure to respond initially to the COVID-19 pandemic. They dismiss Trump’s unwillingness to challenge Russian loon Vladimir Putin for placing bounties on our American fighting men and women and paying real money to Taliban terrorists for killing them on the battlefield. They ignore his un-Christian behavior at every turn yet some of them keep suggesting that God dispatched Trump onto the campaign trail in 2016 to save the nation.

This individual has created a cult of personality the likes of which I have never seen in this great nation of ours. He cuddles (proverbially) with murderous dictators and denigrates our own intelligence professionals. Trump recently said FBI director Christopher Wray “isn’t doing a very good job” because Wray says white supremacists pose an existential threat to this nation. He challenges the expert advice given him and the nation by the world’s pre-eminent infectious disease guru, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who – for the life of me I don’t understand this – continues to serve at the pleasure of this goofball.

Through it all Trump sways the faithful who just cannot bring themselves to acknowledge what the rest of us have seen all along. It is that their guy is as phony as they come.