Tag Archives: GOP debate

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.

 

political news

Trump in everyone’s sights now

donald

Donald Trump relishes the role of front runner.

He’s the man to beat — at the moment — in the wild Republican Party race for president of the United States.

And soon, he and the other top-tier GOP candidates are going to discuss their respective campaigns on national TV at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif.

Who has the most to gain from this?

My hunch is that it’s Carly Fiorina, who wowed ’em at the “happy hour debate” broadcast this past month. She has worked her way onto the first-team stage. Trump has made fun of her appearance, in addition to other GOP foes.

Trump the target

I have no clue how this is going to shake out when the debate ends.

My hope is that someone in that pack of contenders can reveal to the Republican Party faithful that their guy — Trump — is the sham they say he is.

I’ve said all along there is no way on God’s green Earth that the Republican Party is going to nominate this clown to run against whomever the Democrats nominate next year.

But I haven’t done well on these projections this year. Then again, I don’t feel too lonely. Few other observers have predicted this campaign would take this turn, either.

My wife and I are on the road and we might not watch it live. I’ll wait for the reviews in the morning.

I’m hoping for the best … however it turns out.

national news, political news

Trump keeps drawing me back

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Donald Trump keeps reminding me that promises to consider ignoring him are hard to keep.

I said something earlier about whether I should consider imposing a moratorium on commenting on Trump’s blathering. Then I turn on the TV news talk shows I like watching and what do I see? Commentators, analysts, “strategists” from both parties and other so-called experts talking about Trump.

How can I remain silent? How can I ignore the things that have captured all these political junkies’ attention?

I cannot do it.

Trump called a press conference today, his first meeting with the media since the Fox News-sponsored joint appearance this past week.

Did he offer anything of substance? No.

Did Trump give a specific example of how he plans to create more jobs than any politician in history? No.

Did he offer any regret for the over-the-top statements he’s made about, oh, women? No.

He did, however, manage to poke fun at the U.S. ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy. Interesting, yes? As Joan Walsh of Salon magazine noted in a tweet, he could have cited the political process associated with ambassadorships in general, but he chose to single out the late President Kennedy’s daughter.

But he said he adores women.

Trump said the polls are giving political cover and allowing him to keep shooting off his mouth in this careless manner.

Yes they are, Donald.

For now.

 

media news

Good for you, Megyn Kelly

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This isn’t a perfect world.

There. Having stipulated that, one element of a perfect world — would we ever achieve it — would be that journalists wouldn’t become part of the story they cover.

I prefer to think of journalists as, say, the football referee you never notice during the heat of the game. So it should be with those who cover the news.

Unfortunately, and this is more true about broadcast journalists than those who work in the print media, we see occasions when journalists become part of the story.

Stand up, Megyn Kelly. Take a bow.

Kelly had the temerity during this past week’s Republican presidential joint appearance, to ask Donald Trump about statements he’d made about women. He has referred to them in highly disparaging terms. Trump tried to slough it off by saying he referred only to Rosie O’Donnell. The crowd laughed.

Kelly, though, persisted with her question, which was a patently fair and pertinent question to the leading GOP presidential candidate.

Trump didn’t see it that way, saying the next day she had blood in her eyes and had “blood coming from her wherever.” The statement was reprehensible on its face. Republicans and Democrats alike have condemned the comment and demanded Trump’s apology to Kelly.

He then said Kelly, a Fox News anchor who was one of three network moderators at the Fox-sponsored joint appearance, should apologize to him for asking the question in the first place.

Kelly, though, said she won’t apologize for anything. She said she was employing “good journalism” in seeking an answer to a relevant question.

None of this should be about a journalist, whose job ought to be to stay out of the way. Megyn Kelly asked an appropriate question of a leading candidate for the presidency and got a proverbial pie in the face for doing her job.

 

national news, political news

How might Trump bow out?

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This might require a bit of imagination, but I’ll pose the question anyway.

How do you suppose Donald Trump is going to end his futile campaign to be nominated by the Republican Party for president of the United States?

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/donald-trump-the-cringe-worthy-crossroads?cid=sm_fb_maddow

Much of the chatter now is that Trump’s latest detestable insult — delivered to Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly — has put his campaign at a “crossroads.” Does he continue on or does he start looking for a possible way to bow out?

The latest polling information suggests he hasn’t been hurt by that hideous statement about Kelly having “blood coming out of her wherever.” Kelly had asked Trump to respond to contentions that he’s a sexist. That particular statement from Trump tells us all that Kelly’s question — which she posed during this past week’s joint appearance with the 10 leading GOP candidates — was spot on.

Candidates often merely suspend their campaigns when things go badly. In this social media age, one forum might be to just put out an Internet message, post it on Twitter, or Facebook, or on some website.

Then they’re gone.

Trump? He isn’t wired that way.

My guess is that once his support begins to crater — and I believe it will — that he’ll make some kind of big show about it, blaming everyone under the sun except himself for the amazingly stupid things he has said about fellow politicians, media representatives, other GOP candidates, the president of the United States … you name it, he’s hurled an insult in every direction possible.

I’ll be waiting with bated breath. Something tells me his withdrawal from the race might be worth the price of admission all by itself.

 

 

national news, political news, Uncategorized

Blue suits: uniform of the day

blue suits

My wife likely would be the first — and maybe the last — person to tell you I have no business being a fashion consultant.

She reminds me on occasion that I tend to dress like a stereotypical journalist — whatever that means. I’m often a bit rumpled and not quite “pulled together,” to use her description.

Still, am I the only Republican presidential “debate” viewer Thursday night who noticed that all 10 members of the GOP “A Team,” the guys at the top of the polls, were dressed essentially the same?

With the obvious exception of Ben Carson (third from left in the picture), all these guys even kinda/sorta looked the same. Most of them have dark-ish hair — although Sen. Rand Paul’s (second from right) style is sort of, um, one of a kind.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s ‘do stands alone.

It seems as though they all talked to the same media consultant who issued the memo: blue suit, plain shirt, red or blue tie; Old Glory lapel flag pins are optional.

But the sameness among all of them — yes, even The Donald — looks a bit creepy.

I’m betting the three Democratic male presidential candidates will consult with the same media guru prior to their debate.

 

national news, political news

Is America full of “deviants”?

Donald Trump said of Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly that she had “blood coming out of her eyes … blood coming from her wherever.”

Most of us out here know what he meant by “wherever.”

But then Trump said he meant to say “nose,” and that those who make the obvious connection between “wherever” and the unspoken reference to female biology have “deviant” thoughts.

Let’s back up for just a moment.

Kelly was one of three moderators at the Fox News Channel-sponsored Republican presidential primary debate this past week. She asked Trump about his previous comments regarding women and wondered whether they suggest he holds chauvinistic views about women.

His response to the nature of Kelly’s question suggests — to me, at least — that he’s more than a chauvinist. He is totally unfit at any level possible to hold the job he says he wants.

Which likely brings me to another point about Trump’s presidential candidacy. It is that he isn’t at all interested in becoming president. He’s doing all of this to call attention to himself. He’s not going to be nominated by the GOP, let alone elected in November 2016.

So, what in the world is causing us to gobble up so much space in the blogosphere, TV air time, and column inches in newspapers and other publications?

Trump knows precisely what he’s doing. He has tapped into that celebrity-worship culture that attracts so many Americans to the thoughtlessness that spews forth from this guy.

Heaven help me. I think I need an intervention.

national news, political news

Here’s what Gov. Kasich didn’t say

TAMPA, FL - AUGUST 28: Ohio Gov. John Kasich speaks during the Republican National Convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on August 28, 2012 in Tampa, Florida. Today is the first full session of the RNC after the start was delayed due to Tropical Storm Isaac. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Ohio Gov. John Kasich deserves the credit he sought during the Republican presidential debate for helping bring about a balanced federal budget back in the 1990s.

He spoke about his work — as chairman of the U.S. House Budget Committee — in helping erase the chronic deficits that plagued the budget for previous decades.

However, Kasich left out an important element in that good work. It was that he was able — along with House Speaker (and fellow Republican) Newt Gingrich — to work with a Democratic president, Bill Clinton in crafting a budget that balanced and, in fact, produced surpluses. (Full disclosure: One of my sons brought this tidbit to my attention. So, I’m running with it in this blog.)

Oh yeah! I almost forgot. The former president is married to the Democrats’ current frontrunner for the 2016 Democratic nomination, someone against whom Kasich would face were he to win the GOP nod next summer.

Of course, any mention of bipartisanship — which is one of Kasich’s many strengths — doesn’t play well to a primary crowd starving for the red-meat rhetoric the candidates in both political parties are serving up to their respective bases.

Accordingly, Gov. Kasich wasn’t about to mention that those budget surpluses disappeared almost immediately after another Republican, George W. Bush, took office in 2001; we suffered the horrendous attack on 9/11, went to war with the terrorists — and then the government cut taxes at the same time.

I just thought it was important to add some context to what we heard on that debate stage in Cleveland.

political news

Trump still in front … but only for now?

Of all the moments worth mentioning from Thursday night’s Republican Party Top 10 debate, one — in my mind — stands out dramatically.

It involves Fox News moderator Chris Wallace and, you guessed it, Donald Trump.

I give Wallace great credit for seeking a specific answer to a specific allegation that Trump has leveled at Mexico’s government, which is that the Mexican government is “sending” illegal immigrants across the border, into the United States, where they are raping and murdering Americans.

Twice last night he sought some specifics from Trump, who early in the morning after the debate remains — I’m betting — the GOP frontrunner.

When he failed to provide specifics to the first question, Wallace gave him another 30 seconds to specify what proof Trump had to back up his allegation.

Trump finally said he’d “been to the border last week” and talked to Border Patrol officers who told him “that’s what is going on down there, whether you like it or not.”

So. There you have it.

Border Patrol agents told him. That means it’s true, yes?

It was an entertaining and edifying exchange between a loudmouth entertainer seeking the presidency of the United States of America and a moderator seeking some detail in one of the more outrageous allegations that has come from a candidate’s mouth.

And yet, this guy somehow is getting away with this stuff?

I’m going to stand by my belief that Trump’s candidacy likely died when he made light of Sen. John McCain’s Vietnam War record. Events such as what we heard when Chris Wallace asked him twice to provide proof of a claim that Mexico’s government is “sending” illegal immigrants into the United States only highlights Trump’s unfitness for public office.

The big question remains: When will the GOP faithful realize it, too?

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Now, let’s bring on the Top 10

Here’s my major takeaway from the just-completed debate featuring the seven “second-string” Republicans running for president of the United States.

It’s the absence of cheering, hoots and hollers.

Did anyone else notice that we actually could hear some intelligent answers to questions from the two Fox News questioners.

If only the Top 10 GOP candidates can achieve the level of seriousness exhibited by the Second-String Seven.

I’ve been dismayed by the show-biz quality of these debates. The 2012 GOP debate season was the worst. My hope is that if we’re going to have another series of debates this election season — with Democrats and Republicans scheduling them — then we can have them without all the cheers.

***

OK, my second takeaway?

I believe Carly Fiorina emerged as the winner of tonight’s showdown.

She was sharp, incisive, commanding, articulate — and she took dead aim at Donald Trump, suggesting that the GOP frontrunner doesn’t have a philosophy or set of standards by which he’d govern.

Now it’s on to the Top 10.

I hope it’s as serious and edifying as the preliminary matchup.