Tag Archives: DNC

national news, political news

Try this conspiracy theory on for size

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donald-trump-s-presidential-campaign-manager-arrested-1459339462-4920.jpg

Those who believe conspiracies exist behind every decision or public policy action might be inclined at this moment to believe the following …

That the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, really doesn’t want the job for which he has been campaigning and is throwing the election on purpose.

Do not count me as a conspiracy theorist. I believe men have walked on the moon, that the 9/11 attacks were a surprise and that Lee Harvey Oswald alone killed President Kennedy.

The Trump phenomenon, however, has me thinking — yet again — about whether the guy really wants to become president of the United States.

He gets his party’s nomination, then sits through four days of watching the Democrats nominate Hillary Rodham Clinton the next week.

Then, right out of the chute after Clinton secures the nomination, Trump goes after the parents of a fallen U.S. Army soldier who happened to be Muslim, and then insists that a crying baby be removed from a rally at which he was speaking. Then he said he wished he could have earned a Purple Heart in combat.

What in the name of the Theater of the Absurd is going on here?

Time and time and time again, Trump has demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of anything regarding governance. He reportedly quizzed a senior campaign staffer about why the United States was prohibited from using nuclear weapons; Trump’s campaign has denied that he asked the question. OK, Don … whatever you say.

The Republican Party brass can’t stand him. His campaign appears to be disintegrating before our eyes.

Is it on purpose? Is the GOP nominee deliberately sabotaging his campaign so he can stick it in the collective eyes and/or ears of those who fear for their party’s viability as a legitimate political instrument?

Look, I don’t know if any of this is true. It’s just that the unpredictability factor of this campaign makes it impossible to dismiss what — in normal times — would seem to be preposterous in the extreme.

Nothing at all would surprise at this point.

After all, the Republican Party nominated this guy to run for president of the United States of America. Is there anything more preposterous than that?

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‘Unfit to serve as president’

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The headline atop this blog comes from the mouth of the president of the United States.

Barack Obama said that about Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump.

That an incumbent president would say such a thing about a candidate who wants to succeed him is astonishing on its face. Here’s the thing, though. The president is correct.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/obama-trump-226564

Obama took the question today at a press conference with the Singapore president. Is Trump fit to be president? The president said the GOP nominee is “wholly unprepared” to occupy the most powerful office in the world.

But then the president got to the crux of his remarks in response to the question. When will the Republican political leadership decide it has had “enough” of Trump? he asked.

OK, it’s more or less a rhetorical question. It appears that folks such as House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other congressional leaders have no intention — at least not yet — of taking back their endorsements.

Ryan in particular has spoken strongly against certain statements and policy positions that Trump has posited. He’s called the GOP presidential nominee’s proposal to ban Muslim immigrants a “racist” policy. He keeps insisting that he has significant policy differences with Trump.

Yet he endorses his candidacy?

Now we have the latest, the building feud between Trump and the Gold Star parents of a young Army captain who died in combat in 2004. The captain and his parents are Muslims. The parents have spoken out against Trump’s candidacy. Trump’s response to the parents’ criticism has been condemned from all corners, including from some Republicans.

That is the latest basis for President Obama’s assertion that Trump is unfit and “wholly unprepared” to become president of the United States.

When, indeed, will the leadership of the political party he is leading into political battle going to say “enough is enough”?

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Polls go up, they’re good; they go down, they’re ‘rigged’

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Donald J. Trump has made quite a show of trumpeting his “great” poll numbers while rolling to the Republican Party presidential nomination.

Indeed, the real estate mogul’s main selling point for months has been those polls. They’re up, therefore they’re legit.

But wait! The polls lately are trending in another direction.

Hillary Rodham Clinton has retaken the lead over Trump in their campaign for the presidency. The Democratic nominee has gotten an expected “bounce” from her highly successful convention.

Trump’s view of polls now?

They’re “rigged,” he says. He doesn’t believe them. CNN and some other media organizations are cooking the numbers to show Clinton with a phony lead, Trump says.

OK, then.

Let’s just shield Trump from all the bad news that inevitably will come his way, just as it flows toward Clinton when things don’t always go in the direction she prefers.

As for his fixation only with positive poll numbers and his outright rejection of those surveys that show him down against his opponent, I have just a simple piece of advice.

Suck it up, soldier! The only “poll” that counts is the one on Election Day. Then again, my gut tells me the GOP nominee is going to get another dose of very bad news when that day arrives.

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Ghazala Khan breaks her silence

Khizr Khan, father of fallen US Army Capt. Humayun S. M. Khan and his wife Ghazala speak during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Thursday, July 28, 2016. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Donald J. Trump wasn’t satisfied to compare his high-rise building “sacrifice” to the grief shared by the parents of a young American hero.

Oh, no. The Republican presidential nominee felt compelled to question why the young soldier’s mother remained silent during her husband’s soliloquy at the Democratic National Convention.

Yes, the parents are Muslim. Their son, a U.S. Army captain, died in Iraq in 2004. Trump wondered aloud whether Ghazala Khan was silenced because of Muslim tradition.

She has spoken out in an op-ed that’s worth your time to read.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ghazala-khan-donald-trump-criticized-my-silence-he-knows-nothing-about-true-sacrifice/2016/07/31/c46e52ec-571c-11e6-831d-0324760ca856_story.html?campaign_id=A100&campaign_type=Email

Mrs. Khan wrote an essay for the Washington Post in which she said: “Donald Trump said that maybe I wasn’t allowed to say anything. That is not true. My husband asked me if I wanted to speak, but I told him I could not. My religion teaches me that all human beings are equal in God’s eyes. Husband and wife are part of each other; you should love and respect each other so you can take care of the family.”

Ghazala Khan is a Gold Star Mother who, along with her husband, Khzir Khan, have made the ultimate sacrifice. Their son, Capt. Humayun Khan, died heroically in defense of his country.

Donald J. Trump is a disgraceful demagogue.

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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.”

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Now a Gold Star Mother draws Trump’s fire

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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.

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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.

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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 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.

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Democrats channel The Gipper

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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.

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About those tax returns, Mr. Trump

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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.