Tag Archives: Hugh Hewitt

Now it’s Dr. Carson’s faith drawing Trump barbs

donald

You might have heard Donald Trump score another one for the tasteless, tactless and thoughtless.

Will this latest insult doom his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination? I doubt it.

The object of Trump’s latest bit of scorn happened to be Dr. Ben Carson … specifically his faith.

Trump was rambling over the weekend about his being a Presbyterian. Then he launched into a brief riff wondering about Carson’s Seventh-day Adventist faith.

It was as if Trump didn’t think much of Carson’s belief.

Let’s see, Trump has gone after:

John McCain’s war record; Carly Fiorina’s appearance; broadcast journalist Megyn Kelly’s line of questioning; Jeb Bush’s “lack of energy”; the media in general; talk-show host Hugh Hewitt’s so-called “gotcha” journalism; Hispanic immigrants.

Anyone else? Oh, probably. I just can’t think of them.

Will any of it doom him. One would think. But wait! This isn’t a normal election year.

Goofiness is what many of the GOP faithful seem to want.

Heaven help them … and the rest of us.

 

Conservative talk show host finds friends on the left

hugh hewitt

Hugh Hewitt is feuding with Donald Trump.

Hewitt is a well-known and high-demand conservative radio host. Trump, well, I’m guessing you know who he is.

An interesting back story may be developing here as Hewitt and Trump duke it out rhetorically. It is that Hewitt is finding new friends and allies — in the liberal media.

Trump’s description of Hewitt as a “third-rate radio announcer” came after Trump fluffed a question from Hewitt over his knowledge of an Iranian terror group leader. Hewitt said he wasn’t asking a “gotcha” question, but Trump said he did exactly that.

Hewitt isn’t a fly-by-night right-wing blowhard. He’s a savvy political analyst. He also is one of the go-to guys among conservative mainstream media talkers.

Now, though, he’s finding allies among those in the other conservative media outlets — those that tilt to the left. They’re taking up for Hewitt and defending him, just as many of them have defended Fox News’s Megyn Kelly in her feud with Trump.

Come to think of it, I’ve been defending them, too.

I’m proud to stand with them.

 

One’s own words taste badly

donald-trump

Have you ever noticed that the taste of your own words is, well, quite bitter?

You want to spit them back. But you can’t. You have to ingest them and they sit in the pit of your stomach like the proverbial rock.

I’m having to do some of that these days as I look upon the Republican Party presidential field and wonder: How is it that Donald Trump remains such a commanding figure in that field?

I made a prediction earlier this summer that I am now having to choke down.

  • I said Trump’s campaign had ended effectively after he denigrated John McCain’s Vietnam War service and the heroism he demonstrated while being held as a prisoner of war for more than five years.

“I like people who aren’t captured, OK?” Trump said.

It was tasteless.

What happened then? His poll numbers went up!

  • Then came the GOP joint appearance with nine other candidates. Fox News’s Megyn Kelly asked Trump to react to suggestions that he is anti-woman, that he’s made highly offensive remarks about women, calling them all kinds of unflattering names. “Only Rosie O’Donnell,” Trump said.

After the event, he went after Kelly, demanding she apologize to him. For what?  For asking a perfectly legitimate question?

That would doom his candidacy, or so I thought. Silly me. His poll standing went up even more.

  • He held a rally and started criticizing a close aide of Hillary Clinton and called her husband — former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner — a “perv” and a “world-class sleazebag.” Yes, Weiner — aka “Carlos Danger” — who sent images of his manhood to women other than his wife behaved in a disgusting manner.
  • Then he stumbled over a question from well-regarded conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt about the leader of a terrorist organization. He then accused Hewitt of tossing a “gotcha” question at him and went on TV the next morning to call Hewitt a “third-rate radio announcer.”

At every turn, Trump’s answers to problems have been shallow, callow and hollow. He has presented nothing — not a single thing — of substance.

But his poll numbers? They keep going up.

Yep, this might be the year when conventional wisdom — which usually requires some actual seriousness from candidates for the presidency of the United States is tossed aside.

That means folks like yours truly are going to choke on their own words. I’m tellin’ ya, they don’t go down well … at all.

 

 

 

Trump shows again why he’s unfit for presidency

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump listens to a question at a news conference at Trump Tower, in New York, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015. Trump ruled out the prospect of a third-party White House bid and vowed to support the Republican Party's nominee, whoever it may be. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Donald Trump keeps doing and saying things that, in any normal political cycle, would signal the death knell to his presidential campaign.

Here’s the latest.

He went on Hugh Hewitt’s radio talk show. The two of them were talking about this and that. Then Hewitt — a savvy and smart radio commentator — asked Trump if he knew who name of the guy who lead the Qud movement in Iran. Trump said he thought Hewitt said “Kurds.” He didn’t know the name of Qasem Soleimani, the Qud leader.

Trump stumbles

OK, so then Trump stumbles on the question. He cannot name the terror leader. Then he blasts Hewitt for asking a “gotcha” question.

He  went on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” the next day and ripped into Hewitt, calling him a “third-rate radio announcer.” For the record, Hewitt is one of the go-to guys in conservative talk radio and is considered a highly credible interviewer; indeed, his show is a favorite for conservative candidates.

What does all this mean? It means Trump (a) needs to study current geopolitical relationships, (b) needs to stop impugning others’ integrity when he cannot answer questions on issues of the day and (c) needs to start assembling at least a modicum of detail to the answers others are seeking as he proclaims his ambition to “make America great again.”

This man cannot possibly be seen as a serious candidate for commander in chief, head of state, head of government and leader of the free world.

Somehow, though, he maintains that front runner status among Republican primary voters.

Which prompts me to ask: Have they lost their ever-lovin’ minds?

 

No, Mr. Vice President; your boss was worse

Dick Cheney possesses an utterly amazing reservoir of gall.

The latest rant from the former vice president of the United States includes his “theory” that President Obama is trying to take the United States down “from within.”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/dick-cheney-obama-take-america-down

He calls Barack Obama the worst president in U.S. history.

There you have it. History is written by a vice president who, along with President Obama’s immediate predecessor, led the nation into a war in search of chemical weapons, but found none. They told us we’d be greeted as “liberators, not conquerors,” and we were wrong about that, too. They fundamentally misjudged the strength of the resistance within Iraq after the capture, trial and execution of Saddam Hussein.

And it was on their watch that the nation’s financial markets collapsed, along with the housing market and the automotive industry.

And he calls Barack Obama “the worst president” in American history?

He said this on conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt’s show: “I vacillate between the various theories I’ve heard, but you know, if you had somebody as president who wanted to take America down, who wanted to fundamentally weaken our position in the world and reduce our capacity to influence events, turn our back on our allies and encourage our adversaries, it would look exactly like what Barack Obama’s doing.”

That’s it. Barack Obama wants to weaken the nation. He wants to reduce our influence in the world. He wants to encourage our adversaries.

I’m trying to find a more cynical view of any leading American politician.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s cynicism knows no boundaries.