It’s Friday, March 4th, 2016…but before we begin, here’s Hope n’ Change‘s preview of the style of reasoned debate we missed by ignoring tonight’s RNC-sponsored Mudslingathon:
These aren’t debates; they’re more like the comments section from some internet posting with Trump playing the role of the unreasoned, obnoxious troll. Were Cruz and Rubio cognizant of the format, which accords any candidate attacked airtime for rebuttal, they would ignore The Donald’s character assaults (not to mention Kasich and Carson altogether), refuse to answer any questions asked about either Trump or his incoherent, conflicting statements and address only their solutions to the issues facing the country. This would not only cut Trump’s airtime in half, but serve to elevate themselves above his deliberately demeaning fray.
Here’s the juice: instead of debates, Priebus & Company, dba Idiots Incorporated, have designed a series of incoherent contests which are the political equivalent of Ultimate Infighting, an arena in which only Dimocrats win!
In keeping with Michelle Malkin’s thoughts detailed below, from George H.W. Bush to Newt Gingrich, Tom DeLay and Denny Hastert to John McCain and Lindsey Graham, and especially given its latest string of unforced debate errors, we’re tempted to conclude, at least since the Reagan Revolution, the GOP’s been bent on self-destruction:
“When the dust settles on this wild and wacky GOP primary season, there will be at least one clear Biggest Loser: the Republican National Committee.
After 2012, when liberal journalists routinely hijacked the party’s 20 televised debates while cashing in on ratings and advertising revenue, the RNC resolved to change its narrative-surrendering business-as-usual. There would be no more cable-TV anchors belligerently taking President Obama’s side while arguing with the GOP nominee (as Candy Crowley infamously did with Mitt Romney over Benghazi). There would be no more former Democratic operatives–turned–journalists injecting their left-wing social agenda into GOP primary forums (as Clinton adviser–turned–ABC newsman George Stephanopoulous did at the January 2012 Republican debate in New Hampshire, when he pushed the Democrats’ War on Women propaganda by pressing Republicans on a nonsense contraceptive ban).
And there would be real balance in the selection of moderators, through partnerships “with conservative media to make sure the concerns of grassroots Republicans are addressed.” RNC chairman Reince Priebus…
“Two, I got two; do I hear three?!?”
…declared in 2014, after the committee adopted measures to reassert control over the process: “The liberal media doesn’t deserve to be in the driver’s seat.” (Yeah; instead of just letting them drive, Priebus gave them the vehicle’s pink slip!!!)
How’s that working out? It’s the same old same old. Last week’s debate, hosted by CNN, was commandeered by a Telemundo celebrity journalist: Maria Celeste Arraras, known as “the Katie Couric of Spanish TV,” who soaked up nearly half the show, representing “the Latino community” on issues such as Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise to the RNC. She did the same during a Democratic presidential debate in 2004, when she argued with candidates about driver’s licenses for immigrants here illegally. The lone token-conservative questioner, Salem radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt, received a fraction of the time. The infamous “screaming lady” in the audience earned far more buzz…”
Then again, what should one expect from a political party which thought it wise to embrace a lawyer named “Reince Priebus” as its nominal leader in the first place; particularly knowing lawyers are the most hated profession in the country…after politicians…and one of their leading liabilities was the opposition’s claim it was out of touch with everyday America?!?
In light of its current trajectory, the once-great Party of Lincoln might well be renamed not “Reince and Repeat”, but “Reince and Repeat…three times”!
Now, here’s The Gouge!
We begin with James Taranto’s take on Mitt’s ill-advised attempt to derail the Trump train:
“…Imagine Michael Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, giving a speech in opposition to Mr. Clinton. Dukakis might have highlighted the Arkansas governor’s ideological heterodoxies—support for the death penalty, opposition to “welfare as we know it,” a professed determination to slash the federal budget—which the Clinton campaign would tout in an October ad. And Dukakis could have warned that the Clintons would bring “Arkansas mores” to Washington, corrupting the government and fueling public cynicism.
This fanciful counterfactual was inspired by another bit of news: Mitt Romney’s speechthis morning denouncing Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump. One doubts 1992 Democratic voters would have heeded Dukakis’s warnings—after all, four years earlier, he had one job, to recapture the White House for his party, and he failed.
Likewise for Romney, notwithstanding that he made some good points at Trump’s expense. But there’s an additional reason he is an especially flawed messenger for the anti-Trump message: In February 2012, just before the Nevada caucuses, Romney traveled to Las Vegas and appeared on stage with Trump to accept his endorsement, along with the promise not to run for president as an independent.Romney 2012 sounded very different from Romney 2016.
Romney said this today:
On the economy: If Donald Trump’s plans were ever implemented, the country would sink into prolonged recession…His proposed 35% tariff-like penalties would instigate a trade war, and that would raise prices for consumers, kill our export jobs, and lead entrepreneurs and businesses of all stripes to flee America.
But in 2012, according to a contemporaneous CNN.com report, “Romney responded [to Trump’s accolades] by praising Trump for ‘an extraordinary ability to understand how our economy works and to create jobs’ and for being ‘one of the few who has stood up to say China is cheating’ in international trade.”
Today Romney scathed Trump’s business acumen:
But you say, ”Wait, wait, wait—isn’t he a huge business success? Doesn’t he know what he’s talking about?” No, he isn’t, and no, he doesn’t. Look, his bankruptcies have crushed small businesses and the men and women who worked for them. He inherited his business, he didn’t create it. And whatever happened to Trump Airlines? How about Trump University? And then there’s Trump Magazine and Trump Vodka and Trump Steaks and Trump Mortgage. A business genius, he is not.
In 2012, CNN quoted Romney as saying: “I spent my life in the private sector, not quite as successful as this guy but successful nonetheless.”
Today Romney also criticized Trump for having “changed his positions”—which he has, including his position on Romney. As CNN noted in 2012:
Trump was not always so positive regarding Romney’s record. During an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” in April, Trump criticized Romney for eliminating jobs while in the private sector.
“He’d buy companies. He’d close companies. He’d get rid of jobs,” Trump told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley. “I’ve built a great company. My net worth is many many times Mitt Romney.”
Asked what changed since then to bring his endorsement of Romney, Trump told CNN later Thursday that his past comments were “political talk.”
One could say the same of Romney’s 2012 flattery of Trump, if one assumes he was insincere then and sincere this morning. It is even a logical possibility that Romney was sincere both then and now—that new evidence, or a closer look at the evidence, has convinced Romney that he was wrong about Trump.
But that would imply a stunning level of naiveté on the part of the 2012 Romney. Trump’s shortcomings were far from obscure back then…”
As this cartoon courtesy of Balls Cotton so accurately observes…
And yes, Mr. Romney; “they” includes you!
Yet Trump’s response to the belated Romney offensive is also telling…
…as it once again demonstrates his sole response to opposition is artless invective. Yeah, that’ll play well with Putin!
Since we’re on the subject of flawed messengers, as PJ Media‘s Tyler O’Neil details, yet another GOP presidential wannabe is apparently contemplating Christiecide:
“No, seriously, Madeline Kahn was right: it’s twue, it’s twue!
“…While the good doctor distrusts Cruz, he has a friendly relationship with Marco Rubio, the former staffers told Independent Journal Review. The Florida senator has been in contact with Carson over the phone, according to Taylor. The former Iowa campaign chair said he does not know whom Carson will choose, but he does know the Carson’s next move:
The very first thing the man does in a decision moment is ask God for guidance and sometimes that is the very best thing…Dr. Carson will do whatever the Good Lord tells him to do.
How different from the real estate tycoon Carson might just endorse on Friday.“
Only about as different as black used to be from white; i.e., about as far as the West is from the East.
In a related item courtesy of the infamous sandbagger Hack Wilson and Breitbart.com, Bill Kristol confirms every Trumpeteer’s deepest and darkest fear of the Republican establishment:
Why is Bill Kristol smiling when in 4 to 8 years under Hillary we won’t HAVE a country to reclaim?!?
“In order to defeat Donald Trump, The Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol admits he is prepared to hand Hillary Clinton the Oval Office. On Wednesday’s “Morning Joe,” the Republican Establishment leader laid out his plot to deprive Trump of the 50% of delegates necessary to secure the nomination. From there, the idea is to go into a brokered convention and cut a kamikaze deal that awards enough delegates to an “acceptable” candidate (who will have won far fewer votes, states, and delegates than Trump).
The problem with the Establishment brokering a behind-closed-door deal that hands the nomination to Marco Rubio is that the backlash against the Republican Party is almost certain to hand Hillary Clinton the presidency.
If a bunch of rich, angry GOP elites rob Trump supporters of their victory, the blowback will result in so many voters staying home in November, Hillary wins. As NBC’s Chuck Todd pointed out last night, at this point the delegate math is such that the only way to stop Trump is through this scheme at the convention.
As you’ll see below, that outcome is preferable to Kristol, and by extension it is safe to assume that outcome is also fine with the rest of the Republican Establishment.
…This is a good time to ask where this scorch-earthed mentality was when America needed it most to stop Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.“
As noted above…
Next up, in the Law of Inevitability segment, though we hate to say we told ya so…we told ya so…along with everybody else possessed of a lick of common sense:
It wasn’t going to happen. This was not going to be a problem.Only honest-to-goodness women who were trapped in a men’s bodies by genes were going to use women’s locker rooms. Everyone would be well-intentioned and everyone would be comfortable. No big deal. Any concerns some might have about opportunistic voyeurism were an overblown panic.
Except it wasn’t. Recently, a man who did not claim to be a trans-woman just walked into the women’s locker room at a Seattle public pool and started changing and watching the women change. A woman reported him. Staff asked him to leave. He resisted, asserting he was allowed to be there. He went for his swim and then returned to the women’s locker room when he was finished. A girls’ swim team was using the facility. Mothers complained, and he eventually left. The police were not called because if he identified as a woman, then he was within his rights, and if he did not, then the staff preferred to settle the issue without involving the police.The story got out when a witness called a radio station.
Two things that stand out to me, besides the “told ya” point all of us maligned panic mongers can claim: One, the staff person interviewed said, “We want everyone to feel comfortable at our facilities.” Well, the woman who asked him to leave did not feel comfortable with a man changing in the women’s locker room. Nor did the young girls’ swim team or their mothers who were in the locker room when he returned to assert his legal right to change in the women’s space.When does their comfort count?…”
As soon as they turn bisexual, transexual or lesbian…or they’re somehow related to one of the animals more equal than the others; then and only then!
And in the Environmental Moment, courtesy again of Balls Cotton, Steve Crowder penned this poignant plea to a leading Tinseltown poser:
“…See Leo, here’s the problem. You had the chance to thank everyone who really made the film happen. Sure you sat in the cold, damp snow for hours on end to get the right shot. You know who else did?The key grip. You know what he’s being paid? Not $30 million. You could have been gracious, and taken the time to highlight the oft-forgotten heroes of film. Instead you took it as a chance to make a political statement, and pump a firm jab at those who don’t adhere to your “progressive non-science science”. Makes sense. Claiming moral superiority is a favorite pastime of the rich and famous, after all.
So many things can go wrong in a few minutes. We’ll just highlight the worst ones. First, you make the obnoxious claim that climate change is “the most urgent threat facing our entire species.”Yes, really. You spoke those words. In that order. To form that sentence.
Really? Not religious extremist groups like ISIS, who’ve been personally responsible for the execution of at least 10,000 people just since 2014?Not gang violence, which averages about 2,000 deaths per year? Not even smoking? No, it’s the theory of man-made global warming climate change… Which is still just that, a theory. One that NASA themselves finds to be holding less and less water (read “Climate Models Used for Last Six Decades DEFINITIVELY Proven False” here)
But let’s suspend our disbelief and take your word for it. Let’s say that you, Leonardo DiCaprio truly believe the garbage you’re espousing. Okay? Okay. Then why are you funneling copious amounts of money into not-so-environmentally-friendly investments, like the heating and cooling of your collection of multi-million dollar mansions? You own your own freaking private island, but it’s time for all of us to start sacrificing and working together to make a change…What about you, Mr. Moneybags? When will you do your part?…”
Don’t hold your breath!
Which brings us, appropriately enough, to The Lighter Side:
Finally, in News of the Bizarre, we present this Texas-sized kerfuffle courtesy our favorite caddy-turned-club president, Chris Wilson:
“It’s 2 a.m. Eastern time — long past the hour when many reporters and politicians have gone to sleep. But Robert Morrow, newly elected Republican chair of Travis County, Tex. — which includes Austin, the state capital — is ready to talk to The Washington Post, though he deems it a “scum” media organization that covered up the truth about the murder of President John F. Kennedy.
Morrow has a message for Republican in Travis County who woke up March 2 to realize they now were led by a conspiracy theorist who tweets photos oflarge-breasted womenwith comments such as “I am feeling boobylicious tonight!!” “I don’t give a flying f—,” Morrow said. “… My enemies are pushing on a string. They have no legal recourse to get rid of me. I’ve been getting out my word about the criminality of the Bush-Clinton crime family and serial murderer Lyndon Johnson. It’s a smashing success.”
Morrow, the 51-year-old author of “The Clintons’ War on Women,” said his strategy in winning the race wasn’t complicated. “I was listed first on the ballot,” he said.“See, when you have a primary ballot — people vote for president, Congress, state judge. When they get down to the precinct chair race, [they vote for who’s] first on the ballot.It happened to be me. I don’t need Karl Rove or David Axelrod.”…”
Obviously one of the rare occasions God hasn’t blessed Texas…though there are a few others…
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