The blog has been quiet for a while. A number of you have emailed asking. "What gives?". Well, life gets busy ... Lame excuse I know, but. It's all I got.
To be honest, I have also been waiting. Waiting for the Republican Party to sort out the bat-sh*t crazy cirque d'insanity that has been their Presidential candidate field to date. Every time I have sat down at the keyboard to comment on the GOP primary field, it just seemed a waste of time. None of the front runners were even remotely sane, let alone actual viable candidates for President of the United States.
The Republican Party has tried to cull the herd. Employing a process for deciding who gets to be in their Presidential Candidate Debates, so convoluted that is has become a bigger story than the debates themselves. Cue Rachel with a report on the chaos...
That was LAST week. Things went downhill from there. By the time this week's Fox Business channel sponsored debate came around, not only was New Jersey Governor Chris Christie demoted down to the. "kids table" undercard debate for polling number underachievers; But South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, arguably the GOP field's most experienced candidate running, was bumped out of all debates.
We are now at a point where people are tuning in to GOP Presidential debates not to learn about the candidates, but purely for the comedy value.
The GOP has their two "front runners", Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson. Trump... Sigh... Okay, I'll get to "the Donald" in a moment, but for now lets just say the fact that we having a conversation about the next Republican Presidential Nominee, and that conversation includes the words "Donald Trump", pretty much sums up the state of the Republican Party in 2015. As far as Carson goes... Where even to begin? We have a man running for president with a backstory, that he seems to have simply made up because, hey! It sounded cool!
Carson's claims range from having been offered admission to West Point over lunch with US Army General William Westmoreland, to having tried to hit his own Mother with a hammer, and stab a "close relative". A violent streak that prompted him to lock himself in a bathroom for three hours, where he apparently found Jesus, and instantly and became a god fearing man of peace and justice.
The problem is none of those claims from Carson's personal biography have stood up to even mild fact checking by Journalists. Prompting Carson to shriek hysterically how NO OTHER CANDIDATE has EVER been subjected to the kind of background checking and vetting he is being forced to undergo... Because you know... Nobody has EVER done any investigating into anything about Hillary Clinton. Yes..... he actually made that claim with a straight face.
Then there is Jeb Bush. At some level you gotta feel for poor Jeb, after all, he locked up the big GOP establishment donors right out of the gate. He is the closest thing the Republican party has to a Dauphin -style heir apparent. Not to mention the fact, that had he not lost to Lawton Chiles in the Florida Governors race back in 1994 it is likely that he, not his brother George W, would have been the GOP nominee in 2000. Oh how fortunes change...
The son of the 41rst, and brother of the 43rd President of the United States, a two term Governor of one of the most pivotal electoral battle ground states, the heir to a political dynasty on par with the Kennedy; Is running a campaign that makes the 1988 Michael Dukakis campaign look good by comparison.
Over on the Democratic side, its all been pretty standard. Mild even. The Democratic debates have been far less entertaining, but have had their moments. Yes Bernie Sanders is a serious candidate, and he is slowly pushing Hillary Clinton out of her centrist comfort zone and to more progressive left-of-centre position. While former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley along with Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb; (who you really don't need to know about, because they're both gone already), just wished people would remember their names.
If nothing else, the 2016 campaign will make sure late night television comedy is epic.
Back to Donald Trump... ugh! It's like we are living in some bizarre Back To The Future alternate time line where Donald Trump is considered a serious voice in America's national debate. A voice that says sh*t like this...
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the clear front runner for the Republican Presidential nomination, Donald J. Trump. What is becoming more clear every day, is that GOP primary voters have basically become the American Idol audience that kept voting for Sanjaya (Trump), just so they could get to see the veins in the Judge's (Republican National Committee's) foreheads, throb in pain.
American Idol voters finally did vote Sanjaya off the show. It remains to be seen if GOP primary voters are willing to be equally as pragmatic, or if they will destroy the Republican Party's hopes of ever winning another national election, simply because they can.
Grab the popcorn kids! It's gonna be fun to watch...
To be honest, I have also been waiting. Waiting for the Republican Party to sort out the bat-sh*t crazy cirque d'insanity that has been their Presidential candidate field to date. Every time I have sat down at the keyboard to comment on the GOP primary field, it just seemed a waste of time. None of the front runners were even remotely sane, let alone actual viable candidates for President of the United States.
The Republican Party has tried to cull the herd. Employing a process for deciding who gets to be in their Presidential Candidate Debates, so convoluted that is has become a bigger story than the debates themselves. Cue Rachel with a report on the chaos...
That was LAST week. Things went downhill from there. By the time this week's Fox Business channel sponsored debate came around, not only was New Jersey Governor Chris Christie demoted down to the. "kids table" undercard debate for polling number underachievers; But South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, arguably the GOP field's most experienced candidate running, was bumped out of all debates.
We are now at a point where people are tuning in to GOP Presidential debates not to learn about the candidates, but purely for the comedy value.
The GOP has their two "front runners", Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson. Trump... Sigh... Okay, I'll get to "the Donald" in a moment, but for now lets just say the fact that we having a conversation about the next Republican Presidential Nominee, and that conversation includes the words "Donald Trump", pretty much sums up the state of the Republican Party in 2015. As far as Carson goes... Where even to begin? We have a man running for president with a backstory, that he seems to have simply made up because, hey! It sounded cool!
Lesson one in national campaign politics. If you attack the press for trying to verify claims you make. The press is going to take that as a big fat flashing neon sign that says. "KEEP DIGGING!" because clearly you are pants-on-fire lying. Annnnnddddd.... Cue the VERY predictable result:
The son of the 41rst, and brother of the 43rd President of the United States, a two term Governor of one of the most pivotal electoral battle ground states, the heir to a political dynasty on par with the Kennedy; Is running a campaign that makes the 1988 Michael Dukakis campaign look good by comparison.
If nothing else, the 2016 campaign will make sure late night television comedy is epic.
Back to Donald Trump... ugh! It's like we are living in some bizarre Back To The Future alternate time line where Donald Trump is considered a serious voice in America's national debate. A voice that says sh*t like this...
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the clear front runner for the Republican Presidential nomination, Donald J. Trump. What is becoming more clear every day, is that GOP primary voters have basically become the American Idol audience that kept voting for Sanjaya (Trump), just so they could get to see the veins in the Judge's (Republican National Committee's) foreheads, throb in pain.
American Idol voters finally did vote Sanjaya off the show. It remains to be seen if GOP primary voters are willing to be equally as pragmatic, or if they will destroy the Republican Party's hopes of ever winning another national election, simply because they can.
Grab the popcorn kids! It's gonna be fun to watch...
