Morning Joe Scarborough may have left The Republican Party over a personal rift with Donald Trump but that doesn’t mean he has abandoned his conservative principles. He demonstrated that point his week when he attacked Bernie Sanders. That attack came from a conservative battery of artillery. Joe’s attack was especially strong when it came to stuff Bernie had said about forty years ago about Fidel Castro who may not have been a nice guy but who, Kennedy politics aside, was a hell of a lot better than the despot he replaced. Don’t forget, Castro went to the US help first but unfortunately for him, not to mention for us we followed the misplaced American foreign policy of the time by attacking any liberal revolutionary trying to wrest power from a dictator who knew how to shout Commie. US Sugar and the American Mafia were the principle protectors of Batista, the perfect combo to be setting US policy. The Cuban people hated Batista for keeping them in poverty while his people lived high on the hog. This little blurb doesn’t mean that I support all of Bernie’s policies because I don’t, but I have always liked Bernie simply because I kind of like outspoken old curmudgeons.
My biggest problem with Bernie has to do with a lot of the means by which he is attempting to achieve policy goals that I think are good. Healthcare is the most evident. Sure, we need universal healthcare as a goal but the way to it is probably more certain through Buttigieg’s plan rather than Bernie’s. The same is true for any number of other plans.
Look, in a presidential race I would absolutely vote for Bernie over the fat liar in the White House but among the primary candidates I see Bernie as a distant seventh among the Democratic candidates with a shot to beat Trump.
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Talking about who has the best chance to beat Trump, I think it’s time to get a little more serious about investigating that situation before someone runs away with the primary. I will not in this piece even guess as to who is going to win the primary simply because I don’t think I have enough reliable information, but I have definite opinions as to who would make the best president and at this point even more important, who can beat Trump.
As stated above, I think Bernie has only a very slight chance of beating the Fat Liar in the White House. I say this knowing full well that he might be among the best in a debate with him. Bernie is a tough, garrulous street fighter, the same image in which Trump sees himself but Bernie is real and of course Trump isn’t… about anything. No, it’s not in the debates that Bernie will fail. It’s in the information trail. It’s in his self- description and in his failure to recognize that he must explain certain actions and statements from his past or be held accountable for them.
No matter what anyone feels about socialism, and there is a healthy dose of it in our own government, the people of this country have been opposing it, real or imagined, for the last hundred years. Trying to establish it at a time when the opposition has created a mindless, sloganizing following is a net loser and Bernie has to either recognize this or die. This is not the election to try to sell the virtues of socialism. This is the election to beat Trump and nothing else is important. In pushing his far left agenda Bernie has embraced a “Medicare for all” policy, which is where we all want to end up but how we get there is the issue that’s a loser and he has to abandon it to have any chance of even winning the primary.
Joe Biden is the guy we all thought would win. But Joe’s another octogenarian who, even if he doesn’t have a bad ticker, just doesn’t seem to have the heart anymore. We all love Joe like a sentimental grandfather but he no longer seems to have it to win. Watching him in the debates and even in one on one interviews has become painful. He stumbles, stutters, trips over his own thoughts and just doesn’t seem fast enough to compete. Like anyone who has been around a long time he has spooks in the closet but he could overcome all of them if he could still compete in the debates. I don’t think he can.
Elizabeth Warren looked angry and strong in the Las Vegas debate and she has maybe the best laid plans around but even with her strategic withdrawals on Medicare and funding she still looks like as much of a a zealot as does Bernie. Warren reminds me of nothing so much as a nun who used to teach English in my high school and that’s not a good image to carry into the battle for the presidency, but I do think that she could carry the wrath she showed in the Nevada debate into a debate with Trump and maybe battle him to a draw. She’s as tough as Trump and obviously smarter; the question becomes is she nasty enough to deal with the kind of degeneracy displayed by the Prez? And of course she would have to deal with the awful image that Trump and his marketing team have established for her. Of all the candidates she may be the least vulnerable to the other side’s scandal shots and even though she seems to be losing ground, in the end she might be the best choice to take on Trump.
Amy Klobachar may be the least vulnerable of all the candidates but that doesn’t necessarily make her the best choice. Amy is smart, tough and vocal and yet she isn’t at the top of the ticket. Why? It just doesn’t seem to add up. There are those who will try to sell the misogynist doctrine but I just don’t buy it, not anymore. I think she could debate Trump, not take any crap from him but good as she is, she just doesn’t strike me as a leader, even with that sterling record of accomplishment in the Senate.
Mike Bloomberg seemed to have it all, even coming late to the party. Then he stood on a stage and blew it. I was around for the NYC mayoral debates but I really don’t remember much about them. Maybe it’s because they were so boring, maybe it’s because Mike wasn’t debating anyone functional. Mike has the money to run the ads and I believe him when he says he will spend it for anyone going against Trump but he looked a little tired the other night and less than interested so one has to wonder if he really has it in him to duke it out with the Fat Liar?
Tom Steyer has the money to fight Trump and the most important item on anyone’s agenda, Climate Change and saving the world. I think he could go toe to toe with Trump in a debate but I wonder how comfortable he is with calling out the Fat Liar on being one. I think Steyer may be the best of the businessmen at fitting into a government configuration. It has been impossible for Trump, and if NYC is any example, more than a little uncomfortable for Bloomberg. When you’re worth billions or anywhere close to that, it’s hard to take criticism from a counselman or even a Senator.
Pete Buttigieg is probably the most interesting of all the candidates. He came from nowhere with almost no money and GAY stamped on his passport but he won Iowa and almost won New Hampshire. Aside from sexual identity he has a resume that kneels to no one. Sure he’s young but he makes up for that by being the smartest guy in the room… any room…by far. He’s not a spectacular speaker but he’s so damned intelligent that you can’t help but listen when he speaks. His moderate policies are just about the most universally acceptable of anyone running and while his debate performances have yet to show it, there have been small glimpses of him being the Democrat most able to cut Trump to ribbons. He has shown three images that lead one to believe he could crush Trump. He doesn’t lose his temper, he has the ability to explain the most complicated concept in an easily understood manner and he has a nasty wit. His comebacks in the debates have been far and away the best of anyone and that talent is what would kill Trump.
All the Democrats have the same material, all can attack Trump for being a congenital liar but each has some weakness they would have to overcome. Each has the better plan for the nation than Trump but anyone who wants to beat him has to be able to sell his or her vision in order to beat him. Trump will try to bulldoze anyone he comes up against. That’s his style and pretty much his only strength. The ones who would beat him are the ones who can nullify his bullying and show the audience that they, not Trump, have the answers to any question on the floor.
It has been pointed out by a number of well-mannered pundits that the way to beat the likes of Trump is not to get down in the gutter with him. There’s something to be said for that but not much. A lowlife punk like Trump has no respect for the Marquis of Queensbury or his rules. If you let a cheap con man like Trump talk you will be listening to him all night and get nothing said yourself. The put-down, the more clever the better is the best weapon with a thug like Trump. Use it, get a laugh with it and he will lose his marbles. His ego cannot abode distain and his lack of intelligence would keep him from any defense against it. That, in a nutshell is why I prefer Mayor Pete as the Democratic candidate. He won’t have to get loud, or offensive. He won’t need roars of outrage. He’ll leave that stuff to Trump as he cuts him up and leaves little pieces of him all over the debate stage.
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This week, Bernie Sanders announced that he would not be releasing any more information about his health Wait a minute. This is an almost 80 year old man who a month or so ago had a heart attack and he wants us to take his word that he’s healthy enough to be the President of the United States? I don’t think so. I also don’t think that in all the time he’s been in congress he has passed much legislation. It seems that the bill Bernie is most famous for was the one he didn’t sign, George Bush’s authorization to go to war with Iraq. It was certainly a laudable move and no intelligent human will deny that.
On the other hand Bernie’s adamant denial of getting funding from Pacs and rich donors rings a little hollow. He has a charitable organization, “New Revolution,” that has a ton of money and contributes to him as well as a number of unions that kick in big time. I’ve already dealt, in a previous blog, with Bernie and Warren’s attempts to paint Mayor Pete bad because of the fact that he takes money from the rich and why it’s such a phony shot. What I will say here is that the best situation by which we could take money out of politics entirely would be by having the taxes fund all campaigning and by limiting candidates ability to advertise on media while forcing that same media, which has the huge financial boost of enjoying free air time, to be forced to provide a certain amount of that free air time to all candidates on broadcast channels. That’s how you flatten out all advantages in any election.