“They got caught!” With those damning words Adam Schiff condemned what appears to be the entire Retrumplican Party and their criminal leader to a level of hell that contains the dregs of history’s worst villains The GOP had already given up any hope of proving the President innocent of bribery and extortion. But they had desperately reached back into the book of American jurisprudence to extract one last hope. A man is innocent until proven guilty,
Unfortunately, their lying egomaniac of a leader reached over and stabbed them in the back, having already, on numerous occasions admitted, no bragged, about the facts of his guilt,
So what were these pathetic minions left with? “The money was paid.” Really? That’s like saying they robbed the bank but they didn’t get the money because the cops showed up before they could get the safe open. Does that let them off? I think not!
I was watching the debates last night and as I scanned the field of candidates I got a sense of pride about those, with one exception, that were running as Democrats , for President. It struck me that with one exception all the candidates could be functional presidents. Certainly any of them would be better than what we have now.
And then because I have belonged to both parties and now belong to none, I started thinking about what a GOP group of candidates would look like if Trump were out of the picture. It was truly shocking. Who would have been on that stage for the GOP? Let’s see: Ted Cruz, Lindsay Graham, Marco Rubio, maybe Jeb Bush and then we fall off the cliff and there’s Jim Jordan, Chris Stewart, Devin Nunes, Mike Pence, …..Haley and Elise Stephanic? Oh yeah and Tulsi Gabbard who knows where she really belongs but couldn’t find an opening because Trump was taking up all the space. Pretty shocking; a rogue’s gallery of fools, liars and petty criminals that are almost ready to contest Trump for worst president ever, even before they get a chance to run.
But the most immediate thing on the landscape right now is the debates. That’s unfortunate because they weren’t particularly exciting, but maybe that’s a good thing. I say that because maybe for the first time, the various candidates actually spoke on many subjects and for the most part avoided getting in each other’s hair. All but one!
Tulsi Gabbard talked a lot when she should have kept her mouth shut. Most of what she was trying to say was unintelligible. I don’t have a clue as to why she considers herself a Democrat; her positions make her anything but. Gabbard promises to do nothing but cause trouble for the Democrats. Then she’ll switch parties.
The rest of the group all had something constructive to say. They all, even when they disagreed, produced meaningful dialog. If you’re looking for a winner or loser, I felt Corey Booker had the most successful night but I don’t see it making any difference. Corey is not going to be the nominee because no matter what he says no one seems to be listening. This group is so stunningly intelligent that it seems impossible that any of them couldn’t body slam Trump in a debate.
Yang and Steyer, the billionaire pair, aren’t just the kids of some rich guy who threw a couple of oil wells their way. They are self-made men who have evolved with a sense of responsibility and the intelligence to understand how to promote what is right. Neither will win, Steyer because he hasn’t avoided the title, “just another billionaire,” and Yang because too many voters will consider his giveaways an insult to their intelligence. But whoever wins would be a fool not to appoint both to some kind of advisory panel.
Kamala Harris was right on point. She’s a smart, tough prosecutor and maybe that’s why she hasn’t created a large enough following to be significant. She would probably make a hell of a memorable president but unfortunately she doesn’t match that as a candidate.
Amy Klobuchar is the one who could come out of the woodwork and catch them all but so far hasn’t. She has great creds and is very likeable. And she has some serious power in the mid-west. Despite this I think her real power is as a VP candidate.
That leaves the big four. Mayor Pete, who is surging in Iowa, is always the smartest voice in the room and he was just that last night. Gabbard tried to cut him and he sliced her off at the knees. Would love to see him debate Trump. It would be a horrible bloodletting.
The older folks are pretty much holding where they have been for a while. Biden is still out front across the country but whatever his strength is, it ain’t debate. Someone must tell Joe that once he gets past the third sentence in any thought he’s courting disaster.
Warren is holding her own, which is not a good thing for her. She should be gaining ground on both Biden and Bernie but she isn’t.
And then there’s Bernie. He is my favorite attack Senator. When he gets a chance to stoke his boiler he is a beautiful thing to watch. I would love to see him go head to head with Jim Jordan. Jordan is younger and stronger but I keep having this vision of Bernie leaving pieces of Jordan all over the room.
The general consensus seems to be that Biden, if he can keep up the pace, is the most viable alternative, because he seems to be the favorite to beat Trump, and after all isn’t that what it’s all about?
But still chugging away is Buttigieg’s little engine that could. There are many, and their numbers seem to be increasing, that recognize this man’s intelligence. There are many that want the smartest guy in the room to lead the nation, many that are tired and disgusted of having a President who is proud of being dumb and uninformed. Sure Trump possesses a certain animal cunning that drives his criminal mind but, most thinking people are disgusted by this degenerate and the weak, greedy clowns that follow him.
One of the reasons why America is still great, despite Trump and his army of dishonest, immoral non-functional bums is because it is occupied by people who believe in doing the right thing. Their number has been reduced in the last couple of decades but if and when they can see that they are getting the treatment and chances they deserve, they will be more inclined to do the right thing more often. This will never happen as long as Trump is busy stealing their opportunities.
Almost every Democratic candidate will be able to turn this around to some extent but I believe that Buttigieg would be able to do it best, because I believe he will debate the best and then make the right decisions as president. I believe that Biden would out debate Trump as long as he had the discipline to keep his answers short and to the point. Warren will also outsmart Trump but might get pushed around, as did Clinton. Bernie and Harris would bang heads with Trump and probably win because they are smarter than he is but in the end it would be Mayor Pete and his calm, razor wit that would slice up the fat clown and reveal him to be the ignorant blustering idiot that he is.
Sunday on This Week, I watched a perfect example of why this country can’t get off its ass and get anything done. A panel of lawyers debated on the concept of impeachment and how it works under the law. Maybe the biggest exercise in futility I have ever seen. A group of lawyers and professors of law, demonstrated how constipated out legal process really is, and how useless the impeachment process is, as set up by the founding fathers. Basically they talked themselves into total impotence. It’s all very depressing because it’s obvious that if our governmental regulation is left in this state there’s no hope for getting anything done, in any sphere.
This inability to see the obvious leaves openings for partisan freaks like Lindsay Graham who, because he understands that he has no serious defense of the criminal in the White House, demands that the identity of the whistleblower, which is clearly protected by law, be illegally revealed. Graham keeps babbling about wanting that name when the testimony that has already been given shows that everyone but the ideologically close minded understands that such information is no longer relevant.
Of course the basic problem remains. The Democrats firmly believe that they have more than enough evidence to convict, while the Republicans are determined to protect their strongman from any assault no matter how firmly based in reality and evidence.
I watched GOP Senator from North Carolina, Pat McCrory who claimed he spoke to a cab drive who told him, “Move on, work on the legislation that congress is supposed to be doing.” That would be very nice except for the fact that congress, specifically the Senate, have done nothing for three years except pass a tax bill that helped no one but corporations and the already rich and left us with a trillion dollars added to the deficit. Who the hell needs that?