I couldn’t bring myself to watch the State of the Union last night. I was in the mood for action, for cutthroat competition, for slashing and burning. I watched “Chopped” on the Food Network. But here is a handy dandy fact check of Trump’s “speech.”
Here are the highlights:
All one needs to see. The part where the Creature gave the Medal of Freedom to the utterly debased Rush Limbaugh I would rathre not see.
We are still waiting for the final results of the Iowa Caucus, but it looks like a tie between Buttigieg and Sanders. Warren is third. Biden probably will be shut out of the delegate allocation. Now the pundits are arguing whether Biden can hang on to his front runner status. The nerds at FiveThirtyEight give Sanders a 62 percent chance of winning New Hampshire and a 46 percent chance of winning Nevada, which are still better odds than any other candidate. Biden is currently 2 in 5 to win Nevada, the nerds say. Biden is still far and away the favorite to win South Carolina. A strong showing there could save his candidacy.
Mitt Romney broke with his party and will vote to convict Trump. This is getting headlines everywhere. It might be the biggest headline of the day. Romney doesn’t face re-election until 2024 and will be well-positioned to lead whatever is left of the Republican party when Trump goes down.
Am I a bad person for hoping that Romney's vote causes DOPUS to have a stroke?
Romney did vote "Guilty" for abuse of power. YAY!
All of the rest of the gutless RepubliKKKLAN weasels voted "Not Guilty" – of course.
Look for tRUMP's vicious ire to be focused. I don't think Mitt will wilt under the Mango Menace's barrage of bullshit.
As I wait for the acquittal vote on the obstruction charge, let me just say this about Rush getting the medal of freedom:
Like everything else tRUMP has touched, he has now degraded and debased that honor. What can this honor mean to anyone in the future now that this completely dishonorable and bigoted thug has one it?
And now, the vote on obstruction has come in: President's in the future can now deny documents and witnesses into any investigation into them.
Congratulations!
We now live in a lawless Authoritarian banana republic!
Or, a future Monarchy.
Take your pick.
R.I.P.: America's representative democracy.
It lasted 237 years. Destroyed by barbarians inside the US Senate's gates.
It was a sad state of affairs.. Scripted for TV…I was surprised that Trump didn't announce that the Congress critters should look under their seats to receive a free copy of The Art of the Deal.
And I hope that Limp-pud's wearing of his Medal of Freedom doesn't interfere with the placement of his upcoming morphine drip.
David,
Not at all!
It makes you a patriot.
R.I..P:
Kirk Douglass
Age 103
A long, good run.
Any actor will take that!
I think with a little good coaching old Mitt might achieve near Swami level of moral competency.
Mitt did the right thing! I kinda wonder if Mitt wrestled with the demon of revenge in coming to his decision. I'm sure that thought passed through his mind as he considered how to cast his vote. Trump went out of his way to humiliate Romney as a supplicant with his little candle light diner over feminine food served up in portions suited for a chickadee. Then to announce that Romney begged him for a job, but Trump found that Romney wasn't competent enough to meet Trump's exacting standards.
Mitt got it right in assessing that in the big picture he wasn't going to move the needle in ridding us of Trump, but he could stand on the fact that he fulfilled his duty to God and country. And that his legacy in some small part would be secured in recording him as faithful and honest. Mitt, you made the right choice! I agree with Adam Schiff''s assessment that history will not be kind to Donald Trump.
https://twitter.com/rich29uk/status/1225175408490008576/photo/1
Five over-rated things:
Apps, Caucuses, "Momentum", "Electability", and Iowa.
Fortunately, the logistic failures of #1, 2, and 5 have freed us, this time, from the mental failures inherent in #3 and 4. Sure it was a debacle, but not for democracy, just for the DNC. Let there be no talk of momentum of vote counting, just the vote counts themselves, _after_ vote counting is done!
I have a suggestion regarding electronics in elections: ban it! Paper ballots are recheckable, non-evanescent, and unhackable. An ancient Chinese saying has it that "the best memory does not equal the palest ink." This includes computer memories.
The Project Manager's Trilemma says: "Fast, good, cheap; choose two." Electronic elections take 'fast' as job 1; which leave a hard choice between cheap and good. I would vastly prefer making 'good' job 1; so the hard choice is between fast and cheap. I vote good and cheap but not fast. Take the time to do it right!
I have a related suggestion, about instant media coverage of elections. Ban it! Embargo all election results for 96 hours; fine any media outlet attempting to scoop the process. Let the pundits wait for the sovereign people's choice in the people's own good time.
If the media wants excitement, action, and artificial stimulation until then, why I have a modest suggestion; they can go f*** themselves.
If you assume that a candidate is not viable (now that primaries have started) unless he/she is breaking double digits, there are three candidates. Biden, Sanders, and Warren. Period. Warren (My favorite) is in decline. Unless something turns around her momentum soon, there are two viable candidates. At this time in 2008, Obama was polling w/in 4 points of HRC. The pivotal event if the next few primaries follow the national predictions will pit Biden against Sanders with Warren in position to be the spoiler should she stay in too long just to spite Bernie. (Which I don't think she will do.)
Biden is polling nationally at 27% – Sanders at 24% – Warren at 14%. That means Sanders/Warren (if combined) have a 10-point edge over Biden. If the trailers drop out and the voting lines up according to ideology, Biden might take the lead but voters are not aligned according to issues as much as they are electability and character. Bernie is the most 'authentic' candidate in the race – that will be a factor.
The polling swing to favor Trump in approval reflects voter frustration at what they perceived as a purely political exercise to hurt Trump. IMO, this is what Nancy feared when she resisted doomed calls to impeach. But the Democrats could not stand by and fail to call Trump out for his behavior. There are many more cards to be played in the Ukraine shakedown. How it will finally be recorded, I do not know but it ain't over.
I’m hoping the Iowa vote is atypical. I have big qualms about Buttigieg, and not just because I worry that homosexuality is too big a hurdle for too many voters. He lacks experience and, frankly, the more I see of him the more I think he’s a bit of an asshole. Some people do not wear well. However, conventional wisdom says he will crash and burn in states with a significant nonwhite vote.
In general I agree, Maha, but it's hard to make a case Americans don't like assholes. Nixon, Bush II and the current über asshole come to mind immediately.
As fsr as I'm concerned bernie is not authentic other than being a 60's leftist with the ego that characterized them. Warren and Sanders are not equivalent and do not share the same voters. I despair because i see no one who can beat trump. Look at the uk election just passed. Boris the pig won handily over the labor candidate. This election will be about likeability and advertising and public displays alathe SOTU. Quit thinking the electorate cares about issues. If they did we would not have had republican presidents 23 of 39 years and republican legislature most of the years the Democrat presidents were in office.