Trump endorsing Romney is pathetic in the same way that all these guys suddenly wearing Yankee hats appeared after they won the world series a few times in the 90’s; nothing like backing a winner to make yourself look like a winner as well – or it seems that way to losers. That seems to be The Donald’s thinking. After blustering about entering the race himself if the party didn’t choose someone to his liking, he waits until the winner – for all intents and purposes – is chosen and then he decides Mitt’s got the right stuff and Newt’s fired.
Apparently not understanding how stupid this sounded, in his endorsement he said that, until recently he didn't know Romney well but after spending a couple of hours with him over cocktails, he was able to discern – with his abnormal super-powers – that Mitt’s that guy that he’s been looking to emerge. Never mind that Mitt’s been running since December of 2008. Trump has had a revelation and that means it must be the truth handed down from above. It’s a measure of how awkward Mitt is without a script in front of him that he called the endorsement “a delight”, once again appearing like Doug Neidermeyer sucking up to Dean Wormer.
Apparently not understanding how stupid this sounded, in his endorsement he said that, until recently he didn't know Romney well but after spending a couple of hours with him over cocktails, he was able to discern – with his abnormal super-powers – that Mitt’s that guy that he’s been looking to emerge. Never mind that Mitt’s been running since December of 2008. Trump has had a revelation and that means it must be the truth handed down from above. It’s a measure of how awkward Mitt is without a script in front of him that he called the endorsement “a delight”, once again appearing like Doug Neidermeyer sucking up to Dean Wormer.
In other campaign news, Rick “The Saint” Santorum, in an increasingly desperate attempt to galvanize and organize the rats jumping overboard from Newt Gingrich’s sinking cruise liner, is repeating previously discredited notions first propagated by noted medical expert, Sarah Palin, regarding so-called Obama Death Panels. He’s finding an eager and attentive audience in James Dobson and his ultra conservative Focus on the Family, a band of raving, delusional Book of Revelation fanatics who believe that Obama has a 666 tattoo somewhere on his body.
Saint Rick, bless his heart, continues to promote his own version of the dystopian future envisioned in THX1138 – well, minus the drugs, I suppose. The way Gingrich’s campaign has morphed into Sherman’s march to the sea, it might be a worthy play; the conservative base still can’t abide Romney; his support consists of the 33% of the republican party descended from the Rockefeller wing plus the same gotta-back-a-winner pea-brains who latch onto anything that will validate them so they don’t feel like losers. The rest are up for grabs.
Saint Rick, bless his heart, continues to promote his own version of the dystopian future envisioned in THX1138 – well, minus the drugs, I suppose. The way Gingrich’s campaign has morphed into Sherman’s march to the sea, it might be a worthy play; the conservative base still can’t abide Romney; his support consists of the 33% of the republican party descended from the Rockefeller wing plus the same gotta-back-a-winner pea-brains who latch onto anything that will validate them so they don’t feel like losers. The rest are up for grabs.
Newt isn’t getting any traction and has that whiff of slightly bad clams about him. You’re not sure if you should throw them out but you also don’t want to eat them. Ron Paul’s campaign has gotten stranger with every passing day – I thought he might have a chance in a libertarian, wild-west state like Nevada but he’s barely on the radar there, has no media coverage and more and more seems like he doesn’t give a shit. So maybe Santorum can cobble together a coalition of sorts and at least impact the platform – maybe some additional budget money to build orphanages for all of the unwanted children that will result from the no-abortions- ever, no contraceptive, no pre-natal care, no sexual education, all abstinence / all the time, criminalization of pre-marital sex plank he’s carrying up to his own personal Gethsemane like it’s the one true cross and his alone to bear. Or something…it could happen…
Also today, in the least surprising political development since Roosevelt was elected to a third term, John Boner derisively and insultingly scoffed at the increase in jobs reported today by recalling the hallowed reign of amiable dunce, Ronald Reagan, who inherited a similarly damaged economy and managed to turn it around, reducing the unemployment rate by 3.5% in the same time period that Obama has reduced it by 1.7%.
Never mind the enormous structural difference in the US economy between then and now and the impact of increased productivity and globalization. Forget that our current problem is made exponentially more profound because it is founded in housing, the great underrated driver of job growth over the last 2 decades. And ignore the huge defense build-up under Reagan that started us down the deficit path in the first place. No, Boner’s job is spin the numbers in as negative a way as possible as often as possible and refuse to cooperate absolutely. My guess is the republicans will find a reason to obstruct Obama's HARP II initiative to allow more home owners to refinance on some deficit-reduction grounds while ignoring the stimulative effects of hundreds of dollars in increased spending money in the hands of the miserable middle class.
If only the democrats would cooperate, John laments – if they would get off their asses – we would have millions more jobs by now. This is, of course, a laughable fiction made all the more preposterous by the recent history of the republican congressional leadership acting like children and fearing any hint of cooperation in the face of the clamorous tea party hamsters. So, another day, another bit of political gamesmanship, another supreme act of cowardice from a man who may go down as one of the most cowardly and treacherous speakers in the history of the House of Representatives.
Never mind the enormous structural difference in the US economy between then and now and the impact of increased productivity and globalization. Forget that our current problem is made exponentially more profound because it is founded in housing, the great underrated driver of job growth over the last 2 decades. And ignore the huge defense build-up under Reagan that started us down the deficit path in the first place. No, Boner’s job is spin the numbers in as negative a way as possible as often as possible and refuse to cooperate absolutely. My guess is the republicans will find a reason to obstruct Obama's HARP II initiative to allow more home owners to refinance on some deficit-reduction grounds while ignoring the stimulative effects of hundreds of dollars in increased spending money in the hands of the miserable middle class.
If only the democrats would cooperate, John laments – if they would get off their asses – we would have millions more jobs by now. This is, of course, a laughable fiction made all the more preposterous by the recent history of the republican congressional leadership acting like children and fearing any hint of cooperation in the face of the clamorous tea party hamsters. So, another day, another bit of political gamesmanship, another supreme act of cowardice from a man who may go down as one of the most cowardly and treacherous speakers in the history of the House of Representatives.
Finally, in the wake of the Susan G. Komen backward somersaults trying to extricate themselves from a monumental public relations disaster, we find the administration making a horrible and equally stupid public political mistake and one that is all too typical of do-gooder liberals trying to ram something down the throats of someone to whom they feel morally superior. Requiring religiously affiliated health care organizations to, “require their private health-insurance plans to provide contraception, including abortifacients and surgical sterilizations in violation of Catholic teaching.” I’m sure this seemed like an even handed application of the new health care rules – technically, it is. However, as an example of completely tone-deaf and clueless bureaucratic stupidity, it’s off the charts. What is gained and what is potentially lost? Catholics, as a group, supported the original health care initiative as an outgrowth of its tradition and laudatory concern for the poor. This desire for social justice is deep at the heart of catholic doctrine. As much as I loathe the hierarchical nature of the church as expressed by the arrogance of the Vatican, and hate the contraceptive policy of the church, they have a right to it – one protected in the constitution.
The Supreme Court has recently ruled in Hosanna-Tabor that a religious organization has broad latitude when it comes to its employment policies so the issue is probably moot. But to make matters worse times two, this year the court is also set to take up the entire issue of the Obama Health Care law and, oh by the way, there’s an election in which you might want some of those catholic votes you seem to have dismissed in a rather cavalier fashion. Stupid, stupid, stupid…a classic overreach by a bunch of knot-head apparatchiks and one they very well might live to regret.
The Supreme Court has recently ruled in Hosanna-Tabor that a religious organization has broad latitude when it comes to its employment policies so the issue is probably moot. But to make matters worse times two, this year the court is also set to take up the entire issue of the Obama Health Care law and, oh by the way, there’s an election in which you might want some of those catholic votes you seem to have dismissed in a rather cavalier fashion. Stupid, stupid, stupid…a classic overreach by a bunch of knot-head apparatchiks and one they very well might live to regret.
No comments:
Post a Comment