Campaign 2016

Attacking the Establishment is What 2016 is All About

Mark Noonan15 Comments

I see that Donald Trump got into another fracas with Megyn Kelly and now Ted Cruz has also taken exception to a Kelly line of questioning:

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz was seemingly unhappy with a question on immigration Tuesday night from Fox News host Megyn Kelly, telling her it was something he’d expect to be asked from a “liberal journalist.”

Kelly asked the Texas senator the same question Donald Trump faced on the cable-news network Monday.

“If you have a husband and a wife who are illegal immigrants, and they had two children here who are American citizens — would you deport all of them? Would you deport the American citizen children?” she asked.

Cruz replied that politicians should first tackle immigration by focusing on issues of bipartisan agreement, including stopping illegal immigration and “improve and streamline” legal immigration…

Kelly’s question is just the sort of MSM-Prog question we expect – from the MSM-Prog types. Fox News says it isn’t like that – but here we go. The question is a “why do you hate the children?” sort of question. It is a question which essentially boils down the entire issue to something which is (a) trivial and (b) impossible to answer in a mere “yes or no” manner. Kelly is pretty much holding here that unless Cruz (and, I guess, Trump who was asked the same sort of question by Kelly) states his opinion on whether or not the children should be deported, then he can’t talk about immigration reform. It is a typical liberal trap for conservatives – you either have to show the LIV that you hate the children or you have to anger the GOP base by getting mealy-mouthed on whether or not you’ll deport illegal immigrants. People who are concerned about illegal immigration are not primarily concerned about what we may do regarding those people who have lived here a while and have American-born children – the primary concern is whether or not we, as a nation, will control our borders, at all. Yes, the children of illegal immigrants are an issue and will have to be dealt with as we work out the ways and means of border security and immigration reform…but it isn’t the top issue. The top issue is the number of people flooding across the border today, not the number who flooded across five years ago and now have two American-born children. But, you see, if we start discussing the real issues regarding immigration, then we’ll have to do something about immigration…but if we can emote about the children then we can ignore the real problem…and Democrats and Chamber of Commerce types will get their heart’s desire: open borders.

But, this isn’t really about illegal immigration – it is about the desperate desire of the Ruling Class to get its way in spite of the will of the American people, and the desperate desire of the American people to defeat the Ruling Class. The reason why Donald Trump is surging in the GOP primary and Bernie Sanders in the Democrat primary is because people are fed up. Frank Luntz apparently needed the Establishment Fainting Couch today when he focus-grouped some GOPers and found out they despise the GOP Establishment. This came as shocking news to Luntz, but for you and me down here its old hat…because we all despise the GOP Establishment. We handed them massive victory in November of 2014 and they can’t even defund Planned Parenthood! PP is handed to them on a platter and they can do something which the base would be thrilled about…and at no political cost (the MSM would like to use such a thing to gin up “war on women” for 2016, but they wouldn’t dare because if they did, it would only bring up why PP was defunded; something the MSM has thus far prevented the LIV from learning). For those on the left, they can’t believe they had the whole government for 2 years and the White House+Senate for 6 years and all they got for it is ObamaCare: they were expecting the Progressive Paradise to arrive. We laugh at it, but they really believed Obama when he made his victory speech in 2008…they really thought that getting Obama and a Democrat Congress meant that the sea levels would start to fall. Been a bit of a disappointment, hasn’t it? And now they are told that their only choice for 2016 is a worn-out political hack who drew the lucky straw in the marriage sweepstakes? That isn’t going down any better with Democrats than Jeb Bush has with Republicans.

Trump still isn’t the man we need – but he’s going to keep leading in the polls until some GOPer out there figures out that fighting the Establishment (all of it, everywhere – even, and especially, those parts of it which claim to be on our side) is the only way to go. I think Ted Cruz has figured it out – I think that Scott Walker has partially figured it out (though his basic Establishment background is preventing him from doing it right – and he’s actually hurting himself right now by being all over the map rather than finding a point and sticking to it). Cruz doesn’t spend any time attacking Trump – there’s no point; all that does is make him more of a hero…but getting into a fight with Megyn Kelly? Good politics (I know a lot of conservatives think highly of Megyn Kelly – I’m unimpressed. I’ve never heard so much of a word out of her which indicates a deep level of thought about things…of course, I barely ever watch Fox News or, indeed, any televised news other than local stuff to catch the weather report, so maybe I’ve missed something…and if someone has a quote from Ms. Kelly which is impressive, I’m ready to hear it). Megyn Kelly is part of the Establishment – she’s the opponent. It isn’t for a GOPer to get along with her, but to challenge the basis of her lines of questioning…and so, too, with all other MSMers asking us questions, because not one of them is on our side. And the people – especially the GOP base – wants to hear that. We don’t want to know what Cruz – or anyone – will do about the children of illegal immigrants…we want to know what Cruz will do about the people flooding nearly unimpeded across our border on daily basis…and we want the reporters, if they are such, to ask the Democrats what precisely they propose to do about stopping the flow (we know they won’t – but until they do we’ll treat with monumental contempt any MSMer who presumes to ask a “gotcha” question of a GOPer on the issue).

I really haven’t the foggiest notion how this will all come out in the end – I don’t know who will win the respective party nominations, and no idea who might wind up getting elected. It could get very, very messy – even having both conventions becoming brokered as no one in either party wins a first-ballot majority (still highly unlikely – but in the 5% chance range unlikely, rather than existentially impossible, as it normally is). But from what I have read and heard, the people are just sick of this nonsense. They voted for hope and change in 2008 and all they got was business as usual, a stagnant economy and a world spinning out of control. There is no trust any longer – and as there is no trust, people will go for anyone who expresses their distrust of the Establishment. Yes, even an Establishment guy like Donald Trump – because even though he’s of it, he’s fighting it (he wouldn’t be the first Ruling Class politician in human history to eschew his own…Pericles and Caesar did it thousands of years ago in Athens and Rome). You want to keep Donald Trump out? Then don’t attack Trump – do a better job than Trump is at attacking the system.

The Unraveling

Cluster8 Comments

It’s unfortunate that our country had to get to this point, but the end of our current “progressive” nightmare is near. The free fall of the Dow has exposed the fragility of the economy; the Planned Parenthood debacle has exposed the ugly truth about abortion; the self inspections and recent SAM purchases by Iran have exposed the sheer stupidity of our foreign policy; the Black Lives Matters movement has exposed the failure of liberal social justice policies; and the Hillary email and IRS scandals have exposed the dishonesty of progressive Democrats. It’s all unraveling on every front, right in front of our eyes, let’s hope conservatives can seize the day.

“……..raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people”.  – Ronaldo Magnus

A Hard Left and Into The Ditch

Cluster26 Comments

“The era of big government is over” – Bill Clinton, 1996.

That may be the last sensible thing any elected Democrat ever said. Of course that was a time when sensible Democrats like Evan Bayh, Sam Nunn, and Joe Lieberman were amongst the ranks but those days are gone. Beginning with the election, or as Democrats are fond of saying, the “selection”, of George W Bush the Democrats have been veering left. There was a brief moment in 2001 when the attack on our homeland caused the parties to set aside their differences and focus instead on the growing dangers of the outside world. In fact some of the most impassioned arguments for the Iraq war on the Senate floor came from Democrats Hillary Clinton and Jay Rockefeller. But that unity and that passion would be short lived. As soon as the war became difficult and many Americans became frustrated, the Democrats seized the opportunity and began polarizing the country for political expediency, and that polarization is even more pronounced today.

Over the last decade, the Democratic Party has used every issue possible to divide this country along every societal line; age, race, sex, income, etc. The Democrats have also used every single procedural weapon to push through partisan legislation to the extent of lying on the Senate floor, lying to the American people, and creating and employing the fourth “regulatory” branch of government when Congress opposed them. The Democratic Party has moved so far left over the last decade that their ranks are thinning and their constituencies are dwindling. It’s more than a little embarrassing that the current field of Democrat POTUS candidates are all older, white career politicians, and outside of Julian Castro and Cory Booker, their bench is very weak. By comparison, the GOP is flush with young, talented people including the current field of POTUS candidates but also including folks like Susanna Martinez, Mia Love, Paul Ryan, Raul Labrador, and Trey Gowdy. The Democrats can’t even come close to matching this abundance of young talent. But what is even more perilous for the Democrats is their shrinking base. Their pandering over the last several years has emboldened a few of the more vocal minorities, which is now causing problems for them by continually having to serve more and more of their extreme demands. Just in the last couple of years the Democrats have angered the unions, a bedrock constituency, by appeasing the environmentalists and not approving the Keystone Pipeline. Also, via the fourth branch of government, manufacturing and mining jobs are disappearing and as a consequence so are even more union jobs. I also think that the #blacklivesmatters movement, which is literally taking over the Democratic podium this campaign season, has deeper roots than many want to admit. I think the movement has more to do with the sad plight many black families find themselves in largely as a result of government policies over the last 50 years. Policies of which they have been voting for, and of which were promised to “help” them. These policies have failed them and their community and I think their frustration is being misread to be an anti cop movement, which again is angering the unions. And now, on top of the many failed social and economic justice programs is the open border policies and legalization efforts the Democrats are pushing, which will only serve to flood the already crowded low skilled labor market and drive wages down. Black youth unemployment is over 50% and that will only get worse until we bring new solutions to the table and stop the progressive Democrats from “helping”.

The Democrats have painted themselves into a corner by their zeal for power and control and their incessant pandering to the smallest of grievances over the last several years. According to Real Clear Politics, 63% of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, and I highly doubt that that those people are hoping this country would be even more polarized and regulated. I think the most obvious example of how far left the Democrats have gone is the fact that the rival candidate to the Democrat front runner is an admitted socialist and not even a member of the party. From abortion, to immigration, to foreign policy, tt is time to define the Democrats positions just as they are, tenuous and extreme.

Opening Up the Immigration Debate

Mark Noonan18 Comments

Trump laid out a plan for immigration, and did the GOP a huge favor. From what I gather, Trump’s is for deportation of all illegals and building a secure border. This is far more vigorous than any GOPer has proposed and, indeed, it is probably a plan which would never get majority support. It is also makes things a bit more difficult for the GOP – but at the same time it opens up a gigantic opportunity.

First off, the Democrats love it – not the plan, but that Trump said it as a Republican. They desperately need a divisive, racial issue which can be used to juice up the base for Hillary in 2016. Regardless of what happens to Trump, Democrats will paint the Trump position as the GOP position – and as the Democrats will put it, the GOP plan is cruel deportation. No amount of mealy-mouthed GOP claims to the contrary will matter because, quite simply, the MSM won’t sufficiently report them…but you can bet that they’ll drive this into the ground…it’ll be endless “REPUBLICAN Donald Trump wants to DEPORT ALL ILLEGALS” on replay for days as the MSM drives the Narrative into the public mind. The bottom line is that the Democrats and their MSM lapdogs will try to convince LIVs that the GOP hates Latinos.

Will it work? Of course it will. All it took was one badly answered question and the GOP was hammered successfully with “war on women” twaddle for two election cycles. LIV are LIV for a reason – they don’t know anything other than what the MSM tells them. And the MSM will tell them about Trump and the mean, horrid, racist, cruel Republicans.

Secondly, though, it does open up the field of debate – any GOPer can now be a relative moderate on immigration but still be tough on illegal immigration: he or she just needs to step an inch to the left of Trump. We can condemn both extremes of immigration – mass deportation and open borders, while at the same time calling for real immigration reform which will actually give the United States an immigration policy based upon rational ideas. LIV who have been told that the GOP is a horrid, racist bunch of anti-Latino bigots will eventually get to hear the actual GOP nominee speak about it…and when he or she lays out a rational plan for immigration reform, and then challenges Hillary on the Democrats’ open border nonsense, LIV will have their eyes opened (well, we hope – as long as there isn’t some Kardashian news on the debate nights).

My ideas on immigration start with strict border security – both as a matter of national defense and as an act of mercy towards the illegals: our Progressives will downright refuse to see it, but open borders in the United States merely means that criminal gangs control entry into our nation, and they treat the illegals extremely badly. I’d like to see a modification of birthright citizenship, but I believe any change here would require a Constitutional amendment (I would amend it to say, “any person born to at least one U.S. citizen is a natural born citizen of the United States”, in order to finally clear up forever the entire issue). I’d like to have some sort of guest-worker program. I’d slap a 90% tax on remittances from people in the United States to people in foreign countries (I believe this would, of itself, cause several million illegals to just go back home – they are only here to send money back home and once we stop that, there’s no reason for them to be here), though I’d offer no tax penalty to a guest-worker who takes his savings with him when he leaves (in other words, while he’s working legally as a guest-worker let’s say he saves $10,000.00…if he tries to wire that home, we take $9,000.00…but if he goes home with it, no penalty; massive incentive to leave when your legal time is up). I would explicitly have a program for eventual citizenship for those illegals here for, say, 5 years or longer, who have committed no crimes while inside the United States, who have had children while living in the United States, and who have not sent more than 10% of their gross income back home since arriving in the United States (in other words, I’m getting a path to citizenship for those illegals who’s actions indicate a desire to settle permanently in the United States and become Americans). I believe that any GOPer can take all or part of these ideas and craft an immigration plan which would command majority support.

One thing for certain, Trump has torn the lid off our politically correct political process. Whether this will harm or help the conservative cause long-term remains to be seen. But now that Trump has lanced the boil, it is time for any GOPer who really wants to be President to step up, steal Trump’s thunder and come up with plans which walk the actual middle line between the extremes. We’ll see if anyone does it.

Clintonerdammerung

Mark Noonan21 Comments

Just too good to pass up:

Now, before you get too excited, Hillary won’t be indicted. She won’t be beaten because she’s corrupt. She should be, but she won’t be. It’ll take a great candidate running a good campaign to win…but, really, it is astonishing that we’ll actually have to beat her in a political campaign.

Regarding “The Donald”

Leo Pusateri15 Comments

Trump

To my good conservative friends- especially those who support “The Donald.”
In these days of milquetoast (or worse) defenses of conservatism by elected leaders, especially the ‘establishment’ GOP leadership, it is easy to get excited over a seemingly unapologetic firebrand who finally articulates much of what you and I have wanted to scream from the mountaintops.

I get that.

But remember what was happening 8 years ago. Many on the left and ‘center-left’ rallied behind a charismatic, well-spoken candidate who nobody really knew much about.

Not that there wasn’t information available. There was information galore about Barack Obama– from his associations with known domestic terrorists, to his belonging to a communist party in Chicago; from his 20-year association with a preacher who preached hate about the United States, to his being mentored by an avowed communist in his earliest days. The information was available to any who wished to do even a cursory internet search.

Many (myself included) tried to warn people about Barack Obama, how he wasn’t the man whom he portrayed himself to be.

But people would have none of it. They looked upon Obama as an open canvas; they looked upon him and projected upon him their greatest hopes, and ignored the reality of his checkered past. They didn’t see a guy raised by communists and people who hated America. They saw a guy descending from Greek columns. They saw ‘the One”–their own personal messiah the one who would finally deliver them to the “Promised Land” and make the sea levels lower and the earth heal. They scoffed at reports of his past, thinking, “Well, even if he did cut his teeth on communism and Islam, he wouldn’t *govern* like one. He would certainly out of a sense of duty and responsibility carry out America’s most time-honored traditions.” And they elected him anyway. The ‘cult of personality’ took over. There was no reasoning with people who refused to be reasoned with.

And we all know how that has turned out.

Now, back to Trump.

Donald Trump does an awfully good job at selling himself. He can sell ice cubes to Eskimos. He is very good at portraying himself as larger than life.

He is very good at ‘portraying’ himself as an unapologetic conservative.

But understand, people. Donald Trump is NO conservative. He has a very long record of taking very progressive stances on everything from border security to abortion to tax policy. He has engaged in crony capitalism, and has been part of the problem all along.

Are we to believe that he REALLY took a 180 on all these issues, just in time for the Republican primary?

Again– I understand how Donald Trump can be appealing. He is charismatic and unapologetic–something we wish more of our elected leaders would be. But let’s leave our passions behind and look at things realistically:

1. Given his long track record of being a crony capitalist and a big-government, pro-abortion progressive, can we reliably count on Donald Trump to actually govern as a conservative?

2. Even if Donald Trump were to attempt to keep his promises (which I have sincere doubts), can he accomplish all that he proposes in a system of checks and balances? Or will he govern with a ‘phone and a pen’ like our current dictator-in-chief?

Let’s not let our passions get in the way of our good judgment. We have an embarrassment of riches in fine candidates such as Ted Cruz, Scott Walker, and Ben Carson who, while admittedly not as charismatic, have long track records of conservative stances and successfully advancing the conservative agenda with reasonable chances that they will govern accordingly.

No more cults of personality, please.

Debate Open Thread

Cluster149 Comments

Carly Fiorina did very well in the early debate. She is a formidable candidate. Can you imagine a Trump/Fiorina ticket? Speaking of Trump, if he can dial down his ego, add more details to his ideas, and act presidential – he just might run away with this. This will be a fun night, well at least for us political junkies.

Scott Walker? Yeah, Just Like Hitler…

Mark Noonan18 Comments

From The College Fix:

University of Wisconsin sociology Professor Sara Goldrick-Rab claims there are “terrifying” psychological similarities between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Nazi leader and mass murderer Adolf Hitler.

In a July 1 tweet, Goldrick-Rab said: “My grandfather, a psychologist, just walked me through similarities between Walker and Hitler. There are so many-it’s terrifying.”…

Indeed, it is uncanny how much they are alike – given that Walker, just like Hitler, has worked hard his whole life, got married, has a normal family, doesn’t blame Jews for anything and is dedicated to working within our democratic republican institutions to effect change. How did we all miss the similarities?

The reality is that she’s a college professor with tenure – and Walker just signed a budget which stops tenure from being a life-long guarantee of employment no matter how stupid or lunatic you turn out to be. Naturally, Progressives are outraged by this. If you ever wondered why our institutions of higher education have become a morass of anti-American, anti-Christian and anti-civilization twaddle while also devolving into fascist enclaves where you are guilty until proven innocent, look no further than tenure. Once our Progressives got themselves set up with tenure, they could do as they pleased in higher education…and ending tenure is key to terminating the Progressive domination of higher education.

The hyperbole in the left about Walker stems from the fact that quietly, without fanfare and entirely in line with common sense backed by a majority of the people, he is devastating the left’s sources of power in the United States…which are all, bottom line, based upon getting into government or quasi-government positions and essentially using taxpayer dollars to undermine the United States. The left hates Walker with a white-hot passion because of this…and people who work themselves into such a state make mistakes. This, in and of itself, is a strong endorsement of a Walker candidacy for President – our opponents will do stupid things which will alienate LIVs.

On the other side of it, here’s a positive reason for us to go for Walker – he’s actually destroying the left. I still don’t know if it is a conscious plan which he’s just not telegraphing in advance or whether its just a desire on Walker’s part for common-sense reform. But whatever is making Walker take these actions, the actions are tailor-made to not just beat the left at the polls, but eliminate them from the political equation, in the long run. Some on th right are worried about Walker’s waffling on things like immigration reform and ethanol subsidies – but I’m starting to wonder if Walker just knows how to play the game and, once in office, just does what is right?

Trump

Cluster13 Comments

So the megalomaniac has finally stepped up and entered the POTUS race, something of which he has been saying he would do for quite some time and I have to say from a business standpoint, I am intrigued. I was a big Romney supporter for this same reason and that is I would like to see a successful CEO run this country like a company, not a daycare. Trump had a good line yesterday when he said that the “brand” of the US needs to be great again and I like that train of thought. This country needs to win more often in the negotiating room and on the battlefield. We need to care more about what we think about other countries and less about what they think about us. And make no mistake, Trump has been very successful negotiating with other countries and politicians through the myriad of overseas ventures he runs and other countries are very aware of where he stands and how tough he is to compete with.

I find it amusing how the MSM and progressives are bashing Trump over his ego, yet they found the same quality in Obama to be inspiring. Remember when Obama was proclaiming his election was the moment when the seas began to recede and the planet began to heal? Obama has a worse egotistical problem because his massive ego is not supported by any great accomplishment. And no – lying through your teeth to win the POTUS election is not a great achievement. Trump’s accomplishments are obvious and well known. It will also be hard to bash Trump over his wealth considering the MSM’s admiration of Bill and Hillary’s recent accumulation of wealth.

All in all, I think Trump’s entrance into the race will be interesting. He does not have to raise funds or pander to any narrow constituency. He is able to speak his mind freely, and if he offends someone or causes someone to have to go to his or her “safe space”, then I will like him even more. It’s time this country has an adult conversation about who we are, the mess we are in, and what it will take to emerge once again as a country respected and feared by the rest of the world.

Would You Vote to Authorize the Iraq War?

Mark Noonan11 Comments

The MSMers, true to form, are asking all the GOP candidates this question. They haven’t quite got around to asking Hillary, even though she’s the only candidate on either side who did, indeed, vote for the Iraq War. As to why they are asking the question: battle space preparation. They know the Democrats can’t realistically run on Obama’s record, so might as well try to get the issue being Bush, again.

The question is phrased along the lines of, “knowing what we now know, would you have authorized the Iraq war?”. All of the GOP candidates are answering it wrong – mostly by trying to answer it. The proper response to the question is to dismiss it as absurd – because it is absurd. It would be like Asking FDR in the run up to the 1944 election, “knowing what you now know, would you have allowed the Navy to kick it on Sundays rather than having at least half the fleet at sea at any given time?”. Of course the answer is, “I would have had the fleet at battle stations at all times!”. But its a stupid question, all the same. When the decision to invade Iraq was made, we didn’t know what we now know – and a good deal of what we now know is only known because we invaded Iraq. Had we decided not to invade Iraq, a whole series of different issues would confront us today.

The proper way to respond to the question is to state that one doesn’t know what decision he or she would have made at the time, not being privy to every bit of information provided to the President who made the actual decision, with the full support of the American people and the Congress, including Hillary Clinton…but that if any decision comes up about whether or not to use force, it will be made with all due care. To answer “yes” makes you look thick headed, to answer “no” is to presume to impossible knowledge…and to, incidentally, insult every soldier, sailor, airman and Marine who served in Iraq…and especially those who were killed or wounded. It is telling them that their sacrifice was in vain.

Republicans really got to get smart about this – the MSM is going to do nothing but try to destroy Republicans. Every question should be taken in that sense – what bad answer is the MSM trying to get out of me? Will what I say make me look bad to LIV? As 90% of MSM questions are absurd, partisan hackery, the best response is to be dismissive of 90% of their questions and just use any opportunity to speak as a chance to condemn Obama and the eventual Democrat nominee for their 8 years of failure…and then move immediately into talking points about how you’re doing to fix the failures. Don’t play the MSM game – the are just Democrats with by lines and they are out to get you.