Opportunity Slipping Away

I'm a cynic, so hope isn't generally in my vocabulary. I've watched too much of the same old bullshit go on year after year in Washington to think that true change can happen. It's probably the reason I didn't vote for Presdident Obama. While I watched him preach hope and change, he just reminded me of the same old politicians who said what we wanted to hear to get our vote. Seven years later, the cynic in me says "told ya so" He didn't change how Washington works, he didn't provide more transparency, and he didn't get rid of the pork. Don't get me wrong, I don't think everything he did was wrong, he's just more of the same old same old. Before the primary season started, I didn't have much hope that there would be any true change, the cynic in me wouldn't allow it. Hasn't happened yet, not going to happen, was my feeling. Then it started to happen, what I thought was impossible seemed possible.

Tump and Sanders came along. On the GOP side Trump is shaking things up like the Hulk taking on Loki. Puny politicians. On the Dem side, there's Bernie. Bernie cares about people, Bernie cares about this country, and Bernie wants to really change how things work. He isn't beholden to the DNC and he isn't beholden to corporate America. He's beholden to his conscience. So at the beginning of this primary season, this cynic foolishly allowed hope to creep in. The prospect of a Trump Sanders general election started to excite me. Talk about real change. Imagine two candidates who are outsiders dukeing it out for the greatest office in America. Imagine. But alas it's not looking good for this scenario and the cynic inside me is starting to berate himself for daring to hope.

While its mathematically still possible for Sanders to somehow pull it off, it seems there are enough Democrats that can look the other way when it comes to corruption and lies, who don't want to see any real change, and who just won't jump off that damn Hillary train out there for that to happen. I don't get it, the Democrats have a real chance to field an honest, sincere and honorable candidate and many of them are letting that opportunity slip right through their fingers. I wish it could be different but it's looking like "I told you so" is going to be my mantra for a little longer.

Arizona Preference Election

Coincidentally we happen to be visiting our daughter and son in law in Arizona this week and today is Arizona's Presidential Preference election. It's sort of a pre-primary only independents are not allowed to vote which leaves out over 30 percent of their voters from today. Their regular primary happens in August when everyone can vote. According to what I have read, the GOP winner today gets all of the delegates for the state while the Democratic side will see delegates awarded in a proportional system with both candidates possibly splitting the delegates. Something I've had my eyes opened about this primary season is seeing all the different types of ways the states choose to cast votes. Caucuses, primaries, and preferential elections are but different ways to get to the same outcome. It's kind of cool to see states rights enacted this way choosing various ways to get to the end game. I think this helps exemplify what is good about this country in that each state decides which way does and doesn't work for them, while we all collectively get to work in our own way to achieve a common goal. This could serve as a lesson to us as if there is more than one path to travel in order to get to a destination, if we're willing to respect another's way, we can come together for a common good.

GOP: A Bunch of Dirty Bastards

The GOP magnanimously claimed they would back Donald Trump if he got the nomination. Of course the dirty bastards never promised not to move Heaven and Hell if it needed to block his nomination, showing us that they only said that because they never thought it would happen. The same guys who can't get a budget in place in time to stop a government shutdown and are refusing to gather together in time to look at the President's SCOTUS nominee, miraculously can get their asses together quickly enough to hold meetings to figure out to stop Donald Trump. House speaker Paul Ryan is saying an open convention is more likely to happen, and believe me, that's exactly what they want at the RNC, because with the others dropping out, their delegates could be used against Trump. You know damn well they won't be given to Trump unless he wins it without them. CNN is reporting that Bob Fischer gathered up a bunch of lawmakers and activists with the sole purpose of figuring out how to get rid of Trump. They're scared, lost little babies who are reaching for any thing they can to take Donald down even if it means being dirty. You watch, I bet if Trump wins the nomination, they will go back on their word and not give him their full support. Any one wanna bet?

Supreme Court Nomination

Look I'm not a big fan of President Obama, but if the Republicans fight him on his upcoming nomination to the Supreme Court simply because they want the next President to be the one to nominate that person, they are idiots. That's something that could bite them in November, not to mention that as President, he has a Constitutional right to make said nomination. On the other hand if the President wants to make them look bad, he could nominate someone he knows they would never go for anyway. That also would be stupid as it would be too apparent as to the motive. Let's hope both side do the right thing and give proper consideration to the nominee for this position. An appointment of this magnitude deserves that much respect.

Plenty of Blame to Go Around

Anyone who has read my blog can gather that I'm not a fan of politics as usual and I blame both the Democrat politicians and the Republican politicians pretty much equally for the semi-disastrous state we are in. However, there is another group who shares the blame as well, and that would be us. For decades we have looked the other way, as politicians skim the fat off before tossing the scraps on the floor for us to fight over. We watch as their loyalties have been to their party and those who donated the most to their campaigns, placing the good of America a distant third in their priorities. While maybe that's not exactly treason, it's still really disgusting. We have complacently allowed open corruption to take the place of integrity and honesty, I mean really how do we let them get away with Super Delegates, if that's not open corruption I don't know what is. We accept their excuses with a shrug of the shoulders or the comment "they all do it." as if that makes it somehow cosmically okay. All too often the defense we use to justify the bad actions of a politician that we like is.... the other guy did it. We are guilty of this hypocrisy as much as the politician is simply because we don't wish to acknowledge that the person we backed isn't perfect. We should have been demanding, honesty, and accountability all along instead of accepting excuses like "I misspoke" Too many times from too many mouths we have heard those words. Misspoke my ass, a lie is a lie, but we don't call them on this, we don't force them to own up to their lies, we let them bullshit us. What did my generation do when Bill Clinton had extra marital sex in the Oval Office? We turned him into a frigging rock star with excuses like it's not our business, it's between the Clintons. Excuse me? If a politician can betray their spouse and desecrate the Oval office in that manner, what makes us think said politician will be above board with the rest of us? Why don't character and integrity matter to us?

We need to start doing something about this, we need to start bitching louder and longer. In this electronic age it's too easy to find our leaders emails and send them our complaints. We should be inundating them with our anger at the shape our country is in. We should especially be challenging those we support or voted for when they screw up, maybe criticism from their own people will go further, they might actually become aware they could lose votes if we stood up to them. Why don't we? Complacency, laziness ,apathy. None of the above, all of the above.

If we truly want a political revolution, it needs to start with us. We need to weed through the crap, make them accountable, and keep at them when they screw up. I'm a fan right now of voting out incumbents, and that means party insiders looking to be President as well. The table is set right now for us to really make a difference with out vote more so than any other time I can remember. We have two outsiders looking in trying to get their respective nominations. Trump and Sanders. It doesn't look hopeful for Sanders I'm sad to say, because not enough people voting in the Democrat primaries are willing to stand up for change. Not at this point anyway. Now that it's down to basically Trump and Cruz on the other side, we will really see if Republicans are looking for change or are they looking to be lambs to the slaughter like so many of their counterparts. There is not much time left to make a difference in this next Presidential election. The time to make the change is now, not when it's narrowed down to two. Prior to November is when we should be showing them we mean business. After November it may be too late, our choices may both be wrong at that point.

Now are You Ready to Dump Hillary?

Hillary Clinton just made the remark that we didn't lose a single person in Libya. Is she suffering from dementia? Does she not remember Benghazi? I'm sure she will try and weasel out of it by saying she meant something else or misspoke. Now are you Hillary lovers ready to dump her? If not what in the world will it take for you to realize she is a habitual liar who is used to getting away with it? I think in the back of her mind, she thinks her supporters will back her no matter what she does or says, and what does that tell you about how she feels about those who follow her. She thinks your gullible and will swallow anything. Please prove her wrong and kick her to the curb. She doesn't deserve your adoration, she really doesn't.

Bernie Protesters At The Wrong Rally

Trump has everyone worried these days. Even the Democrats. A series of protests are interrupting Trump's rallies and they don't come from where I thought they might. I would think that during primaries when it is Republican verse Republicans and Democrat verse Democrat, protesters would be attending rallies of the opponent/s of their candidate of choice. But noooooo, the ones interrupting and protesting Trump are Bernie Sanders supporters. CNN reports that Moveon.org, an organization that has endorsed Sanders, admitted to providing the signs to them.

I get that Trump scares both parties, and he should, he doesn't owe either of them shit and he knows it. What I don't get is Sanders supporters putting the horse before the cart. If your boy can't get through Clinton, then Trump is a non issue. WTF? Why aren't you out protesting Clinton who has lied about Bernie during the debates? You're putting you're energy into an easy target like Trump who puts foot in mouth daily when you should be going after the person who could stop Bernie from being the Democratic candidate. Is his your way of conceding to Hillary? Damn get out there and fight for your candidate but put the fight where it belongs, with his opponent. If you don't help him win the nomination, you can put part of the blame on yourself for misdirecting your focus on a race that may not happen. Focus people, focus. Hillary is his opponent. All you're doing now is providing free press for Trump. He's probably loving what you're doing for him. You're really are putting the cart before the horse here people.

I watched an interview with Ben Cohen on this subject, now Ben is co-founder of Ben and Jerry's ice cream and a supporter of Bernie. While calling Trump Un American and blasting him about his comments, Ben waffled on the idea that the protesters were organized. I have a bit of advice for Ben, if you want people to believe you're being honest, you might want to look into the camera directly like you're making eye contact instead of looking all over the room and stuttering in your answers, like a child lying to his dad. Just saying. I understand Trump is scary. He's a scary man indeed, but right now the one you people should be scared about is Hillary Clinton, the scariest person in the Democratic Party. On a side note I want to give a shout out to Mr. K. It seems he enjoys my blog with a cup of coffee in the mornings. Thanks, it's good to know I have one steady fan out there.

Donald Trump a Punchline?

Dean Obeidallah wrote that Donald Trump is an embarrassment and a punchline. He makes an intelligent argument that the party that gave us Abe Lincoln and others now gives us Donald Trump. I can't say that he is totally wrong, as I have said that Trump is a cartoon character myself a time or two. However, in order to understand the Trump phenomenon, I think we have to look at what led us to this point. Years even decades of politicians putting party and self before country, have gotten people pissed off. I think as a people, we are at that breaking point that says something has got to give, and like the opportunist that he is, Donald Trump has swooped in. He's full of fire, he's loud, he's boisterous, and he won't cow tow to the GOP party. Not kissing the Republican's ass is what I think has more people on his side than anything else. He's making the biggest wave in the pool and people are attracted to him for his outside status. Let's face it, the professional politicians haven't done this country any favors as of late. Trade acts, deals that have allowed Korea nukes and soon Iran, regime building, and the general ignoring of what the people really need in this country, have weakened this country in the international community and turned our blue collar workers into service industry slaves who have to fight to get minimum wage increased so they can eat. Great job politicians, great job.(Sarc) You've turned the American Dream into, "what government aid can I do without to survive" All you politicians pretty much suck, with rare exception.

So on one side we have Bernie Sanders, an honest person with integrity and a long history of caring for people, who just upset Hillary in Michigan with an upset that may not be enough because of the asinine Super Delegates. While on the other side we have Donald Trump, larger than life, loud as hell and good at rankling feathers. It doesn't look like the Democrats are going to shake things up much, they seem determined to let Hillary, a career politician whose as bad or worse than the rest of them, have the nomination. So out of sheer frustration and disenfranchisement, people are turning to Trump. I can't say I blame them given the current state of Washington. Embarrassment? Maybe. Punchline? Maybe. But maybe, just maybe, it's just the embarrassing punchline those damn politicians need to smarten them up.

Sanders Gets Gritty

So Bernie Sanders has stepped it up, proving he won't be pushed around by Hillary telling her "Excuse me I'm talking." He kept her from interrupting him more than once which is exactly what he needed to do. Prove he won't be bullied. Since they were in Flint Michigan, Clinton took the opportunity to slam Sanders for voting against the auto bailout, as if the auto bailout was a good thing. Let's look at the aftermath of the bailout. We were told we needed to loan GM billions of dollars so they wouldn't have to file bankruptcy and therefore save a million jobs. Of course now Hillary inflates that number to four million, but that's what professional politicians do, exaggerate, aka misspeak, aka lie, to make their point seem more valid. In the GM deal the union got a percentage of the company and lo and behold, GM went bankrupt in 2011 anyways, making our bailout a waste in my opinion. If that's what they were going to do anyway, why did they need our billions? Last I knew there was five billion we were not going to get back from them. With Chrysler, when they gave them money, a deal was made for them to close a certain amount of dealerships. That didn't put anyone out of work? Now FIAT owns the controlling share of that company. So let's see, the big three American owned companies are really down to the big two since Chrysler is owned by a foreign company. Out of the two remaining companies, only one needed a bailout so they wouldn't go bankrupt and they did anyways. So what did the bailout accomplish? It spent our money that's for sure, it gave control of GM to the government for a small while (think OnStar people) and it paid off political favors to the auto unions, who should now be pissed at the Obama administration because the new Pacific trade deal looks to cut auto worker jobs out of this country making the efforts to "save" the auto industry even more of a waste. Yeah Hillary, point out that Bernie was against a bailout that really turned out to be a crap deal. Good job.

I saw online polls asking who won the debate, and by a large margin, Sanders was ahead, a large margin. Hopefully this will help turn the tide for Bernie, because he sure needs it especially since the corrupt Super Delegate process they use gives Hillary a huge lead toward the nomination. One thing is for sure, people need to get off the Clinton dynastic train and join up with Bernie. The time for change is truly ripe in politics and I fear that if this opportunity is missed by either of the two parties, we may not get it back. Imagine, another four or even eight years of politics as usual, that's a rabbit hole we need to escape.

A Word to Romney

I voted for you and despite that I find myself shaking my head at your bullshit. It's so effing obvious that the GOP machine called on you to try and rake Trump over the coals it's not funny. Are your buddies that scared of him that they called in you, a guy who has been mostly quiet in the years since you lost, to dance for them like a chicken on a hot plate? YUP. Pathetic. Crawl back into your cave and let it go. You and the GOP just showed that the Republican machine is going to keep playing dirty politics,and that is what will turn people away from you guys and drive them right into Trump's hands. Man you dumb asses are hard learns when it comes to paying attention to what the people want. See people are tired of thick headed politicians that don't learn (GOP), and whine ass ones that keep blaming the other guys (DEMS). As soon as you both learn this, maybe we can turn America around again. Oh and did you forget you thanked Trump for his support in the last election you giant hypocrite?

Hillary the Teflon Dem

You now who Hillary reminds me of? John Gotti, The Teflon Don. For years, no matter what that man did, he got away with it, outsmarting law enforcement agencies until finally, the FBI caught up with him. He was popular with the public and while he escaped justice time after time, his associates took the fall. Sound familiar? Clinton associates went to jail for Whitewater, but the Clintons got off scott free. Hell old Bill even pardoned Susan McDougal on his way out the door for her part in the scandal. After Bill's presidency, they move to New York and Hillary runs for senate. What did a Midwest born, southern Democrat know or even care about what New York wanted or needed? The answer is nothing, she simply wanted to set up a run for President.

As a defense attorney, she laughed about a twelve year old sexual assault victim that had accused her client. When women came forward claiming Bill sexually harassed them, she reportedly threatened to destroy them and called them bimbos, yet now she claims to be a women's right advocate. The only reason she is a Womens advocate is because it's politically advantageous, like being a senator from New York. She claims being a woman is holding her back in politics, yet she is one of the biggest insiders in the Democratic Party there is. The Super Delegates pledged to her show that. She "misspoke" about coming under sniper fire in Bosnia. How the hell do you do that? Probably the same way she "misspoke" about the truth of Benghazi for nine days when she knew the truth hours after it happened. Her, and her departments in-action in providing extra security in Libya when it was asked for two years prior to the tragedy, combined with their not sending requested help the night of, contributed to the deaths of American citizens. You think maybe that was a case of bad judgement at the very least? Speaking of bad judgement, how is using a private server that could be hacked in less than an hour by any halfway decent hacker, to hold confidential and classified emails from our government officials not a terrible lack of judgement on her part? Can any one of her supporters answer that? I'm wondering if this guy Bryan Pagliano, who has immunity for testifying, isn't going to end up shouldering the blame for the email debacle so that Clinton can claim she didn't know everything and therefore isn't guilty. Sound familiar?

What I don't understand is how with all this stacking up on Hillary, can she still have as many supporters as she does? Is Bernie too honest for you people? Does he have too much integrity? Has he stayed too true to his values for the past 30 plus years for you? What is it? Is bad judgement something you want in a President? What?? A vote for Hillary isn't just a vote for politics as usual, it's a vote for the Master of politics as usual. Every move she makes, every thing she says, is only to further her political and personal ambitions. The state department used it's influence on behalf of her son in law, she makes well paying speeches to major corporations, which by the way she has yet to release the transcripts so people can see what she has said to these companies, and to be honest, I think she stayed with Bill after his infidelities because it was the political savvy thing to do. How someone can think she is trustworthy and has any integrity is beyond me. You know who else the public loved through all their corruption until the end? Al Capone, Joseph Colombo, and John Gotti. Sound familiar?

Super Tuesday is Here

If he is going to overcome the pledges of the corrupt Super Delegate practice, I believe Bernie Sanders will need to have a super showing today. A dozen states and a territory cast their votes today, and because it is before March 15th, the delegates will not be a winner take all for the individual states and territory. Today's delegate allocation will more closely reflect the will of the people than those cast after the 15th, since they will be split somewhat accordingly, and Bernie needs to get as many delegates as he can. Somehow despite controversy following the corrupt, untrustworthy, flip flopping candidate known as Hillary Clinton around for years, the Democrat side of this could be a humdinger of a nail biter. It shouldn't be, which is sad in itself, but it's shaping up to be. I sincerely hope the people speak against insider corruption loud and clear today. We can only hope

On the Republican side of things, today should hopefully get rid of the two candidates who still wear rose colored glasses. Old Doc Carson and his partner in denial Kasich are at this point, simply stealing votes and possibly delegates they will have to pass on at a later time. Instead of a three way match which is were it should be, it's still a royal rumble that's not so royal. Super Tuesday could have possibly weakened one of the big three enough to narrow it down to two if there weren't five still in it. It's like Trump, Cruz, and Rubio are battling and bickering with an occasional pause to look over their shoulders and ask "Oh you guys are still here?" If this was a reality show, these two would be on their judges save and even though they won't survive until the end, they continue to muck up the works. You two are the weakest link....Goodbye.