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MARCH 4,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET:  

POLITICAL HERESY – Much media buzz over Donald Trump's cancellation of a long-planned speech tomorrow before CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Committee.  A stop at CPAC is considered a religious requirement in Republican circles.  "Very disappointed [Donald Trump] has decided at the last minute to drop out of CPAC--his choice sends a clear message to conservatives," CPAC said in a tweet.  Many conservatives worry that Trump is not a real conservative, and, indeed, he's supported liberal positions and candidates in the past.  His snub may be a sign that he feels he can do without movement conservatives in the general election campaign, assuming he's the nominee.  Probably not a wise move.

STUNNING ENDORSEMENT – From the Clarion-Ledger:   Civil rights activist Charles Evers has endorsed Donald Trump for president, touting what Evers refers to as the current Republican front-runner's business acumen.  "I believe in him first of all because he's a businessman. I think jobs are badly needed in Mississippi," he said.  Evers is the brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, who was assassinated in front of his Jackson home in 1963.  There are signs in polling and actual voting that minorities may not be anywhere near as hostile to Trump as many pundits assumed.  His economic message appears to be resonating, at least for now.  He has the potential to bring new voters into the party, if he can control his mouth.  Big if.

OUTRAGEOUS – From hannity.com:   It is widely accepted that American public schools are controlled by liberals. It seems like every day, we see new examples of American schoolchildren being indoctrinated with left-wing ideas.  This latest example was brought to our attention by a concerned parent.  Kindergarten students from PS75, a public school in New York City, recently took part in a class project in which the children were made to create an American flag with the flags of other 22 other nations superimposed over the stripes. Below the flag read the words "We pledge allegiance to an International Flag."...Although the description claims that the flags are limited to "Spanish speaking countries," the Russian flag is amongst those that are included.  I doubt if anything will be done about this. New York City is currently governed by people who think Joe Stalin was just misunderstood.

OH SHUT UP – Ah, for many years Canada had a prime minister named Steve Harper, and he was solidly pro-American, even though he had to put up with the antics of Barack Obama.  Now Canada has a "liberal" prime minister, the son of the insufferable Pierre Trudeau.  He's better than his leftist father, but still feels the emotional need to lecture us.  From AP:   TORONTO (AP) -- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canadians would appreciate it if Americans paid more attention to what's going on around the globe.  Trudeau said in a "60 Minutes" interview to be aired Sunday that "it might be nice if they paid a little more attention to the world."  Trudeau, elected in October, made the remarks after being asked what Canadians don't like about the U.S.  "Having a little more of an awareness of what's going on in the rest of the world, I think is, is what many Canadians would hope for Americans," he said in a transcript released to The Associated Press on Thursday.  Sir, we not only are aware of the world, we defend a good part of it.  You'll be visiting us soon, and I hope you don't hold up traffic.

March 4, 2016       Permalink

ET TU, JIM? – AT 10:56 A.M. ET:   Former Democratic senator and presidential candidate Jim Webb is distancing himself from his party.  There have been stories that Webb may be planning a third-party run, which could take points away from Hillary, although he's formally ruled it out.  We'll see.  This is intriguing.  From the Politico: 

Former Democratic presidential candidate Jim Webb won’t be voting for Hillary Clinton, but he hasn’t ruled out casting his ballot for Donald Trump.

Webb, who briefly flirted with an independent bid before deciding against it, said on Friday morning that the Democratic front-runner wasn't inspirational.

"I would not vote for Hillary Clinton,” Webb said on MSBNC's "Morning Joe."

When asked whether he'd vote for Trump, Webb said he wasn't closed to the idea. “I'm not sure yet. I don't know who I'm going to vote for,” he said.

He said Clinton would simply continue President Barack Obama’s policies, but that with Trump, things would change — but he's not convinced it would be for the better.

“If you're voting for Donald Trump, you may get something very good or very bad,” Webb said. “If you're voting for Hillary Clinton, you're going to be getting the same thing.”

COMMENT:  Doesn't sound like a man who's ruled out jumping back in.  There's a chance here to be a kingmaker, if the election is close.  There are many ways to stay relevant.

March 4, 2016       Permalink

THE PLAN? – AT 10:21 A.M. ET:   There's high speculation that Mitt Romney's plan, along with others who are appalled by Donald Trump, is to "lock" the Republican National Convention, making it impossible for anyone to win the nomination on the first ballot.

The plan would then be to have a fully open convention, with a candidate, not Trump, emerging as the winner.  From the Washington Examiner: 

"If you were to devise a plan to stop a runaway nominee," Republican superlawyer Ben Ginsberg said on MSNBC Tuesday night, "you would have to do a lot of state-by-state organizing, win the delegates at the convention."

In the late hours of election night — a night in which Donald Trump won seven of 11 Super Tuesday contests — Ginsberg, who knows as much about such matters as anyone in the GOP, offered a clinic on how to stop the front-runner. The first step, he said, would be to slow Trump down at the ballot box in the March 15 winner-take-all elections in Florida, Ohio and elsewhere. "You've got to do a lot electorally in the next two weeks," Ginsberg said. "March 15 is kind of cutoff day."

If the non-Trump candidates, specifically Florida's Marco Rubio and Ohio's John Kasich, were able to win their home states, they might amass enough delegates to keep Trump short of the 1,237 delegates required to clinch the nomination.

But what happens if neither, or even just one, can beat Trump? "Then, if you care deeply about where the party goes," Ginsberg said, "you get into the rules a little bit."

Ginsberg explained that 73 percent of the delegates at the GOP convention "are chosen at state conventions or by state party executive committees with little or no input from the candidate who wins that state." Those delegates are bound, on the convention's first ballot, to vote for the presidential candidate chosen by their state's voters. But they're not bound to do so on subsequent ballots. And even on the first ballot, they're not bound to vote in the candidate's interest on rules issues, credentials challenges, or other questions that can loom large in the arcane proceedings of the convention.

"So if you were to devise a plan to stop a runaway nominee," Ginsberg said, "you would have to do a lot of state-by-state organizing, win the delegates at the convention."

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  It's a manual on how to shake up a convention, and the nominating process.  One group that's praying for this are the TV executives.  It's exciting television – intrigue, backstabbing, double dealing, smoke-filled hotel rooms – all the things you need for a sound foreign policy.

March 4, 2016       Permalink

YOU CANNOT MAKE THIS UP – AT 9:56 A.M. ET:  Fringe-left Mayor Bill de Blasio of the People's Republic of New York has a unique explanation for the rise of stabbings in the city.  From Fox5NY:

NEW YORK (FOX5NY) - New York mayor Bill de Blasio is trying to put a positive spin on a recent rash of stabbings and slashings across the city. He credits the NYPD taking guns off of the street.

"I'm not a criminologist but I can safely say that guns are being taken off the street in an unprecedented way. Some people, unfortunately, are turning to a different weapon," de Blasio says.

New Yorkers have been on edge because of a series of highly-reported attacks, including several seemingly random attacks on the subways. The city was averaging more than 10 stabbing attacks a day in the first six weeks of the year.

The mayor claims that since there are so many fewer guns on the street, officers can now focus on criminals using knives and razors.

He says catching people committing minor infractions, so-called "broken windows" policing, is the key to getting weapons off of the streets.

COMMENTS:  This is nuts.  What should we have now, knife control?  I have no knowledge of the individual details of crimes, but I'd bet that the increase in stabbings is probably due to lax, liberal social policies, especially involving the mentally ill.

The city has become a lesser place since de Blasio took over.  Just this week a new, more liberal approach to quality-of-life crimes, like public urination, took effect.  I'm sure the public will be thrilled.

The mayor is very vulnerable in 2017, if he runs for re-election.  He is not popular.  But the Republicans must find someone with a pulse to run against him. 

March 4, 2016       Permalink

MARCH 3,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET:

THE DEBATE – The Republican debate tonight, hosted by Fox, was an embarrassment.  Frankly, the debates are getting tiresome, and this one sounded like a schoolyard brawl.  The key question was whether Donald Trump, who'd been attacked earlier in the day by 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, would withstand new blows from Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.  He did.  He didn't advance, but he wasn't particularly hurt.  John Kasich was there as well, and came off as adult and reasonably thoughtful.  I'd say no one won, and that the needle barely moved.  There are some primaries on Saturday, and more on Tuesday.  The next major date is March 15th.  Both Ohio and Florida vote.  John Kasich and Marco Rubio will fight to win their own home states.  Whoever doesn't will, I think, be seen as a goner.

TRUMP APPOINTS – From the Washington Examiner:   Donald Trump on Thursday named Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., as chairman of his national security advisory committee.  Trump's campaign said Sessions, a vocal advocate of tougher enforcement of the nation's immigration laws, would counsel Trump on foreign policy and homeland security.  "It is an honor to have Jeff as a member of the team," Trump said. "I have such great respect for him and I look forward to working with him on the issues most important to Americans."  "I am grateful for the opportunity to recommend and facilitate discussions among exceptional and experienced American military and diplomatic leaders to share insight and advice with Donald Trump, regardless of their political views," Sessions said. "Mr. Trump and the American people know our country needs a clear-eyed foreign policy rooted in the national interest."  Sessions is a serious man, but a number of national-security experts signed a statement today warning that Trump was not qualified to be dealing with foreign policy.  Expect a sustained assault by anti-Trump forces within the GOP, who are hoping for a contested convention as the only means available to stop Trump.

WARNING – From The Wall Street Journal:   Financially strapped companies’ ranks are swelling.  A Moody’s Investors Service tally of the least-creditworthy companies rose by 10 to 274 this month, pushing it nearer to April 2009’s record 291. The list comprises companies rated at least six notches into junk territory with a negative outlook–which suggests a further downgrade could come soon.  The uptrend is a sign that while the U.S. high-yield default rate remains below its long-term average (3.1% now versus 4.7% since 1983, per Moody’s), more corporate borrowers are finding themselves on shaky financial ground.  I'm not so sure the recession ever really ended.  I certainly don't see much optimism around.  This will be a major issue in the campaign.  Polls show it favors Trump.

March 3, 2016       Permalink

POOR HILLARY, THEY'RE ALWAYS AFTER HER – AT 11:50 A.M. ET:  I don't know what they want with this woman of the people.  After all she's done for us...  From Catherine Herridge and Pamela K. Browne at Fox:

EXCLUSIVE: The FBI is investigating whether computer passwords were shared among Hillary Clinton's close aides to determine how sensitive intelligence "jumped the gap" between the classified systems and Clinton's unsecured personal server, according to an intelligence source familiar with the probe.

The source emphasized to Fox News that “if [Clinton] was allowing other people to use her passwords, that is a big problem.” The Foreign Service Officers Manual prohibits the sharing of passwords.

Such passwords are required to access each State Department network. This includes the network for highly classified intelligence -- known as SCI or Sensitive Compartmented Information -- and the unclassified system, known as SBU or Sensitive But Unclassified, according to former State Department employees.

COMMENT:  There have been several stories in the last few days that emphasize just how serious this investigation is.  I don't really think the FBI would be devoting all these resources to a parking ticket.  We've said before that this could turn out to be the biggest story of the campaign.  Still sayin' it.

March 3, 2016       Permalink

CHILLING – AT 10:58 A.M. ET:  We try to keep readers up to date on events outside our roaring political campaigns.  The world moves on, and often in very chilling directions.  From the Washington Times: 

Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO Allied Command Operations, General Philip Breedlove, says ISIS is using the Syrian refugee crisis to ‘mask the movement’ of terrorists infiltrating Europe and the United States. While testifying to the Senate armed services community, the four-star general said the Islamic State was "spreading like cancer" amongst the flow of migrants from the Middle East. The group’s members are "taking advantage of paths of least resistance, threatening European nations and our own," he added, reported The Guardian.

Breedlove also had harsh words for Russia, saying their indiscriminate bombing of civilians is intended to "get them on the road" to Europe, where they can weaken the European Union and NATO with violence and division. The general said Russia is "weaponizing" the Syrian refugees.

Breedlove says at least 1500 ISIS fighters have returned to Europe. “I’m not going to talk to you about intelligence,” he said at a news conference, adding that “many [countries] are saying they see planning happening” for a terrorist attack.

The Obama administration has said that Syrian refugees entering the United States are no threat as they are vetted over a long process. Republican president candidates have repeated over and over that this stance is incompetent and dangerous for Americans. Donald Trump has created a firestorm saying that Muslims should be temporarily banned until the vetting process can be verified and law enforcement can be sure that no terrorists are entering the country.

General Breedlove’s statements appear to support Donald Trump’s position.

COMMENT:  Democracies too quickly forget the last tragedy.  It will take a terrible jolt to wake this country up again, especially after eight years of Obama-induced sleep.

March 3, 2016       Permalink

MITT TO SPEAK – AT 10:18 A.M.  ET:  It won't be a pleasant day in Republican politics.  From NBC News: 

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will deliver a scorching indictment of Donald Trump on Thursday, calling the candidate a "phony" and a "fraud" who'd threaten America's future.

Romney is due to speak Thursday in Utah at the Hinckley Institute of Politics Forum on the state of the 2016 presidential race. Already a vocal critic of Trump, excerpts released ahead of the speech show Romney will go a step further in his attacks by accusing the GOP frontrunner of "playing the American public for suckers."

The repudiation of Trump — who endorsed Romney's 2012 run — will be the latest in a growing anti-Trump movement among some Conservatives.

Romney will harken back to a 1964 Ronald Reagan address in saying that America faces "another time for choosing" that could have "profound consequences" for the Republican Party and the country.

The Paris and San Bernardino attacks, China's assertiveness and North Korea's nuclear tests show we live in "troubled and dangerous times," Romney will say, adding that he believes America's future can be better "if we make the right choices."

He'll make the case that the real-estate tycoon is not the right choice.

COMMENT:  This is high-risk stuff.  On the one hand, Romney can further divide the party, setting off a mean-spirited debate, while Hillary Clinton, the real opponent, comes away unscathed.

On the other hand, Romney can lead a successful rebellion.  The Trump people, including all the new voters Trump has brought in, can leave, or turn against the Republicans, and possibly form a third-party movement.  Following today's Romney speech will be the GOP debate tonight. 

There'll be no shortage of drama today.  I wonder how many political junkies will call in sick, and stay home to watch.

March 3,  2016     Permalink