The takeover.

   The next republican debate is just a few moments away, and there is still no sign that the leading contender to represent the party will participate. 

Mr. Bad Hair just took his ball and went home. (Find another ball)

He is leading by a lot, so why should he give the also- rans a chance to beat up on him?
Dude is taking on the media arm of his own party and seems to be winning. It is driving traditional conservatives nuts.  All those millions Jeb is sitting on might as well be Monopoly Money, because it will not help him in this presidential race.

Anyway, this might be a good time to cut ad paste in the middle of an interesting article I saw in The New Yorker:

"The last real outsider to take over a party was Jimmy Carter, in 1976. In a piece I wrote for the magazine on the 2012 race, I cited the reaction of Averell Harriman, the former governor of New York, when he learned of Carter’s impending victory. “Jimmy Carter? How can that be?” Harriman said. “I don’t even know Jimmy Carter, and as far as I know none of my friends know him, either.” But even Carter was an elected official (a state legislator and one-term governor from Georgia) and had been active in the Democratic National Committee. On the Republican side, you have to go back to Senator Barry Goldwater’s nomination, in 1964, to find a Republican who captured a party against the will of the party’s élites.
 

Donald Trump’s attempt at a hostile takeover of the G.O.P. is astonishing in its breadth. He is not just competing against a large field of candidates for votes in the primaries; he is at war with nearly every power center in the Republican Party—and he is winning. How is he doing it? One of Trump’s strengths is that he has effectively co-opted a conservative counter-establishment that has been growing during the Obama years, which has seen the rise of a movement on the right that dislikes Republican leaders almost as much as it dislikes the President. Trump is finding that the anger of this movement can be harnessed to attack a broader array of targets than just Washington politicians.
 

Take, for instance, Trump’s war with Fox News. The fight started when Megyn Kelly, the Fox anchor and one of the moderators of a Republican debate last August, asked Trump about his pattern of insulting women with terms like “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.” After the debate, Trump seemed to make Kelly’s point by attacking her in a vulgar way. For months he has continued to belittle her, despite on-again, off-again truces reportedly negotiated between Trump and Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News. Certain shows on Fox—though not all of them—soon became hubs of anti-Trump voices, and Trump, who is well-known for holding grudges, responded by publicly attacking Fox pundits by name, especially George Will and Charles Krauthammer.
 

This week, according to Fox News, Trump’s campaign tried to muscle Kelly out of her moderator chair for a debate on Thursday. The fight descended into a volley of schoolyard taunts between the two sides, and Trump pulled out of the debate and said he would organize his own competing event, in Iowa, to benefit veterans. Trump’s campaign continued to escalate its attack on the network. “Fox News Corp. has donated over $3,000,000.00 to the Clinton’s [sic]. Makes you wonder what goes on behind the scenes….” Daniel Scavino, Jr., Trump’s senior adviser, tweeted. The number apparently combines donations to Clinton political campaigns and corporate philanthropic donations to the Clinton Foundation, though Scavino’s sources and methodology were unclear.
 

Fox News has long been considered the most influential news organization for conservatives. In an e-mail newsletter today, the longtime Republican consultant Alex Castellanos called Fox “the most powerful Republican institution in contemporary American politics” and “the stage on which Republicans play.” He added, “Most Republican candidates kneel before it, supplicants hoping to sip airtime from its chalice.” No matter how unfair the coverage, few Republican candidates dared to launch the kind of assault that Trump and his aides have initiated. It was considered a death sentence in a Republican primary. Similarly, Trump has been attacking, and been attacked by, the main organs of conservative opinion—National Review and The Weekly Standard—which were previously considered the enforcers of conservative ideology and institutions to be flattered rather than condemned." [More]

They created this monster; he is their totalitarian. The man who a certain segment of the population is reaching out to and yearning for after eight years of the Negro in charge.

Let the trumpless debate begin.

 

Postmortem.

   There is so much to take away from the GOP debate last night that I don't even know where to start.

First, let me say congrats to Jeb for finally growing a pair. Unfortunately for him, though, it might be too little too late. The orange colored one seems to have his number. Yes Jeb, if you are running as a right wing republican demagogue, you can "insult your way to the presidency".

Then there was Chris Christie. He actually said that he would shoot down Russian jets if they violated the no fly zone. What's another World War among friends?  Then, to top it off, he actually called Obama a "weakling".

"“My first phone call would be to Vladimir, and I’d say, ‘Listen, we’re enforcing this no-fly zone,'” Mr. Christie said on MSNBC. “And I mean we’re enforcing it against anyone, including you. So don’t try me. Don’t try me. Because I’ll do it.”

 

Mr. Christie went on to say that Mr. Putin was “punching above his weight” and called Mr. Obama “this weakling in the White House.”' [Source] 

 

I got news for you Chris, anyone who goes against you is "punching up above his weight". (Sorry I couldn't resist.) But you might want t ease up on all the bluster just a little bit. Leave all the crazy talk for trump. No one is buying your tough guy I'm from Jersey, act. That little bridge issue you had has pretty much doomed all chances  you ever had of becoming president.

 

Carly was ....well... Carly. As is always the case she told a story that wasn't quite connected to reality.

 

"Carly Fiorina today stood by her debate claim about a general she said was pushed out by President Obama, even though that general did not serve in this administration.

 

She railed against how the current president has ignored advice from top generals, saying she would “bring back the warrior class.”

Fiorina said, “Petraeus, McCrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn, every single one of these generals I know, every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn’t want to hear.”

Now, General David Petraeus left for other reasons, but another issue in what she said was with the mention of Jack Keane, a former Army general and current Fox News analyst.

 

On Fox Business this morning, Keane told Stu Varney what Fiorina said was inaccurate since he served under George W. Bush, not Obama." [Source]

But I saved the best for last. My man Ted Cruz was in rare form as he went back and forth with Marco Rubio. (When my grandfather came to America) Unfortunately Ted forgot that he was talking to millions of Americans and some of the stuff he was saying was not for public consumption.

"Sen. Richard Burr (R-North Carolina), the chairman, told reporters on Wednesday that he had asked his staff to explore whether Cruz's comments about the National Security Agency's surveillance program constitute disclosing classified data, The Hill reported.

"I'm having my staff look at the transcripts of the debate right now," Burr told reporters, according to The Hill. "Any time you deal with numbers ... the question is, 'Is that classified or not?' Or is there an open source reference to it?"

Wait, I was wrong. What Ted Cruz did was not the best from the debate. The orange one saying that he is going to create a wall around the internet by closing it up to Isis was. "I don't want them using our Internet". He wants to "penetrate" the Internet and find out exactly where Isis is hiding in it. Ok then Donald.

"Donald Trump has said many things that make no sense. But at Tuesday night’s CNN debate, he outdid even himself.

For a man with such a remarkable social media presence, he appears to have literally no idea what the Internet is or how it works."

For his next trick Donald Trump will insult the Washington Post in 5..4..3..2..

*Pic from slate.com

 

 

Donald and the 13 dwarfs.

The thing you have to understand about Donald Trump is that he is considered a celebrity. And Americans, for better or for worse, just love their celebrities.

Those thousands of people who go to see him on the campaign trail could care less about his views about immigration, minimum wage, or the crisis in the Middle East. They don't care what he has to say, as long as he shows up and they can get a glimpse of the host of The Apprentice, they are satisfied.

This of course, for Mr. Trump, is a good thing, because as political speeches goes he never quite delivers. It's more play the dozens with my opponents and smile for the camera than it is about the nuts and bolts of actual policy and issues.

Herman Cain (bless his pizza loving heart) brought out Trump in Georgia, recently, and the crowd ate it up. Mr. 999 and the billionaire. What a team!

I wonder if this will help him with "the blacks" (as he likes to call us). I seriously doubt it. Mr. 999 was not exactly our cup of tea.

Still, Trump will have to get some of "the blacks" to vote for him if he wants to win. Lord knows that he will not be getting any of the Hispanic vote. He says that he will, but that is more about Trump being delusional in his thinking than the reality of what is actually taking place with the electorate.

Anyway, the pundits have been saying for months that Trump will crash and burn, but so far he has been proving them all wrong.

Poor Jeb and company must be kicking themselves and wondering what happened.

Well, besides that last name, he has no star power going for him. This is true of all the other candidates as well. They are merely bit players in Trump's political show. He is Gladys Knight and they are the Pips.

"He [Rubio] sweats more than any young person I've ever seen in my life. ... I've never seen a guy down water like he downs water. ... They bring it in buckets for this guy."

No fair. Gladys would have been a lot nicer.

Pic from newyorker.com

Jeb's black side.

Wait a minute now, I know that the republican candidates for president would love to get more of the black vote, but the way one of their front runners is going about it is not cool.

What's with Jeb Bush trying to use "subliminal persuasion" to get us black folks to vote for him?


"In what could be described as a “reverse Dolezal,” a leaflet sent out by pro-Jeb Bush Super PAC Right to Rise accidentally changed the racial identity of Bush’s left hand.
See if you can spot the problem:"



OK, so the yellow square around the hand is a dead give away. But what if it wasn't there? What if someone with a sharp eye didn't catch it? Negroes would be voting for Jeb in droves and not know why.

Look, I get the whole ebony and ivory thing, but somehow it doesn't work when it's on the same person.

Of course, as you would have guessed, the left hand is the black one.

To be fair, Jeb's peeps have fessed up.
"
Paul Lindsay @Paul_Lindsay

Mysterious hand revealed. Meant to use Valencia. Fail. Not deleting it from our servers.

12:54 PM - 22 Aug 2015 "

 

Not good enough.

 

One of his opponents was quick to catch it, and Donald being Donald, well.....

"

Donald J. Trump

✔ @realDonaldTrump

Jeb Bush has a photoshopped photo for an ad which gives him a black left hand and much different looking body. Jeb just can't get it right!"

 

Jeb just wants us all to be together. Unlike you, Donald.

 

 

 

 

"A pretty good deal"?

"taking out Saddam Hussein turned out to be a pretty good deal,"

It was?

Let's see now.

"At least 67 people have been killed after a truck bomb exploded in north-eastern Baghdad, Iraqi officials say."


"A series of bomb explosions in Baghdad has killed at least 26 people and injured a further 67, reports Reuters, citing Iraqi police and medics.

 

The bloodiest attack occurred Monday in mainly Shiite Muslim Abu Dsheer district in the south of the capital, where a car bomb blasted near a crowded market killing seven and injuring 18 people. "

"While participating in Ashura holiday rituals today, many Shi’ites became easy targets for Sunni militants. Ashura commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussein and symbolizes the schism between Shi’ites and Sunnis. Nevertheless, about two million pilgrims safely reached the holy city of Karbala for observances there.

At least 67 people were killed and 152 more were wounded.

In Saidiya, a suicide bomber dressed in a military uniform attacked Shi’ite pilgrims recreating a historic battle. At least 32 people were killed and 80 more were wounded. A second suicide bomber, possibly in nearby Baquba, killed 16 more and wounded another 27 pilgrims. Because Diyala is a confessionally mixed province, it has been the scene of many attacks on Shi’ite pilgrims, not only this year but in years past as well.

Nine people were killed and 28 more were wounded when two I.E.D.s exploded in Suwayra/Hafriya at a tent offering refreshments to pilgrims.

In Mosul, an I.E.D. killed two soldiers and wounded two more. A security official escaped an assassination attempt. Mortars targeting pilgrims wounded a policeman instead. A bomb wounded three more policemen. A bomb at a policeman’s home killed his son and wounded his wife.

Four gunmen were killed and three policemen were wounded in a clash.
Gunmen killed an imam at his home in Baquba.

Twin bombings in Kirkuk wounded five people.

A child was wounded during a rocket attack in Tal Afar.
An I.E.D. in Tikrit left one policeman with injuries."

BAGHDAD (AP) — An attack by the Islamic State group on a crowded marketplace in Iraq's eastern Diyala province has killed 115 people, including women and children, in one of the deadliest single attacks in the country in the past decade."

"One week: 34 American soldiers killed in Iraq. "

"BAGHDAD—Three American soldiers were killed and one was wounded in two separate attacks in Iraq on Saturday, the U.S. military said.

The deadlier of the attacks happened in the morning when a man dressed in an Iraqi army uniform opened fire at U.S. soldiers while they were conducting a training session for Iraqi forces at a military base on the outskirts of the volatile northern city of Mosul, Col. Barry A. Johnson, spokesman for the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said."

"Iraq War Deaths Exceed Vietnam War Numbers."

"In the deadliest incident for American soldiers in Iraq in over two years, five troops were killed in an early-morning rocket or mortar attack on a base in Baghdad. Though the 47,000 American soldiers stationed in Iraq no longer have a combat role, MSNBC reports that they "still come under almost daily attack by rockets and mortars in their bases and get shot at and targeted by roadside bombs when they move outside of their bases." 


Do you still think that taking out Saddam was a "pretty good deal", Jeb?

*Pic from talkingpointsmemo.com



 







 

"Mind blowing decisions."

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Lindsey Graham to the race to become president of these divided sates of America.

I am having a hard time keeping up with all of the republicans who expressed a desire to lead our great nation into the past future. 

Let's see now: Marco, Rand, Jeb, Scott, Ben, Chris C, Dale, Chris, Ted, Carly, Mike, Bobby, George, Rick P, Rick S, Donald, Brian, Dennis, Chris.

Did I leave out anyone? I am sure I did. Please forgive me my republican friends, this isn't easy. That's a lot of names to remember.

I am still trying to figure out my favorite among this motley crew.

Mike?

"former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee perpetuated one of the most pervasive myths about transgender people at a convention earlier this year, suggesting that men can abuse trans-friendly laws for voyeurism in women's bathrooms.

"Now I wish that someone told me that when I was in high school that I could have felt like a woman when it came time to take showers in PE," Huckabee said in a video resurfaced on YouTube over the weekend by World Net Daily, according to a report by BuzzFeed's Megan Apper and Andrew Kaczynski. "I'm pretty sure that I would have found my feminine side and said, 'Coach, I think I'd rather shower with the girls today.'"

Nope.

Donald?

"Donald Trump doesn't think Mitt Romney can compete with his business success.
In an interview with The Des Moines Register published Monday, the real-estate mogul and TV personality dissed other wealthy men who have campaigned for president.

"I'm the most successful person ever to run for the presidency, by far. Nobody's ever been more successful than me. I'm the most successful person ever to run. Ross Perot isn’t successful like me. Romney — I have a Gucci store that’s worth more than Romney."

Nope.

Ben?

"First of all, we have to understand how the Constitution works, the president is required to carry out the laws of the land, the laws of the land come from the legislative branch. So if the legislative branch creates a law or changes a law, the executive branch has a responsibility to carry it out. It doesn't say they have the responsibility to carry out a judicial law."

"JUDICIAL LAW?! Again, no.

Carly?

"If this happens (Hillary becomes president) – I am moving to Canada,” she wrote on Facebook. “There is NO need for her as she is not the right person to run our country – but more importantly a female shouldn’t be president. Let the haters begin . . . but with the hormones we have there is no way we should be able to start a war. Yes I run my own business and I love it and I am great at it BUT that is not the same as being the President, that should be left to a man, a good, strong, honorable man.”

Yikes!

Sarah Palin, might want to consider making a comeback.