It's time for the Democrats and Republicans to come clean. After over a half century of presidential primaries, they should just drop the charade and return to the old smoke-filled rooms. The rooms where the party bosses selected the nominee for the delegates on the convention floor to then give their rubber stamp approval. The people cannot be trusted.
The Democrats do not trust the people. If they did, Hillary would still be leading Bernie, but by the much smaller margin of 596 to 407. But, because the people cannot be trusted, the Democrats came up with the idea of "super delegates." Those delegates are not assigned based on primary victories. No, those delegates are aligned with the party bosses to make sure that the "right" candidate becomes the eventual nominee. Thanks to the super delegates, Clinton leads Sanders 1058 to 431. That's a more comfortable margin, don't you think?
But, let's be honest, the Republicans do not trust the people either. I have previously indicated that Trump was not in my top three choices. Cruz has been my first choice. But Trump has won 10 of the 15 contests to date. So, the elites in the Republican Party have gotten quite nervous. Not only did the party bosses bring out Romney to attack Trump, but - shockingly - Romney made the same false attack on Trump that Harry Reid made on Romney.
Recall that Reid accused Romney of not releasing his tax returns because he (Romney) had not paid any taxes. It was a lie, of course. So what does Romney do? He suggests Trump is hiding some problem with his taxes because Trump has not released his returns yet. One might think that Romney would be sensitive to the false accusations regarding taxes. Apparently not. Apparently a man I had referred to as one of the most decent people to ever run for president, is also not above the same political mudslinging that others are wont to do.
Today, Romney called Trump "a fraud," and "a phony." Romney said Trump was playing the American public for "suckers." And there you have it; the elites view the public as fools and "suckers." What if the public elects a demagogue? Why are so many Republicans saying they would never vote for Trump. If the election is Trump versus Clinton, then these Republicans should openly acknowledge they support Clinton.
Clinton is so much more presidential. Let's see. She lied to the American public and to the families of the murdered Benghazi victims, by saying the attack was due to some movie video, even though the emails released prove Clinton knew immediately it was a terrorist attack. But Obama was up for reelection, and Obama told the people that terrorism had been defeated. So, lie. Just lie. For that matter, Clinton could end up being prosecuted regarding her use of her personal email server to send classified emails. That's presidential.
And Clinton was such a great Secretary of State. Let's see. She had the "reset button" with Russia. That worked out well. Russia took the Crimea, invaded eastern Ukraine, has helped Iran build their nuclear facilities, and is now selling advanced arms to Iranians - which the Iranians are able to buy with the money Obama gave them. But Obama is so much more Presidential as well. He constantly lies, he has shown no respect for the Constitution nor for our system of checks and balances. Obama caved in to the Russians, he caved in to the Syrians even, and he caved in to the Iranians. Great job!
Getting back to Clinton, what else has she accomplished? She pushed the overthrow of Gaddafi in Libya; that worked out well. She supported a Palestinian state when the Arabs of Palestine have never stopped attacking Israel and Jews, and refuse to acknowledge the Jewish state's right to exist. (Yes, I know Trump tracks Hillary on this and other issues.) Then, we have what may be Clinton's best line, when testifying before Congress on Benghazi: "What difference does it make?" Well, given that she and her boss are both pathological liars, and given their failure to protect Americans, probably no difference to them.
So the question is - how far are the party bosses willing to go to stop Trump? Is it because they believe he is unfit for the office? Maybe. But how much of it is because they cannot control him? He is not beholden to the Party because he does not need their money. Recall the pressure the Party put on Trump to give his agreement to support the eventual nominee? Now that it appears that Trump may be that nominee, the Party no longer has any interest in that agreement.
Shame on the Republicans. Shame on the Democrats. Let's just have each state legislature select their own electors who then vote accordingly for a candidate picked by the party bosses. The good old days. What's your preference? The people? Or the bosses?
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First, you accuse Republicans of not trusting the people. I have also heard others, such as Ben Carson, say that Romney is “rejecting the will of the people.” But isn’t the whole purpose of elections and campaigning to convince the people that your vision or your candidate is right? How is Romney giving a speech subverting the will of the people? It is simply a leader making his case to the people. Trump and his supporters got upset because Romney has a certain level of moral authority and respect as the previous Republican nominee, and therefore attacked the speech itself rather than address the points he brought up.
ReplyDeleteYou then compare Romney with Reid. Just because Reid’s accusation was patently false doesn’t mean that Romney’s is. Is it impossible that Romney, himself a wealthy businessman, knows something about Trump and his finances that the rest of us don’t yet. Regardless, doesn’t it make sense for a person running for the highest office to be transparent about his or her finances? Just as it was proper for Romney to release his returns, the same holds for Trump.
Your third claim is that many Republicans feel that Hillary, despite her lies, failed policies, and failure to properly safeguard sensitive information, is a much more “presidential candidate”. That is simply not true. Romney addressed this head on in his speech when he said “A person so untrustworthy and dishonest as Hillary Clinton must not become president.” In fact, he cautioned that polls show that if Trump is the nominee that is exactly what will happen.
What Republicans have failed to recognize (in ’08 with Sarah Palin, ’12 with increasingly right-wing rhetoric, and in ’16 with a majority of candidates far to right rather than from the more centrist wing of the party) is that the nominee must not just energize the party’s base but also convince millions on non-party members to vote for the nominee. This won’t work with the kind of nonsense coming from Trump’s mouth, and anybody who thinks otherwise is simply burying their head in the sand. A better strategy to replace the failed policies of the Obama administration that you so clearly enumerate would be to nominate a reasonable candidate who realizes that the system was designed to forced compromise (on the part of both parties), not prevent it.
My objection to Romney was that he has no legal way to know about Trump's taxes, just as Reid had no legal way to know about Romney's taxes. My other objection is that he resorted to the same name calling that Trump engages in, and insulted the American people as "suckers" in the process.
DeleteThe Republicans ran with McCain, a moderate, in 2008 and lost. They ran with Romney, also perceived as a moderate, in 2012 and lost. You see a pattern? When Republicans run a candidate perceived as "democrat light," the independents say why not just vote for the real thing, and many conservatives stay home. So, you think Republicans should repeat the process?
I respectfully disagree. Why not try running a true conservative, like a Ted Cruz, and let's see what happens. However, the party leaders are no more fond of Cruz than they are of Trump.
I believe the Party is behind Rubio and Kasich staying in the race with the hopes that no candidate has enough delegates to win on the first ballot. Then they'll draft Romney or Kasich or Rubio.
I'm not so sure Trump could not beat Hillary. He's drawing large crowds. Young people are not inspired by Hillary and may not turn out for her.
Do I support Trump? As I said in the blog, I support Cruz. Do I like his junior high school antics? Not at all. But, again, if it's Trump vs. Hillary, I'll vote for Trump.