esrosedotblog

A long and plodding primary season has hurt Hillary Clinton.

And part of that is the continued agitation from the Berners.

Explaining Hillary Clinton’s Lost Ground in the Polls

What I think we are seeing are bounces.

First bounce is Trump basically winning the Republican nomination. Conventional wisdom, which is conventional because it is usually correct, says that this will cause a bounce for the candidate.

The "know nothing" voters will follow along temporarily because sheep!

The Democrats are engaged in a philosophical battle between Sanders and Ms. Clinton. The ideologists do not give up as easily as the wing nuts.

They will hold out for Bernie whether it hurts Ms. Clinton or not.

I have written here about this. It pisses me off.

It is too early to conclude anything from all this but as a fan boy of the process I am beginning to re-up with some of the more interesting political blogs. The ones I put aside four years ago.

Here. You might want to do the same.

TPM used to called Talking Points Memo. It has interesting insights into what is going on. Today the headline is about Trump's bump. Right on time.

If you do not mind wandering off the path a bit, FiveThirtyEight is a mishmash and always fun. Run by Nate Silver, the political prognosticator, it provides useful color to a lot of stuff other than politics. Today, how the media gets around using the term "groin" when a player gets kicked in the balls. Fun. Mr Silver, incidentally, has a pretty good record of prediction although he missed Trump by a mile. He admits it prettily.

And, to really piss you off we have The Drudge Report

Rhymes with "sludge". Drudge is an aggregator. Nothing but headlines, dense and hard to read. But he finds acorns like no other squirrelly sniffer. You have to comb in the denseness to find an acorn but it is there. The other thing is that Drudge is an asshole and revels in it. If you are entertained by grandiose bigotry, Drudge is your man. He is kind of funny too. He wears a fedora type hat just like the old time reporters from those Thirties movies. If you can see through the bluster, he does have a keen ear for the rumor, the innuendo and especially the mean and vicious. Just the spice that is needed in the midst of the slog and bore of the rest of the political news. Drudge covers everything too. Funny, usually. A Drudge sampler from today: Zuckerberg building secure bunker?, Residents Stunned by Military Drill-Explosions, Helicopters...'Did We Go to War?', Falling toilets snarl traffic on LA freeways...

See? Matt is totally the leading yellow journalist of the internet.

I did not intend to make this about Drudge but I have to admit he gets the adrenaline flowing in me like no other. I like that actually. Love thy enemy because s/he will amuse you.

Labels: Democratic primary, Republican primary

We are in the California Primary now.

I say "in it" because we just got our mail-in ballots and they have to be received by June 7.

There were two ballots this time.

A bunch of committee people and one proposition which I really do not understand but I liked the argument against it and so voted NO.

I am easily swayed.

They have two ballots because as a registered Democrat I have a separate party committee and stuff like that.

I don't vote for some of it because I have no idea. But in the one where there are parties I vote down the line Democrat. If it was a voting machine I would be that one lever guy.

I finally did the deed and voted for Hillary. Sanders has pissed me off a lot lately. I have written about this.

I am not sure that I would have ever given him my vote but I did listen for awhile. I ended up not liking him which was enough to cut him down.

I am not a Clinton lover but look she has more experience than any of these people even Trump who, despite his billions, has not really managed anything.

And of course he is a bona fide asshole. See the photo.

This is Kurt Vonnegut's original drawing. I miss Kurt. So I am using his all purpose drawing.

From here on X= Trump.

Labels: Democratic primary, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton

Labels: Democratic primary, Republican primary

As for the Democrats, today's primary in New York will be a kind of "sorting hat" moment for some of them..

Three New Yorkers, sort of. If you can't win your home state, well, sorry.

This is a charming assessment of three near NY candidates in today's NYTimes.

Clinton vs. Sanders vs. Trump: Who Is the True New Yorker?

This is the kind of 'Inside baseball" journalism that I really like.

The answer, spoiler alert, is likely Trump although Sanders would win on accent. Too bad he has not lived in the State for many years.

If it were up to me, I would vote for Bernie. Here is my favorite campaign ad. It gives me the goose bumps.

But it hardly sings "New York, New York".

Labels: Bernie Sanders, Democratic primary

Not too long until the results of the Iowa caucuses come in.

If Sanders can dent the Clinton steam roller here then all bets are off or at least changed in the odds.

It is a lot more interesting than I expected.

And, a little exciting.

But there are ten months to go.

A long hard slog for all of us.

The GOoPers are interested in the outcome but it is not as close for them. Trump seems to have it and even if he does it doesn't knock out all the others but almost certainly three or four of them including Jeb! will reconsider moving on.

Yes?

We shall see.

Soon.

Politics is a contact sport and this is the first play.

Labels: Democratic primary, Republican primary

If this is what the Sanders campaign can do, well, I am with them.

This is superb in all respects.

Try not to be moved by it.

I love the energy between the two of them. Look at her smile.

I am liking this election more and more.

The Clintons could not come up with something like this if they paid a million dollars for it. The heart is not there.

Labels: Bernie Sanders, Democratic primary

I am not going to get a vote in the Republican Primary.

I wish I could, even as a spoiler.

But I could not even temporarily change my affiliation. My father would sway my hand. A lifelong Democrat and local political guy, there is no other party.

But I am restless. I am irritable. I am discontent. The Clintons are back and, as usual, Hillary is doing the things that piss people off. Unnecessarily.

They plot and twist and evade. They play politics where there is or should be no need.

Clinton Campaign Underestimated Sanders Strengths, Allies Say

They cannot see beyond their own entitled noses.

I am not a fan of Sanders either. I really do not go along with a lot of his "positions" and I do not much like to watch him talk or speak.

He gives me the creeps.

So, I have become part of the vast number of alienated Democrats.

I was a Joe Biden fan; aware that all the baggage Joe has or had would keep him from the throne.

But he got blindsided by life. He lost his son Beau Biden and he has not recovered. That smile is banked way down.

I see Obama holding him. Hugging him. But the happy warrior is not there now.

I still have my "cup of Joe" mug in the bathroom. It holds my toothbrushes so I see him every day.

I did buy a Hillary bumper sticker though. Four fucking dollars.

I used it to paste over an offensive anti-Clinton sticker a neighbor has/had on his car. He took the Hillary off then I started to peel the sticker itself. It is half off now. I work at it in the dark of night.

So I am combative. But I am not happy.

I am never happy when the Clintons are running things. They are a pox on our Party and I figure I will not see it put back together again in my lifetime.

Labels: Bernie Sanders, Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton

Ms. Clinton went above the fray in last night's debate and went after the GOoPers.

In Democratic Debate, Hillary Clinton’s Focus Is on G.O.P.

Good for her.

It is a good example for the other side who are wrangling themselves into a frazzle.

It is not good for them to be doing it but I will be the last one to tell them to stop.

First there are so many of them it is hard to focus. Second, Trump sucks the air out of the room. He is a disrupter. A bloviator.

He demands a response so the rest of them scramble to keep up with his latest.

In the meantime, the Demos can have their debates and the primary to solidify the rank and file to get ready for the big one which now, according to Predictwise goes to the Democrats by a wide wide margin. Landslide size.

Labels: Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton