esrosedotblog

It is premature to name Hillary Clinton as our next President.

But it wouldn't be too soon to assume that it is inevitable.

Where does this leave the Republicans? They are shattered, shuttered, and discombobulated. Out foxed by a an egomaniac. Mr. Wonderful.

So what next? Start a new Party? Or rescue the one that has been hijacked.

Rescue by all means.

Thomas Friedman spells it out.

The (G.O.P.) Party’s Over

Split by the religious right, the haters, the ultra right gunslingers, the GOP has become a collection of nuts mixed in with some people like Paul Ryan who are trying to hold the line on Party principles.

You know, I used to be a Republican.

In my first town, I registered that way because I wanted to be on the Committee and to have some influence in local affairs. If one was not a Republican then there would be few friends in a new place.

But that changed over time as I realized that while all politics are local, Party politics are not. And that one must take a stand from the beginning.

Richard Nixon did me in. I could not stomach his bunch of criminals. I defected and became a quiet Democrat.

That is a long time ago but it is worth reminding myself that is how it started for me.

How it ends is that there is no semblance of similarity between that Party and today's grab bag coalition that will embarrass itself further in their upcoming convention.

Labels: GOoPers, GOP

There is reason to believe that Donald Trump is the creation of a bankrupt political party.

His progress was aided and abetted by cynical political professionals and party hacks who did not take him seriously.

Unintentional consequences. They let him into the tent and now he is stealing the tentpoles.

Here is a great analysis of what has happened.

Donald Trump’s Presidential Run Began in an Effort to Gain Stature

Not taken seriously, Trump decided to kick some ass. He became a political prodigy in the process and found that he liked it.

I have met a few rich boys in my time, the ones who inherited. They all have something to prove. Like the sons of famous fathers.

It often does not turn out well.

In this case, it is still hard to figure how it might end.

What is clear is that Trump is busting up the GOP. He has been the bull in the china shop, the infidel let into the tent. All those clichés come true in these wild ride election years.

I suppose I have to admit that "we" have to take some of the blame. Obama humiliated him in public a few years ago.

This and other interesting bits are included in this great article.

Labels: Donald Trump, GOP

The Republicans are in turmoil.

One only has to watch the three cable sets in my gym to see it.

There are so many candidates that none are getting coverage. Only the more outrageous Trump who, this week, has been chewing the scenery on all mornings, all of the time.

Apparently, in true GOoPer fashion, they had hoped to manipulate the process so this would not happen. Also, in true GOoPer fashion, their plans have gone awry and the results are severely wanting.

Party Rules to Streamline Race May Backfire for G.O.P.

Get a bag of popcorn and watch the show.

Have you seen Trump do his trump thing on people. He has the NYCity brashness down cold. Well, it is him. The arrogance of a billionaire and the canny street smarts of a knife fighter.

His neatly combed opponents are not ready for this. This unseemly behavior. This disrespect for the Party norms.

Watch his lips. Disdain. Dismissal. Someone said he had "butthole lips" but I am not going to repeat this canard. At least not in a headline. But they weren't wrong.

Trump simply does not give a shit because he does not have to. Ironically, it has driven enough of the yahoos wild to support him. The know-nothings of the right are crazed with excitement over this rich man who got his on the backs of the their own people. But this has always been true. The stupid always support their oppressor. Mice praising cats.

This is not a surprise. The booboisie of this country have always supported the most oppressive leaders. It is how Hitler rose to power. And a host of other hard hearted bastards who want power for power's sake.

Now Donald is not that bad. He has power already. He just wants some more, a sickness in and of itself. And he does not care how he gets this power.

Donald has the moves down. Good coaching. He is very good at self deprecation. The homely aside. He is like a dog with a bone. Stay away from me until it is gone. Dogged.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden are collecting money off this show.

Yes Biden. My man Joe. Here he comes. Slow but sure. Still "deciding" but doing all the right things.

Labels: Donald Trump, Election 2016, GOoPers, GOP

Some GOoPers are just nuts.

Rep. Carlos Curbelo: Trump is 'a phantom candidate recruited by the left'

On the other hand, The Donald is a gift that keeps giving. And from what I see in my limited half hour survey while on the gym bike, he is getting a lot, a whole lot, of coverage.

If nothing else he is like a siren monopolizing the sound waves so that all saner voices are cancelled out.

Of course, the whole thing is a vanity project for him but I do not think he sees it that way. He genuinely thinks that he is "the man".

He forgets that his success was off his Dad and the Trump organization. Brash and egoistic, he will cut a wide swath in the debates.

He was Number One in the field this morning on Gallup's polling.

Labels: GOP, republican whack jobs

Especially if it is your own family member.

But it is a key provision that this gay family member is out and proud.

GOP Establishment Seeking To Tweak Party's 2016 Anti-gay Marriage Platform With Senator Rob Portman's Help

I am deeply skeptical about the GOP results but I know that once you know a gay person you are never the same again. So, more data to indicate we need to come out.

Labels: gay politics, GOP

In New Hampshire it is all Hillary all of the time.

No. She is not running there. But the GOoPers are and their theme seems to be "vote for me, I hate Hillary more than them".

It is laughable. Negative campaigning is not new for the Republicans. It is their daily bread. What else can they run on? The record of George Bush? I mean the one that came second in the bushie wave.

They are a contemptible lot with nothing to say about themselves. They scramble for first dibs at the table with no experience except as naysayers and, it seems, nincompoops.

Take Rand Paul. An eye doctor who is trying on his father's big boy pants.

Ted Cruz, an empty smirking shell.

Carly Fiorina a joke this week on cable news. Even without sound I could see the stage fright in her eyes. No national leader.

Oh, I don't want to recite it.

I actually like Jeb Bush in a "nice guy" kind of way. I think he would run a gentlemanly campaign whatever that could be these days.

It might even have some interesting policy issues to bandy about with Ms. Clinton.

As for the rest of them, mostly road kill from the past. Professional politicians with the slickness sort of worn off.

There. I have had at it for today.

I miss Mitt.

If nothing else, he was a professional candidate. Every year, year without end, totally predictably boring and a bit smug. Consistency of message whether we liked it or not. We didn't.

These people. Time for the Republicans to shake the box some more.

Labels: GOoPers, GOP, Rand Paul, Republicans

We are entering the lists.

You know. Those jousting lists.

It is time to rev up the campaign which means looking for the dirty tricks and pre-game psyching out that precedes the Big One.

Of course we are hardly through the mid term elections. But that is just a passing phase. The 2016 looms. And, in my time, there has never been so much uncertainty. Even the certain has been unsettled.

Clinton's poll numbers have been plummeting. The latest Marist poll shows this. She "no longer has the support of a majority of 2016 voters, according to the poll, but still comes in ahead when pitted against former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul"....AP report.

But this is not too interesting. No one expects any one but Hillary to be the Democratic nominee. Of course, a lot could happen but with the Clintons holding on tight, you can bet that it will all be the usual show. Sniping and bitching about the Clintons.

Always. Even me. Well, especially me. I didn't like them the last time and I don't like them much better this time. But it is the old chestnut again about how she might be a pain in the ass but she is our pain in the ass. I will not go there today although I already did, I guess.

The interesting one is in the GOP. The GoOPers.

Look at who is named in that quote above: "...when pitted against former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul". There is one missing. The inestimable ego. Rick Perry. The Texas cowboy.

I have never taken Rick Perry seriously but he is a fly in the Republican ointment and could cause some trouble. That is why I think that some work was just done to do him in before it gets serious.

Texas Governor Indicted Over Effort to Remove Official

The Democrats inflicted this wound on him. But the GOP side must be happy to have something to paste on Rick. An indictment is just an indictment but in politics in this country it is a stain which will not come out. Rick Fucking Perry. Your ticket has been punched. Go from whence you came.

Labels: election, GOP, hillary, Perry

Today, the analysis continues.

By tomorrow, no one will give a shit.

A lot of it is the standard stuff. Immigration, cross voting Democrats (which becomes increasingly discredited) but the real nut, as I pointed out yesterday was probably Cantor himself. An insufferably arrogant little prick.

Matt Bai agrees. Do we care any more? Just one more time.

Cantor Didn't Need to Move Right He Needed to Get Real

Hubris my friends. "With all due respect".

Don't let the door smack you on the ass on your way out Eric!

Labels: GOP, Republicans, right wing, world class assholes.

We do not get to see huge landmark events in recent politics.

But this is a shocker to everyone.

Eric Cantor to Step Down as Majority Leader

It is a precipitous fall in a "take it for granted" career. He was thought to be the successor to Boehner. Not now.

Experts seem to differ on what happened. One is that the nasty right got him right where we would like to see someone of his ilk gotten. Another is that in an open primary a lot of Democrats crossed over to give Eric a big black eye.

Whatever the case, it is an interesting development and probably not good news.

It is almost laughable to think of Cantor as a liberal voice but he was that for his party. One of the few. They will now be an endangered species. And anyone seeking to moderate, to work with the Obamas, will be seen as a traitor to a newly amplified cause.

For Democrats, in the short term, it is just a pain in the ass. His power is gone and it took only a day for the rabble to eat him whole. Scrambling to take his place. No one to work with now. A new face.

In the longer term it is just one more step in the long retrenchment of the GOP into a minority party with little to say for itself but archaic negativity and mossback points of view.

It cannot be good news for them.

Time will tell.

I suppose there are some factors that will reveal themselves on closer reporting. Evidently Cantor's electorate thought him insufficient. Whether that is in his loyalty to the tea partyish thinking or his neglect or them as "his people" is not too clear. Maybe the Democrats did take revenge with crossovers.

Maybe it is a lot simpler than that.

Cantor has always struck me as a supercilious bastard. A priss. A dogmatist without any core. Perhaps even a poseur. An empty shell.

It does seem that he took things a little for granted a little too long in his district. Tip Oneil always said that people expected you to ask for their vote. Simple enough. But a lot of guys get busy with being the GUY to remember that. A bit too big for their boots. In need of an ego trim.

Cantor strikes me as that kind of guy.

A jerk who needs to get jerked out of his seat.

Whatever the case, I do not think that he will standout in history for much of anything but ambition. Ego. To be the guy. And that is a pretty low bar to cross.

Labels: GOP, politics, right wing, world class assholes.

Labels: GOP, wingnuts

Quick. Guess which of the most recent Presidents had the most, the least, the growingest or the slowest growth in government jobs.

You know. The people who suck off the public tit. Not welfare but "government work".

When I was a kid, the phrase "government work" meant a slacker's job. Something easy. I am not sure this is the case any longer.

OK. How did the presidents stack up for government work employees?

Reagan? I bet he cut the shit out of those people living off our tax money. Or, how about George Herbert Walker Fucking Bush? Was he a trimmer of the damned goof offs in government? How about Carter, the christian wimp? Too kind to cut. Could it be Clinton? That lefty? While he was running around screwing everything in sight was the government work force growing out of control? And what about the anointed son, W? The one initial pres. A half or a third of the usual initials. Short of a load. I bet he cut the bejeezus out of those spongers on the payroll. Even the dumbest winger can wield an axe. Finally, Obama. Looking to even the score for those lazy black folks who were so badly treated by the GOoPers?

Well, the answer is here. Hold onto your hats.

Who reduced the payroll? The only goddam one of them to do so.

By now you probably have guessed that this is a trick question but not really. It is just that you, like I, have a twisted idea of who adds and who subtracts from the government when they have a chance to do so.

Of course, some of you might say that it is really the Congress who supports these numbers high or low. In a way, you would be right. But it is the Congress who is most pigging up to the trough at budget time. A skillful politician, one who was able to cut the size of the government work force, would have to be a canny politician to fool these money hogs long enough into beating their brains out at budget time. Right? Right.

Labels: Administration Obama, GOP, Presidents

I bet you never thought you would see a Hillary sign on this blog!

It is a little early but my interest in the Presidentials is tweaked.

I enjoyed reading this today. The Goopers are in disarray. After binging on the giddiness of right wing support they are, apparently, breathless.

It is about Jeb and how he is so weak that to call him an "establishment" candidate is just more leakage. He is no more popular, perhaps less, than any of the wacko's and fringers, the wing nuts who have taken over the party.

And none of them are strong enough to budge the meter within the GOP decisively.

Now, it seems that the acid test is to find how well any Republican prospect runs against Hillary. They all do badly.

As you know, I was not enthralled with Hillary. But now, after all her time at State and in her day to day work in the Administration she has won my esteem. She put her head down, became a team player, kept her (and most of the time Bill's) mouth shut and did her job.

The ego got directed constructively.

I gather there is no doubt whatsoever that she will run and be the candidate for a united Party. Imagine that. United Democrats.

It is way to early to declare victory of course. A lot can happen between now and "then" but "then" is closely upon us.

The half term elections will be over soon and full attention will go to the big one.

I have my place in the bleachers so I can see the show.

Incidentally, I have retired from reading the daily political blogs. This item came straight out of Associated Press via Yahoo news. Anything but inside baseball. Painfully outside for Jeb.

At least they are not running fat jokes at his expense now that Christie is no longer available. Remember him? But Jeb is a pudge and it will happen soon.

Labels: GOP, Hillary Clinton

HERO

Andrew Sullivan:

“To rid the world of Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and Moammar Qaddafi within six months: if Obama were a Republican, he’d be on Mount Rushmore by now.”

Funny and sad is that one of the best Presidents at foreign affairs is buried in other issues.

No one in the GOP can even begin to match it.

This does put the GOP on a spot. They have roundly criticized Obama for "getting us into this" and now will have to eat crow.

John McCain who was kissing Gaddafi's ass just a short time ago, two years, today expressed happiness that his has happened and almost took credit for it.

But I am as old as McCain and I understand memory loss. He has a bit more of it than I do.

Labels: Barack Obama, GOP, republican whack jobs

NOT WINNING

Gallup:

Tea Party Sparks More Antipathy Than Passion
August 10, 2011

More Americans consider themselves strong opponents of the Tea Party movement than strong supporters, by 20% to 14%. Overall support for the Tea Party has dipped to 25%, a new low, and lower than the 29% average seen previously.

Boehner's Low Approval Rating Could Hurt Republicans In 2012

There is more but I will not bore you.

This is a reality check for the GOP. They are hitched to a fading teabag. They have the most visible leader losing points. They don't even ask about Senate Leader McConnell, the one that looks like a hamster.

Also, the Republicans shoulder the blame for the stalemate mess and according to yesterday's CNN poll, a lot of people, 68% including Republicans, approve of higher taxes for the rich.

I dug all this up, which wasn't difficult, because I had a dose of media memes about how bad Obama was doing.

He holds still throughout all of this at between 45-50% approval. No change. He is not moving up and, more importantly, he is not moving down. They were all playing the same sad tune for the "one term" President and I got depressed.

These numbers sure cheered me up.

Labels: GOP, Re-election of Barack Obama, tea party

NO END GAME

It is astonishing to see the House Republicans fade in the stretch and, more interestingly, to see nothing at all from the Senate GOP. Well, McConnell's capitulation.

Obama grabbed the flag, trumped them with the 4 trillion dollar reduction in expenses, pursued the poll popular mixed approach of cuts and taxation and ends up looking and, actually, being the one to gain most from the whole process.

Why?

Ross Douthat has this:

The Republican Retreat

It is interesting to see that, in his opinion, the Republicans blew it.

Were they so enamored of their strength that they thought negotiation was not necessary? What? Are Boehner, and particularly Cantor, ham handed? Well yes. Amateurish. But still.

Boehner has something going on with Obama and I like that. We will see what happens after we get over the Kabuki of passing the impossible bagger bill that is being debated this week while Rome may be burning. A sop to the freshmen.

What strange times we live in. The collapse of politics. One party who has lost the ability to practice the art.

I don't much agree with Douthat, he is right of center. But I do admire his non-pandering view of todays Republican Party. Unlike David Brooks who rounds all the corners off, Douthat is not afraid to speak his mind.

Labels: GOP, Re-election of Barack Obama, Republicans

KATY BARR THE DOOR!

This is really interesting to me.

Ex-congressman explores presidential bidEx-Congressman Forms Presidential Exploratory Committee, May Seek Libertarian Nomination

Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr said Saturday he has formed a presidential exploratory committee and may seek the Libertarian party nomination.

"America today faces a grave moral and leadership crisis, and those of us who care about our country's future can no longer sit on the sidelines and remain neutral," Barr told an audience at the Heartland Libertarian Conference in Kansas City, Mo.

The former Georgia congressman left the GOP in 2006 over what he called bloated spending and civil liberties intrusions by the Bush administration.

Barr, 59, became a darling of conservatives in the 1990s for his persistent attacks on President Clinton. He was among the first to press for impeaching Clinton and helped manage House Republicans' impeachment case before the Senate.

He currently runs a lobbying and public affairs firm with offices in Atlanta and outside Washington.

His clients have included the American Civil Liberties Union and the Marijuana Policy Project, a group pushing Congress to allow medical marijuana use and to cut spending for what it says are failed anti-drug media campaigns aimed at young people. Barr also holds the 21st Century Liberties Chair for Freedom and Privacy at the American Conservative Union Foundation and is a board member of the National Rifle Association.

He left the Congress and the GOP over his party's lack of principle.

I would disagree with him on more than half his issues but I would respect him a great deal.

Some days I could easily be a Libertarian.

Look at his clients! What a mix.

He is tough and he is smart. He would really fuck up John McCain's parade.

That is really what I would like about him most.

He could be the GOoPers Nader.

Labels: GOP, McCain, politics