Category: Election 2016

Kudos to Paul Ryan

My comments on House Speaker Paul Ryan condemnation of Donald Trump’s reluctance to disavow support from extremist groups. But first, the video and story.

The Video:

The Story via Politico:

Speaker Paul Ryan offered a rebuke of Republican front-runner Donald Trump on Tuesday, saying that any candidate hoping to be the GOP’s presidential nominee needs to “reject” bigotry.

The comments came after Trump failed to disavow the Ku Klux Klan and an endorsement by former KKK leader David Duke during a CNN interview this week. After answering a question on CNN about the white supremacist by saying he doesn’t “know anything about David Duke, OK?,” Trump later blamed a faulty earpiece for his remark.

The flap has created a major firestorm for the GOP as voters in 11 states prepare to cast primary ballots in Super Tuesday races.

Ryan, who didn’t mention Trump by name, told reporters that “no evasions and no games” could be used by anyone seeking the Republican nomination when it comes to hateful comments and racism.

“If a person wants to be the nominee of the Republican Party, there can be no evasions and no games. They must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. This party does not prey on people’s prejudices,” the former vice presidential candidate said.

He added, “We appeal to their highest ideals. This is the party of Lincoln. We believe that all people are created equal in the eyes of God and the government. This is fundamental.”

The remarks of the Republican Speaker of the House are an example to those wishing to enter Republican politics and everyone, Republican and Democrat alike should follow it. I only wish that there were others in the in the Republican Party who felt the same way.

Paul Ryan is correct in his assessment. The Republican Party is the party of Lincoln. The Republican Party was the party that debated Stephen A. Douglas, a Democrat, over the issue of slavery. Unfortunately, since that time, many things have happened: The New Deal, The Great Society, and The Civil Rights Act — all of which begat, The Southern Strategy.

These political policies and outright exploitation of these issues, have led to the pitting of classes and races of people against each other. Both of the political parties are guilty, they have done it and now; we have a Presidential candidate that finds himself being attacked, by the same people who created this entire culture and they want him to give obeisance.

The political chess game has started; I just hope that Trump has a better game than the accusers do.

WND: ‘KKK’ Trump supporters were black

This is asinine:

Donald Trump’s critics tried to pass off fake Ku Klux Klan members as his supporters on social media Tuesday night. A closer look at the images reveal the so-called white supremacists were black.Almost 50 percent of Nevada caucus-goers gave the Republican hopeful an easy victory on Tuesday night, but not before a bizarre attempt at character assassination by black citizens in KKK garb. Not all of the photos shared on social media showed the color of their skin, which was taken advantage of by Trump’s detractors. – Source: Desperate hoax: ‘KKK’ Trump supporters were black – WND.COM

The proof:

I say that it is asinine for one reason: You know, it is bad enough we have idiots like this guy here, heaping praise on Trump and then have this — two asshole back guys masquerading as Klansman.

As for the idiot who brought this up to the media, who did not correct the story? He remains unapologetic:

Further to my post from yesterday about people observed donning KKK regalia at a caucus site, I offer these…

Posted by Aaron D. Ford on Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Translation? “Yeah, I lied about the Klan story and I also paid these people to do it. But, I am not going to apologize, because white people are evil racists.” What an a$$hole! 😡

Why David Duke’s praise could be bad for Donald Trump

This could be bad for Donald Trump. Donald Trump has somehow or another earned the praise by one of the most controversial figures in society. This guy here, the story via BuzzFeed: (H/T to Memeorandum)

The Audio:

The Story:

David Duke, a white nationalist and former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, is urging the listeners of his radio program to volunteer and vote for Donald Trump.

“Voting for these people, voting against Donald Trump at this point is really treason to your heritage,” Duke said on the David Duke Radio Program Wednesday, referring to Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. “I’m not saying I endorse everything about Trump, in fact I haven’t formally endorsed him. But I do support his candidacy, and I support voting for him as a strategic action. I hope he does everything we hope he will do.”

Duke then urged his followers to call Trump’s campaign headquarters to volunteer.

“And I am telling you that it is your job now to get active. Get off your duff. Get off your rear end that’s getting fatter and fatter for many of you everyday on your chairs. When this show’s over, go out, call the Republican Party, but call Donald Trump’s headquarters, volunteer. They’re screaming for volunteers. Go in there, you’re gonna meet people who are going to have the same kind of mindset that you have.”

Earlier in his broadcast, Duke called Trump’s victories in Nevada and South Carolina a “historic day.”

The American Spectator, who doesn’t seem to be a big fan of Trump says thus:

I would be shocked if Wolf Blitzer doesn’t bring this up in the debate and if he doesn’t then one of his opponents must.

If Trump disavows Duke unequivocally then he’s OK (unless he calls Duke a great guy a few days later). But if Trump dodges the question or hesitates then there’s an opening. The question is which Republican rival will take it.

But given that Trump has gotten away with accusing former President Bush of lying about WMDs and blaming him for 9/11, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility Trump could get away with having Duke’s support in the GOP primaries. So let’s assume Teflon Don survives the praise of David Duke and wins the Republican nomination. You can bet Hillary Clinton will be broadcasting David Duke’s voice to every African-American, Latino and other minority voter in the country from now until election day.

As much as I hate to admit it, that is painfully correct. If Trump does not say something that would disavow Duke’s praise; he could very well lose the general election. Because if there is one thing that the Democrats do well, and that is race issues. Where the Republicans and Conservatives, with the notable exception being the neoconservatives; are more tolerant of people like Duke — the Democrats are not at all. Which is quite ironic, considering the Democrats were the ones who tried to keep blacks from voting, many years ago.

However still, Donald Trump needs to take a firm stand on this and if he wants to be elected, publicly and forcefully reject any sort of endorsement, whether implied or direct, for any sort of group that is commonly associated with bigotry and hatred of any sort at all. If Mr. Trump wants to win the election, this is what he must do and I mean quickly.

Other Blogs: The Hill, Talking Points Memo, RedState, Political Wire, Nashville Scene, Business Insider, American Spectator, Mediaite and The Resurgent

 

Results of Michigan’s economy

I’m sitting here in my Dad’s truck right now near my house at Wendy’s and I wanted to show you a picture of something:

Empty Wendy’s Parking lot

This is of course a parking lot in a Wendy’s near my house. This restaurant has been a Wendy’s since the early 1990’s. when it was a Hardee’s prior to that.

I can honestly tell you back in the 1990s that the parking lot that I’m sitting in now around this time of the day, between 12pm and 3pm, this parking lot would literally almost be full and the restaurant packed.

Nowadays, it sets half empty, all the time. This is what the Democrats did the folks right here, what you’re looking at it that picture above, is the decimation of our economy.

To his credit, Governor Rick Snyder has done what he could do to fix it and to bring Michigan back.

But the truth is folks were into a recession deep and I think it’s going to take maybe 20 to 30 years, before were are actually able to fix what the Democrats broke, this is why we need to vote differently and I pray that Trump makes it through the primaries and gets to the general and decimates the Democrats.

They should pay for what their policies caused in this country. 😡

Just thought I’d share that.

I like Donald Trump, but this is just dumb

I said as such in my rant that I shot last night.

During a Tuesday interview with talk show host Michael Savage, Donald Trump seemed to lend some credence to the conspiracy theories that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was murdered, saying it was “pretty unusual” they found a pillow on his face.“Donald, I need to come back to the topic we’ve all been screaming about here, which is Scalia, was he murdered,” Savage said. “I know it’s pretty brutal to say that, and I’m not wanting to drag you into this, but this is going to be bigger and bigger and bigger.”“I went on the air and said we need the equivalent of a Warren Commission, we need an immediate autopsy before the body is disposed of. What do you think of that?” Savage asked.

Trump avoided giving a straight answer, saying he didn’t know enough. “Well I just heard today… you know I just landed and I’m hearing it’s a big topic.”“But they say they found a pillow on his face, which is a pretty unusual place to find a pillow,” Trump said. “I can’t tell you– I can’t give you an answer.” – Source: Trump: ‘Pretty Unusual’ Scalia Was Found With ‘Pillow on His Face’ | Mediaite

I have said on here that I like Donald Trump and I would vote for him, if he made the General Election and I would vote for him, if he is still in the primary, by the time it gets to Michigan. However, I find this here to be incredibly stupid of him to enter into this sort of nonsense.

Look, the man is dead, okay? Give his family a break. Stop with the stupid. It does nothing for the conservative cause to repeat Alex Jones talking points. 😡

 

 

Oh Wonderful: Donald Trump gets praised by…….Code Pink

I have to admit, this made me chortle a bit… 😆

Via The Hill:

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is being praised by Code Pink, a group working to end U.S. wars and militarism that has protested the Iraq War.

Trump garnered support from the organization during the GOP debate Saturday night when he called the Iraq War a mistake and accused the George W. Bush administration of lying before the invasion.

“Obviously the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake,” Trump said during the debate.

“George Bush made a mistake,” the billionaire continued. “Obviously we can make mistakes, but that one was a beauty.”

Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin said in an email to the Huffington Post that she “loved” the debate.

“It felt surreal to hear Donald Trump, the leading Republican contender for President, saying what we at CODEPINK have been shouting to the winds for 14 years now: that Bush and his cronies lied about WMDs, that the Iraq war was catastrophic, and that Bush never ‘kept us safe’ because 9/11 happened on his watch.”

This ought to make Donald Trump real popular down in South Carolina, where basically George W. Bush is still basically like a God. 🙄 The reaction from the crowd at the South Carolina debate, when Trump basically blamed 9/11 on Bush, should give you an idea of how Trump is going to do in that primary.

But….code pink?!?! Trump many as well have gotten an endorsement from the Communist Party of America! Needless to say, the upcoming polls ought to be really interesting. 😯

Hillary doesn’t deserve the black vote, says The Nation

I saw this on Memeorandum and my eyes bugged out. 😯

Via Michelle Alexander at The Nation:

Hillary Clinton loves black people. And black people love Hillary—or so it seems. Black politicians have lined up in droves to endorse her, eager to prove their loyalty to the Clintons in the hopes that their faithfulness will be remembered and rewarded. Black pastors are opening their church doors, and the Clintons are making themselves comfortably at home once again, engaging effortlessly in all the usual rituals associated with “courting the black vote,” a pursuit that typically begins and ends with Democratic politicians making black people feel liked and taken seriously. Doing something concrete to improve the conditions under which most black people live is generally not required.

Hillary is looking to gain momentum on the campaign trail as the primaries move out of Iowa and New Hampshire and into states like South Carolina, where large pockets of black voters can be found. According to some polls, she leads Bernie Sanders by as much as 60 percent among African Americans. It seems that we—black people—are her winning card, one that Hillary is eager to play.

And it seems we’re eager to get played. Again.

It gets better, go read this one. She spares no expense in gutting the Clintons. It’s that good.

Others: Mother Jones, Washington Post and Slantpoint

Chris Christie to bail, Maybe?

Getting alot of conflicting reports on this one.

First the Video, via Fox News Insider:

The Story via FNC Insider:

As results showed Chris Christie on track for a sixth place showing in New Hampshire, the New Jersey governor said that he would be heading home to evaluate his campaign, instead of continuing directly to South Carolina.

Christie said: “Mary Pat and I spoke tonight and we’ve decided we’re going to go home to New Jersey tomorrow and we’re going to take a deep breath, see what the final results are tonight. …

“We’ll make a decision on our next step forward based on the results.”

Watch the statement above.

UPDATE, 11:00am: The Christie campaign says no decision has been made on whether to end his presidential bid.

However, HotAir.com shares this tweet here:

So, who is right here? I don’t mean politically! I mean, about the story. 😉

Either way, I predicted this would happen in my last video that I shot last night. Sorry to see him go; I think Christie could have done well; if he had not had that bromance moment with President Obama. It might not have been what Christie had in mind; but in politics, image is everything and if you do something like that, it will come back to haunt you.

Microsoft to tally up caucus numbers

Drudge is promoting this one big time. Looks like Microsoft is helping out in Iowa.

Anyhow, here’s the story via the Hill:


Microsoft volunteered to provide the technology to help tally up the results of Iowa’s caucus, free of charge. Now it will be put to the test Monday night.

The contests in both parties are expected to go down to the wire. And the spotlight will be on precinct officials who have been trained on a new Microsoft app, which is meant to cut down on human error and speed up the reporting process.

Both the Republican and Democratic parties in Iowa have expressed strong confidence in Microsoft, dismissing late suspicion of corporate influence from the campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) early last week.

Party officials have said no errors have been spotted in caucus dry runs. But the Sanders campaign has created its own backup reporting system, as has the Hillary Clinton campaign.

“It will be interesting to see what happens if and when there are discrepancies between the Microsoft system and either Democratic or Republican campaign tabulations,” Iowa State University professor Mack Shelley said.

Some would say that this smacks of corporate influence in elections. But, I really don’t see that, I mean, it would be worse. It could be the Government involvement. We all know what a disaster Mitt Romney had with that software he used. So, this might be a plus.

The 2016 Presidential Race Begins: Iowa caucuses are today

The first step of the 2016 election starts today.

Video:

The Story via Fox News:

As Iowans prepare to cast the first votes in the presidential nominating process Monday, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders hoped to defy the polls and pull off upset victories in Monday night’s caucuses.

After months of campaigning and more than $150 million spent on advertising, the race for supremacy in Iowa is close in both parties.

Among Republicans, the latest polls show real estate billionaire Donald Trump holding a slim edge over Cruz. Cruz, who became the first major candidate from either party to enter the presidential race 315 days ago, has pinned his hopes to a sophisticated get-out-the-vote operation. Cruz has also modeled his campaign after past Iowa winners, visiting all of the state’s 99 counties and courting influential evangelical and conservative leaders.

“If you had told me 10 months ago that the day before the Iowa caucuses we’d be in a statistcal tie for first place I would have been thrilled and exhilarated,” Cruz told Fox News late Sunday.

The Republican caucus is also the first test of whether Trump can turn the legion of fans drawn to his plainspoken populism into voters. The scope of the billionaire’s organization in Iowa is a mystery, though Trump himself has intensified his campaign schedule during the final sprint, including a pair of rallies Monday.

I predict that Trump will come in first, with Cruz second and Rubio third on the Republican side. On the Democrat side, I think that one could be a surprise. Sanders has a good deal of support, while Hillary has the name and the money. So, that one is a toss. It will be interesting to see to say the least.