Have we put Cousin Eddie in charge?

I feel sorry for my conservative friends who are trying to divert attention away from President Trump and focus instead on what they think is a reasonable agenda.  They articulate something worthy of debate, and then the President dumps on their message with his regular 2 am stream of brain dysentery.

Our politicians all combined couldn't lead a 2-car funeral procession out of a parking lot.  Our healthcare situation is a mess.  The Democrat's answer was ObamaCare, and the best the Republicans can come up with is their ScrewYouAmericaCare.  That's it....Plan 1, ObamaCare; or Plan 2, ScrewYouAmericaCare.  

Where's Plan 3?  "Oh, there isn't a Plan 3" they tell us.  That's because we don't have leaders who can count beyond 2!  What they've proposed amounts to putting a band-aid on a sucking chest wound.  Not only can't they think outside the box, they can't even find the damn box!

Of course we need to control our borders.  Every country does.  But proposing a 21st Century "Maginot Line"-like wall to keep the "murdering, raping Mexicans" out, and then expecting the murdering, raping Mexicans to pay for it is about the most ridiculous thing I've ever head of.  Somebody please enroll Donnie John in a Dale Carnegie How To Win Friends And Influence People course.

Trade agreements need to be beneficial to all involved, but over time they sometime lose their fairness.  Calling all parties to sit down together and negotiate a mid-course re-alignment is reasonable, but that won't work if our Negotiator In Chief is slinging personal insults and threats at the other participants.  Make that a remedial How To Win Friends And Influence People course!

With the end of the Cold War many of our NATO partners let their guard down.  With just a few exceptions they spent their tax dollars on everything but their own national security, thinking America always had their back.  Asking them to step up now and contribute more to the alliance is reasonable, but it should be done in respectful negotiations, not by lining up our allies and lambasting them in public. That was cringe-worthy.

We have many serious issues that need attention requiring a top notch team.  So who does President Trump choose to be on his team?  Gen. James Mattis at Defense....OK, he got that one right.  And Rex Tillerson at State....I must say he's doing much better than I expected (although reports are he's about ready to throw in the towel.)  But the rest of them aren't worth shooting.  Steve Mnuchin at Treasury?  Remember the big economic meltdown back in 2008?  Then we had a team of outstanding economic minds who, together, pulled us through.  Mnuchin was one of those who got us INTO that mess, and certainly not one who has the credentials to get us out of the next one.  God help us!   

Beauregard Sessions as AG?   Does anyone think he'll last the year?  And how about Tom Price, the architect of that great healthcare reform plan that enjoys the support of a whopping 17% of the people?  And last but not least, Betsy DeVos, Education Secretary only because her family is a mega-$$$$$ Republican contributor.  Of all the possible excellent talent he had to choose from, President Trump chose these? *sigh*

As I said, conservatives deserve to have their agenda fairly heard and debated, just as liberals do.  But where are today's composed, articulate leaders like Kennedy and Reagan, leaders who were respected if not always agreed with?  Even hardcore Republicans who have been chewing on their tongues for months trying to defend Trump are beginning to turn on him.  He's an embarrassment!

It isn't necessarily the message*, but Trump as the messenger that is threatening to send the Republicans into the political abyss, to join Nancy Pelosi and her Democrats who have already made themselves at home there. 

I feel like we're living one of those movies where both pilots have flatlined and left the plane, and the passengers, to fend for themselves.   You think Air Traffic Control will be able to talk us down?

S

* Well OK, maybe some of it is the message. ;)

They said WHAT???

Will somebody please explain to me what has happened to the Republican Party....the GOP....the party of Eisenhower and Reagan and all the Bush's?  (Yeah, 'ol George W is lookin' pretty good all of a sudden, huh?)

Why yes, yes I can get BOTH feet in my mouth at the same time.

Republican front runner Donald Trumph's most recent epiphany is that he wants to prohibit any/all Muslim's from entering the USA "until our representatives can figure out what is going on."  Now, I understand he's pretty much fed up with Muslims, and a lot of others agree with him, but he needs to learn when to keep his big fat pie hole shut!

Lets think this through:  We want to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria.  That by all accounts will require "boots on the ground".  We don't want those to be American boots on the ground.  We want the countries in that region....Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, etc....to put their boots on the ground.  So we just insult the hell out of them by lumping them in with the ISIS thugs, Muslims all?  Brilliant! 

I understand the concept of pandering for votes, but damn! 

 Our next Fuhrer?

And it gets worse....Candidate/Senator* Ted Cruz today said, "We will carpet bomb them (ISIS) into oblivion.  I don’t know if sand can glow in the dark, but we’re going to find out."  Yeah, he said that!  

The last time I heard anyone talking about making the Mid East "glow", it was in a comedy routine on the Don Imus show.  That character was funny.  This guy Cruz is DANGEROUS!

Please God, just make them both go away!

S

* On behalf of all my fellow Texans I'd like to offer our sincere apology for not euthanizing Ted years ago.

And my dossier at the NSA just gets bigger and bigger

I don't understand all the stink about Benghazi.  It seems that in trying to police the world....north Africa in this case....we botched security at one of our diplomatic missions.  A bunch of #$%^& Libyans attacked and killed 4 Americans.

At the time, it seems that an Administration official at some level decided that the American people wouldn't care if they thought our people were killed by a crowd spontaneously angered by some movie or some such nonsense vs an out-and-out terrorist attack, which would be horrible.  So they lied.

Why would one be worse than the other?  Our people are still dead, regardless.  

"Hello, Mrs. Widow.  I have some good news and some bad news.  First, your husband's dead.  But the good news....it was just a spontaneous demonstration."

So a bunch of politicians lied.  Lying is what they do.  *yawn*

Somebody please tell me again why we give a rats ass what happens in Libya?  The f__kers just fight for the sake of fighting.  That seems to be the #1 pastime in that part of the world.  Why don't we seem to get that?  You scramble an ant pile with a stick, you're gonna get stung.

Why was security botched in the first place?  Didn't Congress vote to cut back funding for State Department security to help reduce the deficit?  Then this happened, and they're surprised?  Really?

Attacks on Americans overseas have been happening since the Reagan days, maybe before....I can't remember.  Here's one for you:  How come every time something bad happens in their back yard the Europeans expect the US to come and "fix it"?  Do we ask them to come over here and slap around the drug cartels in Mexico for us?

Republicans are just looking for something to throw in the face of the Democrats, just like the Democrats had a field day complaining about how NJ Governor Chris Christie (R) caused a traffic jam on some bridge to NY.  This whole thing is just sleazy politics.

You're on a slippery slope, Republicans, feigning outrage over Democrats lying about Benghazi.  Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!  You ALL lie!  Nixon lied, Reagan lied, Clinton, Bush, and Obama lied also.  And it is with great confidence that I can predict the president after Obama will lie to us, too.

Instead of distracting us with more Benghazi BS why not get your house in order?  Do your job....let me rephrase that.  Do the job THE AMERICAN PEOPLE sent you to Washington to do.  NOT the job the special interests (think: Goldman Sachs & Friends) are paying you to do now that you're there.

S

I didn't see THAT coming!

  
I think like many people I watched the Veep debate last night expecting to see a personable Joe Biden yap and on que say something funny that Saturday Night Live can take and make into a hilarious skit.  That SNL skit may still happen, but what I actually witnessed was an informed, powerful, very combative, stand-his-ground candidate Biden.

Specifically, here's what I saw:  Biden probably said the words "middle class" 20 times.  Same with "level playing field", and "a fair shake".  He came across as the populist defender of The People, something I think will play well with blue-collar voters.   And what is THE most critical state still in play?  Ohio....gritty, blue-collar Ohio.  Eighteen electoral vote Ohio.

Biden got so worked up on several occasions I fully expected to see him start foaming at the mouth.  But again, that much passion is probably appreciated by the blue-collar types.  Just go into a bar in Ohio and bring up Michigan, or vice versa.  You'll see lots of "mouth foaming"!

And Biden had something for war-weary voters, too, when he promised we would be out of Afghanistan by 2014.  "Sure, the Afghans would be happy to let us keep doing their fighting for them forever.  That's why we put them on notice.  'You'd better be ready to defend YOUR country come 2014.'" I think that struck a popular chord and will be well received.

In this case at least I think Biden's age and experience trumped Ryan's youth and vigor.  How could Ryan compete with Biden's "I was right there with Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neil (and a bottle of scotch?) during their epic budget battles"?  Or, "I was on an hour-long conference call with Bibi Netanyahu (Israeli PM) and the President and we're all in complete agreement...." 

I think that "complete agreement with Israel" reference probably reassured the Jewish community, too.  And correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Florida have a sizable Jewish community?  Twenty nine electoral vote Florida.  Smooth.

Paul Ryan is a numbers man; a budget, Medicare and Social Security expert.  While very important stuff, it's also very boring to talk about.  It's all based on "projections" and "assumptions", and with accounting being such a fraudulent practice today, can easily be refuted.  It's a "He said, She said" argument that politicians have been throwing at us for so long they're hardly believable any more.   "Projections" are a tough sell.

Most awkward exchange:  Ryan sharing Gov. Romney's compassion for a family who had suffered through a horrible car crash, while Biden explained he WAS the family that suffered through a horrible car crash.  OUCH!

Best zingers:  When Ryan mentioned that Jack Kennedy cut taxes, Biden chimed in, "Oh, so now you're Jack Kennedy?"  Also, when Ryan explained how Romney mis-spoke when talking about the 47% quip, saying, "I'm sure you know what it's like to have your words come out not the way you meant for them to."  Haha!

While the red states are still red and the blue states are still blue, I think Joe Biden's performance probably picked up quite a few net votes for the Democrats.  This is going to make for an interesting finish come November.

S