Hillary's worst nightmare

Saturday Night Live's Hillary Clinton: "You have a choice in this election.  You can vote for a Republican, or you can vote for Donald Trump."

Hillary Clinton is enjoying an embarrassment of riches.  She has her limited hard-core base of traditional Democrats, the support of maverick Democrat (?) Bernie Sanders and most of his millennials....and the support of much of corporate America.

Wikileaks has given us the transcript of what Hillary told a group of Goldman Sachs VIPs in a speech they paid her a cool QUARTER MILLION $$$ to hear.  That is....big shock....that she is a two-faced politician.*

During her primary campaign against Bernie Sanders she wanted us to believe she was a progressive's progressive.  Even after she took him out she enthusiastically embraced Bernie's "break up the big banks, no (TPP) trade deal, free college for everyone, etc" agenda.  She even agreed to make it a part of the official Democratic Party platform.  But what about what she told Goldman Sachs, and by inference the business community?

She told them that she had a face for public consumption, and a face for behind the magic curtain, and it was the latter that they should pay attention to.  Yes, she would push for "banking regulation", but the banks would have a say in writing it.  Which really meant "don't you guys lose any sleep."

At the time she said that Republicans were firmly in control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.  If she could some day become President she could deliver on her promise to her progressive friends to champion their traditional Democratic values, all while knowing a Republican controlled Congress would never go along with any meaningful change in the status quo.  Win/win....votes from traditional Democrats, money from traditional Republican business interests.  SWEET!

As it now turns out several years later she appears to be coasting to a presidential victory, and the odds are pretty good that she might, just might, get a Democratic Senate, too.  

But what if the Democrats could pull off a modern miracle and win the House of Representatives also?  Her Democratic faithful/Bernie Sanders coalition would then expect her to live up to her promises to them....she would have the votes in Congress to do pretty much whatever she wanted....while the business community would still be expecting her to stand aside for them, too, and they don't take kindly to being stiffed for a couple of hundred million $$$.  YIKES!

Hillary's "happy dance" could well turn into a "tap dance".  Hey, stranger things have happened.

S

* I know, I know.  I used "two faced" and "politician" in the same sentence.  It goes without saying, huh?  :)

The pot calling the kettle black

Do our politicians really think we're dumb enough to believe our current political / economic mess is ALL the result of "the OTHER" party?  I've done a lot of research on the housing bubble that imploded in 2008 and put us in our current mess and here's what I found:  The whole sordid affair began in about 1993 when Congress, the President, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and a few others began the National Homeownership Initiative.  


During the years since then Democrats occupied the White House for 11 years, the Republicans for 8.  Democrats and Republicans evenly split control of the Senate, 5 terms each, and Republicans have controlled the House of Representatives for 6 of 10 terms.  I would pretty much call that a draw.


For either party to claim sainthood, to say with a straight face that if we will trust them with all the reigns of power a bright future will be ours, is disingenuous in the extreme.  Both parties have had ample opportunity to do the right thing for the American people, but instead were all-consumed with extorting campaign contributions and preserving their power. 


Congress, mainly the Republicans, want to scale back government spending.  Fine...no argument from me.  Except they conveniently fail to mention this will put millions of people out of work.  Oops!  All while they point a finger and jump up and down on their soap box asking what the Democrat's plan is to reduce unemployment?  Huh?  Fess up guys....you can't have it both ways!


Are any of you buying the load of crap both parties are selling this election year?  If you are, then let me introduce myself:  I'm a wealthy Nigerian prince, and I need your help!


S

Politicians gone wild

I've nearly finished reading Do Not Ask What Good We Do:  Inside the U.S. House of Representatives by Robert Draper.  For a political junkie such as myself it is a fascinating look at how the lower house of Congress actually works.  


I found it to be very fairly balanced, praising several in both parties for earnestly trying to serve our country, but also revealing many in both parties for what they are:  crooked power hungry scum bags looking out only for their own political careers.  I mean to the point of being willing to throw the entire country under the bus if they have to to get themselves re-elected.  Our current crop of freshmen representatives are a particularly uninformed group. 


The bottom line is this:  IMO, If EITHER party ever gains control of the House of Representatives AND the Senate AND the Presidency, WE'RE SCREWED!  I'm convinced that a gridlocked Congress, bad as that might be, would serve us better than getting flattened by the runaway Special Interest Express of one-party rule.  You can't imagine how dangerous these people are!


Our wise Founding Fathers gave us the concept of "checks and balances" for a reason.  Whether between branches of government or houses of Congress, it's a good concept.


S