Sick & Tired of Being Sick & Tired of the Political Debates

If quantity makes the difference, the GOP definitely wins. They have the numbers, fourteen to be exact, and those are just the ones you’re likely to recognize (there are twenty-one others). The Dems are down to a paltry three, not counting the twelve unknowns who have announced their candidacy. So if there were a street fight today, no question, the Democrats would get their lights punched out. 

Fortunately, the 2016 Presidential race will not be decided by how many gang members you have, but on  who shows up to vote in November. 

We call ourselves a democracy, a word dating back to ancient Greece, and means “Rule by the people.” But if only one side makes a convincing case for their members to vote, and that side happens to be Republican, it will be rule by the minority.  

This seems to be the case for off-year elections, where the majority party would rather attend a weinee roast than vote for candidates and/or ideas that might actually serve them. Women who stay home on election day do themselves a particular disservice, and could explain all of the misogyny that exists on the books today, with more to come. 

Tea Partyers and Evangelicals sacrifice their weinees and show up in significant numbers. This is what contenders like Ben Carson and Ted Cruz are banking on, and explains why they make statements that have zero validity. Carson wants us to have an all Christian Army, as did King Richard the Lion Hearted and many other participants in the Crusades of the Middle Ages. But, Doctor, with all due respect (or maybe not), these are not the Middle Ages, although that might be a tough position to sell to some of our enlightened electorate. 

The tone of the debates is so different that it’s sometimes hard to believe that both sides are striving for the same goal. Among the Republicans, there are still significant numbers who don’t believe President Obama was born in the United States, and continue to insist that he show his birth certificate to prove he is native born. But by the way some GOP candidates act, maybe they should show their Earth certificates to prove they are not from another planet.

The Climate Change issue is a big separator of the two parties. Republicans have gone out of their way to forget that this is one of the greatest threats to humankind since Duck Dynasty. I’ll let you in on a little secret: Pretending something doesn’t exist does not make it go away. If that were the case, I’d pretend most of the GOP doesn’t exist. There hasn’t been a single world mentioned in the Republican debates about this monster that is getting ready to kick the crap out of us, our children and our children’s children.  They do, however, guarantee that they will approve the XL Pipeline on day one of their presidency, probably before their morning bowel movement. 

The Democrats are a little gentler with each other than their GOP counter parts. They don’t accuse one another of failing to show up for votes, or criticize a perfectly well-thought-out plan to deport 11 million Mexicans.

Instead they talk about their accomplishments. Although, in the Saturday night Democratic debate, Hillary had some mud slung at her for her association with Big Bank, and her vote to sanction GW Bush’s ISIS call to action. Bernie was bludgeoned for voting against the Brady Bill, and other anti-gun legislation. O’Malley took credit for keeping the peace in his former mayoralty, conveniently forgetting that Baltimore has one of the highest crime rates in the U.S. I guess he never watched HBO’s The Wire. 

Politics and the Press

Politics and the Press

I’ve been sick and tired for a long time, and what keeps me feeling that way? Well, I don’t think we have the band-width to list them all, but let me start with our political system, and how the press helps keep it in such foul condition.

One cannot hear the name “Hillary” without it being followed by the world “email.” Like the only problem facing our nation today is Hillary’s email account.” There are many things we can say about Madam Secretary, including some very successful achievements while serving in that role for four years. And, yes, mistakes by our 67^th Secretary of State were made, which will fuel much of the anti-Hillary talk in the upcoming election. But distinguished members of the press: move the hell on.

If you want to discuss her shortcomings, how about her and husband, Bill’s, love affair with the banking industry?  During her Senate campaigns, she collected 2.9 million from such notable Wall Street Firms as Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Bros, and Credit Suisse. As a presidential candidate, she received 91k from Morgan Stanley, over 75k from JP Morgan Chase, 58k from the Blackstone Group. Yes, that’s a paltry 224k, but it’s early. Those figures do not include massive contributions from Wall Street law firms in her campaign history.

We probably shouldn’t blame her for the repeal of Glass Steagall, that occurred during Bill’s presidency, which resulted in the financial collapse of 2007 -2008. But let’s hope, that if she survives the primary season (likely), and goes on to defeat the largest cadre of clowns to ever vie for the presidency, she will not surround herself with the likes of Robert Rubin or Larry Summers.

It’s catching, by the way, Obama was no better, from his selection of Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary, who now, according to Wikipedia, serves as president of Warburg Pincus, a Wall Street private equity firm, and Attorney General Holder, who, incidentally, is back with his former law-firm, serving guess what industry? http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/eric-holder-former-attorney-general-returning-covington-burling-law-firm-n387331 . Mr. Holder, you might have a valid reason for not putting a single banker behind bars, but I can’t think of any.

And speaking of clowns, then, of course, there is (children hold your ears)… Donald Trump, a man who received comb-over lessons from a flannel moth (pictured below).  Wait until he learns that it migrated from Mexico, and rapes American flannel moths.

Now I thought Trump was bad, but if you listen to enough speeches from his GOP competition, he doesn’t quite win the award for lunacy. He’s had mixed positions on women (none can resist him), he’s not as homophobic as most of the field, and as of 3pm today, doesn’t hate socialized medicine. Ooops. It’s now 3:05. New position on that one.

This tirade wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the misogyny of most Republican candidates. It makes me wonder how any self-respecting woman can vote for any of them, let alone stay married to them.

According to Ballotpedia.org, almost all the GOP candidates either want to defund Planned Parenthood, or boast of having defunded it while Governor of their respective state.  They all justify their hatred of that organization by claiming how rich it gets selling body parts from dead babies. These pro-fetus ignoramuses (or is that ‘ignorami?’), ignore the fact that many of these women have no other access to family planning counseling.  Planned Parenthood also provides screenings and other vital health information to women in a ‘family way.’ Also, they make no money from passing along the costs of delivering fetal tissue, which has paved the way for important genetic research. Bet you won’t hear that on Fox Noise.

Dr. Ben Carson was probably the most moderate on the issue of abortion, except for being steadfastly opposed to it. As of this writing he is second to the Donald in Iowa straw polls (Iowa does have plenty of straw). But Dr. Ben called Obamacare the worst thing that’s ever happened to America. I could think of a little thing called ‘slavery’ that just might be considered worse. And Ben, I could be wrong, but I don't think I'd lose money betting on whether or not you had slave ancestors.

Chris Christie (who?), said he would treat it like he did Ft. Lee , in the infamous Bridgegate scandal.  

Ted Cruz, would permit abortions when the mother’s life is threatened, but not if she is a rape victim. Carly Fiorina forgets her gender and pretty much goes along with the good old boy crowd.

But the Press, the Press. Where are you on these issues? True democracy hinges on a robust press. Both of those elements have been missing in our country for quite a long time. Walter Cronkite? Where are you now that we need you the most.

For more on politics, and candidates positions on Climate Change, I invite you to visit my website:

http://ourneighborhoodearth.org/Politics.html