SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET: 

TED IN BATTLE – Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Robert Francis (Beto) O'Rourke held their final debate tonight in the critical Senate race in Texas.  Apparently it was bloody, but my friend, Silvio Canto Jr, assesses it as a Cruz win.  Cruz is a talented debater.  O'Rourke is a talented fraud.  The latest CNN poll has Cruz up by seven points.  However, that poll leans Dem, so the truth may lie several points higher.  O'Rourke has vast funds, imported from the usual coastal enclaves, and he will now unleash a storm of ads.  Ted has got to stay on the offensive, which he will.  The key will be turnout.  O'Rourke has movie-star style; Ted has Senate style.  I'm hoping Texans will see the difference.

SILENCE IS TWITTER GOLD – The president scored a great victory in the Kavanaugh confirmation, and one reason for that victory was his own silence during the proceedings.  He handled himself well, except for a few foolish remarks about Professor Ford.  He should have learned that silence is indeed golden, when properly applied.  He's been splendid on the campaign trail, rallying a party that always needs a waking up.  But today he blundered twice, once by labeling exotic dancer (stripper to normal people) Stormy Daniels as "Horseface," and again by seeming to compare the leader of Saudi Arabia to Judge Kavanaugh, suggesting that both men have been assumed guilty until proved innocent.  The leader of Saudi Arabia is a brutal dictator; Judge Kavanaugh is a civilized scholar.  The president is on a roll, and he can ruin it if he steps all over himself, as he did today.  Shush!

THE PRESIDENT IS RIGHT – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  President Trump said Tuesday he doubts he’ll face Michael Bloomberg in 2020 because Democrats “will eat him up” in the primaries if he becomes a presidential candidate.  “I think the Democrats will eat him up,” Trump told the Fox Business Network.  “You know you have a lot of people running. I’m hearing names that are shockingly bad but they’re nasty.”  Bloomberg, who was formerly a Republican and an Independent, announced last week that he changed his voter registration to Democrat, setting the stage for possible presidential run.  The billionaire has said he’ll “take a look” at a 2020 bid after the midterm elections.   I'll make an exception to my last "short take," urging some silence on the president.  This was an astute remark.  Bloomberg is living in a dreamworld if he thinks there's a wanting of Mike in the Democratic Party.  It's a new, radical party, and Bloomberg doesn't fit.  He should save his fortune and do good works, even though I'd oppose some of those works. 

October 16, 2018