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OCTOBER 30,  2018

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

AMERICANS AREN'T BUYING IT – FROM HOT AIR:  I’m not sure if having a quarter of the public blame the president for an attempted domestic terror attack is a “good” result. But since the media seems nearly unanimous in its belief that he does, if only as an (im)moral inspiration, this is worth noting.  The topline numbers: 24 percent say he bears a “lot” of blame, 15 percent say he bears “some,” 10 percent say he bears a “little,” and a full 50 say he bears zippo. All told, then, it’s 49/50. Say, I wonder if those divides fall along partisan lines.  These are the results of a poll for Huffington Post.  They deal only with the attempted bombings of Democratic figures last week, not with the horror in Pittsburgh on Saturday.  The attempts to blame the president for the "atmosphere" in the country are reminiscent of the attempts to blame George W. Bush for almost everything after he won, by a whisker, the 2000 presidential election.  The real story here is the hatred directed toward conservatives and Republicans.  That is the scandal.

WE'LL BUY YOU A TICKET – FROM FOX:   Barbra Streisand is once again thinking about leaving the United States for political reasons.  In a Tuesday interview with The New York Times, the 76-year-old star admitted that she's considering moving to Canada if the Democrats don't win a majority in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections next week.  "I want to sleep nights, if we take the House I’ll be able to sleep a little bit better," Streisand told the outlet, adding that if they don't take control she's been "thinking about" a potential move.  "I’ve been thinking about, do I want to move to Canada? I don’t know. I’m just so saddened by this thing happening to our country."  "It’s making me fat," she continued. "I hear what he said now, and I have to go eat pancakes now, and pancakes are very fattening. We make them with healthy flour, though — almond flour, coconut flour."  I'm so glad we have the recipe.  As for Barbra, we will provide her with a plane ticket, an extra baggage allowance, a newly washed rental car, and a motel room near a psychiatric facility that serves low-calorie pancakes.

AND THE POMPOSITY ROLLS ON – FROM FUTURE OF CAPITALISM:  Just in time for the midterm elections, Ben & Jerry's ice cream has launched "pecan resist," a flavor the company says is meant to convey that "we can peacefully resist the Trump administration's regressive and discriminatory policies and build a future that values inclusivity, equality, and justice for people of color, women, the LGBTQ community, refugees, and immigrants." Also, that "we cannot ignore the Trump administration's attacks on our values, our environment, and our very humanity."  I may buy an eyedropper full.  No more. 

October 30,  2018   Permalink

THE DEMOCRATIC CRACK-UP – AT 2:08 P.M. ET:   The Democratic Party may do reasonably well next week, but the fact is that it is a divided, embittered party that is primed to split apart over basic values.  From the Politico, the finest piece I've read about the Dems recently:

Perhaps the most dramatic new development on the left has been the rise of the “democratic socialist” banner, a once-fringe political label embraced by Bernie Sanders, which increasingly has drawn enthusiasm from college-educated voters since the 2016 election. Socialism in its serious form involves significant changes in society—in theory, much higher taxes on the rich, which are paid out in the form of much more generous welfare programs for the less well-off.

But upper-income Democratic voters, especially older ones, have never shown much appetite for deeply redistributive policies. In 2015, when President Barack Obama proposed ending the deduction for college savings accounts—a tax break whose benefit goes almost entirely to upper-income voters—he was shot down by liberal powerhouses Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. It’s one thing for progressive candidates to call for free college, Medicare for all, a jobs guarantee or universal basic income. Those remain abstractions and don’t touch the lifestyles of the well-off. Propose a new tax on household incomes above $100,000 a year—the top 25 percent of households, a group overrepresented in some of the bluest districts in America—and see how well it goes over.

And, about our little Evita from the Bronx:

Ocasio-Cortez, the young Latina who proudly identifies as a democratic socialist, hadn’t been all but vaulted into Congress by the party’s diversity, or a blue-collar base looking to even the playing field. She won because she had galvanized the college-educated gentrifiers who are displacing those people. “It was the Bernie Bros,” one top Crowley adviser said as he surveyed the wreckage the day after the election. “They killed us.”

“He didn’t lose. New York lost,” says Moin Choudhury, a Bangladeshi immigrant and the president of a local political club, who credits Crowley for intervening several years ago to get a client of his out of immigration detention. “To have somebody in that position, a big leader in Congress, maybe a speaker who could represent us in Congress, to lose in that moment—New York lost. I don’t know what is going to happen next.”

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  It is filled with insight and excellent reporting.  Turns out our little Evita is more the darling of the rich than the darling of the "workers."  And that is the fault line in the "new" Democratic Party.

October 30, 2018        Permalink

ONE WEEK TO GO – AT 11:46 A.M. ET:  We vote in a week, and there is absolutely no certainty about the outcome.  I do get a sense, and it's only a sense, that the Democrats have made some gains in the last week.  It is possible, and this is speculation, that the horrible events have worked to the Democratic Party's favor, in part because they have given the tasteless brigades of the journalistic left a chance to bash the president and his party. 

There is plenty of evidence that most Americans are wise to the ways of the press, but some are not, and if the leftist journalists can move the needle only two or three points they can produce a profound effect on the makeup of the next Congress. 

Races are tightening.  From Fox: 

With a week to go until voters cast their midterm ballots, several long shot Senate candidates are catching up in the polls and adding another element of drama to the final stretch.

In Texas, where media darling Democrat Be to O’Bourke is running a well-funded campaign against Republican Seen. Ted Cruz, a Quinn University poll released Monday shows O’Bourke just 5 points behind Cruz in the deep-red state.

O’Bourke has benefited from intense media coverage and colossal fundraising, raking in more than $70 million since entering the race last year (compared with the $40 million Cruz has raised since 2013). Despite that attention, a number of polls have shown him to be as much as 10 points back. The Quinn poll suggests O’Bourke may be more competitive as the election draws closer.

"Forbore is within striking distance, but time is running out in a race that Democrats have hoped would deliver an upset victory that would be key to a Senate takeover," Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University poll, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez is only 5 points ahead of GOP challenger Bob Hugin, according to an Emerson poll released Monday, as the Republican tries to capitalize on the incumbent's ethics problems.

Menendez was found to have broken Senate ethics rules on receiving gifts, though a federal bribery case against him resulted in a mistrial last year. Hugin also has revived allegations that Menendez had sex with underage prostitutes during trips to the Dominican Republic -- allegations that Menendez has adamantly denied.

Hugin has been outspending Menendez by 3-1, with the majority of money going to ads hitting Menendez. But Menendez has been given a boost by the Senate Democrats' super PAC, which announced it would move another $2.8 million to Menendez, on top of another $3 million it recently shifted to New Jersey this month in an effort to keep Menendez in office.

COMMENT:  Losing Texas would be a serious blow to Republicans, especially since the winning Beto is the lightest of the lightweights.  He is a fine candidate for a student government, but not for a real one.

Despite all the hoopla, I expect New Jersey to return to its usual darkness and send Menendez back to Washington.

Other races are both exciting and frightening.  It is hard to believe that Arizona, the home of John McCain, would send a certified leftist wingnut like Krysten Sinema to the United States Senate, and reject Martha McSally, an American patriot who was the first American woman to fly in combat.  But it looks like it's happening.  Two recent polls show Sinema with a growing lead.

We look increasingly good in Missouri and Indiana, and Dean Heller might just hold on in Nevada.  In Florida, the race between great Governor Rick Scott and incumbent Bill Nelson is considered a toss-up.

Turnout is everything. 

October 30,  2018     Permalink

OCTOBER 29,  2018

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

I LOVE IT! – FROM CONSERVATIVE TREEHOUSE:  Failed presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton and women’s rights advocate Kara Swisher sat down for a live podcast and taping in New York City. The media has focused on Mrs. Clinton remarks: “I want to be president”, which can be seen in the interview at 00:33:40.  However, there’s also an alarming joke told by Clinton that reflects her tone-deaf racial perspective. At the 01:04:30 moment of the interview Ms. Swisher mistakes Corey Booker for Eric Holder and Mrs. Clinton replies: “I know they all look alike."   I don't believe it.  I just don't believe it.  Not one word of condemnation from the usual suspects. 

YOU CAN'T MAKE IT UP – FROM GATEWAY PUNDIT:   Back in July 2013 Rep. Bobby “Beto” O’Rourke tried to join the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the House of Representatives.  But the Hispanic Caucus refused to let him join saying he lacked Hispanic heritage.   I'm sure Beto thought it was so unfair to be turned down for such a trivial reason.  Maybe he and Elizabeth Warren can form a new ethnic group and become charter members.  They can call themselves the Fraudulents.

GM FADES AWAY – FROM IBD:   General Motors has given up on the free market. It now wants the federal government to force electric cars on the market and taxpayers to heavily subsidize them. GM  should focus more on improving reliability than pleasing environmentalists.  In an op-ed published by USA Today, CEO Mary Barra says the federal government should impose a "National Zero Emissions Vehicle" program that will "move our country faster to an all-electric zero emissions future."  The program, as envisioned by GM, would basically take California's electric car mandate nationwide. It would require 7% of new cars sold to be electric in 2021 — less than three years from now. GM wants the mandate to increase each year, until it hits 25% by 2030.  As in California, carmakers would get credits for each EV car sold, and could buy and sell them with other automakers.  Barra also wants Congress to renew and expand the $7,500 refundable tax credit given to electric car buyers. Taxpayers have already forked over nearly $5 billion to subsidize the (mostly wealthy) electric car buyers. The credit is supposed to phase out once a carmaker sells 200,000 plug ins.  Barra says stopping the taxpayer subsidies "will stifle growth."  In other words, Barra is flat out admitting that without federal mandates and massive tax subsidies, electric cars don't have much of a future. Environmentalists might love them, but consumers clearly don't.  What a comedown.  Chevy used to symbolize the American car industry.  For tens of millions of Americans, it was their first car.  Now the company is a mouthpiece for creeping socialism.  I'm ready to destroy all photos of my Chevy Nova, circa 1962.

October 29, 2018       Permalink

A SERIOUS PRESIDENT – AT 11:31 P.M. ET:  It's almost amusing watching the mainstream press try to diminish President Trump.  Despite his failings, and his unerring ability to say the right thing at the wrong time, this is a very serious president, who actually sets out to keep his promises and to mean what he says.  Now, he must deal with a crisis at the southern border.  From USA Today:

The Pentagon will deploy up 5,000 active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in an effort to prevent members of a migrant caravan from illegally entering the country, a U.S. official said Monday.

About 2,100 National Guard troops are already fanned out across the border under an order from President Donald Trump earlier this year. In recent weeks, the president has been warning repeatedly about the dangers posed by a caravan of mostly Central American migrants, which has swelled to an estimated 7,000 people and is continuing its slow trek north through Mexico.

Administration officials said last week that they were considering a plan to send up to 1,000 active duty troops to the border, but that deployment has increased to 5,000, according to the Department of Homeland Security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the plans before a formal announcement Monday afternoon.

The troops are not expected to conduct law enforcement activities, but instead provide backup support to Border Patrol agents manning the border and be prepared to react if groups of migrants try to storm the border.

COMMENT:  The action is correct.  An assessment should be made as to how many troops are needed, and that number should then be doubled.  (Eisenhower said that if you need a battalion send a division.) 

The world's media will be there, seeking to embarrass the United States, and Trump should not take the bait.  The troops should be given strict orders as to what to do and not to do, and, recalling Eisenhower's sending of troops to Little Rock in 1957 to enforce a desegregation order, the operation should be conducted as quickly and undramatically as possible, with the troops then withdrawn.

The laws of the United States will be enforced.  That is why we have the president take an oath of office.

October 29, 2018       Permalink

THEY LEFT THEIR HEADS IN SAN FRANCISCO – AT 10:28 A.M. ET:   San Francisco is truly vying for the title of America's worst-run major city.  Look at this fiasco.  From Fox: 

San Francisco reportedly spent $310,000 on a new registration system aimed at getting non-citizens to cast votes in school board elections.

The program resulted in 49 new voters, which turned out to cost the city $6,326 each, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. The paper called the effort “pretty much a bust the first time out.”

Local officials suggest residents who might otherwise consider registering are worried the Trump administration would learn their identities.

The voters are only able to vote in a school board race. John Arntz, the city elections chief,  In San Francisco, noncitizens who opt to vote will be listed on a separate roster from citizens and will get a ballot with just the school board contest, city elections chief John Arntz said.

Robin Hvidston, the executive director of We the People Rising, group that calls for tougher immigration enforcement, told The Los Angeles Times that the program could ultimately backfire with those who take a moderate stance on immigration.

San Francisco is not the first place with such a measure. In Maryland, where an estimated 15 percent of residents are foreign-born, at least six cities allow noncitizens to vote in local elections.

In Massachusetts, the cities of Amherst, Cambridge, Newton and Brookline have advanced laws to allow noncitizen voting, but they cannot implement them because they need the approval of state lawmakers, who have not acted, said Ron Hayduk, an associate professor of political science at San Francisco State University who studies noncitizen voting laws.

COMMENT:  I still believe that voting should be a privilege requiring citizenship.  It should be the goal of legal immigrants to become citizens in order to vote.  As for illegal residents, I would allow them to vote in local, non-federal elections if they are in a legitimate program leading to legal citizenship, but I don't know if those even exist.

October 29, 2018       Permalink

PRESIDENT BOUNCES BACK – AT 9:52 A.M. ET:  After an erratic week in the Rasmussen tracker, the president is back at 50% today.  We note that other polls have him lower, but that some of those other polls have him at 47% or 48%.  We hope this is an open for next week's election.  From Rasmussen: 

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 50% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Forty-nine percent (49%) disapprove.

The latest figures include 35% who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 43% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -8.

And Rasmussen has another poll result that's quite interesting: 

When to comes to the midterm elections, Democrats have a slight edge when it comes to what voters think is best for the next session of Congress.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 55% of Likely U.S. Voters say it’s important that Democrats win at least one of the chambers of Congress in the upcoming elections, with 48% who say it's Very Important to their vote. Only slighter fewer voters (51%) think it's important for Republicans to remain in control of the entire Congress, including 40% who feel it's Very Important.

Forty-two percent (42%) say a Democratic takeover of at least one congressional chamber is not important to their vote in the upcoming election, including 31% who say it’s Not At All Important. Forty-six percent (46%) say the GOP retaining control of Congress is not important to their vote, with 39% who rate it Not At All Important.

COMMENT:  I think those numbers track pretty well with the state-by-state and district-by-district polls that we see.  There will be many close elections next week.  It's probable that the Dems will win the House, but it may only be by five or six seats, far from a true working majority.  There are still a number of moderate Democrats who will not commit political suicide to satisfy Maxine Waters. 

As always with midterms, the key next week will be turnout.  Many, many races are showing candidates only five points or so apart.  Turnout will determine the winners.

October 29, 2018       Permalink