My mother said something to me once that has informed much of my political thinking in the years since. Back when Ollie North was being held up as some kind of hero. “No one wants to tell the truth more than I do” North who worked diligently on Reagan’s behalf to deceive Congress and deliver weapons into the hands of people who used them on schools and clinics. It baffled me that people could find his actions not only defensible but somehow heroic and honorable. When I opined that in my opinion he should be court-martialed and shot for treason, they looked at me as if I’d just stepped out of flying saucer and didn’t understand. …
Month: July 2016
An Open Letter To Eric Greitens
Dear Mr. Greitens,
This morning, at the gym, I got on the treadmill, switched on the tv monitor, plugged in my headphones, just in time to catch one your campaign ads. It prompted me to write, to ask a couple of questions. Clarification seems in order.
Several years ago you founded the Mission Continues as a community activist agency and I was very impressed. I thought, this guy has a lot going, and when rumors began to circulate that you might run for governor, I thought here’s a Republican I could vote for. I know there are Republicans worth my vote, they just seem overwhelmed by those who aren’t.…
The Campaign
Hillary Kaine.
Trump Pence.
Part of me—a large part—sees this as a no-brainer. Who, with any claim to sense or logic, would vote for Donald Trump?
But voting is as much, often more, emotional than rational, so one cannot depend on that for preferred outcomes. A lot of people are emotionally committed to Trump. Their reasons are, from what I have seen and heard, based on nothing tangible about Trump. It is all about their own discontent with things-as-they-are.
The problem is—for all of us—that such assessments are based on what we see. And a lot of what we see is scary. …
Unqualified
The clown car rolled into the station, the occupants decamped, and the frollicks began in earnest. Lots of shouting, foot-stamping, and low-grade denunciations from the podium of this or that.
Trump is almost universally seen by all but the most ardent supporters as unqualified for the office of the president. We keep hearing that, squeezed in between all the other verbiage being spewed about him. That in fact the only reason for some to vote for Hillary is because Trump is so thoroughly unqualified.
And yet, it would seem that most people who support him have a “Yeah? So?” reaction.
Consider: that very accusation, leveled by people despised by Trump supporters, makes him all the more appealing. …
A Couple of Scenes From Dallas, On the Occasion of Our Recent Visit
I may talk about the tragedy later. I had a couple of conversations, saw a few things, felt a great deal, but I need to process it. In the meantime, since we went there for something entirely joyful, let me stick with that for now.
Daniel Kost is Donna’s nephew, the youngest of two brothers. He’s an engineer, an artist, a good guy and a fine human. He’s been living in Dallas practically since he got his degree, so we don’t get to see him much. So when it transpired that he was getting married, naturally we had to attend.
The ceremony, though modified because of a sudden rainstorm, was beautiful.…
Pot, Kettle, Emails
I just have a couple of thoughts on the whole Hillary email thing.
The FBI has recommended no charges be filed. Which boils down to, “She did something perhaps stupid, but given all the circumstances, this isn’t worth pursuing.” Obviously this is going to scratch the craw of a lot of people who were hoping for a body in the landfill moment.
This seems to be the case throughout the Clinton’s public life. Allegations, something’s there, oh never mind, not what we thought or hoped for, but wait there this other thing! It has backfired this time in the embarrassing assessment that Hillary is, by a few points at least, the most honest of the candidates running. …