Category Archives: 2016 presidential campaign
But They’re Going to Get it Good and Hard
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. – H.L. Menken
Don’t Concede Presidential Elections
Concede is a dirty word to President Trump, and he won’t promise to concede the election if he loses. At least that’s what he told a Playboy reporter who asked if he’d “commit to a peaceful transition of power.”
Joe Biden says the military might have to frogmarch him from the Oval Office.
But the WSJ points out that if the election isn’t certified by Jan. 20 Nancy Pelosi will be in the Oval Office.
Besides, Trump is only following Hillary’s advice to Biden: “don’t concede under any circumstances.
Hypocrisy among Politicians over RBG Replacement
Hypocrisy in defense of virtue is no vice… or something like that.
Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, ten months before the November presidential election.
So President Obama did his duty and nominated Merrick Garland to fill the opening. But Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to bring the nomination to the Senate floor for a vote.
Here’s what McConnell had to say about that:
“The American people may well elect a president who decides to nominate Judge Garland for Senate consideration,” McConnell said. “The next president may also nominate someone very different. Either way, our view is this: Give the people a voice.”
The already touchy Democrats weren’t happy.
Hypocrisy
But here’s what Senator Schumer had to say in 2007 when George W. Bush was president:
I will recommend to my colleagues that we should not confirm a Supreme Court nominee EXCEPT in extraordinary circumstances.”
And here’s what Schumer had to say when the Notorious RBG joined her good friend Nino in eternal rest:
The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, the vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.
Oh, and then there’s Lindsey Graham explaining in 2016 why Judge Garland shouldn’t be confirmed:
I want you to use my words against me. If there’s a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said let’s let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination
Cognitively Certified and Proud of it
President Trump is cognitively certified and bragging about it. Not only did he test negative for Covid-19, his brain tested positive on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, or MoA.
As achievements go the test is a low bar. Passing it simply means you don’t have dementia. For now. But Trump seems to think Joe Biden couldn’t pole vault over the the bar and he’s trying to provoke him out of his basement to take the test.
Joe’s Cognitive abilities may serve him well. He said he didn’t know anything about the Michael Flynn investigation. But former FBI agent Peter Stzrok’s notes from a Jan 2017 meeting say Biden recommended prosecuting Flynn under the Logan Act.
Obama deputy AG Sally Yates says she doesn’t remember if Biden brought up the Logan act but she testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he didn’t influence the Flynn Investigation.
As far as I know she hasn’t been tested either.
Election Hopes and Conspiracy Theories
President Trump’s election hopes probably weren’t helped Saturday night. He spoke to a lot of empty seats at the BOK (Bank of Oklahoma) center in Tulsa.
Joe Biden’s having better luck in his basement. A New York Times / Sienna College Poll put’s him ahead of Trump by 14 points.
Peter Nicholas fantasizes in the Atlantic about life if Trump goes all “resistance” and refuses to accept the election results..
And Politico takes a deep dive into Trumpian conspiracy theories. The Steele Dossier pee tape didn’t make the cut.
