Bitter Clingers, Deplorables, and Fox News
On the campaign trail President Obama attempted to transfer his base of support to Hillary Clinton. He pleaded,”I’m not on the ballot but my policies are.” And he warned that he’d take it as a “personal insult” if African Americans failed to turn out for her. Well, Obama Nation didn’t show and Hillary lost. Trump was elected president with majorities in the House and Senate.
Another shellacking.
In a Rolling Stone interview the president analyzed the shellacking. And he concluded his lost legacy was due to a failure to communicate with middle America. That would be the Coal miners he and Hillary promised to put out of work. The Bitter Clingers. The Deplorables.
Fox News
That and Fox News. “Part of it Obama said, “is Fox News in every bar and restaurant in big chunks of the country.” Personally, I hardly noticed Fox in bars and restaurants in my midwest chunk of the country. But maybe that’s just me.
Progressives are also blaming Fake news for Hillary’s upset.
A month ago a federal court ruled that Rolling Stone defamed a University of Virginia administrator with malice. The administrator was awarded $3 million.
The magazine had published a fake news story about rape.
Nancy Pelosi House
Nancy Pelosi won 134 votes to Tim Ryan’s 68 to hang on as House Minority Leader. Ryan is taking credit for giving her a scare. But winning 68% of the vote sounds like a landslide to me.
Maybe they should demand that Jill Stein do a recount.
Nancy Pelosi
And maybe Nancy Pelosi should give the Democratic party a scare. Under her leadership they lost 63 House seats in 2010 and 13 more in the 2014 midterms.
Republicans now own “the White House, and the Senate, and the House, and 33 governorships and 68 (of 98) state legislative chambers.”
Castro’s Long Reign
Fidel Castro finally got term limited. He died at age 90. Not a bad run considering he took power in 1959. Castro’s long reign outlasted 10 U.S. presidents. He retired in 2008.
Ben Domenech at The Federalist thinks Castro’s big mistake was joining the wrong team – the Soviet Union. Another mistake may have been stealing U.S. owned businesses in Cuba. That led to the Bay of Pigs invasion, the U.S. embargo, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and oddball assassination attempts.
Castro’s Long Reign
Many world leaders treated Castro as a normal public official. MaClean’s thinks Justin Trudeau went from being the most interesting man in the world to “international laughingstock” with his Castro eulogy. Just for laughs, here it is:
“It is with deep sorrow that I learned today of the death of Cuba’s longest serving President. “Fidel Castro was a larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century. A legendary revolutionary and orator, Mr. Castro made significant improvements to the education and healthcare of his island nation. “While a controversial figure, both Mr. Castro’s supporters and detractors recognized his tremendous dedication and love for the Cuban people who had a deep and lasting affection for “el Comandante”. “I know my father was very proud to call him a friend and I had the opportunity to meet Fidel when my father passed away. It was also a real honour to meet his three sons and his brother President Raúl Castro during my recent visit to Cuba. “On behalf of all Canadians, Sophie and I offer our deepest condolences to the family, friends and many, many supporters of Mr. Castro. We join the people of Cuba today in mourning the loss of this remarkable leader.”
Prisoners of History Narrative
John Kerry thinks the U.S. and Cuba were ‘”prisoners of history.” Maybe he had a mind meld with White House narrative boy Ben Rhodes. Rhodes told The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg, “America sometimes makes itself a prisoner of our own history. We have a very complicated history with Cuba.”
For its part, The Wall Street Journal editorial board reports that the average monthly wage in Cuba is $20.
Hard to figure how the guy got re-elected.
Court of Public Opinion
FBI Director Comey recommended that Hillary not be prosecuted by the Justice Department. But he presented her case on national TV anyway. A verdict was rendered on election day. Hillary was convicted in the court of public opinion. Her sentence was loss of the White House.
She’s Suffered Enough Already
Now President-elect Trump has issued a get out of jail free card. He doesn’t want to see her prosecuted in a court of law either.
Court of Public Opinion
Meanwhile, some Democrats don’t believe there were enough Deplorables in the court of public opinion. They want a recount.
Green candidate Jill Stein is leading the charge. She wants a recount in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. She’s raised more money so far than she did for her presidential campign.
Oops. She can’t guarantee the money will go to a recount.
Thanksgiving Bokbluster
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
Update: Kaepernick praised Castro’s education system on Friday. Hours later he died. Castro that is.
