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The Screaming Moderate

It's not left v right, it's right v wrong

10/26/2018

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 Let me be clear: Donald Trump did not send bombs to anyone. And, neither did the Democratic Party.

Seems the debate is over which party is trying to or at least threatening to kill two former presidents, a former secretary of state, two former CIA directors, a congressman, a senator, a former vice president, a cable news network and an actor has become a whodunit  focused on political parties.

I don’t believe that for a nanosecond, nor do sensible Americans.

I do believe, though, that there is a dangerous situation in our country with debate and the chasm between the two ideological sides will not be resolved by meeting in the middle. And I do believe the kind of rhetoric each sides employs makes it worse.

President Trump has led his followers from the middle, not the ideological middle but the rhetorical middle and he has let them to a louder, more ugly place. 

The country’s standoff is not about right and left. It’s about right and wrong. And the wrongs are on both ends of that spectrum, but I do believe Trump has taken it to an extreme.

Body slamming a reporter. Promising to bail out folks who literally fight on his behalf. Defending despots. Ignoring the obvious when it comes to North Korea’s Kim, Saudi Arabia’s bin Salam, Russia’s Putin. That is not right wing versus left wing.

That is about a way of ruling that seems to appeal to President Trump – the power of a despot to dictate to his people. The type of leader who holds military parades honoring himself.

That is not conservative politics.

Trump couldn’t even get through his teleprompted speech without going off script and announcing how fake he was being. “I’m behaving,” he told his rally goers. He couldn’t keep a straight face even for as long as a speech lasts.

And, if you had any doubt as to his true feelings, he began tweeting the next day and pointing fingers at the media as a principal in the bomb spreading. Making it about politics and anything and anyone but him.

Let’s be clear, there’s a lot of blame to go around:
 
  • Democrats, or at least people supporting Democrats, have committed acts of violence – the shooting of Republican congressmen a year ago for example.
  • Republican rhetoric, led by Trump, has become mean, vicious and violent. 
  • The cable news media has become a “here’s a bit of  news, now let’s go to our panel of (paid) talking heads for a discussion” which isn’t really a discussion but hours of argument between right and left – or right and wrong.
  • The Internet contributes by hosting both right and left wing web sites and many of us visit only one or the other, never getting a clear view of what’s going on but one through a single ideological prism.
The bombings are the fault of us all.

What the President misses though is that he is the leader of the country. He sets the tone. He can raise the volume and he can decrease the volume. Put aside the attempted bombings, the law will get, I am sure, whoever perpetuated that terrorism.

What we all can do is tone it down. Get our ideological or political arguments back to substance not ad hominem attacks. Get back to our American experiment which is in danger of failing right now.

Get back to rule of law. To respectful debate. We have some difficult issues facing us and debate about the substance is what will resolve those issues, not pointing fingers and assessing blame.

I have friends in my Facebook account who would describe themselves as conservatives and other friends who describe themselves a progressives. The memes each publish can often be juvenile, sophomoric and hateful, not clever.

We need to stop “liking” and re-sending or Tweeting such hateful nonsense.

Some “conservatives” believe the Democratic National Committee paid someone to send those bombs and are paying the migrants on their march to a freer life as a way to stoke emotions prior to the mid-term elections. And, there are others who claim the Republicans are paying them to energize those who want to close our borders and keep out people who are this generation’s version of our ancestors – seeking a better, more secure life for their families.

If anyone is still  looking to Trump for calm, thoughtful, adult leadership, give it up. He cannot provide it and even if he tried, no one would believe him. He'd just skip off that kind of message in his next sentence, as he did the other night.

We need to remember that we all came from our parents’ and grandparents’ generations of pilgrims searching for a better life. They created a society where everyone is equal. Where everyone has freedom of speech to say what they want (within some limits like, no shouting fire in a crowded theater when there is no fire). Where we have a free press, there to keep our elected officials honest.

That's why so many millions have emigrated here and created an even better society.

We keep up the way we’re going, we won’t be that destination much longer.
 
(Just before I posted, the President tweeted this:

“ Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this “Bomb” stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows - news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on? Republicans, go out and vote!”

It’s up to us to have the discussion…he clearly can only see politics.)


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Mid-term elections require your vote

10/23/2018

1 Comment

 
Fourteen days to go until the mid-term elections and President Trump is reprising his closing argument from the 2016 campaign: fear, enemies and a not-so-doggie whistle about that caravan of (brown) people coming from the south.

The world, according to Trump, is chaotic and dangerous and only Trump and the Republicans (who he doesn’t hold in very high regard if they oppose him) can save us.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, historian extraordinaire, is quoted this week as saying we are headed down the road of fascism (though she refuses to use that word yet, preferring to wait for the special counsel’s report and what, if any, culpability Trump or his campaign has).

For now, Trump points fingers at unseen “middle easterners” trying to sneak into our country using 7,000 potential immigrants as cover even though he has no proof whatsoever of that and those walking along have seen no proof either.

Trump’s enablers like to say that caravan was created by the Democrats. How, they ask, are 7,000 people walking thousands of miles to take a shot at freedom, walking along with no luggage and what are they eating?

Try, this: they are too poor to have luggage or much worth taking on their "walk"; why would the Democrats (for any reason) create such a march that Trump can use as a weapon against them; and, they aren’t eating unless folks along the way provide a little food and water. Plus there are groups that are supporting them in their march toward hoped-for freedom – and they raise money for such purposes. And, no, I don't believe George Soros  is funding it. These are desperate people who fear for their lives in their homeland and/or want a better life for their children; not happy tourists on their way to take a look at the U.S. border.

Trump points to the media as the “enemy of the people” and praises a congressman who body slammed a reporter for asking a health care question (and who pleaded guilty and apologized). Trump seems to idolize those who use physical force while he can only pantomime such actions because, well, that’s what he does best – fake it.

He sides with the Saudis as they fumble around for a reason they murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in their embassy and cut him into pieces to dispose of the body. And yet Trump's core believers, when they are in the same hall with him, growl at reporters, yell “lock her up” and act like they did in those closing days of the 2016 election.

All I can say is: be afraid, be very afraid.

The polls, for what they are worth, are not only closing between Democrats and Republicans for the Congress, but Trump’s approval rating is improving. Historically, a president’s approval rating is a key predictor of how well his party will do in a mid-term election. His approval rating improving as he seems to dictate the election agenda are not good signs for a Democratic takeover of even the House. Remember, polls are only as good as when they were taken. The next day, they are, literally, history.

Still, a poll released by the Washington Post this morning shows very tight races in the 70 or so "toss up" contests around the country.

These elections are local but what Trump is doing is ginning up his base so it will turn out for congressional candidates two weeks from now. The Kavanaugh confirmation helped get his base excited again and his saying the election may as well have his name on the ballot is getting them more worked up. It’s Trump versus the Democrats, he’s trying to say. That is unless Republicans lose the House and/or Senate, then it will not be his fault at all. And, based on the movement in the polls, including Trump's approval rating, I won't be shocked if Republicans maintain their majorities.

That scare you? Make sure you vote, and bring a few friends with you.

Trump is trying to excite his base so it will come out and vote for Republicans. He’s even promised a “middle class tax cut” prior to the election! This says a couple of things: He admits his first “middle class tax cut” was a failure and not being perceived as making a whit of difference and now wants to promise another cut exclusively for the middle class and “not for business,” he says.

At best, this proposal shows his ignorance of how our democracy works (like needing Congress IN session to formally propose bills and vote on them) and at worst, his promise is a flat out lie. Quite a choice.

His lies though are effective with those who support him – whether because they believe him or just honestly support a president who “tells it like it is” even though he tells is like it isn’t. According to the Washington Post fact-checker, Trump has lied more than 5,000 times already since his inauguration. 

If his party should win at least one house, he will use it to show how effective he is – that only his campaigning saved the seats necessary to maintain a majority – a majority that failed to pass many of his initiatives his first two years. If the GOP maintains control of both houses and if the special counsel finds him with no culpability?

 Then get ready for Doris Kearns Goodwin to use the “f” word.


1 Comment

No to Kavanaugh

10/5/2018

4 Comments

 
I oppose Brett Kavanaugh for confirmation to the Supreme Court.

My thinking covers a few things:


  1. I believe Dr. Ford, even though there this is no corroborating evidence (but without that evidence, it’s not enough to oppose him)
  2. I don’t think teen drinking to excess is a sin or a reason not to vote for someone
  3. I do believe he lied to Congress and I think that, alone, would be reason enough to not seat him in the most important court in our system
  4. I believe he is a true partisan and while many of our justices and former justices also were partisans, Kavanaugh has taken that partisanship to excess
His op-ed in the Wall Street Journal this morning tops his partisanship and lying with a cherry on top. In it, he apologizes for his behavior at his last hearing, where he berated the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee for opposing him simply for partisan reasons. He even played the Clinton card and the "you just hate Trump'(my words, not his) card. He may be right that partisanship on the Democrat side was a prime motivator for their no votes. But they are Senators and are partisans by definition That partisanship doesn’t make them wrong to oppose him though.

Before serving on his current court, Kavanaugh held politically appointed jobs, most recently in the Bush II White House. Not a reason in itself to oppose him. But he acted like a partisan then (when it was acceptable) and has carried that behavior over to now, when it is not acceptable.

Asked a question by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, about whether he ever blacked out after a night of drinking, his retort was, “have you?” Not the right answer in that setting, Judge. His performance during that hearing, crying, yelling, and likely lying is a disqualifier. President Trump, I’m sure, loved his performance because Trump also has believed in his adult life that when you are attacked, attack back harder. And that’s what Kavanaugh did in his hearing.  That performance came from a partisan background and a desire to please the President who nominated him. Don't get me wrong, it may also have felt good but it was the wrong time and the wrong place. The op-ed tries to correct that behavior -- a tactic we see in political campaigns but not during the Supreme Court nomination process.

His hearing personal may not be his typical approach to cases, or life, but he knew enough to pull out that quiver to please a President. And it looks like it worked.

He may be a wholly different man now than he was a teen. Most of us are. I drank in high school and college, most of us did in my generation and many did more than drink.

We’re past, I think, when that is a disqualifier for public office. But lying about it when sitting for confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court is not okay. Does that mean that lawyers that come before him can lie and it’s okay? Does that mean briefs based on falsehoods in Supreme Court cases are okay? Does that mean he can cite a lawyer for a lie and be credible?

So, while my guess is there is truth to his alleged attack on Dr. Ford, she can’t prove it. And he says it didn't happen. Her story is a factor in my opposition but not a determiner.

Lying to Congress is a disqualifier. Yelling and screaming at Senators in your confirmation hearing is a disqualifier. We’ve seen more of his college-mates come out and say he’s lying than say he didn’t. So there is corroboration there. That corroboration is being ignored.  Lying to Congress is breaking a law. Lying to the FBI is, too.

In this case, liar, liar your robe is on fire and you shouldn’t sit on The Court.


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    B. Jay Cooper

    B. Jay is a former deputy White House press secretary to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He also headed the communications offices at the Republican National Committee, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Yale University. He is a former reporter and is the retired deputy managing director of APCO Worldwide's Washington, D.C., office.
    He is the father of three daughters and grandfather of five boys and one girl. He lives in Marion, Mass.

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