Thursday, August 11, 2016

The co-founders of ISIS


Not a conservative A. Barton Hinkle complains Trump is not a conservative


What he means is Trump is not a libertarian. To Hinkle, Republican Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois is a "leading intellectual light" of conservatism.

There he goes again, Bogarting that joint.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Just another thing Obama has screwed up


The Hill saves Trump the trouble of compiling an enemies list

If Rush Limbaugh had done this good of a job defending Trump during the primaries, maybe the GOP would be more unified today

I'm referring to Rush today playing the audios of both Clinton and Biden actually talking about Obama being shot, either during the 2008 primary, in which case Hillary would have been the last man standing, or if Obama came for Biden's guns. 

Bloomberg poll shows Hillary at +6 in August, but in June she was . . .

. . . +12 . . . and +18 in March.

Just words from Hillary: Survivors of sexual assault have the right to be heard, the right to be believed

Unless you're a 12-year old girl from Arkansas, or someone who accused my husband, or . . ..

Video here of some remarks made last September in Iowa, during which she is quoted as saying:

"Today I want to send a message to every survivor of sexual assault," Clinton said. "Don't let anyone silence your voice. You have the right to be heard. You have the right to be believed and we're with you."

In 1975 Hillary Clinton laughed about getting a plea deal for this 12-year old girl's brutal rapist

And Bush-Republicans openly advocate a vote for Hillary?

Kathy Shelton, now 54, quoted in the story here:

A child rape victim says she cannot forgive Hillary Clinton for defending her rapist in court 40 years ago, saying the Democratic presidential candidate attacked her credibility despite knowing that her assailant was guilty – and  later laughed about it in a taped interview. ...

In a lengthy interview with the Daily Mail Online, Shelton said Clinton is 'lying' when she claims to be a lifelong defender of women and girls. ...

'Because after laughing on that tape, [Hillary's] pretty much stuck in knowing that she lied, knowing that it happened to me. And that tape's out there to be listened to by anybody.'

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Trump rallies continue to dwarf Hillary rallies, but the left thinks "voter intensity" for the two is about equal, and low

Reported in The Nation, here, for what it's worth:

In 2012, 60 percent of Obama backers supported him “strongly” (the comparable figure for Romney supporters was 38 percent).

You’d be forgiven for thinking that this election has seen voter “intensity” reach new heights. However, a July poll found the level of “strong” support was about equal for both Clinton and Trump—and strikingly low: Pew found in that poll that “fewer than half of both candidates’ supporters said they backed their candidate strongly,” with 45 percent each. The equal proportions suggest intensity is not going to skew the poll results this year.

Look who's talkin': Susan Collins speaks up for decency and for the vulnerable but routinely votes to kill the unborn

CNN
An earlier generation of Americans would have found Susan Collins indecent and downright criminal.

Susan Collins, quoted here:

[R]ejecting the conventions of political correctness is different from showing complete disregard for common decency. Mr. Trump did not stop with shedding the stilted campaign dialogue that often frustrates voters. Instead, he opted for a constant stream of denigrating comments . . .

My conclusion about Mr. Trump’s unsuitability for office is based on his disregard for the precept of treating others with respect, an idea that should transcend politics. Instead, he opts to mock the vulnerable and inflame prejudices by attacking ethnic and religious minorities.

Monday, August 8, 2016

Obama's Veterans Administration frittered away $400 million over many years unsuccessfully installing solar panels while vets waited and died

Story here.

Do you really want a president who has trouble climbing the stairs by herself?

Not to mention can't tell the truth.

Update: WaPo here excuses the incident because it occurred WAY BACK IN FEBRUARY, and SHE JUST SLIPPED ON THE STAIRS.

OK, it's an older photo . . . of an old bag who can't navigate a stairway with railings without help. Same shit, different day.

Sunday, August 7, 2016

So Clinton is +8 in the ABC poll in early August, but at the end of June she was +12

Showing once again that Clinton is not surging after the debacle in Philadelphia.

Seven months into 2016, the climate in Grand Rapids, MI, has been 6% warmer and 24% wetter than average, thanks to the now ended El Nino

Average temperature year to date: 49.58 degrees F.
Mean year to date: 46.62.
Departure from normal: +2.96, or +6.3%.

Average of maximum temperatures monthly year to date: 76.28 degrees F.
Mean year to date: 73.57.
Departure from normal: +2.71, or +3.7%.
July had 8 days 90+ degrees. June, 6 days.
Mean annual maximum temperature is 95.
Maximum temperature so far in 2016 is 93.

Average of minimum temperatures monthly year to date: 23.14 degrees F.
Mean year to date: 21.14.
Departure from normal: +2, or +9.5%.
There have been no days below zero so far in 2016.
Mean annual minimum temperature is -7.
Minimum temperature so far in 2016 is 1.

Cooling degree days year to date: 557.
Mean year to date: 423.
Departure from normal: +134, or +31.7%.

Heating degree days year to date (January -- June): 3762.
Mean year to date: 4226.
Departure from normal: -464, or -11%.

Snowfall year to date (January -- June): 55.1 inches.
Mean year to date: 43.3 inches.
Departure from normal: +11.8, or +27.3%.

Rainfall year to date: 23.57 inches.
Mean year to date: 19.69.
Departure from normal: +3.88, or +19.7%.

Saturday, August 6, 2016

Very strong El Nino ends with June 2016 as 3 month average through July falls to 0.2 on the index

The El Nino was 15 months long averaging 1.43 on the index, coming right in between the 1997-98 very strong El Nino which was 13 months long and averaged 1.56 on the index and the 1982-83 VSE which was 15 months long and averaged 1.33.

Gold Star mom thinks it's OK for the Khans to politicize their son's sacrifice and Trump just has to take it

From the story here:

Kristine Schellhaas, the wife of a Marine and author of "15 Years of War," said many people "love Trump for his brash, call-it-as-he-sees-it rhetoric, but this time, Trump’s gone too far in the eyes of the military members and their families."  

"As a mother who lost her son, I know the feeling of being unable to talk about his loss. I too have felt like Mrs. Khan, unable to find the words to describe the chasm in my heart that will never heal. To set her up and ridicule her as a Gold Star mom is cruel," she said.
  
"This isn’t about being Republican or Democrat, it’s about being a human being with a moral compass. Trump has gone too far and he’s lost a lot of military supporters because of it. He owes the Gold Star community and Khan family an apology," she said.   

The white vote decreased by 2 million 2008-2012

Fewer than 500,000 votes total from four states, Florida, Virginia, Ohio and New Hampshire, kept Romney from victory in 2012.

From the story here:

. . . Trump might need a smaller surge of 3 million white men to show up at the polls.

That’s not out of the question, considering that the white vote decreased by 2 million voters between 2008 and 2012 — a drop analysts attributed to Romney’s lack of appeal with the working class. 

Republicans say the drop-off in white working class voters was the worst in deep red states that Romney won easily, but it also affected the tally in Ohio, a pivotal battleground.


Friday, August 5, 2016

Trump caves to the establishment, endorses Paul Ryan of Wisconsin

Story here.

Next time you need money, Donald, ask Paul. He pays for the $400 bottles of wine at dinner, mine cost $4.

Good luck with that!

The LA Times is worried Obama will finish his term without an Authorization for Use of Military Force in Libya against ISIS

For the LA Times the appearance of tyranny after two years of executive action is unacceptable while the fact of it is unmentionable.

Not discussed here.  

Clinton is +7 in IBD poll, same as she was in April . . .

. . . but she was +12 in March.

Ex-Republican libertarians are obsessed with screws and dicks


Hey Reince Priebus, the House Freedom Caucus won't endorse Paul Ryan either, so lay off the Donald

From the story here:

Not a single member of House Freedom Caucus leadership opted to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan in his contentious August 9 primary race against Wisconsin businessman Paul Nehlen.

Breitbart News reached out to House Freedom Caucus leadership board members and caucus spokesmen including Reps. Jim Jordan, Mick Mulvaney, Mark Meadows, Steve Pearce, Jeff Duncan, John Fleming, Matt Salmon, Scott Garrett, and Raul Labrador.

Breitbart News asked the members multiple times whether they planned to make an endorsement in the race. Not a single member chose to endorse Ryan.

Hillary Clinton has the billionaire vote all sewed up, full steam ahead for the crony capitalist status quo


Just a reminder about the polls rocking the nation to start August 1988

Dukakis: 54%
Bush: 37%

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Hey Levin, your either "with us" or "against us" tyrant was George Bush

So Clinton is +3 in the Economist poll to begin August

Over the 4th of July she was +5.

So Clinton is +4 in the Reuters poll in early August

In the same poll over the 4th of July she was +11.

So Clinton is +10 in the FOX poll to begin August

She was +11 in the same poll in March.

So Clinton is +15 in the McClatchy poll in August 2016

A year ago in the same poll she was +16.

So Clinton is +9 in the NBC poll in August

She was +11 in it in April.

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Hillary is a total and complete dipshit, calls for raising taxes on the middle class

The story here has the video, and says it must have been a slip of the tongue.

Uh huh.

Booted from committee by Boehner, now voters boot anti-Trumper Rep. Tim Huelskamp entirely

Former House Speaker John Boehner famously booted Freedom Caucus members Tim Huelskamp, Justin Amash, Walter Jones and David Schweikert from House committees late in 2012 for not cooperating with leadership.

Now voters in Kansas have booted Huelskamp entirely by defeating him in his Republican primary. The three-term congressman lost to a challenger by 13 points and 13,500 votes.

Politico reports that the US Chamber of Commerce and the Ricketts family spent heavily to defeat Huelskamp, who had the temerity to vote against several versions of farming legislation which were more important to Kansas voters than the ideological reasons Huelskamp gave.

The same ideological reasons made Huelskamp anti-Trump, but that did him no good with the also anti-Trump Ricketts family.

Michigan primary turnout yesterday was 19.1% of registered voters

According to the Michigan Secretary of State, 1.405 million votes were cast in primary races yesterday out of 7.36 million registered through the end of July, just 56% of those cast in March.

2.5 million turned out on March 8th in the presidential primary, about 34% of registered voters, smashing an all-time record for a presidential primary set in 1972 at 1.9 million. In excess of 1.33 million of those 2.5 million votes in March were cast for Republicans vying for the presidential nomination finally secured by Donald Trump after Ted Cruz lost in Indiana.

In presidential elections since 1972, turnout nationwide has averaged 74% of those registered but just 53% of the voting age population.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Obama trades cash for Americans held by Iran, but Trump is unfit to be president


That didn't take long: Brad Marshall is out at the DNC along with Communications Director Luis Miranda

Reported here:

The CEO of the DNC, Amy Dacey, is stepping down, as are communications director Luis Miranda and chief financial officer Brad Marshall, the DNC announced in a statement.

Tyler Cowen, soulless libertarian, epitomizes what's wrong with America, thinks there's a positive side to Chinese cheating and slave labor which must be considered


I expected to hate [Peter Navarro's] "Crouching Tiger: What China’s Militarism Means for the World," but instead I found it to be an intelligent discussion of the problems likely to result from a more assertive China. That said, Navarro does not come close to demonstrating his opening prediction that future war with China is “very likely.” In contrast, his "The Coming China Wars" is mostly a series of emotional diatribes against the Chinese government, opening with charges of cheating and slave labor and never much considering the positive side of Chinese economic growth.

DNC's CEO Amy Dacey resigns, when's CFO Brad Marshall going to go?

From the story here:

In one widely criticized leaked email, DNC CFO Brad Marshall appears to write about a plan to question Sanders’s religion at a campaign event in Kentucky or West Virginia. Dacey wrote “AMEN” in response. 



Limbaugh renews contract, supposedly takes pay cut

Story here.

Republican coward won't face the voters: Rep. Richard Hanna is retiring, announces he'll vote for Hillary


It's Hillary who's thick as thieves with the Russians, not Donald Trump

From the story here:

While Clinton was in charge at the State Department, the U.S. recruited a bunch of U.S. high-tech powerhouses -- including Google, Cisco and Intel -- to take part in the [high tech Skolkovo] project. Of the 28 companies from the U.S., Europe and Russia that took part, 17 were donors to the Clinton Foundation or paid for Bill Clinton to give speeches.

It's yet another stunning example of the Clinton Foundation's growing list of conflicts of interest, suggesting that Hillary used the State Department's offices to line her family's pockets through the Clinton Foundation. Don't forget that, with her email carelessness on her home-brew server during her tenure as secretary of state, Hillary has already exposed the United States' most secret information to the Russian government. As radio talk show host and law professor Hugh Hewitt noted Monday: "Hillary is already a Putin pawn."

Fact-checker finds Hillary lied about wheelchair accessibility in New Bedford, MA, in 1973 to embellish her early image

Detailed here.

Monday, August 1, 2016

Hillary pops to +9 in CNN poll with convention bounce, but was +13 in it to start May

Trump was +3 in the poll last week.

That's some fickle sample CNN surveys.

William Binney says the NSA has all Hillary's e-mails, including the missing 30,000

Story here.

Hey Democrat idiots, you should have picked Chafee, Hillary voted for that damn Iraq war that killed the Khans' kid!


Hillary is an enthusiast for REGULATING the Bill of Rights, not for the rights themselves


[L]ike every other of our rights, our First Amendment rights, every right that we have is open to and even subject to reasonable regulations.  

It all depends on what the meaning of reasonable is.

Clinton adds lie upon lie, claims on the weekend Comey said she was truthful while Comey testified Clinton made untrue statements

With Chris Wallace, here.

Then she blames others, in typical Obama fashion:

I take classification seriously. I relied on and had every reason to rely on the judgments of the professionals with whom I worked. And so, in retrospect, maybe some people are saying, well, among those 300 people, they made the wrong call. 

At the time, there was no reason in my view to doubt the professionalism and the determination by the people who work every single day on behalf of our country.

Clinton gets 7-point convention bump in CBS poll back to +6 as in June and May, but was +10 in April and March

The Real Clear Politics average presently has Clinton at +2.2. The average margin of error of six of the most recent polls is 3.4. 

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Clinton gets one-point bump in PPP poll, PPP calls this "much more positive"


She's at +5 now but she was at +7 in the spring.

Where's the love for this nothing burger, man?

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Hillary Clinton is a clean energy CRACKPOT

Hillary Clinton said today in Johnstown, PA, here:

"We're going to install half a billion solar panels and generate enough clean energy to power every home in America within 10 years."

Oh where oh where to begin?

Your average residential customer used 911 kWh/month in 2014.

Where I live where the sun gives me about 4 to 4.5 sun hours per day, this means I'd need a 9kw system.

A complete do-it-yourself system (!) of that size will cost me $17,600! (And let's not even mention all the things that will not do for me that the current grid does).

But guess what? It's composed of 36 PANELS!

500 million panels divided by 36 yields just south of 14 million homes equipped like mine.

But in 2014 there were almost 134 million households, so 120 million of you are OUT OF LUCK!

Meanwhile the cost for the lucky 13.8 million is about $243 billion, which I'm sure Hillary will make Donald Trump pay for.

Solar power still accounts for just 1.07% of total US electricity in 2016 despite Barack Obama's many promises to expand it, about 43.2 TWh using the most generous assumptions.

Residential customers alone consumed 1,407.2 TWh of electricity in 2014, about 34% of total 2014 consumption.

To come close to doing with solar what Hillary Clinton promised today would cost well in excess of $2 trillion.

Not. Gonna. Happen. Ever. 

Friday, July 29, 2016

You'd think by now Rush Limbaugh would have connected last night's Democrat "patriotism" to Rahm Emanuel's 2006 strategy

In 2006 Rahm Emanuel successfully recruited "conservatives" to run for Congress and wrested control of the House away from Republicans by running them as pro-lifers and fiscal conservatives in competitive districts. The strategy worked and set the stage for the failure of the Bush administration and the 2008 election of Barack Obama.

The sudden eruption of overt patriotism at the Democrat convention this week after Republican criticisms should worry the Trump campaign. Lyin' Ted is history. Now it's Lyin' Hillary, not just about her e-mails and Benghazi, but now about her love of country.

They're trying to fool the country again. And you know the saying about foolin' some of the people . . . some of the people is all it takes.

GDP "anomalies" have been showing since 2011 that "the US economy is in serious, long-term trouble"

Jeffrey Snider, here:

The US economy is in serious, long-term trouble. We knew that very well by the volatile nature of GDP almost from the start (the big negative in Q1 2011, for example). Because orthodox economics is entirely obsessed with the economy that “should be”, it favors smoothing out what is truly pertinent texture because it isn’t directly cyclical by implication. What the mainstream needs is not to try to turn statistics into “ideal” numbers, but to actually see them for what they represent especially when they stray into unexpected ranges. From that perspective, weak quarters were not “anomalies” to be dismissed in a fit of confirmation bias, but rather warnings that actually explain how we got here and why everything from economists, especially“overheating”, was unlikely from the start.

Population is up 22 million since 2007, but Obama's added only 1.7 million extra full-time jobs in 9 years!


After 30 pathetic quarters Obama GDP lags Bush GDP by 35%

Bush grew current dollar GDP by 41.5% after 30 quarters. Obama has grown GDP by just 26.7%.

Bush GDP grew by $4.34 trillion while Obama GDP grew by $3.89 trillion over the comparable periods.

Current dollar GDP in the last three years has been growing by an average of $596 billion year over year. With two quarters to go and if that average continues to obtain, Obama GDP will grow by $4.2 trillion total, or 29%.

Bush GDP finished up 39%.

Obama GDP is thus likely to end up lagging Bush GDP by over 25% in the final analysis.

Under Bill Clinton current dollar GDP grew by $3.77 trillion or 56%.

GDP bombs: 1.2% in 2Q2016 vs. 2.6% predicted, 1Q dialed back to 0.8% from 1.1%


Thursday, July 28, 2016

Steve King, the man behind Ted Cruz in Iowa, actually sticks up for whitey

Maybe I've been too hard on the guy.

Story here.

Michael Savage is an idiot, says for the average American the economy's doing just fine

Wealth insulates this book-selling jibber-jabberer with a microphone from the facts, because he has no incentive to look into them.

Incomes are flat since January 2000, housing and other hard assets are sky high and out of reach for 90% of individual wage earners. Full-time jobs are barely 2.75 million higher in number today than they were in 2007. This fool doesn't have a clue what he's talking about.

Don't worry, though, tomorrow the economy will be terrible, and he might even notice because all he does is follow the headlines.

GDP revisions come out in the morning at 0830 hours, Eastern. That should give him plenty of time to think about it, being on the Left coast as he is.

But will he?

Hypocrites of the Revolution: Same as it ever was



She's ready . . . to suck your blood


Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Democrat National Committee National Finance Director Jordan Kaplan: I love you too, but, you know, not like THAT!


Trump's smart campaign is hard at work in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio

The Trump campaign is deploying Mike Pence to Grand Rapids and Novi in Michigan today and tomorrow, and Waukesha, Wisconsin tomorrow.

Trump himself is in Toledo, Ohio today.

West Michigan and Wisconsin were Cruz country in the primary season, places where a traditional conservative like Mike Pence will get a more positive response.

Hillary's Deputy Chief of Staff at State, Jake Sullivan, is suddenly worried about "national security" but used Hillary's private server

Here's Sullivan on Trump's remarks made at his one hour news conference today:

Said advisor Jake Sullivan: "This has to be the first time that a major presidential candidate has actively encouraged a foreign power to conduct espionage against his political opponent. That's not hyperbole, those are just the facts. This has gone from being a matter of curiosity, and a matter of politics, to being a national security issue."

But Politico reported in February, here:

Hillary Clinton's top national security and foreign policy staffer Jake Sullivan was one of the authors of messages that appeared on several Hillary Clinton email chains recently labeled "top secret" by the State Department, according to multiple intelligence sources who have seen the correspondence.

The GOP details Jake Sullivan's own role in the compromises of national security here.

One law for thee, another for Facebook

Flouting the law for a seventh time, without consequence, here.

See what happens to you when you do that.

Lesbian Rachel Madcow repelled by Bill Clinton's opener for Hillary about their marriage

Hm. Imagine that. A lesbian finds a heterosexual marriage shocking and rude.

Bernie supporter from Missouri utters self-fulfilling prophecy: There's no democracy in America so I'm not going to vote!

Noted here:

"We all have this unrealistic dream that democracy is alive in America," said Debra Dilks, of Boonville, Missouri, who said she wasn't sure she'll vote in November. "Hillary didn't get the nomination. The nomination was stolen." ...

The longstanding bitterness between Sanders' supporters and Clinton's seemed to grow worse over the past few days after a trove of hacked emails showed that officials at the Democratic National Committee played favorites during the primaries and worked to undermine Sanders' campaign.


FOX Business doesn't know "acclamation" from "acclimation"


Monday, July 25, 2016

Mark Levin is cracking up: Somebody, please help him

Mark Levin is talking like a certifiable nutcase tonight.

OK, maybe every night, but honestly I haven't been paying attention very much since Ted dropped out after Indiana, if only because I don't enjoy the venom while I'm cooking dinner for my family.

Tonight Levin is embracing the Democrat talking point in response to the Wikileaks e-mails that Putin and Trump are somehow working together against Hillary, evidently because Levin can't stand the idea that Trump might come to an understanding with old Vlad. Never mind somebody hacked the DNC and exposed all their hypocrises and Levin is thus participating in . . . oh look! a deer!

And I guess George W. Bush's infamous high estimation of Vladimir Putin's character has somehow conveniently fallen out of Mark's now aging memory. He looked deep into his eyes and saw . . . what exactly?

Next we learn Reince Priebus' treatment of Ted Cruz is morally equivalent to Washerwoman-Schultz' treatment of Bernie Sanders. ... Uh huh. Gotcha Mark.

And finally, at least that's as far as I got because I turned Levin off after this one, Mark Levin attacked Ron Radosh because Ron had the temerity to point out Bernie's Judaism got attacked by a DNC anti-Semite in one of the e-mails.

Now conservatives, you know, people with long memories like elephants, hence the symbolism, know that Ron Radosh has done yeoman service for DECADES in this country exposing the Stalinist sympathizers on the left in the United States, and they are legion.

That last one is utterly despicable coming from Mark Levin, so fade to black.

Get some help Mark.

One speech: Ted Cruz now viewed unfavorably by 49% of Republicans, up from 35% in May

Overall Republican favorable opinion of Ted Cruz has tanked 19 points from 60% to 41% between early May and late July in CNN/ORC polls.

Huffpo deliberately overstates the data here by comparing apples and oranges, but the decline in Cruz' favorables among Republicans is huge nonetheless: a decline of almost 32%. But worse are Ted Cruz' unfavorables among Republicans which went up 14 points, from 35% to 49% of Republicans, a whopping 40% increase in his unfavorability.

Bang! And you're dead.

May 2016
July 2016

Trump gets 10-point convention bump in CNN poll: Goes from Clinton +7 to Trump +3


Boo hoo, Bernie received 40% of the delegates instead of 43%, the outcome would have been the same: the paranoid crook and liar won


Bernie received 43.4% of the popular vote, but only 39.8% of the delegates.

Close enough for Democrat work.

The real story is that Hillary & Co. still thought they had to cheat. They're not just crooks and liars, but paranoid crooks and liars.

Laugh of the Day: Hilliary's been unhappy with Washerwoman-Schultz at the DNC, too, and so has Obama!

Where else? Hillary's own Politico, here:

Aides to President Barack Obama urged him to get rid of the troublesome DNC chair last fall. He passed, figuring she was Hillary Clinton’s problem to solve.

PHILADELPHIA — Hillary Clinton and her team aren’t thrilled that the head of the Democratic National Committee was forced out on the eve of the nominee’s coronation – but they aren’t exactly distraught to see Debbie Wasserman Schultz booted from the tent.

Several senior Democratic officials with ties to Hillary and Bill Clinton told POLITICO that campaign higher-ups have been trying to replace the oft-off-message Florida congresswoman from the start of Clinton’s campaign late last year.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Romney won the Christian vote but lost the election by losing the NONES to Obama 74%-26%

So says Matthew Sheffield, here, with data for IA, FL, PA, VA, WI, MI and NH showing Romney won Protestants on average with 54% and Catholics with 53%.

The problem for Republicans is the growth of the non-Christian population, especially among the young:

"[T]he Godless Gap cost Mitt Romney the election".

Friday, July 22, 2016

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, RNC edition: Some things are intolerable to Donald Trump, and others not so much

the good
the bad
the ugly

CNBC unloads bias on Trump: Six of seven headlines are negative the day after the convention


Trump's new problem with Christians: He won't accept Ted Cruz' endorsement, but gay man Peter Thiel's is just fine

Trump, quoted here:

"If he gives it, I will not accept it," Trump, the GOP presidential nominee,  said at a Friday morning press conference in Cleveland.

Mostly female social conservatives saved the Republican platform from Paul Singer surrogate Annie Dickerson

From the story here:

But the [Tony] Perkins wing was met with vocal opposition from Annie Dickerson, an adviser to billionaire GOP donor Paul Singer, who is a proponent of same-sex marriage and other issues championed by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Dickerson fumed as her socially liberal proposals went down and the socially conservative measures she opposed sailed through the subcommittee. ... 

The 16-member subcommittee, made up of 13 women and three men, rejected Dickerson’s request to remove language in the platform that “salutes” states like North Carolina for passing controversial bathroom laws that critics say discriminate against transgender people.

She protested language that said the party supports “traditional marriage and the families a husband and wife create,” arguing instead for a provision that said children should be “raised in a loving and stable home.”

And she argued against having language in the platform that opposes the Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Senator Dan Coats of Indiana tears into Ted Cruz

Quoted here:

“I think what people saw last night is what we have seen in the Senate. No matter how conservative you are, you never can meet Ted’s standard. He only thinks of himself, he doesn’t think about party. He’s a wrecking ball. He’s the most self-centered, narcissistic, pathological liar I’ve ever seen – and you can quote me on that."

Cynical Rush Limbaugh ends show suggesting the assertion that Ted Cruz proved last night that he deserved to be called a liar all along is just a circulating talking point

Because several callers got through making the same point today.

It couldn't be, could it, that Ted Cruz is just a liar and proved it one last time last night and everybody following this just happened to agree because they are smart enough to figure it out for themselves.

Rush Limbaugh. The new face of sneering elitism.

Rush Limbaugh justifies Ted Cruz' failure to endorse Trump by comparing it to Ted Kennedy's failure to endorse Jimmy Carter in 1980!

Rush's theatre of the absurd marches on.

I'm sure Republicans and Cruz-bots are just THRILLED that a so-called conservative plumbs the depths for acceptable in the party of scoundrels.

Rush better be careful. If he goes too deep he might bump in to Mary Jo Kopechne.

How hot is it in Grand Rapids, Michigan so far in 2016?

Mean cooling degree days through July: 423.

Actual cooling degree days in 2016 through July 19: 432.

Rush Limbaugh compares Ted Cruz to Richard Nixon, says it's still possible for Cruz to come back

Limbaugh's as crazy as Cruz.

I knew Richard Nixon. Richard Nixon was a friend of mine. Ted Cruz is no Richard Nixon.

Heavy sarc.

You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more

Hoosier Mike Pence on Donald Trump: "As we say back home, you can't fake good kids"

Charles Hurt calls Ted Cruz a "rude political has-been"


Cruz joins John Kasich and Jeb Bush in political oblivion. Laura Ingraham this morning called what we saw last night in Cruz' failure to endorse Trump "political suicide".

By contrast people like Scott Walker and Marco Rubio have swallowed hard and backed Trump, and therefore they will live to fight again another day.

But Ted is dead.

A Star is Born: Laura Ingraham rocks the Republican house, rips media and Hillary new ones in stunning performance

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Ted Cruz tonight: One huge disappointment

I felt like I was listening to a Senate filibuster.

That guy will never be president.