Archive for the ‘elections’ Category

Donald Trump is either Getting Bad Advice or Ignoring Good Advice in DeSantis Attacks

Posted: February 19, 2023 by datechguy in election 2024, elections, elections, politics, primaries
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The first primaries and caucus’ for the 2024 presidential election are just under a year away but Donald Trump is wasting no time going after who would be his strongest potential rival for the GOP nomination, the very popular and successful governor of Florida Ron DeSantis.

For the last couple of week’s both Donald Trump himself and Team Trump have thrown mud everything from claiming DeSantis was a big fan of lockdowns (he wasn’t) to claiming George Soros endorsed him (he didn’t). None of this is a surprise, Donald Trump has always fought like a Democrat against potential rivals/ You might recall he used similar tactics against Ted Cruz in the primaries and frankly went so far that I had to think long and hard before endorsing him before the GOP primary. You might also recall that there was a big fuss concerning Ted Cruz’s speech at the convention because of these tactics.

In the end Cruz ended up supporting him and when Trump, to a lot of people’s surprise and delight, turned into not only the most conservative but the most successful president of the 21st century we all cheered. It was however his failure to address the issue of voter fraud (something I warned him about five days after the 2016 election) that cost him him re-election in 2020.

Now comes another GOP primary and the Democrats who were happy to promote him in 2016 are again convinced that Trump is their best shot in 2024 to keep power after putting the country through two of the hardest years it’s faced when not fighting a world war (I don’t count Ukraine as US troops are not actively fighting on the ground). Furthermore as Demonstrated by their love affair with Mitt Romney they will never fail to promote the message of any member of the GOP who targets his own party.

So Trump has turned to attacking DeSantis and the Trump hating press/left have been happy to repeat these attacks (What? You thought Meta/Facebook/Instagram let Trump back in because they were scared of the GOP congress? Please!) and will continue to give him such a free reign as long as DeSantis who they fear, is in the crosshairs. Th consistant with DaTechGuy’s 1st Law of Media Outrag with states:

The level of Outrage or interest of the media and their allies on the left concerning any insult or prevarication concerning a person or thing will routinely be equal to the inverse of the degree of the political distance between said media / leftists and and the target of said insult or prevarication at the time it is made.

The question is however: “Does this help or hinder Donald Trump to get the GOP nomination?” In My Opinion it does not for several reasons:

  • DeSantis has been visibly fighting the media/left since the day he was elected
  • He has been public enemy #1 for the left, the woke and the groomers in the press
  • He has managed very public victories such as the one over Disney advancing conservative cause.
  • People keep pouring into his state fleeing from the blue states
  • DeSantis who had won his first election by a squeaker won re-election by a landslide in a year when the rest of the GOP fizzled

and last but not least:

  • Not only are these charges demonstrably false GOP partisans, even those who prefer Trump KNOW they are false

Even worse for Trump DeSantis has taken the exact right tactic to counter said attacks.

  • Pointing to his work
  • Hitting Joe Biden
  • Declining to attack other republicans

Or to put it simply he’s not giving Trump’s attacks the time of day.

Now Donald Trump, despite his vigor is an old man and one thing that’s almost axiomatic is you aren’t going to get a man over 70 to change his nature. If in his gut he thinks this is the way to go it will take a lot of convincing to get him to change course.

All this adds up to a tactic that is not going anywhere nor is likely to go anywhere and even worse makes Trump vulnerable to a simple counter-attack that DeSantas hasn’t used yet, but that’s another post.

Nikki Haley for President? “Meh” (And now Meh Minus)

Posted: February 15, 2023 by datechguy in election 2024, elections, elections, politics

With Nikki Haley’s announcement the GOP field is now between her and Donald Trump and with that choice at this time Donald Trump is without question the frontrunner for my primary vote.

While Haley was a competent governor and was effective at the UN under Trump her record can’t compare to the former president. Furthermore Trump has already demonstrated a willingness to fight the culture wars which I don’t think Haley will.

There are several potential candidates that I would prefer Haley to, notably Sununu of NH and Hogan from Maryland and it goes without saying that if nominated I’ll support her over a Biden, a Harris or an Obama but for now she’s 2 of 2.

Update: Well it took less that 48 hours for Gov Haley to become an unacceptable candidate for a whole lot of the GOP.

So less that four months ago she was requiring the jab to see her at an event? And she wants the GOP nomination?

This puts her right on the line for disqualifying even in the general for me but I suspect it puts her over that line for a lot of GOP voters.

Update 2: Kurt Schlichter is a tad harder on her.

Lori Lightfoot proves targeting opponents over Sam Bankman-Fried contributions is effective

Posted: February 5, 2023 by John Ruberry in business, crime, elections, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

Okay, Republicans, you have an easy lay-up shot at the basket. But of course, sure things, such as Red Wave midterm blowouts, can end up as air balls. 

America’s worst big city mayor, Chicago’s Lori Lightfoot, is running for reelection. She has eight opponents, a couple of whom, such as Ja’Mal Green and the Chicago Teachers Union-endorsed Brandon Johnson, are extreme leftists who provide answers to the question, “Can Chicago have a worse mayor than Lori Lightfoot?

Chicago’s elections are non-partisan. In the likely scenario that no candidate achieves 50 percent of the vote in the first round of voting, which is February 28, the top two candidates face off in an April 4 runoff. As with the congressional midterms, polling has been all over the place in the mayoral race, but the top four candidates in terms of popularity appear to be Lightfoot, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, businessman and vote-buyer Willie Wilson, and US Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia. 

The Chicago mayoral race is the first major election, unless you count December’s Georgia Senate runoff race, since the collapse of cryptocurrency firm FTX.

By most accounts Garcia, who endorsed Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaign, was the early frontrunner in the contest. But then Lightfoot went on the attack. 

You see, Garcia’s congressional campaign fund accepted $2,900 from former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who was indicted last year for charges surrounding the collapse of the crypto currency firm. Worse, SBF’s PAC, Protect our Futures, spent over $150,000 on glossy mailers sent to Chuy’s remapped and gerrymandered 4th congressional district to introduce him to new voters for the 2022 Democratic primary. Only Garcia was running unopposed in that race. Chuy is a member of the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees cryptocurrency. The $2,900 Bankman-Fried contribution to Garcia has since been donated to charity.

And Lighfoot’s attack appears to be a solid blow against Garcia in a TV spot where she connects Garcia not only to SBF, but also to former Illinois Democratic Party chairman and state House speaker, Boss Michael Madigan, who was indicted last year, as well as Chicago’s deservedly unpopular red-light cameras. 

Most of the Lightfoot attack ad against Garcia begins at the 1:22 mark in this Fox Chicago video.

The upshot? In the two most recent polls, one that you should look at with suspicion comes from an internal survey from the Lightfoot campaign, and the other one from a suburban Republican pollster, Garcia has dropped to third place. Lighfoot’s poll has her on in the lead, the other poll has Vallas in the lead with Lighfoot close behind–but both surveys have the top two in a statistical tie. 

Garcia, although he did force Rahm Emanuel into a runoff in the 2015 mayoral race, is accustomed to comfortable elections, so it might be a struggle for Chuy to fight back.

Back to the GOP.  

Republicans, you know, or should know, what to do. Target every Democrat who has taken Sam Bankman-Fried cash so hard that voters will believe that these Dems have SBF as a running mate.

Even if it means following Lori Lightfoot’s lead.

John Ruberry regularly blogs just north off Chicago at Marathon Pundit.

If Dianne Feinstein is suffering from cognitive decline and is unfit to serve, then why she still a senator?

Posted: January 29, 2023 by John Ruberry in congress, elections, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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Feinstein official Senate photo, retrieved from her website on January 29, 2023

By John Ruberry

Nearly overlooked earlier this month because of the drawn-out vote for speaker of the House was the breaking of seven decades of precedent in the upper chamber of Congress in the election for largely ceremonial post of president pro tempore of the Senate. Largely ceremonial only up to a point, that is. The holder of that position is third-in-line in presidential succession. Every president pro tempore elected since 1949 had been the longest-serving senator from the majority party. The dean of the Senate is 89-year-old Dianne Feinstein, she has been representing California since 1992. But Patty Murray of Washington, who is a relatively spry 72, was elected president pro tempore, which ups her salary a bit and earns her a security detail.

Feinstein reportedly declined to run for president pro tempore.

Concerns about Feinstein’s mental acuity go back to 2020, when she praised then-Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Lindsay Graham (R-SC) when the confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett concluded. “This has been one of the best set of hearings that I’ve participated in,” she told Graham before hugging him, “I want to thank you for your fairness.” 

Personally, I think Graham did a decent job during those hearings, but Feinstein overlooked–or should I say she couldn’t remember–that during the Donald Trump presidency it was the duty, in the eyes of the Democrats’ hard-left base, for every Democratic member of Congress to RESIST Trump and the Republicans.

Shortly afterwards, Feinstein stepped down as the ranking Democrat of the Judiciary Committee.

Last spring, her hometown newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, spoke to members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as ex-Feinstein staffers, about her mental state. And all of them, anonymously, told the Chronicle that because of memory issues, Feinstein appears unable to serve as senator.

More bluntly, in my words, it looks like Feinstein can’t do her job.

“I have worked with her for a long time and long enough to know what she was like just a few years ago: always in command, always in charge, on top of the details, basically couldn’t resist a conversation where she was driving some bill or some idea. All of that is gone,” a California House Dem admitted to the Chronicle about Feinstein. “She was an intellectual and political force not that long ago, and that’s why my encounter with her was so jarring. Because there was just no trace of that.” 

The same article offered up this damning quote, “There’s a joke on the Hill, we’ve got a great junior senator in Alex Padilla and an experienced staff in Feinstein’s office,” a former staffer said.

Last year the New York Times described an experience that will be familiar to anyone who has witnessed a friend or relative suffering from cognitive decline.

One Democratic lawmaker who had an extended encounter with Ms. Feinstein in February said in an interview that the experience was akin to acting as a caregiver for a person in need of constant assistance. The lawmaker recalled having to reintroduce themself to the senator multiple times, helping her locate her purse repeatedly and answering the same set of basic, small-talk questions over and over again.

Tellingly, a visit to Feinstein’s Senate website offers up a photo of her that appears to be a couple of decades old. That’s the pic you see in this entry. Click here for a more recent photograph.

This month, two Democratic southern California members of the House, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff, announced they are running for Feinstein’s seat–her term expires in 2025. Schiff, who repeatedly lied about having evidence proving Trump-Russia collusion, claims he informed Feinstein of his intentions. Believe that if you want to. 

Other candidates are expected to declare their candidacy. Feinstein hasn’t said anything yet, but she’s expected to announce that she will not be running for reelection. 

Clearly, Feinstein should have resigned for health reasons at least three years ago. 

One way to minimize the chances of having senators–and House members–suffering from cognitive decline is to enact congressional term limits, even though that may mean amending the Constitution. Besides, serving in Congress should be a highlight of someone’s career–not the entire career.

Feinstein’s sad situation is not unique in Washington. Two Republicans who served with Feinstein, Strom Thurmond, who ended his 48 years in the Senate at 100, and Thad Cochran, who resigned after 39 years in the Senate, suffered cognitive challenges late in their careers, as well as one Democrat, Robert Byrd–he died in office when he was 92.

For five months in 2001, at the age of 98, Thurmond was president pro tempore. And when Byrd died, he was president pro tempore of the Senate. Hey, hats off to the Democrats for bucking tradition by electing Murray over Feinstein for that post.

Besides congressional term limits, America also needs smarter voters. Although by all accounts Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is a healthy 89-year-old man. Last year he was just elected to his eighth term. Grassley is a former president pro-tempore.

Having wiser and less selfish members of Congress is probably too much to hope for.

Mental issues can burden younger persons too.

In Pennsylvania, 53-year-old Democrat John Fetterman, who suffered a stroke last year, successfully ran out the clock in his successful Senate election, despite speaking struggles in his few public appearances and a disastrous debate performance. 

Joe Biden turned 80 last year and he’s expected to run for reelection. Biden has had many mental miscues in his two years at president. But that’s a problem well worth another discussion.

Please don’t call me ageist. If heart ailments, cancer, accidents, or infectious diseases don’t conquer me first, I am certain that one day I will suffer from cognitive issues. 

UPDATE February 14: Today Feinstein announced that she won’t seek reelection. Call me ableist, agist, or whatever. But Feinstein should have quit at least two years ago. She can still resign.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

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