Mid-terms Red Alert: the Clear and Present Danger

 According to the web site Five Thirty-eight, President Biden's approval rating is lower than any other President's at this point in his term except one -- Donald Trump.  I do not necessarily put great stock in polls but they can be useful if correctly performed.  And these polling figures are alarming.

They are more so in light of Maureen Dowd's column in today's New York Times.   The column "Can Dems [sic] Dodge Doomsday?") speaks clearly to the matter of the polls.  With experienced and succesful political operatives such as James Carville and David Axelrod sounding the alarm, Americans who care should be duly frightened of what a Republican. i.e., fascist take-over of Congress would  mean.  At a minimum it would mean Congressional investigations of all the wrong things -- Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton (yes, the Trumpistas are still interested), and certainly an end to trying to hold the Betrayers of January 6, '21, accountable.  Court nominees would be blocked, and any Supreme Court vacancies near the general election of 2024 would most likely be held up entirely.  Democratic chances of holding the White House in 2024 could well be ruined.  

As one politico put it, "Washington is always the last to know."  But Democrats near and far must get moving immediately in order to keep American democracy intact -- and fascism at bay.  

A New Role for Our Civic Organizations

Knowledgeable news makers are now advising us to use our civic organizations to preserve democracy against the rising fascist threat.  This threat, as we understand it, is arising from aggrieved persons who are being stoked by various prominent individuals into a high state of anger and agitation. As such, this stoking is the most dangerous thing I have seen in my lifetime.  

It seems, though, that there is hope.  For instance recent polling indicates the American public now favors Democrats over Republicans in Congressional races this fall.*  This is a big change from polling on the subject last fall.   

But in order to avoid a similar situation as in Weimar Germany, we must do much, much more to stem the rising tide of mindless anarchy which so saliently threatens our way of life.  This we can do.  But more importantly in the short term, the media must stop framing the crisis as politics-as-usual.  That is not reality.  The real story is that one Party has been taken over by radicals.  Increasingly, it is also becoming clear that these radicals are supported by a well-funded and organized effort aimed at subverting the will of a people who are no longer willing to accept rule-by-the-rich in America.  

 

 

*in generic polling 

Democrats Must Emphasize Economy

Recently, an article I read on-line claimed Bill Clinton's campaign slogan in 1992 was "It's the Economy, Stupid!"  Such a slogan would have been insulting and offensive to voters.  It was actually an in-house message, reportedly put on a bulletin board in campaign headquarters.

At any rate, Democrats should use Mr.Clinton's other slogan , "People Before Profits."  If this seems simply impossible now, just ask the average voter whether he thinks corporations have so little power their needs need to be put ahead of the needs of the people.

Read here:

From November: Washington Post's Advice to Democrats 

How the Electoral College Could Save Us

Could rhetoric about a corrupt election set the stage for Republicans to challenge a November defeat? With enough confusion, the Presidential election could be thrown to a “contingent election” in the House of Representatives, where a state-by-state vote would favor Republicans. 

However, this seems like an unlikely scenario. Indeed, this is an area where the much-maligned Electoral College helps, by acting like compartments on a ship: if one compartment is compromised, the others can still keep the whole thing afloat.

                     —Princeton Election Consortium

Vice-Presidential Ruminations

At the risk of offending, I find I must comment on the Democratic Vice-Presidential selection process.

Setting COVID concerns aside momentarily, I find myself troubled by a process -- any process -- which would automatically eliminate a person of either gender from serving as either President or Vice-President.  While Mr. Biden's intentions appear admirable, I am less sure about the soundness of his decision to pick a woman and only a woman.

No matter how chivalrous his position may seem, no matter how just the cause, his approach could be seen as the 2020 version of the special-interest politics Hillary Clinton was criticized for in 2016.

In the past, the first criterion for Presidential candidates' choice of a Vice-Presidential candidate has always been to find the best person who was qualified to be President..

Now, though, an additional requirement has been added.  The candidate must be qualified to be President and a woman.  No man need even apply.  There is something about this that smacks of -- well -- special-interest politics. 

Again, I am all for women being given a real shot at being elected to any office.  And I can even go along with some sort of gender version of affirmative action.  But when it comes to being a heart-beat away from the Presidency, something as petty as gender or special-interest politics seems beneath the dignity of the office.

What the Country Is Looking for in 2020

Why do Democratic presidential candidates keep talking about "beating" Trump in 2020?  There is a reason, but it is not obvious.  Please stay with me.

I just heard another Democratic presidential candidate saying he was the best one to defeat Donald Trump.  The man (Trump) has just been impeached.  As such he could be removed from office.  Why, then, does a presidential candidate feel it pertinent to talk about "beating" Trump?

The reason lies in our media set-up.  We have a corporatized media, one which is more interested ultimately in the bottom line than they are in the country.  That means it is essential to be able to work with the "winner," even if he or she wins illegitimately. 

With gigantic amounts of money corrupting the political process in 2016, D. Trump certainly did not win fair and square.  Imagine if Hillary Clinton had lost the vote by some three million votes, yet was announced the winner.  Can you imagine the howls of protest coming from the Trump Twitter feed and all the Republican minions?!  The sound would have been deafening!  And yet Trump was declared the winner. 

So here we are.  The media, more interested in its bottom line, is okay with corruption -- as long as they can stay in business and tell "the story."   But at what price?  What price are we prepared to pay for maintaining the media status quo? 

We must remember that the media is part of the profit system.  This is the way big business is done in America, we say.  And yet it has not always been so, though the foundations were laid centuries ago.

Now, however, the survival of democracy and of the human race are at stake.  With rising population and global warming we must act quickly in any event.  If the profit system must be set aside in order to secure our future, so be it.  There is no mention of it in the Constitution, and surely America needs foundational change -- now more than ever. 

A Loss

Former Colorado Governor, John Hickenlooper

The article at the link below gives a good idea why John Hickenlooper was running for President.  Now that Mr. Hickenlooper has left the Presidential race, a question can be asked:  Was his departure from the race due to poor substance, inadequate experience, or simply "bad optics?"

Not having seen the former Governor on television, I can't answer that question.  I did hear him once over C-SPAN and he seemed decent and well-motivated.  As I recall, he did not have the booming voice of a Kennedy, nor the bombast of a Lyndon Johnson.  Perhaps he failed in this regard from a poor comparison to past telegenic or wheeler-dealer Presidents.

As for his positions on the issues as well as his gubernatorial success, I could hardly be more delighted.

I certainly wish him well in his run for the Senate.  Let's hope another candidate with his credibility will become a serious contender in the Presidential race.  


Why Hickenlooper Was Running For President

Will Democrats Blow Best Chance to Re-secure the White House?

There is an entire campaign for the White House ahead of us.   This is an important process under the American system.  But will irresponsible voices doom the chance for the best-known Democrat to even make his case.

I trust the answer to this question will be no, as Joseph Biden knows how to take care of himself.  Of course he has problems.   But so does every candidate.  It is distressing to hear certain voices denigrating one of the strongest voices for labor in this country.  And to have NPR lead their 4:00 o'clock news hour with reports about the former Vice-President virtually dripping with scorn -- that is irresponsible. 

Bernie Sanders Announces for President

Bernie Sanders announced today he is running for President in 2020.  His campaign statement says he will run on a bold platform of progressive reform, much as he did in 2016.  I will have more on this important development later.  

Holding the Media Accountable in Election 2016: A Beginning

 

Your blog author is far from an expert on the subject of Roger Stone, although he is certainly aware of the name.  The article whose link is below places today's indictment of Stone amidst the dirty tricks of campaign '16.

Ominously, the article also claims the media will go scot-free in its refusal to accept any blame for unfair and unbalanced coverage of Mrs. Clinton in that election so disastrous for America.  Yet, the prospect of media accountability is not entirely bleak as the simple publication of this Salon article portends.  May we all join together in a new push for honesty and contrition on the part of the press.


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Stone -- Media Manipulator Extraordinaire?