Three pennies for three thoughts

1)  Rachel Maddow noted on her show last night that Democratic turnout is down from 2008 in the first two primaries this year and wondered if this was cause for concern for Democrats (it should be noted that it's still at historically high levels).  It may well be, but I wonder if it has more to do with the fact that we have two very good candidates this time around and many Democrats will be happy to support either in November.  In all honesty, we have trouble getting Democrats to vote in the midterms and it's hard to imagine them taking the time for a primary when both candidates are appealing.

2)  At the risk of proving just how bad I am at political prognostication, is it possible that Jeb! Bush can mount a comeback in South Carolina?  Probably not, but with Marco "Hal 9000" Rubio, Ben "Delusional" Carson, and John "The Dullard" Kasich as the only republican establishment candidates left, you have to admit there is an opening for him.  Maybe his Mom can put in a good word for Jeb!....

3) Jim Webb announced today that he will not be seeking the White House as an independent  candidate.  Now it's entirely possible that reality set in and his advisers told him that an oak tree had as good of a chance as he did to be the next President, but I have to wonder if it had anything to do with Michael Bloomberg announcing that he was considering an independent run--pretty sure Webb can't sink a billion dollars into a losing campaign just because he thinks he knows better than the American people who our Presidential candidates should be.

Chutzpah aplenty in Neverland these days....

Peace,
emaycee

Who else do they have?

Despite the fact that Marco Rubio did his best Wall-E imitation in last Saturday's republican debate in New Hampshire, I really have to wonder who else the republican establishment is going to rally behind.  Considering that they hate Trump and Cruz, that leaves Chris Christie, who is too much of an asshole to ever get elected President, John Kasich, who probably bores his own family, and Jeb! Bush, who has proven to be a miracle worker in that his campaign has been so inept he's made his big brother look like FDR.

I still think it's more likely that either Trump or Cruz win the republican nomination, but it's hard to see that if republicans go for the establishment candidate again this year how it can he anyone other than Rubio.

He may be a lightweight, but it's not as if Mitt Romney or John McCain could have given Plato a run for his money intellectually.

Peace,
emaycee

The kiss of death for Donald Trump's candidacy

As the man who had Sarah Palin as the GOP nominee in 2012, and was certain it was going to be Jeb! Bush in 2016, I am now going to do what no heinous statement from Donald Trump, or vicious act of one of his followers, has thus far been able to do:  kill his campaign.

I am really beginning to believe that Trump can win the republican nomination.

Ted Cruz may be the candidate du jour for the scared GOP establishment, and the current leader in Iowa, but we've seen how republican establishment candidates fare in the general election (see also:  McCain, John and Romney, Willard) and how republican campaigns fade into oblivion after winning the Iowa Caucus (see also:  Huckabee, Mike and Santorum, Rick).  Ben Carson is as crazy as a shit house rat, but he's neither white enough nor angry enough to pacify republicans' main voters:  angry, white men.  Rubio has shown again and again that he's a lightweight, and if he doesn't like the work that goes into being a U.S. Senator, he's going to like being President of the United States a lot less (it's 24/7/365, Marco--think!).  And the rest?  Well, if you're polling in the low single digits at this point, you can turn out the lights:  the party is over.

The possibility of a brokered convention  has been discussed of late, but there hasn't been one since before I was born (1959), and one could easily see the republican base going full on ape shit if it feels its chosen candidate has been screwed out of the nomination.

And that leaves republicans one Donald J. Trump as their Presidential nominee in 2016.

God only knows who he'll pick for his V.P.

Peace,
emaycee

Jeb! and experienced leadership

Jeb! Bush touting his "experienced leadership" this week in Iowa:

[Bush] said Americans have previously “bet on someone who was unproven,” two-term Democratic President Barack Obama, which Bush said “didn’t work out.”

Kind of wondering exactly what the definition of "didn't work out" is to Jeb!--does he mean the stimulus package that rescued the economy from his brother's ineptitude and helped ensure we didn't fall into a second Great Depression?  Or the bailing out of the now healthy auto industry which saved millions of jobs?  Or the job growth that's second only to the Clinton administration in the last fifty years?   The near doubling of the stock market?  How about millions more Americans who have healthcare insurance?  Or maybe that he didn't get us into two wars and ultimately botch both of them?  Or that we haven't had a terrorist attack on our soil for the length of his term?  The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act?  Normalization of relations with Cuba?  Gay marriage?

Too bad Jeb!'s older brother "didn't work out"--we'd all be a hell of a lot better off if he had.

Peace,
emaycee

Responsibility for thee, but not for me

Jeb! Bush and his handlers this week are trying to claim that George W. Bush "inherited" 9/11 and the recession that began in March of 2001, and that both were actually Bill Clinton's fault.

Funny how that when it comes to food stamps or welfare or unemployment insurance conservatives are always screaming about how the folks who need them should buck up and take personal responsibility for the errors of their ways, but when it comes to republicans taking responsibility for being asleep at the wheel on 9/11 or having habitually bad policies that lead us into economic ruin (tax cuts! tax cuts!) it's always someone else's fault.

It appears the only thing republicans are truly masters of is shoveling horseshit.

Peace,
emaycee

Jeb! lives

Despite the death knells of recent days, I'll play devil's advocate and say that I still think Jeb! Bush will be the republican nominee in 2016.   While Bush's poll numbers have indeed fallen, he's still in the thick of it and is nowhere near becoming an afterthought like Scott Walker.  He's raised a ton of money and shows no signs of slowing down.  I think his using his brother to raise campaign cash is a purposeful reminder to the powers that be that George W. won two Presidential elections that weren't guarantees and that the Bush family knows how to win (actually governing, though, be damned).  Even when he campaigns, like he did recently in Cedar Falls, IA, he's not feeding the crowd red republican primary meat--he's talking like a Presidential nominee, discussing education and foreign policy.

The only candidate that wouldn't surprise me if he beat Bush would be Marco Rubio--only because the power brokers in the republican party might decide to go with young and new over tried and true.  But they'd be getting essentially the same candidate.

And even though I'm supporting Bernie Sanders, I still think Hillary Clinton is going to trounce Bush come November 2016.

Y'all can thank me in Jamuary of 2017 when the first Democratic Socialist is being sworn in as President of the United States after crushing Donald Trump on the first Tuesday of November 2016...

Peace,
emaycee

Same old, same old

Ol' Jeb! really went out on a limb this week with his proposal to cut taxes to three rates (10%, 20%, and 28%) and to cut the corporate tax rate to 20%.

Can you say "idiot" boys and girls?

Cutting taxes in this way won't do a shit's worth of good for America's poor or her middle class (didn't work under Reagan or Bush the Lesser), but it sure will help Corporate America and the wealthy.  If that's what Jeb! truly believes--that putting more money in the hands of America's rich elite at the expense of the rest of us is sound economic policy--then he's even dumber than his moronic brother.

Somebody might want to inform Jeb! that he's running to be the President of the United States of America, not the President of the United States of Koch Brothers or the President of the United States of Corporate America.

Though a nagging intuition tells me that his rich ass would prefer the latter.

Peace,
emaycee

Jeb! jumps the shark

The powers that be in the republican party may eventually decide that Jeb! Bush gives them the best chance to avoid catastrophe in the 2016 elections but even they have to be wondering these days.  Jeb! is tanking in the polls (down to 5% in Iowa) and seems incapable of keeping his foot out of his mouth.  This past week Jeb! did it again when he said that President Obama and Secretary Clinton were responsible for the mess in Iraq.

I know Jeb! loves his brother and all, but I'm pretty sure that outside of Fox News not even our clueless national media is going to give Jeb! a pass on that one.  Bush the Lesser and his cast of clowns made an epic error going into Iraq and no amount of wishing on the part of republican candidates won't make it so.

Besides, it's my guess that voters in 2016 will be looking a lot more to candidates keeping us out of the mess in the Middle East rather than than those like Jeb! who want to drag us further in.

Peace,
emaycee

Thanks, Jeb!

Jeb! Bush today continued his Romneyesque campaign by declaring that he wasn't sure the United States should be spending $500 million on women's health issues.

One supposes the staffs of both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are already planning their TV ads featuring Jeb!, should he win the republican nomination for the general election in 2016, highlighting Jeb! not giving a shit about women's issues.

Hard to believe republicans could do worse with women voters than they did in the past two Presidential elections, but Jeb! is doing his best to make sure they do.

Peace,
emaycee

It sucks to be a republican (not that I care)

Well, well, well--seems the Koch Brothers had a big Please Kiss Our Asses For Money event this weekend featuring the usual republican minions (Jeb!, Rubio, Walker, Cruz, Fiorina) and Donald Trump sent out a tweet that asked, mockingly, if the republican candidates were "Puppets?"

Yes, yes they are.  And what's even worse for the republican party is that they can't even fight back against Trump's comment--they've become so beholden to billionaires that even the traditional media would laugh them off the stage if they even thought about refuting it.

Dangling from those troublesome strings couldn't happen to a nicer group of people.

Peace,
emaycee

Jeb!'s bush league week that was

I continue to believe that, in the end, Jeb! Bush will be the republican nominee for President in 2016.  But he is doing his best to turn me into a non-believer (and probably has Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton salivating at the chance to run against him):

• In a week when good news about Medicare was released, Jeb! decided to push Paul Ryan's bullshit voucher program, at a Koch Brothers sponsored event, no less.  Fortunately for the rest of us who aren't Koch Brother toadies, there was a nice elderly woman at a townhall that told Jeb! to blow it out his ass.
• Jeb! also penned an op-ed this week highlighting his "new" plan to save the country--which it turns out, is pretty much a rehashing of old republican ideas which worked so well for his big brother.  Other than that whole Great Recession, two disastrous wars, Hurricane Katrina response, asleep at the wheel on 9/11, couple of thingies.
• And just to close it out, Jeb! proclaimed that the whole police killing scores of African-Americans, as is being pointed out by the folks at Black Lives Matter, is actually an attack on white people.  Heaven help us all....

And with each passing day, Jeb! continues to make Mitt Romney look like an astute and media savvy candidate.

Peace,

emaycee

Eight years of stupid was enough, thanks

“You don’t have to be the world’s policeman, but we have to be the world’s leader — and there’s a huge difference,” Bush said. “This guy — this president and Secretary Clinton and Secretary Kerry – when someone disagrees with their nuanced approach, where it’s all kind of so sophisticated it makes no sense. You know what I’m saying — big-syllable words and lots of fancy conferences and meetings — but we’re not leading, that creates chaos, it creates a more dangerous world.”

Because the stupid his big brother gave us with the debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan worked so well--sticking us in two quagmires and taking away much needed economic resources for a whole hell of a lot of nothing.  "Stupid is as stupid does" works fine as a line in a movie, but as a basis for U.S. foreign policy?  Not so much.

Good to see, though, that Jeb! is continuing to do well in his quest to run a campaign with more spoken gaffes than Willard "47%" Romney.  Jeb! is well on his way....

Peace,
emaycee

Idiot idea #2

Jeb! Bush is shooting for a 4% economic growth rate during his Presidency, and the way we're going to do it is by having American workers work more hours, and in turn, this would increase our pay.

Been there, done that, and got screwed in the process.  We already work more hours than everyone else in the rest of the world,  have raised productivity to all-time highs, and all we have to show for it is wage stagnation

Short response:  Fuck You,  Jeb!

And should the Democratic nominee in 2016 be Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, their campaigns should absolutely hammer Jeb! Bush over this comment until he's back in the dark cave from which this horrid idea originated.

Peace,
emaycee

Not gonna do it!

Jeb Bush made quite the show this past Monday in his announcement for the republican nomination for the Presidency in 2016 of his benevolent attitudes toward the American Latino community--he noted that his wife was Mexican, he spoke a few sentences in Spanish, and he had several Latinos speak on his behalf.

The one thing he didn't do, though, was explain exactly how he was going to transfer his goodwill toward said Latino community to his republican partners in the U. S. Congress and actually get some sort of immigration reform passed.  Whether it would be the force of his personality, an appeal to republicans' better selves, or by petitioning God through prayer, he did not say.

And the reason for that is because he cannot do it (though petitioning God may be his best bet).  The republican party keeps falling farther and farther off the deep end, and there is a better chance I'll walk on my hands upon a tightrope across Niagara Falls in 2017 than there is that Jeb Bush will get republican congresspersons to offer aid and comfort to a group of people their party's base hates.

No matter his platitudes, the man behind the curtain is not a wizard.

Peace,
emaycee

Willard 2.0

Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for the republican nomination for the Presidency in 2016 today--and it was about as surprising as the news that water is wet and the sky is blue.  People who understand republican bullshit much better than I (or at least tolerate it) claim he gave a good speech.  Still, I couldn't help but feel that I'd seen this movie before and I have:  Mitt Romney in 2012.

Like Romney four years ago, Bush is not quite as crazy as his fellow contenders, is probably the best candidate they have, is prone to gaffes, is a former Governor (with a spotty record), was born into serious money, can relate to your average American about as well as your average CEO relates to your average homeless person, and, in all reality, has very little chance to defeat the Democratic nominee thanks to republican ignorance concerning the electoral college map.

Though I wouldn't be completely stunned if Marco Rubio or, to a much lesser extent, Scott Walker won their party's nomination, I've felt all along that Jeb Bush is going to be the republican nominee (if nothing else, also like Romney, he'll keep the election closer and probably save a few republican congressional seats).  And you know who else does?  Hillary Clinton.

Anyone other than me think it's merely coincidence that Hillary Clinton today reminded Americans in her press conference that both her husband and President Obama inherited the economic problems that we faced from republican Presidents, namely Bush the First and Bush the Lesser?

Let the games begin!

Peace,
emaycee

Whither Hillary?

Seems the national media is having a hissy fit because Hillary Clinton is choosing at this point in her campaign to talk to regular folks like us instead of famous journalists.

And the problem with this is...?

Leaving aside the fact that it's unlikely the journalist vote is going to sweep Secretary Clinton into the White House, one need only look at the republican Presidential candidates botched responses to see why at this juncture perhaps it's best to stick to everyday people.  I mean, Christ, republicans have already seen Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio fall all over themselves to appease their base while denying what's obvious to those of us who aren't a few slices short of a full loaf of bread--the Iraq War was a disaster from beginning to end.  We've also seen the spectacle of Mike Huckabee trying to defend a child molester.

Frankly, I think it's a fine piece of strategy to avoid the chickenshit circus that is the beltway media while earning her props from the citizens who will have the most to do with the success of  a Hillary Clinton Presidency.

And it's just another contrast between the competency of the Democrats and the nincompoopery that is ingrained in the republican party.

Peace,
emaycee

Koch heads

Other than the fact that they're all probably running for the republican Presidential nomination in 2016, know what Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Scott Walker have in common?  They've been anointed by the Koch brothers as the five candidates most likely to be supported by the not so dynamic duo ($$$$) as the Man Who Would Be King, otherwise known as the republican Presidential nominee in 2016.

Not so sure any of the Fab Five should be rejoicing--contrary to republican groupthink, rich folks aren't all that popular with average Americans these days and I'm pretty sure that whoever wins the Democratic nomination (not to mention our support groups) is going to use large chunks of the two to three hundred million dollars they'll have in their campaign chests to remind average Americans just how much they don't like rich rolks.

Having the Koch brothers on your side is a lot like trying to paddle a row boat with a basketball sized hole in the bottom across the Pacific Ocean--the odds were long to begin with but the hole makes it impossible.

Peace,
emaycee

Birds of a feather

Jeb Bush gave a speech today in which he said he loved his father and brother but that he was "his own man."

Anybody outside of a Bush family member actually believing that needs to have a bucket of ice water dumped on their head.

Fucking really?  He is a Bush of the inherited wealth/buddy system for being even wealthier just as Bush the First and Bush the Lesser are, and just like them he has no idea what the economic reality of 99% of Americans is like, and even worse, just like the previous Bushes, he doesn't care.  And as for the rest of the world--well fuck them, they aren't rich or Americans anyhow.

On the bright side, Jeb Bush is probably the best candidate republicans have to face Hillary Clinton, at least from a standpoint of keeping their losses at just the White House level.

But from a having to survive in America economically in this day and age standpoint, I can't see American voters believing that the third time will be the charm for the Bush family.  Two economic disasters are more than enough, thank you.

Peace,
emaycee

Hiding in plain sight

Let's see....

Jeb Bush embarrassed himself in the past week by proclaiming himself to be the technology candidate and then hiring as his technology chief a misogynistic homophobic racist and releasing a slew of e-mails from his governship in Florida trying to show his caring nature only he didn't care enough to redact the senders' personal information (including social security numbers).   Rand Paul embarrased himself in the past week by proclaiming that kids who were vaccinated suddenly turned into crazed zombies and that Hillary Clinton spawned ISIS.  Chris Christie embarrassed himself by going overseas and showing he knows nothing about foreign policy or vaccinations.  Scott Walker embarrassed himself today by also going overseas and refusing to say whether he believes in evolution because it isn't a question a politician should be concerned with (fucking really?).

No wonder republicans this week began sniping at Hillary Clinton because she's not campaigning and is supposedly in hiding.  If our candidate was peforming this badly, I'd want anyone out there from the other side who might deflect attention, too.

Christ, how does anyone vote for a republican?

Peace,
emaycee

The magical mystery illusion

One supposes that any person who decides to run for President must have some talent in the art of suspending reality.  After all, in the 225 years since we first selected a President, only forty-three men have held the office.  Of the more than three hundred million Americans living in the United States in 2012, only Barack Obama (and granted, many Americans are not eligible due to the age requirement) won the Presidency.  A candidate for the U.S. Presidency has a healthy skepticism of the odds.

And then you have one Jeb Bush, who isn't merely suspending reality, but is completely and utterly fucking blind to it.  After the release of his new book and television appearances, it seems the former Governor of Florida is considering a run in 2016--because after the failure of his father (one of only four incumbents to lose in the 20th Century) and the epic failure of his brother (one third of the Worst Presidents of All-Time Trinity, joined with James Buchanan and Herbert Hoover) the American people really want to elect another member of the Bush family.  What's his slogan going to be, "Vote for me, I'm not as incompetent as my Dad!"?  "Vote for me, I'm not as dumb as my brother!"?  I'd think even goofy republicans who never met a candidate that America hated that they couldn't support would have a hell of a time voting another Bush into office.

I know anything can happen in the next four years, but it'd take some seriously strong Kool-Aid for Jeb Bush's ass to ever get a seat in the Oval Office.

Peace,
emaycee