Not a lot going on locally today, but here are some potential topics:
- Review: Clinton Emailed Classified Information — After this, I’ve got a feeling she’s not going to change her ways and start taking media questions on a regular basis any time soon.
- China’s Global Desires, Loans and Strings Attached — This story makes this sound like something new, but I remember writing about this very phenomenon in an editorial in 1994. China has been taking the long view, carefully paving its way toward superpowerdom, for a long, long time. While we, messy democracy that we are, sort of stumble from one ad hoc foreign policy decision to the next.
- Americans Are Finally Eating Less — Well, you can’t go by me. I totally broke the paleo rules this morning and had grits with my bacon, my sausage, my plate piled high with fruit. I had to try on three pairs of pants this morning before I found some I could fasten at the waist.
- President Obama starts two-day Kenya visit — Any comment from Donald Trump yet?
- Louisiana Movie Theater Gunman Hated Feminists, Liberals — So he went out and killed two lovely young women.
Related Posts
With the first debate looming it’s time to handicap the race. Who will get into the first debate?
1. Jeb Bush 99% (Most likely GOP nominee. This seems to be the year of the Plutocrat)
2. Marco Rubio 95% (Two strong Florida candidates this time around)
3. Scott Walker 95% (Union busting is popular in the GOP but may hurt in the general)
4. Donald Trump 90% (leads in the polls now and likely to debate but will eventually crash and burn. Probably third party run in his future)
5. Ben Carson 85% (Republican version of a populist. Hard core supporters get him into first debate but he won’t have much staying power)
Now it gets tougher
6. Rand Paul 60% (His Ayn Rand Brand is not selling as well as his dads)
7. Mike Huckabee 55% (Leading theocrat)
8. Ted Cruz 55% (Just can’t seem to out crazy Trump. But Tea party faithful might rally)
9. Rick Santorum 52% (2012 runner up but not getting much traction this time around. I predict just enough to get him in debate)
10. Rick Perry 50% (My prediction for last man in, but could stumble. Another oops and he’s doomed)
11. John Kasich 40% (The semi-sane wing of the party should rally around this veteran pol)
12. Bobby Jindal 30% (He has a shot but he just can’t get much attention)
13. Carly Fiorina 20% (Only woman, might give her a shot if she can attract the female Fox News crowd)
14. Chris Christie 15% (My how the big man has fallen. Even in the GOP voters have little patience for Nixonian bullies)
15, Lindsey Graham 5% (Apparently this is not the year for the war monger)
16. George Pataki 1% (Least covered veteran politician in either party)
Looks like a reasonable lineup based on the way thinks are going, Bud. Rubio sounded good in interviews today. Based on your comment about #11, I will give him a look.
Bush, Paul, Walker, Rubio, Trump, Cruz, and Huckabee are 100% locks for the debate. Graham, Pataki, Kasich, Fiorina are 100% locks to not be in the debate, There are really only three spots that are in question between Santorum, Jindal, Carson, and Perry. I’ll say Jindal is odd man out.
The nominee will be one of Bush, Rubio, Walker, Paul.
Of Jeb, Cruz, Rubio, Paul, Carson, Huckabee, Perry and Trump, I would expect only Perry, Huckabee, Cruz, Rubio. and Trump. Trump, who can defeat any Dem, threatens the establishment game plan.
The objective of the first debate is for journalists to provoke Trump to make the first TV- debate his own bloodbath. That ends reasonable hope for conservative voters as early as possible in the campaign season by wrecking his enormous popularity and annoint establishment candidate Jeb and obvious (UNLESS Hillary drops out suddenly for “health” reasons) running mate Fiorina a critical boost.
The southern and Latino vote is needed for a Trump victory. Amazingly, Trump already owns (at this point) enviable more popularity among northern and midwestern non-Latino voters.
One way or another, there will neither be more televised Republichan debates this year than has been average nor will there be significantly more participants in any single televised bebate. For various obvious reasons this will be Hillary’s, Christie’s, Jindal’s, Graham’s, Huckabees’s, Santorum’s, Carson’s and Perry’s final temporary, presidential candidacies.
If Trump drops out again as in his previous campaign, Cruz, Christie, Walker, Huckabee, Santorum, Kasich, Graham, and Perry will ultimately throw their support to JEB within 6 months. The only big surprise, should there be any, would be for Trump to prevail over Bush.
Sayanora, Hillary, and good bye to your awful legacy of public dishonesty and abuse of the laws. You have stmbolized the worst reputation of elected lawyers: acting avbove the law, abusing power, and selfishness.
Fox and the RNC are really mucking up the debate process, but the eventual candidate will still be selected through the primary process. Bush and Walker are in the top three in all three early states according to Real Clear Politics. The smart candidates should continue campaigning in the traditional manner, and let attrition in the primary process sort them out. Trump’s numbers in the early states are nothing like his national numbers–he’s only getting 2% in SC. Why would a serious candidate want to be on the debate stage with Trump, anyway? He’s going to say something that will be the focus of the news the next day, and any point made by any of the serious candidates will go unnoticed.
Maybe China doesn’t have everything going. They don’t seem too good at city planning, AND they’re copycats-http://io9.com/chinas-brand-new-abandoned-cities-could-be-dystopian-m-1238731420
the link’s worth copying. truly surreal pics
I just did. I’ve been reading about the huge, empty shopping mall for years. Don’t see how this bubble won’t burst with disastrous consequences for China and the world very soon.
The American analogy, though imperfect, was the Reagan arms buildup. The difference was we were in a huge recession in the early 80s and any kind of government spending helped get us out. In effect we had a Keynsian stimulus that worked. Sadly the armaments purchased had little long-term value. A better approach would have been to spend on infrastructure needs.
Bumper sticker style: 1 In 7 American houses are empty. 1 In 402 Americans are homeless.
I’m a misanthropic humanist, and that ‘little Paris’ looks nice;)