Today I lunched in Dearborn with my colleague, Bill. You know Dearborn — where Sharia law (makes dragon-roar sound, paws the air with terrible claws) prevails! Where Detroit police dare not go! Where the mayor goes by the very no-fly list name of… Jack O’Reilly?
Yep, that one. I was just there for the hummus and falafel. Bill’s a native, so we had a mini-tour, checking out the houses that have been remodeled and rebuilt for the Arab community and their multigenerational families. And then we stopped at his favorite Lebanese sweet shop to celebrate the end of my sugar binge. Let me just say that after a month off? Those date-pistachio cookies and coconut whatever-it-was hit me like a ton of bricks. It might as well have been nerve gas, it put me down so hard.
Tomorrow, nothing racier than an orange. Maybe a banana. I learned my lesson.
Now I’m watching the Iowa results coming in. Cruz up by 3 percentage points, Hillary ditto, but it’s still early. Who gives a crap about Iowa, anyway? Rick Santorum won Iowa, remember. (And yeah, Barry O did too. But also Mike Huckabee.)
Annnnnd… this is the point where I had computer problems last night, and elected to shut things down and go to bed. Let’s discuss Iowa. My icebreaker: Should we worry about Hillary, or not?
Deborah said on February 2, 2016 at 9:15 am
I think Hillary will be ok. Really, everyone is out to get her though, aren’t they? She must have nerves of steel. I’m sorry Cruz won but not sure if it means anything in the long run.
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brian stouder said on February 2, 2016 at 9:21 am
I was glad to see the Donald get the bum’s rush in Iowa; and it would be just too cool for school if he gets cashiered in New Hampshire.
Aside from that, the best laugh of the evening came when Brian Williams and Rachel Maddow threw the live coverage to a fellow at a caucus in a collage gymnasium. That reporter stuck his camera and microphone into a knot of people where one of the candidate’s caucus leader was trying to persuade an undecided person – and that person was making an impassioned argument about VA benefits…and dropped the F-bomb!
Pretty much gave everyone the vapors, back in the studio.
Anyway – don’t miss StB’s caucus recap at the end of the last thread…very good stuff!
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nancy said on February 2, 2016 at 9:26 am
This letter to the editor really is the platonic ideal of the Kevin Leininger readership, don’t you think, Alex?
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brian stouder said on February 2, 2016 at 9:40 am
I think ol’ Edna has the vapors! (must have used the word “back” and “happy” a half dozen times, in three sentences!)
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jcburns said on February 2, 2016 at 9:53 am
I am so pleased that Nancy is back…er, from yesterday. Warmest welcome back.
I am so happy to have her back, and I’m sure many readers are happy, too.
Thank you, internet world for welcoming her back.
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Bitter Scribe said on February 2, 2016 at 10:10 am
I think Sanders will evaporate once the primaries begin in earnest, in states with significant minority populations. And good riddance. I agree with much of what he says, but his shrill Johnny-one-note self-righteousness is a turnoff.
To me Rubio was the big winner on the R side. Anyone want to start a pool on how long Exclamation Point will last?
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Deborah said on February 2, 2016 at 10:19 am
While I like a lot of what Sanders says, I think most of it will be impossible to make actually happen because he would be waging an uphill battle with Republicans all the way. That and I just don’t think he’s electable in Nov. Plus it’s time we had a woman president.
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alex said on February 2, 2016 at 10:35 am
An acquaintance who had an unsuccessful run for local office here in Fort Wayne quipped on Facebook that although he took a drubbing he still received more votes than JEB! got in all of Iowa.
Johnny-One-Note Sanders is getting on my last nerve too.
And Edna… I think she makes a great spokeperson for Xanax.
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Mark P said on February 2, 2016 at 10:53 am
Paul Krugman called the Iowa Republican results ( http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/pre-iowa-notes/ ) even before the caucuses: “someone horrifying will come in first, and someone horrifying will come in second.” And then this morning he says, “Let me add that someone horrifying also came in third.”
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brian stouder said on February 2, 2016 at 11:18 am
What Deborah at 7 says.
HRC makes that point too – and she should hit it all the harder; Bernie wants to re-litigate the whole healthcare thing (for one example) – and risks not just failure, but also wiping out the gains already made
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Jeff Borden said on February 2, 2016 at 11:18 am
I think Hillary Clinton will have troubles throughout the race. She brings out the haters on a good day, but the Bernie Sanders fans absolutely despise her. I’ve gone a few rounds with some of his supporters. They remind me a great deal of Ralph Nader backers in 2000. . .so smug and certain in their purity and perfectly willing to allow the elevation of President Ted Cruz rather than stoop to Ms. Clinton’s level. And we all know the levels of insanity she generates among conservatives. It all makes for a tough slog.
The Iowa results disappoint me only to the extent that Marco Rubio did well. He is a more dangerous demagogue than Cruz, who wears his assholishness on his sleeve. The juxtaposition of a youthful, more polished Rubio versus the older Ms. Clinton or Mr. Sanders makes me very nervous. His views are very hard right –his stance on abortion would prohibit them even in cases of rape or incest– but he does have a certain boyish charm and we all know that many of our fellow citizens are susceptible to that kind of bullshit.
I’m rooting for a sizable Trump victory in New Hampshire and a bad performance by Rubio and Cruz, just to keep the party in its cannibalistic state a little longer.
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Bitter Scribe said on February 2, 2016 at 11:25 am
Jeff: I think Rubio’s “boyish charm” is evaporating fast due to the angerbear anti-Obama persona he’s adopted lately. If he keeps it up, he’ll find that 1) people like Obama a lot more than he does and 2) in any case, they’re ready to move on.
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Deborah said on February 2, 2016 at 11:28 am
We have some far left friends in Chicago and they absolutely despise Hillary now, but when she’s nominated they’ll vote for her. They aren’t saying that now because they can’t, it’s part of their strategy. But they very well know the alternative would be hideous.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 2, 2016 at 11:28 am
So, what is Sen. Elizabeth Warren holding out for in return for an endorsement? Because you know she’s got something on the table.
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brian stouder said on February 2, 2016 at 11:36 am
I’d offer her the vice presidency; or any cabinet slot she wants –
in return for having her stump the college crowds and others who are so enamored of Sanders
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Scout said on February 2, 2016 at 12:05 pm
I’m happy to vote for either Sanders or Clinton come November because ANY of the Possibles on the eventual GOP ticket are terrifying. I’m not including the bottom tier in the Possibles, some of whom are definitely less terrifying than the rabid squirrels who are in the upper tier of the polling because it is evident the Base is having none of anyone who is even remotely sane.
On the forums I visit, and on Facebook, the vitriol between hard core Sanders people as well as hard core Hillary people is disturbing. There are more than a few saying if their candidate does not get the nomination they will stay home. Here’s one of those time when “both sides do it” actually applies. No,no,nonononononono,NO. I want to slap them all silly.
Warren has that same je ne sais quoi that Obama has. Well, actually I do know – it’s intelligence, elegance, eloquence and charisma. She’d make a brilliant VP pick, and I believe she would be perfect then to run for POTUS at the end of Hillary or Bernie’s 2nd term. I think she would add a lot to either ticket.
Finally, to those saying that Bernie will never be able to get anything done in the R controlled Congress – I agree. But neither will Hillary, whom they hate with the heat of one million suns. That’s why Debbie Wasserman-Schultz needs to step down immediately following this election and put someone in place who will do the hard work to get people who can actually work with the POTUS elected. And yes, I am an extreme optimist who cannot fathom any of the nut jobs the R’s are running as POTUS. Just Can Not.
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St Bitch said on February 2, 2016 at 12:10 pm
Bernie is paving his pseudo-revolutionary path with good intentions. He certainly appeals to idealistic Occupy Wall Street types, and the personal integrity he exudes camouflages lack of substance on so many levels. I say pseudo-revolutionary because Obamacare is the outcome of a hard-fought socialistic reform already waged.
Last night, Hillary said she’s relieved, and texted ‘From the bottom of my heart: Thank you, Iowa. -H’. I’ve been thinking about how Obama came out of nowhere and delivered such a punishing fatal blow to her initial bid in Iowa. If Bernie managed to edge her out again, it would have been devastating, although she would have soldiered on. She doesn’t inspire me like Obama…one leader I can love in my lifetime is enough…but she has earned my respect. Love her or hate her, she’s a power player…and at the core of the warrior is a civil rights activist.
By the way, during much of Hillary’s speech, the camera angle I was watching showed just the lower half of Bill Clinton’s face, with his mouth just hanging open in a kind of stupor…
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Julie Robinson said on February 2, 2016 at 12:12 pm
Like so many others I love Bernie but am concerned about how conservatives would respond to him in November. Socialist is still a dirty word to many who don’t realize we already live in a socialist state.
After spending time in Cedar Rapids this summer I’m not at all surprised that Trump didn’t win, because to my relatives his New York values made him unacceptable. Carson’s poor showing also didn’t surprise me but apparently my uncle had invested in him heavily. It’ll be interesting to see who he goes for next.
Like Jeff B, the feeling in this house is that Cruz is dangerous, more dangerous than Trump. All the more reason the opposition needs to be strong for November.
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Deborah said on February 2, 2016 at 12:25 pm
What happened to all the people who said they wanted a president they could have a beer with? Can you even imagine having a beer with sanctimonious Cruz?
St. B, loved your comment at #17.
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St Bitch said on February 2, 2016 at 12:34 pm
One more thing…I liked the community feel of the caucus. The vitriol might be out there, but was not present in our precinct. There might have been a few gimlet-eyed darts thrown between the two camps, but the dialogues I heard were moderate and subdued.
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beb said on February 2, 2016 at 1:02 pm
I will vote against the Republicans till my dying breathe. That said I remain a Bernie Sanders fan. I think his vision of America is better focused than Clinton’s. His remedies more to the point. Bernie’s socialist identification means little anymore since the GOP have hammered Pres. Obama was a socialist for seven years. Obama’s approval rating remains high and solid. Clinton on the other hand has Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi, E-mails, e-mails e-mails and Bill’s alleged sexual misconduct. She’ll be hammered worse than Sanders, in my opinion.
Elizabeth Warren isn’t going anywhere. I think she’s made that very clear. She has a lot of power where she is in the Senate. More than she’d have as the VP or as a cabinet member.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 2, 2016 at 1:26 pm
From what I know of the process(es), I honestly couldn’t see why you’d leave a Senate seat to run for POTUS/VPOTUS. 4 years, maybe 8, then you’re in a weird netherland of un-power. A long-lasting senatorial career can make a major difference in your world and for your values without an eighth of the personal discomfort or humiliation. YMMV!
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Cathie from Canada said on February 2, 2016 at 2:05 pm
Speaking as an outsider: millions of women have been waiting all their lives to vote for a woman for president, they will be Hillary’s strength. Saunders has a quick wit and his heart is in the right place but he doesn’t have the chops for a national campaign, not the way they are run in the US.
I am afraid of Rubio, he has a photogenic family and a good speaking manner and, like Saunders, hasn’t been on the national stage long enough to accumulate enemies. Also, he would split the Hispanic vote, in spite of actual Republican racist policies, and this might be enough to flip some states away from Hillary.
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Sue said on February 2, 2016 at 2:06 pm
Poor Donald.
I blame Sarah Palin.
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Jakash said on February 2, 2016 at 2:57 pm
To me, Hillary, as my favorite President once infamously said, is “likable enough.” When it comes down to it, I’ll certainly vote for her. In the primary and the general election. But beb’s idea that “She’ll be hammered worse than Sanders” by the Republicans is definitely a concern. (Not that Sanders wouldn’t be hammered plenty, which is largely why I can’t bring myself to vote for him, though I like a lot of what he has to say.) It’s just disturbing to me that 8 long years after the last go-around, the two choices put forth for Democrats are a socialist and a candidate that some quite significant chunk of the electorate has vehemently hated for almost 25 years. Of course, being vehemently hated by Rump or Cruz supporters is a positive feature, not a bug, and many Republicans have demonstrated by their rabid opposition to Obama that it probably doesn’t matter a whole lot who would be nominated. Still, the dynastic tendency of the politics in this country bothers me and the fact that Hillary is not more solidly supported even by a lot of Democrats at this point gives me the, uh, willies.
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Jason T. said on February 2, 2016 at 3:14 pm
Nancy at 3: That letter is this close to being a Bob & Ray routine.
I can almost hear Ray reading it in his little old lady falsetto voice:
Bob: Are you pleased that Kevin Leininger is back?
Ray: I am so pleased that Kevin Leininger is back.
Bob: So you’re giving him a warm welcome, then.
Ray: Warmest welcome back.
Bob: Well, it sounds like you’re happy.
Ray: I am so happy to have him back.
Bob: Well, we’re happy that you’re happy.
Ray: I’m sure many readers are happy, too.
Bob: Thank you for your comments, ma’am.
Ray: Thank you, News-Sentinel for welcoming him back.
Bob: And now back to our main anchor desk.
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brian stouder said on February 2, 2016 at 3:17 pm
My guess: American presidential races are quite often close-run things (landslides being the exception; an adamant rejection – or embrace – of an incumbent)
JFK only won by the very thinnest of margins; Bush II by even less than that(!).
My bet is that HRC’s edge is that she is both an establishment/get-things-done/experienced hand, and still she cannot help but be a “change” candidate. Afterall, we’ve never before elected a human being who has given birth to another human being.
I think a no-pizzazz Hillary will win
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Dexter said on February 2, 2016 at 3:21 pm
Michael Reagan was on a radio show I listen to until the sports and jokes cease and the host gets serious about his politics. Today I was cooking and I couldn’t get to the kitchen radio to shut it off so I heard Reagan talk about Donald Trump s bit…M. Reagan is furious that Trump calls himself an R. Reagan man, as Trump is nothing at all like Ronald Reagan was. The whole thing was sickening as the Ronald Reagan I remember was the worst President we ever saw until Bush in 2000.
These people who love Cruz? What the fucking fuck? Seriously? This is a maniac who swears he is going to turn The Region as we know it into bombed out craters. He vows he’ll constantly orders bombers to destroy entire cities where “our enemies” live. Only problem…millions of civilians live there. People never really caught onto the fact that somewhere between 14,000 and 20,000 civilians were bombed to death in just the first round of Shock and Awe.
Kirk from end of the trail yesterday: I wasn’t going to mention it…we did not use dog turds for pucks that I recall, but we did indeed use broken-up chunks of cow pies now and then. Once we used a smooth stone for a puck. The kid with the flexible-handle homemade hockey stick launched a rising shot and hit a kid right above the eye with the stone-puck. I remember a dent in the kid’s head and then the blood started flowing…that ended stones-for-pucks and got our asses stuck in our houses for a couple weeks. Penalty box. At least, not as bad as when a kid was engaged in a BB gun fight with my cousin. My cousin shot the other kid’s eye out. The glass-eye kid died at age 66 last year. It was easy to see the glass eye difference in the obit-picture in the paper. The man’s name was Joe, not Ralphie.
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nancy said on February 2, 2016 at 3:28 pm
Yep, Jason. It’s just about like that. Funny one.
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brian stouder said on February 2, 2016 at 3:53 pm
And right on cue, Indiana’s state-level Republican doofus caucus make the make the Michigan mugs look like lighthouses of intelligence and grace
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/indiana/Sources–LGBT-anti-discrimination-bill-killed
The lead:
INDIANAPOLIS – The bill to provide anti-discrimination protections to lesbian, gay and transgender Hoosiers died Tuesday, according to Senate sources. The Senate Republican caucus killed the bill in caucus even though Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said last week the measure would be called for debate whether it had enough votes to pass or not because of the importance of the subject.
…because, come to think of it, equality before the law ain’t that important, right?
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Suzanne said on February 2, 2016 at 4:05 pm
I still want to know the whole story behind the Leininger going then coming. There surely is more than he changed his mind after a week on the new job. My mind is inquiring and I want to know!
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Sherri said on February 2, 2016 at 4:11 pm
Bernie needed to win Iowa, Hillary didn’t so much. Bernie still hasn’t been able to expand his appeal beyond white people, and Iowa and New Hampshire are mostly white people. He’s going to have a much harder time of it as the primaries move into more diverse states.
If all the inspired Bernistas really want a revolution, and I’d love to see it, then direct some of that energy towards Congressional races. Look at what the Tea Party did to Congress – that’s what revolution looks like. Work on state legislative races. Presidential races are big and inspiring and everything, but the conditions that determine what a President can do are set outside of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
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Deborah said on February 2, 2016 at 5:01 pm
But Dexter, they don’t care how many civilians die as long as the civilians are Muslims.
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Dave said on February 2, 2016 at 6:12 pm
To God be the glory, Dexter, says the man who wants to kill, kill, and kill some more. I always think, why didn’t these guys join the Army or the Marines if they want to kill. I cringe when I hear that man on TV, let alone see him. I think he is the scariest one of all, but I sure don’t like the rest of them much better. Rubio was bored by the Senate almost immediately, yet he thinks he’s deserving of the presidency? He’s about as bad.
Julie Robinson, I’ve thought of your uncle all through these Iowa stories and wondered how many others are there who are like him, who brag about there being only one book in their house.
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jcburns said on February 2, 2016 at 6:13 pm
Oh, crap. Reporter Fabricated Quotes, Invented Sources at [national-security-focused website] The Intercept… he plays all kinds of cards wriggling around this controversy, including (!) the cancer card.
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Dexter said on February 2, 2016 at 6:27 pm
Sometimes when I get nostalgic I remember times when I was someplace where I could get fresh hummus on my falafel. I used to make it a pre-game ritual to get falafel from a street vendor in Cleveland when I was going to every weekend Indians game for a few years back in the 1990s. It got a bit addictive in a way…no way to settle for a ballpark hotdog or the awful ribs they served there when I could get this delicious falafel from a cart for pennies comparatively. I tried a couple times to smash chickpeas and make hummus but I fucked it up royally, somehow. Time for my 30 minutes of news, then back to sports.
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Sue said on February 2, 2016 at 7:07 pm
Bernie is forcing Hillary to the left and pretty much single-handedly keeping conversations about things like income inequality and banking malpractice alive. For that alone I hope he stays around for awhile.
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Julie Robinson said on February 2, 2016 at 7:32 pm
Dave, I have two uncles in Iowa. The one who read only the Bible is now in a nursing home with dementia, so his days of irritating me are over.
The other is an engineering PhD who has all kinds of patents and has written textbooks, and is truly brilliant. Except he lives in his narrow little world of the 50’s LCMS, and wouldn’t dream of exposure to new ideas. I confess to more than little schadenfreude when one of his perfect granddaughters had to have a quickie wedding.
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Jolene said on February 2, 2016 at 8:17 pm
Lots of great comments on candidates here. I’ve been reading rather than writing because my iPad was temporarily out of commission, and it’s too taxing to compose anything meaningful on my phone. Do others have trouble with the cables wearing out? Seems like they eventually get bent at the joint, and then it’s not long until they’re ruined. Buying off-label cables, I’ve learned, is a waste as, although they are cheaper, they wear out or stop working even faster. If anyone has a solution for this–a way to reinforce the cable, for instance–I’d be happy to hear it.
In the absence of additional brilliant things to say on politics, I’ll post this entertainment possibility for Netflix subscribers. The first season of “Better Call Saul,” the “Breaking Bad” spinoff, has been added to Netflix, ahead of the broadcast of the second season, which begins on February 15. It got favorable reviews when it was first released. I saw the first couple episodes but then lost track of it, so am glad to have the chance to catch up.
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Jolene said on February 2, 2016 at 8:27 pm
Watching Hillary on MSNBC right now, I’m reminded of one of the most irritating things that Trump said about her, which is that she lacks strength and stamina. After a late night in Iowa, a flight to NH, and a ton of interviews and meetings today, she looks and sounds great.
More generally, at nearly 70, she appears to be in excellent health and as intellectually sharp as any political candidate I’ve seen. Her mother lived to be 92 and was, as far as I know, in pretty good shape until bear the end. So stop picking on Hillary, Trump!
There will, by the way, be a debate between Clinton and Sanders on CNN tomorrow night and some kind of forum on MSNBC on Thursday night.
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Jolene said on February 2, 2016 at 8:35 pm
From my Facebook newsfeed, advice on how to cut spaghetti squash, which I recall several people said they found difficult.
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Sherri said on February 2, 2016 at 8:46 pm
Jolene, the Apple iPad/iPhone cables are so thin that it’s almost inevitable that they fail at some point. They’re thinner than most USB cables (because of course, Apple). I’ve had good success with the AmazonBasics brand of offlabel cable; they’re Apple Certified, but considerably cheaper.
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Jolene said on February 2, 2016 at 8:52 pm
Thanks, Sherri, perhaps I’ll give one a try when the one I just bought fails.
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Minnie said on February 2, 2016 at 9:01 pm
Sherri @ 32: We were just talking about this at supper. Bernie’s supporters ignore that without a change in Congress the new president will be handicapped in the same way Obama has been.
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basset said on February 2, 2016 at 9:28 pm
I try to use Griffin cables and accessories, they’re a local company and have a really cool building:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Upb8uLks8VY
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Deborah said on February 2, 2016 at 9:41 pm
Watching the older candidates has been humbling, at 65 I can’t imagine keeping up with the grueling travel schedules they have to keep. Traveling is the most exhausting thing there is. I used to think that travel for work was so exotic until I had to do it. Going to the airport at an ungodly hour, going through security etc etc is mind numbing. I love road trips but after a day or two that gets old too. Hats off to people who can do it day after day after day.
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Jolene said on February 2, 2016 at 11:57 pm
Chartered planes and Secret Service protection probably ease the pain of travel substantially, but, even so, you have to adapt to sleeping in different beds and finding whatever food keeps you healthy in restaurants. Clinton, I gather, eats hot peppers every day to ward off colds. May be superstition, but she relies on them.
One of the candidates was described as doing six events a day immediately before the caucus. Of course, that’s not every day, but, still, each event involves pumping yourself up for a performance and, afterward, decompressing as the adrenalin drains away. A lot of ups and downs.
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basset said on February 3, 2016 at 7:08 am
Campaign promise of the year, so far…
http://radio.com/2016/02/02/john-kasich-promises-to-reunite-pink-floyd-if-elected-president/
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beb said on February 3, 2016 at 8:47 am
When polling began for Iowa Clinton had a 40 point lead over Bernie and ended up in a statistical tie with him. Clinton ran in part as the “inevitable” candidate. Instead six precincts ended in a tie and decided by tossing a coin. Hillary won all six coin-tosses, which is unusual. But if she had lost any her margin of victory would have shrunk from 0.3% to to 0.2 or even a complete 50/50 split. That is not the sign of an “inevitable” candidate.
Hillary is now expected to lose in new Hampshire which makes South Carolina a must win state. If she doesn’t win there, and win big, her chances of winning the nomination are slight.
Bernie’s big showing in Iowa comes despite almost no media attention to his campaign, and the clear opposition to him by Democratic leaders. Eight years ago when Obama was campaigning I don’t think many people thought a black man had a chance of winning but Obama’s call for hope and change appealed to a lot of non-voters, giving him the edge for victory. Sanders is also running on a hope and change platform while Hillary is more of the same. I think Sander’s aspirational campaign is a winner while Hillary’s is not.
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Sue said on February 3, 2016 at 10:51 am
Kasich describes himself as a ‘strong and emotional supporter of Israel’
Roger Waters… does not.
Plus, not all members are still alive.
Plus, Waters and Gilmour aren’t besties and each thinks he owns ‘Pink Floyd’.
Should be an interesting negotiation; maybe you should do a little homework first, Governor Kasich.
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Sherri said on February 3, 2016 at 11:33 am
Beb, what will Bernie do with his aspirational campaign should he win? How will President Sanders differ from President Hillary Clinton? In the real world, that is, where the House of Representatives has repeatedly voted to overturn Obamacare.
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Mark P said on February 3, 2016 at 11:34 am
beb, I’m not sure it’s quite accurate to say that Sanders had almost no media attention. In fact, TV news trumpets anything that indicates Clinton may not still be leading as if it were the second coming. I like Sanders and most of what he’s campaigning for, but as others have noted, achieving those things will be impossible with a Congress that is anything like what we have today. Obama had trouble getting his modest ACA passed even with a Democratic House and Senate. Something like a single-payer system (essentially Medicare for all) is really unicorns and butterflies.
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brian stouder said on February 3, 2016 at 11:44 am
Speaking of aspirations and unicorns and butterflies, if Cruz is the R nominee, how long before they update the old 1964 LBJ commercial, wherein the little girl plucks the petals from a daisy, and then it jarringly shifts to a countdown and launch of a missile?
Ted’s (et al) aspirational invocation of “glowing sands” ultimately makes him toast….I say
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beb said on February 3, 2016 at 12:58 pm
Like Brian Stouder I wonder if the LBJ ad won’t be thrown against a Cruz/ Trump / Rubio candidacy. All they seem to know is to bomb stuff.
If the Republicans remain in control of Congress it won’t matter whether Hillary or Bernie wins. Ain’t nothin’ gonna happ’n. But if the Republicans get the White House all America is going to look like Kansas. So it’s important to get a Dem in the White House. I think a Dem with as aspirational program is more likely to get elected. I don’t see Hillary electrify non-voters. I see Bernie doing that. But ….YMMV.
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Brandon said on February 3, 2016 at 1:25 pm
http://www.npr.org/2016/02/03/465407589/rand-paul-drops-out-of-white-house-race
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Connie said on February 3, 2016 at 1:26 pm
The Daisy ad was Goldwater 1964. The Year my dad swore that if Johnson won we were moving to Australia. I believed him. It was terrifying. Don’t say stuff like that to your gullible 8 yr old.
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Dexter said on February 3, 2016 at 3:00 pm
Remember old “Bombs Away LeMay? Pride of Columbus , Ohio, made his bones making plans to just obliterate Japan during WWII then proposing even more drastic action against Vietnam when he ran with old George Wallace in 1968. Ted Cruz certainly is a disciple of LeMay. Goldwater ran with Bill Miller who was a mild-mannered New Yorker and sort of balanced out the extremism of old Barry. Funny (to me anyway) how as hated as Goldwater was by the majority in 1964, in later years he became a revered example of conservationism, ballyhooed on talk shows and so forth. But then I also remember Bill Clinton’s glorifying comments about Dick Nixon when Nixon croaked in 1994. Hardly a word of truth in any of it and it made me sick to hear that bullshit. (I am convinced my hatred of Nixon was the main cause of my early dependency on blood pressure control medicines…a George Carlin bit in which Carlin described having his first seven heart attacks , all brought on , he believed, by his states of agitation with Nixon, allowed me to see and understand not to get sick over stuff and shit you cannot control. George Carlin finally got that, and then, thanks to George Carlin, so did I.)
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Laurie said on February 3, 2016 at 3:32 pm
Longtime lurker here. Nancy, I REALLY admire that you were able to make those dietary changes for January. I have heard that once people are off sugar it does taste a lot stronger and hits them harder. My brother, for example, came home after working in China for 3 years and eating the local diet; in contrast to the time he left the U.S., he wanted no sweets and was repelled by them. As for me, I feel like sugar and chocolate kick my *** on a daily basis, and although I am in the normal weight range, as I get older I feel less well after them and if I eat them in the evening they keep me up. Yet they have some kind of emotional hold on me I think.
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Kirk said on February 3, 2016 at 4:35 pm
The girl picking daisies, anti-Goldwater ad ran exactly once and was then pulled, because they thought it was too over the top.
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Sherri said on February 3, 2016 at 4:40 pm
It ran once, but it lives forever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDTBnsqxZ3k
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brian stouder said on February 3, 2016 at 4:41 pm
And with Youtube (et al) the exact same thing could be done now, and blossom and spread like a… mushroom cloud
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Julie Robinson said on February 3, 2016 at 5:01 pm
Connie, while your dad was vowing to move if Goldwater was elected, my folks took us to one of his campaign events. To this day Mom speaks admiringly of him. I really think she didn’t understand the implications of what his positions meant, mostly she just liked the way he promoted the state of Arizona. We got Arizona Highways for years.
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Scout said on February 3, 2016 at 5:39 pm
Connie’s Dad threatened to move if Johnson won. Obviously just wishful thinking on his part, as is the same type of thinking on mine if any of the Republican Angerbears end up President.
beb said, “If the Republicans remain in control of Congress it won’t matter whether Hillary or Bernie wins. Ain’t nothin’ gonna happ’n. But if the Republicans get the White House all America is going to look like Kansas.” Even if President Bernie or President Hillary are as hog-tied by Congress as President Barry is, they can at least prevent disastrous Supreme Court appointments, the dismantling of Obamacare, and the likelihood of WW3.
Arizona IS gorgeous, Julie. The politics here, however, are brutal. Too many crazies living in the ‘burbs and the sticks and not enough city folk to balance them out.
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Deborah said on February 3, 2016 at 5:49 pm
In case you were wondering who the little daisy girl in the ad was, here you go http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/09/07/daisy-ad-political-attack-remembered/15233151/
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alex said on February 3, 2016 at 7:38 pm
My dad seems to have amnesia where Goldwater is concerned, but likes to remind me that he was there and I wasn’t, and he insists that Goldwater was unfairly maligned and lost the election because of false rumors that he was out to gut Social Security. From what I’ve been able to ascertain, Goldwater really was making such a promise, at least out of one side of his ass. He wanted participation to be voluntary rather than mandatory, which would have ruined it just as surely as privatizing it would ruin it.
It strikes me that if my dad were young today, he might be just as inclined to ignore/dismiss the extremism of someone like Ted Cruz if it happened that Cruz was favored in his work and social circles and voting for a Democrat was considered an unpardonable sin. Just like it is in Fort Wayne today, as a matter of fact.
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Hattie said on February 3, 2016 at 9:33 pm
What flitted through my mind were those awful cartoons by Tom Tomorrow of the Gore-bot. You’d think he’d be ashamed.
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Brandon said on February 3, 2016 at 11:18 pm
Al Gore reminds me more of the principal from Ferris Bueller. And George W. is like Ferris, actually.
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