Friday, June 29, 2018

Sob Sister Democrats

Images of children weeping in front of United States Border Patrolmen, great expostulations from Democratic politicians are met with churlish replies from Trump and friends:  Those kids are facing this harsh reality because their parents put them in harm's way.

This is the essence of the divide:  Why should my Congressman care more about that kid on the border than he cares about my kid?

Don't we face a threat from this velvet invasion? 
Aren't those scary MS-13 gangs coming in with those kids?

Where is your concern about the families of all the kids these immigrants will murder?

So Trump quickly assembles families who have lost love ones to the immigrant/criminals who the Democrats invited in to ravage our country.

The fact is, Trump trumped these charges. There is no real immigrant crisis. The fact one illegal immigrant murders a woman in San Francisco does not mean we have an immigrant crisis. Immigration is not a problem of isolated crimes, of anecdote, it is a matter of numbers.

But we lose our listeners when we start sobbing.  Crying Chuck Schumer plays right into Trump's hands when he gnashes his teeth and weeps over the fate of immigrants.
You don't need to get all teary eyed to defend the 30 year old who has done everything right after being brought here at age 3. She should not have to pay for the sins of her father.

We need to find somebody who can sound tough while defending the defenseless.

Here is my ideal Democratic candidate for Congress:
1/ White
2/ Male
Why? Because, like it or not, the last election was a rejection of having tried Obama and every Cory Booker or Kirsten Gillebrand will be seen as more Obama and Hillary. 

3/ Tough guy who doesn't need to tell you how tough he is. 
It would be nice if he was a veteran, undeniably macho.  Arnold Schwarzenegger type tough. Doesn't have to do the Trump boast. The evidence is in front of you.
Be nice if he had some sort of military medal, or were a Seal or something heroic.

4/ A guy who reads history, who can quote it.

5/ Someone who speaks grammatical English, hopefully with a Reagan sense of humor, one liners, which can be thrown out with good timing, delivery honed on stage and screen perhaps. 
Remember when Reagan was asked about his age and wasn't that a problem and he replied, "I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue in this campaigan. I am not going to exploit for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."
Remember Reagan was great at delivering well  rehearsed zingers and it was not apparent to most observers until about a year after he left office how deeply into Alzheimer's he actually was.
Someone who has watched enough Bill Mahrer to trot out a lancinating put down every time Trump tweets. 
"I would have thought we could all agree, as Americans" on one thing: There is no such thing as a Nazi who is a 'very fine person.'" 
That's nice. 

6/ A policy wonk, who really loves thinking about the issues, who believes that healthcare ought to be revolutionized in this country by taking the profit motive out of it, which means more than just a fix to health insurance but a basic restructuring of the entire enterprize; someone who thinks we need more infrastructure, public transportation, renewable energy, renewed cooperation with our trading partners, not trade wars. And someone who doesn't compromise his dreams before he even describes them: Pack the Supreme Court. Sure, it may not happen, but that's what we should be shooting for.

7/ Someone young, strong, vigorous enough to put his nose in the face of Jim Jordan on the floor of Congress and dare him to take a swing.


Among the 10 candidates running for the Democratic nomination currently in the New Hampshire First only three meet this fantasy creation, and none of them meet this fully, but among those three, we might actually see a star who could one day run for President and generate enough excitement to win.

1. Lincoln Soldati:  He is funny, likes people, loves to engage the crowd, unapologetic, forceful.  But he is an experienced pol, who has been a mayor and a school board member. He is always aware of the possible and that gets in the way of his idea of the desirable. He is not willing to embrace radical change to the Supreme Court, not just because he thinks Democrats will never get the super majorities in Congress and a President in the White House to enable this to happen but because he does not want to do violence to the system we have.

2. Deaglan McEachern:  Here is an articulate 30 something, who listens well and learns and is something of a white Obama. He speaks well, has his lines well rehearsed without seeming too politically correct. But what has he done in life? He went to college, spent 10 years rowing on a national crew team and then signed on as a high tech entrepreneur. When he answers questions he can only make reference to his experience in these protected, privileged and limited arenas. 

3. Terrence O'Rourke:  We should begin by examining where O'Rourke fails to meet the description of the fantasy player.  He has not taken enough theater classes.  When he speaks, he is not Ronald Reagan. His  mind is working so fast his tongue trips over his thoughts.  He's got to rehearse more, get that delivery down to a speed his slow witted audience can follow. He doesn't have to be the amiable Reagan; he can be the rapier witted Churchill, cutting his opponents with--the line about the fine Nazi's was his, and he delivered it well. He needs about 100 more like it.

No matter what happens to him in this primary, he should be the shooting star of the future, if we could only get George Soros or somebody with money to buy him some ads.

Of course, O'Rourke would never stand for a rich patron. That would have to happen without O'Rourke's involvement. But the Koch brothers have figured out how to buy elections; sure Democrats could do the same. 

But the guy won a Bronze Star in combat, has prosecuted bad guys, and he doesn't need to show he's a tough guy by bragging about how big his dick is; he's already shown he's tough enough. When he first started his campaign, he barely mentioned his time in the military but obviously someone has advised him to advertise that now. I would not have done that. It's better if it just comes up. But he's the genuine article, until Captain Heel Spurs. 
 Now, he just needs to sell that other side, and work on his presentation. 




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