Making the Perfect the Enemy of the Good

Proud to Call Him a Democrat

Whenever you are inclined to a little dalliance in masochism just pop onto the website/blog Reddit Progressive. There you will experience the reality of the folks Democrats have got to court, but who will never actually get beyond the world of "It's all about me." There you will find comments that Hillary Clinton is a Republican, that she has no conscience, that she is the anti-Christ, or at best the anti-Bernie and on Election Day, we should all sit home in righteous indignation and hope her campaign crashes and burns and she is immolated in Hell fire, because, Heaven knows, she deserves it. 

Still Miss Him

These folks make Donald Trump look understated--he simply claims she's a "disaster" and the worst Secretary of State ever, but he has not, to my knowledge impugned her soul.

During my college days, I marched in peace marches and hung out with Hippies and assorted radicals who thought the United States of America the Great Satan before the Iranian ayatollahs came up with that name. In those days, given the American inclination to napalming Vietnamese villages, killing babies, bludgeoning demonstrators, shooting up radicals and setting attack dogs on Civil Rights demonstrators, not to mention fracturing their skulls or simply murdering Freedom Riders, the idea of the United States as a less than benign nation was understandable.

She'd look good in a black robe on the Supreme Court

But, even in those days, there were some scary, freaky, stupid people who you knew would ultimately cut their hair, buy a new suit and wind up selling automobiles or becoming real estate agents or bankers and they'd forget all about their Hippie Days because they were just in it for the fun.

The modern day descendants of those air head Hippie, Yippie types are now blogging on Progressive Reddit.  

The things they say!

I'd rather have to deal with these folks than deal with the folks who show up to Trump rallies, carrying the battle flag of Dixie, or grabbing microphones to shout "Obama is a Muslim born in Kenya!"   Embracing the warm kiss from David Duke, Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan may give the Donald an uncomfortable moment; at least the Grand Dragon is Mr. Trump's problem, not ours.

But, good grief, it is disheartening when you see who is flocking to your colors sometimes. 

You Don't Have to Love her, Just Vote for Her

Hillary Sweeps the South, Sort Of

So, what am I missing here?  Hillary has a lot of "super delegates"  something I still do not understand, but it sounds as if the Democratic party doesn't trust voters so they add delegates to put a thumb on the scale, sort of like the Iranian elections where candidates are pre screened before the voting begins.

And Hillary wins the South:  Arkansas, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas,  which does not mean she actually wins the South; she wins the pathetically small number of  Democratic voters in the South, who are the Blacks, who are other minorities, but she loses the actual South, which is mostly white, uneducated yahoos .  

So when the voting happens in November none of the Super Tuesday states (except Massachusetts) have a snowball's chance in Hell of winding up in her column. 

On the other hand, the Democrats might just win Colorado, Vermont and New Hampshire in November, which are all states which like Bernie better.

So, if you are nominating someone you hope will win where you have to win, why are you going for Hillary?   

I know, I'm just an unsophisticated rube from New Hampshire, but explain this to me.

The Flowers Has Rise: Springtime for Trump Mania

Trees are budding up in Hampton, New Hampshire and it's only March 1st. 

Our office is making plans for St. Patrick's Day.

The sun is shining.
The grass is rise.
I wonder where the birdies is.

And Trump is in the air.

Al Franken was on NPR talking about Donald Trump this morning. Trump really brings out the best in Franken.

Trump also brings out the best in John Oliver.

Check out Oliver through this link.  The thing about Oliver is he takes all the time he needs to tease out the essence of whomever he is lacinating. Jon Stewart was punchy and rambunctious, but Oliver takes his time, going over each nuance, digging into what makes someone like Trump just so absurd. He is really something different on the public airways, or at least on the HBO airways. This is a 25 minute rant, but it comes down to Oliver's piquant observation that January 14, 2017, the day Donald Trump is sworn in as our 45th President will be the day time travelers of the future come back to prevent.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnpO_RTSNmQ




I haven't seen Jon Stewart or Noah or Tina Fey launch yet, but Trump is one of those forces who stimulate pullulation; he is a "Springtime for Trump" sort of fellow. As Oliver says, at one point: It's not that he means to lie; he just doesn't care about the truth.

Just hearing him bloviate  makes the birdies sing in my head. 

The attack puppets are stirring in their boxes.

The possibilities are everywhere.

And that's what Spring is, isn't it?

Possibility. 
New Life!

My Favorite Trump

Chris Cuomo was interviewing the Donald, asking him about his income tax returns after Mitt Romney darkly predicted there would be a poison pill, a fatal bomb, in those income tax documents.  The Donald said the returns were tied up because he was currently being audited.

"Audited?" Cuomo asked.
"Yeah, I get audited all the time, " the Donald remarked.  "Probably because I'm Christian."
"You get audited because you're Christian?"
"Yeah."

That is my current favorite Trump line. 

When you think about it, it makes sense. First, the war on Christmas. Now, the war on Christianity, or at least Christians. 

And that Pope--what does he know?  As our very own New Hampshire state Representative, Susan Delemus,  noted, the Pope, well not just this pope but all popes are the anti-Christ. 

Now that we've broken free of the media elites, we have access to all sorts of new information. This is a time of revelation. As in the Book of.

What a great, succinct statement. They are after me because I'm a Christian.
It is well known, of course, the IRS is dominated by Muslims. The banks have Jews, the IRS Muslims. Now, the Donald loves the Jews, because they are good with money, but no so much the Muslims. The Hispanics love him, of course; never forget that. 

You know he has other great gems in there, deep in the loamy center of his cerebral cortex, which he has not yet passed out of his mouth like so much methane gas. 

I am so looking forward to the next several months.
 Please, let it be the Donald. 
This will be so much fun. 
Jon Stewart may have to come out of retirement.

Now the entire country can know how residents of the state of Maine feel about having a chief executive who is manifestly a moron.  Every time Paul Lepage opens his mouth it's got to be a question of who will wince with more pain, the Democrats or the Republicans. 

On Missing Oscar

There's a good chance I may miss the Academy Awards show tonight; it all depends on if I can finish my income tax return.

But, in a way, I already know what is going to happen, the most important and amusing part of the show will be Chris Rock.

Here is what he will, what he has to say. It writes itself:

Good evening. My name is Chris Rock.
In case you didn't notice, I am Black.
Yes, that's right.
There, I said it. You knew I would.
Take a good look, because very possibly, I will be the only Black man you will see tonight up here.
Now, what I particularly like about the Academy is how discerning it can be in its judgments. Discerning, you know, as in discriminating. 

So you have this one movie, which I really like, about a Black kid in Philadelphia, and this movie is written by a Black man, directed by a Black man and stars a Black man. And who do they nominate?

Yeah, you guessed it:  the white guy!

Now, okay, I like Sly Stallone.  But, you have to notice, over the course of his long career, he has been seen on screen beating up a lot of people of color.  

I mean, first there's Apollo Creed, then all those Vietnamese, and well, there's a lot of them. Oh, sure, he wails on a White Russian or two, but you know, it's okay for an American White guy to pulverize a Russian.  If he were Irish or Italian or Swedish, not so much.  

So Sly Stallone beats up Black guys.  

And this is a guy who actually likes  the brothers!  I mean, in real life, he's got Black friends and what I hear is he doesn't have prejudiced bone in his body, at least none that haven't been broken.

But there's nothing Sly can do about it. He only gets one vote!

But, you got to give it to the Academy: They made up for it. They paid me a bundle to host the show tonight!  I mean, I didn't want to do it, but if they paid you what they are paying me, you'd do it too, I don't care how Black you are, or how militant, when it comes to White people being willing to pay me an obscene amount of money to make their White asses feel better, I'll do it!  

'Cause I always said, there is nothing better for Black people than White people with guilty consciences.  

Sure, there are plenty of White people do don't have a conscience...Well, all you had to do was watch that Republican debate the other night.  

Talk about a bad hair night. 

Well, he always has a bad hair.  Actually, he really doesn't have a lot of hair.

And the rest of them. They are not even entertaining. Creepy, yes.  Nauseating, sure. But not entertaining. You got to give the phony with the comb over credit for that. He's a showman. 

In fact, he is so good, I am surprised he is not up for an honorary lifetime achievement award tonight.

Can we do something about that?

Paul Krugman Arrives at an Essential Truth

Here is Paul Krugman identifying an essential irony in the current political maelstrom,

"Seriously, Republican political strategy has been exploiting racial antagonism, getting working-class whites to despise government because it dares to help Those People, for almost half a century. So it’s amazing to see the party’s elite utterly astonished by the success of a candidate who is just saying outright what they have consistently tried to convey with dog whistles."

As he notes, since Reagan inveighed against "Welfare Queens" who lived high on the hog, driving Cadillacs and wearing mink, while drawing welfare checks, the Republican party has mined the rich source of resentment among white, high school educated, blue collar workers who dimly perceive and full embrace the notion that while they slave away earning dollars, the government takes those dollars and gives them to the undeserving.

The Undeserving are undeserving because:
1/ They do not want to work. They are lazy.
2/ They are cheating, gaming the system and laughing all the way to the bank, living a wonderful life of ease and oppulence.
3/ They are not White.

There you have Donald Trump's appeal in a nutshell: He says openly what Reagan had said in veiled, politically correct, i.e. oblique terms.

Paul, you have seen the truth and spake it.  

Thomas Edsall: Putting the Science in Political Science

Today's New York Times carries an analysis by Thomas Edsall of the meaning of the rise of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.  Finally, we have something which looks like science.

Some have suggested a Trump-Sanders ticket, recognizing there are voters who say they are trying to decide between voting for one or the other. But, as Edsall demonstrates, while there are some shared attractions between the two, there are more important differences.

Edsall cites a very cleverly constructed Cato Institute study (Emily Ekins and Jonathan Haidt)  in which the investigators asked voters questions designed to address certain values: "Care"  and "Proportionality" and "Authority" and "Liberty."  These are the values which the citizen already has internalized and they are almost like pre set, conditioned neurons which fire off when they listen to Trump or Sanders speak.

Below is a chart from that study, which doesn't quite fit my template, but it's so good, it's worth the unsightliness:

Care (empathy)

Proportionality (accountability, or just deserts)

Supporters’ belief that “morality requires caring for and protecting the vulnerable.”

Measured in part by favorable responses to this statement: “People who produce more should be rewarded more than those who just tried hard.” A desire for people to “reap what they sow.”

AGREE

LESS

SURVEY

AVERAGE

AGREE

MORE

AVG.

Sanders

Cruz

Clinton

Rubio

Huckabee

Christie

Paul

Carson

Bush

Trump

Fiorina

Fiorina

Carson

Christie

Huckabee

Trump

Bush

Rubio

Clinton

Cruz

Sanders

Paul

–0.6

–0.4

–0.2

0

+0.2

+0.4

STD. DEV.

–0.6

–0.4

–0.2

0

+0.2

+0.4

+0.6

+0.8

Liberty

Authority (plus loyalty and sanctity)

Resistance to being controlled or dominated, measured in part by approval of this statement: “Everyone should be free to do as they choose, so long as they don’t infringe on the freedom of others.”

Includes high levels of patriotism; loyalty to one’s group; support for the police and dislike of chaotic or disordered situations; hostility toward sexual acts outside traditional heterosexual relations; reverence for the American flag.

AVG.

AVG.

Huckabee

Paul

Christie

Sanders

Cruz

Cruz

Carson

Bush

Trump

Trump

Rubio

Rubio

Bush

Fiorina

Fiorina

Clinton

Clinton

Christie

Paul

Carson

Sanders

Huckabee

–0.6

–0.4

–0.2

0

+0.2

+0.4

+0.6

+0.8

–0.6

–0.4

–0.2

0

+0.2

+0.4

+0.6

There were not enough supporters of other candidates in the survey to include in the analysis.

Source: Analysis of 2,000 responses to a Nov. 2015 Cato Institute/YouGov survey by Emily Ekins of the Cato Institute and Jonathan Haidt of the New York University Stern School of Business

By Bill Marsh/The New York Times

What Edsall concludes is while Trumpees and Sanders supporters share a desire for being left alone by the government, they differ in many more important ways.

What really struck me was the question on "proportionality" by which attitudes toward who deserves rewards in our society are measured. "People who produce more should be rewarded more than those who just try hard."  

So, when Bernie Sanders  says, "Nobody who works two jobs should live in poverty in America today," that resonates with Bernie supporters but it rings alarm bells with the guys who will vote for Trump. 

The Trump voter says, "Well, if you are working flipping burgers at McDonald's and then working a second job cleaning offices, you maybe be trying hard, but you don't deserve more than I do. I got my license to drive my long haul truck. My brother passed his exams to be an electrician. We had to work hard to get to a position where we could do work to be productive and make money. The hamburger flipper got his girlfriend pregnant in high school, did drugs, never finished high school. Why should I pay to support him?" 

This also accounts for the different directions you see in the "empathy" question:  The Trump supporter resents working hard and having to hand over his money to the government which turns around and gives it to people he considers undeserving.

There is another wonderful and separate study, in which people are asked to play the board game, "Monopoly" and one subject is given twice as much money as his opponent and he gets to roll two dice, while his opponent can roll only one, so the advantaged subject moves around the board much faster and has money to buy more property. After the advantage player vanquishes the disadvantaged player, he is interviewed and the advantage subjects almost always attribute their success to their own superiority, their own crafty judgments and bets and they simply cannot not see the rigged game favored them. They embodied that "born on third base and thought they hit a triple"  mentality.

Other characteristics of the Trumpee are revealed in the Cato Institute study: the Trumpee is more likely to embrace authority than the Sanders voter but not nearly as much as the evangelical Huckabee or Ted Cruz voters.

Millennials are famous for hating the idea of being controlled by authority figures and the question about personal freedom from authority rings the bell with Sanders voters second only to those who love Rand Paul, the ultimate candidate of those who want to be left alone.

How you get people to sit still long enough to answer these questions is another matter, but studies like these are actually worth something, as opposed to 95% of what I see and hear on the morning talk shows and  listening to Joe Scarborough and the partisans who tell you what they believe and try to convince you this is what motivates  people who like Trump. Fact is, Scarborough doesn't know anything. 

But the folks who are out there with well designed questions and methodology which ensures representative sampling, they are learning things.  These folks actually know something. 

Care (empathy)

Proportionality (accountability, or just deserts)

Supporters’ belief that “morality requires caring for and protecting the vulnerable.”

Measured in part by favorable responses to this statement: “People who produce more should be rewarded more than those who just tried hard.” A desire for people to “reap what they sow.”

AGREE

LESS

SURVEY

AVERAGE

AGREE

MORE

AVG.

Sanders

Cruz

Clinton

Rubio

Huckabee

Christie

Paul

Carson

Bu