US Presidential Contenders

[Buster's Uncle]

We were talking tonight about G.W Bush saying he is sad thinking he will be the last of the Republican Presidents.

He should definitely be sad, but this is not why.

[Rusty Edge]

An alphabetical  comparison compiled from Politifact, for what it's worth. I say for what it's worth because a lot depends on how many true statements they choose to evaluate, as that affects the overall number upon which the % is based. Does that mean they checked the true claims because they sounded dubious?

 Politician /True/ Mostly True/ Half True/ Mostly False / False / Pants on Fire



Clinton  52(23%)/ 62(28%) / 48 (22%) / 33 (15%) / 25 (11%)  /3 (1%)

Cruz 7(6%)/ 18(16%)/ 15(13%)/ 35(31%)/ 31(27%)/ 8(7%)

Johnson 0 (0%)/ 4(40%)/ 3(30%)/ 2( 20%)/ 1(10%)/ 0 (0%)

Obama 121(21%)/ 159(27%) /157 (27%) / 69 (12%)/ 71 (12%) /9 ( 2%)

Ryan 9(15%)/ 12(20%)/ 13(22%)/ 18(30%)/ 6(10%)/ 2(3%)

Sanders 14(14%) / 39(38%) / 20 (19%)/ 18(17%)/ 12(12%) / 0 (0%)

Jill Stein hasn't even appeared in the database.

[Sleezebag] 8(4%) / 19(10%) / 31( 16%) / 32(16%) / 75(38%) / 34 (17%)

[Rusty Edge]

As eye-rollingly pathetic and amateur as it is for Melania (or her speechwriter) to have plagiarized Michelle, Republicans ain't gonna care. "Oh, Melania stole some lines? Well Obama stole our country/jobs/the presidency!"

A different take of the plagerized speech thing...

Starting with A tale of two cities and then slamming into Dr. Seuss... Some William Wallace...

F...ing Funny as H3ll...

It took some time to get a quiet house so that I could listen to this... it was hilarious. Thank you!

[Buster's Uncle]

Rusty, I'd sure love to hear more about this being a lieutenant and a candidate...

[Rusty Edge]

I think I already covered most of it.

I was always political. I was also a family farmer. When I graduated high school, I was sick of regimentation - doing the same thing everyday with the same people in the same place. Actually, I was tired of high school from about 10 AM on the first day of 10th grade. I wasn't ready for summer to be over, and I had this feeling I was serving time. The bell rings and we march. I guess the problem was that most kids needed more repetition of the content than I did. At that time my memory was much like yours, if I read something or wrote down notes, I could remember most of it for years. So college was out. I hated being indoors so much.

So, the county fair occurred the week after my 18th birthday and I registered and volunteered to help man the booth, which was mostly registering voters, passing out brochures, and introducing voters to candidates who happened to be there, which could get complicated according to gerrymandering. But it was also a chance to socialize with other party people.

Also, when I was in high school I made up my mind to run for school board, because the quotes in the newspaper indicated that some of the sitting board members were out of touch and needed to hear a fresh perspective.  So I asked my twp chairwoman to help me get on the ballot, and she agreed to circulate my petitions. That was a way for her to talk to people about me, and she liked what she heard. I was cross-filed as both a Republican and a Democrat, because schoolboard was considered non-partisan. I lost on both tickets in the primary, but did well enough to get some attention, probably mostly people from my congregation.

But me and the precinct woman, Gloria, became friends. She was a grandmother and knew everybody. She was also a workhorse for the party in the school district. She loved to talk, but she wasn't in good health, so I got some of the leg work, like putting up and taking down signs. I could only do that in the evenings after the field and barn work was done, sometimes in the dark, but I did id, and apparently well enough to get the attention of the chairman of the county commissioners, who was an attorney, originally with the Federal Maritime Commission in DC.

There was an annual banquet at the Elk's club, and I would attend, and Gloria and the commissioner would introduce me to people. Maybe they'd ask me what I thought about a particular issue, it was interesting. The Governor or a Senator would keynote. Sometimes it was a Congressman. Mostly state legislators. Funny, the politicians were always friendlier when they planning and preparing for advancement, or facing redistricting after a census. I think I met Rick Santorum when he was a College Republican.

I particularly liked Tom Ridge. I met him when he was the only Viet Vet in Congress  who served as an enlisted man rather than an ROTC guy. Ridge was a sergeant. Later he was governor of PA, and the first Director of Homeland Security. Maybe because he was hearing impaired  ( from the war), but he was probably the best listener ever. He gave you his total attention. On the other end of the spectrum was a kiss axe Assembly of God cultural conservative state legislator.

That really solidified my views about honesty and sincerity in candidates and weasel lawyers, and why I can't stand Hillary because she reminds me of the people that are attracted to politics out of personal ambition rather than a sense of duty or a desire to fix something

Anyway when somebody retired, I was asked to run for schoolboard and I won. Gloria had to go for heart surgery at one point and I wound up picking up the slack. I recruited a couple of people to run for local office like auditor. I was a poll watcher, which meant that I checked people off of a list, as the voted and went home about 5 to get on the phone and motivate the no-show Republicans. People fall into habitual time slots.

What else? Oh there were parties in the evening after the polls closed, usually the congressman rented a hotel conference room, but it would be for the whole party. Those tv lights are brutally bright. There were county committee meetings, which were as boring as any other mandatory meeting.

There were other people I met - R. Bud Dwyer you might remember him as the guy who blew his brains out at a press conference.

Anyway, a lot of drudgery and a some interesting conversation, and a chance to influence things, sometimes by interacting with the candidate, sometimes by getting the best ones elected.

I did mention I volunteered for Perot her once. I've always been a fiscal conservative. To me a government that borrows for current expenses is generationally immoral. Other than that, I liked The Real George Bush.

[Buster's Uncle]

That's almost 100% new to me before the last paragraph.

Anything to talk about from serving on the school board?

[Rusty Edge]

I came here to make a gleanings post, and now I can't remember all of it-

* Hillary was supposed to announce her VP choice, but was delaying on account of the terrorist attack in Germany.

* WikiLeaks has released 20K e-mails from the DNC, presumably hacked by the Russians. Supposedly they will show the DNC conspiring against Bernie, and also colluding with the press.

*What else? Johnson-Weld has a fund-raising campaign. The message is that the two party system is a dinosaur and you're the comet. Cool graphic. They've raised $168K/250 in small donations so far.

* It must be terribly frustrating for Gary, because it seems like there are a couple of people every day who ask why his campaign is a secret or why he waited so late to get in the race on his facebook page. He usually patiently thanks them for their support and asks them to spread the word to everyone they know.  After all, if they read their ballots 4 years ago, he was on them in 48 states. Or if they'd been paying attention, the Libertarians held primaries and debates, too.

* all I can think of at the moment.

[Rusty Edge]

That's almost 100% new to me before the last paragraph.

Anything to talk about from serving on the school board?

Maybe. Someday when I'm in the mood.

[E_T]

In what context was he speaking?

The ballot choice between T rump and Hillary in a floor interview after his speech. I may have prefaced my remark with an exclamation about organic fertilizer of bovine origin. That is so rare an occurrence on my part, that I can't recall in what year it last happened.

I have found that Horse[poop] would be better term, in this respect. Of course there is also Chicken, Ape and Bat [poop]es... 

[Buster's Uncle]

Yo - do an edit and tone that down more, thanks - or I'll have to, sorry.

[Buster's Uncle]

Siigh.  It had been up an hour, and please don't circumvent the filter that way - not okay.

[Rusty Edge]

Okay, I haven't been posting stuff. Some of it is because I'm tired, but I got to nap all afternoon, and I'm feeling a little better. In part I've been self-sensoring, because a lot of what I've come across has been pro-Johnson, or anti-[Sleezebag], or makes Hilary look bad.

Like the Washington Post Editorial board's declaration that they can not and will not endorse [Sleezebag] this year with innumerable citations as to why he is unqualified by disposition and lack of experience to be president. I can't dispute those points.

Then there is the recent WikiLeaks revelation, courtesy of the State sponsored Russian hackers. It was known that they hacked both Hillary's campaign, and the Democratic National Committee. It was thought that they were trying to get "dirt" on Hillary and [Sleezebag] to use as blackmail against the eventual president in negotiations .

Well, 20K e-mails from the Democrats have been released on the eve on the convention. The DNC chairwoman has resigned over proof of collusion and bias against Sanders. There is also evidence of a too cozy association with some of the press, and illegal cooperation with The New York Times.

So- Bernie was right, perhaps he'll be happy, he's been calling for the chairwoman's scalp for some time. 

I have another concern. Obviously Putin and [Sleezebag] have a bromance. I think the timing is deliberate to help [Sleezebag]. I wonder if there is an October surprise. While Clinton maintains that her private e-mail arrangements were "never hacked", I think that if that's true it's because  Putin's team never tried. With [Sleezebag] doubling down against NATO, essentially saying the European Union was created to compete with the USA, and the free ride is over. He has no interesting in protecting countries that haven't kept their promises in security treaties. I think it's in Putin's interest to see a President [Sleezebag], and he will do whatever he can to facilitate that. If for example they released enough Clinton e-mails to prove she'd been hacked, and included the name of a CIA agent or informant who had harm befall them, it would make her look pretty bad. Even if she won the election she could face impeachment by the House.

I'm not saying it's a conspiracy, I'm just saying that Putin prefers [Sleezebag], and Congress hates Hillary.

[Rusty Edge]

Just to bring something you won't find on the internet, here is the beginning of an e-mail I got from Gary Johnson. I cut it off before the fundraiser portion.-

"Friends-

You have probably seen some of the amazing media coverage from my visit last week to the Republican National Convention. It was overwhelming - literally. I couldn’t go 50 feet on a sidewalk without a camera or microphone in my face.

But I have a confession to make. I didn’t really want to go to the Republicans’ convention. It was their party, and I didn’t want to cause any trouble. Civility is actually important, and sadly lacking in this election.

I went because, frankly, the media demands were so great that we couldn’t stay away.

When I got there, an amazing thing happened. Literally hundreds of people at the convention came up to me to express their support, say hello, thank me for what we are doing, or just have a photo taken. Over two full days, there was not a single negative comment. Not one.

That trouble I feared? It just didn’t happen. It was just the opposite. The only problem we had was getting through the crowds of people wanting to shake hands and wish me well.

It’s happening. With Donald [Sleezebag]’s nomination now official, Republicans are making their choices, and a LOT of them are ready to join us. They are beginning to understand that the only real small government candidates in this election are Gov. Bill Weld and me. "


 

[Rusty Edge]

Gleanings-

* This e-mail business is a mess. Today I read about the /Washington Post, rather than the New York Times doing an illegal fundraising collaboration between party and newspaper. Digging into it Chuck Todd, he  may have been simply dealing with a complaining DNC chair. If he seemed too eager to appease her at first, he also seemed to tire of her in the e-mails, and whether it's an act of throwing her under the bus or not, he hasn't been kind to her recently.

* Whether it was the e-petition I signed, or Nate Silver's opinion, Johnson is being included in the polls, getting 12% from CBS.

* Bernie had an enthusiastic reception at the convention. I'd be kinda surprised if Hillary generates the same enthusiasm.

[Buster's Uncle]

I gather Mr. Sander's endorsement of Mrs. Clinton was far from tepid:

"Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close," Sanders said Monday evening to Democratic National Convention attendees in Philadelphia.