This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

I couldn't tolerate seeing kids come to class hungry and needing shoes. I thought I could do more by organizing farm workers than by trying to teach their hungry children.

Dolores Huerta (1930-2026)

Source:  Brainy Quote

Hey, Kids, Let's Put on a Show!

Image:  Facebook

Now I get it.

I've been mystified by Donald Trump's insistence on barnstorming the country prior to the midterms, only to spend time talking to his audiences about such compelling national concerns as the rumps of Jon Husted and Nicki Minaj.

Last night the political experts on the "PBS News Hour" clarified things for me. Trump is a showman, said Tamara Keith. "This is a two-hour weave-filled show that is part comedy routine, part body humor, part campaign message."

"This is not designed to win over swing voters, these rallies," explained Amy Walter. "They are for the people who are in the audience and designed to get the response that they got."

She noted that normally a president with a 38 percent approval rating would be hiding out in the White House john, avoiding the campaign trail, but that's not Trump.

So he's a hambone and an impresario, the modern P.T. Barnum. Makes me wonder what kind of a butt Barnum had.

Going Low in the Heartland

Image:  Facebook

Well, there is a bottom. Who'd have thought it? 

After years and years of Donald Trump dragging political discourse somewhere south of the gutter, it seems a fellow Republican actually went too far. Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's attack ad against his Democratic opponent Amy Acton is backfiring.

The ad features Acton's mother calling Acton a serial liar. The ad doesn't mention that Acton and her mother have been estranged since 1978 when Acton, aged 12, was removed from her mother's custody after her stepfather was charged with raping her.

Acton's mother remained married to that man till the day he died. It's hard to understand why some women always stand by their man, even when the man is clearly a lying sack of offal.

Anyway, the ad has divided Ohio Republicans and turned off some voters. Ramaswamy has doubled down on it.

Guess who supports the ad? That's right: Trump and JD Vance, Machiavelli-dee and Machiavelli-dum. Vance said he was "a little bit disgusted" with Republicans "whining" about the ad rather than kvetching about what Democrats will do to the country.

Again, how can Usha Vance tolerate being married to a man as conniving as Emperor Palpatine, but without the charm?

If this disgusting attack ad helps defeat Ramaswamy, hurray. He sure brought it on himself. But I don't believe this is the beginning of a cleaner brand of politics.

And what's more distressing is I think if Trump had run an ad this slimy, he'd have been unscathed. Ramaswamy can try one of Trump's diversionary tactics. But he isn't actually the governor of Ohio, so declaring war on Michigan is out of the question.

The Horror

 

This Week's Quote

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

Ahhh... it's time for my favorite autumn tradition.

Rightwing outlets screaming about migration caravans traveling up from Mexico just two weeks before an election.

Charlotte Clymer

Source:  X

Alrighty Then

 

The Conscience of Congress

Image:  Wikipedia

Recently I went to see a play called "Conscience."

Bet you already have a notion where I'm going with this.

The play is about Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, who in 1950 delivered her "Declaration of Conscience" speech in the Senate, a reaction to fellow Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy's Cold War shenanigans.

The principled speech resulted in deafening silence from her colleagues, who were too scared of McCarthy to get on board. It wasn't until four long years later that the Senate censured McCarthy, after he'd done irreparable harm to so many lives.

I left the theater thinking about all the Republican jellyfish in Congress who've kept mum about Donald Trump's glaring excesses and treason over these painful years. If Republicans are crushed in the midterms a few weeks from now, will these avid Trump supporters instantly pretend they've never heard of the man?

Fear of being labeled a Communist sympathizer kept her colleagues from supporting Smith; fear of pissing off Trump have kept today's Congressmen from confronting his incompetence and cruelty. Job security over conscience.

So while there are many reasons I hope the Democrats take the midterms, one of them is to see how the Republican enablers handle it. Will they defend Trump as he's sidelined or even impeached, or will they put distance between themselves and his aromatic carcass?

I feel confident not one of them will confess that supporting him was a mistake. No, rather than admit their own role in this national fiasco, they'll turn on Trump faster than you can say "golden escalator to hell."

Assuming these elections weaken him sufficiently. If the Republicans hold serve, his GOP toadies will stick by him.

Until gas hits $7 a gallon or he names the White House after himself. Whichever comes first.