SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:10 P.M. ET: 

TRUMP TRUMPS – Like him or not, the Donald packs 'em in.  From London's Daily Mail:   Donald Trump spoke for 90 minutes to a crowd estimated at 20,000 on Monday night in Dallas, railing against 'this sanctuary cities crap' and joking that after he presided over the demise of Obamacare, the insurance scheme's replacement might bear his name.  'We'll go with "DonaldCare",' he said near the end of what became the longest single campaign speech of any candidate vying for the presidency in 2016, after a man in a raucous and riled-up audience called out the imaginary name for an as-yet imaginary new national health care initiative.  The guy strikes a nerve, but I still believe his abrasiveness, while an asset in some circumstances, may not wear well over time.

DRIP DRIP DRIP – From WaPo:   COLUMBUS, Ohio — Hillary Rodham Clinton is suffering a rapid erosion of support among Democratic women — the voters long presumed to be the bedrock in her bid to become the nation’s first female president.  The numbers in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll are an alarm siren: Where 71 percent of Democratic-leaning female voters said in July that they expected to vote for Clinton, only 42 percent do now, a drop of 29 percentage points in eight weeks.  She must stop this dive within weeks, or probably forfeit the crown.  Hillary's greatest asset right now isn't herself, as herself is probably a liability.  It's that most Dems aren't that enthusiastic about the other possibilities.  But she's hit an iceberg and there probably aren't enough lifeboats left.

BERNIE STARTING DOWNWARD? – For an aging socialist, Bernie Sanders has proved remarkably adept during this campaign at avoiding the label "extremist."  But that may change.  Today he praised the election of ultra-leftist wingnut Jeremy Corbyn as head of Britain's Labour Party.  Corbyn is militantly anti-American.  And then this, from Daily Caller:  Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders told a crowd at Liberty University Monday that America was founded on “racist principles” and that the country “took a huge step forward” in electing Barack Obama in 2008.  Oh, Bernie, we hardly knew ye.  Apparently Bernie wants to go right back to the rhetoric of the 1960s.  He's starting to sound like the far-out leftist he really is.  That won't bother the Democratic base, as long as the checks keep coming, but it will bother the rest of America. 

September 14, 2015