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NOVEMBER 14,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET:

RUDY? – FROM FOX:   Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was the favorite to be secretary of state in President-elect Donald Trump's administration, a senior Trump transition official said Monday.  The official told the Associated Press there was no real competition for the job and that it was Giuliani's if he wanted it. However, a second official cautioned that John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, remained in contention for the job.  Gee, I never saw Rudy in that role, and his manner doesn't exactly shout "diplomat."  But Rudy has a way of succeeding.  Don't sell him short.

MORE MADNESS ON CAMPUS – FROM POWERLINE:   You would think that after the Rolling Stone rape hoax fiasco, the University of Virginia, which Thomas Jefferson founded, would be wary of beclowning itself further. And you would be wrong. From the Cavalier Daily:  Several groups on Grounds collaborated to write a letter to University President Teresa Sullivan against the inclusion of a Thomas Jefferson quote in her post-election email Nov. 9.  In the email, Sullivan encouraged students to unite in the wake of contentious results, arguing that University students have the responsibility of creating the future they want for themselves.  “Thomas Jefferson wrote to a friend that University of Virginia students ‘are not of ordinary significance only: they are exactly the persons who are to succeed to the government of our country, and to rule its future enmities, its friendships and fortunes,’” Sullivan said in the email. “I encourage today’s U.Va. students to embrace that responsibility.”  Some professors from the Psychology Department — and other academic departments — did not agree with the use of this quote. Their letter to Sullivan argued that in light of Jefferson’s owning of slaves and other racist beliefs, she should refrain from quoting Jefferson in email communications.  “We would like for our administration to understand that although some members of this community may have come to this university because of Thomas Jefferson’s legacy, others of us came here in spite of it,” the letter read. “For many of us, the inclusion of Jefferson quotations in these e-mails undermines the message of unity, equality and civility that you are attempting to convey.”  What jerks.  It was the vision of Thomas Jefferson, among others, that gave these "scholars" their freedom.  But Jefferson is out of fashion, which is all that counts among the trendies.  Trump said he'd take on political correctness.  I hope he does.

NOTHING CHANGES – Much talk these days about the role of the press in the campaign, with many voices complaining about the blatant press bias, especially at outlets like The New York Times and CNN.  So, I've monitored several news organizations, trying to find out if any corrective policies are in place.  They aren't.  The press will probably learn nothing from the debacle.  The Times, whose publisher actually made a statement late last week recommitting the paper to quality journalism, is still obsessed with "get Trump" stories.  The editors apparently didn't read the publisher's letter.  And CNN is hopeless.  You can feel the sneer toward Trump in much of its reporting.  No greater respect for the man than before the election.  Both organizations are hammering Trump's appointment of Steve Bannon as White House strategist, whatever that means.  They are desperate to prove that Trump is a bigot, and Bannon's controversial history at Breitbart is their current route.

November 14, 2016       Permalink 

THE "WOMEN'S VOTE" – AT 10:41 A.M. ET:   I put the phrase in quotes because there are now serious doubts about the strength and solidarity of the so-called "women's vote."  Naomi Schaefer Riley examines a fading myth in the New York Post: 

Rather, in a race between a feminist icon and a man who could generously be called a chauvinist, women voters were remarkably torn. It’s true that the gender gap was about 12 points, the largest since 1972, but, as a report from Pew points out, “it is not dramatically higher than in some other recent elections, including the 2000 contest between [George W.] Bush and Al Gore.” Neither the fact that Hillary is a woman nor the fact that Donald Trump insults women seemed to have much of an effect.

Hillary lost white women but won women of other races. Which isn’t surprising, because race has long been a better predictor of how people will vote than gender. Black men voted overwhelmingly for Hillary — and black women did, too. Hispanic men voted for Hillary — and so did Hispanic women. Class, level of educational attainment and geography are all better predictors of how you’ll vote than sex, says Karlyn Bowman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

And...

In Slate, Michelle Goldberg writes that Hillary’s “victory would have been a sign that the gender hierarchy that has always been fundamental to our society . . . was starting to crumble. It would have meant that men no longer rule.” She laments, “I thought my daughter was not going to be consigned to a lesser life than my son. I no longer do.”

Oh, please. If anyone besides a few liberal elites believed that, Hillary would have won.

COMMENT:  Very good piece, well argued, with actual facts. 

November 14, 2016       Permalink

THE MOVE TOWARD TRUMP – AT 10:14 A.M. ET:  British conservative commentator Dan Hannan, who's become a favorite orator among American conservatives, assesses his own move toward accepting Trump, something we're beginning to see among the conservative Trump doubters, including me.  From the Washington Examiner:

An odd thing has happened since last week. I've started warming to Donald Trump. Maybe it was his gracious acceptance speech or some of his appointments. Maybe it's that I want the best for America. But mainly, if I'm honest, it's the gibbering, drooling, pant-hooting rage of the other side.

It started a few hours after the polls closed when I read an article by the editor of the New Yorker, David Remnick, which contained, without irony, the following sentence: "Fascism is not our future — it cannot be; we cannot allow it to be so — but this is surely the way fascism can begin."

I can't believe this needs saying, but America is a pluralist democracy. It has just conducted a free and peaceful election, as a result of which power will be transferred in an orderly manner, without anyone being exiled or shot.

The winner reached out to those who hadn't voted for him, asking for their help and guidance; the loser made a fine concession speech; the outgoing president put his staff at his successor's disposal to ensure a smooth transition. Fascism?

COMMENT:  I'm glad someone wrote that.  The left is very casual about language.  Words like "racist," "bigot," "warmonger," "misogynist," are thrown around as if they mean nothing.  The same with "fascist."  And they're being hurled at Donald Trump, and those around him.  We're now told that journalists are "fearful" about freedom of the press.  Really?  They should be concerned about press collusion with the Democratic Party, not about their "freedom," which is guaranteed.

November 14, 2016       Permalink

ON TRUMP AND HIS VICTORY – AT 9:32 A.M. ET:  The learned assessments of Trump's victory continue.  (That is a joke.)  But, actually, one of the best comes from Canadian publisher Conrad Black, who is blunt about the corrupt role of the press in covering the campaign.  From Canada's National Post: 

There are many who will or should engage in some soul-searching, following the U.S election, in which for the first time in the country’s history, someone came from no background in public office or military command and seized control of a major political party, running against all those who had led it for the last 20 years, then defeated the incumbent party, defeating all the Clintons, Bushes and Obamas together. The Clintons and Bushes and Obamas are finally finished. Their entire era, though it had its moments, has been a worsening disaster as the United States has been in absolute and relative decline. The media have been exposed in their biases, their overwhelming hostility to Donald Trump, as not just irrelevant, but the object of hatred as intense as that which overwhelmed the political elites who failed the nation and imperilled the alliance America founded and led for many decades.

The public’s loathing and distrust of the media is richly deserved and indicative of one of Western society’s greatest failings: the free press has failed. Only the fact that there is no alternative keeps it going. Few people now pay much attention to the common misrepresentation of public issues and people; nor should they. The American media turned itself inside out trying to portray Trump as a misogynist, a racist and an authoritarian populist whipping up mobs and inciting violence. All this was unmitigated rubbish. President Barack Obama strutted about the campaign trail in a last-ditch effort to salvage the Clinton campaign (despite the notorious absence of any affection between the Obamas and the Clintons), and accused Trump of being a sympathizer of the Ku Klux Klan. The president would have his listeners believe that Trump, who has an unblemished record as an equal opportunity employer, approves of thugs surging about in hoods and bedsheets, burning crosses on the lawns of African-Americans, Jews and Roman Catholics (most of whose 30 million voters cast their ballots for Trump).

COMMENT:  Very well said.  Read the whole piece.  It's well worth it.

November 14,  2016     Permalink

NOVEMBER 13,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET:

ARE WE SERIOUS HERE? – FROM REUTERS:   ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey warned its citizens about travel to the United States on Saturday in response to what the foreign ministry called increasingly violent protests against President-elect Donald Trump.  "Within the context of risks caused by the incidents and of social tension, our citizens who live in the U.S., or who are considering traveling there, should be cautious," the ministry said in a statement.   Maybe we can all retreat to the calm and safety of Islamic Turkey.

SHE'S BECOMING NUTS – FROM THE HILL:   Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg brought audiences to their feet at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in DC this weekend.  The 83-year-old justice played as the Duchess of Krakenthorp in the opera "The Daughter of the Regiment."
Ginsburg's lines had been rewritten so that she could play the role with 21st century relevance, reports USA Today.  While Ginsburg didn't sing, she got a warm reception, according to the LA Times.  One of the biggest laughs of the night came, according to the Times, came when Ginsburg appeared to reference the "birther" campaign against President Obama.  In asking whether the title character, Marie, was worthy of marrying her nephew, Ginsburg asked if she could produce a birth certificate.  "We must take precautions against fraudulent pretenders," she said.  Everyone should have a second profession.

REASONABLE – President-elect Trump, in his "Sixty Minutes" interview tonight, seemed to back off from threats to prosecute Hillary Clinton.  That's a wise move.  It would be incredibly unseemly, and thoroughly divisive, for a president to prosecute his recent opponent.  Sounds very third-world to me.  Besides, Clinton has suffered enough.  She's been beaten badly, and humiliated, and must surely know that her reputation for corruption had a great deal to do with it.  We'd be wiser to put the Clintons behind us.  I have no problem with Obama issuing a pardon, or even Trump doing it.  Then we can move on with the nation's business, as we did when Ford pardoned Nixon.  I know others will disagree, but there are many forms of just punishment, and public humiliation is one of them.

November 13, 2016       Permalink

BILL TRIED – AT 12:40 P.M. ET:   Say what you want about Bill Clinton, and we've said plenty here, but he's  great retail politician.  Apparently he did understand the disconnect between the Democratic Party and the people it claimed to represent, but was ignored.  From the Washington Examiner: 

Bill Clinton stood before an audience of blue-collar workers in Lansing, Mich., two days before the presidential election and told them he understood and empathized with the economic frustrations of the working class.

"There's a lot of road rage out there because after the financial crash, it took a long time before incomes started going up again. There are still some families that if you adjust for inflation, their incomes are about what they were the last day I was president more than 15 years ago and their costs are going up. And that's really tough," the former president drawled as he campaigned on behalf of his wife, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

"So when you get up every morning, and you look in the mirror and you don't think you've got the power to make tomorrow better than today, that's a pretty tough load to carry," he told an audience that included union laborers.

Compared to the main themes of Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, the former president's remarks in Lansing seemed like an off-script moment.

And...

Lansing, it turns out, was not a one-off incident for Bill Clinton. It certainly was not a first for him on the campaign trail.

His comments in Michigan marked the last leg of a lonely, one-man war he launched earlier in the election to appeal to working-class and white rural voters, whom senior Clinton staffers reportedly told him were not worth the time or effort.

COMMENT:  This is a major story.  It is worth one of those CNN documentaries that always seem to follow the leftist party line.  Maybe they could do one that doesn't.  They might call it, "Bill Clinton on Politics," and it would be worth watching.

The people who made Trump's election possible used to be the heart of the Democratic Party, and the party left them.  That is the key story of this election.

November 13, 2016       Permalink

NO, LET'S NOT – AT 11:58 A.M. ET:  Former Attorney General Eric Holder, who politicized the Justice Department, now proposes a change in the Constitution to deal with the Democrats' loss of the presidency.  Get rid of the Electoral College.  From Hot Air:

The electoral college is an affront to a movement that rarely imagines a form of centralized authority that it doesn’t like.

The point of the Electoral College is simple: to restrict the power of the majority. There’s a tendency to forget that majority rule is only half of a free country — the other half is the protection of the rights of the minority, of the dissenters. This is why our federal government has two legislative houses instead of one. The House of Representatives is filled on the majority-rule principle, with greater power given to larger states; the Senate, on the minority-protection principle, with equal power given to each state no matter its size…

Remember: The Constitution intends that most laws be made on a scale much smaller than the federal government, where the individual voter has, proportionally, a much greater say, and where local problems can be dealt with without affecting unconcerned strangers. The federal government is the federation of one level of distinct law-making units — the states — and a direct presidential election would mean that problems unique to sparsely populated parts of the country would be irrelevant to the president.

That’s what the Founding Fathers decided, anyway.

COMMENT:  There is great wisdom in the Electoral College.  It avoids a kind of mob rule.  It emphasizes the very concept of a United States of America.  It forces presidential candidates to give attention even to the smallest states.  If an election were decided only by popular vote, candidates would concentrate in population centers.  The concept of geographic diversity would disappear.

November 13, 2016       Permalink

RIGHT ON – AT 11:24 A.M. ET:  The new administration strikes the right note.  From Fox: 

President-elect Donald Trump's senior adviser Kellyanne Conway on Sunday called on Democratic leaders -- including President Obama and Hillary Clinton -- to publicly call for an end to violent protests over Trump’s election victory, while warning outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid to “be very careful” about his personal attacks on Trump.

“I am calling for responsibility and decency. I hope President Obama says, ‘Cut it out,'" Conway said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Everybody is looking for a peaceful transition, and you have the Senate minority leader acting like a garden variety political pundit.”

"I think that the president of the United States, Secretary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, perhaps, others can come forward and ask for calm and ask for a peaceful transition and ask their supporters, which are masquerading as protesters now -- many of them professional and paid by the way, I'm sure -- ask them to give this man a chance so that this country can flourish," she said.

Conway warned Reid, a Nevada Democrat retiring from the Senate in January, to “be very careful about characterizing someone in a legal sense” regarding his attacks on Trump, but said she was not suggesting legal action was pending.

Reid on Friday said Trump has the responsibility for healing a divided, post-election American and that he was “a sexual predator who lost the popular vote and fueled his campaign with bigotry and hate.”

COMMENT:  Very well said.  There's some buzz suggesting that Kellyanne will have a high position in the administration.  I hope so.  She participated mightily in Trump's victory, and has a clean, tasteful approach.

November 13,  2016     Permalink