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OCTOBER 11,  2018

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

IT SEEMS LIKE YESTERDAY – FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES:   Betty Grissom, the widow of the astronaut Virgil Grissom, whose death in a launchpad fire in 1967 led her to sue a NASA contractor, died on Saturday at her home in Houston. She was 91.  Her son Mark confirmed the death. He said neighbors had noticed that Ms. Grissom had picked up her morning newspaper but not her afternoon mail and went to check on her. She had died while sorting the laundry, he said, and the cause of death was not known.  Virgil Grissom, known as Gus, one of the seven original Mercury astronauts immortalized by Tom Wolfe in his book “The Right Stuff,” was the second American in space, after Alan Shepard. He was also the command pilot of Apollo 1, which was intended to test the Apollo capsule for flights to the moon.But during a routine test at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, an electrical fire swept through the command module, killing all three astronauts aboard — Mr. Grissom, Edward H. White II and Roger B. Chaffee.  It was the first fatal accident in the history of the United States space program. Mr. Grissom was 40.  I remember when the space program symbolized America.  Every launch was watched by tens of millions.  Maybe we can get that spirit back.

MIRACLE IN TENNESSEE – In the hot Tennessee Senate race, a New York Times/Siena poll published hours ago shows Republican Marsha Blackburn opening up a 14-point lead over Democrat Phil Bredesen.  This is larger than previous leads, and we always caution that polls are a flash in time, but it shows the trend in the race.  Bredesen's cause wasn't helped when staff members were caught on tape admitting that the candidate's claim that he was pro-Kavanaugh was a fake.   The candidates are contesting a Republican seat held by the retiring Bob Corker.  We will welcome Marsha Blackburn to the US Senate.

THE SHOE IS ON THE OTHER FOOT – FROM COLLEGE FIX:  Professor C. Christine Fair is no stranger to attention-grabbing headlines. She told a Trump-supporting colleague to “go to hell” and called German police officers “German Nazi police.”  Most recently, she was placed on research leave after posting a controversial tweet that called for the “miserable deaths” and castrations of Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Afterward, she claimed the tweet was an “experiment.”  Now Georgetown University may have to answer for her to the Department of Education.  Last week the National Coalition for Men filed a Title IX complaint against Georgetown that included Fair’s conduct and requested that Georgetown fire her.  Fair blasted the complaint in an email to The College Fix. She called it “politically-motivated rubbish initiated by persons who have on [sic] familiarity with me or my students. It is, in short, a stunt.”  NCFM was already contemplating a complaint against Georgetown but Fair’s tweet was “the catalyst,” President Harry Crouch told The Fix in an email.   We'll follow this.  Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has done a fine job in cleaning up the Title IX office (Office of Civil Rights) in the Department of Education.   We hope the newly reformed office takes this complaint seriously.

October 11, 2018       Permalink

IT'S THE ECONOMY – AT 11:31 P.M. ET:  Please note that the stock market has taken a beating this week.  Ordinarily, this would be just a correction, maybe even one that is long overdue.  However, in an election year a drop like this could have political impact.

Please remember that an economic jolt during the 2008 presidential election campaign helped put Barack Obama in the White House.  John McCain foolishly suspended his campaign to return to Washington to help solve the economic problem, which he didn't do, leaving Obama unchallenged.  Obama probably would have won anyway, but McCain's gift certainly helped him.

I've always wondered about that economic convulsion.  The timing seemed just a bit too convenient for the Dems.  But I don't believe in conspiracy theories, although I do believe in conspiracies. 

Now, if the downturn in the market continues, we could be faced with another backlash against the party in power.  Convenient timing, ay?  Just sayin'.

October 11, 2018      Permalink

ARE THE NEEDLES MOVING IN KEY RACES? – AT 10:15 A.M. ET:   It appears they are.  Again, we caution that polls are temporary, but some key numbers are showing Republican progress.

In today's RealClearPolitics report, Republican incumbent Senator Dean Heller of Nevada has overtaken Dem challenger Jackie Rosen, by two points.  Rosen had been modestly ahead until now.  Nevada is critical.  We cannot lose that seat.

Also in today's report, Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, in Quinnipiac, is nine points ahead of Dem "rising star" Beto O'Rourke, whose star apparently needs some shining.  Beto, whose real name isn't even Beto, is being exposed as the pretender he is.  We hope Ted can soon put this one away.

And in critical Arizona, our heroine, Martha McSally, has opened a six-point lead in one poll against the queen of the whackjobs, Kyrsten Sinema.  Martha was the first American woman to fly in combat.  Sinema is now exposed as having a radical past, giving aid and comfort to supporters of terrorism, and ridiculing the 9-11 attacks.  She claims to be a moderate.  The Dems have a lot of election-year "moderates" who go to Washington and put up their secret picture of Lenin.  Go Martha!

Two races to watch:  Indiana.  The incumbent Dem "moderate" Senator Joe Donnelly is running as a Trump-loving Democrat, but he voted against Judge Kavanaugh.  He'd been slightly ahead of GOP solid guy Mike Braun before that vote.  We're awaiting new polls.

And Montana.  Dem incumbent Senator Jon Tester, who is kind of a weird independent Democrat, voted against Judge Kavanaugh, but did so on privacy issues.  GOP opponent Matt Rosendale, has been running behind Tester, but the race seems to be tightening.  We await new polls. 

Remember that the election is almost four weeks away.  Any event can change votes, and the Dems must certainly be planning an October surprise.  No champagne yet.

October 11, 2018       Permalink   

THE KAVANAUGH EFFECT – AT 9:45 A.M. ET:  Is it real?  Is there a Kavanaugh effect in the electorate?  We caution that polls are snapshots in time.  We may not see the same numbers on election day.  But there appears to be a Kavanaugh effect, and it is helping our side.  From Rasmussen: 

Republicans are madder about the Kavanaugh controversy than Democrats are and more determined to vote in the upcoming elections because of it.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 54% of all Likely U.S. Voters say they are more likely to vote in the upcoming midterm elections because of the controversy surrounding President Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee. Only nine percent (9%) say they are less likely to vote. Thirty-four percent (34%) say the controversy will have no impact on their vote.

Sixty-two percent (62%) of Republicans are more likely to vote because of the Kavanaugh controversy, compared to 54% of Democrats and 46% of voters not affiliated with either major political party. 

Sixty-two percent (62%) of all voters are angry about the U.S. Senate’s treatment of Kavanaugh, with 42% who are Very Angry. Fifty-six percent (56%) are angry about how the Senate treated Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault, including 35% who are Very Angry.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of Republicans are Very Angry about the Senate’s treatment of Kavanaugh, a view shared by 30% of Democrats and 34% of unaffiliated voters. By comparison, fewer Democrats (48%) are Very Angry about the Senate’s treatment of Ford; 28% of GOP voters and 30% of unaffiliateds agree.

Democrats’ five-point lead on the weekly Rasmussen Reports Generic Congressional Ballot has vanished. The two parties are now tied with less than a month until Election Day. We'll be watching to see if this is the beginning of a post-Kavanaugh trend.

COMMENT:  Now is the time for political skill, led by President Trump and his uncanny way of speaking directly to people, a skill unmatched by any national Democrat.

The GOP and the Republican National Committee must be on all burners.  And, most important of all, it must get out the Republican vote.  Drag 'em to the polls.  Give rides.  Hijack buses.  Anything.  The only poll that counts is the one on election day.

October 11,  2018     Permalink

OCTOBER 10,  2018

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

HOW JUICY – FROM AMERICAN ACTION NEWS:   John David Rice-Cameron – the son of Susan Rice – is a proud Trump supporter and president of the Stanford University College Republicans, who finds himself pressing charges against a liberal student who reportedly attacked him during a pro-Brett Kavanaugh rally.  Fox News reports:  "Rice-Cameron is the son of controversial Obama administration official Susan Rice, who is rumored to be considering a run against Susan Collins, R-Maine, following her support in the Senate for confirmation of Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. But on the other side of the aisle on the Left Coast, her son is busy working to 'Make Stanford Great Again' as an outspoken supporter of President Trump and conservative values.  While one student was arrested for battery, other students were caught on camera ripping up College Republican signs supporting Kavanaugh at their 'Change My Mind' table.  'Nobody should be assaulted on campus, under any circumstances,' Rice-Cameron told the Stanford Daily.  A student was placed under a private-person arrest and issued a citation for battery in response to Rice-Cameron’s allegations, according to Stanford Department of Public Safety spokesman Bill Larson.  Susan Rice, call home. And don't tell us a video caused this.

UTTERLY DISGRACEFUL – FROM BREITBART:  CNN is being accused of racism after commentators Bakari Sellers and Tara Setmayer bashed rapper Kanye West over his support for Trump on CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, going so far as to call him a “token negro.”  “Kanye West is what happens when negroes don’t read,” CNN commentator Bakari Sellers said, in reference to an old Chris Rock bit.  CNN’s Tara Setmayer went even further, calling Kanye West a “an attention whore like the president.”
“He’s all of a sudden now the model spokesperson—he’s the token Negro of the Trump Administration?” she also said.  Don Lemon laughed and giggled throughout the segment as the two commentators degraded Kanye West.  Don Lemon should be suspended, but won't be.  The others should be disinvited from appearing on CNN, but won't be.  How low does CNN intend to get?

SMUGGLING GOES LUXURY – FROM ABC 30:   U.S. and Mexican authorities uncovered an incomplete, solar-powered tunnel connecting the two countries in a remote area east of San Diego.  Border Patrol says the 600-foot long passage led into the small California town of Jacumba.  The tunnel had solar-powered lighting and a ventilation system.  It was also lined with a rail system that ran the entire length of the tunnel and had two sump pumps.  Mexican authorities discovered the tunnel back on September 19.  Officials have found many cross-border tunnels often incomplete.  They say the passages are often used to smuggle drugs from Mexico to the U.S.  I wonder if the train had a dining car.

October 10, 2018       Permalink

NO, MIKE, NO – AT 1:46 P.M. ET:  The only importance of this story is that it guarantees that the 2020 Democratic presidential primary will be overloaded with money.

Seems that zillionaire Mike Bloomberg, the former (and very capable) mayor of New York City has formally registered as a Democrat, and is apparently intending to throw his hat, or crown, into the ring in 2020.  Now, don't get me wrong.  Bloomberg is highly respected in New York, would never put up with the nutbags in the Democratic Party, and ran a fine administration here.  Trouble is, the Dems aren't exactly yearning for an old white guy, who'll be 78 in 2020.  If they wanted that package, they'd go with old, white, and more mean-spirited Joe Biden.  From NBC News: 

Michael Bloomberg announced Wednesday that he had re-registered as a Democrat, in a sign that the former New York City mayor could be seriously considering a presidential bid in 2020.

“At key points in U.S. history, one of the two parties has served as a bulwark against those who threaten our Constitution. Two years ago at the Democratic Convention, I warned of those threats,” Bloomberg announced in a post on Instagram that he also shared on Twitter.

“Today, I have re-registered as a Democrat — I had been a member for most of my life — because we need Democrats to provide the checks and balance our nation so badly needs,” he added.

Bloomberg had been a Democrat prior to his initial mayoral run in 2001, when he became, and was elected as, a Republican. He was re-elected in 2005 as a Republican, but then became an independent in 2007 and was re-elected to a third term in 2009 as an independent.

He spoke in support of Hillary Clinton at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

COMMENT:  Well, it'll be interesting.  If Bloomberg actually jumps in, he'll be able to finance his own campaign.  But he is no left-wing firebrand, and I can't imagine him becoming one.  He'll get a polite reception, but the Dem convention will, as usual, be dominated the hard left, with more Palestinian flags than American. 

Mike, maybe you should read a book.

October 10,  2018     Permalink

AH, SATISFACTION – AT 10:35 A.M. ET:  Brett Kavanaugh not only started his career on the Supreme Court yesterday, but he received a bonus.  The Court gave him a compliment.  From Don Surber: 

Well, that was quick. Justice Brett Kavanaugh began his job today. They gave him Monday off for a paid holiday even though he was just starting the job.

Today, He heard a bunch of lawyers yak away. Boring.

But the court made news by what it didn't do. The court refused to hear an appeal of a D.C. Circuit ruling that -- shockingly -- limited what the Environmental Protection Agency can do.

Guess who wrote that opinion?

Of course, Kavanaugh wrote the D.C. Circuit ruling. If it were written by Gregory G. Katsas no one would care.

The justices turn down most appeals.

But this denial of an appeal was telling. In the opinion, Kavanaugh wrote, "However much we might sympathize or agree with EPA’s policy objectives, EPA may act only within the boundaries of its statutory authority."

And that is the real problem Democrats have with the five Republicans justices from Clarence Thomas through Kavanaugh. The five-man majority believe Congress should write the laws -- not the courts or the bureaucracy.

Gadzooks.

COMMENT:  Very well put.  And Justice Kavanaugh gets his first victory.  And the Republic is still standing. 

October 10, 2018       Permalink