False Equivalency and Laziness in Our Politics

Bill Maher is spot on.

Several good points made here, like the amount of lies and the magnitude of those; not all are the same, and, yes, not all are evil.  Also, the lackadaisical attitude and citizenship failure of so many Americans who they hide behind cynicism so they don't have to invest time, energy, and precious brain cells into a process that has a direct effect on their lives!

But they know about sports or the measurements of Kim Kardashian's ass.  Don't believe me? See how people talk about sports and the knowledge they exhibit.....

As for the latest FBI announcement that they found more emails... oyvey, I thought the FBI and the media (which are eating this latest "news") were in HR Clinton's corner.  Anyway, the bottom line is that this will not make any difference as most people already have decided that this scandal either enrages them or they don't care. It's beating a dead horse; it doesn't have legs anymore.

I like the aggressive response by HRC to demand the FBI release all the details, and that this "revelation" is irresponsible at this stage. Those emails were not from her server but came from a separate investigation into a creep's (Anthony Weiner) sexting underage women.  I guess it was expected to move from the pussy-gate to weiner-gate.

Yes, It DOES Reflect Who You Are, Donald! [just go away already, you disgusting bully]

While the "deplorables" is a recent tag, and H.Clinton has gotten lots of criticism about this, it's appropriate. The only question is the size of this dirt bag. The GOP should have realized that Trump was riding a wave that had those deplorables as its core. The ones filled with hate, prejudice, and utter ignorance. And, he encouraged this. No party should have promoted anyone who gets on stage and denigrates possible future presidents of the US by calling them, "ugly," "little ..." . "lyin'.. etc, and brags about the size of his penis.


But, he is the product of the seeds and cultivation the GOP employed in the last 10 years. That unless Republicans are in charge everything else is suspect, treasonous, foreign, anti-American, anti-Xtian, illegitimate, and worthy of not only disrespect, but hate too. Everybody knows how the Congressional GOP and its leaders have behaved. Same with others down the line to local levels. Trump rode this wave the GOP created, so the GOP, Tea party, etc, all OWN him. As he said last week, "I reflect you"... 


This pussy-scandal shouldn't surprise anyone. If anyone didn't know of or cared about Don's personality before this latest revelation confirms that they've rightly have earned the label of deplorables!

A juvenile, braggart, vile, dangerous ignoramus, who wants to run the United States as a gambling hole, while encouraging and employing a basket of deplorables. He has lead them by example! What more do you want to reject this disgusting bully?

The Veeps had a Slugfest, But Let's not Lose Sight of the Stakes in this Election, and It's Not Style Over Substance

The Tim Kaine-Mike Pence VP debate is over, with an estimated 40 million viewers. As VP debates go, this will not move the needle, but it will be more useful to the Clinton-Kaine team in the next few days. There could be many useful quotes for C-K, because not only Pence contradicted himself but he couldn't possibly defend the indefensible Trump. The wild card is whether DT responds and how. Hopefully, the Donald will be Donald again.

Most Americans will read about the debate or will watch snippets and I think those who had already chosen will not change their vote, but there could be some on the fence who may be motivated to vote for Clinton, women and minorities especially. Hopefully the editors and fact-checkers will realize that Kaine was right and Pence just danced around the issues, often choosing not to even defend the indefensible DT.

Many pundits, focus groups as of now think that Pence did much better because Kaine was too aggressive. Again, style over substance--that's how most analysts talk about the debates, which of course is ridiculous. There are serious policy differences. T-P ticket stands for failed economic policies, favors to the rich, anti-choice, for a conservative Supreme Court, anti-science, anti-environmental policies, no consumer protection, no health care, no education, crazy conspiracies, and for militarism--and with Donald as C-i-C is a very scary proposition. 

Governor Pence has a record of extreme conservatism, so while many talking heads liked his performance tonight, his politics are out of the mainstream, today and I'd imagine in the future, should he decide to run for the presidency.

Lastly, we still remain a country where a non-religious person (or someone who admits it) cannot be a viable candidate for high office. Beliefs on bad evidence and horrible logic are a badge of honor and a requirement for the highest office in the land.

Read Pulitzer-winner journalist David Cay Johnston's article, the Art of the Steal about how Trump lost $916 million but reaped great financial benefits by not paying contractors and taxes.

I thought this VP debate also revealed what issues Hillary Clinton would try to talk about next Sunday at the second debate against Trump. Issues like, Trump's taxes and bad business acumen, nuclear weapons and foreign policy, hateful speech, bad temperament, Supreme Court and right to choose, health care, education, immigration, LGBT issues, and Donald's disrespect for women.

At this point, campaigns don't change minds. Actually very few people are moved by logic and evidence during campaigns. Most are intuitive, have certain views that don't change so quickly. Even the CBS and CNN focus groups that said Pence won tonight also showed that no one changed their intended vote.

The key is to excite--positively for your candidate or negatively against your opponent--your political base and get it to go out and vote on Nov. 8th. Fivethirtyeight, HuffPol, Electoral-vote, and a few other reputable poll crunchers  have Clinton at about 80% chance of winning. Time is not in Trump's favor right now, and he's failed to get closer or overtake Clinton so far, especially after the first debate. If the plethora of polls are right, there's a clear trend and the candidate that's ahead in mid-October goes on to win the election.