Category: Hillary

Our President-elect started his “victory lap” today in Indiana where he reportedly saved “thousands,” “1,000,” “800” some Carrier plant jobs from exile to Mexico. Of course, Vice President-elect Mike Pence, the outgoing governor of Indiana, got a little personal thanks since it was, after all, in the state where he will remain in office until, well, who really cares?

Trump is the new shiny object for the media so the national, especially TV media stars, must all sit up with their paws poised like little dogs ready to lap up the next treat. All the while, Trump gets his standard little, and yes it is very little, laugh, when he denounces the media.

I had the mostly misfortune of being thrown into the traveling media pool of White House reporters who were, they felt, thrown into Hell by covering President George W. Bush and his entourage in Crawford, Texas. Note to future presidents: Just because you bought a ranch in the backwater where August vacations are spent in 100-plus-degree temperatures, doesn’t mean that reporters will ditch you.

You can look back to many of the posts since I started this blog in the Spring of 2005 and you will tend to think I hated George W. “Dubya” Bush with an unbridled passion. That is far from the truth, however. The passion was, many times, bridled.

No, I will say that George W. handed me a lot to write about both as a reporter and as a blogger. You will probably find, if you search and not particularly hard, of my recounting  when I interviewed “Shrub” before he was ever elected to office. I may have interviewed him twice without his press handlers or Secret Service agents. I can’t remember how many pressers I attended when Bush was governor. I do know I attended his events as governor at two different newspapers. I also covered four events at another newspaper when Dubya was president, one was at the “Ranch” and the others were at Fort Hood.

One particular policy put me at odds with Gee Dubya forever as president. That was his decision for us to invade Iraq. It doesn’t matter whether he was doing what his Daddy hadn’t at the end of Gulf War I, or whether he started a war because Iraq not-so-strong-man, the late Saddam Hussein, had reportedly plotted an assassination of George Herbert Walker Bush, or Bush Sr.

I was pretty ticked off at that decision to invade Iraq. I wasn’t very happy when his Dad invaded Iraq the first go-round. I thought Iraq I was fool-hardy. I though Iraq II was insane. My reasoning was that, even I — a former Navy mid-grade non-commissioned officer, and no big whiz in foreign policy — could see that Iraq II was a war from which we would never extricate ourselves, American + Allies. Perhaps one day but no time soon. Yes, I’ve been right about that so far.

This brings us to the most foolhardy president-elect in my lifetime. I thought Nixon would be the one. Then I figured Ronald Reagan would bring us to nuclear war. Then there was George W. Bush. Holy frijoles, man, none of those seem bad at all — compared with, The Donald.

We have this lucky con-man on deck, who lacks intellect and intellectual curiosity, Donald J. Trump. Unless a miracle happens and it is found out the 2.5 million-margin in popular voting somehow, crazy as it seems, finally elects Hillary Clinton, then Trump is our president.

And finally, it comes down to Trump and his, supposed animus for the media. Hell, Trump should kiss the ass of every reporter or photojournalist who graces his presences. Or at the very least, he should engage in ass-kissing of every news executive he knows. Trump won his primary contests against the top of the Republican candidate food chain — more or less. He probably spent a couple of thousand bucks for those cheap-ass “Make America Great Again” ball caps.

But the leaders of the big American media, led by a menagerie of gutless wonders, feel their lower-paid employees should let Donald knock the reporters into the water. Hell, we won’t get wet, those honchos would say.

I can only hope someone with the balls to do so, will foment a mutiny. Just stop covering that obnoxious son-of-a-bitch Trump at his “press” ops. That won’t prevent the news people from doing their jobs. I mean, I found out I didn’t have to worry about copying every word of a presidential speech. Why it was posted online, you just had to check spelling, etc.

Perhaps one day we might see a grovelling Donald Trump begging for news coverage. I doubt it. But, at least we can hope he will be indicted. Or maybe he will take his bro-mance with Vladimir Putin to even a greater extent. I can just see it. Donald breaks up with Melania, and he runs off to Moscow where the very odd couple will live in holy matrimony. Or macaroni. It doesn’t really matter does it?

F**k!

I nodded out at some time last night while awaiting election of Trump v. Clinton. I awoke right at 2 a.m. this morning to find President-elect Donald J. Trump speaking. “Horse puckey,” as my Senior Chief Smith used to say during my Navy days. “This isn’t happening,” I said, before donning my CPAP mask and crawling back into bed.

This morning after getting out of bed and making coffee I turned on CNN only to find out that last night hadn’t been a dream at all. Donald J. Trump had won the presidency.

Our new national nightmare had begun.

 

How did this happen? Trump and Hillary Clinton had been close in the polls. Most polls showed Clinton slightly ahead although several showed they within the so-called “margin of error.”

Trump said he knew why the polls were finding him losing. It was the same reason he constantly chided the “Disgusting and crooked” media. Simply, it was all of these forces being rigged against him. So how did he win?

So far as the popular vote is concerned, perhaps the polls were fairly close. For the second time since since 2000, the presidency could be won by a Republican with the most electoral votes, with the Democratic candidate taking the lead — at least through this afternoon — in the popular votes. It is summed up more easily with Huffington Post headline: “Electoral College About To Screw Democrats For Second Time In 20 Years.”

Therefore, President-Elect Trump was somewhat correct in that ours is a rigged system. It’s just rigged against the Democrats, not Republicans.

For whatever God-awful reason FBI Director James Comey decided to play Lucy to Mrs. Clinton’s Charlie Brown, may too be a reason for a close election that went instead to Trump. For those of you who are too young or perhaps were a member of an Amazon jungle tribe who never before heard of comic strips — or TV, or indoor plumbing — here is  cultural history moment: Charlie Brown was a comical kid who most of the time looked sad. His tormentor was a little girl named Lucy. Each year during football season, all the kids would come out to play. And each year, Lucy would show up with a football for Charlie Brown to kick. Lucy would hold the football while Charlie Brown would attempt to kick it — anywhere. You see, Lucy always grabbed the ball just as Charlie Brown was about to kick the ball. Charlie Brown would afterwards lie supine on the field with misery, declaring that “next year” he would kick that ball. He never did kick the ball as far as I know.  Lucy always kept the same routine and Charlie Brown always landed on his butt.

The media also deserves the blame. Trump would shout to his rally crowds how “disgusting” the media was. But the media just sat there and took it. But even before that low point, Trump made a practice of calling into this or that cable news network, talking for 10-to-15 minutes a day. The result was his campaign rally crowds were all the political advertisements Trump needed.  His call-ins would show up for CNN or some other network. Following would be one of his surrogates who had great memories so they could recite the daily talking points. Last but not least, the president-elect would say something outrageous at his rallies that would incite his crowds. It seems the more outrageous the comment, the more traction it would receive for his red-meat-chompin’ electorate, as well as free advertising which would ensure another 24-hour news cycle.

Yep, those Trump PR folks would talk up more crap than a stuck tape recorder.

Most of all, it was the American people. You are the reason he was elected president and it’s the same reason you handed two terms to former President George W. Bush — you voted for him and thus, you deserve what you elect. Given, Mrs. Clinton wasn’t the most politically attractive nor the most ethical of candidates. But many of you, some even friends and relatives of mine, voted for the narcissistic poorly-read rich kid from New York.

Sitting in the VA Clinic today while waiting for my eyes to become dilated for an exam was some blow-hard Trump fan was sitting there telling some other veterans why he was happy Trump won. His reasoning, some of which was total bulls**t, included remarks that were insulting to blacks and Hispanics. Especially since a guy with a common Hispanic name and the black veteran sitting across from me. These weren’t words like the N-word bur rather more subtle remarks based mainly on stereotypes. This loud-mouth came back from his visit with one of the optometrists and could just not understand why the doctor — a West Asian woman with dark skin and jet black hair — wouldn’t tell him from what country she (or her family) originated. “She said it was none of my business where I am from,” he said. Those were the only sensible words this loud-mouth produced.

I have no idea how deeply Trump will plunge us — and perhaps the rest of the world — into hot water. For some of the Trump voters out there, it might take a bit longer to recognize. All I have to say is that I hope we recognize what the hell this Orange-hued man named Trump is up to before we have to take cover in our own little once-safe world.

 

eightfeetdeep endorses former Secretary of State Hillary and Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine for president and vice presidency, respectively.

That’s all for now on this Sunday.

Cheers,

Founder, head writer, reporter, etc.

President, CEO, bartender, bottle washer

Happy Birthday  to me.

Here I sit, turned 61 years old. Freak sauce! That’s old. Well, not compared with other people. Willie Nelson is 83. He celebrates like its his birthday every day by smoking some kind of magical herb. Out in Luckenbach, Texas, ain’t nobody feelin’ no pain. Or anywhere else Willie happens to be,

I celebrated by going across the highway and having me a nice lunch of fried aquatic creatures. Catfish, oysters, crab cake, shrimp, stuffed shrimp and frog legs. Oh and a margarita on the rocks. Some blues was playing. It sounded like B.B. King. But there was a bit more bluesy version I overheard of the soulful Louisiana Larue’s “New Orleans Lady.” I had never heard a version by B.B. if in fact that was his rendition. In all, it was a very nice lunch.

Back in the crib, I kicked back with a glass of Jameson’s Irish Whiskey, only to hear the news that the FBI is looking at e-mail that could be tied to the Clinton e-mail investigation. This was certainly ill timed. There was nothing to indicate that there is any wrong-doing by Clinton. The new probe stemmed from an investigation into alleged sexting by former congressman Anthony Weiner to an under-aged girl, according to CNN. Weiner is married to, though now separated from, top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

How FBI Director James Comey let top Republican congressmen know by letter of this revelation and let the candidate as well as the White House, know around the same time as the media, a, is certainly questionable procedure. Although Comey is a Republican and has continued in his role as the agency director, such action immediately raises questions, especially with the general election only 11 days away. Who knows, maybe he got an offer for a Supreme Court seat if Trump wins. I’m just saying.

I have never gone into this election thinking Hillary Clinton is pure as the driven snow. She is a sleazeball attorney like her husband, the former two-term president. But if being a sleazy lawyer disqualifies someone from elected office, we’d never have most of our presidents and a majority of our lawmakers.

But, I do think Clinton is the only real alternative for a president. That is the reason I and who knows how many millions of voters, have already cast their ballots early for her.

Trump is a runaway train. He is dangerous. He is also a liar and perhaps he is a serial molester of women. His “bro-mance” with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is most scary. Trump has little patience for facts, truth or reality. Mike Pence is a religious zealot and likes to fly with his right wing (which saw his campaign slide off into the mud at New York’s LaGuardia airport last evening.)

I saw an interesting opinion just now on Jake Tapper’s “The Lead,” on CNN. A former spokesman for Attorney General Eric Holder, Matt Miller, told Tapper that Comey had broken the agency’s own rules by raising a case at a time that it might influence an election.

I hope Comey hasn’t really f**ked our nation completely. Perhaps the Clinton followers, or perhaps more distinctly the anti-Trump people, will still follow their instincts and elect Hillary. If nothing else, were a Clinton-Kaine ticket is elected, and should Clinton somehow leave office, then we have Kaine. He has a weird eyebrow, but other than that, he seems better than all of the alternatives.