Post-Election Post 2020 - Not Quite a Blue Wave

 

"Not So Blue" The View up Mercury Passage, Tasmania, Australia by Colin Chick

And yet, it is pretty blue! And very pretty at that.

My body is pretty well oxygenated as I have been taking a lot of deep breaths since the election was called yesterday morning by the Associated Press recognized as the impartial leader of the constitutionally protected Free Press in the United States. It appears to be a solid win with some votes still to be counted in the tight races of Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, etc. Votes are certified by each state and the electors convene in December to make it official. In American tradition when the outcome is clear, the losing candidate offers a graceful concession to the winner. That will not happen this election.

It remains to be seen how blue the Senate will be until after two run-off elections in Georgia later this year. They are in newly blue Georgia so don't count out the Democrats yet.

But even if there is a Republican Senate led by the Obstructionist-in-Chief McConnell, there is so much good that will happen and so much bad that will not in the next four years. The President will not be constantly tweeting outrageous lies and insults. No matter how evil and corrupt you believe the Biden Family to be (and I don't think they're too bad) it will be nothing like the horrible example of moral turpitude we have had these last four years. I have yet to understand why so many millions voted for him. I know some say it's not for him but the conservative "policies" but still....

Please Vote!

 

It's coming!

My hero, Michelle Obama

The personal connections hit me deeply:

"I had failed.

I had never in my life failed a test. . . . But I'd blown it with the bar. I was ashamed, sure that I'd let down every person who'd ever taught, encouraged, or employed me."

Like Michelle, I failed my first bar exam. It wasn't because we weren't smart or didn't study hard. It just happens to a lot of people when the two-day test is extremely tricky to keep the passage rates low. It was only 58% on my first try of the Maryland bar exam and only 56% six months later when I did pass. Michelle passed the Illinois exam on her second try too.

The second one also hit me joyfully:

He worked late at night in a small room we'd converted to a study at the rear of our apartment--a crowded, book-strewn bunker I referred to lovingly as the Hole. I'd sometimes go in, stepping over his piles of paper to sit on the ottoman in front of his chair while he worked, trying to lasso him with a joke and a smile, to tease him back from whatever far-off fields he'd been galloping through. He was good-humored about my intrusions, but only if I didn't stay to long.

Barack, I've come to understand, is the sort of person who needs a hole, a closed off little warren where he can read and write undisturbed. It's like a hatch that opens directly into the spacious skies of his brain. . . ."

Socially-distancing in my "hole," I finally go around to reading Becoming by Michelle Obama.

Not Killing Babies

It is burned into my brain what I saw with my wife on that operating table at the end of her sixth planned pregnancy. You were not there and I will not describe it to you. We could have lost either or both lives. Our doctor was brilliant and blessed as she knew exactly what she was doing. Had it come to it and without a moment's hesitation I would have directed the doctor to save my wife, my life-partner, the mother of five living children.

Democrats Don't Kill Babies

Rather, Democrats support health care for women and children. This includes birth control for women which I know some object to on moral grounds. It also includes the termination of a pregnancy in cases of rape, incest, and when the health of the woman is at risk. I also understand that this is morally unacceptable to some people and that "the health of the woman" is a phrase that has a lot of interpretation. Some will have interpretations different than mine and the Democratic Party.

So the question becomes, who is going to make that determination about the health of the woman? Or for that matter, who is going to make the other determinations as to whether the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest? What if the fetus growing in the womb is determined by a doctor not to survive birth or have a chance to be live long after birth because of serious physical deficiencies?

Democrats generally believe that these decisions should be made between the woman and her doctor. The woman has the choice to involve her family (or not, especially if the relationships can be dangerous to her life or health), any religious figure or friend for advice, and her own conscience. These are decisions that powerfully impact core beliefs on life and death of all involved. The question remains, who should have the responsibility to decide?

The Shutdown Stupidity

Let's be very clear on the reasons for the shutdown.

While I expected a series of continuing resolutions to keep the government funded until we have a new Congress in 2019, there are a few issues that have come to a head because of trump's mismanagement of the presidency and abysmally poor negotiating skills.

1. Racism. trump's vile language of just a few days ago in negotiations with both Republican and Democratic members of Congress clearly reveal what we all know and some won't admit, that trump is a disgusting racist. He said it. He wants more immigrants like Norwegians instead of from "s***hole" or "s***house" countries like Haiti or "Africa." The LDS Church has recently condemned racism and "white supremacy" in the strongest of terms.

Tweeting trump's Speech to Congress

1. Babysitting Grandkids, this was the best I could do tonight. It's a miracle I could watch a whole hour-plus of a man frowning while reading from a teleprompter!
2. 1. Grant L. Vaughn‏ @Whistlestar_PMM  2h2 hours ago
      

      "A Great GREAT Wall!"

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   2. Grant L. Vaughn‏ @Whistlestar_PMM  2h2 hours ago
      

      Harley Davidson will make America great again?

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   2. Grant L. Vaughn‏ @Whistlestar_PMM  2h2 hours ago
      

      The National Academy of Science calculated cost of immigrants to precisely "many billions of dollars."

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Trump vs. Clinton (Sexual Assault, not the Presidency)

Regrettably, it seems necessary to lay out my views about the latest revelations of the Republican Nominee's crude language relating to sexual assault on Women and explain why I support Hillary even if she is married to Bill.

First, the latest revelations are only the culmination of numerous inappropriate statements and views of Trump about Women, Immigrants, Religions, Ethnic Origins, Physical disabilities, Veteran's struggles, etc. On every one of these issues he has been consistently offensive and over-the-top. His base seems to love it as he plays up the outsider role refusing to respect "political correctness." It's part of his shtick. He's a TV Personality and a bluff and bluster, entrepreneurial Capitalist famous for his own personal brand. No one should be surprised about this. His supporters who are now bailing on the "moral high-ground" never should have been with him.

Second, the latest comments along with many from earlier in this campaign, are not just sexual dirty talk that might be OK in private but inappropriate in the public square. They are inappropriate in any context. They reveal a deep-seated antipathy towards women treating them as sexual objects rather than human beings. And his actions speak louder than words. They include: multiple marriages and affairs during and between of which he has publicly bragged and sought media exposure; overt participation and self-promotion of a crass, sexual nature in Playboy publications and videos; appearances on the crude Howard Stern show where these things were openly discussed; comments during the campaign critical of the physical appearance of women and their very nature as women ("blood coming out of her . . . wherever") and nothing in the present to indicate these offensive attitudes and behaviors are a thing of the past only and not of the present.

All of this should disqualify anyone for the office of President of the United States. Now, on to Bill Clinton.

The Opposite of Buyer's Remorse

That's the feeling you get when you realize that your party's Presidential candidate isn't nearly as bad as you thought she might be initially.

The Republicans are having the more traditional buyer's regret with the unsurprising realization that they are poised to nominate the vilest bully and self-centered ignoramus the body politic has ever seen - and we've had some doozies!

Most recently, Newt Gingrich, Newt! of all people! has been chiding the inevitable nominee Trump on his blatant racist whine about the judge who is hearing the case on the Trump University fraud. You can read about it in the Washington Post, here. The only thing the newt and the donald seem to have in common these days is the number of wives they cheated on before they married the next one.

BERNIE TAKES UTAH!

Please note the line going clear out to the pines in the background, and even more kept coming!

Yes, it's a premature headline. And it's based on very amateurish "entrance/exit-polling." But also the fact that I have never seen a crowd at the Democratic Caucuses in Utah like the amazing crowds tonight. And It's all over my Facebook feed! If so many hundreds, no, thousands, are going to the Democratic Caucuses, it must be a big crowd for Bernie Sanders. The few people I saw with Hillary buttons looked a little worried. And I did have a friend from the neighborhood go with me to vote for Bernie. We met my daughter there along with some friends from our precinct.

Faithfully attending Democratic caucuses in Utah for several years, I have never had to wait in line! For some reason they sent our State Representative District to the far north of the district to caucus on the Kaysville/Layton boundary. And we didn't actually caucus with our precinct as it was all we could do to patiently wade through the crowd with the volunteers changing the line formations three times before I got up to have my ID checked and authenticate my presidential preference ballot.

President Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Rodham Clinton (2017-  )

It really won't be so bad. Actually, it will be worse than Bill's eight-years. The turmoil of anti-Clintonism, Anti-Obama-ism, and anti-all-kinds-of-other-stuff will tear this country nearly apart. But its institutions and Constitution are secure and will survive.

The Republican Party won't though. It's done for. Either Trump is the nominee and tears the Party apart in November, or the Party destroys itself before then.

After today's solid wins for Hillary, Bernie Sanders has no chance to catch her. Hopefully his brand of progressive politics, along with that of Senator Elizabeth Warren, and a few others, nipping at President Clinton's heels will help some.

Rubio is out. Kasich won his favorite-son status in Ohio and will go all the way to the convention to hope for the blessing of the Republican Establishment in a party crack-up. Cruz will go all the way to the convention to hope for the divine intervention of his God-PAC in a party crack-up. However this goes, the Trump supporters will not rest happy and will be a negative force stirring turmoil in the nation. But as they are not the establishment of any party and the Republican Party will shred, there won't be much of an organized loyal opposition to President Clinton.

Starting to Bern

Rolling Stone has a great interview with Bernie Sanders. I encourage you to read the whole thing. And for you Conservatives out there, I want to make special note of a few passages that might even help you.

First of all, how long has it been since we had a Boy Scout as President? Gerald Ford? Bernie was a Boy Scout:

No Shutdown Update 2015

Told ya.

Storms still flash over the Capitol
[public domain from the Architect of the Capitol showing dome repair scaffolding]

Is It Time Yet?

No. And it will never be. The coming presidential election fills me with dread. Hillary will be a fine president but the 47% (that voted for Romney not the 47% who . . . oh, never mind!) will make it shear misery for the nation and her. She may slip and commit an actual foul. And I sure don't want Bill in the White House again with too much time on his hands.

What pushes me to this cataclysmic decision as I go off to confer, converse, and otherwise hobnob with my fellow weirdos, was the vitriolic religious hatred for Senator Harry Reid for daring to confirm a new member of his church who happened to be a former Senator (Republican) and a friend. And that was from people in Harry's own church!

Anyway, I'm not ending the blog but it will see only sporadic posting from me as I just don't want to do it anymore. I'm tired. And my left arm hurts.

So, I leave you with this recent sparkling repartee between me and Anonymous D. I started out, for which I take full responsibility - but I may be closing comments on this:

Whoa! THREE of my Political Heroes all at Once!

And I'm sure the girls are great too! What a way to spend a day in DC!

Senator Henry Clay (on the wall), Senator Jeff Flake (R, AZ), and Matt Anselmo (World Famous Mo-Dem Blogger)
Photo credit: Kaija Flake Thompson

Senator Clay, the Great Compromiser and hero of Lincoln's, seems to be there by pure chance. And my Dem-Mormon-Blogger Friend, Matt Anselmo, seems to have some familial connections in DC. Matt is the one who invited me to write for MormonDems.com and I've been a little lax lately, politics taking a bit of a back seat to family history and Mo-Dems joining some kind of conglomerate I have yet to spend the time on to figure out.

Senator Flake is a hero because while definitely and solidly conservative, he is smart and wise enough not to join the gang of 47 in their attempts to undermine our President of the United States and provoke a war with the Ayatollahs of Iran.

Happy SOTU to You!

I was not able to watch or live-blog the State of the Union last night as I was driving back from my Welsh class in Provo. But I did listen to it. Here it is at this link if you missed it.

The President was soaring again on high rhetoric for ideas he knows will never get through this Congress except for military authorization against ISIL (yuck! but maybe necessary) and approval of trade deals (a mixed bag at best).

But the President has set the agenda for future action on ideas for public Community College education for all just like High School. And tax reform ideas to help the middle class - not the 1% who have more than they need (and who, of course, deserve it because they have it).

And Now, the Senate Show

Starring:

Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, appropriately on the left. And Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, who really should be farther right, right off the page

Still Majority Leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, has not got the Cromnibus passed yet. The House passed it and now it's t It's the Senate's turn. It's still a bit mired in procedural ploys so Reid is now trying to get as many cloture votes (requiring 60 to stop action) as possible to move forward with his still democratic majority for confirmation of President Obama's nominees to staff vacant political positions in this administration. The big show is at 1 a.m. tonight (technically tomorrow in DC time, and 11 p.m. here in Mountain) when he will call for a vote on Cromnibus. There are two obstacles in the way pictured above.

Boehner-Obama Budgeting - Not Funding Non-Action

The President and John Boehner accomplished a sort of Holiday Miracle by not shutting down the government. The managed to get a year-long spending bill approved in the House. Called the "Cromnibus" as in "CR" for Continuing Resolution, and "Omnibus" for a bill of multiple agency appropriations, the Republicans put enough "crappy" stuff in to make that the "CR" part. 

Poli-Sci 101 - How the Republicans Won

Not being one of the 5% that can hire their own lawn service, I was out mowing (hopefully for the last time this year). My boy was kind enough to rake up most of the leaves.

And it came to me. This last midterm election was a classic. Here's a simple explanation for what seemed like a very complex situation.

First, each party's themes are laid out with their explanations.

REPUBLICANS

Obamacare:

The closest I could find to Groucho's "Boogity, boogity!" scene
Here's a link provided by elg below: Boogity link.

"Boogity, boogity!"

Obama:
"Boogity, boogity!"

Benghazi:
"Boogity, boogity!"

Ebola:
"Boogity, boogity!"

ISIL:
"Boogity, boogity!"

Government in general:
"Boogity, boogity!"

The Munchkin Vortex

Don't get me wrong, I've always loved the Munchkins. I just wasn't sure they should be in charge of the government.

Dorothy escaping the Vortex.

The Munchkins won big the other night. But they are caught in a conundrum. The mandate was from a still angry and unsatisfied electorate, most of whom, do not like the President even if they could never beat him in a general election. Yes, a lot of Dems didn't vote in the off-term or they could have prevented this. It's not like we're an organized party or anything.