POLITICAL JUNKIES

Btw, why was it that Ben Carson had such a favorable following and then suddenly his lead fell and he dropped out of he race

When Clinton left office we had a surplus and ended one of our most peaceful time in decades. We are in such a hole though, it's going to take two presidents with a head on their shoulders to get us out of it. When I say two presidents, I mean two different presidents serving 8 years each. I also think that most senators who voted for the war did so with information that Bush provided them (ex. weapons of mass destruction), and they bought it like a lot of the country did.

Here is an interesting piece of historical trivia about the choice of vice president. Lincoln tapped Andrew Johnson, a democrat, to run on the ticket with him in the 1864 election (on a 'Unity ticket'). That is probably the worst political mistake he ever made, as Johnson turned out to be a terrible president. When I was doing that Lincoln Fellowship, we were having a round table discussion with a bunch of Lincoln experts, and I asked,"Who would have been a better choice for vice president that year?" The expert answered, "Anyone in the phone book!"

Ruth, yer cracking me up with Lincoln & Prince!

When the Monica Lewinsky scandal was big news, I was a busy, married 40 year old with a small child and two parents ill and dying. We didn't yet own a computer. I got news from the TV and saw several one hour specials about it. My opinion about the matter was formed over time based on what info I happened to come across, parceled into a hectic life with lots of other things much more of a priority.I didn't research it. I'm not anti women. I'm not an always-blame-the-woman type person by any means. It's not like I'm a huge Bill fan. I just don't see Monica as innocent.

I see them both equally at fault. I saw them both as consenting adults. Yes he was older. Yes he should have had her transferred out of the WHimmediately. For whatever reason, Monica just never came across as sympathetic to me. And yes, I've seen younger women in the workforce use their feminine assets in many obvious ways as an advantage to getting in good with the older male superiors.

It's my opinion is all. Only being honest in how I saw it. It's okay if others see it differently.

Cool. I just tried it and it does work on Androids. Thanks!

Suersis, exactly. She was a single, young, dumb girl and whether she pursued the married, powerful man or not, HE was the one with the wife and family, not her, so IMO, he was far more culpable. Her life was destroyed, but his wasn't. (edited: typo - drives me crazy!)

Suersis, I have often wondered at the rationale for Jewish and Muslim “purity" laws of female dress and conduct (in Orthodox Judaism, men aren't even allowed to listen to a woman sing)--the clerics in both religions say it's so that men (whatever their marital status) won't be tempted because they are weak and can't be expected to be trusted. Call me a heretic, but I say that's THEIR problem, not ours; we shouldn't have to live our lives timidly in fear of making men horny when they shouldn't be. But when it's the woman who either intentionally initiates the contact or willingly acquiesces to unsolicited attention, then it's a different story and both parties must share the consequences....until the first “no.”

And then there is J. Dennis Hastert, who makes the rest of them seem like choir boys/girls.......they should have been passing laws to keep HIM out of bathrooms......disgusting.

Ruth....to answer your comment re: the Cruz/Kaisch coalition.....imho....too little, and way too late to do anything other than give some credence to Trump's argument of "crooked system conspiring against him". LIkely just going to fan the flames amongst his supporters. I think the Republican convention is going to rival Chicago, for "unrest", both on the floor and in the streets. I can't see a positive way out of this for the GOP future.

I've seen differing thoughts on what might be the response should Sanders lose the next round of primaries today. Some reports have him "reconsidering" his campaign, and others report he has committed to continuing on through the end of the primary process.

I would like to see him redirect his efforts to working from the "inside" to help bring some needed reforms, and policy "rethinking", as I really don't see how he would become the Dem. nominee at this point.

ruthbru, spot-on about the Tea Party. Practically NONE of us on either side of the aisle took them seriously back when they started in 2009, because we didn’t think any thinking person intelligent enough to use a ballot could be that simplistic and bigoted. My singing partner, who is an ultra-progressive (albeit one who is going to hold his nose and vote for HRC--whom he reviles as a “corporatist,” that most odious of epithets applied by progressives to anyone who doesn’t want to tear down the System--in Nov. to keep the White House blue) warned even before the 2010 midterm primaries that people in Germany assumed the same thing about the Nazis in 1930. Never underestimate the fury of people who not only feel left behind by the powers-that-be but blame “the Other” instead of their actual oppressors for their plight--especially if they’d traditionally enjoyed some degree of privilege over that “Other.” Because we didn’t think people who posted racist internet memes and e-mailed racist cartoons could muster enough brain cells to actually vote, many of us (yours truly not included) didn’t bother to vote in the 2010 primaries or get out the vote sufficiently in the 2010 general elections to educate and motivate enough of Obama's grassroots-wave voters to get out there again and choose sanity over anger and hate. We’ve been stuck with an obstructionist House ever since (and a progress-averse Senate after the same phenomenon in 2014). Since Congressional districts are drawn by state legislatures according to the most recent Census, we are stuck with GOP gerrymandering until 2021. It is truly frustrating that those districts into which they didn’t get their hooks could still go GOP because people who vote in droves for a Presidential candidate they adore sit at home and say “meh” when their idol is not on the ballot--whether after a Presidential-year convention or during a midterm.

The Kasich-Cruz alliance is already crumbling, since regardless of what they may have agreed behind closed doors, neither of them is willing to go on record advising their followers to vote for the other guy in states where it could most undermine Trump.

And last night, Sanders practically issued an ultimatum to Clinton--that she’d better reach out to and satisfy address his voters’ demands before he’d be willing to make any endorsements. HRC pointed out that when she was at the same point in 2008, she made no such demands of Obama voters before endorsing him. (Of course, she pretty much waited till all the primaries & caucuses were over, but once at the convention moved he be nominated by acclamation). If Sanders stays in the race, he should make it clear that it should be so that as many delegates in favor of his ideal policies be sent to the convention to make the party platform more progressive. If he has a conscience, he should also tell his voters to elect those in Congress and at the State level who would not obstruct the progressive agenda.

Maybe it’s just me, but unless one is willing to ultimately fully support the party for whose nomination he's running, he has no business running in that party’s primaries & caucuses. Sanders should have jumped into the race earlier and fully prepared to go all the way--I really think he started out just trying to bring the progressive agenda into a wider public arena and didn’t at first realize so many people would believe he was the person with the best chance of implementing it. If one doesn’t fully believe from the outset (however unfounded that belief) he will win, and prepare himself to get his message out ab initio to as many people as possible, then he is wasting not only his time but the time and money of his most fervent supporters. You need to be in it to win it right out of the starting gate (and fully prepared at least a year or more before that)--odds are overwhelming that you’ll flame out early, but it’s a chance you have to take if you want to be the last one standing. You can’t use your formal declaration of candidacy as the launch for a trial balloon. Sad that he’s too old to try again for 2020, but he should have put it all out there a helluva lot earlier because of that.

And on an entirely different note, wish me luck. I’ve spent 5 years (ever since the 2011 WI uprising) having to hold my tongue about all but the most egregious GOP agenda when traveling with my ultra-progressive singing partner. Starting later today, I am going to have to do the same for the next five days, but on the opposite end of the spectrum: I’ll be spending the next five days with my friend who’s getting her BMX; and she’s that most paradoxical of people: a highly-educated near-Tea-Partier who intends to vote for Trump because she believes every bullcrap epithet leveled at HRC. When I tell her a GOP President & Congress would dismantle the ACA and throw most cancer and heart patients into financial ruin (there are no “poorhouses" any more)--as well as gut Medicare and Social Security--she replies “not my problem, I’m already on Medicare and Social Security.” (The old “I got mine” or “I’m all right, Jack” philosophy).

Well said Chi. For a long, long time Dh and I have discussed the fact that the Republicans are their own worst enemies and don't know it. Most of my family on Dh's side are Republican and discuss little else ( until we put a stop to it ) with each other. They are totally rabid ( despite saying to the contrary ) Fox viewers and it is difficult ( sometimes nearly impossible ) to discuss anything with their skewered Fox talking points. Besides, even when not talking politics they were totally convinced long ago that they are twice as smart as God.

I'm going to make some potato soup and await the MSNBC minute by minute when the votes start coming in and they can start showing the tallies amid their commentary.

Jackie

Saw this some time back and thought I'd share for anyone who might not have:

News just reported Trump won all primaries tonight, and Clinton has won three states so far.

It didn't say why. My guess is it is a couple things: they say one thing & get to Washington and only seem to care about themselves (congressional pay raises, nothing getting anything done etc. I think voters on both sides expect action, not gridlock), and the perception that the leadership wants to rig the system to get a candidate of their, not the voter's choosing, which is pretty much insulting. They have a mess on their hands.