Indiana, among other states, has just come through primary election season. Citizens who have chosen to exercise their franchise and vote–a minority of those who could or should have–have decided what choices we voters will face in November.
In no case of which I am aware will those voters get to pick between God and Mammon–or even between an ideal candidate and one who is less desirable. For that matter, in no state of which I am aware do citizens of either major party all agree on the characteristics of an ideal candidate.
This being the way of the real world, different people will react to this inescapable situation differently.
Purists and cynics, whose ranks have swelled, will assume a “pox on all their houses” posture. Some will vote, but many will not. In cases where the non-voters’ lack of participation results in the election of a person who will pursue destructive or inhumane policies, they will use that result to justify their belief that the entire system is beyond redemption, and that opting out confirms their moral superiority.
Needless to say, this is not an approach that improves the political landscape.
Those of us who do vote are equally aware of the systemic deficits and corruption of American governance, but we also understand that we live in the real world. There are no ideal or perfect candidates. There are no political parties able to high-mindedly ignore the importance of political fundraising or the contending claims and anxieties of relevant voting constituencies.
There are no political “saviors” whose election will magically bring about the sort of bipartisan agreements necessary for sweeping policy change. Even candidates with whom we agree will have limited ability to move America forward.
Lasting improvements to large-scale systems are overwhelmingly incremental; revolutions just tend to generate counter-revolutions. Recognizing this requires that we must often choose between very imperfect options–and unfortunately, in the real world, refusing to make a choice isn’t possible, because failing to vote is also a choice.
In my view, rational people will recognize that a choice between imperfect options is not the same thing as a choice without consequences.Some imperfect candidates and parties are considerably better than others.
In November, American voters will decide between continued control of our government by a Republican Party that has devolved into a White Nationalist cult, and a Democratic Party that–despite plenty of problems and deficiencies– is far more likely to support policies that will benefit most Americans.
In the real world, support for GOP candidates and/or refusal to cast a ballot are both a vote for that White Nationalist cult and its appalling and unAmerican President. It is a message that the individual is not sufficiently dissatisfied with the status quo to signal that dissatisfaction at the ballot box.
The real world is messy and imperfect. That doesn’t mean that some imperfect choices aren’t better–much better–than others.
One thing about midterms is that there are way too many Congressional seats up for grabs to keep track of but only 1 or 2 or that anyone of us can vote in.
What that makes for are surprises in Nov.
Of course to me the goal this Nov is to displace Republicans and surround Agent Orange and the clown cabinet with decidedly unfriendly forces to limit the damages he can do in the last half of his term.
Anything after that is icing on the cake.
So, you hardcore D’s think your vote counts in Indiana? How many seats have you elected to the statehouse? 😉
Popular votes are just fun talking points for the media but strong democratic districts across the country supported Trump over Hillary because he was a “populist” and she was a corrupt career politician. Hillary lost the 35 and under crowd to the Libertarian candidate.
If that’s not “rejected”, not sure what is…
As for Sheila’s comment, “That doesn’t mean that some imperfect choices aren’t better–much better–than others.”
Aw yes, the “lesser of two evils quandary.”
Would you like to die by firing squad or lethal injection?
Trust me, the “We’re Not Trump!” platform does NOTHING for the American people. It may give you some sense of self-righteous superiority, but that feeling will fade quickly because of a vote against your self-interest is nothing really to brag about.
“Ha, ha, I picked a lethal injection and you’re getting shot by a dumb ole bullet.”
The Donor Class knows this game and the hired politicians (lawyers) have written laws to prevent the introduction of multiple political parties and both are stealing from the American people.
The Koch’s want to eliminate the people’s right to vote for state senators. They believe the legislation they hired should choose who “best represents” the state. 😉
I love discussions about what the “real world” consists of. I doubt many on this forum will even agree on that concept.
Voting for a government which best represents the people was the ideal, just like our Constitution wrote, “For the people”, but excluded all non-landowning citizens and blacks only counted as a fraction of a human.
The USA is Donald Trump in a nutshell. That’s reality.
Sheila; if this isn’t your most power blog, it is near the top. And it is simply, but powerfully, based on logic and common sense. We are now literally in a fight for our lives at this point; these 2018 elections are, or can be, our initial attack after severe losses to an internal enemy party. We have had time and opportunity to lick our wounds, assess our losses and regroup around the party we have to work with. We cannot vote for or rely on intelligent, rational world leaders such as French President Macron or German Chancellor Merkel; we appear to no longer have at hand leaders of their caliber to look to and/or vote for. We can continue to whine, cry, piss and moan about current conditions in Indiana and across this country; but this is currently still America and at the same time we can act on our disgust, loss of power due to failing democracy and fear of impending nuclear war ONLY by voting. And our choices in too many cases are obviously weak and ineffectual but they ARE our choices; not supporting them will end in another failure and Trump will will again and will be GIVEN a much greater level of power.
I keep turning to MSNBC or CNN briefly hoping for a new bulletin that Trump’s brain has finally imploded due his ego becoming too large to be contained in such a small space. Watch carefully what he – and he along with our privately owned and operated Congress – have brought about in the Middle-East. Will those countries fire on one another or will they aim their missiles at this country with the same deadly aim the terrorist American trained foreign pilots aimed our own commercial planes at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon? It was American passengers that day on Flight 93 who prevented a much larger catastrophe by overtaking American trained foreign skyjackers on that fateful September 11, 2001. They were but a handful in number; the number of voters in this country is much greater but unless they take action we, as a country and a democracy, will collapse as the World Trade Center did that day, leaving only dead bodies and rubble.
If you do not vote and we lose again; the guilt lies with you and not the Republicans and the 1%. Our only weapon is our vote; take careful aim and fire.
“The USA is Donald Trump in a nutshell. That’s reality.”
Todd Smekens poorly concealed full support of Trump, Congress, the Republican party and the 1% are blatantly announced in his statement above. He is allowed to post his views here and anywhere else he chooses because at some lower level this is still America and freedom of speech is still protected by the 1st Amendment. But…for how long will that be true and we will be left with only Trump and the other Smekens and their ilk who will be allowed to speak publicly?
Maybe BOTH Sheila and Todd are right. Then what?
Just one person’s opinion….”We’re up Shitz Creek without a PADDLE, and we better find one before it is too late.” Or maybe it already is. Nevertheless, as I told one of my neighbors the other day, I still believe in MIRACLES.
What if the moon is made of green cheese, then what? They aren’t both right. Smekens’ firing squad or lethal injection analogy depends on Clinton being just as corrupt, ignorant, and emotionally unstable as Trump. Any candid review of the two people demonstrates pretty easily that this is not the case.
The temptation to write them off as both the same is basically a political temper tantrum stemming from the citizen not getting everything he or she wants. A fair analysis of the two and which one would govern more competently requires a more nuanced view of what government does and the benefits it provides than the superficial but emotionally satisfying position that “government sucks.”
I don’t support Todd’s SURRENDER. But to deny the facts Todd has presented in its entirety is POLITICAL SUICIDE. In my opinion, just mine, Hillary Clinton was a terrible candidate, just what the Republican Party needed for someone of Donald Trump’s ilk to be elected.
I voted for her with my fingers crossed behind my back. What other choice did I have?
Doug and Marv; I disagreed totally with Hillary as the Democratic nominee; too much baggage for one thing and questionable, if not illegal, public support from Wasserman-Schults and her open action against Bernie Sanders. Hillary was not well-liked as our First Lady; too much involvement and self-grandizing plus way too much money and unending quest for more. But she had more than enough intelligence, qualifications and high-level government experience, not known to be a war-monger, racist, religious bigot or anti-LBGTQ so; personality aside she was the most qualified nominee. I wonder what the percentage of her popular vote was in actuality a vote AGAINST TRUMP…mine was. There were probably also those who voted for her because she is a woman. She lost the Electoral College vote due to totally partisan laws governing that organization in Republican states. It is now stronger than ever and the party in control will never agree to change it or gerrymandering. We have battles on many sides and Citizens United still controls the purse strings and “He who has the gold, rules.” is the current Golden Rule in this country. Making Todd’s comment “The USA is Donald Trump in a nutshell. That’s reality.” our current truth as well as reality.
We’re moving more and more in the direction of Nazi Germany. Yesterday, one poll showed 16% of African-Americans supporting Donald Trump, up from the 8% who voted for him in 2016. I wasn’t shocked. I ride the city bus and have noticed, recently, outward Trump supporters among some of my fellow African-American passengers.
Before his takeover in 1934, even the Communists had given up and were supporting Hitler. They weren’t blind, they saw the “writing on the wall.”
I’m with JoAnn. Vote. VOTE! As a citizen and an imperfect human, I will vote for a candidate who is also an imperfect human. But, the candidate I vote for will represent some of the positions I stand for to the best of her or his ability. But I will vote. Cynicism or ennui will not bring about the changes needed. Vote!
Sheila—Powerfully put. What would be your fee to sit down with my 23 year old , “pox on all their houses,” son and convince him of the truth of what you say?
“a vote against your self-interest is nothing really to brag about” – OMG, Todd!!
Working class Republicans have been doing that for years!!
So OK no perfect choices. After the the 2016 elections the Democratic Party had a chance to revamp and examine the causes of not only the loss in 2016, but the steady slide across the whole nation since the early 1990’s.
As Ralph Nader said: “Democratic Party: stop scapegoating, look in the mirror, and ask yourself why you cannot landslide the worst, the most ignorant, the most corporate indentured, the cruelest Republican Party in history. Look in the mirror.”
“I think the Democratic Party should take the third party agenda away from it. They should have a living wage, crack down on corporate crime, full Medicare for All,” Nader said.
Let’s take Universal Heath Care. Health Care or lack thereof literally today will effect millions of people. Everyday, someone needs professional medical services. Some of you who read this today may need professional medical care or knows someone who will.
Want to know a secret:
The Number One reason people go into bankruptcy – drum roll please.
Medical Expenses
A study done at Harvard University indicates that this is the biggest cause of bankruptcy, representing 62% of all personal bankruptcies. One of the interesting caveats of this study shows that 78% of filers had some form of health insurance, thus bucking the myth that medical bills affect only the uninsured.
Rare or serious diseases or injuries can easily result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills – bills that can quickly wipe out savings and retirement accounts, college education funds and home equity. Once these have been exhausted, bankruptcy may be the only shelter left, regardless of whether the patient or his or her family was able to apply health coverage to a portion of the bill or not. https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0310/top-5-reasons-people-go-bankrupt.aspx
Did you get it??? A lack of Health Care Coverage or inadequate Health Care Coverage is the Number ONE Reason for Bankruptcy!!!!
So tell me why the Democratic Party Establishment (DNC) cannot embrace Enhanced Medicare for All as outlined in HR 676??? The only reason I can think of is the Democratic Party Establishment are indentured servants to the Heath Insurance Companies and Big Pharma.
So I am supposed to vote for the “imperfect choice”. Hell with that!! If a candidate cannot support Enhanced Medicare for All, i.e., Universal Heath Care they will not get my vote.
I agree with Doug; I agree with Kathy.
And: “so; personality aside she was the most qualified nominee. “…..That’s nearly akin to saying, “She’s not very pretty, but she’s the most qualified nominee.” Are we to vote for a personality, or for experience, skill, etc?
Once again, Todd shows the world what a Republican-oriented troll sounds like. Oh, the masking of those “talking points” in flowery and complex verbiage is quite satisfying to narcissists, but is still the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing.
We can bash this topic of idealism in political candidates until the cows, literally, come home. The cows, of course, are our hopes and dreams for a better life. No, there will be no revolution, because not enough people have been starved half to death, beaten and imprisoned en masse to create the viable core that perpetrates a real, in-the-streets revolution.
It is our political sloth that has allowed the oligarchs and their right-wing, extremist apologists like Todd to come to power in Indiana and all the other ruby-red states. Rural states with low, conservative populations have more electoral power in presidential elections than denser, industrialized states. The EC has to go, or be modified such that the electors are also elected by the people and not the pols in the states. Moreover, not voting should have real consequences in the short term instead of just the realization that your “choice” to not vote was a dumb shit move. Those who usually don’t vote, because their Uncle Ernie isn’t on the ballot place their intellectual, patriotic and political sloth in the un-righteous basket of deplorable self.
Todd, and his sort, keep shooting off their mouths about how dissembled the Democrats are (Ha, ha), but say nothing about those people who DO lose their homes and livelihoods due to health care crisis. That’s because they simply don’t give a shit about anyone but themselves and their ever-so self-righteous bullshit memes about the hopelessness of others.
I guess the closest thing to the present Democratic Party is the POPULAR FRONT that won the election in the mid 30’s in France. It, eventually, paved the way for FASCISM. It was best described as a party of INCOMPATIBLES.
Marv,
Yes, for every action there tends to be a RE-action. Fascism is the antithesis of democracy, and so is communism.
Although it might not be adding anything to the discussion:
Exactly right on Professor Kennedy!
I guess I’ve had it with PARTISAN POLITICS. It could be one of the answers, but it’s not the only alternative. I had the opportunity to be the MAJOR STRATEGIST for both the breaking of the color barrier in colleges football in the 1961 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, as well as, the victorious battle for 1 man, 1 vote in Dallas in 1991. See http://www.StrategicPower.org.
NONE OF THESE SUCCESSES INVOLVED PARTISAN POLITICS. IT HAD TO DO WITH WHAT WAS BEST FOR THE COMMUNITY. WE BETTER FIND A WAY TO COMMUNICATE WHAT IS BEST FOR AMERICA. IT SURELY ISN’T DONALD TRUMP.
“Todd, and his sort, keep shooting off their mouths about how dissembled the Democrats are (Ha, ha), but say nothing about those people who DO lose their homes and livelihoods due to health care crisis. That’s because they simply don’t give a shit about anyone but themselves and their ever-so self-righteous bullshit memes about the hopelessness of others.”
Vernon; thank you for the above copied and pasted comment about Todd. Let me get personal here (nothing new for me) and pose a rhetorical question: I am 81 years old, deaf and disabled, live on monthly income barely above the federal poverty level. Approximately one year ago there was an increase in gas tax in Indiana only to be used for road and street repair, Mayor Hogsett (Democrat) has all but begged the State for money to fill our pot holes. During the month of April I received an increase to register by 22 year old car due to the new Transportation Infrastructure Improvement Act, the following week I received a sudden reassessment on my 61 year old house in Warren Township in the amount of $9,200 which increased my property taxes by almost 50%. Two days later an article in the Star stated the Warren Township School System is asking for an increase in property taxes which would be in addition to the one in April (I am appealing that). Then we get notification that the Indianapolis Power and Light company is seeking another rate increase, we had an increase approximate 18 months ago. Cities can fight these utility increases but our Democratic Mayor is not fighting this increase; 9 Democratic members of the City-County Council has formed a committee in an attempt to fight this increase but my Democratic Councillor is not on that committee. Several months ago I received notice that my City public retirement funds have been privatized; when I contacted my Democratic Representative he knew nothing about it, had a staff member research the issue and they informed me it had not been privatized but merely switched to another private company to disburse all public retiree funds. They do not understand that private companies doing government work are privatization, or outsourcing if you prefer. This is a Republican state; always has been so our elected Democrats have little if any support on any level. Do I swallow my pride and my anger and vote for my weak, often ineffectual Democrats, vote for Trump and Pence’s Republicans or not vote at all?
This is the real world I live in; I will vote for any and all Democrats running and hope other thinking, aware Indiana residents will do the same.
Thank you Sheila for a very thought provoking post. I’m in agreement with Jo Ann that I think as well that it’s one of the most important ones you’ve posted. I think what you’ve written goes to the very heart a lot of what’s happening today in this country but it also made me think of something that I remember hearing as far back as from my childhood which occurred immediately after dinosaurs stopped roaming the earth, at least on the eastside of Indianapolis where I grew up..
I grew up with a Mom that was a dyed in the wool blue blooded Republican and a Dad who was a Democrat who also had a lot of longstanding political connections. As a result, I both heard and participated in daily political discussions in my household from a very early age and I’ve always felt blessed in a way that I did. One of the things that would crop up every once in a while in these discussions is the concept of this country being rescued by the “man on the white horse”, where a statesman, an outsider unattached to either party, would ride up and resolve all the rancor that was inflaming everyone and everything in the country and do so by his mere presence. Given this man’s mode of conveyance my guess is that this term, or concept, had its origins in the latter part of the 18th century, most definitely the 19th century, in this country. My guess also is that it might have been from the earliest part of the 19th century when some of the grand bargains struck by the Founding Fathers began to lose their luster, when slavery as an issue was beginning to really divide the country. It had to have been rooted deeply in the political and societal norms of that period and the views held by many citizens in regard to the great orators that often ended up going to the Nation’s Capitol to serve in the Congress or the Presidency and the shortcomings they too exhibited when put in charge of running this country.
The society that spawned such an idea or hope, no longer exists. The term or phrase mentioned above is no longer used yet Americans traditionally yearn for leadership and also along with that leadership a man, or no woman, that can galvanize the country to tackle what crises may have befallen it. We find ourselves right now in the position where who is calling the shots is nowhere capable of galvanizing the country nor is it on his “to do” list. Even though that traditional refrain describing how this country would be rescued from itself is no longer used the emotions held behind its use still remain with us. Right now there is a tremendous vacuum in the leadership of this country, not only in the Oval Office but in the Congress which is rightly seen as being useless given those who occupy it.
I’m sure Americans have held their Congress and their President in contempt multiple times throughout the last 242 years but those feelings have now been turbocharged via the mass media of our current time frame. When Abraham Lincoln was running for President in 1860 information on his speeches and those of his opponent, Stephen Douglas, were conveyed by telegraphy and newspapers and sometimes by first person accounts. Today, we not only have the 24 hour news cycle but we also have foreign actors interjecting themselves into the mix of information that’s being conveyed to twist and turn us into knots. We also have people from this country that have huge bank accounts that feel that they have the right to do the same thing. As a result if that “man or woman on the white horse” showed up we would either not notice him or her or think he or she was perhaps part of some ad campaign, not the savior of the country which that whole concept and related hope was built on.
So, we are the product of our history and we hold beliefs deep down within ourselves that we no longer understand their origin or how they pertain to today and the society we live in but they remain engrained within us. Perhaps this explains why Donald Trump was elected President by people that have collectively lost their patience with our system and lashed out from their disgust and disappointment in the way they did, preemptively, leading to the chaotic mess we currently have. The average American feels let down by a system that he feels no longer represents him or her and, instead of working to find something better, gave in to the anger and angst they felt and elected the current occupant of the Oval Office. Trump, as has been written about by a huge number of political observers and commentators, tapped into that angst and used it as a springboard into office. All of it is a political cop-out which felt good at the time but has reaped a catastrophe as a result that we all see every day, including those that supported him as their “man on the white horse”, the ultimate outsider which is another aspect of this ancient by now political lore ingrained in our personal and very American political thinking.
I hope, I truly hope, that our grand experiment in democracy is, as it is currently configured, is not at the end of its rope and that those who threaten it will have no place in its future. Perhaps a new sociopolitical construct will emerge that re-invigorates it in a positive and constructive way so that it continues as it always has, re-inventing itself as needed to meet the demands placed upon it. One thing for shore is that for that to happen we need to get the current leadership of this country and those that support it directly, both financially and via mass media propaganda, out of the picture is fast as we can. Unfortunately there are no men and women on a white horse that can come to our aid as American political or has described the ultimate salvation of our democracy for the past two centuries but perhaps if we work hard and work together we can come up with a new construct that pulls us together and helps us to march forward as the great Nation we are and, hopefully, will continue to be.
Marv – I’m going to read again rants by Adolph Hitler such as the famous “Mein Kampf”, “My Struggle”. I am pre-judging from the brief history of my formative years that I will come across Hitler rhetoric strikingly similar to Trumpf. He vulgarly endeared himself to a growing sector of disaffected people in Germany while, in disgust, patriots cheered him on and their numbers grew. Marv, time to delve into your record of wrongs and show our readers how Hitler and his cabinet turned Germany into a greedy glutton feeding on Europe while the people were duped into submission. Then our people may keep a wary eye on Trump’s “base” and the growth of un-Americanism.
Today’s Republican Party is NOTHING like the Republican Party your parents and you grew up with. Today’s GOP are little better than silk-suit wearing thugs and con men. Read into Todd’s verbiage and you’ll see what I mean.
Sorry to hear about how Indiana politicians continue to screw the very people who pay their salaries. There’s a reason why Indiana is a ruby-red state, and it has to do with the lies, the fears, the inherent prejudices and the backward thinking that always limits and destroys societies.
Marv,
I’ve read your blog site and am impressed with your work over the years. We must all keep fighting the good fight by speaking truth to power, even if the “power” is dumber than dirt.
OMG,
“Marv, time to delve into your record of wrongs and show our readers how Hitler and his cabinet turned Germany into a greedy glutton feeding on Europe while the people were duped into submission.”
Thanks. It’s the only way out of this mess. It was all new in Germany during the 20’s in the 30’s. That’s not the case for us here in America. We have the benefit of hindsight from their tragic experience. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the benefit that we have. We need to make the best of it as you have so well suggested.
Vernon,
Thanks. You’ve outlined our problem. Now we need to do something about it.
By the way, we still have six months before the mid-term elections.
I think the paranoia that progressives especially in Indiana are experiencing is in anticipation of the campaign for the senate seat. I support Donnelly because he is not a Trump-supporting white nationalist, but there is going to be massive amount of dark money used to attack him with half-truths and damned lies. My fear is that based on the republican primary campaign, it will resonate with Indiana voters. And worse there will be little that the democrats can do to stop it. As others have said, it’s a cult mentality that will not respond to facts or reasonable contrasts between the candidates. Donnelly will be portrayed as supporting Pelosi, voting against the yet to be proven “tax cut”, not supporting “the wall”, and so on. I like all of those things about him, but I’m not a white nationalist.
Using the knowledge gained from the German tragedy as OMG suggested:
From Yahoo.com today, https://m.westport-news.com/news/texas/article/Bloomberg-warns-of-epidemic-of-dishonesty-12909345.php
The time is ripe for a COUNTERVAILING FORCE to bring us back into a state of EQUILIBRIUM.
The following is from “The Revolution of Nihilism: Warning to the West” by Hermann Rauschning [a former member of Hitler’s inner circle] (Alliance Book Corporation, New York, 1939) p. 117-8:
“The dictatorship will be overcome without doctrine—not in the nihilist sense but the reverse, the readiness to accept and incorporate all that is constructive and creative. There is beginning to grow up what I might call the ETHICAL FRONDE. Against this fronde the totalitarian policy of National Socialism will come to grief. A state, a society, a nation, even the smallest community, has no lasting quality if it is without an ethical basis. A totalitarian dictatorship of pure violence is possible on a basis of nihilism, but it destroys its own foundation in proportion as its principles become general among the masses. The fronde that will become dangerous to the dictatorship is not a monarchist or Conservative one, one of the workers or the middle classes, one of soldiers or patriots or youth; it is an ETHICAL REVULSION, common to all of these groups……”
“It may well be that nothing but the plain evidence of the destructiveness of the nihilist revolution will furnish the ethical Fronde of which I spoke with active political determination. I do not myself feel that matters will come quickly to a head in Germany, though they may. But if they can at any time without having to pass through the total anarchy of complete nihilism, it will be only through the intervention of the ethical fronde.
ni-hil-ism (ni’e liz em, ne’) n. [< L nihil, nothing] the general rejection of customary beliefs in morality, religion, etc.—ni'hil-ist n. ni'hil-is'tic adj.
I realize that I've cited the above a couple of times in the past.
Based on past history, this is the time for another ETHICAL FRONT. Hopefully, this time, unlike in Germany, it will succeed.
We are all imperfect but some are more imperfect than others. Take Joe Donnelly, for instance. From my subjective rendering of things, some of his views are those I would never agree to, but we don’t live in a vacuum and his overall views are far better than those of the Nazis running against him. Let’s not be sandbox creatures like Trump and demand everything there is to demand from the others’ political toolbox; let’s remember that we must support the best of a perhaps a meager lot with a view toward reform of our own as well as those of our opponents, but AFTER we have voted ourselves into position to do so. Old Governor Cuomo (one of my favorite liberals) once noted that “You gotta get a seat at the table.” So true – and if I lived in Indiana I would vote for Joe Donnelly. Perfect candidate? Who is? It depends upon “the eye of the beholder” as a subjective matter, buoyed by the horror of the alternatives. A half loaf is indeed better than none, Trump has brought us political famine, and I for one am hungry.
Here is our latest “reality” from the White House; Trump removed Rudy Giuliani from his legal team to appoint him to the position as White House Doctor…per NewYorker.com. Apparently Sarah Huckabee Sander’s response to questions at the press conference is that “He is as qualified to be a doctor as he is to be a lawyer.” Now; I haven’t seen anything to refute these reports, if true, Sarah Huckabee Sanders spoke the truth regarding Rudy’s qualifications.
This just in: This week, John McCain duly urged colleagues to reject Gina Haspel, Trump’s nominee to lead the CIA, over her role in the agency’s past use of torture. The issue is personal for McCain, who was brutally tortured during more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
From the Intercept :
Samantha Winograd, who served on President Obama’s National Security Council and now is an analyst for CNN, likewise used Nuremberg defense language in an appearance on the network. Haspel, she said, “was implementing the lawful orders of the president. . . . You could argue she should have quit because the program was so abhorrent. But she was following orders.”
Apparently John McCain who survived torture and urged his colleagues to reject Gina “Mommy Dearest” Haspel fell on the deaf ears of Joe Donnelly.
===================================================
With a statement on Saturday that doesn’t once mention the word “torture,” Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) became the second Democrat to announce his support for Gina Haspel, President Donald Trump’s pick to head the CIA, significantly increasing her chances of being confirmed.
“Joe Donnelly is a coward,” the advocacy group People for Bernie wrote in response to the Indiana senator’s announcement. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/05/12/without-once-mentioning-word-torture-democrat-joe-donnelly-declares-support-gina
Donnelly’s statement in part >> I believe that she has learned from the past, and that the CIA under her leadership can help our country confront serious international threats and challenges.
WOW, the Nuremberg defense language works wonders today ( I was just following orders) , and of course “she has learned from the past” but will not be prosecuted.
JoAnn, you need to check your sources. It is the Satire from the Borowitz Report.
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-removes-giuliani-from-legal-team-by-naming-him-new-white-house-doctor
Mea culpa; after some searching I found the Dr. Rudy report to be satire. Remembering Trump’s first physician, Rudy might be an improvement…removing him from the legal team would be too wise a decision for Trump to make on his own. Sorry; but it is good for a much needed laugh.
I’m surprised by the optimism that voting is going to right the situation that we’re in. I hate to be a nay-sayer, but I think were getting beyond the effectiveness of democratic ways. To think that 45 will abide by our laws is ridiculous based on his history! To think that he won’t go to extremes to hold on to his power is naive. He’s the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and orders them to do what he decides! While Mueller is crossing his T’s & dotting his I’s, 45 is gaining power and changing how this country will be doing things.
Kathy,
“I’m surprised by the optimism that voting is going to right the situation that we’re in. I hate to be a nay-sayer, but I think were getting beyond the effectiveness of democratic ways.”
“While Mueller is crossing his T’s & dotting his I’s, 45 is gaining power and changing how the country will be doing things.”
Very well said. In order to save what’s left of our republic, WE have to find a way, right now, to deal with both problems at the same time. To do otherwise, amounts to nothing more than political day-dreaming.