March 1-2, 2020
Mar 01 00:37 Mini Mike, special interest group Mar 01 07:50 A House majority of phonies Mar 01 09:05 Will Biden get a bounce after SC? Mar 01 17:55 Buttigieg dropping out Mar 02 02:29 Bernie's agenda is poison Mar 02 07:40 Amy Klobuchar's no-good, downright terrible weekend Mar 02 10:17 The Trump/RNC fundraising haul Mar 02 13:47 Klobuchar drops out, will endorse Biden in Dallas tonight UPDATED Mar 02 17:15 Coronavirus supplemental update
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Mini Mike, special interest group
Whether he'll admit it or not, Mini Mike Bloomberg is a special interest group unto himself. It isn't likely that he'll admit that but he's the Democrats' biggest special interest group. In 2018, Mr. Bloomberg contributed at least $80,000,000 to Democrats running for the U.S. House of Representatives .
It isn't likely that Bloomberg contributed to Democrats running in "rural, conservative-leaning districts where his views on guns and other issues could stir an uproar, according to people briefed on his plans, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations." The people who accepted Mini Mike's campaign contributions are beholden to him. The first logical question to ask is this: what does a candidate sign up for when they accept Mini Mike's campaign contribution? This statement tells us:
In the last election, for example, I spent nearly ten million dollars to help a Republican, Pat Toomey, get re-elected in Pennsylvania. I disagree with him on many issues. But after the Newtown, Connecticut shooting, he broke with the NRA and co-wrote a bipartisan bill to close the background check loophole. At the same time, I spent roughly the same amount to help successfully elect a Democrat in New Hampshire - Maggie Hassan - who was running to defeat a Republican incumbent who had voted against Toomey's bill.
This year, I'm supporting both Republican and Democratic gubernatorial candidates who have shown strong leadership on gun safety, the environment, education, and other critical issues facing the country.
In other words, Mini Mike supports liberals from both parties. If they're spineless and controllable, Mini Mike will consider contributing to them. That statement doesn't tell the whole truth, though. In this video, though, Mini Mike slipped:
[Video no longer available]
This paragraph says everything:
In fairness, some Republicans have taken their constitutional and legislative responsibilities seriously, like my friend John McCain. But too many have been absolutely feckless, including - most disappointingly - the House leadership.
Unified Republican leadership of government produced the Trump-GOP tax cuts that've lit a fire under the economy. Unified GOP government allowed Republicans to use the Congressional Review Act, which was used to revitalize the fossil fuel energy industry. That, in turn, allowed the U.S. to become energy independent while crippling Russia's economy, and helped build the strongest economy in decades. If that's Mini Mike's definition of feckless leadership, give me tons of that type of leadership.
Compare that with Nancy Pelosi's leadership. During this session, Pelosi's puppets have spent tens of millions of dollars to impeach a president based on hearsay
If you want the next congress to march to the Resistance Movement/Bloomberg drum, ignore the Bloomberg/Democrat special interest syndicate. If you want Congress to work for you, there's only this simple choice: Vote for unified Republican government.
While President Trump was implementing a travel ban to and from China, Democrats accused President Trump of being xenophobic and a racist. This weekend, medical members of the coronavirus task force praised President Trump's decision. Democrats, including Mini Mike, have twisted President Trump's words. Democrats said that President Trump called the coronavirus a hoax. Here's what President Trump actually said :
President Trump jeered Democrats Friday night for criticizing his response to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, saying that it was a "new hoax" after a failed attempt to remove him from office over Ukraine.
"They tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia - that didn't work out too well," Trump told a cheering crowd in South Carolina. "They tried the impeachment hoax. That was a perfect conversation. And this is the new hoax," Trump declared.
***
"Let's get this right: A virus starts in China, makes its way into various countries all around the world, doesn't spread widely at all in the United States because of the early actions that myself and my administration took against a lot of other wishes. And the Democrats' single talking point and you see it is that it's Donald Trump's fault," he said.
If you want a congress that's controlled by a narcissistic, egotistical elitist that things that farming is what stupid people do and that thinks it's ok to control your lives while decrying money in politics, vote Democrat. If you're sane, though, it's time to vote GOP. If you want to vote for a one-man special interest group, vote Democrat.
Posted Sunday, March 1, 2020 12:37 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 01-Mar-20 09:11 AM
Bloomberg is an opportunist with sixty billion. Why not buy himself a Presidency? For himself or his candidate of choice at a brokered convention. He's Republican through and through. Rockefeller Republican [like the Clintons] and not Tea Party, but anyone who'd vote for him cross-dressing as a Democrat is batshit crazy. Or slave to propaganda bombardment, which differs somewhat from plain crazy. Pliant crazy. Crazed by the din.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 01-Mar-20 09:19 AM
Eric, I'm betting that there won't be a contested convention. I'm betting that Bernie wins Texas & California by wide margins & collects (at minimum) one-fourth of the delegates he'll need to win outright.
Comment 2 by eric z at 01-Mar-20 10:12 AM
Gary, your bet is my hope. My further hope and bet is not yours. Bernie defeating Trump in November. We've months to watch the show, and days to see if Mike sold his candidacy. As to Bloomberg, for a profit-oriented businessman spending half a billion, we need to figure what's in it for Mike. Ego alone? More? What exactly? HOW WOULD HE USE THE POWER?
Comment 3 by Chad Q at 01-Mar-20 10:42 AM
Still haven't figured out why there's such a fervor for Bernie when the angry old clown hasn't done anything his entire life (unless get a post office re-named counts as something) and is proposing things he will never be able to deliver on and if ever did deliver, would destroy the US as we know it. Not sure how destroying the US will help anyone but then again, most Bernie supporters have been given everything or told they deserve everything their entire lives.
I still believe there will be a broker convention because the tops in the party don't want Bernie and know what a disaster he would be not just for the party but for the US.
I hope all Bernie supporters bet big on him and lose it all in November (the election that is, nothing else) because if they win, the US loses.
Response 3.1 by Gary Gross at 01-Mar-20 10:23 PM
You just answered your own question. This is what you said:
he will never be able to deliver on and if ever did deliver, would destroy the US as we know it.Bernie hates the United States & he especially hates the Constitution. This isn't just an election. This is a point in history. Are we willing to surrender & see this great nation die? Or are we willing to fight a bare-knuckled fight to preserve the U.S.? That's what this campaign really is about.
A House majority of phonies
Democrats love saying that their House majority is built by moderates. That's insulting to thinking individuals. There aren't any moderate Democrats left in the House. At least, there won't be if Collin Peterson retires. Last week, I wrote this post to highlight the fact that the Democrats who are relatively moderate really aren't moderates.
In that article, I quoted Newt Gingrich, who said "that he's writing a book about House Democrats that he calls 'the radical 200.'" Newt then continues, saying that "the entire Democratic Party is marching off a left-wing cliff. There's a bill, for example, that would raise the FICA Tax, your Social Security tax, by 19% and they had 206 Democrats signed onto it."
Of the 233 Democrats in the House, 230 voted to impeach President on both articles . That's stunning considering the fact that the only testimony that the Democrats had was hearsay testimony. Impeaching a president based on hearsay testimony isn't what a moderate would do. That's what a hardcore partisan does.
Quite a few so-called moderates joined the Problem Solvers Caucus. It sounds great. Everyone wants to see Congress solve problems that make people's lives better. The problem is that the people in this caucus haven't solved anything. It's difficult for the minority party to get things done in the partisan House, especially when it's ruled with an iron first by someone as partisan as Speaker Pelosi. That brings me to my next point.
A so-called 'moderate' like Collin Peterson votes against President Trump 85% of the time. He voted against the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which has helped ignite the Trump economy. He voted against eliminating the regulations that essentially killed the fossil fuel industry and hurt small town communities. Does that sound like the reasonable thing to do?
What problems have Democrats solved? Did Democrats fix health care? Did Democrats lower prescription drug prices? Did Democrats make us energy independent? What exactly did Democrats do the past 18 months? Anything worthwhile?
Many Democrats told voters that they'd never vote for Pelosi as speaker. Some Democrats kept their promise. Many Democrats didn't keep their promise. Democrats haven't had an original thought since the Clinton administration. What they have is an ideological checklist that they're determined to pass. It doesn't matter that it doesn't make people's lives better. What matters to Democrats is that it's on the checklist. Remember this?
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Posted Sunday, March 1, 2020 7:50 AM
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Will Biden get a bounce after SC?
With Super Tuesday literally just days away, the question that all of the pundits are asking is whether Joe Biden will get a bounce from his victory Saturday night. A quick scan of the RCP average of polls for Super Tuesday primaries shows Bernie Sanders with leads in most of the states, including delegate-rich Texas and California. Sen. Sanders also leads in Virginia and Massachusetts. The RCP average shows Sen. Sanders running away with Colorado and Utah.
If things go well for Sanders on Tuesday night, he'll be in a dominant position to win the Democrats' presidential nomination. That's what I'm expecting. Further, I'm expecting Biden to do just well enough to continue but not well enough to contend. I expect Klobuchar, Warren and Buttigieg to drop out of the race, with Klobuchar having the best shot at doing well enough to stay in the race.
California will send a harsh signal to the Democrats. Here's why:
There's an outside possibility that Sanders will be the only candidate who will win California delegates. If that's what happens, Sanders will be virtually unstoppable. Sanders also leads in Texas:
This doesn't sound like the type of performance Biden and the Democrats' Establishment needs. If things go according to the RCP average in each of these states, Bernie will be the prohibitive favorite to be the Democrats' nominee. After that, expect to hear about lots of article with ideas on how to steal the nomination from Bernie.
Posted Sunday, March 1, 2020 9:05 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 01-Mar-20 09:24 AM
South Carolina's pattern is to favor inner party hacks over something else in the Democratic primary and then to deliver the general election to the Republicans because the primary picked an unpopular party-regular creep. 2016 and 2020 look similar, except 2016 was choosing between two candidates and not a crowded field where the South Bend mayor drew more votes than either woman running. And Status Quo Joe outdrew the pair of women, either of which represented a sounder choice. Strom Thurmond's home state being itself really does not matter, and will not quell the Bern. But the press will spin as if it is major and capable of trending. As if it is "transformational." What the state did is to give Biden his Lazarus day in the sun.
Buttigieg dropping out
Following yesterday's disappointing performance in the Democrats' South Carolina Presidential Primary, Pete Buttigieg is dropping out of the race. With his exit from the race, pundits expect so-called moderates to consolidate around Joe Biden's suddenly revived campaign. Whether that happens in reality, that's another story.
Buttigieg had been scheduled to headline a rally in Dallas, Texas on Sunday night. The charter plane has been rerouted to South Bend, Ind., where Buttigieg will announce that he is dropping out, Fox News has learned.
A campaign aide told Fox News that Buttigieg wants to unite the party. Hours earlier, speaking to NBC News' "Meet the Press," Buttigieg vowed that "we'll be assessing at every turn not only what the right answer is for the campaign, but making sure that every step we take is in the best interest of the party and that goal of making sure we defeat Donald Trump -- because our country can't take four more years of this."
I agree with Buttigieg. We can't stand 4 more years of energy independence, super-low unemployment, highlighted by the lowest minority unemployment in this nation's history, and rising wages. We can't stand another 4 years of a president who puts America, not the Democrats' special interests, first.
I'll miss Buttigieg's holier-than-thou attitude and his willingness to talk over people at debates. Buttigieg's civility will be sorely missed now that he's officially dropping out. Here's one of those Buttigieg civility lessons:
[Video no longer available]
Seriously, Buttigieg's ego was overwhelming. He simply wasn't likable.
Posted Sunday, March 1, 2020 5:55 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 02-Mar-20 12:21 PM
The video you post is a Comcast - NBC hit piece against Bernie, not about the little mayor at all. It is a pro-Biden hit piece. Comcast has its dog in the hunt. If you were to believe them, the Russians have two dogs in the hunt. Each frontrunner of each party. TV talking heads doing what the network boss ordered is not worth the time it took to view it. Tomorrow counts, that video, no; it's worth zippo.
Comment 2 by Rex Newman at 02-Mar-20 05:32 PM
'He who fights and runs away. May turn and fight another day; But he who is battle slain [on Super Tuesday]. Can never rise to fight again.' -- Tacitus
Bernie's agenda is poison
What's clear is that Bernie's agenda should be rejected entirely. Despite his protestations, Bernie isn't a Democrat Socialist. He's a Marxist through and through. He isn't just proposing socialist ideas, though that's part of Bernie's schtick. Bernie's plan is to radically transform the USA into the former USSR. How do I know? Because he's given us tons of hints as to who he is.
He honeymooned in the former Soviet Union. He thinks that Fidel Castro was a philanthropist because he started a literacy program. (I'm being sarcastic about that.) Bernie's Democrats want to eliminate private wealth, then give it to the government. Bernie's Democrats, starting with AOC + 3, want to determine how much money people are supposed to have. It's amazing that Bernie's ok with some people getting rich (think of himself) but thinking that others being wealthy is the nastiest type of greed imaginable.
Bernie wants to implement the Green New Deal. The GND won't save the planet but it's exactly what Putin wants. That's because it tightens Russia's grip on Europe by cutting off reliable supplies of natural gas to former Eastern Bloc nations and into Europe. Why doesn't Bernie understand that Putin loves a timid US?
Bernie's policies will make the U.S. poorer. Any policy based on the principle that the government does things better than the private sector is foolish. Trusting the government to provide consistent competence is like betting on the Chicago Cubs to win the World Series once a decade. Let's get serious. One thing that is serious is the money he's raising :
[Video no longer available]
'The senator's multi-generational, multiracial working class coalition keeps fueling his campaign for transformational change a few bucks at a time,' Sanders' campaign manager Faiz Shakir said in a statement. He said that, of the more than 2 million donations received this month, more than 1.4 million were from voters in Super Tuesday states.
Let's return to Bernie's agenda. Getting rid of fossil fuels strengthens Putin and cripples the US economy. Why should we decide to impose such an unnecessary penalty on families? That's downright foolish.
Posted Monday, March 2, 2020 2:29 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 02-Mar-20 12:00 PM
He will be the next president unless establishment Dems torpedo him. Which is likely. The Democratic Party is not nearly as progressive as Bernie and AOC. It's a crying shame that neither of the two party strangleholders give a flying frock about people and their needs. Trump will have no chance against him unless establishment Dems poison the well.
Comment 2 by Chad Q at 02-Mar-20 05:32 PM
Bernie would be a disaster to the US and everyone with half a brain knows it which is why even the dems don't want him on the ticket. Bernie hasn't done one thing for the people or their needs since getting into the federal government in 1991 so why do you think he would change now?
Amy Klobuchar's no-good, downright terrible weekend
Amy Klobuchar had a no-good, downright terrible weekend this past weekend. Saturday night, she finished ahead of only Tulsi Gabbard in South Carolina's First-in-the-South Primary. In that primary, she got only 3% of the vote, well behind Joe Biden's 48%:
After that disappointing finish, she returned to Minnesota with the hopes of rallying her supporters. Instead, #BlackLivesMatters protesters took over the stage right before the event and never relinquished control. After negotiations broke off, the event was cancelled:
Family members of Myon Burrell, a Minnesota teenager who was sentenced to life in prison under then-County Attorney Klobuchar for murder, along with protesters affiliated with the Racial Justice Network, Minneapolis NAACP and others took the stage in Burrell's honor chanting "Free Myon" and "Black Lives Matter." CNN has reached out to Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights attorney who was one of the organizers of the protest, for comment. A recently published Associated Press investigation into Burrell's case labeled his conviction "flawed," causing some of the same groups present to call for Klobuchar to suspend her campaign.
The image on Sunday was striking. At one point, Klobuchar supporters holding "Amy for America" signs stood on chairs directly across from stage shouting "Amy, Amy," to shout down the protesters while they responded with "Black Lives Matter" chants. After a brief pause, a majority of crowd joined in the effort to drown out protesters that worked for a brief amount of time, but eventually, the cancellation was announced.
"Ladies and gentleman, thank you very much for coming tonight and for your patience," the announcer said. "We're sorry to say that tonight's event has been canceled. We are sorry for any inconvenience. Please remember to vote on Tuesday."
#BlackLivesMatter-Minneapolis isn't alone in calling for Sen. Klobuchar to suspend her campaign. Earlier in the weekend, Sen. Klobuchar tried putting the best spin possible after her disappointing finish:
On Saturday, Klobuchar finished a distant sixth in the South Carolina Democratic Primary, winning a pathetic three percent of the vote. The Minnesota senator only managed to beat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), who seemingly fell off the face of the earth after failing to qualify for the last five Democratic debates. But as Klobuchar sees it, she's still in "the top five vote-getters in the early four primaries and caucuses." The senator made her delusions known during an interview with a local NBC News affiliate in Memphis, Tennessee on Sunday.
It isn't likely that Sen. Klobuchar will win many delegates in Super Tuesday voting. It should be noted, though, that she's leading in home state Minnesota. That lead might not last, though, because Sen. Sanders is flying into Minnesota for a Monday night rally. If Sen. Klobuchar doesn't do well, the campaign will have a difficult decision to make.
[Video no longer available]
Posted Monday, March 2, 2020 7:40 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 02-Mar-20 12:08 PM
The decision was not hard for Mayor Pete. Bloomberg and his people told him to scram. He scrammed. Leaving a big Woosh sound, he moved so fast to follow orders. It deserves a laugh how fast - the old Jump - How High situation. Young and ambitious to a fault. Bloomberg's butler.
Comment 2 by John Palmer at 02-Mar-20 01:39 PM
Amy jumped it just took a little longer for her to read the hand writing on the wall.
The Trump/RNC fundraising haul
Yesterday, Bernie Sanders reported that he'd "raised $46.5 million, which I wrote about here ." That's quite a haul. That being said, the Trump/RNC digital fundraising for February was pretty extraordinary, too:
The fundraising numbers for February are in, and the RNC and Trump campaign saw their largest digital fundraising hauls since 2016. According to the Daily Caller: Trump's reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee raised upwards of $86 million in February, making it the largest digital fundraising monthly haul since 2016.
Additionally, the joint Trump/RNC account has $195,000,000 Cash-on-Hand. Then there's this:
Republicans raised more than $3 million per day for the entire month. The campaign has raised more than $600 million since the start of 2019 and currently has more than $225 million cash on hand. According to Monday's announcement, the campaign has gathered more than 4 million voter contacts this cycle in conjunction with the RNC and authorized joint fundraising committees .
The thing that I look at most closely is the number of voter contacts. I'm also paying attention to the size of the Trump rallies. According to Brad Parscale, Trump's campaign manager, 96.6% of the people who attend a Trump rally wind up voting for him. Additionally, Parscale said that if a person who attends a Trump rally and who makes a contribution, the chances of that voter returning and voting for Trump jumps to 98.4%.
Finally, Republicans are holding voter registration drives at these events. They break things down into categories. For instance, they track what percentage of new voter registrations are from people who haven't voted recently. I don't have the number of people who fit that category but it's a significant percentage of the new registrations.
Still, with so much riding on this election, Republicans must work hard through election day. Bernie's voters are supermotivated and we can't afford to get complacent.
Posted Monday, March 2, 2020 10:17 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 02-Mar-20 12:02 PM
The raising and spending amounts would be far higher if Bloomberg spending is included, which it should be, given the dude is as Repubican as Prescott Bush.
Comment 2 by Chad Q at 02-Mar-20 05:26 PM
Quit hitting the bong Eric. Bloomberg is as progressive/socialist/totalitarian as Bernie and Warren; he just doesn't come across as bat shit crazy as they are. All three are despicable. I'd throw Biden in there but he has no idea where he is or who he is talking to most of the time.
Klobuchar drops out, will endorse Biden in Dallas tonight UPDATED
It's been confirmed that Sen. Amy Klobuchar has suspended her campaign to become the Democrats' presidential nominee in 2020. It's further been confirmed that she's flying to Dallas to endorse Joe Biden at a rally tonight.
This weekend, the Democrats' field has narrowed substantially. Saturday night, billionaire Tom Steyer dropped out. Yesterday, Pete Buttigieg dropped out. Today, Amy Klobuchar dropped out. Thus far, she's the only Democrat presidential candidate to endorse another candidate. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren has said that she's in it for the long haul .
The new Klobuchar-Biden alliance is a big deal from the perspective that she's one of the most-respected so-called moderates in the race. She showed herself, for the most part, to be a capable debater. By endorsing Biden tonight in Texas, she's giving VP Biden a boost in a state where polls show him within striking distance of Sen. Sanders. It's an open question whether the endorsement will help at this late date but it's worth finding out.
This is the right move for Sen. Klobuchar at this point. It's been apparent since before the Nevada Caucuses that her campaign wasn't competitive after her surprising third-place finish in New Hampshire. She finished a distant sixth in Nevada. She followed that up with a distant fifth place finish in South Carolina with just 3.16% of the vote in South Carolina and 4.2% of the vote in Nevada.
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UPDATE: Pete Buttigieg will join Sen. Klobuchar at Vice President Biden's rally tonight. Both former rivals will endorse Joe Biden tonight:
Former Vice President Joe Biden's Democratic presidential bid picked up steam on Monday as he was set to pick up the endorsements of two former 2020 rivals - Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg - on the eve of the crucial Super Tuesday primary elections.
Posted Monday, March 2, 2020 4:09 PM
Comment 1 by Rex Newman at 02-Mar-20 05:19 PM
I suspect her exit also reflected her cowardly response to the Black Lives Matter protesters at her March 1 rally. She says she's tough enough to take on Putin and Trump, but couldn't face some hecklers, and with police present.
She disappointed her friends, supporters, and donors, many having traveled a fair distance. This may have ended all her White House dreams, including Vice President.
Comment 2 by Chad Q at 02-Mar-20 05:20 PM
So, who had the heart to heart with the Mayor and Saint Amy to get them to drop out?
Comment 3 by eric z at 03-Mar-20 10:40 AM
Chad - you know. The message came from the other ends of the puppet strings, Beto too - you can Google it. Texas does have a lot of Latinx voters, a lot of electoral votes at the party convention and for the general election.
It does seem scripted, you gotta see that. It is so THERE.
Bloomberg got what his camp bellowed for; others out of Mike's checkbook's way. Now it is Mike's and/or Joe's turn to see which, if either, can sidetrack the Bern.
Coronavirus supplemental update
Based on Mitch McConnell's speech on the Senate floor today, progress appears to be getting made on the supplemental spending bill:
The Senate's immediate role is clear: We need to support the federal, state, and local public health officials and healthcare professionals who are working overtime to blunt, delay, and mitigate the spread of the virus. So I am grateful that our colleagues Chairman Shelby and Ranking Member Leahy, along with their Appropriations counterparts in the House, worked through the weekend on a bipartisan, bicameral agreement to provide supplemental appropriations for the coordinated response.
It goes without saying that a challenge like this leaves no time for moving goalposts or performative outrage. The American people deserve for their Congress to meet this subject head-on with a bipartisan and collaborative approach. I'm confident that is exactly what can and will happen.
Here's the video of that speech:
[Video no longer available]
There's still plenty of things to worry about with regards to this virus. The things that the President is responsible for are getting done in a timely, proficient fashion. The medical professionals are, as near as I can tell, working together. The markets, which aren't always driven by logic, had a massive sell-off last week which was attributed to the virus. Late Friday afternoon, with less than an hour left in the trading day, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that people were going back to work in China.
From the time of that announcement to the end of trading that day, the DJIA rallied from being down 912 points to finishing down 357 points. That's why I wasn't totally surprised that the Dow finished up today. I must admit, though, that I was startled that it finished ahead by 1294 points today . The Dow Futures are ahead by 150 points already.
Posted Monday, March 2, 2020 5:15 PM
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