I can't quite get to that “I hate Trump” spot where all sane folks are supposed to be. After all, I'm an Obama guy and have been from day one, so hating Trump should be a piece of cake, right?
It isn't, trust me. Especially if hating Trump means I have to like Hillary, and, even worse, be on the same side as Rachel “The Queen Of Correct” Maddow and the Uber NeoCons who recognize it's just going to be a matter of time before Trump says, “Hey, by the way, what are we getting for that $250 Billion (inflation adjusted) we've given Israel over the years … Let's start giving that money to the Hispanics instead … our Hispanics … I love the Hispanics.”
So, let's apply the wisdom of Kevin Phillips, the Nixon strategist who observed, “The secret to politics is knowing who hates who.” Applying Phillips' Rule analysis, I find the people who really hate Trump more annoying than Trump himself. At least, so far. For our purposes, we'll talk about annoying or disliking … not hate.
It's not a woman thing … I promise. I could be for Amy Klobuchar in a Minnesota minute. She's strong, good looking, and way above average. I could also be for Elizabeth Warren, who makes the liberal case about as well as anyone.
For me, Hillary grates. She never gives you the complete picture. She's too clever by half. There's always an “oh by the way” as the full story dribbles out.
The emails are a case in point. She keeps hiding behind Colin Powell … “I did exactly what Colin Powell did when he was Secretary of State.” Not quite. Powell didn't keep a server in his house. Hillary likes to talk about how many emails she's made public without mentioning how many thousand emails she vaporized. Does she think we're freaking stupid?
What has Hillary done that took political courage … ever? As Carly Fiorina said, logging miles in an airplane is an activity, not an accomplishment. What you do when the plane lands is what counts. Secretary of State John Kerry demonstrated that by hammering out a deal with the Iranians and incurring the wrath of the Israelis in the process.
How high would the body count of women, children, and other civilians in Gaza have to be before a President Hillary mustered the courage to call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and say, “Enough is enough” and make it stick?
Would she have to check in with Billionaire backer Haim Saban to see if he concurred before making that call? Haim's done so much for the Clintons. I'm sure Hillary would want to get his considered opinion. What's the hurry.
Bernie Sanders would make that call in a New York minute. He wouldn't need to check with any of his $27 contributors. I'm sure Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren would have no trouble making that call either.
Rupert Murdoch's hacks at FOX and the Wall Street Journal like to say Obama never led. Garbage. Obama bet his Presidency on getting the Affordable Care Act through Congress, and he bet it again on the Bin Laden raid, and again on the Iran Deal.
Would Hillary have had the courage to order the Bin Laden raid? Or the opening to Iran and seeing it through to a deal that cleared Congress? There's nothing in her history that suggests an affirmative response.
She didn't have the guts or the judgment to vote “No” on the Iraq War Authorization, as Bernie Sanders loves to remind us. She still seems to have a difficult time keeping her story straight when she explains that vote.
So, you've got cautious dissembling half-truth telling nodding bobbing grating Hillary against stream-of-consciousness no thought goes unspoken reckless unpredictable savvy throw 'em out of here Trump.
Let the good times roll.
I will post again on Wednesday July 6, 2016 or before if the news flow dictates.
Comments are welcome at tomc[at]wednesdayswars[dot]com. Comments will be addressed in subsequent posts.