Politics Back in the Spotlight
You come on with a “come on,”
You don’t fight fair.
That’s OK, see if I care.
Knock me down, it’s all in vain.
I’ll get right back up on my feet again.
Hit me with your best shot.
Why don’t you hit me with best shot?
Hit me with your best shot.
Fire away.”
Hit Me with Your Best Shot - Pat Benatar (1980)
…..
We’ll largely take a break from World War III this week, as it has been a very consequential last few days in the political arena. After all, how the U.S. manages through the current and expanding wars very much depends on who is at the helms of the ships of state over the next months and years. Here follows a quick analysis of seven recent political events:
NY Times Democratic Poll: You probably have heard about the NYT poll last week showing Trump leading Biden in nearly all of the “swing” states and often by fairly wide margins. It received a great deal of coverage everywhere. Whenever the NYT does something, understand that they have no interest in providing information. Everything they do is to advance an agenda that they support. Some of their prior polls were intended to encourage Republicans to nominate Trump by showing him to be strong. If Trump were to become the nominee of Republicans, they would immediately release a poll showing that things had changed, and Trump could not win in order to depress Republican turnout. It’s call “push polling.” Yes, they are that evil. But this poll seems to emphasize Biden’s weakness so as to encourage Democrats to find another nominee.
For some context, then incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson did not make his famous “I will not seek, nor will I accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president” speech until March 31, 1968. He had won the New Hampshire primary but appeared quite weak. His Vice President, Hubert Humphrey became the Democratic nominee. Could history repeat itself with a weak Joe Biden withdrawing sometime next year to be replaced by his Vice President? I did not think the Dems would want Kamala, but I am starting to think they may go there to keep their identity politics intact.
Tuesday Elections: There is no sugarcoating it. Tuesday was a bad day for Republicans. Governor Youngkin was unable to cap his gubernatorial win with legislative victories and lost the Republican majority in the lower house of delegates in the Commonwealth of Virginia. We lost an abortion fight in Ohio, a governor’s race in Kentucky and won the governor’s mansion in deep red Mississippi by only 5 points.
I have watched both parties over the years dismiss these midterm losses as irrelevant because there were local issues that won’t translate to the national election. Poppycock. First, Republicans are losing on the abortion issue not because the public is not with our position, but because it is a huge motivator to the Democratic base to both give money and vote. Dems know this and will talk about little else for the next 12 months. (forget wars, border, inflation, crime, economy because what a woman (as defined) does with her/his/their body is at stake!) Dems have a better small donor network and are well organized. And, the politics of race is working for them. The Republican nominee for governor in Kentucky was a black man. An offshoot of Black Lives Matter ran ads calling him and “Uncle Tom” and stated “all skinfolk ain’t kinfolk” to insure that black voters voted for the white Democrat. Disgusting. But it is working.
Dem Divisions: The massive rifts in the Republican party are obvious for all to see. But the Democrats may have their own issues over antisemitism. Anywhere from 12 to 22 Democratic members of Congress have broken ranks to support Israel on Republican sponsored bills of late. There has been antisemitism in both parties for some time. But, that within the Democratic base is literally calling for the “genocide” of the Jews. Jewish Democrats are understandably upset by this. The press, of course, ignores it. But calling for the death of others in your party should be a deeper divide than whether you support Ukraine funding or not.
The GOP Debate: This was by far the best of the three GOP debates so far. I give the credit to my friend Hugh Hewitt, who was instrumental in putting this together with NBC News. The questions, including those from the two NBC moderators were relevant and thoughtful. The debate did not degenerate into a match of candidates shouting over each other. It was controlled and substantive. Congrats to Hugh Hewitt and NBC for that.
As far as the candidates, Ramaswamy is very smart and has moments of brilliance. But he is abrasive and hard to like. His attack on Nikki Haley’s daughter was completely unacceptable and disqualifying in my view. Tim Scott is warm and genuine but just not making the grade. Both DeSantis and Christie did well. But, the winner tonight, in my opinion, was Nikki Haley. She was strong and articulate and measured in her answers. On a number of questions, others dodged the issue at hand. Haley never did. She gave straight up answers. Whether I agree or not, I respect when someone states their position and defends it.
The loser tonight was Donald Trump. He was the winner in the last debate by not participating in that mess. This was a very good substantive exchange and Trump was nowhere to be found. I understand that Trump still leads in the polls. But in my opinion, at least four of those people on the stage tonight would be a better president than Mr. Trump.
Speaker Johnson: So far so good. His Israel funding bill saw all Republicans and 12 Democrats in support. Majority Leader in the Senate Chuck Schumer still won’t even give it a vote over there, because it would pass. Johnson’s idea to stagger the CR dates so that each element of government spending is taken separately is brilliant. But, he is having trouble getting support. Government funding runs out in 9 days. A shutdown is more political disaster for Republicans. A “clean CR” is what got McCarthy fired. The Speaker’s job gets tougher from here.
Paul Kessler: Do you know who Paul Kessler was? He was a 69-year-old Jewish man murdered (police have called it a homicide) by Islamist Nazis at a “rally” in the normally quiet suburban town of Westlake Village, California. From all accounts, he seemed as though he was a regular guy. The people who killed him were shouting “Hitler should have smashed you! You will burn in hell” as video evidence supports.
Everyone knows who George Floyd was. He was a criminal, drug addicted, woman abuser who died due to drug overdoses while in police custody for committing another crime after dozens he had committed before. He was a disgusting human being.
But, our society raises up Floyd as a hero and there are statues to him. Paul Kessler’s death is ignored. The leftist DAs in Minnesota put the police officers in jail for Floyd’s death. The leftist DA in Los Angeles County released the Islamist Nazi who murdered Paul Kessler and no charges will likely every be filed.
The race of who is killed and who does the killing matters in American today. I thought we had stopped that.
Media: I have said the media are disingenuous liars. Word is coming out that CNN, the NY Times, Reuters and AP had “reporters” imbedded with Hamas as they carried out the October 7th horrors. If this is true, the media are not liars. They are evil. Pure evil.
I Remain Respectfully,
Congressman John Campbell
Drive Fast & Live Free