Tag Archives: John Kasich

Republican National Convention. Cleveland Rocks!

The Republican National Convention was recently completed.  It ran from 18 – 21 July and took place in Cleveland, Ohio; formerly known as the ‘mistake by the lake.’  There were many interesting facets to this convention.  Some good.  Some not so good.  One of my big concerns is that Grandma P has become a political junkie.  She watched more speeches during this convention than she has watched totally in the first almost 30 years of our marriage.    She maybe missed 90 minutes of the convention.  Should I be concerned?

Anyway, it is always more interesting to talk about the negative facets first, so here we go!

NEGATIVES

Do you realize how much money a convention brings into the hosting city?  It is in the tens of millions of dollars and the competition to be the host city is only exceeded by a city wanting to host the Olympics or a Super Bowl.  So, with the convention being in Ohio, where was the governor of Ohio, John Kasich?  Oh, I remember, he was one of the many participants in the Republican debates that swore they would support the eventual Republican candidate.  So much for your word, Mr. Boob.  You did not even have the decency to appear and welcome the delegates to your state.  You are only the first of many people that went contrary to ‘your  pledge of support.’

Ted Cruz.  What more can be said about a sore loser whose ego is barely eclipsed by the size of the state he represents.  That would be Texas.  Rather than show anything that approached denoting party unity, the wienie took his opportunity to extol his virtues, without endorsing Trump.  He was rightfully booed off the stage.  The next morning, he was speaking to the Texas delegation and was asked very pointed questions as to why he did not endorse Trump, the Republican candidate, as he had pledged.    Again, it was back to his principles and he was a master at ‘politcal speak’ in that his answers chewed all around the cookie without having to take a bite.  It was obvious it was all about him.  Never mind what is good for the country or what the electorate wants.   My respect for wienie Cruz has declined into negative numbers. (Is his ego so large as to run as a third party candidate just to defeat Trump and hand the victory to Clinton?)  Ted is lucky he has two more years to his term as senator, or he probably would have lost an election this fall.

Jeb Bush.  Another of those people that pledged support to the Republican candidate that just could not find the time or effort to attend the convention or even make a statement about party unity.  Quite honestly, he was not missed.  Jeb always seemed to be out of touch with what was important to the electorate, anyway.

The two people I am rather disappointed with are George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.  As the two former Republican presidents, they could have at least made some statements via video to support the party principles and bury the hatchet about the divided party by at least wishing Trump well in his upcoming campaign.  I like and respect both of those gentlemen, and it would have been my hope that they would have risen above the butt kicking their brother/son took during the primaries and shown some interest in the political party that got them both elected.  I do not remember any former presidents shunning the following party conventions such as the Bush’s have done.

After Trump’s speech on Thursday evening, Texas billionaire Mark Cuban went into warp drive tweeting his dislike for Donald Trump, referring to him as stupid and lazy.  What is it with these Texans?  Ted Cruz, the Bush’s, and now Mark Cuban?  Just because you lost the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, doesn’t mean you should carry a grudge for almost 200 years!  Just because Trump is not from Texas, doesn’t mean he can’t be president.  So here are my words for all four of you…..“GET OVER IT!”  Do any of you four believe the country and world would be better off with President Hillary?  Mark Cuban supported Trump until a few months ago.  What happened?

POSITIVES

I was very impressed by the quality of the majority of speeches given during this convention.  Yes, there are always a couple of marginal speeches, and some were clunkers, but the vast majority were very, very good.  Did you notice how many of the speeches were given by minorities and women?

Newt Gingrich.  Some of the speeches were beyond excellent.  Newt Gingrich gave an excellent speech.  I wish my college professors were as good as Newt.  I may have gotten better grades if they were.  He laid out the difficulties our country and the world will be facing because of Islamic Muslim extremists.

The Trump Children.  I would not know how to pick the best speaker from the four Trump children that gave speeches.  Not only were the speeches outstanding in content, they were delivered to near perfection.  Donald, Jr., Eric, Ivanka and Tiffany all did an absolutely wonderful job.  If the children are truly a reflection of the parents, then I would say that Donald Trump has done an excellent job of parenting.

Melania Trump.  Another great speech by another Trump.  But almost as soon as it was completed, the Democrats started yelling ‘plagiarism,’ as 58 out of the 1400 words were similar to a speech Michelle Obama gave in 2008.  With all of the things that have happened recently, this is the what the Democrats focus on?  I would say that criticizing this speech as a part of what all is taking place in this country and the world is a clear indication of ‘pole vaulting over mouse turds’ by the Democrats.

Make America Safe Again.  Make America One Again.  Make America Great Again.  I don’t know what adviser came up with these slogans, but they pretty much framed the content of all the speeches given during the convention.  I believe all of these issues are important to the electorate. With the latest ambush of the police, with the latest terrorist attack, and with the largest racial divide occurring in this country during my lifetime, how could the electorate not be concerned about these issues?

Donald Trump.  I will give Trump an A for the content of his speech, but only a B+ for delivery.  As Grandma P pointed out, there were times when it appeared he was screaming.  (I noticed it, also.)  But Donald is a very passionate man, and it is obvious he believes the United States is heading in the wrong direction because of the policies of the present administration.  I agree with him.  He is not a professional, lifetime politician who makes large group speeches for a living and for contributions.  I find that to be an asset rather than a liability.  If he is elected, he can scream all he wants if he can correct those passionate issues.

The Party Plank.   I thought the Republican National Committee did an excellent job of framing the issues and direction of the party.  By tying the slogans with the content of the speeches, a viewer would definitely see the direction that the Republican party is taking.  Background checks for immigrants.  Check.  Second Amendment rights.  Check.  Border Security.  Check.  Reducing the national debt.  Check.  Creating jobs.  Check.  Placing citizens before immigrants.  Check.  Assuring citizen safety.  Check.  Support the police.  Check.  Rebuild the military.  Check.  Did I miss anything?  Probably.

Democratic Critique.  Now that the convention is over, Hillary and her media machine have framed the convention as nothing but ‘doom and gloom.’  Just like Chicken Little, the Republicans have been accused of promoting ‘the sky is falling, the sky is falling!’  Even though I find this somewhat amusing, I believe the issues brought forth at the convention were brutally honest about situations and conditions that need to be addressed and corrected.  Democrats apparently do not want to face these issues and continue to portray the world and our country as if everything is just hunky-dory. This is disturbing as it would be my hope that the two parties would come together to resolve some of these various, serious issues.

So there you have it, readers.  My assessment of the Republican National Convention was that I was seldom bored and it was done very professionally.  The speeches were, if not perfect, very informative.  There have been accusations that Donald Trump is not a conservative.  I cannot even fathom how that could be proposed after watching this convention.  One political pundit said it was one of the most conservative conventions he has ever witnessed.  I agree.

If Donald Trump gets elected and is able to do half of what was proposed at this convention,  the country will indeed be heading in the right direction.

Newest Reality TV Show, Survivor…Washington, D.C.

When did the election year politics turn into a bad reality show?  Do we blame the Amazing Race? Do we blame the Bachelor?  How about the Kardashian’s or any of those Housewives of Wherever shows?

Trust me when I say that this is the most devisive and unprofessional year I have ever seen for people that are contending to be President of the United States.  What happened to dignity?  What happened to respect?  What happened to important issues?

The only winners in this media circus is the ………well, the media.  One pundit said that this year’s electoral campaigns are good for CBS, but bad for America.  No fooling!  As of this writing, there have been eleven Republican presidential debates.  I am being overly gracious when I actually describe these events as debates.  Same issues.  Same mud-slinging.  Same name calling. Different time slots, moderators and channels.  Why so many?  Frankly, I have watched about half of them and the debates I missed were pretty much reruns of the debates I watched.  Ugly!

After hours of contemplation, I have decided to contact Mark Burnett and propose a new show for the Republican debates….. Survivor….Washington, D.C!

Can you picture it?  Cue the music!

Blast the irritating horns!  Show some tribal symbols in the promo!  Show the panoramic view of the island that the competition will take place!  Yes, we can’t have this competition in the actual Washington, D.C  The crime rate there is high and  that would be too dangerous!  We will select a deserted island somewhere close to the continent of Africa; close to where the last Survivor winner was born.  With any luck, this island will be  full of cannibals.  Could we be so lucky?

Now the introduction of the contestants.  Firstly, the Gabber from Gotham, Donald J. Trump!  His opponent, from the state of Florida, Marco (I am the son of Ronald Reagan) Rubio!  Their opponent, representing the state of Texas, Ted, I can be trusted because I know what a Bible looks like, Cruz! And our last contestant, representing the state of Ohio and responsible for anything good that has ever happened in that state, John Kasich!

Jeff Probst was unable to be the moderator at this contest as he was previously committed to moderating the Democratic Survivor contest titled, Survivor…Leningrad.  In his place will be the intelligent, charming and witty, Megyn Kelly.  Ms. Kelly of Fox News fame has demonstrated impartiality when it comes to who survives and who wilts like a pansy without water.  And, she is just gosh darn good looking and as long as this is my idea, she will be the moderator!

Our first reward challenge will be the name-calling challenge.  First out of the gate and with a large lead is Rubio.  He is being closely followed by Ted Cruz.  Both attempt to trip up Trump.  Trump makes a half-hearted, half-assed rebuttal to the two leaders.  Con Man.  Charlatan.  Faker.  Failure.  Liar.  The competition is furious and vicious.  Kasich?  Well, this was obviously not his best challenge.  The name calling becomes more intense. The three leaders are miles ahead of Kasich. Eventually, Megyn calls a time out as it has been determined that more negative adjectives were used during this contest than in the last twenty presidential elections combined.  The winner?  Marco Rubio…by quite a distance over his opponents. As he approaches Megyn Kelly to receive his reward, she informs him that while he and Trump and Cruz were flinging the adjectives, Kasich had eaten the reward.

The next reward challenge will be the body part challenge.  Again, Rubio jumps off to a fast start by bringing up the size of Trump’s hands and feet.  He presses on that because these are small, it may be concluded that his man parts may not be adequate or manly.  Cruz is befuddled.  He is more concerned about the size of his Bible.  Trump counters by calling Rubio…little Marco Rubio.  He again, in a half-hearted and half-assed rebuttal counters that his man parts are adequate and manly and that his hands are strong, as verified by his golf instructor.  Kasich again is trailing in this challenge as he continues to ramble about such things as the national debt, ISIS, creating jobs and all those other unimportant things that no one cares about during this challenge.  It was suggested that maybe the boys should just expose their man-parts, and winner takes all!  Megyn Kelly knows a good story when she sees one, so she orders additional cameramen to film this historic event.  The co-winners of the body part challenge are Rubio and Trump.  Cruz and Kasich were outdistanced in this event.  The idea of exposing their man-parts is dropped as Vladimir Putin wanted to enter this part of the competition, which was determined to be against the spirit of this competition. (It would have been to easy to suggest Hillary would have won this competition, but that would be tacky.) Rubio and Trump are contented to each get half of a crap sandwich (I can’t say shit sandwich, as my grandkids could read this) as their reward.

The next and final reward challenge is the back stabbing challenge.  Megyn allows each contestant to select their weapon.  Cruz selects an old-fashioned Bowie knife in honor of the Battle of the Alamo, which of course took place in the great state of Texas.  Rubio selects a switchblade stiletto knife, as it is the knife of choice in Miami.  Trump selects a Scottish dirk as it honors his Scottish heritage.  Kasich selects a 2″ pen knife in honor of the pen knife he uses to open his mail.  The contestants take their places.  Megyn raises her hand and says, “are the contestants ready?”  All contestants nod their preparedness.  “Ready…….stop!”  Stop?  “What do you mean stop?”  Megyn replies, “we now have a new addition to this competion.  Now entering the back stabbing challenge, representing the great state of Utah, Mitt, (the Mormon Mauler), Romney!”  Romney, the loser in the last Survivor contest, makes his presence known.  The Mormon Mauler selects his weapon, a double edged machete, as he intends to cut a wide swath through his challengers, one in particular.  The final reward challenge is over before it really began.  Mitt Romney back stabs Trump repeatedly, much to the amusement of the other candidates.  No contest…Romney wins the back stabbing competition.  And….like all good things, my Survivor….Washington, D.C. fantasy must end.

What exactly is happening to the Republican party in general and why did Romney do what he did specifically.

If you have been observant, you will notice for every political pundit advancing one theory, there is another pundit advancing the opposite opinion.  Can Trump beat Hillary?  Yes responses followed by no  responses.  Can any of the other candidates beat Hillary?  Again, some yes polls followed by no polls.  Will Romney’s scathing and vicious attacks on Trump help or hurt the Republican party?   Again, opposite responses.

I have a theory about Romney.  If you remember, last summer he hosted Jeb Bush in Utah.  After their weekend together, Romney announced he would not seek the Republican nomination.  Jeb was the fair-haired boy.  He had name recognition and a vastly successful money machine for campaign funds.  Then. lo and behold, Jeb gets a lukewarm public response for his presidential bid.   My opinion?  Jeb has not been governor of Florida since 2006, campaigned as if he still was governor, and lost contact with the anger and concerns of most Republican voters.  Mitt must now feel like he opted out too quickly.

His attack on Trump is nothing like I have ever seen in my life.  Vicious, deliberate, unethical. Regardless of who Romney attacked, he has made me regret voting for him in the 2012 election.  All of this after he received financial and personal aid from Trump in 2012,    I have heard the 2012 Trump endorsement of Romney and I have heard Romney’s appreciative comments and over the top descriptions of the virtues of Donald Trump.  In the words of comedian Dennis Miller, “It’s too bad Romney didn’t go after Obama like he has after Donald Trump.”  I find Mitt Romney’s action despicable by any measure.  If his attempt is to become the Republican nominee, he can forget it.

The Republican party?  My theory is that much like Jeb Bush, the Republican party has lost contact with the majority of the people that call themselves Republican.  The ‘king makers’ may have lost track of the desires of the pawns.

I do not want to see a third party candidate.  That’s how we got Bill Clinton.  With a third party candidate, we would have Hillary Clinton and that would mean Survivor….Leningrad would become a reality.

Wake up Republican party!  Your debates have become bad reality TV.  Stop these candidates from ripping on each other and get into the business of ripping up the Democratic side of the house.  The last eight years should provide adequate ammunition for ripping the present administration…so start using it!  Get off your butts and come up with a party plank that the American public can understand. Much good and bad can be said about Donald Trump, but I and everyone who has watched this circus, knows where he stands on issues.  Where does the Republican party stand on issues?

Has Washington, D.C. become such a cesspool of graft, corruption, influence peddling, waste, fraud and abuse that an outsider like Trump, an outsider that can’t be bought, scare the hell out of them? The recent actions of Romney, coming out of the woodwork the way he did, makes me wonder.

The upcoming election could be Survivor…..USA!