What he said.

[OvalNut]

Running a government is usually about making deals. Your side agrees to spending cuts if our side agrees to tax increases (Reagan & Tip O'Neill, a deal that failed). There has to be something in it for both sides. A pure liberal like Oturd will never compromise. A pure conservative shouldn't compromise, because we have nothing left to compromise with. We've already given up nearly everything, and that's why we're teetering on the edge of disaster now.

Is it possible that we are beyond a point where ideology matters? If you're on the sinking Titanic, do you care whether the rescue ship's captain is a liberal or a conservative? Let's save the passengers first (and not load the ship down with more passengers), then we will have the luxury of ideology. No matter how much I agree with Cruz on issues, I'm not convinced President Cruz can un-sink the Titanic, when most of the crew wants to make the gash in the hull even larger.

Right on John. Well said.


Tim

[downtownv]

After 7+ years with Barry Soetoro, on the Left extreme, I think Ted Cruz would be viewed as the Right extreme and would never win a general election. As much as I like him, Congress hates him and we will still have this gridlock that America is so sick of.
Trump would be the only one to bust up this Iceberg in Washington.

[downtownv]

"Who is Donald Trump?"

The better question may be, "What is Donald Trump?" The answer: A giant middle finger from average Americans to the political and media establishment.

Some Trump supporters are like the 60’s white girls who dated black guys just to annoy their parents. But most Trump supporters have simply had it with the Demo socialists and the "Republicans in Name Only." They know there isn't a dime's worth of difference between Hillary Rodham and Jeb Bush, and only a few cents worth between Rodham and the other GOP candidates.

Ben Carson is not an "establishment" candidate, but the Clinton machine would pulverize Carson, and the somewhat rebellious Ted Cruz will (justifiably so) be tied up with natural born citizen lawsuits (as might Marco Rubio). The Trump supporters figure they may as well have some fun tossing Molotov cocktails at Wall Street and Georgetown while they watch the nation collapse. Besides, lightning might strike, Trump might get elected, and he might actually fix a few things.Stranger things have happened. (The nation elected a Marxist in 2008 and Bruce Jenner now wears designer dresses.

Millions of conservatives are justifiably furious. They gave the Republicans control of the House in 2010 and control of the Senate in 2014 and have seen them govern no differently than Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Yet those same voters are supposed to trust the GOP in 2016? Why? Trump did not come from out of nowhere. His candidacy was created by the last six years of Republican failures.


No reasonable person can believe that any of the establishment candidates will slash federal spending, rein in the Federal Reserve, cut burdensome business regulations, reform the tax code, or eliminate useless federal departments (the Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Energy, etc.). Even Ronald Reagan was unable to eliminate the Department of Education. (Of course, getting shot at tends to make a person less of a risk-taker.) No reasonable person can believe that any of the nation's major problems will be solved by Rodham, Bush, and the other dishers of donkey fazoo now eagerly eating corn in Iowa and pancakes in New Hampshire.

Many Americans, and especially Trump supporters, have had it with:

Anyone named Bush
Anyone named Clinton
Anyone who's held political office
Political correctness
Illegal immigration
Massive unemployment
Phony "official" unemployment and inflation figures
Welfare waste and fraud
People faking disabilities to go on the dole
VA waiting lists
TSA airport groping
ObamaCare
The Federal Reserve's money-printing schemes
Wall Street crooks like Jon Corzine
Michelle Obama's vacations
Michelle Obama's food police
Barack Obama's golf
Barack Obama's arrogant and condescending lectures
Barack Obama's criticism/hatred of America
Valerie Jarrett
"Holiday trees"
Hollywood hypocrites
Global warming nonsense
Cop killers
Gun confiscation threats
Stagnant wages
Boys in girls' bathrooms
Whiny, spoiled college students who can't even place the Civil War in the correct century. . .and that's just the short list.

Trump supporters believe that no Democrat wants to address these issues, and that few Republicans have the courage to address these issues. They certainly know that none of the establishment candidates are better than barely listening to them, and Trump is their way of saying, "Screw you, Hillary Rodham Rove Bush!" The more the talking head political pundits insult the Trump supporters, the more supporters he gains. (The only pundits who seem to understand what is going on are Democrats Doug Schoen and Pat Caddell and Republican John LeBoutillier. All the others argue that the voters will eventually "come to their senses" and support an establishment candidate.)

But America does not need a tune-up at the same old garage. It needs a new engine installed by experts--and neither Rodham nor Bush are mechanics with the skills or experience to install it. Hillary Rodham is not a mechanic; she merely manages a garage her philandering husband abandoned. Jeb Bush is not a mechanic; he merely inherited a garage. Granted, Trump is also not a mechanic, but he knows where to find the best ones to work in his garage. He won't hire his brother-in-law or someone to whom he owes a favor; he will hire someone who lives and breathes cars.

"How dare they revolt!" the "elites" are bellowing. Well, the citizens are daring to revolt, and the RINOs had better get used to it. "But Trump will hand the election to Clinton!" That is what the Karl Rove-types want people to believe, just as the leftist media eagerly shoved "Maverick" McCain down GOP throats in 2008--knowing he would lose to Obama. But even if Trump loses and Rodham wins, she would not be dramatically different than Bush or most of his fellow candidates. They would be nothing more than caretakers, not working to restore America's greatness but merely presiding over the collapse of a massively in-debt nation. A nation can perhaps survive open borders; a nation can perhaps survive a generous welfare system. But no nation can survive both--and there is little evidence that the establishment candidates of either party understand that. The United States cannot forever continue on the path it is on. At some point it will be destroyed by its debt.

Yes, Trump speaks like a bull wanders through a china shop, but the truth is that the borders do need to be sealed; we cannot afford to feed, house, and clothe 200,000 Syrian immigrants for decades (even if we get inordinately lucky and none of them are ISIS infiltrators or Syed Farook wannabes); the world is at war with radical Islamists; all the world's glaciers are not melting; and Rosie O'Donnell is a fat pig.

Is Trump the perfect candidate? Of course not. Neither was Ronald Reagan. But unless we close our borders and restrict immigration, all the other issues are irrelevant. One terrorist blowing up a bridge or a tunnel could kill thousands. One jihadist poisoning a city's water supply could kill tens of thousands. One electromagnetic pulse attack from a single Iranian nuclear device could kill tens of millions. Faced with those possibilities, most Americans probably don't care that Trump relied on eminent domain to grab up a final quarter acre of property for a hotel, or that he boils the blood of the Muslim Brotherhood thugs running the Council on American-Islamic Relations. While Attorney General Loretta Lynch's greatest fear is someone giving a Muslim a dirty look, most Americans are more worried about being gunned down at a shopping mall by a crazed lunatic who treats his prayer mat better than his three wives and who thinks 72 virgins are waiting for him in paradise.

The establishment is frightened to death that Trump will win, but not because they believe he will harm the nation. They are afraid he will upset their taxpayer-subsidized apple carts. While Obama threatens to veto legislation that spends too little, they worry that Trump will veto legislation that spends too much. You can be certain that if an establishment candidate wins in November 2016, his or her cabinet positions will be filled with the same people we've seen before. The washed-up has-beens of the Clinton and Bush administrations will be back in charge. The hacks from Goldman Sachs will continue to call the shots. Whether it is Bush's Karl Rove or Clinton's John Podesta who makes the decisions in the White House will matter little. If the establishment wins, America loses.

[OvalNut]

Oh My Gosh ... downtown, I want to have your baby!

PREACH ON BROTHER!

Trump 2016!


Tim

[yqtszhj]

Downtown, wherever that came from you nailed it.

Trump supporters are inciting the closest thing to a modern rebellion that can be done without a weapon. For better or worse thats what it is, and for better or worse I'm glad to see some Americans both left and right standing up against the status quo.

Now if the Republicans would have figured that out 8 years ago we likely wouldn't be where we are today.

[JohnR]

Where does this "Senate hates Cruz" talk come from? And if it's true, why is it a bad thing?

[muggsy]

On Trump University. Flimflam artist? Snake oil salesman? You tell me.

http://time.com/4101290/what-the-leg...t-its-founder/

[DanTana]

Very insightful post there downtownv. I can remember when Reagan was running for President, all the rhetoric and mudslinging went on about how he wouldn't be able to function on the world stage and he was nothing but an actor with no substance. Even though he had governed California to a large surplus. I see much the same being said about Trump and in some ways I see the same strengths in Trump we saw in Reagan. Reagan was much more refined and smooth than Trump is now, but I think once he's voted in, you will see a different person. I think now it's all about getting elected any way he can. Will he be able to do all he says? Maybe not, but I think he has the best chance and truly has the best interests of America at heart. Cruz would make a good president, but I don't think he can get voters from across the aisle to vote for him. Trump seems to be pulling in people from all sides to support him. Voters have been turning out in record numbers for the Republican side. That is good news for all. I think if this continues we will have a Republican President, be it Trump, Cruz or Rubio or ? It will still be better than the 70yr old Marxist or the old hag.

[JohnR]

Larry King interviews Trump during the 1988 Republican convention. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Usb0iE5WiZI

CNN calls him a conservative, He says he's a Republican. A Rockefeller Republican? He says no. He praises Ted Turner, probably to butter up his host - Trump: "Ted Tirner's a great guy." King: "No he's not!" LOL.

[muggsy]

Very insightful post there downtownv. I can remember when Reagan was running for President, all the rhetoric and mudslinging went on about how he wouldn't be able to function on the world stage and he was nothing but an actor with no substance. Even though he had governed California to a large surplus. I see much the same being said about Trump and in some ways I see the same strengths in Trump we saw in Reagan. Reagan was much more refined and smooth than Trump is now, but I think once he's voted in, you will see a different person. I think now it's all about getting elected any way he can. Will he be able to do all he says? Maybe not, but I think he has the best chance and truly has the best interests of America at heart. Cruz would make a good president, but I don't think he can get voters from across the aisle to vote for him. Trump seems to be pulling in people from all sides to support him. Voters have been turning out in record numbers for the Republican side. That is good news for all. I think if this continues we will have a Republican President, be it Trump, Cruz or Rubio or ? It will still be better than the 70yr old Marxist or the old hag.

There's a big difference between unfounded accusations and accusations founded in truth. Reagan served as the republican Governor of California and proved his worth. Trump served as a reality show host. Reagan became a republican long before he ran for president and was always a conservative. Trump registered as a republican just three years ago and was a life long liberal. Reagan didn't leave the democrat party, the democrat party left him by going liberal. The Donald goes which ever way the wind blows. He's a deal maker.

[muggsy]

To those of you who think that it was wrong of us to go to war with Iraq remember this. Iraq invaded Kuwait. A war ensued and Saddam Hussein signed a ceasefire agreement to end the hostilities. He then violated the terms of that ceasefire agreement by ejecting the U.N. inspectors who were to oversee the destruction and accounting of his weapons of mass destruction. When Saddam did that it was tantamount to issuing a declaration of war against us. Do any of you really believe that removing Saddam Hussein from power was a bad thing? I don't. We defeated the most powerful military in the Middle East and captured Saddam Hussein in less than a year with minimal losses on our side. Trump has accused Bush of destabilizing the middle east. Iran and Iraq had been at war for eight years before Bush took power.

[OvalNut]

The crux of the error in Iraq was that in the First Gulf War, Bush made Schwarzkopf stop short of taking Baghdad outright, which as you'll recall he was fully poised to do within maybe 2 days after completely decimating the Iraqi army, including the Republican Guard. We should have taken Saddam into custody at that time, stayed, occupied and rebuilt while we had full control. All the Saddam/WMD/Second Gulf War quagmire would never have happened. Bush was weak and he screwed the pooch by leaving a shattered country behind.


Tim

[DanTana]

The main problem with the vacuum we left in Iraq was that we were totally unprepared to implement an exit strategy, then when we did, it failed.

[muggsy]

If you recall Tim, George H.W. Bush stopped short of removing Saddam Hussein from power at the request of the U.N. His son didn't. You and others support Donald Trump because you're angry with the republican establishment. When have you ever made a good decision in anger? You and others have fallen for the revisionist history of the liberal left. That, in part, is from where your anger stems. Dig a little deeper my friend. Find out for whom you are supporting. You don't want less that the best leading our country. Donald Trump is far from the best man for the job.

[JohnR]

Why did CNN call your lifelong liberal a conservative Republican in 1988?