Even with a 'deeply flawed' candidate, it's no less than stunning that Doug Jones won the special election for the Alabama senate seat over Roy Moore. Simply stated, decency won and hence America won as well. Really, Mr. Moore wasn't so much as a flawed candidate as a corrupted man. All candidates are 'flawed,' because no individual is perfect, but Roy Moore had been corrupted by money and power, operating without any checks and when you run for an office with national implications, you're going to have the layers peeled back and exposed. Alabamians decided that they didn't like what they saw and didn't want to be represented in that way. So... Thank you Alabama.
Chuck Todd in his interview with White House Legislative Affairs Director, Marc Short, showed him a clip of their last interview where Mr. Short denounced the behavior that Mr. Moore was credibly accused of, but since that time his boss, President Trump, had endorsed Roy Moore for senate. Mr. Short, today, explained that Mr. Trump endorsed him because he represents the party. No. This is incorrect as the president doesn't represent the party but all Americans. It's one of the worst aspects of Mr. Trump's presidency: that he has no inclination to represent all Americans, just pitting one group against another. Alabama reminded us that we as a country are better than that and that we've had enough.
With that, much of the talk of today's program was about the projected Democratic wave election that is coming in 2018. To that, Democrats should be cautiously optimistic. A lot can happen between now and next November, but Republicans are not helping themselves with this tax cut bill that they're trying to pass. Details aside, what Americans know is that the tax breaks disproportionately favor corporations and the wealthiest one percent of the population. There's no getting around that, no matter what the spin is. As Mr. Short even said, the most important thing about this tax cut bill is that the corporate rate has been cut. Again, details aside, what the average American hears is that corporations get a permanent tax cut and individuals do not.
The underlying message is that Republicans aren't for the average working family. With this tax cut bill, the GOP isn't doing itself any favors moving into 2018. And as for Mr. Trump, the majority of Americans don't trust him to be honest with them, and all the groups, namely women and African-Americans, are energized to vote against the Republican agenda and hence the president.
Mr. Todd asked Governor John Kasich (R-OH) if we as a country are in a better position than we were at the beginning of the year, and he demurred on the answer. Understandable, but to directly answer the question, one can only say 'no.' However, Governor Kasich did say that the GOP can not govern small, angry and narrow - Mr. Trump's precise governing style. What makes it all the worse is that many Republicans in the House and Senate are following right along in this vein.
A prime example is the coordinated attack on Special Counsel Mueller's investigation of Russian meddling in our political system by Republicans in Congress and on Fox 'News.' (Anytime I mention Fox in this column, 'news' has to be put in quotes, but all the network has been is a shill for the president.) What they are overlooking is that they are exacerbating is a threat to our national security. What does it say about a political party that controls all branches of government that undermines American institutions? No matter what Speaker Ryan or Senate Majority Leader McConnell, and sorry to say but for Mr. Kasich as well would tell you, the Republican party is the party of Donald Trump. Not quite corrupt, but certainly and sadly corrupted.
Panel: Helene Cooper, The New York Times; Stephanie Cutter, fmr. Obama Campaign Manager; Al Cardenas, fmr. head of the American Conservatives Union; George Will, Washington Post columnist
A few more things...
The Trump Administration has directed that the Center of Disease Control (CDC) can not use the following terms in their budget proposals - diversity, vulnerable, science-based, evidence-based, fetus, entitlement or transgender. Sounds like a Mike Pence denial wish list to me.
In this case, the following terms may have to be banned in the press to describe the Trump Administration: divisive, authoritarian, dictatorial, idiot-based, unstable, fantasy-based and stupid.
Also, the one topic that was not talked about at all was 'net neutrality,' which was repealed this week. Was it just a matter of time or was it because Comcast, NBC's parent company would stand to benefit from this repeal. Hopefully, the former and not the latter.
No comments:
Post a Comment