Friday, October 30, 2015

BloggeRhythms

Either Charles Krauthammer’s been inside the beltway too long, or more likely, is too theoretically centered to grasp the fact that the presidency is far more a managerial task than a purely political position. And if the past seven years haven’t shown him clearly that an unskilled speechmaker simply cannot handle the myriad responsibilities required of a POTUS, the doctor has truly become a victim of swallowing his own misguided eloquence.
 
On Thursday’s “Special Report with Bret Baier” Krauthammer said that “the GOP presidential candidates who voters would want to go up against Hillary Clinton are Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Tea Party-favorite, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.”
 
Praising them as the “most dynamic” candidates making up the GOP field, Krauthammer saud: “They really handle themselves. With dexterity on the stage in the way that nobody else did. I think it’s likely that one of those two will be the one who come up against the outsider and then we’ll see.”
 
Then he came back towards semi-rationality, by adding that Cruz considers himself “as an outsider” but “[h]e’s got some political experience. The others have none and that I think is the big difference.” Which means that somewhere in his highly-educated brain, even Krauthammer realizes that experience is an absolute necessity, although he picked the wrong talent requirement by ignoring the need for governance accomplishment.
 
On a similar point, Peggy Noonan @wsj.com titled her opinion column today: “The Not Ready for Prime Time Bush”
 
The column itself was much of the same old Noonan stuff, concluding with her conviction that Jeb Bush’s campaign is basically cooked. However, a reader,  Erv FleiahmN, posted a comment that was better than the Noonan article, and confirms a critically important point about what’s needed to qualify for the job of POTUS. 
 
Reader Erv Fleiahm wrote: “Although Jeb got the worst of the sound bites he is correct.
 
“So, if the other guy robbed a bank it justifies you to rob a bank. That is the McCain answer given by Rubio.
 
“Rubio is being paid to be my Senator and he is not doing the job.
 
“What are the actual statistics for Rubio? What were they before he became a candidate?
 
“Rubio wants to be President. What has he done as a Senator to demonstrate leadership?
 
“Do you think Hillary is going to let this go by if she is the candidate? She will unleash an attack on Rubio on this and his questionable dealings. It already has begun.”
 
“This will be an issue,” declared Craig Smith, a top adviser for the Ready for Hillary super PAC, echoing the views of many supporters and detractors alike. “When you run for president, voters and the press have an insatiable appetite for people’s histories, what they’ve done, who they are. … It raises questions about his judgment, about the kind of people he would bring with him into government, into a campaign.”   
 
Which is why, if Republicans don’t wake up and stop playing games by promoting “outsiders” and unqualified motor-mouths who’ve never governed, they’re going to get decimated next November by whatever Democrat runs for the presidency. 
 
Which brings us to today’s update on Bill Clinton’s wife, which illustrates why both Clinton’s have always ranked gamesmanship and insider dealing above governing capabilities and straightforward job performance.  
 
Lee Fang @/theintercept.com, headed his column today: “Television News Network Lobbyists Are Fundraising for Hillary Clinton”
 
Mr. Fang writes: “The giant media companies that shape much of the coverage of the presidential campaign have a vested stake in the outcome. From campaign finance laws that govern how money is spent on advertising to the regulators who oversee consolidation rules, the media industry has a distinct policy agenda, and with it, a political team to influence the result.
“The top fundraisers for Clinton include lobbyists who serve the parent companies of CNN and MSNBC.
 
“CNN’s parent company, Time Warner, is represented on Capitol Hill by Steve Elmendorf, an adviser to Clinton during her 2008 campaign, who is also known as “one of Washington’s top lobbyists.” He’s lobbied on a number of issues important for media companies like CNN, including direct-to-consumer advertising policy.
 
“Elmendorf, according to disclosures, has raised at least $141,815 for Clinton’s 2016 bid for the presidency.
 
At the same time: “Comcast, the parent company of NBC Universal, which includes cable networks NBC, CNBC, and MSNBC, has a number of lobbyists on retainer who are working to raise cash for the Clinton campaign, including Justin Gray, Alfred Mottur, Ingrid Duran and Catherine Pino.
 
In that regard: Les Moonves, president and chief executive of CBS, memorably said: “Super PACs may be bad for America, but they’re very good for CBS.”
 
Aside from the huge sums of cash involved, another advantageous aspect of Bill’s wife media relationships can be seen by the fact that: “Critics have complained that corporate news networks have promoted establishment candidates at the expense of outsiders. FAIR, a media watchdog group, reported in June that “Meet the Press,” NBC’s marquee political program, mentioned Clinton 16 times in the first 17 episodes of the year while failing to invite or discuss Bernie Sanders once. Sanders has no lobbyist bundlers and no Super PAC supporting his campaign.”
 
Which means that in order to level the playing field, Democrat presidential contenders need to have media relationships and connections of their own. Leading to the ongoing question: Joe Biden, Mayor Bloomberg, Jerry Brown, and Starbuck’s chairman and CEO, Howard Schultz, are you reading this? 
 
That's it for today folks.
 
Adios

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