BloggeRhythms

A friend sent an article containing one of the best analyses of Trump, and the political phenomenon he’s caused, seen in quite some time.  

On January 19, Erick Erickson wrote @FoxNews.com: “I like him personally. I’ve been to his office. I’ve observed him privately dealing with his staff and people coming inside his building. He is personally, when the cameras are turned off, an incredibly gracious person. I know many people who do not believe that because all they see is the public Trump, but when the lights are down, the cameras are turned off, and Donald Trump, not “The Donald”, is present, he’s a good guy.”

Mr. Erickson goes on to credit him further, describing through several examples how Trump has disrupted the establishment. Primarily due to his independence and willingness to brazenly take on the “system,” as follows: 

“Whether Trump makes it out of Iowa the winner or not, Republicans will owe Trump thanks for exposing their fault lines and flaws and showing just how inept, corrupt, and out to lunch the Washington Republican consultant class has become.” 

And then, Mr. Erickson succinctly presented the point made here many times over the past 18 months or more, which is the most important of all: “Before I started writing about politics, I worked in politics. As a rule of thumb, I think anger burns out and it is tough to sustain over time. If Donald Trump really has become a conservative, I take St. Paul to heart that we should not put new converts in charge. He needs some time helping the movement before he leads the movement.” 

In reading Mr. Erickson’s conclusion regarding Trump, the thought coming to mind was that Trump certainly sounds perfect to multitudes. But so did Solyndra.

Then, as coincidental confirmation of Mr. Erickson’s, and this author's thoughts, today the Boston Globe officially endorsed John Kasich for the presidency. 

Most important is the editor's rationale for supporting the Ohio governor, presented @bostonglobe.com, as follows: “New Hampshire Republicans can do their party a critical service on Feb. 9 by voting for an experienced political figure with a record of results, and thus dealing a blow to the divisive, demagogic candidates running on nativism and other political simplicities.

“The Globe urges them to support John Kasich, whose record as governor of Ohio shows him to be a pragmatic, fiscally responsible executive, but one who is also concerned with helping the poor. His success in that important swing state, and his record as a moderate conservative who is willing to compromise in pursuit of results, suggests he is the Republican hopeful most likely to be successful on the national stage. 

“On the other hand, Democrats who knew him in Congress considered him collegial and willing to compromise. And his strong gubernatorial reelection results — he won 64 percent of the vote — show that whatever his temperamental shortcomings, he’s not a polarizing figure.”

So, here again is reinforcement of the the thought that talk is cheap, but proof of performance is by far the most critical test. And in this case, his constituents are pleased with the results of his efforts to the extent that 2/3 of them voted to reelect him.

Which brings us to today’s update on Bill Clinton’s wife.

Bill Hoffmann @newsmax.com, reports that former House Majority leader Tom DeLay says: “I have friends that are in the FBI and they tell me they're ready to indict.” 

That was said on "The Steve Marlzberg Show," where the former congressman claimed: “The FBI is ready to indict Hillary Clinton and if its recommendation isn't followed by the U.S. attorney general, the agency's investigators plan to blow the whistle and go public with their findings.” 

"One way or another either she's going to be indicted and that process begins, or we try her in the public eye with her campaign. One way or another she's going to have to face these charges." 

However, indictment or not, it seems that public opinion is taking its toll anyway, and finding her unworthy of holding the office of POTUS.

According to new numbers from the latest Fox News national poll: “Hillary Clinton’s lead in the Democratic primary race has narrowed to its slimmest margin yet.

“The front-runner’s support has slipped under 50 percent, and cracks may be appearing in what some called her “firewall” -- the African-American voter bloc."

Forty-nine percent of Democratic primary voters now support Clinton -- down from 54 percent two weeks ago. 37 percent prefer Sanders while Martin O’Malley draws 1 percent. 

Another example of the front-runner’s slippage is that: “Ten percent are undecided -- a sign the race is more fluid than it seemed two weeks ago when only two percent were undecided.” 

Last June, Clinton held a 46-point lead over Sanders which has now shrunk to only 17%. 

As far as candidate qualities are concerned: “Honesty (30 percent) is the top quality Democratic primary voters want in their nominee, followed by the right experience (22 percent), caring about people like themselves (17 percent) and the ability to win in November (8 percent).” 

And then, the poll produced a statistic that pertains to the question appearing at the close of these daily entry’s for the last year and a half, or so. “One thing Sanders and Clinton supporters have in common is that they’d rather Joe Biden be the nominee than their candidate’s current opponent.  Half (51 percent) of Clinton supporters and 39 percent of Sanders voters would be satisfied with the vice president as the Democratic nominee.” 

So, now that Mayor Bloomberg has shown that he’ll likely enter the race, it remains for Joe Biden to answer the continuing query, along with Jerry Brown, and Starbuck’s chairman and CEO, Howard Schultz. Are you guys reading this?      

That’s it for today folks.     

Adios