BloggeRhythms

Skipped the Republican debate last night. As usual, couldn’t figure out why candidates competing for the most important job in the world believe that standing and insulting each other demonstrates presidential capabilities. And, from the recaps this morning, once again, I missed absolutely nothing important at all.

What’s more, three of the four remaining viable candidates still in the race can offer no proof of performance in their careers qualifying them to attain the most important job on the planet. In fact, all that Cruz, Rubio,and Trump can offer is a continuous spewing of very hot air. So, what’s the point of watching them try to destroy each other verbally?

John Kasich, on the other hand, is the only one still in the race for POTUS from either party that actually knows what he’s doing in regard to governance. As the highly successful, re-elected Governor of Ohio since 2011, a few of his other qualifications follow, much of the information derived from Wikipedia:

While none of the other three served in the military, Kasich was a member of the House Armed Services Committee for 18 years. He developed a "fairly hawkish" reputation on that committee, although he "also zealously challenged" defense spending he considered wasteful.

On the nation’s  financial matters: “In 1993, he became the ranking Republican member of the House Budget Committee. In that position, he and other House Budget Committee Republicans proposed an alternative to President Bill Clinton's deficit reduction bill, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. That proposal included funds to implement Republican proposals for health care, welfare, and crime control legislation and for a child tax credit.”

And then, “In 1995, when Republicans gained the majority in the United States Congress following the 1994 election, Kasich became chairman of the House Budget Committee. In 1996, he introduced the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act in the House, an important welfare reform bill signed into law by President Clinton.”

Most importantly, considering the miserable shape that the current POTUS has sunk the nation debt-wise, “In 1997, Kasich rose to national prominence after becoming "the chief architect of a deal that balanced the federal budget for the first time since 1969"—the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.” Something the nation desperately needs at the moment.

Matching up with Trump as far as business experience is concerned, “Kasich served on the board of directors for several corporations, including Invacare Corporation and the Chicago-based Norvax Inc. In 2001, Kasich joined Lehman Brothers' investment banking division as a managing director in Columbus, Ohio. So, he’s no amateur when it comes to the “real” financial world either. 

He also has a logical approach to the highly questionable issue of global-warming. “In a speech in April 2012, Kasich acknowledged that climate change is real and is a problem. In the same speech, however, Kasich said that the Environmental Protection Agency should not regulate carbon emissions and that instead states and private companies should be in charge of regulating coal-fired power plant emissions. In 2015, Kasich stated that he was unsure what causes climate change.

Thus, he presents a format for dealing with the climate issue that prevents government from over-regulating and also permits private industry to solve their own problems at individual state levels where it belongs when appropriate.  

On economic issues: “During Kasich's tenure, the state has eliminated a budget shortfall that his administration has estimated at $8 billion, but which the Cleveland Plain Dealer estimated at closer to $6 billion, and increased the state's "rainy day fund" from effectively zero to more than $2 billion.

“In March 2008, Kasich called for "phasing out" Ohio's state income tax,” and then signed a state budget in 2011 which eliminated the state's estate tax effective January 1, 2013. 

He also campaigned for a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution and created a 501(c)(4) group, “Balanced Budget Forever,” to promote the cause.

On healthcare, in 2015, Kasich expressed support for many provisions of the ACA (ensuring coverage for people with preexisting conditions, the use of insurance exchanges, and Medicaid expansion), but opposed mandates.

Thus, while the three novice wannabee’s at the top of the Republican polls try to verbally shred each other, none having the slightest proof of performing effective government leadership, Kasich alone can offer a track record that unquestionably would be most beneficial to the U.S. at present.  

On the other hand, here’s a look at what the incumbent political party is doing. This one coming from Rush’s show yesterday.

“RUSH:  Did you hear what John Kerry said?  This is hilarious.  Grab sound bite number 18.  Kerry was testifying yesterday, Capitol Hill.  It was a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the State Department's budget for this year, 2017, the budget request, and during the Q&A Senator Mark Kirk, a Republican from Illinois, said, "Mr. Secretary," speaking to the haughty John Kerry (who, by the way, once served in Vietnam), "Secretary Kerry, I want to show you a picture of Ibrahim al Qosi, who was recently released by [the Regime] to Sudan, and he appeared on some Al-Qaeda videos recruiting people for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.  You let him out of [Club Gitmo], and he goes over there and he starts recruiting.  Now that he's out, I would hope that we would end the policy of issuing terrorists to terrorist nations when they get out."

“KERRY:  Well, Senator, he's not supposed to be doing that and there are consequences for -- 

“RUSH:  Do you believe this?  Stop the tape.  We let a terrorist out. We release a terrorist. We send him back to, essentially, the terrorist front lines. We have pictures of him engaging in terrorist activity after we release him from captivity.  At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, this is mentioned to John Kerry and his answer is, "Well, he's not supposed to be doing that."  He's not supposed to be...? What is he, a child?  What, you tell him to sit in the corner instead of go back to the terrorist battlefield?” 

And then, a FB friend posted the following:

 
 

Bringing us to today’s update on Bill Clinton’s wife.

In today's case, while the subject itself is quite serious, even more important is the source of the displeasure with her fundraising activities: The Editorial Board of the New York Times, who wrote the following @nytimes.com:

“Everybody does it,” is an excuse expected from a mischievous child, not a presidential candidate. But that is Hillary Clinton’s latest defense for making closed-door, richly paid speeches to big banks, which many middle-class Americans still blame for their economic pain, and then refusing to release the transcripts. 

“A televised town hall on Tuesday was at least the fourth candidate forum in which Mrs. Clinton was asked about those speeches. Again, she gave a terrible answer, saying that she would release transcripts “if everybody does it, and that includes the Republicans.” 

“On Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton further complained, “Why is there one standard for me, and not for everybody else?” 

“The only different standard here is the one Mrs. Clinton set for herself, by personally earning $11 million in 2014 and the first quarter of 2015 for 51 speeches to banks and other groups and industries.” 

And then the Board delivered their clincher: “Voters have every right to know what Mrs. Clinton told these groups. In July, her spokesman Nick Merrill said that though most speeches were private, the Clinton operation “always opened speeches when asked to.” Transcripts of speeches that have been leaked have been pretty innocuous. By refusing to release them all, especially the bank speeches, Mrs. Clinton fuels speculation about why she’s stonewalling. 

“Her conditioning her releases on what the Republicans might or might not do is mystifying. Republicans make no bones about their commitment to Wall Street deregulation and tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Mrs. Clinton is laboring to convince struggling Americans that she will rein in big banks, despite taking their money.” 

At the same time, it seems that the voting public may also be tiring of the Clinton family in general, including the biggest gun in their arsenal. 

Kyle Olson @theamericanmirror.com via Drudge, writes about Bill Clinton’s audience in Rock Hill, South Carolina Thursday, where: “From the back of the room, things appear big — big flags, long rows. From the front of the room, things seem small. A quick head count shows only about 200 people turned out to see the former president.” 

And then a video posted by the Charlotte Observer shows no audience members behind Bill Clinton at all, which is also quite unusual at gatherings like these. 

Leading to the ongoing question: Joe Biden, Mayor Bloomberg, Jerry Brown, and Starbuck’s chairman and CEO, Howard Schultz, are you guys reading this?   

That’s it for today folks.     

Adios