1523 Post Party Depression

1523 Post Party Depression

A few words about the Fox TV encounter among the top ten Republican presidential wannabes. (Fox called it a debate, but it wasn’t.)

You can put the ten of them neatly into five categories.

Louts/Gavones: Trump, Christie.

Smarmy/Whiney: Huckabee, Kasich.

Dopey: Bush, Walker, Paul.

Self Lobotomized Brain Surgeons: Carson.

Tokens: Cruz, Rubio.

There’s some potential bleeding among the categories.  For example, you could put Carson in “tokens” and move Paul into “Self Lobotomized” though you’d have to change the category name to “Blind Eye Doctors.”

What a sorry lot.  Who won?  Fox News and Hillary Clinton.  Carly Fiorina and Bernie Sanders were the runners up.

The differences among the republican candidates are microscopic.  Pour some hand cleaner over the crowd and you kill the microbes.  It was Trump's show.  But even he didn't score any real points except drawing fire from the moderators and laughs from the audience.

As usual, the dems don't know how to fight back. Their responses to the GOP debate:  "No mention of income inequality."  "No mention of climate change." The only thing said about gay marriage was from Kasich, who said we should all love one another.  Very effective.

Each Republican has his own peculiar flaws. The basics are pretty much the same.

But the dems' message is ineffective.  You can't see, hear, smell or touch climate change.  Yet.

Income inequality solved by income "redistribution" won't fly.

People don't hate billionaires, they envy them.  They strive to be one.  They've bought into the myth that it's possible. (It is. But not on a mass scale.)  People don't hate cops who beat up or kill black people unless they're black, much white pretence to the contrary notwithstanding.  

People with drivers' licenses or state photo id s don't care about people who don't and therefore can't vote.  People don't care how much Lockheed or the Kochs give to super pacs.  

Maybe “don't care” is inaccurate.  Maybe it's they care but they don't want or think they can't make an effort to change things.  

People want more money for education, but not if their taxes go up.  People don't care if the next guy doesn't have medical insurance.

People don't want another foreign war.  But they feel they can't do anything to stop one.

Chuck Schumer, influential and likely to be the next Democratic leader of the senate comes out against the Iran deal.  If enough other democrats follow (and they may,) there will be enough votes to override the promised presidential.

Okay, now what?  Is there a way to frame these issues so that people will see a benefit?  The dems appeal to goodwill.   That's idol worship. There IS no good will.  The republicans appeal to greed even while they're pulling a reverse Robin Hood on the people least able to withstand a robbery.

I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®

Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com

© WJR 2015