Blog Slowdown

As I type this on the day before Thanksgiving, I have to contemplate how Trump is sticking by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia over the evidence that the prince orchestrated Jamal Khasgoggi's murder for economic interests - not America's, Trump's own -and the fact that a bluntly racist interim senator like Mississippi's Cindy Hyde-Smith could win a special runoff election next week because of, not in spite of, her attitudes - and I want to hurl.  Leaving me more indisposed is that, despite the Democrats winning the largest popular-vote margin - 8.8 million votes - Trump could still win re-election in 2020  because of an unfair advantage in the Electoral College and the refusal of the Trump base to abandon him even when it's obvious that his own policies are hurting them.  

That out of the way - with the understanding that there's more to get out of the way in the future - I'm hoping to spend less time in this space in the coming weeks.  I've gotten frustrated not necessarily with feeling the need to comment on all of the news out there (Ivanka's e-mails - lock her up!)  but with all of the difficulties I've had with my blog of late.  I've been writing so much, I've gotten quite exhausted.  Also, there's the typo issue.  After proofreading a draft two or three times and going ahead and publishing it, thinking I've found every possible typographical error or omission, a mistake shows up after I've published the blog post.  My only solace after fixing such a previously unchecked error is that not too many people noticed it.   

Anyway, with my commentary on the fiftieth anniversary of the Beatles' White Album winding down - I have two more posts to write about that - and with a growing feeling of exasperation over this blog, I am going to try to post fewer entries through next week and December.  I say "try" because who knows what Trump is going to pull next to require all of us to pay more attention to him.  Happy Thanksgiving in advance.

Sunset for Florida Democrats - The Sequel

Georgia ain't on my mind now.  Let me talk about Florida.

Two weeks ago today, I saw Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum and incumbent Florida senator and re-election candidate Bill Nelson come up short in their respective campaigns but by the end of the night, neither race had been called and subsequent recounts had to be held, providing a modicum of hope for Democrats in the Sunshine State.

As of this weekend, however, Ron DeSantis is to be the new governor of Florida, and Rick Scott - who, like Madonna, somehow manged to turn accidental fame into a long career - is the state's new U.S. Senator. 

So what went wrong?  How did the two most loathsome Florida politicians not named Debbie Wasserman Schultz (who, alas, was re-elected to the House) pull off such high-profile wins when much of the rest of the country was turning against Trump Republicanism? The answer is not in the incompetence of Broward County election officials, but rather in three simple facts.  First, Florida is as divided as the country at large.  Second of all, despite Florida's young multiracial population, retirees - most of whom are white - keep moving into the state at a pretty good clip, and even the registered Democrats among them are more conservative than the state's younger and browner residents.  Older people, of course, vote more than younger people, though Florida likely has a lot of young white conservatives - DeSantis, at 40, is one of them.  Third, retirees and working people alike live in Florida for the low taxes as well as the (mostly) sunny weather, and the policies Gillum in particular espoused meant more amenities and, thus, more spending.

Florida has long been seen as the country's most populous swing state.  But is it time to cede Florida to the Republicans?  Probably.  Because after the debacles of centrist candidates for statewide office such as Alex Sink and Patrick Murphy, Florida Democrats tried something new by nominating a black progressive for the governorship even as it renominated a tried-and-true incumbent three-term white moderate senator for re-election.  They both ended up losing, albeit narrowly, to Republicans.  Two different sorts of Democrats . . . losing to Republican opponents . . . in the same state in the same year. 

That show of solidarity Gillum and Nelson had with former President Obama made for good pictures but also made for ineffective politics.

At 76, Bill Nelson is now, like many Floridians his age, retired.  And Gillum?  Pundits are already saying that Gillum isn't going anywhere, though by that they mean that he will remain active in Florida politics.  Really?  As a former mayor of Tallahassee?  That's hardly a springboard for future endeavors for higher office.  Florida doesn't have another election for statewide office until 2022, when Ron DeSantis runs for a second term as governor and Marco Rubio is up for re-election to the Senate.  A rematch between Gillum and DeSantis is unlikely; Democrats never renominate to oppose an incumbent Republican officeholder the guy that incumbent Republican defeated for that office; DeSantis would like nothing better than a rematch with someone he's already creamed once.  And Rubio is such a huge political star that Floridians will keep sending him back to the Senate for as long as he wants to be sent back.  Gillum said that the struggle to move Florida in a more economically and socially just direction wasn't about him.  He's right; by 2022, Florida Democrats will have moved on to someone else.

But who?  Gwen Graham?  (Excuse me while I laugh at the thought of her name.)  Philip Levine, the millionaire businessman who ran for governor in the Democratic primary in 2018 and was mayor of Miami Beach from 2013 to 2017, might want to try again for either the governorship or Rubio's Senate seat.  But even having been mayor of Tallahassee is preferable to being a former mayor of Miami Beach.

So, despite a few key (no pun intended, if you get my drift) U.S. House victories two weeks ago, Florida Democrats are still in the dumps.  And their queen bee, their top honcho, their most visible pol, is still Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Pathetic.         

I have friends and relatives in Florida who keep inviting me to come down there.  In their dreams.  As long as Florida keeps electing bigoted climate-change deniers to office, I plan to boycott Florida completely.  (California orange juice all the way!)  Instead of traveling to Florida, I hope to take a vacation to warm, sunny, exotic . . . Wisconsin! :-D

Congratulations to Wisconsin's incoming Democratic governor, Tony Evers.

Election Day 2018

Vote, darn it!

Election Endorsements 2018

Oh, great, is it election endorsement time again?

I should just tell you all to vote Democratic no matter what, except vote Green when the Democratic candidate is a woman named Hillary or Oprah.  And yes, I'm going to do that.  Vote Democratic, exceptions noted.  But I'm also going to single out candidates for office in campaigns where I especially want to see the Republican candidate lose and lose big time.  That's how much I dislike them. And in the case of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, I literally hate him.  So here goes:

For U.S. Senate, Texas:  This blog enthusiastically endorses Democrat Beto O'Rourke.  Not only is he the most ardently progressive candidate for statewide office in Texas in a long time, he has the energy and the commitment to help Democrats running for office throughout the state and to inspire them throughout the country.  Also, his opponent is incumbent Republican senator Ted Cruz, a man even arch-conservative Republicans don't like.  Time for some Cruz control in the Lone Star State.

For governor of Wisconsin:  This blog endorses Democrat Tony Evers. Evers, the Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction, wants to improve education in the state - and a whole lot of other things.  Education is one of the many institutions in Wisconsin that der Führer WalKKKer has laid waste to in the past eight years.

For governor of Georgia:  This blog endorses Democrat Stacey Abrams.  She's committed to making a Georgia a fairer and better place for all of its residents, and she's also living proof of Zerlina Maxwell's comment that it's going to take a black woman to save America - or at least Georgia - from itself.  Also, her white male Republican opponent, Georgia Secretary of State and noted vote suppressor Brian Kemp, has all the charm and compassion of an electric eel. 

For U.S. Senate, Arizona: This blog endorses Democrat Krysten Sinema. She's talking about issues people care about, like making sure that pre-existing sanctions are covered by health insurance, while her Republican opponent Martha McSally (who, being a woman from the Southwest and because of her name, would have made a great running mate for Martin O'Malley - get it? - in 2020 if she were a Democrat) keeps trying to change the subject to that stupid caravan issue - which isn't an issue at all.  

For U.S. Senate, New Jersey:  This blog, ho hum, endorses Democrat and incumbent Bob Menendez.  Because when you have two ethically dubious 64-year-old guys from Union City, New Jersey named Bob running for Senate, you should always go for the one with the D after his name.  

For governor of Florida:  This blog wholeheartedly endorses Andrew Gillum, who, if he wins, will make Florida the largest state in population with a black governor, but also the second-largest state in population (after California, which is a gimme for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom) with a progressive governor.  Florida needs bold, new, energized liberal leadership that it's been lacking since, oh I don't know, Reubin Askew was governor in the seventies?  Now's the time for the Sunshine State to come of out the darkness of Republicanism and Democratic centrism. 

For U.S. House, New Jersey, Eleventh District: This blog endorses Rebecca Michelle "Mikie" Sherrill.  Republican Jay Webber supported that federal tax reform law that screws New Jersey, he doesn't believe that women have any rights, and he gets a good rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA).  Mikie Sherrill will fight to restore federal tax deductions for New Jersey homeowners, support equal rights for both sexes, and fight the NRA.  You can trust her.  She has an honest face.

See?

Oh, mercy me, where is my head?  That's actually a picture of my Olympic heartthrob, champion swimmer Janet Evans. This is Mikie Sherrill.

They do look alike, don't they? :-D 

Right.  Those are all of my endorsements.  You know the drill - vote on November 6. 

When The Levee Breaks

The remnants of Hurricane Florence are expected to reach my area late tonight into tomorrow, and even though we'll get a lot of rain and maybe a thunderstorm, it won't be nearly as bad as what people in the Carolinas have been getting from the storm in its full fury.  And Trump is reacting to this catastrophic hurricane by bitching about the reports surrounding the last catastrophic hurricane.  He's trying to deny that three thousand people - about the same number of people that perished on 9/11 - died in Puerto Rico as a result of the aftereffects of Hurricane Maria.  The government is only beginning to deal with Florence, and Trump is responding to the last storm as if he were fighting the last war.

The dam is breaking, and I'm not talking about the Santee Dam holding back Lake Marion in South Carolina.  I'm talking about Trump's "Presidency."  Trump has had to deal with Paul Manafort confessing to every campaign finance violation he's been charged with, and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is dealing with allegations of sexual harassment dating back to - really - his high school years.  (Kavanaugh tries to present himself as a nice guy, but how is this possible with a charge like this?)  Kavanaugh is facing charges from one Christine Christine Blasey Ford, a professor in California who claims that he assaulted her so hard that he could have killed her by mistake.

Oh dear . . .. Despite all that, Kavanaugh may still have the votes in the Senate (courtesy of a power-hungry Republican caucus) to squeak through and get on the Court, but once on the Court he could be forced out by the Me Too movement, and hopefully they'll also take out Clarence Thomas in the process.  All of this pressure on Trump's associations and his attempts to bend the will of the judicial system to his own will is only making it more likely that the Democrats are going to win back the House in the 2018 midterms . . . and possibly the Senate.

And Trump wants to re-litigate Maria?

When the levee breaks, America will be a far different country than it is today. 

Election 2018: Game On

After numerous setbacks involving his cronies and John McCain's beautifully orchestrated funeral - orchestrated by McCain himself - Donald Trump finds himself staring at his worst poll numbers in over a year - a Washington Post/ABC News poll gives him a 60 percent presidential disapproval rating and a mere 36 percent approval rating.

I'm curious about the 4 percent of poll respondents who have no opinion!

Right now, All signs point to a Democratic takeover of the U.S. House in November, though it's not certain how big the Democratic House majority in the next Congress will be.  The real action will be in state legislative elections and gubernatorial elections, and the biggest governor's race is shaping up in Florida, where progressive Democrat Andrew Gillum, who is black, is going against Trump Republican Ron DeSantis.             

DeSantis has wasted no time in portraying Gillum's liberal agenda as dangerous for the state, but he's also wasted no time in fighting dirty.  He warned Floridians that Gillum sounds articulate while advocating for his policies, which most blacks hear as a backhanded remark from racist whites who find it astonishing that black people are able to speak the king's English and have a high intelligence.

Of course, it's easy to interpret DeSantis's remark as a warning to centrist and conservative Florida voters not to be taken in by Gillum's rhetorical ability to present a liberal governing policy as if it were mainstream (actually, it is; more about that in a moment) - that is, one could assume that he's less concerned with Gillum's dark brown skin than he is with his silver tongue.  But no one could possibly misinterpret What DeSantis said next - that a Gillum governorship could "monkey up" Florida.

This was clearly a racist comment.  DeSantis aides quickly came out and said that "monkey it up" is an expression DeSantis came up with himself that isn't meant to have racial connotations, but no one is buying it.  I've invented my own expressions, like the wholesome "No kidding, Kojak!" to use instead of the more vulgar "No sh--, Sherlock!"  But when I describe someone causing something to go wrong, I usually say that someone "screwed it up," fouled it up," or whatever.  "But "monkey it up"?  Uh, no.

The monkey here is the one on DeSantis's back - that of bigotry.

As for Gillum's policies . . . look, he's talking about expanding health insurance to everyone, improving education, making the wealthy pay for it . . . all actually quite mainstream positions.  Not that establishment Democrats have ever cared to notice; they've been too busy trying to move to the center for the past quarter century and getting their rear ends handed to them at the ballot box, both in Florida and elsewhere.  This makes it all the more crucial that Gillum wins in November.  Phil Murphy's 2017 gubernatorial victory in New Jersey attracted zero interest outside the state because New Jersey is so heavily Democratic it would have elected a ficus plant to succeed Chris Christie so long as it was a Democrat.  Florida is a swing state - a state that can go either way not just in presidential elections but in any statewide election - where a Democratic victory would mean something. Not that that there have been that many Democratic victories in Florida; as I noted last week, the state's Democratic Party is on death's door, holding neither house of the state legislature and possibly losing a U.S. Senate seat this fall.    Also, Florida Democrats have lost all of the five most recent gubernatorial elections there, manly by nominating squishy centrists (including, ironically, former Republican governor - and now Democratic congressman - Charlie Crist).  Gillum is running for governor as something different, and I'm not talking about his race.  He's offering a bold, progressive, social democratic agenda that could re-invigorate the party, get the masses to finally vote for their own interests, and also carry Democratic U.S. Senator Bill Nelson to victory on Gillum's coattails.  But if he loses, Democrats will likely learn the wrong lesson and try to keep the party in the center - a center defined by the Republican right.

Andrew Gillum not only can win the governorship of Florida. He must win the governorship of Florida.