Category Archives: Politics

Kamala and Coach, Keeping it Pithy

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So far the transition from Biden to Harris has gone swimmingly. Record numbers of people are filling stadiums to listen to these great orators wax poetically about the type of future that is possible while giving Orange Jesus some of his own. Recall in 2016 Michelle Obama’s mantra “When they go low, we go high” and how well that didn’t work out for democrats. That’s because Trump is a different kind of animal. You gotta get down in the mud with him, but without using too many words. Keep it pity. Call republicans weird and tell them to mind their own damn business. Share a cartoon that exposes the stupidity and/or hypocrisy. I’ve been saving up images from social media and now seemed like a good time to share some of the better ones that send the message in the strongest possible way.

Cool Kids for Kamala

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Trump, attention seeking whore that he is, from the very beginning has had a strategy (some would say a need) to always be in the news cycle, even if it was bad news. In 2016 he promised to build a great wall on the border with Mexico and that Mexico would pay for it. The media fell for it hook, line, and sinker and ran with this story for weeks, allowing him to hand-wave when pressed for details on how any of this might get accomplished. Once the hysteria died down over that canard, he had to come with another outrageous claim to get back in the news cycle. He said he would “ban all muslims” from coming to the United States. Regardless of how unlawful or impractical a solution appeared to be, the media took the bait and ran with it. Meanwhile the other republican candidates (all 17 of them) were trying to get in to the news cycle and couldn’t get any attention. He completely sucked all the oxygen from the room, meanwhile, coming up with clever nicknames for each opponent: ‘Lil Marco. Low-energy Jeb. Sleepy Joe, Crooked Hillary, Lyin’ Ted. It worked. I will give credit where credit is due. He’s good at it.

Fast forward 7 years to 2024 and Joe Biden has just pulled the rug out from under the republican presidential campaign by withdrawing from the race with just over 100 days to go and passing the torch to Kamala Harris. Democrats rally around this news with enthusiasm and hog the news cycle for 3 whole days. All the cool kids are joining in and republicans are freaking out. It turns out Kamala is popular after all, especially with voters under 35. Now we just need to make sure they get out and vote.

I cannot wait to see what outrageous, bizarre move comes out of the Trump campaign next. It’s coming, we just don’t know what it is yet. He simply cannot stand to not be the center of attention. I’m anxiously waiting 3, 2, 1…

The Besmirch Strategy

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If it worked before maybe it will work again?

One can’t argue with the fact that the Benghazi hearings were wildly successful at smearing Hillary Clinton in 2016. Such a large dose of media attention focused on questioning Secretary Clinton’s motives and competence did real damage to her campaign and allowed the media to “both sides” two candidates, even though one of them had been caught on tape bragging about being able to grab women by their private parts because he’s a celebrity. 

The republicans aren’t all stupid but after the unanimous impeachment inquiry vote it would appear they are desperate. So desperate that they realize their one and only chance at reclaiming the White House is to implement Benghazi 2.0 in the form of making up conspiracy theories about Hunter Biden. It’s a Hail Mary if there ever was one but it’s all they have. 

I’d like to predict an embarrassing failure but 2016 has taught me that we can’t trust the media to not “both sides” issues like this one. Instead we have to rely on getting out the vote in record numbers. 

Rob The Plumber

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With Joe Biden joining the picket line with union workers in Michigan recently it appears that the tide may be turning with regards to the union vote. Even though Reagan did all he could to bust unions back in the 1980’s it seemed like the Republicans somehow successfully stole the support of union members and it’s stayed that way. Until now.

Recall that in his 2008 presidential campaign John McCain successfully made a connection with the labor movement by trying to help “Joe the Plumber.” Joe was your average private business owner out there trying to scratch his way to the American Dream and finding it difficult. McCain was there to help and it provided a boost to his campaign. The average “Joe” connected with the idea.

Given that unions are making a comeback and republicans are no where to be found for support, I came up with a novel idea for democrats to latch onto for 2024.

My son Rob is a 2nd year plumber apprentice. He too is out there trying to make some scratch towards the American Dream and he’s a proud union member, solid democrat and about as anti-MAGA as a person can be. Maybe Biden should latch onto this idea and mimic McCain’s successful attempt at connecting with the working class. It’d be fun to turn the tables on those guys.

Well, That’s a Setback To My Narrative

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Suppose that you entered a golf tournament and did pretty well, winning the front nine by one stroke but lost the overall championship by four strokes. Suppose further that you felt your opponent to be an inferior golfer who didn’t have as many followers on the course as you did. There’s just no way this guy could have beaten you.

Then suppose that you raise holy hell with the tournament officials about how the other guy had to have cheated to win. You assert your opponent took birdies on holes he bogied. That he had a secret deal with the greenskeepers to move the flag to a tougher position when you played the hole. That he had someone steal your ball on the 16th fairway in order to jigger your score on the back nine.

Your large following of supporters agree with you that this absolutely has to be true and put pressure on tournament officials to review the tapes to stop the steal of the tournament.

The tournament officials then agree to review the tapes and find no evidence of cheating on your opponent’s part. Your supporters then claim that the tournament officials are in on the fix and order an investigation of the investigation.

Then suppose that the very investigation you ordered shows that not only did you lose the tournament, you cheated on the front nine by having your caddie pay a woman in a tank top $130k to flash her bare chest at your opponent right before he addressed his ball on the first hole. Not only did you not win the back nine, YOU cheated on the front nine.

That’s how Donald J. Trump feels right now.

Republican “Priorities”

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In the words of the oft colorful Jeff Tiedrich, Republicans appear to have their priorities upside down. As it turns out real problem is that they are bought off by the gun lobby who rakes in billions on gun sales, (even more-so after a mass shooting at a school), but be that as it may, I felt his observations are worthy of being repeated here, and I love the fact that he even provided links to actual examples.

Republicans were so busy protecting children from learning that Rosa Parks was black that they forgot to protect them from being murdered in their classrooms.

Republicans were so busy protecting children from seeing that Michaelangelo’s David has a penis that they forgot to protect them from being murdered in their classrooms.

Republicans were so busy protecting children from finding out that men can love men and women can love women that they forgot to protect them from being murdered in their classrooms.

Republicans were so busy protecting children from being read to by grownups wearing costumes that they forgot to protect them from being murdered in their classrooms.

Republicans were so busy protecting children from eating a subsidized school lunch that they forgot to protect them from being murdered in their classrooms.

Republicans were so busy protecting children from reading that Roberto Clemente experienced discrimination that they forgot to protect them from being murdered in their classrooms.

Republicans were so busy protecting children from discovering why Anne Frank had to hide that they forgot to protect them from being murdered in their classrooms.

Republicans were so busy protecting children from knowing how their own bodies work that they forgot to protect them from being murdered in their classrooms.

Republicans were so busy protecting children from having access to healthcare that they forgot to protect them from being murdered in their classrooms.

3 Words for Elon

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Not surprising of course, but Twitter had another major outage yesterday followed by Elon tweeting

“Ugh. The System is so fragile. The whole thing needs to be redesigned from the bottom up.”

Who pray tell, will be doing the redesigning since what’s left of your staff is repairing leaks in your sinking ship?

Gosh, the system is fragile? No shit, Sherlock

Pass the Baton

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We humans have a tendency to believe if we exit our hard earned leadership positions that the world will fall apart yet nothing could be further from the truth.

On the work front, having been retired for almost a year I can assure you the positions I have left behind are in good hands. On the political front it’s just time to pass the baton to the younger generation and get out of the way. This applies to all political persuasions.

There are two main reasons that are driving this post. The first is, I have closely observed what kids today have to offer on a technical level and I couldn’t be more impressed. There is no shortage of talent and enthusiasm out there that should be tapped into, if only my generation would step aside. At Xerox I spent some on College Campuses recruiting grands and getting to learn about their projects and internships. The resumes are extremely impressive. Below the college level, kids as young as 9 are pumping out code on complex game projects and robotics, competing with peers using technologies we only dreamt of as kids. I have no worries that the kids can step up if they want to. The talent is there.

The second reason has more to do with politics. There’s never been a more convincing case for term limits than the current House, Senate, and Presidential leadership. I realize that at the core of governing this country with its constitution is by design a very slow change management system. That was put in as a feature, not a bug. The reason for mandatory turnover in politics isn’t complicated. New blood can cut old ties to lobby interests. The biggest reason of all though is my generation has had control of the wheel for much too long. It’s time to pass the baton to the people who will have to live in this world 40 years from now. They should be the ones having the conversation about Supreme Court justices, climate change, gun control, the national debt, and human rights… and from leadership positions.

Owning Mike Lee

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Poor Mike Lee looked absolutely incredulous at last night’s State of the Union message after Biden called out the ultra conservative Tea Party group headed by Rick Scott for having formally proposed phasing out Social Security. He has this look of “what the heck could you possibly be talking about?” on him. He may have gotten away with it except Meidas Touch was clever enough to embed side-by-side videos of Lee looking stunned by the news at the SOTU and in the next panel, talking to a small group about his plans to phase out Social Security. Republicans sure like to fly under the radar with their secret plans when they can.

Bummer, Mike.