GA election: Dems, liberals, media lose "Referendum on Trump"

"Losers!" That's the epithet Republicans, conservatives, the alt-media and yours very truly can justifiably hurl at the Democrats, liberals and lamestream media this morning as we gloat over Republican Karen Handel's convincing victory over her Democrat opponent in yesterday's much-watched congressional election in the 6th Congressional District in Georgia.

Ms Handel defeated Democrat Jon Ossoff by a margin of roughly 4%, garnering 52% of the vote to his 48%. That's a clear majority. No recount or court challenge needed. 4%, in a race that CNN, MSNBC and all the rest were saying was "too close to call". Some of the usual suspects went so far as to predict a "stunning upset" in which the well-educated voters of the affluent suburban enclave, a previously safe Republican district, would turn to the Democrat in revulsion at the politics and persona of President Trump. As Nelson Muntz would say, HAHA.

The pundits were also telling us that during the campaign Ms Handel was at pains to distance herself from the President. Again, HAHA. In her victory speech, she said, "A special thanks to the President of the United States of America," as her supporters chanted, "Trump! Trump! Trump!" House Speaker Paul Ryan said "Democrats from coast to coast threw everything they had at this race, and Karen would not be defeated." In fact, the Dems spent nearly $30,000,000 on their campaign...and still lost.

Walt congratulates the new Congresswoman (or Congressperson?) on her election. She handeled that real well.

Further reading: Even a writer for the Washington Post admits that Ms Handel's win is a bad omen for the Dems. See "Sorry, Trump haters. The GOP victory in Georgia is huge, and here's why", National Post, 21/6/17.

Weird reactions to FBI's Clinton e-mails bombshell

I've got two TVs on and six tabs open on my Internet monitor, flipping around, checking out what the boys (and girls) on the buses and in the "newsrooms" are saying about James Comey's announcement that the FBI is going to reopen the investigation into Shrillery's e-mails. Donald Trump and his supporters are predictably delighted. Mrs Bill Clinton and hers...not so much.

La Clinton's plane sat on the tarmac on arrival at Cedar Rapids IA for half an hour before the front door open and She Who Would Be President came down the airstairs. Questions were shouted at her about the bombshell announcement. Answer came there none. Does that mean that after half an hour or more of thinking, her handlers couldn't think of anything to say? Errr, no. The official excuse is that the plane didn't have wi-fi so they hadn't heard anything about it. Really.

Hellery's running mate [Ed, please insert name here.] said that he needed time to read before he could say anything. What, Walt would like to know, is he going to read? The e-mails?! That would be pretty difficult since, John Podesta says, his team doesn't know what the FBI has, wherefore they hope the FBI will reveal the details so we can all see that there's really nothing there. Yeah, right.

Is this going to make any difference to people's voting intentions, hence to the outcome of the election? One "analyst" for a lamestream TV network said he thought not. Why? Because Mrs Clinton is far ahead in the polls, and millions of Americans have already voted and can't take back their votes, so the issue has already been decided! How's that for unbiased reporting?

Paul Ryan said Crooked Hillary is the author of her own misfortune. And so she is. What Mr Ryan didn't say (but ought to be thinking) is that if The Donald wins, he and all the other rats who deserted the Good Ship GOP will almost certainly turn out to be the authors of their own misfortune. If I were Messrs Ryan, McCain et al., I would issue a statement, right sharpish, saying that much as I was disgusted by Mr Trump's youthful indiscretions, I cannot countenance the election of someone -- Clinton -- whose presidency would be irredeemably tainted right from the get-go. It's my duty as a patriotic American (I would say) to vote for the lesser of the two weevils.

Looks like the next ten days should be lots of fun. I admit I didn't see this coming. (Lifetime pct .992)

UPDATED: Ryan to be a heartbeat away from succeeding Pres. Trump?

Lyin' Ted Cruz said that he's stay in the race for the presidensity as long as there was a viable path to the nomination. Last night he said his path had been foreclosed. That's how politicians talk. He wouldn't say he got thumped by Trump. Oh no. His path has been "foreclosed". So that's that, then. There's only one more putative candidate left. Of him, CNN politics says "John Kasich is not going anywhere". Truer words were never spoken.

Meanwhile, and still in Indiana, Bernie Sanders eked out a win over Hellery Clinton. Because of the Democrats' crooked nominating system -- having 100s of insider "super-delegates" pretty much screws an outsider like Sanders -- la Clinton is still likely to wind up riding the Dem Donkey, even though she enjoys only lukewarm support from the majority of her party.

And that, dear reader, means there's at least a 50-50 chance that The Donald will be the next POTUS. If I could get Trump plus 6 points, let's say, I'd put my $$$ on the table right now. And that means that Mr. Trump, the Republicans and Americans of all stripes need to start thinking hard about who should be Vice-President (VPOTUS), because... as they say... that person will be only a heartbeat away from becoming President and all that entails.

For a country with a short history -- 240 years isn't much compared with China or even the UK -- the Paranoid States of America has had more than its share of presidents who have died in office, of either natural or unnatural causes. Four sitting presidents have been killed, all of them by gunshot: Abraham Lincoln (the 16th President), James A. Garfield (the 20th President), William McKinley (the 25th President) and John F. Kennedy (the 35th President). That's an average of one every 60 years. It's been 53 years since JFK was assassinated, so do the math.

Indeed, Mr Trump might not even make it through to November 8th. Remember what happened to Bobby Kennedy? To George Wallace? Don't tell me that The Donald is any less hated than those guys, either of whom might have won but for a case of severe lead poisoning. All it would take would be another murderous Muslim (Sirhan Sirhan) or loonie leftie (Lee Harvey Oswald), or just some nebbish who wants to get his name in the papers (John Hinckley). So Mr Trump's choice of candidate for VPOTUS is more important than at any time so far this century.

In last night's victory speech, Mr Trump went easy on Mr Cruz. No more "lyin' Ted". In fact he called his opponent "a helluva contender". Could we be looking at a Trump-Cruz ticket? It would sure as hell give Establishment Republicans a reason to do their utmost to keep The Donald alive and viable, because although they hate Trump, they loathe Cruz!

Seriously, though... as the stand-up comic says... I can't see Mr Cruz taking the VP nomination, even if it were offered to him. And I don't think the job will be offered to Carly Fiorina, in the name of gender parity -- not after her amazing speech last week. In 1972, Tom Eagleton proved that a candidate for the second-highest office in the land can't have "issues".

Who, then? Mr Trump will be under pressure to offer a sop to the Republican Establishment -- some harmless, centrist, non-WASP from one of the southern or western states -- to balance the ticket. That would seem to suggest Marco Rubio, a "progressive Republican" with more ambition than brains who already has the GOP grandees' seal of approval. Mr Rubio has the added advantage of being young and lightly Hispanic, appealing (it says here) to the kind of voters Mr Trump has trouble with. But Senator Rubio and The Candidate had some prettyh nasty things to say about each other during the primaries, so a public burying of the hatchet will be awkward, if not downright laughable.

If not Mr Rubio, then who? Walt repeats his call for Paul. If something should, God forbid, happen to President Trump, Paul is the kind of man I'd have confidence in to lead the USA along the path to peace and prosperity. Donald, if you're reading this, don't listen to those other guys; listen to me! Have I ever given you a bum steer? (Lifetime pct .988.)

Further reading: "House Speaker Paul Ryan refuses to back Donald Trump", on the CBC News website, 5/5/16. Mr. Ryan said "I'm just not ready to do that at this point. I'm not there right now." My emphasis.

UPDATE AND WOW! "House Speaker Paul Ryan to meet with Donald Trump next week to talk 'Republican principles'" Reuters via CBC News, 6/5/16. That didn't take long, did it...

Why Republican insiders are deserting Trump

Sad. Very sad. Now that it appears almost certain that Donald Trump will win the Republican nomination, potential running mates are hastening to disclaim any interest in joining him on the ticket. The list of those saying they're going to sit this one out grows longer by the hour, as the GOP Establishment stampedes for the exits.

Let us ask ourselves why. Could it be that they're afraid The Donald will lose to Hellery Clinton? Could be, but trends suggest The First Lady in Waiting shouldn't be measuring the Oval Office for drapes quite yet. [She probably already knows the measurements from years of looking behind the drapes and under the desk for interns! Ed.] No, I think there's more to it than that. I believe the likes of JEB! are not just afraid that La Clinton will win, but hoping for that result!

What the "moderate Republicans" are hoping, I'd guess, is that Trump will turn out to be a latter-day Goldwater, and lead the party -- their own party -- to a defeat so disastrous that it will take four or possibly eight years to recover. They'll let the right-wing, populist Tea Partiers carry the ball, hoping for a QB sack, after which they'll come onto the field and move the team back to the centre. [That's enough metaphors. Ed.]

In 2020 they'll bring back the old coaches and put in a new, young, NICE quarterback [Stop it! Ed.], like, say, Marco Rubio. It worked for the Republicans in 1968, as Rick Perlstein explains in Nixonland, recommended here a few days ago.

The regular machine Democrats tried the same thing when the "radical" George McGovern captured their nomination in 1972. His chances of beating the Evil Nixon weren't great to begin with, but according to Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (in Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, Straight Arrow Press, 1973), the Democratic Old Guard set Senator McGovern up to lose! That (the Dean of Gonzo Journalism says) is how he came to choose Thomas Eagleton as his running mate, in blissful ignorance of the Senator from Missouri's three sojourns in the Wet Sheet Hilton.

Walt cautions Mr Trump to be very, very careful in choosing the man (or woman) who could be only a heartbeat away from the presidency. Don't listen to the voices from inside the Beltway. Go for someone solid, someone with an independent mind and an abundance of common sense, someone who has a record of calling BS on the Establishment when they deserve it... someone with a name like... wait for it... Paul!

Western/Judeo-Christian values at stake: Paul Ryan

Reuters reports today on a telephone conversation between Republican veep candidate Paul Ryan and American evangelical voters last night, in which Mr. Ryan said President Barack Hussein Obama’s path for the future of the United States compromises Judeo-Christian values.

Speaking to the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a leading group of Christian conservatives, Ryan attacked Obama’s vision in stark terms.

He called Obama's "plan" [Is hope a plan? Ed.] for the USA "a dangerous path... It’s a path that grows government, restricts freedom and liberty, and compromises those values, those Judeo-Christian, Western civilization values that made us such a great and exceptional nation in the first place."

“He was talking about issues like religious liberty and ‘Obamacare’ – topics he has mentioned frequently during the campaign,” said Romney campaign spokesman Michael Steel. During the campaign, Mr. Ryan has said repeatedly that the President's policies, particularly his healthcare restructuring "plan", violate the religious freedoms for which Americans have fought and died for more than two centuries.

In last night's phone call, Mr. Ryan spoke as well of the importance in his life of his Roman Catholic faith. Today he concludes the campaign in his home state of Wisconsin. A rally will be held in Milwaukee late tonight.

Paul's people walk out of RNC, but Paul endorses Paul's partner

There once was a man from Khartoum
Took a transexual whore to his room
They spent half the night
In a helluva fight
About who should do what, and to whom

That's what's happening at the Republican National Convention -- lots of fighting about who's for whom, who gets to vote, and who gets thrown out for having the temerity to support someone other than the Inevitable Mitt.

To bring you up to date, there have been dozens of empty chairs -- clearly visible on TV -- in spaces reserved for delegates. The bums that should have been in the chairs were outside, in motion as they marched -- well, the legs supporting them marched -- around the Forum hollering "As Maine goes, so goes the nation" and other slogans of disentitlement and disgruntlement.

Delegates pledged to Texas congressman Ron Paul understandably felt like the fly on the rim of the toilet bowl -- that is, pissed off -- having been denied a part in the proceedings by rule changes clearly meant to squelch grass roots political rights. Up until Tuesday they had enough votes in enough states to place Mr. Paul's name in nomination. Then they didn't! Voices of dissent are not to be heard at the coronation.

Congressman Paul himself was not allowed to speak. Oh yes, he was offered a slot, on condition that his speech be approved in advance by the Romney people -- a "privilege" which Mr. Paul chose to decline. He was fobbed off [flipped off? Ed.] with a video tribute which had to compete for attention with coverage of Isaac. And yes, Ron Paul's son, Senator Rand Paul, did get to address the delegates Wednesday, praising the American system which led an immigrant's son like his dad to run for president.

Paul père is 77, and set to retire in January, leaving the causes of personal liberty and small government without their Washington champion just as they appear to be gaining traction. You would think Paul fils, elected in 2010 as part of the Tea Party surge, and supposedly a constitutional conservative and libertarian, would be the most logical person to take the torch from his father's aging hands. Alas, so impressed was Senator Paul by the Republicans' commitment to fairness for all that he endorsed the Mitt (and his more charismatic alter ego, Paul Ryan).

Rand Paul's endorsement of the former multimillionaire businessman with the principles of a chameleon has alienated many in the conservative movement, who for some reason think Romney shares none of their beliefs. Questions are already being heard about Mitten's health, the implication being that not many tears would be shed if, in the event of his election, he suffered the same fate as James A. Garfield.

That would leave the presidensity in the rather more trustworthy hands of another Paul -- Paul Ryan. Walt thinks the Pauls wouldn't mind that at all.