George Rebane
[This is the addended transcript of my regular KVMR commentary broadcast on 3 February 2016.]
Even before her Monday’s disaster in Iowa, Hillary’s campaign for the Democrat presidential nomination had become so fractured that the line of potential replacements was already forming. Uncle Joe Biden let it be known he will reliably carry the Donkey banner if and when tabbed by Obama. Add to that the growing stream of reports that billionaire and three-term NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg is testing whether his ten-year Oval Office dream is finally the now-or-never opportunity. And my personal favorite is Lizzy Warren, the socialist senator from Massachusetts who could easily out-socialist Ol’ Bernie himself.
On the potential Bloomberg candidacy, the billionaire’s camp has leaked his intentions with more yet to come. Bottom line, he would run if Hillary blows a tire. Hillary has told him “not to worry” about that contingency. But the NYT already reported that Bloomberg is definitely leaning forward in the saddle and having described Hillary as a “flawed politician, shadowed by questions about her honesty and the continuing investigation into her email practices as secretary of state.”
I believe that Hillary’s fate will be determined by what some people now call the ‘Comey vote’ – when the FBI director plops his stack of evidence on Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s desk. Lynch is a proven administration hack who faithfully carries on the legacy of her predecessor Eric Holder. Smart money is on Lynch ignoring the indictable evidence from Comey as Obama adds Hillary to the long list of presidential pardons now being assembled.
All this has got to rankle at least some of the higher minded progressive elites who see their anointed one in the public forum as embarrassingly immune to what for the rest of us would be a life changing catastrophe. As an Army intelligence officer of a nuclear artillery battalion followed by over twenty years as a defense contractor developing highly classified combat systems, I held the highest Top Secret clearances. Had I or any of my colleagues treated classified materials as flippantly as did Hillary, we would have been behind bars immediately and would probably still be there today.
To all this we add the findings of Intelligence Community Inspector General Charles McCullough, who is the most recent of knowledgeable officials and legislators to confirm Hillary’s sins. And with undiminished hubris, her blaming the entire email server scandal on Republican politicking highlights her growing desperation. The overwhelming evidence of criminality against Hillary in just this one of her several scandals should be damning enough to quickly shut down her campaign and get her off the streets. No leftwing politician since FDR days has enjoyed such fawning media coverage and an administration ready to go to the mattresses for her.
Nevertheless, a growing cohort of national commentators, who know Director Comey as a straight shooter, believe there will be mass resignations from the FBI if Hillary’s crimes are not prosecuted. Couple that with her cliff hanger in Iowa, with worse expected in New Hampshire, and it is easy to see how all this will put the Democrat race into the quandary that Bloomberg now gleefully anticipates.
It was not that many days ago that the nation’s progressives were happy dancing in the streets, citing Republican party’s costly catfight between its many establishment and populist candidates. Then there was no concern about their unelectable socialist from Vermont, they knew that Hillary would be crowned in Philadelphia. That was before their unelectable socialist suddenly started rising in the polls, and Hillary started tacking noticeably even more leftward so as not to be outflanked by the old revolutionary in ascent.
In the end, should Hillary somehow survive her untrustworthiness and scandals, the question then becomes how will she shed Bernie’s socialist stigma when it comes time to again convince enough people that she is really a faithful Obama 3.0.
My name is Rebane, and I also expand on this and related themes on Rebane’s Ruminations where the transcript of this commentary is posted with relevant links, and where such issues are debated extensively. However my views are not necessarily shared by KVMR. Thank you for listening.
[4feb16 update] As often happens in these pages, RR’s perspective is soon picked up by major national media and blogs of the more conservative cast. Now I’m not saying that they read RR, but I am saying that the themes discussed here are mostly in the mainstream of conservetarian thought across the country. It takes the big guys a bit longer to ruminate on these ideas and check them with their editorial boards than it does moi and many of our astute readers. With their opaque ideological blinders strapped on tight, it is inevitable that the local looney Left has no clue about what is really happening in the country or on Earth in general. The notions advanced in the above commentary are an example of this.
This morning’s WSJ has a major essay by Democrat strategist and pollster Douglas Schoen who posits ‘Why Mike Bloomberg Can Win’. In there he points out how Mr Bloomberg may successfully carve out the major middle and take enough moderates from both ends to win the presidency. And he may be capable of this as either a Democrat or as an Independent. Schoen’s main point is that “record numbers of voters are independents who won’t be satisfied with Clinton, Trump, or Cruz” (See also today’s Union cartoon above.)
Some disquieting items that Schoen corroborates – “…Bernie Sanders is leading a lurch toward socialism, and Hillary Clinton is seeking to match if not exceed his leftist agenda.”, and “that 63% of Americans favored compromise, not confrontation, to achieve policy goals. A majority, 52%, wanted the government to do more problem-solving.” And he concludes with –
A Bloomberg candidacy would make no effort to kowtow to the religious right or labor unions. Mr. Bloomberg would not and has never made deals with special interests. Because he has always been able to finance his campaigns himself, his independence is indisputable.
As this politically frenetic February wears on, the primary process will demonstrate to voters how divided and dysfunctional the nation has become. For Americans in the middle, a Mike Bloomberg candidacy will become more compelling by the day.
Contrast this view of the nation, shared by RR, with what our far left believes. This is illustrated with a letter in this morning’s Union apparently from a writer peeking out of the pits of progressivism, or one having recently made landfall on this planet.
Haven’t we had enough of Ted Cruz and the Tea Party Republican base and their ignorant, xenophobic, racist lies about what is wrong with the country? The country is doing fine and heading into boom times again; people are becoming more understanding and more tolerant of each other no matter what Fox News says.
The freedoms we enjoy today haven’t changed and are just as secure as ever. These misfits in the Republican and Tea Party are just upset because of the fact that the president is black. They have created some delusional Orwellian fantasy in their heads, that they’ve ruminated on for so long, that they’ve actually come to believe it. Get over yourselves and your pseudo patriotism and join the rest of America as it glides into the future.
rebanesruminations.com 
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