Trump or Hillary - Grim

"It's no longer what sort of man is Trump but what sort of people are we?"  I read words to that effect on a blog recently. It's a question worth asking but I'd include Hillary in the equation.

To feel the same you probably need to be following the Wikileaks and the tawdry exhortations with equal zeal.

Both candidates are equally repulsive to me though for different reasons. It isn't the tape of Trump's vulgarities alone that make me cringe; it's his constant belittling of any and all who oppose him.  He promises to hit back harder and does. Nasty, mean spirited and vulgar. Can we afford a President who cannot take criticism without insulting he or she who uttered it?

 Can we afford a President who listens to no one because he won the nomination by battering the other candidates on his way to the top and now thinks he knows it all? And I mean battered with comments especially hurtful about McCain and Fiorina and, to lesser degrees, Bush, Carson and eventually all the rest.

Then there's Hillary.  The Wikileaks release of e-mails that circulated among her campaign staff are chilling in their  contempt for the people of this country regardless of their status. To her its all about power and money.  How much money do she and Bill need?  They'll never live long enough to spend it all unless they buy themselves a country.  Maybe that's exactly what they want to do.  The problem is it's OUR country for which they lust.

Never-the-less, one of my greatest fears will come to be.  One of them will be elected.  At the moment I'd be putting my money on Hillary but that can change in a nano second.

I fear too if Hillary has both House and Senate behind her; it will make achieving her goals easy.  Even though divided it's possible the Republicans can thwart at least a few of her grand ideas. If Trump should win I see him running roughshod over everybody.

That brings about another fear.  The rampant use of executive orders by either side.  Obama has set a bad precedent.  Don't expect Hillary or Trump to not take advantage of the door opened for them.

Every evening I sigh "I don't know..." so often Hub is calling me on it.  But I don't know. We'll have one of them.  What kind of people does that make us indeed!

Republicans ~ Pure As The Driven Snow

Oh, such breast beating and nashing of teeth!  My goodness, you'd think Trump actually did shoot someone in the middle of the street.

Never have I seen such shock and indignation over a ten year old tape of lewdness. Yes, he is a Presidential candidate but I'm reflecting on the members of Congress who have done far more than talk dirty.

But not this bunch.  I'm sure they never utter a curse word, call a woman a bitch or wish they could be with her in a far from gentlemanly manner. Or that they would ever say same to a male friend.

The withdrawals of support for Trump by well known Republicans strikes me as being almost as childish as Trump's words.  They've just been waiting for an excuse and they jumped on this so fast it makes my head spin. Oh, those wonderful innocents who have had their sensibilities so offended. Ask John McCain about his first wife and how that marriage broke up.  Then tell me they're all as pure as the driven snow. You're right.  I'm disgusted with the lot of them.

Trump is no angel and he disgusts me too but is he any worse than Anthony Weiner texting pictures of his privates to women? Or those who voted to impeach Bill Clinton while having affairs of their own?  Like former Congressman Gary Condit, who who had an affair with his 23 year old intern who then disappeared, only to be found dead a year later or David Vitter  whose name was found in the address book of the D.C. Madam or Mel Reynolds who engaged in an affair with a 16 year old campaign volunteer? This isn't even the tip of the iceberg. Check it out.  These people have done far more than utter vulgarities about women.  They've walked the walk by engaging sexually with others than their spouses.  Wonderful lot they are.

At this time in world history it would be a shame if the presidency is won by the person who out smears the other.  With merely a month to go I have no hope of tactics changing what's more the character of either candidate but we can at least pay more attention to their policies than their indiscretions. We've certainly turned a blind eye to enough others.

Has Old Rude And Crude Finally Done It?

Rude and crude hardly explains Donald Trump.  The latest reveal of this fact should come as no surprise considering what we've seen leading up to this point.  The only difference is this particular revelation is a bit more crude than the ones he's made in public.

We have only ourselves to blame.  We knew from the outset of his candidacy he would be an embarrassment. Yet we voted for him.  At least those who voted which was far less than those who could have.

 Those who hoped, as he moved ever closer to the nomination, that he would change soon found he not only was not going to but even so stated. That the Clinton campaign should find a video so damning should be no surprise.

Is his crudeness worse than the scandals of Hillary Clinton? Time will tell. Should our prurient interest in him overshadow the likely damage Clinton's actions have done to our security or the fact that she is congenital liar?

Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.  Neither of these two candidates deserves to be president of our country.  Whether or not we voted in the primaries doesn't negate the fact we deserve better.

My gut should tell me Trump is finished but I'm not so sure.  Up to this point he has skated by no matter what he's said.  It could also be true this time.  Sure, women may be mad and insulted but will men?  Forget what they say in public.  Do they in their private thoughts think what's the big deal?

We know he has to be the top dog even it means being the most outrageous with his "locker room banter". We know he loves himself above all else.  We know those who have begun to seriously disavow him will bear the wrath of his anger.

I wish he would do as some have suggested.  Drop out and let Mike Pence be the nominee.  Time is pretty short for that to work even with his good showing in the VP debate.  But never mind.  Trump won't bow out.

If he loses every last one of us will be the reason why rather than the truth; that he defeated himself with his behavior and shunning of good counsel.

If he wins it will be because his supporters didn't think his locker room banter was nearly as important as the media would like us to believe.

Which will it be?  I have absolutely no idea.

Amoral Hillary Is Not Entitled

I'm one of those detested political animals who claims no party loyalty.  I believe high office, the governance of our country, deserves more; it deserves the best people that can be found regardless of party.

That's one reason I do not understand blind loyalty to either Trump or Hillary.  Today it's Hillary.

Maybe you have you be of my generation to remember the Clinton years and the accompanying shenanigans.  Bill, with his sexual indiscretions, demeaned the office of the Presidency.  Hillary was complicit; an enabler.   And that's only the tip of the iceberg if you go back to Whitewater, Vince Foster, Ron Brown, cattle futures, her chuckling over the case of a child predator among the better known issues.

There is of course debate on the accuracy of all these stories.  You know: her side, my side and the right side.  What there is no argument about, however, are the shenanigans that have gone on and continue to since she was Secretary of State. Plus her unwillingness to tell the truth about them.  She is as unable to tell the straight forward truth as Donald Trump is unable to stay off Twitter. This time it would seem Bill is her enabler such as having a little chat with the Attorney General at an airport in a successful effort to have her call off the FBI then suddenly she appears on Hillary's short list for the Supreme Court.

Maybe there is no fire under all the smoke that comes from the Clinton camp but something is causing it.  And since such effort is made to tell us all is well it should make one wonder at the very least.

I'm certainly not against  having a woman as President.  The female perspective on issues should shake up the establishment to a fare thee well. I just don't think that woman should be Hillary Clinton. The woman who holds the office should deserve it.  That would preclude one who has no major accomplishments from her times in office, one who has a litany of failures because of either incompetence or plain not caring.  One who has no convictions but positions that shift with the wind or which ever group she's speaking to.

That would be her strength.  The ability to present herself as all things to all people, but that she cannot be and stand for anything.

It is sad to know that as the world becomes more chaotic, at least for the upcoming four years as has been the previous eight, it will be missing the leadership of the United States.  It is any ones guess as to what will become of us - our country, our world.

Trump - The Selfish Man-Child

This election cycle has become a regular soap opera.  You end the day wondering what Trump is going to do in the wee hours to delight his opposition.  He never disappoints.

Actually, I'm very angry with him.  He has been given the opportunity to become President of the greatest country in the world.  At least it once was.  And he's squandering it.  Because he's selfish.

He's taking it to new heights.  Seventeen other Republicans stood and took his abuse debate after debate.  Any one of them, even the weakest, would have been better for the country than this adolescent in men's clothing.

He's like the young man suffering from "affluenza" or the Stanford swimmer, both of whom were given basically smacks on the knuckles for their crimes.  One killed four people while driving drunk, the other  sexually assaulted a drugged up girl.  Neither has shown remorse for their behavior.

So it is with Trump.  While not actually committing crimes, he behaves badly and gets a pass. That being said, I have mixed feelings for those Republicans who have stood with him hoping against hope he'd straighten himself out.  What does a man like Ben Carson do or so many of Trump's other advisers with fine minds and reputations?

Trumps refusal to discipline himself is an insult to those people and to the voters who have supported him.  He won't change if he wins.  Given free reign heaven knows what he's likely to do.  The mind trembles.

Funny.  We have one narcissist in the White House now.  Who would have thought this election would boil down to a choice between two more?

Next - Hillary.