I'm Just Mild About Hillary

 

"Look around. Oil companies guzzle down billions in profits. Billionaires pay a lower tax rate than their secretaries, and Wall Street CEOs, the same ones that direct our economy and destroyed millions of jobs, still strut around  Congress, no shame, demanding favors and acting like we should thank them. Does anyone here have a problem with that?"   

Elizabeth Warren

To paraphrase the late George Carlin, I used to be a Democrat. Now I'm an American. You know, you grow!

You wanna know why I left that party over sixteen years ago? Here's why: The 2016 campaign is two years away, and yet, as of October 14 2014, the presumptive nominee is Hillary Clinton. Could it be that "the party of Franklin D. Roosevelt" can't come up with anything better than Hillary? Have they lost their imaginations? Or have they lost their minds? A reasonable argument could be made for either scenario.

Twit

I still can't forget the fact that - at a time when she could have shown a modicum of political courage - She voted to give the disgusting, half-witted little frat boy from Crawford, Texas the authority to invade the sovereign nation of Iraq minus the constitutionally mandated congressional approval. I'm sure most of you remember how nicely that worked out. She was looking down the road to a White House run. She just had to prove to us that she was as much of a warrior as any man. I have not much respect for Hillary Clinton, I'll be honest with you.

But I have to admit that the pickings are rather slim these days. Other than Hillary (and the president, of course) who is currently the most visible Democrat? Wall Street stooge, Chuck Shumer. With "progressives" like those two, who needs conservatives? Seriously!

Sherrod Brown

Sherrod Brown of Ohio is one of the very few Democrats out there who has not forgotten his party's progressive roots. He'd be an ideal standard bearer for the year 2016 - theoretically. Senator Brown's problem is that he comes off a bit rough-around-the-edges in this stupid, televisual age that we're trapped in. He's suits are definitely not custom made, he probably pays less than ten dollars for his haircuts, he sometimes looks like a guy with a hangover, and he has a voice like sandpaper on gravel. The fact that he's a brilliant and decent man is beside the point. "Telegenics" is all that matters these days. Had the Lincoln-Douglas debates been broadcast in 1860, Abraham Lincoln would today be an obscure footnote in the history books.

And besides, Sherrod is no fool. He more-than-likely knows what he's up against and is probably content to stay where he is. He reminds me, in a way, of the late senator from Illinois, Paul Simon. He was the most impressive person to seek the Democratic nomination in my lifetime. He never had a chance. He just didn't look good on television. That hideous little box is going to be the death of us.

Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders of Vermont seems to be thinking about running next time around. Since he is an independent I would be eligible to vote for him in a primary (In New York you can only vote in the primary of the party you're registered with). I will have no problem whatsoever casting my lot with Bernie. I believe he is one of the giants of the senate. I'm talkin' Henry Clay proportions here! But again, like Sherrod Brown, he will have the television thing going against him. And the fact that he is a liberal Jew won't do him much good in the shit-for-brains states of this doomed republic. I won't list them by name here; you know which ones I'm talking about. 

Look away, Dixieland.

That leaves us with Senator Elizabeth Warren. She has some overwhelming odds to overcome to be sure. The very term "Massachusetts Liberal" is enough to give a lot of people the dry heaves. But the prospect of a Warren administration commencing on January 20, 2017 is about as nonsensical as it was for an African American senator from Chicago seven years ago. And she's a liberal: An unapologetic, left-of-center, in-your-face, meat-and-potatoes, dyed-in-the-wool - freakin' L.I.B.E.R.A.L., baby! 

 She says she is not going to run for the presidency in 2016 and I haven't any doubt that she's being sincere. No one can accuse Elizabeth Warren of being insincere. Oh, but what a campaign that would be. More than a campaign, that would be a cause. I know it's never gonna happen, but I can dream, can't I?

Maybe Ms. Clinton will surprise me. Maybe not. Whatever happens, the next president will be a Democrat, you can count on it. The last time one Democratic administration succeeded another one on Inauguration day was in 1857 - it hasn't happened since. Since the GOP has become a psychological basket case, that's a fairly easy prediction to make.

I know I'll end up voting for Hillary two years from now. If she's not my ideal I'm at least comforted by the knowledge that she's much better than anything the Republicans will puke up - that's a foregone conclusion. Just remember this: When you see me exiting the polling place on Election Day 2016, I'll be holding my nose.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

Eighty-nine years ago yesterday, Leonard Alfred Schneider was born in what was then rural Mineola, New York. He became Lenny Bruce when he grew up. Here's Lenny's national television debut from April 1959 - a riotous appearance on NBC's Steve Allen Show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCplnUga0hU

He's on some other shore
He didn't wanna live anymore

Bob Dylan 

Lenny would have made such a cool old man. It's just so sad.

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AFTERTHOUGHT, 10/15/14. 4:37 AM:

QUESTION OF THE DAY:

Why is Bernie Madoff the only Wall Street crook to go to prison?

ANSWER OF THE DAY:

Because he stole from the One Percent - not the Ninety-Nine Percent.

Are you one/tenth as pissed off as I am?