Goodbye Joe Scarborough . . . Hello, Kid Rock

Via Instapundit:  The contrast between the two is striking.

Scarborough is at home in Washington. Kid Rock lives in Detroit.

Joe curries favor with coastal elites. Kid Rock is at home in the middle of the country. And it’s no wonder: He’s travelled the country by bus and minivan on more than 25 tours with legends like Lynyrd Skynyrd and David Allen Coe.

Kid Rock has the long, stringy hair of ’70s rock gods while Scarborough wears a Ken doll bouffant—a requirement for male TV anchors so hackneyed that it has become a stock punchline.

Perhaps most striking is the music. Kid Rock plays straightforward American rock and roll. Scarborough sings Britpop retreads steeped in the sort of hipster self-regard that is unbecoming in a 20-year-old student at a small liberal arts college let alone in a middle-aged man.

Sheriff David Clarke: The People Have Had Enough - It's Pitchforks and Fire

Gateway Pundit October 17, 2016

On Monday Sheriff Clarke explained how the American public has had enough of the criminal activity by bureaucrats in Washington.

Sheriff Clarke: I meant the same thing that Frederick Douglas said when he said the institution of slavery is a system of brute force and must be fought with its own weapons. I meant the same thing that Barack Obama in a fundraiser in 2008 when he said, ‘If they pull a knife we’ll pull a gun.’..

…A growing number of Americans are fed up with this government. They feel it no longer belongs to them. They no longer have any control over it. We’re not a constitutional republic we’ve become an administrative state. The Constitution is being shredded. The rule of law does not matter for certain people in Washington DC and people have had it. I’m suggesting the same thing the Founding Fathers did in the 1770s when they drew up the Declaration of Independence… It’s right there. Were they inciting violence? No. What they wanted was self rule. They wanted a government that was controlled by the people and not the bureaucrats in Washington.

(Sheriff Clarke is another potential candidate the Trump party could get behind. He is the type of person who tells it like it is without fear or favor. I would run him for Governor of Wisconsin against Walker as a stepping stone to higher office.

He is one of a growing number of police and military people who are being politized and who will be in the forefront of the new populist movement that will be manifest after this election come what may. In the new All American Party.)

"How dinosaurs evolved according to an ancient Chinese scripture"

Or... How Donald Trump took over the GOP. via Reedit.

What is this?: "Donald Trump Used Campaign Donations to Buy $55,000 of His Own Book"

Peter Thiel Speech at the GOP Convention

Link to video

Are you watching Trump?

Link to video

"It's Trump's moment"

AP:  It's Donald Trump's big moment to make his case to the country — and to the many rattled doubters in his own party. The most important speech of his presidential campaign will bring down the balloons on a convention marked by divided loyalties and unwanted distractions as well as full-throated roars against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

The latest diversion landed Thursday morning in an interview in which Trump declared he would set new conditions before coming to the aid of NATO allies. The remarks, in an interview with The New York Times, deviated from decades of U.S. foreign policy doctrine and seemed to suggest he would put new conditions on the 67-year-old alliance's bedrock principle of collective defense.

As president, Trump said he would defend an ally against Russian aggression only after first ensuring that the allies have fulfilled their obligations to the U.S. "If they fulfill their obligations to us, the answer is yes," he said. (read more)

Cleveland rocks

South Dakota delegate facepalms as his state announces its votes for Trump https://t.co/7SqyPRF2im #gopconvention pic.twitter.com/BoOkiL3YKK

— CNN (@CNN) July 20, 2016

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The most politically prophetic movie of all time was Howard the Duck. pic.twitter.com/En5NMPsWxd

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) July 20, 2016

"A lot of holes in GOP presidential ground game in key states"

AP:  Presidential battleground states were supposed to be swarming with Republican Party workers by now.

"We've moved on to thousands and thousands of employees," party chairman Reince Priebus declared in March, contrasting that with the GOP's late-blooming staffing four years earlier. "We are covering districts across this country in ways that we've never had before."

That hasn't exactly happened, a state-by-state review conducted by The Associated Press has found.

With early voting beginning in less than three months in some states, the review reveals that the national GOP has delivered only a fraction of the ground forces detailed in discussions with state leaders earlier in the year. And that is leaving anxious local officials waiting for reinforcements to keep pace with Democrat Hillary Clinton in the states that matter most in 2016.

To be sure, the national party actually has notched record levels of fundraising over the past few years and put together a much more robust ground game than it had in 2012. But officials acknowledge the real competition isn't their past results or the chronically cash strapped Democratic Party. It's Clinton and what GOP party chairman Priebus calls "that machine" of Clinton fundraising.

Some examples of Republican shortfalls: Ohio Republicans thought they were going to see 220 paid staffers by May; in reality there are about 50. Plans for Pennsylvania called for 190 paid staffers; there are about 60. Iowa's planned ground force of 66 by May actually numbers between 25 and 30. In Colorado, recent staff departures have left about two dozen employees, far short of the 80 that were to have been in place.

"Delegates face death threats from Trump supporters"

Why is no one tweeting this and why isn't it viral? Come on guys! This is serious! https://t.co/gxsRzfcLoZ

— IowaCruzGirl (@iowacruzgirl) April 23, 2016

"Chris Christie Endorses Donald Trump"

“He’s been my friend for many years, he’s been a spectacular governor,” said Mr. Trump, standing with Mr. Christie at a press conference in Fort Worth, Texas, for the endorsement.

"Donald Trump and Paul Ryan on Collision Course"

NY Times:  Speaker Paul D. Ryan, chairman of the Republican National Convention, recent vice-presidential candidate and the highest elected Republican in the country, has one goal for this year: to form a conservative policy agenda for the Republican presidential nominee to embrace.

If that nominee is Donald J. Trump, that may be a waste of time.

Panicked Republicans question whether Mr. Trump will be able to unite a Republican-controlled Congress that would normally be expected to promote and promulgate his agenda, an internal crisis nearly unheard-of in a generation of American politics. On nearly every significant issue, Mr. Trump stands in opposition to Republican orthodoxy and his party’s policy prescriptions — the very ideas that Mr. Ryan has done more than anyone else to form, refine or promote over the last decade.

“You’re hitting on a very big problem, which is that Trump is not a Republican,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who dropped out of the race for the White House in December “I have no idea how we reconcile a Donald Trump agenda with a Republican agenda. How do we write a platform?”

"Why did you pick Trump over the other guys?"

Byron York: "The big reason is honesty," said Lori Jagla, of Woodward, S.C. "The more I hear everyone else going, 'Isn't he going too far?' the more [I think], 'No, you just wait, you get into America, and it's not too far. It's what we're thinking.'"

"Because he's honest," said Nicki Cox, of Greer.

"Doesn't mince words," said Angela Griffin, of Spartanburg.

"I don't even care what his views are, I just care that there's a better chance that he's going to do what he says than the other guys," said Robert Daughenbaugh, of Mauldin. "I mean, you know they're all liars. End of story. They're all liars."

Many had supported mainstream Republican candidates for years and felt they had nothing to show for it. Trump is their opportunity to change course.

"I went into a couple of weeks' depression when Mitt Romney lost," said Doug Moore, of Greenville. "I'm just tired of the politicians. I'm tired of the establishment. I voted establishment for most of my life. I voted for both Bushes, I voted for Bob Dole, John McCain, Romney. I'm just ready for something different, somebody who'll actually get in there and make a change."

"Sarah Palin Endorses Donald Trump"

NYT: “I’m proud to endorse Donald J. Trump for president,” Ms. Palin said in a statement provided by his campaign.

Her support is the highest-profile backing for a Republican contender so far.

“I am greatly honored to receive Sarah’s endorsement,” Mr. Trump said in a statement trumpeting Mrs. Palin’s decision. “She is a friend, and a high-quality person whom I have great respect for. I am proud to have her support.”

I never expected this endorsement, not in a million years.

Is Trump an Obama 2016?

From Instapundit....

THE DEBATE WE WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE: At Ricochet, Jon Gabriel looks back of a summer of Trumpian silliness and wistfully writes, “The 2016 election was the grand battle conservatives had been hoping for since Ronald Reagan left the Oval Office. The roster of candidates was to be a who’s-who of smart, proven, center-right leadership:”

We aren’t discussing America’s $18.4 trillion national debt and our insolvent social programs. The stagnant economy and an expansionist China, Russia, and Islamic State. Burning cities at home and burning countries abroad.
Instead we’re trading GIFs of a reality show star on “The Tonight Show,” giggling about menstruation, and wondering if the most impressive GOP field in a generation are a bunch of “dummies” or if they’re a bunch of “losers.”
These are serious times. We are not a serious people.

Well, the American people chose a reality show candidate in 2008 — the comic book superhero “Lightworker,” who could be seen on comic book covers and in the form of plastic action figure replicas, when not appearing on professional wrestling TV shows asking, “Do you smell what Barack’s cooking,” and who modestly pledged that by merely besting Hillary Clinton to win the Democrat nomination, “this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.”

Of course voters want more of the same in 2016.

Governor Scott Walker jumps in the race for president

 

Link to video

Chris Christie announces 2016 presidential bid

 

Link to video

 

Watch for the animated guy in a blue shirt in the back

Ted Cruz to make an announcement today

"Yet critics of Cruz argue that he will have trouble raising high-dollar donations from traditional contributors, will land few endorsements from the nation's political establishment and be unable to escape comparisons to President Barack Obama, who also ran for president in his first Senate term. And if he advances to a general election, Cruz trails likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton solidly in early public opinion polls."

"I don't consider him a mainstream candidate, and usually to win you've got to be inside the 45-yard lines," said Greg Valliere, a political adviser to Wall Street firms who believes that if Cruz did earn the nomination, he would not win more than a dozen states in the general election. "The enthusiasm for him will be tremendous in maybe a third of the party, but another third of the party will be strongly opposed and another third of the party will be wary."

Senior advisers say Cruz will run as an unabashed conservative eager to mobilize like-minded voters who cannot stomach the choice of the "mushy middle" that he has ridiculed on the stump over the past two months in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

"Ted is exactly where most Republican voters are," said Mike Needham, who heads the conservative advocacy group Heritage Action for America. "Most people go to Washington and get co-opted. And Ted clearly is somebody that hasn't been."

'What I dream is that for one election ...'

'every black person in America vote Republican' said ESPN host Stephen A. Smith.

“Black folks in America are telling one party, 'We don’t give a damn about you,’” Smith said. “They’re telling the other party, ‘You’ve got our vote.’ Therefore, you have labeled yourself ‘disenfranchised’ because one party knows they’ve got you under their thumb, the other party knows they’ll never get you and nobody comes to address your interest[s].”

Smith compared voting with “shopping around” to let store owners know they have to cater to you to win your business.

“We don’t do that with politics, and then we blame white America for our disenfranchisement," he said.

For the last couple of days a hashtag #GOPHatesPoorPeople has been trending. It begs the question why would the GOP love a vote that is constantly and blindly one sided?

"Iran dismisses GOP letter while Obama says it aligns them with Iran hardliners"

"In an open letter to the Islamic republic, the 47 Republicans, including Senate leaders and several potential 2016 presidential candidates, reminded Iranian leaders that President Barack Obama is in office only until January 2017, and a successor could scrap the agreement if Congress has not approved it.""We believe that the letter has no legal value and is propaganda," Zarif said, quoted in Iranian media.

 

"The senators must know that under international law, Congress cannot change the content of the agreement.

And the Iranian regime must know that our constitution provides a roll for our congress to play in matters of foreign treaties. They are not just a potted plant. 

"Any congressional action to prevent the implementation of any agreement will violate the international commitments of the (US) government.

"The world is not just in America," Zarif added.

While president Obamas reaction to the GOP letter was... well, Obama being Obama, saying "it's an unusual coalition" to see US Republicans talking directly to Iranian hard-liners."

I would expect the US president and the US congress to work together on this very serious business.

"Why do GOP candidates keep stumbling on evolution?"

"Of course Republicans would be naïve to expect that will put an end to all questions. There will undoubtedly be questions designed to draw them into a detailed discussion of evolution and religion. A candidate will probably have a great majority of the public on his or her side if he shuts down those questions pretty quickly. The candidate could simply explain that there are lots of good people who have different opinions on this, and that for him, the key thing is believing that God guided our creation. Beyond that, it's not the role of the president of the United States to tell people what to believe about evolution."

"Candidates can give that answer secure in the knowledge that, whatever some reporters might think, evolution simply isn't very important as a campaign issue."

Tonette and Scott Walker take ice bucket challenge