The Left Has Two Huge Advantages, and I Have No Idea How we Overcome Them (Part 2 of 5)

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*** Update – Welcome, Instapundit readers! ***

Back when Sister Babe was pregnant with Little Bob, we had a conversation about how our lives would be changing once we became parents. One concern she raised was that I would no longer be able to go to the (sadly, now closed) Rhino Bar on Sunday afternoons in the fall to drink too much beer and watch Philadelphia Eagles football with the local crazies, and that I might come to resent her and our child for taking the ability to do that from my life. This was the pregnancy talking, as Sister Babe has too good a head on her shoulders to have married and had a baby with someone who didn’t share her views on parenting. I tried explaining to her that my spending Sunday afternoons at the bar would be a great way to bond with our son. By the time football season would be rolling around the lad would be a toddler. And if I walked through the door staggering, doing a face plant and chuckling like an idiot before and myself before peeing myself & passing out, it would be a great way to show our son that I’m trying to relate to him!

Just kidding, although I did present that argument at a later date with no success. My actual response to her was simple, but got the point across. I told her that, “I have to give up things in my life now because of a long series of choices I made that got me here. I’m not going to get angry at other people over the consequences of my decisions – I’m a conservative!” We both got a good chuckle out of that remark, but I wasn’t kidding about the substance of it.

In the first part of this series I pointed out numerous examples of how the Radical Left furiously rejects math in any discussion, but left unanswered is the question of “Why?” Back in late 2014 Jim Geraghty gave a roundup of a number of issues where the Federal Government has failed. Look for the common thread among them:

What’s with the Centers for Disease Control? They keep telling you “we’re going to stop Ebola in its tracks here” and then there are new cases. The NIH Director seems to think he’s reassuring us by telling us “the system worked” as we learn about new infections. Then there’s that enterovirus 68 floating around, killing kids. Terrifying, heartbreaking. Hey, guys, maybe a little less time studying gun control and a little more time spent on, you know, disease control? That’s your job.

What’s going on with everybody who’s supposed to be protecting us? First Obama says “We don’t have a strategy yet” — why not? Don’t we spend billions, even trillions, on national-security agencies, intelligence agencies, and a Department of Defense? Isn’t somebody in those vast, expensive organizations supposed to come up with a strategy? Then he said “they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria” — isn’t that their job? Wasn’t anybody watching?

Now they’re saying the airstrikes over in Iraq and Syria aren’t doing enough, and the Islamic State is knocking on the door of Baghdad. Sunday morning, National Security Adviser Susan Rice said we’re not reassessing our strategy. Well, shouldn’t somebody? Just in case? Doesn’t anybody over there believe in having a Plan B? Isn’t that the job of a national-security adviser?

How the hell did the top guys at the Department of Veterans Affairs not know about the waitlists and that veterans were dying, waiting for care? That’s their job.

How the heck did the federal government AND so many state governments manage to spend so much money and not build insurance-exchange web sites that worked? That was their job.

The president keeps insisting that test scores are up and that college attendance is up, when it’s actually been the opposite. Obviously, the public schools aren’t good enough for his kids. He promised the moon when it came to improving schools back in 2008. Wasn’t that his job?

In your life, failure is not an option. If you don’t pick up the kids from school, they’re stuck there. If you don’t go shop for groceries, the kids don’t eat. All around you, every day, you see things that have to get done, and you do them. You don’t tell the kids, ‘well, our intentions were good. We tried. We had some glitches.” You don’t get to blame your predecessor or the opposition party. You don’t get to tell them, or your spouse, or your boss, that the situation is the same, as normal, and that they’re “just noticing now because of social media.”

Where is this “get it done” attitude in Washington? Every time you turn around, it’s some new excuse. Americans do not accept this kind of incompetence and accountability in their personal and professional lives. Why should they accept it from Washington?

Do you notice what’s missing from these failures? There isn’t any quantifiable objective. Granted, with warfare quantifying objectives is tougher, although a simple one that could be used would be to not let ISIS gain any additional ground and to destroy every last one of their followers that we can find.

But why would the Radical Left be so violently opposed to quantifying any of their objectives? The reason is simple – when you quantify an objective, results become measurable. When results can be measured, there is an accountability for those results. And with accountability comes accepting responsibility, which is the heart of the issue. Leftists cringe at the notion of personal responsibility the same way that Vampires cringe at the sight of a crucifix (which leftists do as well, ironically enough). The two words you will never, under any circumstances, hear from a leftist is “I’m responsible.” But why?

Leftists do not care about the actual results of any policy/politician/ballot measure that they support. There is one metric and one metric only that is universally applied by every leftist that pre-determines whether or not anything that they support is a good idea or not, and it is the question, “Does supporting this idea make me feel good about myself?” If the answer is “yes”, then facts or reality be damned – it is a good idea and there is absolutely nothing you can do to convince them otherwise. Heck, they seem to wear their thought process’ impervoiusness to reason like a badge of honor! I’m sure anyone reading this has seen the mental contortions that they twist through to justify their beliefs:

The broken promises of “If you like your plan you can keep your plan, if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor, and your rates will not go up” are in no way an indication that President Obama was either lying or lacks even the most basic grasp of reality, but rather the fault of those evil big businesses for not bending reality to match the president’s claims.

Rise of ISIS? Bush’s fault, of course for invading Iraq. Never mind that he’s been out of office for seven years and in no way had any influence over Obama’s inability to secure something as simple as a Status of Forces agreement to keep stable a country that had become safer than most Democrat-run cities.

Today’s anger in politics? It’s the fault of those racist haters who oppose Obama, of course. Never mind that the last seven years of “Divide and Hate” that have been Obama’s hallmark, or the fact that if a white Republican president named Rush Palin produced the same results as Obama’s policies we’d oppose him too.

There are many more examples I can cite, but if you’re reading this you’re either nodding your head in agreement or you’ve already rationalized some excuses for the failures of the Radical Left in each of those bullet points. To provide a very concrete, recent example look at what recently happened with the water supply in Flint, MI. Even though this terrible incident offers a long string of neglect and outright incompetence from a long string of leftists, the only one being the adult in the room and claiming any responsibility is the Republican governor, who got dragged into the problem really late in the game. And this is only because so many members of Radical Leftist groups couldn’t accept responsibility and face the problem head on. The sad part is that even though the blame couldn’t be more obvious the notion of accepting responsibility doesn’t even for a moment enter the minds of the leftists. Not that they won’t hesitate to try to take credit for accomplishments of others, as Hillary tried to do in Flint once an adult took charge.

And that brings me to the final point of this installment, which is another huge advantage that the left holds – because they are incapable of accepting responsibility they are equally incapable of feeling any guilt over the consequences of their actions. You can shame a conservative, but because leftist concerns are so self-centered they are impervious to the use of an argument that might make a normal person feel guilt over their positions. This will bring us to the next part where I explain the power of this advantage in…

Being a Leftist Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry (Part 3 of 5)

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Cross posted from Brother Bob’s Blog

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Ace reports how the NYT is blatantly saying neither Cruz not Rubio are authentic hispanics since they aren’t espousing the liberal groupthink that is the only mindset allowed to be considered an authentic minority.

The left isn’t even hiding their hypocrisy anymore.

The patients are running the asylum, point out the insanity and off to electro shock with you.

@Pete: #1
And when the Republican candidates who are not in the top 3 bow out and throw their support and supporters to Rubio, we just might end up with a White Hispanic Obama replacing the White Black Obama.
Sort of like vomiting into the toilet after taking a dump.

Oh, I don’t know….
Seems Lefties can quantify when they want to.
Remember the poverty/low income figures that were re-jiggered for the Obama re-election?
https://pjmedia.com/blog/is-the-obama-administration-politically-manipulating-the-poverty-data/?singlepage=true

Then there is HUD’s attempt to balance races in every neighborhood because, ”It’s not fair that some people live in nicer, safer, wealthier neighborhoods than other people, whines HUD’s far-left secretary, Shaun Donovan.
Yes, equality of outcome is being set up so that suburbs and rural areas will no longer tend to be Republican strongholds.
To insure their success Obama is prying into our most personal information at the most local levels, all for the purpose of “racial and economic justice.”
http://nypost.com/2015/07/18/obama-has-been-collecting-personal-data-for-a-secret-race-database/

And we must not forget how Obama’s Leftists set up a technologically impossible goal for things like lead in our water (zero ppm) or miles per gallon CAFE standards.
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/csem.asp?csem=7&po=8
http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/sectors/item/4372-obama-s-automobile-standards-could-drive-industry-over-a-cliff

As to measuring their own success….you are totally correct.
The Left hasn’t a clue how to do that.

@Petercat: Love the analogy. I would hope Santorum followers would not like sheep just jump into the Rubio corral, nor any of the other candidate drop out supporters.

@Pete: Ben Carson isn’t black either for the same reasons!

But why would the Radical Left be so violently opposed to quantifying any of their objectives? The reason is simple – when you quantify an objective, results become measurable.

Precisely why Republicans kept submitting budgets (after they retook the House) and Reid in the Senate kept shelving them; they did not want any measure of how much was being spent on what. Better to keep asking for increases in debt limits and blaming the Republicans when the government is shut down (without any impact but what artificial pain the administration created) in order to demand some fiscal responsibility.

The battle against global warming is taylor-made for liberals; how will you measure failure? They keep moving the goalposts with their manipulation of data and, when they stop manipulating it, they can show a cessation of cooling. BRILLIANT!!

The two words you will never, under any circumstances, hear from a leftist is “I’m responsible.” But why?

Well, I have heard Obama and Hillary state they are “responsible” for a couple of failures, but of course, they know there will be no accounting held for it.

For 7 years, we have grown accustomed to high-ranking government officials skating past accountability for the areas they are paid handsomely to oversee. The VA, IRS, HHS, EPA, DHS, DOJ… retiring with full benefits and/or receiving bonuses is not punishment. Hell, two disgraced, demoted (rather than fired and prosecuted) VA managers just got their full pay reinstated, after having stolen $400,000 in relocation expenses. I guess we can overlook the oversight since the VA is operating so smoothly lately? Oh, but whistle-blowers are fired and black-balled. So, accountability is in their vocabulary, at least… it is just directed at those who point out their corruption and incompetence. Would this be a bad time to mention Charley Rangel, as compared to the treatment Gingrich and DeLay got (later exonerated)?

The left, as long as they are playing with the monopoly-money of taxpayer dollars are not in to accountability… only when they have to pay interns do they begin to pinch pennies (and sometimes parts of the anatomy).

It is not the fault of the left. There is a right wing conspiracy. Hillary has been fighting it all of her life ever since she was named after the man who climbed Everest. It really is not their fault

She as a child dodging sniper-fire while climbing Everest a man being so impressed actually took her name. Because of a conspiracy she never received credit for reaching the top first. Robbed because she was a girl.

@Petercat: With the way The Donald has bad mouthed his fellow? Republicans, can you blame their supporters for going to Rubio?
Donald’s most despicable hatchet job was on Dr. Carson—the belt buckle. that his sleaziest act to date.
Today Trump was nominated for The Nobel Peace Prize—Someone’s got a sense of humor.

@Rich Wheeler: Must be the same people who nominated Obama and Gore.

@Randy: The difference is they won it. Trump’s nom–some individual’s joke on the Committee.

@Rich Wheeler: Your favorite candidate Rubio is having issues with his talk box, it was stuck on his Obama is intentionally destroying the nation sentence. Every time the moderators pulled the string the same thing came out. Saturday night live had a good time with Carson and Trump not entering when called to stage.

@kitt: Christie at 4% is on life support Agree he did a good job–may not be enough–if he finishes single digit worse than 5th he is gone.
Kasich Bush and Rubio continue to S.C. Trump wins here-Cruz needs to best him in the South.

I dont believe in the polls anymore, just have to wait until the count. No Coin flips here, Clinton will lose and the draft call for Joe will become deafening.

@kitt: If you listen you’ll hear my voice in that crowd. Clinton loses big—Bernie may even challenge in S.C
South Carolina will be wild for Repubs

@Rich Wheeler: Do you think if he is drafted into the race people might think he really truly doesn’t want to be President and that would factor in to the voters choice?

@kitt: He most definitely wants to be Prez–His son’s death put him in a period of severe mourning—in addition HRC was considered a slam dunk. Time is healing the wounds and HRC is vulnerable from many directions
It could happen–he is very well liked by most Dems and Indies.

BTW Rubio hurt badly by debate—All others benefitted.–Interested to see results for Kasich, Bush and Christie hard to predict.

@Rich Wheeler: Proves Rubio cant be real, if knocked off script he can only choose what he thinks is the best part and repeat it like a parrot, all too willing to be tied up like a puppet to get ahead.
If Biden really wanted it he wouldnt have stepped aside for her royal highness, what accomplishments has he to tout as vice president? Vice is normally end of the line in politics. Having tragedy in ones life isn’t much of a platform. Dems are becoming too predictable rely on minority. The vice will be hispanic.

@kitt:

what accomplishments has he to tout as vice president?

Well, he was the guy that was in charge to make sure none of the “stimulus” was wasted and it served its designated purpose. Oh… ouch.

Biden was the foreign policy experience part of the ticket. Oh… ouch.

I have no problem believing the death of Biden’s son affected him enormously… I would hope and pray that he would not be playing that card. The question is, when is he truly over it?

@Bill: The death of some you dearly love you never get over, you simply learn to deal with the pain.
Its a losing platform to run from. Joe is well liked and we can empathize with his pain. The anti-Trump he aint.

I have been promoting a simple cure for the government ails of anonymity and lack of responsibility– civil liability for government employees and their unions for their actions. While Democrats will never hold bureaucrats responsible for poor performance, drag a 40% commission through an attorney’s office and you’ll be amazed how much dirt they’ll uncover…
You want to see Lois Lerner pay for her actions? Leave it to a lawyer who can sue her literally out of house and home, take her retirement, levy against her social security or any other income. Basically leave the b**ch broke, and broken emotionally.
Your child can’t read, do math, recite history? Sue the teachers who passed your child on with out bothering to teach. And sue the union, too. Once the union sees its bank account drained from very expensive law suits and retirement accounts of its members, it will join in ridding the schools of under performing teachers rather than protecting them as is currently the case.
Every government employee will be held to almost impossibly high standards to avoid law suits. They will have to insure them self against malpractice at tremendous expense.
Basically take the profit out of government employment– both Federal and local.
You wrote that regulation that cost me money? Compensate me.
The list would be endless, as would be the law suits, and now the lawyers would be working toward our goals of smaller, more responsive government. Which leaves them less time to sue the Palins, or slow the pipe line, or property development.
Republicans need to use the natural predatory proclivities of the American lawyer to our benefit. The promise of easy, free money will attract voters currently voting Democrat in the hope of “getting paid”. Once they discover they can get paid suing government employees for poor performance and who lack the financial resources to fight them as vigorously as the government, the buzzards will begin circling their prey. It will be a financial blood bath as public servants will become indentured servants… and it will be Democrats suing Democrats using mostly Democrat litigators. While they chase their tail, we can regroup to move back to constitutional governance.

@adrian mungiu: I love your idea! the only problem I can see is liberal ass judges that would throw the cases out.

The part about deliberately avoiding accountability is dead on, and reminded me of what I had blogged in 2011 when Obama announced he was “leading from behind” to get rid of Qaddafi: he merely assumed (hoped) that everything would fall like he wanted, but actually he had no Plan C, no Plan B, and for that matter, no Plan A, either.

When I was assigned to the Army Operations Center in the early 1990s at the Pentagon, the Army chief of staff was Gen. Carl Vuono. He sometimes found occasion during our briefings to him about current and planned operations to hammer home a point: “Hope is not a method and wishes are not plans.”

Yep.
http://senseofevents.blogspot.com/2011/03/speech-there-is-no-plan.html

The left has many little goals, but the one big goal is to grow the government in size and power. If they’re successful doing this, they don’t need any other metric.

The biggest advantage the left has is all they have to do is indict the status quo. Since the status quo is never perfect, it isn’t hard to indict it. By the time people figure out that the solution didn’t make things perfect, they’ve moved to a different critique of the status quo.

“I’ve worked in the private sector. They expect *results.*”

Okay, so you have proven that they cannot be reasoned with because they refuse accountability, and they cannot be emotionally manipulated because they feel no shame.( Hillary Clinton’s continued candidacy is absolute proof on both counts) so what is left but violence? The only way to change a liberal’s mind is with a rock. Until they feel adverse effects form their actions they will not change them, and unfortunately those adverse effects need to be extremely severe. My own mother made the decision to not see me or her grandchildren, rather than to justify her actions and support of these polices. I can’t bring any more emotional pressure to bear than that.

I have spent the last 15 years looking for some magic bullet to cure them. It doesn’t exist. I did find questions presented as a test (http://ittbbb.blogspot.com/2004_10_01_archive.html) set up a strong cognitive dissonance – one strong enough that they will sacrifice friendships they have had since grade school. So really effective at getting them out of your personal life, which is something, but not what we need.

You are correct so far in your analysis, and I , and many others have come to the same conclusions

““There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day; we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life.” – Eric Hoffer.

They refuse personal accountability in all forms, and I see no way of ever depriving them of their desired alibi. Their egos depend upon it. Even if their polices cause a complete Mad Max collapse, they will sit there clinging their can of beans they just killed 20 people to get, and say it was racism that caused the world to fall apart. And make no mistake- these people are not pacifists. They are Cowards. There is a difference. They are perfectly happy to risk the lives of Law enforcement sending them house to house to confiscate guns, but they won’t go themselves, and really don’t think there is any cause worth dying for ( which is why they really can’t understand why anyone would be willing to fight them) They are perfectly happy to run the gas chambers in a concentration camp, as long as they don’t feel endangered doing it and can say they are just following orders. Collective Responsibility is fine. In fact, its the perfect alibi- and that is why they gravitate towards Socialism and similar schemes. Its not out of good intentions, or care for others, for establishing a utopia, or any sort of principle. Its so they can Avoid the consequences of personal responsibility. The more power the government has, the less responsible they are for their own lives. It really is that simple. As Evan Sayet pointed out- they want to return to kindergarten. They want others to protect them. They want to see the school nurse when they get a boo boo. They want Teacher to make others “play nice and share” and will throw a tantrum if not everyone gets a cookie. (not seeing that rule for what it is – a way to avoid punishing the teacher with the immature emotional responses of near toddlers who lack the emotional maturity to deal with it) Though perhaps this is just because of the primitive tribal ethic that anyone with more is hoarding, that leads the leftist to the complete disdain for the concept of private property that made the modern world possible.

They simply cannot and will not leave peacefully with us. Like the terminator they can’t be argued with, can’t be reasoned with and they will not stop until you are dead – or acting in full compliance with their totalitarian whims. I had one tell me that “Live and Let live” as a philosophy unfairly pushed MY ideas on HIM. Think about that a moment. What ideas could those ideas be? That you are an independent person and not his property to control? That there are boundaries that one cannot cross? The rejection of Live and Let live is a rejection of the fundamental tenants of morality – do not harm, and do all you say you will do. Its a rejection of the very idea that my rights end where your rights begin, and in many cases the idea of individual rights in entirety. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, and any member of the tribe can be enslaved or sacrificed for the good of the tribe. If you think you have “friends” who are leftists, then you need to consider the worldview they hold and ask if “friendship” is even possible with people who value your presence ONLY for what you are able to provide to them. It really is sociopathy. They really do think the only reason not to steal is because you might get caught. If there are no consequences for bad actions, the actions are not bad. Again, we only have to look that the continuing Clinton candidacy for proof. They support her in being unaccountable because while at the top she will set the same bar for everyone else. (the fish rots from the head) To the left, Clinton’s blatant corruption is a feature, not a bug.

So yeah, back to the rock. I am not advocating violence against them, but I have full faith that given time the left will undertake violence against us that will warrant a violent response in our own defense. Be it grabbing guns or trying to grab that last can of beans. They have already pushed the finances to the point of no return. Someone doesn’t get paid. End of Story. Don’t pay welfare? Riots. Don’t pay Social Security or Medicaid? Riots. Don’t pay investors? Economic Collapse and riots. Don’t pay foreign creditors? War. Even if I made the smartest man on Earth, the King of America , it couldn’t be fixed, because the POPULATION ITSELF is corrupt. ( the govt we deserve) John Adams said our government was for a moral people only, and the sort of freedom we want to enjoy can only be had in a society of moral people. Now at least 1/3 of the population denies the very concept of right and wrong. Our best shot at this point is to stock up, get out of the way, and let Reality do her bitch slap. If the liberals come at us, its our job (as Bill Cosby once said in a different – but not too different – context) to kick them back into play.

““Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.”- Robert Heinlein

Bill Whittle has has some interesting conversations of late regarding r/K theory. Humans switch to an r strategy in times of plenty , and this invariably ends in collapse and a K dominated landscape. I think our task is just to survive that switch.
So no, I think we don’t expend resources to overcome the Liberal’s “advantages”. We hunker down and let the enemy eliminate themselves for the most part, and then we emerge and clean up. But even if you disagree with that strategy, that switch is coming, so plan accordingly.

Re: Criticism of Rubio:

Isn’t asking the same question repeatedly expecting a different answer like taking the same action repeatedly expecting a different result, that is, a sign of insanity.

“And that brings me to the final point of this installment, which is another huge advantage that the left holds – because they are incapable of accepting responsibility they are equally incapable of feeling any guilt over the consequences of their actions.”

Extract from post-war U.S. Army psychologist report on Rudolf Hoess, former commandant of Auschwitz:

“In all of the discussions, Höss is quite matter-of-fact and apathetic, shows some belated interest in the enormity of his crime, but gives the impression that it never would have occurred to him if somebody hadn’t asked him. There is too much apathy to leave any suggestion of remorse and even the prospect of hanging does not unduly stress him. One gets the general impression of a man who is intellectually normal, but with the schizoid apathy, insensitivity and lack of empathy that could hardly be more extreme in a frank psychotic.”

Seems to me leftists and Nazis have more in common with each other than they’d rather admit.

Superb piece. Very insightful.

Combating this is virtually impossible because being a leftist allows one to feel so good, so superior, and few things (other than drugs and other addictions) can compete with that.

A leftist is able to be seen as the person who appears to care the most, is most humane, and not motivated by money or personal interest. A leftist is able to make it look as if he is focused on the poor, the sick, and the disadvantaged, even to the point of being to his own detriment (for example, frequently the leftist comes from a privileged / wealthy background and yet there he is, arguing for a tax increase!). And what are we supposed to think? We are strongly encouraged to view it as evidence of how earnest he is, how sincere and unselfish he is.

But you are so right: they are never held accountable. They never have to answer for the consequences of their actions or inactions. Their policies fail again and again and again and it’s always someone else’s fault.

Personally I do not think enough Americans are being raised in homes where right and wrong and responsibility and guilt are shaped properly. Of course you don’t want a generation of people raised who are wrought with guilt. But having a firm foundation of right and wrong and having responsibility instilled in you properly can make guilt a force for GOOD. For example, as a health care provider, if I tell a patient’s family that I will call them with in the next two hours to give them an update on their loved one, I make sure I do just that because:
1. I am accountable for dong certain things that tend to help a patient get better.
2. I am responsible for that patient.
3. I feel guilty if I say I will do that and then don’t.
4. Therefore, I do what I said I would do because it is the right thing to do and because I do NOT want to feel guilty.

At any rate, a great piece. Thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Saying “I’m responsible” is seen as some heroic measure, and its own punishment. Janet Reno said she was responsible for Waco, and the press’ response was, “Isn’t she WONderful!!!” And…that’s all she did, say “I’m responsible.” She knew, and everyone else knew, that didn’t mean she had to resign, or face charges, or anything else.

Similarly, Bush 43 didn’t fire people after 9/11. And Obama certainly doesn’t fire anyone if he can help it. And since the press that blamed Bush for everything that happened on his watch doesn’t blame Obama for ANYTHING on his, well, the word ‘responsible’ has no meaning.

(Can you imagine if the VA and email scandals happened under Bush? He would be personally blamed every day for them. But Obama says “I heard about it on the news last night,” and that’s it–NO piling on, no charges that he’s IRRESPONSIBLE.

It’s madness. I don’t like Trump, but of the folks who spoke tonight he was the only one who seemed to be saying the truth. Hillary looked like she was going to start yelling (and she started shouting), Sanders read a greatest hits of liberal politicians list–not one new idea in the bunch, but all the things dems always ask for, and we can now put to rest the idea that democrats aren’t socialists–and the Republicans all just talked the same dull crap. Trump came off like a blowhard, and also the only one who said what he was really thinking. Pretty sad that that puts him way ahead of all the others from both parties.

@Rich Wheeler: Trump is great at identifying problems, and sounding good to the common people, where he is backrupt is in the solutions, honesty, consistency, ethics, statesmanship, and steadiness department. What I cant believe is these idiot repubs fighting each other for 3rd place on this mythical establshment lane, while a crude demagogue like Trump (who is not anti establishment, but pretends to be) runs away with it by getting 35% pluralities, despite Trumps huge negatives, and even more concealed negatives waiting to be found. Bush occasionally and mainly Cruz, have been the only ones to ever take on Trump successfully. Instead of tearing down each other to get 15% in 3rd place, they should all be helping Cruz and Bush cut down Trump from his present 35% to around 15%, then there will be room to start fighting each other.