September 20, 2021--Beau

I had been wondering how much longer it would be before Republicans begin to attack Joe Biden's on-going, very public mourning for his son, Beau, who died of a brain tumor in 2015.

Wonder no more, it's happening right now in real time.

The president recently has been going through a rough patch. Even his staunchest supporters have been criticizing him for the botched bug out in Afghanistan. 

No one, Democrats as well as Trumpers, has a good word for his bumbling efforts to craft a realistic plan to at least chip away at our border and immigrant crises. 

Hardly anyone gives him good marks for the way in which he has handled the rollout of COVID 19 vaccinations. It seems like every day there are new guidelines that contradict yesterday's CDC recommendations. 

And just last week Biden made a mess of our deal to sell nuclear submarines to the Australians, ignoring France who had been our historic partners with deals of this kind. So enraged by this blunder France is recalling its diplomats.

And now Republicans are going there--criticizing Joe Biden for continuing to grieve for Beau.

It seems unfair to call Biden out for doing what he is exceptional at--expressing empathy--but he should know more than almost anyone else  that politics is an ugly business especially when there is blood in the water.

Then Biden didn't help his cause when he stepped in it at Dover Air Force Base where he went to meet the plane transporting the bodies of eight soldiers who were killed during the surrender of Afghanistan.

It was reliably reported by family members that Biden said very little about those killed in action but spent almost all his time talking about Beau.

Friends of Biden are beginning to talk about this, at the minimum, as inappropriate behavior for a Commander in Chief who needs to display toughness with compassion.

Those saying this are not necessarily insensitive. But they may be offering good political advice. Like it or not, we will never elect or reelect a wimpy president. Biden needs to understand that and do better.

September 9, 2021--Trump's Hair

Trump has me worried. Actually, not Trump but his hair. 

In case you've forgotten, he has this funky orange fly-away stuff on his head that he calls hair. It's colored clearly from a spray can of Rustolium.

Back six years ago I thought his Clarabell the Clown do made it obvious he was not a serious person and had no chance of being elected president. Yes, we have--how shall I put this--we have a lot of angry, stupid people in America and in spite of his hair, or maybe because of it, I was wrong--He was elected.

What do we now have to look forward to? Trump running for president again in 2024?  And, with voter suppression policies proliferating in at least 17 states thus far, he could win.

But, as in the past, I'm thinking no need to worry too much, with that hair, he has no chance.

Then I read yesterday that he appears to be letting the orange dye grow out. Maybe because of all the gray hair in Florida he wants to fit in. But I wouldn't bet on that.

I would bet, though, that he's doing a Rudy Giuliani with his hair to normalize himself and may be signaling he's serious about running. Unlike in the past when every new TV season he'd talk about running for president but then back away, we knew he was engaged in promoting the return of the Apprentice.

Back then I was sure he was not actually running because as a germaphobe he would never plunge into crowds or show up at a rally without latex gloves and a surgical mask.

But then he turned out with both. Actually, I made  that up--as a preview of coming behavior, there was no mask. 

So do we have something similar underway with the hair business? Also, like traditional candidates, is he losing weight? 

Again, getting it wrong, I assumed he was wearing Spanx. But now, it also looks as if he's giving up his daily Sloppy Joes. 

Maybe it's all about not having to go to jail (remember something legally threatening to him is inching its way through the courts).

Whatever the reasons, see if I'm right about the hair and then tell me what you think is going on.

I say 2024.

September 2, 2021--25th Amendment

 It appears that a few Republican members of Congress recently discovered we have a Constitution. 

True, they've known something about their favorite part, the 2nd Amendment and bearing arms, but not the worrisome ones that guarantee citizens the right to vote or speak their minds. 

Now they have a new favorite--the 25th Amendment that's about how to remove from office a crazy president.

Republicans have been carrying copies of the Constitution in their jacket pockets, which reminds me of the Chinese embrace of Chairmen's Mao's Little Red Book. 

Florida senator Rick Scott has been tracking this one.

As chair of the Senate GOP campaign committee, he has been raising the prospect of using the 25th Amendment to remove President Biden from office and calling for a congressional investigation into his handling of Afghanistan. 

"After the disastrous events in Afghanistan," he tweeted, "we must confront a serious question: Is Joe Biden capable of discharging the duties of his office or has time come to exercise the provisions of the 25th Amendment?"

If Biden made such a mess in Afghanistan why not just stand back and watch things collapse of their own weight?

Maybe it's because Biden didn't make a political blunder after all. Maybe he actually scored a political victory. Perhaps after the dust settles we'll discover that he was the only one in high office, including four previous presidents, to have the guts to end the 20-year war and take the political risk for that. It may be that he had the insight and political will to do the right thing even though he knew there would be American casualties and prices to pay.

Republicans could be worried about that.

Or maybe they like Kamala Harris so much that they can't wait until 2022 to vote for her for president.

September 1, 2021--Getting Down With the Dems

As reported in the New York Times, New York's mayor-to-be, Eric Adams, clearly knows his political geography. In other words--who runs things.

Well before being sworn in in January, wanting to hang with his people and squeeze them for money, the former cop found most of them on Martha's Vineyard and in the Hamptons.

Sucking up to them, does this mean he's already running for president?

Here's what the Times had to say--

"On Martha’s Vineyard last weekend, as most residents braced for the possible arrival of Hurricane Henri, a smaller gathering focused on a more certain visitor: Eric Adams, New York City’s likely next mayor.

"Mr. Adams mingled on Friday with potential donors at a fund-raiser in Oak Bluffs, a historically Black section of the island. A day later, Mr. Adams traveled to the opposite end of the island, for a fund-raiser hosted at the waterfront retreat of Zach Iscol, a businessman who ran for mayor and then comptroller during the June 22 primary election. Caroline "Kennedy attended.

"The weekend before, Mr. Adams was in the Hamptons, donning a bright red blazer with polka dot elbow patches at a fund-raiser hosted by John Catsimatidis, the Republican billionaire, and attending a separate meeting with the venture capitalist Lisa Blau."

What is it with the Democrats? Tone deaf, 600 of them in the Vineyard were getting ready to attend Barack Obama's 60th birthday party while everyone else was left on their own to worry about COVID boosters and being evicted from their homes.

And, yes, enough with the polka dots--John Catsimatidis needs to get some new clothes.