Joe Scarborough Just Doesn’t Get It

Joe Scarborough, like so many conservatives, live in the past, the golden days of Ronald Reagan, so when things don’t go like they did back then, he simply doesn’t get it. I say this because he doesn’t understand why President Obama takes this message to the people, instead of trying to penetrate an impenetrable object like House Republicans. Joe seems to think that the president has to find something that the tea party republicans can agree with. How can you deal with a party who wants to be judged on what they repeal? They remind me of trolls who repeat the same message in a continuous loop thinking it’s a winning strategy. The only way to deal with spoiled children or trolls is to ignore them.

It’s no secret that Joe Scarborough doesn’t like President Obama, but he puts the entire blame of gridlock on the president’s shoulder because of his lack of leadership. He doesn’t see the reality; the Republicans of today do not respect the current president of the United States. They remind me of the 1950s, where a white filling station attendant, thought he was more important than a black Harvard-educated lawyer because of his skin color. That’s not to say that today’s Republicans are racists, but they harbor the same resentment towards President Obama. Sure, many Democrats didn’t think highly of President George W Bush’s intellect but their disagreement never led to a government shutdown. Today’s House Republicans would relish a government shutdown.

For the past few months, Joe Scarborough has used the years 1995 through 1997 to illustrate that Bill Clinton managed to find a way to make deals with a right-wing Congress like the one he belonged to. Although he’s been told many times, Scarborough won’t accept the fact that in those years, there were 45 moderate Republicans in the House of representatives, today there might be 2. Back in those years, there were sweeteners called pork and most members wanted to sit on committee chairs, but that’s no longer the case. The gerrymandered districts of 1995 are now super gerrymandered districts. This Congress has only passed 19 pieces of legislation, and the tea party is probably complaining about that. Those members love that 12% approval because it only enforces their message that any government is bad.

This morning, Nicole Wallace quoted from the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial that essentially said that the president’s policies were bad for the middle class. Nicole Wallace is a reasonable person, so I went back to read the article she quoted from. The statistics they used were nothing that liberals haven’t been saying all along about inequality. As expected, the conservative editorial blamed ObamaCare, regulations, taxes and uncertainty for the stalemate. The president is talking about a middle class-out strategy while conservatives still seem to think that a top-down strategy is best.

There’s a world of difference between Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama. President Bill Clinton is a political junkie who could tell you who’s running in the 21^st district of West Virginia and what their poll numbers are at any given time. President Obama couldn't care less, and he’s not interested in smooth talking anyone for their vote. Bill Clinton did not carry a grudge because he was thinking of the next piece of legislation that he wanted to pass. The president is less forgiving because he has a long-term vision, so he’s not interested in the day-to-day today squabbles or people who are prone to lying. For example, Bill Clinton did make a deal with the GOP, he got re-elected but he lost several seats. President Obama is not willing to cut a deal that will cause his party to lose seats. I guess you can make an argument that Bill Clinton put country before party but did he?

The House of Representatives reminds me of the “Wild Wild West” where members of Congress can’t wait to get to the microphone, so that their outrageous statements make the evening news. A Republican member of the House of Representatives blamed the media for broadcasting Representative Steve King’s racist remarks. Really! In a committee meeting about legislation regarding the Dreamers, Steve King said that for every valedictorian, there were 100 drug mules in that group who packed 75 pounds of marijuana into this country, as evidenced by their cantaloupe sized calves. When asked for his proof, he named some anonymous border patrolmen. Oh, the speaker condemned the words, but he remains on the committee. This is the same speaker who removed three committee members for voting against him for the Speaker the House.

The bottom line, the Speaker the House, John Boehner, cannot control his own party but Joe Scarborough expects the president to come up with a proposal they can agree with. That’s a tall order.

Double Down on Trickle Down

The GOP will “double down on trickle down,” is just one of the many things that Bill Clinton said in making his case to reelect President Obama. Bill Clinton had to assure the independents that it was OK to re-elect President Barack Obama, and he didn't disappoint.

The coordinators of last night's Democratic National Convention allotted, Bill Clinton 24 minutes to speak, but they had to know that the former president would double that. Bill Clinton is one of the world's best politicians who probably knew he could gain a larger audience by speaking longer where he would capture the people who flipped on the TV to watch their local news. Lawrence O'Donnell reported that the teleprompter operator gave up In the middle of Bill Clinton's speech because the former president did not follow the script. He ad-libbed 40% of time.

The president gave a centrist speech and stayed away from the social issues such as gay marriage, abortion and illegal immigration. He didn't mention the misdeeds of Wall Street but instead he focused on making the case for President Obama that the president could never make for himself. Just imagine what the press or the Obama's opponents would have said if Obama had used the same words Bill Clinton did when he stated, “President Obama started with a much weaker economy than I did. No President – not me or any of my predecessors could have repaired all the damage in just four years. But conditions are improving and if you'll renew the President's contract you will feel it." He added a funny line to it when he said, "“In Tampa, the Republican argument against the president’s reelection was pretty simple: We left him a total mess, he hasn’t finished cleaning it up yet, so fire him and put us back in.” Bill Clinton talked about compromise back in his days but his recollection is different than mine. I remember his impeachment and the vast right-wing conspiracy against the Clintons. The compromises he made such as NAFTA, Welfare Reform, and the World Trade Agreement angered his liberal base. I remember the government shutdown but luckily, the country blamed Newt Gingrich Republicans for that. He left out the bad memories and instead chose to recall his good relations with President Eisenhower, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. He took the moral high ground with this approach, yet he was effective at knocking down Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan's fibs last week in Tampa.

I thought it was strange that the Romney campaign would elevate the stature of former President Bill Clinton in their ads. The ads were making a claim that the Democrats are no longer the centrist party when Bill Clinton was at the helm. The Democrats get the last laugh because Bill Clinton mocked and disputed all their assertions in those ads.

I'm easy to please, so I expect to get a wonderful speech from Bill Clinton but the mark of a good speech is based on how your opponents view it. I took the liberty to cut and paste these two quotes. "GOP strategist and CNN pundit Alex Castellanos said that Clinton's speech tilted the scale. "Tonight when everybody leaves, lock the door. You don't have to come back tomorrow. This convention is done. This will be the moment that probably re-elected Barack Obama," he said.

Fox News' Brit Hume said that Bill Clinton "is the most talented politician [he's] ever covered and the most charming man [he's] ever met." He added, "No one in my view can frame an argument more effectively than he can."

I took a lot of pride in seeing the diversity of the party at the convention. They didn't try the hide those who were wearing their traditional turbans, speakers promoting their social issues, and others who were speaking out for Democratic values like strong unions, a healthy environment, and other populist issues.

The conventional was not without controversy because convention chairman Antonio Villaraigosa determined through a voice vote to put God and Jerusalem back into the Democratic Party platform. Some of the delegates wanted GOD to be removed from those words from the 2008 platform, which read: "We need a government that stands up for the hopes, values and interests of working people, and gives everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential." The other statement recognized Jerusalem as being the capital of Israel. I'm sure the Republicans will try to make political hay out of this by calling out the Democrats as being against God. The politicians don't exactly endorse the Republican platform. That's reason number 3,159 of why I keep my politics secular.

I'm not surprised anymore with a fantastic speech given by Bill Clinton, but I was amazed of his performance last night because Obama and Clinton are not on the best of terms. It's been that way since the 2008 primaries. Bill Clinton gave that speech last night as if Barack Obama was his best friend. I am impressed with a person that no one had heard of six months ago, Sandra Fluke, who spoke like a veteran politician for women's rights. I'm even more impressed with someone who just entered the spotlight four years ago, Michelle Obama, because her delivery of the speech that was written for her ,will rank among the best convention speeches ever. It caused Steve Schmidt (McCain's chief campaign strategist) to say the current GOP does not have anyone who can give a great speech like the ones that were given at this convention.

After hearing the pundits, even small conservative Joe Scarborough, agrees that the DNC put on a better convention than the RNC. I guess we are in agreement that the Democrats have put on the best convention and we still have tonight to go. I hope Democrats don't get complacent and forget to vote because conventions are not a substitute for voting. This is only phase one; they're still the debates and the economy to worry about.

It’s not always about the numbers sometimes it’s about people

Political conventions are supposed to gin up the base, bring together party leaders to work on a platform, hear partisan speeches, have a good time but most of all; it's a time when the nation tunes to hear their vision and plans.  I believe the Republicans accomplish what they wanted and last night the Democrats  got  off on the right foot.

I've been disappointed with the Democrats who have not embraced what we now lovingly  call Obamacare because they were too lazy to read the legislation and understand that it had to take small increment steps to succeed.  They should have recruited last night speaker, Stacy Linh, who told a story of her young daughter Zoe, who underwent two open heart surgeries.  It would not have been possible were it not for the repeal of the lifetime caps in Obamacare. Stacey said that Mitt Romney said he would repeal Obamacare, which would be devastating to her family because they could not afford to pay for Zoe's upcoming surgeries and care.  She had an answer for Mitt Romney's key line when he said,  "you know there's something wrong with the kind of job [Obama's] done as president when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him. " She said,  that she knows that her best feeling was when she read the letter from her insurance company stating that Zoe would no longer have lifetime caps." The second best day for her was when the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare.

I think the Democrats did a great job of stagecraft because the under card speakers such as former Governor Strickland, Governor O'Malley, Rahm Emanuel, Tammy Duckworth made compelling reasons to reelect President Obama, and they were not there to promote their own agenda.  They effectively warmed up the crowd for the three speakers who would eventually bring it home.

Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts gave a fiery speech about Mitt Romney's lack of accomplishments and said, "All that today’s Republicans are saying is that if we just shrink government, cut taxes, crush unions, and wait, all will be well. Never mind that those are the very policies that got us into recession to begin with! Never mind that not one of the governors who preached that gospel in Tampa last week has the results to show for it. He left with a message I will remember when he said, "Quit waiting for pundits or polls or super PACs to tell us who the next President or Senator or Congressman is going to be. We’re Americans. We shape our own future. 

The keynote speaker was San Antonio's Mayor Julian Castro, who had all the pressure in the world for him to deliver a speech that would make him worthy of the honor of being the keynote speaker.  It was the first time I've ever heard the mayor speak, and I was impressed by his style.  He would smile, yet was firm in making his case of reelecting President Obama.  He told a story of coming from poverty and thanking those that made it possible for him to attend Stanford and Harvard.  His grandmother and mother were not(still aren't) wealthy, so he had to take advantage of Pell Grants, Affirmative Action, programs just to get the opportunity, so he could prosper.  He said that the kids at Stanford and Harvard were no different from the ones at Thomas Jefferson high school in San Antonio, so he spoke of “invest now for prosperity in the future. “ He spoke a little about the pre K program he's trying to start in San Antonio.  It's on the ballot for November, and it will cost taxpayers 1/8 of one penny or $7.81 per household.

I can't come up with enough accolades for Michelle Obama's speech last night.  It was an emotional plea to give her husband one more chance to complete the job.  She made an excellent point and brought the house down with these words " "Being president doesn't change who you are. ... It reveals who you are." I think she was trying to say that economic events changed but the president values never did. That message was for the undecided because most political strategists  say that those voters cast their vote for President Obama in 2008.

There's always that difference of opinion, Chris Wallace said the first lady, and the Democrats were just be asking for more government, and Charles Krathammer said it was a well-written speech and delivered brilliantly but said that"he didn't buy one single line of it.”

The first night is in the books, and the pundits on both sides will get their chance to evaluate it.

My wife thought that I was a little overboard last night, but I didn't want to miss a thing, so I used PIP to go back and forth between CNN's and MSNBC's coverage.  I also had my iPhone, so I could keep up with Tweets, and I used my iPad to watch ABC's special coverage application.  Tonight I'll have to watch the convention after the football game because I do have priorities.

The Democrats can thank their lucky stars that they have their version of  the old Mariano Rivera to pull them out of a bind; when they need it, like the "Big Dog" Bill Clinton…..Bill Clinton will be tonight's  keynote speaker tonight and there's no doubt that he will do what's he's been doing since he's became one of America's greatest politicians.