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Just an impression

But John Kasich seems to be positioning himself as the only adult in the room.

Which may even be true. But I’m not all that sure that the voters are looking for an adult this year…..

42 thoughts on “Just an impression”

  1. So Much For Subtlety

    It looks to me like Trump has finally blown up his campaign. Saying that the Bush administration lied about the war is going to alienate a large chunk of his potential voters. With South Carolina coming up – where people take this sort of treasonous ranting seriously – he is likely to pay.

    But Kasich is just another Democrat. No point voting for him. He can be grown up because he knows it.

  2. Tim Stanley wrote a great piece yesterday on the vile responses he got to an article criticising Trump. Read exactly like SMFS comments they did.

  3. So Much For Subtlety

    Ironman – “Tim Stanley wrote a great piece yesterday on the vile responses he got to an article criticising Trump. Read exactly like SMFS comments they did.”

    Got bored over at the Guardian did you? Welcome back. You must be so gutted over the Independent closing.

  4. “treasonous”: pointing out that Bush and his buddies invaded a country that was no threat to the US on spurious grounds? It’s surely patriotic rather than treasonous? And that twat Hellary voted for the invasion, of course.

  5. So Much For Subtlety

    dearieme – “pointing out that Bush and his buddies invaded a country that was no threat to the US on spurious grounds?”

    Spurious grounds are not dishonest ones. You are shifting the goal posts from an unreasonable claim to a reasonable one. WMD were never Bush’s only reason anyway.

    But sure, it would have been so much better to leave the sanctions in place and starve another million children to death.

  6. So Much For Subtlety

    It’s interesting to note that while Trump won among all demographic groups, he also attracted a significant number of non-Republicans or first-time-voters into the primary.

    They, frankly, matched that ugly cliché of Republicanism far better than normal Republicans do – they tended to be less-well paid and only high-school educated. But they also regard themselves as less “conservative” than you might expect. Trump won 32 per cent of those who described themselves as “moderate.” Donald Trump. Not a name you associate with moderation.

    So all his evidence is that Trump appeals to a broad section of the electorate. He admits they are older and better educated than average. He admits that Trump won in all demographics – young, old, men, women, educated, rich, poor, Black, White – but he still can’t free himself of the idea that Trump’s supporters are straight out of “Deliverance”.

    At least one of those tweets is correct – he is a snobby little puke and Muslims have turned parts of British into Third World hellholes. I didn’t write it, but no one in their right mind can deny it.

  7. I guess it is up to me to state the obvious.

    The reason Sanders and Trump are currently leading the race is because everyone is sick and tired of the Cliton/Bush mess.

    Neither of these candidates offer superior policies. The important thing to notice is that they have both positioned themselves to provide “change” just as Obama originally did. Whether they actually advocate real change is immaterial.

  8. LY makes a good point. This election cycle in the US looks like an antiestablishment insurgency.

    Pace SMFS, being opposed to the Iraq folly is not, in 2016, a political liability for Trump. It’s a political Brucie bonus.

    Ironman – No harm to Tim Stanley, but his brand of smirking Metropolitan pansy conservativism is part of the problem. Part of the reason why conservatives have been retreating for the best part of a century.

    Dave “Religion of Peace” Cameron should take note. The 4m people who voted UKIP in the GE haven’t gone away, you know.

  9. TY for the link Agammamon. It confirms my Kasich bias so I won’t restate the points it makes.

    Sometimes I feel like I’m the only person in this country that doesn’t want to blow up the rest of the world if they don’t do exactly what we say. To make matters worse what we say to do change at our whim.

    On the single point of not entering into irrational wars Sanders is the only candidate that has taken a stand that even comes close to non-interference. If only his economic and energy policies made sense I could actually support him.

  10. From Tim Stanleys piece:

    “His characterization of Mexican migrants — legal or otherwise — is wrong and damaging at a time when America is evolving towards a less-white society. His stance on Muslim immigration, which he would cease until the terror threat is brought under control, is racist.”

    The US is not evolving into a less-white society, it is being deliberately turned into one by the political and business elites. They don’t care whether non University educated Americans are able to get a job or not as long as they have cheap servants and labourers and new Democrat voters. Their contempt for the White Working and Middle Classes is clear.
    Trump and Sanders are a reaction against the Establishment by people who have been taken for granted by the elites of both parties.
    Tim Stanley is a ‘Cuckservative’ who wants to flood the US with Third-world peasants. If there’s any justice, he’ll be ‘enriched’ by one of his ‘diverse’ pets.

  11. LY – you could have had Ron Paul.

    Tim’s point is a good one, but barking up the wrong branch if not the wrong tree:

    John Kasich seems to be positioning himself as the only adult in the room.

    The key word is “seems”. But too late. Trump has already torn down the curtain and everybody has seen the Wizards of GOP are just a collection of craven cucks and sweaty shysters in thrall to their donors.

    Playing the responsible adult won’t work for these guys any more, because too many people realise they are just can-kickers and bullshit merchants. The old Republican voodoo – kiss a few bibles, thump a few babies, lie about what you’re gonna do on abortion and immigration and the Constitution (PBUH) – no worky no more.

    Trump has exposed it for the grotesque circus that it is. Even if he doesn’t win, and the Repubs manage to cram a Kasich or a Jeb! down the electorate’s gullet, there’s no going back.

  12. “It looks to me like Trump has finally blown up his campaign…” …says increasingly nervous man for the seventh time this year.

  13. Steve

    I’m fairly certain that when we had the “why would you vote for Hillary” thread I made it clear that I feel Paul was the best overall choice. The funny thing is that when he dropped out earlier than expected it made me like him even more.

    My problem is that of the remaining Republican candidates, and Cliton, I don’t see any that wouldn’t put troops in Syria and Iran. Balancing the budget, with the goal of cutting the debt massively, is my most pressing concern right now and another war won’t help.

  14. “it would have been so much better to leave the sanctions in place and starve another million children to death”: then he could have removed the sanctions and baited that he was indeed a “compassionate conservative”. As for the honesty of the warmongers, I very much doubt it. They told the US intelligence services what they wanted to be told, and those services obligingly told them it. That’s dishonest.

  15. The 4m people who voted UKIP in the GE haven’t gone away, you know.

    True, Steve; but, meanwhile, UKIP has largely gone away.

  16. Kasich lives here in Westerville. He represented Westerville when he was one of Newt Gingrich’s boys back in the ’80s. When he was working for Fox you’d see him at the Table of Contents Café on Sunday mornings with his head buried in the New York Times.

    John Kasich has a gift… And that gift is being able to project a favorable impression on those who don’t know much about him. He is charming. But even more than that he is an opportunist, which is why nobody in Ohio is all that thrilled about his candidacy.

    John Kasich is a moderate Democrat’s idea of a “good Republican”. That’s why he got the endorsement from the New York Times, after all. He did well in New Hampshire because it was an open primary and he picked up votes that would normally go to a centrist Democratic candidate. Kasich’s showing in NH will not be repeated, and what it actually demonstrates is how weak Clinton and Sanders really are… Kasich didn’t take votes away from Ted Cruz, he took them away from Hillary Clinton.

  17. Theo – Have they? I l’m not a political party member and don’t watch the news.

    If they dissolve into infighting/general twattery something else will replace them.

    The Tories can’t afford to be complacent – they rode their luck in the last GE against an incredibly uninspiring opposition, but if by the end of this election cycle they still can’t offer their supporters positive reasons to vote for them (“the other guys are worse!” isn’t a reason after you’ve been in office for 10 years), they’re fucked.

    So far, I gather they’re uselessly footering about on the EU, shit-talking in place of action on immigration, and wasting time on wanky, trivial little public sector reforms.

    Looks like the near-death experience of facing down a Milliband administration has taught them nothing.

  18. ‘Trump has exposed it for the grotesque circus that it is.’ – Steve

    Unfortunately, there is going to be another big test this year, with the death of Antonin Scalia.
    The idjit in the Whitehouse gets to name a replacement. He will undoubtedly pick another Libtard whackjob. Which dangerously will give the Libtards majority control of the Court. The Republicans control the Senate. They can simply refuse to approve O’tard’s pick, postponing the replacement until a presumably Republican president takes office in January. It really is that easy to save the country, but . . . zero chance of the Republicans resisting at all. ‘Grotesque circus,’ as Steve says.

  19. Dennis – I know little about Kasich, but the Daily Telegraph likes him, and that’s all I need to know.

    The DT hasn’t seen a useless, pathetic, craven, spineless fake conservative in years that they haven’t immediately wanted to fellate in print.

    Putin’s journalist-killing policies make more sense by the day. Personally I’d give them stylish and ironic deaths, like the Abominable Dr. Phibes.

    So… Polly to be immured in her Tuscan villa. Monbiot to eaten by badgers. “Dr.” Tim Stanley to suffer death by bongo-bongo from those nice African chaps evolving across our borders (don’t worry, he likes it).

  20. SMFS

    Thanks for providing exactly the response I thought you would. Which little racist shit, speaking ‘sense’ and ‘the truth’ is currently darling of your affections? Isn’t it Trump then? Perhaps Farage? Tommy Wotsisname being g abused in gaol for mortgage fraud?

  21. Personally I’d give them stylish and ironic deaths, like the Abominable Dr. Phibes.

    A lovely idea, but far too intellectual for the lot effected. Anything more complex that hanging MSM “journalists” from lamp posts would be lost on ’em.

  22. Steve

    “If they dissolve into infighting/general twattery something else will replace them.”

    Perhaps. But becoming a third force in British or at least English parliamentary politics is incredibly difficult. And the left-right fissure soon opens up in insurgent parties.

    “The Tories can’t afford to be complacent…”

    True; but I fear Corbyn is making them so. 

  23. Theo – becoming a third force in British or at least English parliamentary politics is incredibly difficult.

    Absolutely. But political sea change is not impossible, even in Westminster. In 2010 the SNP only had 6 seats. Now they have 56.

    There’s a broader sense across the Western world that the old certainties aren’t as certain as they used to be. We may be just one more economic crisis or war away from a dramatic realignment.

    I fear Corbyn is making them so.

    Yes, he’s a Trotskyite dinosaur with the personal appeal of a used tissue. And yet… that hasn’t stopped Comrade Sanders from mesmerising a large swathe of the US electorate. Or rather, taking advantage of their pre-existing dissatisfaction.

    I don’t expect Dave to care too much at this point, but his backbenchers and ambitious Cabinet members absolutely should.

  24. Theophrastus,

    “Perhaps. But becoming a third force in British or at least English parliamentary politics is incredibly difficult. And the left-right fissure soon opens up in insurgent parties.”

    True. There’s generally inertia around 2 parties in an FPTP system. The real question is whether Labour can survive Corbyn. Miliband changed the rules on voting, so you can join and vote straight away (a terrible idea) and it’s filled the party membership with Corbynites. The sort of people that even if he loses, will come up excuses that he wasn’t left-wing enough.

    I reckon the PLP are hoping Corbyn loses and the membership pick a better leader. If they don’t, I reckon we’ll see a new SDP.

  25. Steve

    But political sea change is not impossible, even in Westminster. In 2010 the SNP only had 6 seats. Now they have 56.

    No, not impossible. But, remember, the SNP was founded in 1934, and it took them 35+ years of ideological infighting to decide that they were a social democratic party. That sea change was 81 years a-coming.

  26. “Miliband changed the rules on voting, so you can join and vote straight away (a terrible idea) and it’s filled the party membership with Corbynites.”

    Yes, but it may not be the same next time. Corbyn’s candidature was a special case. I, for one can’t be bothered to give the Labour Party another £30 quid just to get 10 votes in their next leadership election.

  27. Alex,

    “Yes, but it may not be the same next time. Corbyn’s candidature was a special case. I, for one can’t be bothered to give the Labour Party another £30 quid just to get 10 votes in their next leadership election.”

    Well played, if true.

    But actually, even the new full members are more like Corbyn. According to John Mann, there are more Labour members in heartland Conservative seats than heartland Labour seats. Islington has 15 times more members than his constituency in Nottinghamshire.

  28. Trump has exposed it for the grotesque circus that it is.

    Bah, humbug! True democracy in action is NEVER pretty. Anyone who suggests it can be either doesn’t understand it or prefers something else.

    Elections in Germany from August 19, 1934 through May 23, 1945 were both sedate and serious… No circuses back in those days.

  29. Sanctions never starved “a million children”, that was directly attributable to Saddam Hussein. And the consensus amongst all intelligence agencies including it is said the Russian, was that one SH was indeed concealing a covert WMD program. Those may be inconvenient facts for the terminally challenged BDS infected, but they are undoubtedly correct.

  30. LY, one of the more interesting suggestions I’ve heard on this is that Saddam himself thought he had a covert WMD program but his officials were too incompetent to run one under the sanctions that applied. Saddam certainly acted like one would expect someone to act when concealing that sort of program.

    Also he certainly did have a program at one stage and quite a lot of remnant material was found, but I’m not sure why all the agencies were convinced he had one. Possibly just a case of every one agreeing that 1+1+1+1+1=6, not the first and certainly not the last intelligence failure.

    And when I say “one million children” above, it doesn’t mean that I agree with that figure, it was always a grossly inflated figure. All through the sanctions Iraq could import essentially any food and medicine it needed, that it chose not to and deliberately starved at least some people was a deliberate political,act by Saddam, one supported by all those who gave and continue to give credence to the “one million” figure. So to some, causing mass starvation is perfectly OK if it makes the right political point.

  31. So Much For Subtlety

    Steve – “being opposed to the Iraq folly is not, in 2016, a political liability for Trump. It’s a political Brucie bonus.”

    Yes but calling people who did support it liars or idiots is not a good idea. The war was fought, it needs to be defended.

    Richard Allan – “says increasingly nervous man for the seventh time this year.”

    You do not grasp my view of the Republicans and Trump correctly.

  32. So Much For Subtlety

    Ironman – “Tommy Wotsisname being g abused in gaol for mortgage fraud?”

    It is interesting to see you are consistently in favour of gang rape. That is what you mean, right?

    Now why don’t you push off back to CiF.

  33. David Kelly thought there was an active WMD programme iirc.

    I’ve heard rumours that the Russians thought so too but no idea how true that is.

    I’ve even talked online to a former weapons inspector about it.

    The whole thing was very odd. If Saddam didn’t believe me had something, he still behaved as if he believed he did, perhaps to make others think so too.

    Whether the justifies a war is a different question. The counter factuals are almost impossible to evaluate (how those scenarios would play out post Arab Spring especially, and that’s before the knock-on imponderables such as whether Russian aggression in recent years is partly a response to Western unilateralism over Iraq) but relative to other policies they had in their toolkit I’m pretty sure most analysts, and maybe most of the original decision makers, regard a direct Western invasion without explicit UN support as a strategic mistake.

  34. Dennis – Anything more complex that hanging MSM “journalists” from lamp posts would be lost on ’em.

    You monster. At least use fairtrade organic hemp.

    True democracy in action is NEVER pretty.

    Yes, but it’s never been uglier than it is now. If it was a farm animal, you’d put it out of its misery.

    BiCR – I like the classics 🙂

    Theo – That sea change was 81 years a-coming.

    Yeah. But it’s (current year). Things move faster now. And the electorate has never been less invested in either major party.

    Gamecock – Thank God we stopped Saddam from possessing WW1 era technology. No telling what he might have done with that. Maybe even a sequel to Paul McCartney’s Pipes of Peace.

    SMFS – The war was fought, it needs to be defended.

    Maybe by the guys who should be in jail for getting us into it. Is everyone else obliged to defend it? Nah. That’s like defending the wisdom of shooting yourself in the nads.

  35. David Kelly thought there was an active WMD programme iirc.

    Yes, but he and the DIS criticised the 45 minutes claim and other claims about the WMD programme – the certainty of the conclusions that were drawn from all the available intelligence etc.

    There wasn’t a “lie” as in saying a thing exists when we know it doesn’t exist, but a degree of dishonesty or lack of regard for the truth or deception of the public in terms of the claims made about the thing.

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