Ted Cruz Gets the Bad Lip Reading Treatment

Hilarious. Somehow, they managed to make Ted Cruz more palatable, and somehow almost sympathetic. And though they're trying to parody his voice and delivery, I prefer this version. Enjoy!

The Craziness of Campaign 2016: What More is There to Say?

Image cobbled from downwithtyranny.blogspot.com and
thecontributor.com

I just opened my blog, and was surprised to find that I hadn't posted anything since last Sunday. Oops. And why? I guess, because I'm kind of at a loss for what to say. Politics has become so crazy, what good is a hobbyist blogger/pundit? Even the professional pundits are continually wrong when none of the rules apply anymore.

Donald Trump, the front-runner of the GOP nomination, is continuing to defy gravity on the force of his cult of personality. To those of us completely outside the bubble, and people like me who have intensely disliked the man for decades (long before he was either a politician or a Republican), it's utterly baffling. The candidate himself has been rude, crude, and thoroughly unpresidential. He's been more than vague on details, he's been nearly incoherent, besides coming down on both sides of nearly every issue in his days in the spotlight. His followers claim to want to "make America great again," while showing every desire to burn it down. They have a cartoonish, false impression of the current president, of the state of the union, of the reasons for their ever-present anger, for who is to blame for their vague set of grievances, and for what the solution should be.

THAT much is clear. Because for all the ills they seem to think this country has, their favored candidate is one with no diplomatic skills, no political experience, no restraint, no filter and no desire to show anyone how he'd go about fixing any of these "problems." But, I'm sure, even with my sporadic blogging, if I were to go back through my recent posts, I'm sure I've said all of this before. What more is there to say? What the good goddamn is wrong with "conservative" America?

And I put conservative in quotes, because by no measure do even hard-line conservative bedrock values even figure in to their lockstep Trump allegiance.

I'm sitting down to watch the latest GOP debate on CNN. It will likely inspire a post or two, so maybe I'll have a few more things up on the blog. But my gosh, this is turning into a real shitstorm.

A Word About Gas Prices

Newt Gingrich released a stream of lies, half-truths and twisted facts in his oddly triumphant failure speech on Super Tuesday. But it wasn't his twisting of the truth that bothered me. It was the truth, out of context. And that is, gas prices when President Obama took office on January 20, 2009.

Yeah, $1.61 gas lasted a long time, didn't it? Image from GasBuddy.com

Newt said gas prices were below $2 per gallon on Inauguration day, and he wasn't wrong. But he wasn't fair either. Because that was the nadir of gasoline prices during a very volatile time. During President Bush's last year, gasoline prices soared to--as yet--still unprecedented levels. The average price got as high as $4.12, and I personally paid over $4.65 in California in June of 2008.  But take a look at that chart. Gas prices plunged in a never before seen way. From north of $4 to below $2. It then hit an uptick at the end of December, 2008. The direction changed three weeks before Obama was inaugurated.

So, when you hear the line that gas was cheap, and "Obama's policies" made it go up, you can chalk some of that up to timing more than policies. No way did an Obama policies make gas go above $2 in his first three months. And in no way can you take January 2009's average gas price as some sort of baseline, or usual price. It just wasn't. Context is everything, but perception unfortunately often rules the day.

Conclusion: Newt knows all of this, but doesn't provide context because he thinks the people listening to him won't know the difference. That--to me--shows a contempt for his audience: us. I don't like that, do you?

Mitt Romney Scores a Squeaker in Ohio

Possibly the largest selection of enthusiastic Romney supporters caught
on film. Image from source, NBC.

I'm thrilled that Mittens can mark down Ohio as a win. After The Other Half's home state of Iowa voted for Rick (don't Google me) Santorum, I just couldn't bear my home state doing the same. Embarrassing. But Santorum came close enough for some minor bragging rights, and he did score a few other states on Super Tuesday. So this thing isn't over. And as long as Newton LeRoy stays in, the longer this thing lasts. Get your popcorn.


[Excerpt]

Romney scores narrow Super Tuesday win in pivotal Ohio


Mitt Romney scored a narrow victory over Rick Santorum in the Ohio presidential primary following a hard-fought campaign that had been perceived as a turning point in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination. NBC projected he was the apparent winner in that state. . .

Read more at: NBC

Hillary Clinton vs. Barack Obama: The Final Battle

I'm off to work! We'll see how this all works out later!

Voter Turnout Sets Records

Photo from source, Huffington Post

I have a dinner engagement tonight, and may not get to post much of anything else for the evening. But this news was too good not to share, and put up a quickie post before dinner.

I'm still looking for a comprehensive report on Repbulican vs. Democratic turnout. It was quite obvious from the returns that Democrats vastly outnumbered Republicans yesterday. But that will have to wait for later.

[Excerpt]

Report: Voter Turnout Records Broken

Voters came out in record numbers in about half the states that have voted in presidential primaries so far, according to an analysis Wednesday. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post