Monday, March 2, 2020

THE SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMARY AND THE ENSUING MAD DASH FOR THE EXITS: ARE THE DEMOCRATS GOING TO WAKE UP AND SAY “I DID WHAT?”?



3/2/20
What a difference a few days makes!  Here are a few thoughts/questions in the post-South Carolina Democratic world:

  • ·         The Democrats have left themselves with four weak candidates.  

o   Bernie Sanders’ lunatic views are incapable of being seriously considered by anybody over the age of 25 who does not pour (or whatever one does to serve such current fascinations) trendy, expensive coffee or spout nonsense on a college campus for a living.
o   Only a few days ago, people were seriously, and legitimately, questioning Joe Biden’s grasp on reality as he appeared to fancy himself as a challenger to Donald Trump in some sort of bizarre contest to see who could utter the most, and most outrageous, malapropisms.   Whether forgetting what state he was in, calling civilians on the campaign trail “lying dog-faced pony soldier"s, forgetting what office he was running for, or failing to recall that it was the Obama/Biden, not the Biden/Obama, administration in which he served, Mr. Biden seemed endlessly capable of making people shake their heads in astonishment at the effects age seemed to be having on him.
o   Only a few weeks ago, people were writing off Michael Bloomberg after a debate appearance that could only be described as a disaster.   (See   THE 2/19/20 DEMOCRATIC DEBATE: “HEY (MIKE), DID YOU GET THE LICENSE NUMBER?”  “LICENSE NUMBER?”  “YEAH, THE LICENSE NUMBER OF THE TRUCK THAT HIT YOU.”)   Mr. Bloomberg showed all the warmth of a Norge and all the empathy of Marie Antoinette in that debate and was mildly acclaimed in the next only because he managed to avoid repeating his performance as the human equivalent of the Hindenburg.   Remember, too, that, as of this writing, as he sits as one of two alternatives to the self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination, Mr. Bloomberg has yet to appear on any primary ballot or to have garnered one official primary vote.
o   Yours truly has described Elizabeth Warren as “human vinegar” in a nod to her likeability quotient.   Elizabeth Warren presents no alternative to Bernie Sanders, other than her gender, which, judging from the primary results so far, means little to the Democrats.  And how often does a pale imitation beat the real thing?   
o   All four candidates are in their 70s; the men are all in their late 70s.   Yours truly, along with many of you, can vividly remember 1980, when the 69-year-old Ronald Reagan, seeking his first term as president. was widely considered far too old to be president.  Some, especially among the very Democrats who have limited their 2020 choices to four septuagenarians, think that Mr. Reagan, or at least his second term, proved that judgment correct. 
o   And, before anybody says it, the chances of a deus ex machina candidate emerging from a brokered convention to lead a divided party to victory in a general election are, shall we say, small.

  • ·         Why did Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar decide to fold up their tents one day before Super Tuesday?   Virtually all the money that was going to be spent on the primaries tomorrow has already been spent.   Why not stick around for one day and see if you can catch lightning in a bottle?  Admittedly, yours truly doesn’t know the politics game, but it seems to defy common sense to quit when continuing for a day would seem to cost little or nothing.   Joe Biden couldn’t have promised the vice-presidency to both of them.  Or could he?   See the first sub-bullet point in the prior bullet point.

·         I will make this argument again, and now there will be no way to prove me wrong:  If Amy Klobuchar would have become the Democratic standard-bearer this year, the general election would have been over before it started and we would see our first woman president.   See the first bullet point in the now seminal PRESIDENT TRUMP CANNOT WIN, BUT THE DEMOCRATS CAN LOSE, IN 2020, 1/9/20.  Therefore, anything that was bad for Amy Klobuchar in the primaries was good for Donald Trump.   Therefore, South Carolina, and a very poor and hasty decision made by Ms. Klobuchar in its immediate wake, was very good for President Trump.

·         Yes, Mr. Biden’s victory in South Carolina was impressive, but it was South Carolina.   South Carolina is a beautiful state brimming with wonderful and smart people, I am sure, but it is small, very southern, and, after all, sure to go Republican in November.   Yet, it appears that this small, relatively inconsequential state that is firmly in the pocket of the opposition has resulted in the Dems, if anything I have written above or in previous posts is true, having all but conceded November to President Trump.  But this should not surprise my readers; see, again, PRESIDENT TRUMP CANNOT WIN, BUT THE DEMOCRATS CAN LOSE, IN 2020, 1/9/20.



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