Town Halls

BudLiteGood morning, y’all. The snow has all but melted and we are in for a week of “milder” temperatures, it looks like. The Whiz O Meter really wants to predict freezing rain and sleet for the incoming precipitation, but it’s too warm. I guess even the weather people have taken on the Republican mantle of predicting the worst to get more viewership. What’s that saying,”if it bleeds, it leads”? I’m sure psychologists have a term for this fascination with bad news. I think I’ll ask what the term is at my next tuneup.

Anyway, the TackyToo Rec room was pleased to host the Democratic debate potluck tonight. Due to the poor weather conditions, most of our Republican “fair weather friends” declined to attend tonight’s potluck and add their “two cents” to the discussion. I have to admit, I won’t miss their “two cents”, but, culinarily speaking, I will miss their covered dish. Al Katz’s wife, Tabby, brought her “world famous” green bean casserole. Alva Bread brought a dish of macaroni and cheese to add to the four pork loins I had grilled on the Big Green Egg. Mulva threw in a plate of jalapeno cornbread, and that was it. Alva Bread did offer up front to “help” with the leftovers. A dish of macaroni and cheese is a good investment for getting her brood fed for a couple of days, I guess.

Her husband, The Right Reverend Dale E. Bread, was not in attendance. I’m not sure what The Right Reverend would have brought to the party though. He seems to root for whichever group he’s in. Which is a bit of a mystery to me. How any clergy can endorse the hate rhetoric coming from the Republican party, specifically The Donald, is beyond me. I mean, pragmatically, if you round up all of the Muslims and send them back to Egypt, or wherever, it increases your market share, but it kind of kicks that “do unto others” concept square in the ‘nads. It certainly makes me wish the, “what would Jesus do?”, movement had made a bigger penetration, especially with the clergy. I guess everybody has their own concept of “doing unto others”.

The Democrat debates were held in “Town Hall” style, which I like very much. The contrast of having three candidates in a relaxed format, answering questions from the audience, is a profound difference to the Republican format. What we’ve come to expect from the Republicans is their Clown Car emptying out on stage with the “candidates” firmly chained to their podiums. The podium assignments are arranged by popularity, and so The Donald is always center stage. The Donald is so much the show that the networks keep a camera on him all of the time so they can show his facial expressions, picture in picture, while the other candidates talk. It is a perversion that reminds me of other great egos, like Mussolini, et al. The sheer number of candidates distort the time allowed for meaningful dialog to occur, even when the moderator tries to hold a candidate on topic. The debates are not so much debates as schoolyard trysts with the biggest bully always getting his way, lest he “take his bat and ball” and go home. Over filling the stage has to be a Republican strategy to mask the weakness of all of their candidates. Not so, with the Democrats.

I am happy to report civil, intelligent discourse about the ways to elevate the American standard and quality of life for all citizens from three very qualified candidates. In my humble opinion, they would all make excellent Presidents. The length of their term might be a question for a couple of them though. Here’s my thoughts:

Michael O’Malley – excellent choice for his policies. I also like his youth. He would make an excellent back up to the other candidates, while getting the national recognition he needs to pull off a presidential run. He took his coat off, he’s ready to go to work.

Bernie Sanders – I love him, I love everything he says. I just worry if elected, if a 75 year old man will make it to the end of his first term. That’s right Bernie, you’re 74, soon to be 75. I do hope that the acceptance of the label of “Socialist” by the young people following Bernie is a trend that has legs. A better educated populace will look at the standard of living sported by the Scandinavian countries and will not worry about political labels. Thank Bernie for that.

Hillary Clinton – I hope not “always a bridesmaid and never a bride” does not apply to Hillary. I loved her response to the young fellow pointing out that she had been fighting for Universal Health Care before he was born. I love the fact that she was able to take a “lemons”moment and make lemonade. She has the experience to do great things if elected.  Hopefully, Bernie will keep holding her feet to the fire to run as a Democrat, not Republican Lite. I mean once upon time Hillary worked to impeach Nixon, she shouldn’t forget her roots.

Well, there you have it. While Alva and the Republicans are left with leftovers, the rest of us have the opportunity to get off our hindquarters and make a difference. Whoever the candidate is, vote Democrat. And, like they say in Chicago, “vote often”!

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