By Kit
Important: Andrew is back in the hospital. He should be ok but Bev and I will be try to continue the posts as scheduled. I will be writing a Monday post if he is not feeling up to it by then.
Well, it is the last debate before the first votes are cast and it seems that Trump, who said three years ago that skipping debates is “cowardly”, is skipping the because he claimed Megyn kelly was “Biased” and his campaign manager (in an extraordinary act of projection) said she was “obsessed” with Donald Trump and you are probably already sick of it by now so there is no reason for me to go through it all so let’s cut to the current news:
As Fox News hosts the debate, Trump will host a rally for wounded veterans and it seems Huckabee and Santorum will show up for the rally. However, already there are problems as the president of the veterans advocacy group Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans has already announced it will not take any proceeds from the rally saying “We need strong policies from candidates, not to be used for political stunts”, and there is a story going slightly viral about Trump trying to have a group of veterans removed from 5th Avenue where they were working as licensed vendors by the city because he felt they hurt his business.
Now, as for those on the stage. Cruz is lagging behind Trump by some points but Rubio is rising in Iowa, 18 in one recent poll, as well as northern midwest states (states the GOP would love to win), particularly in Minnesota and Wisconsin. He also does well in head-to-head contests against Hillary there and he does the best nationally. But he is struggling in NH and SC due to a barrage of attack ads by the pro-Jeb super pac Right to Rise, run by Mike Murphy.
Trump, meanwhile, who is only now facing a barrage of attack ads (such as this one on immigration) has consistently lost against Hillary. Choose wisely, GOP.
Pro-Trump folks such as Ann Coulter and sites such as Breitbart.com (split between Cruz and Trump) are starting to hit Rubio. If Rubio does well tonight one could expect some attacks from the big dog himself.
Some short thoughts on Iowa by National Review editor Rich Lowry: LINK
Anyway, I have to go do Latin homework and other homework so I’ll write up some brief thoughts tonight or tomorrow afternoon.
Important: Andrew is back in the hospital. He should be ok but Bev and I will be try to continue the posts as scheduled. I will be writing a Monday post if he is not feeling up to it by then.
Well, it is the last debate before the first votes are cast and it seems that Trump, who said three years ago that skipping debates is “cowardly”, is skipping the because he claimed Megyn kelly was “Biased” and his campaign manager (in an extraordinary act of projection) said she was “obsessed” with Donald Trump and you are probably already sick of it by now so there is no reason for me to go through it all so let’s cut to the current news:
As Fox News hosts the debate, Trump will host a rally for wounded veterans and it seems Huckabee and Santorum will show up for the rally. However, already there are problems as the president of the veterans advocacy group Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans has already announced it will not take any proceeds from the rally saying “We need strong policies from candidates, not to be used for political stunts”, and there is a story going slightly viral about Trump trying to have a group of veterans removed from 5th Avenue where they were working as licensed vendors by the city because he felt they hurt his business.
Now, as for those on the stage. Cruz is lagging behind Trump by some points but Rubio is rising in Iowa, 18 in one recent poll, as well as northern midwest states (states the GOP would love to win), particularly in Minnesota and Wisconsin. He also does well in head-to-head contests against Hillary there and he does the best nationally. But he is struggling in NH and SC due to a barrage of attack ads by the pro-Jeb super pac Right to Rise, run by Mike Murphy.
Trump, meanwhile, who is only now facing a barrage of attack ads (such as this one on immigration) has consistently lost against Hillary. Choose wisely, GOP.
Pro-Trump folks such as Ann Coulter and sites such as Breitbart.com (split between Cruz and Trump) are starting to hit Rubio. If Rubio does well tonight one could expect some attacks from the big dog himself.
Some short thoughts on Iowa by National Review editor Rich Lowry: LINK
Anyway, I have to go do Latin homework and other homework so I’ll write up some brief thoughts tonight or tomorrow afternoon.
31 comments:
Kit, please extend my thoughts,my prayers and all my best wishes to Andrew and his family.
GypsyTyger
Hey be the first to know...we just had an earthquake in NYC. Very small but perceptible.
Sorry, I didn't read the article yet and just saw that Andrew was back in the hospital. GET WELL SOON, ANDREW!
Kit.......Appreciate you stepping in and posting a new article. Best wishes to Andrew and his current health issues.
As far as Iowa....who cares!! Trump has tapped into a basic feeling many Americans have...which is, we want to feel proud of our country, its history, its traditions, its generosity and its uniqueness in world history. Obama has tried to destroy that with his unlawfulness and anti-American actions and many are looking for someone.....anyone, to make us feel good about being an American again. If it's Trump, so be it. Cruz, okay. Rubio, I can live with that. Clinton.....yeah right. Sanders, Lenin-lite.
So, debate? Who cares?
"we just had an earthquake in NYC. Very small but perceptible."
Well, there goes the coverage of the Trump rally.
Just kidding.
;-)
I think it was caused by Trump jumping up and down and having a general temper tantrum...
On the Trump rally:
—The website was set up this morning.
—The proceeds go directly to the Trump Foundation, not to any veterans' group.
—Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson was asked which veterans' groups were involved and she couldn't name any.
For Kit - Frui studio vestra! and might I add: in vino veritus...amo amas Amat...villa eat villa romana.
Tell Andrew I hope he gets well soon, too!
- Daniel
My prayers go out to Andrew and his family.
"On the Trump rally:
—The website was set up this morning.
—The proceeds go directly to the Trump Foundation, not to any veterans' group.
—Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson was asked which veterans' groups were involved and she couldn't name any."
Impressive. A week ago, Trump was still going to the debate. What you are saying is that once the decision to not go to the debate was made, it took a day to set up a brand new website and hook up an accounting system to document the money as well as hook up CNN. As to which organization that the money goes to... Where do you want it to go?
Joel,
CNN is not showing it, C-Span is.
Kit,
I was talking about during the debate. Yes, CNN did, they treated it as straight news, along with the requisite Donald Trump bashing. I wonder what the overnights are going to look like?
What you fail to recognize is the enormity of what Donald Trump has done in ONE DAY. If you think on it a bit, you would realize that only a Donald Trump type could successfully hold a fund raiser in that short a time.
It also answers the question: Since Donald Trump is not going to the debate, what is he going to do? Instead of sitting at home, tweeting things and maybe second guessing himself, Trump holds a fund raiser for Vets. Then holds a rally.
I would also like to extend my prayers to Andrew and his family.
Get well soon, friend!
This makes me wonder, if, and I do mean if, Trump becomes president, is he going to hold another fund raiser when the going gets tough? Or is this a one time deal? Just throwing that out there.
Joel,
This is, sadly, one of many previews of a Trump presidency.
I'm back folks! Thanks for your patience. I seem to be having some unpleasant side effects from a new drug I'm taking, so we finally stopped the drug. Hopefully, everything will return to normal now. :)
Thanks for the well wishes!
First, my thoughts and prayers are with Andrew and his family. Oh wait, that's not PC anymore, because prayers don't fix anything. In that case, my likes and tweets are with Andrew and his family. There. That looks better.
On to the trivial stuff.
Joel: I don't want to rain on your parade, but the Trump4Vets website is an out-of-the-box job, the javascript equivalent of running off campaign flyers at Kinko's. It's not even a website, just a single webpage, which is kinda shady for a charity effort. Plus, we're not even talking full e-commerce here, just a one-way transaction. The point being, there's no reason this shouldn't have been achieved in a week. With Trump's resources, it should only take hours.
As for pulling together a fundraiser in a few days (not ONE day, you said he had a week, and I honestly think he planned this even further out), Drake University already had a podium, and flags, and lighting. Someone had to hustle to the copy shop for his little foam-core sign, sure. That's about it. All he had to do to draw in CNN is announce. CNN was ready to roll and, frankly, happy to report on anything other than the GOP debate. It could have been Pizza Rat II, for all they cared. I'm not entirely sure what distinguishes a fundraiser from a rally, especially when held back-to-back.
You're marveling at a cottage in the shadow of cathedrals.
And hanging over all of this remains the question, where is the money going? "To vets" is not an answer.
I'm not even impressed that Trump could write the checks to divert the momentary efforts of a few dozen people. Do you think he'll be using his own checkbook for off-the-cuff expenses if he's residing in the White House?
tryanmax, Thanks for the tweets! ;)
On thee rally, it seems more like a PR move than a legitimate fundraiser. It will be interesting to see what happens with the money. He is playing in an area there that could lead to him going to jail if he doesn't at least squeeze the money into the required forms for a charity.
Glad you are feeling better Andrew.
Tryanmax,
I'm sure that the money raised last night, according to Donald Trump, six million, will go to some veteran's charities. Trump is now in the spotlight and not doing that will come out. As for my marveling at the spectacle, well, maybe I am. You see, I don't see the other candidates doing anything. What did Rand Paul do when he skipped out of the Junior debates?
Andrew, it never was a legitimate fundraiser. It was a PR move. A very successful one. The first question from Megyn Kelly was about Trump, "... the elephant not in the room..." Trump is living rent free in her head. Even when Trump wasn't there, they were talking about him. In that sense, he won that debate.
Tryanmax - I am with all the way on that. It doesn't take a genius to pull off a stunt like that. All he needed was his PR machine and a empty venue. They rest was just Kinko's and the venue house crew to dress the stage.
Now here's the funny thing about fundraisers - were they pledges or actual "donations"? I saw this kind of nonsense after 9/11..tons of "fundraiser" that "raised" hundreds of millions, but then oops, many forgot to actually pay up.
Btw, all that money is going into the "Trump Foundation" coffers to be doled out to unspecified "veterans' groups"...yeah, Trump just shifted $1mill to his private charity that will come with a great big tax deduction for charitable giving.
ANDREW!!!!! Welcome back and take it easy, okay?
Joel, when did I get placed into Rand Paul's camp? Trump and Paul are both petulant whiners. And as I said, I'm not impressed by the Trump Spite Rally for Attention (and veterans).
tryanmax,
I did not realize I was placing you in Rand Paul's camp. My apologies. My point was that Trump is a doer. Rand Paul is not. Neither is Cruz nor the rest of the lineup, with the exception of Dr. Carlson.
Oh, and the Spite Rally worked. We will find out how well it worked this coming Monday. It did what it was designed to do, lessen Fox apparent win of chasing off one of the candidates.
What is really interesting is that Santorum and Huckabee showed up at the rally.
What I am seeing is Trump getting people to come out on a cold night to hear him speak. That counts for something, doesn't it?
Thanks Bev! I will. I'm not even supposed to leave my bed for the next couple days until everything is steady.
Joel,
"Oh, and the Spite Rally worked."
How so? Last night's debate get higher ratings than the previous one. And neither MSNBC nor CNN, which apparently both showed part of his rally, get barely half what the Fox News debate received. They got a boost from what they would've gotten, surely, but Fox still reigned triumphant.
Sure, it may have cost Fox some money but they are still rolling in it. Then there is the likely boost The Kelly File will probably receive, like it did in October after the first Trump-Kelly clash.
Joel, apparently, it was also the second highest-rated show in Fox News history.
Kit and Joel, Let me throw this out there to chew on...
Whether Trump won or lost, the problem with making any of this seem significant is that so few people watched overall. According to the ratings, the debate had 12.5 million viewers and Trump got 2.7 million. I would assume those overlap, but it doesn't matter. Taken together means a maximum of 15.2 million people watched.
Somewhere around 130 million people will vote. That means, this fracas has attracted about 11% of those who will vote. That means we're talking about only those who are highly interested. And I'll bet each of those people has already chosen a candidate. Said different, these guys are just talking to their own activists and hard-core supporters at this point. So there is no victory for anyone because these minds can't be changed.
Excellent point Andrew.
Late(r) to the party, and our fearless leader's already on the men -- mazel tov, fellow not-so-old man!
Re. Coulter and the Breitbart Bigs, no need to repeat yourself, Kit.
You can certainly count me among those who didn't watch. The winners and losers of the debates aren't determined in the debates themselves. They're determined somewhere in the news flurry that results from them. As far as I can find, the last debate and Trump's concurrent stunt didn't move any needles for anyone.
Interesting poll the other day. Bloomberg ran poll to gauge the interest in him running. The poll showed almost no interest. It turns out he's horribly unpopular among Democrats 26% approval and even worse among Republicans 7%. That throws a 16 oz. wrench into his plans.
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