Some consider the Nation’s Capital as “Fantasyland on the Potomac”. Other outsiders are “Fed Up” with the Federal City. It's better to consider D.C. as “the District of Calamity” (sic).
Showing posts with label Mike Pence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Pence. Show all posts
Sunday, August 26, 2018
Monday, April 30, 2018
Revealing Quips on Abortion at the White House Correspondents' Dinner
 |
| [L] Michelle Wolfe [R] Sarah Huckabee Sanders WHCD 2018 |
Ms. Wolf claimed that she did not want President Trump impeached because it would mean Vice President Mike Pence would take over. This opposition seem born from Mr. Pence’s deep pro-life position. Wolf’s joke about abortion was grotesque but fascinating because the premise and framing of her presumed bon mot reveal the lies of the pro-choice movement.
America had been propagandized that the left wanted abortion to the “Safe, legal and rare”. Sure.
So what about: “Don’t know it until you try it – and when you try it really knock it.”? Obviously a crude play on words. What was more revealing was Michelle Wolf’s admission: “You know, you really have to get that baby out of there.” Isn’t abortion supposed to be about unviable fetuses, or lumps of tissues? These callous comments reveal that progressives feel so comfortable with abortion that they don’t mind admitting that it is infanticide during rubber chicken dinner jokes.
The latter half of Wolf’s un-“funny” about abortion seemed ill targeted. Wolf seemed to justify abortion if it was for your secret mistresses. Mike Pence is an evangelical Christian who rightfully has a reputation of being a Boy Scout.
If there is one thing that a Philosophy of Humor class inculcated was that in order to be funny, humor must have an element of truth to it but approach it from an unexpected angle to catch an audience by surprise. With that in mind, enquiring minds want to know if this was a contrast to Mr. Pence’s straight as an arrow reputation, or is she insinuating that he is a hypocrite and has sex on the side and paid to cover it up. It may be more likely that Wolf forgot who she was insulting and wanted to impugn the elephant not in the room, President Trump and his messy personal life.
That being said, it is interesting that a roomful of elites were not scandalized about killing human life as they ate their desserts. Apparently, joking about abortion is just another laugh line for them. To be fair, a few voices in the media have registered protest about how the White House Correspondents' Dinner has confirmed the caricatures of the media made by Trump supporters. But on the whole, the press corps has rallied around the banner of the First Amendment and speaking truth to power.
One of the reasons that the left has fought so hard against legislative attempts to mandate ultrasounds before abortion is because many mothers to be see an unborn child in the x-ray and might change their minds about terminating their pregnancy. At the very least, an ultrasound impeaches the lies that they tell themselves to justify termination as part of “Women’s Reproductive Health”. Michelle’s Wolf’s jokes about abortion have served as cultural ultrasound. Humorists often push the envelope to get a laugh and her routine about abortion certainly looked about those lines. But the way she framed it revealed the truth about terminating a pregnancy. The left now seems to embrace joking about killing a baby with laughs. Perhaps such a comedic routine might have been edgily acceptable during a stand up set at a late night comedy club. But Michelle Wolf’s venue was as the hired help of Nerd Prom, elite swamp dwellering jo-whore-nalists (sic) celebrating themselves wrapped around the First Amendment. Is it any wonder that President Trump chose not to attend?
Of course the First Amendment gave Ms Wolf to say whatever she liked, no matter how offensive. However, that does not mean that it is immune from critique and criticism. The White House Correspondents’ Association extended an invite to Michelle Wolf so they certainly knew her shtick. The lack of verbal reproach or walking away from the abortion “joke” speaks volumes about the attitude of elites.
Polling has shown that approximately half of the country is pro-life. Hundreds of thousands gather each year on the National Mall in the middle of January under the March for Life Banner to protest Roe v. Wade (1973). Pro-Lifers have a reputation for being one issue voters. Now that the left has dropped their veil about pretending that abortion is not about killing babies, we will see if the silent majority will embrace the practice like our media "betters" or if there will be marked push-back.
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
A Show After the Show for Ferguson the Play's Final Closing Curtain
Conservative entertainment activist Phelim Mc Aleer held the World Premiere of his 2015 play "Ferguson the Play" in New York City . The drama depicts the shooting of Michael Brown by a greater St. Louis police officer in 2014 which sparked several days of rioting. This ugly incident which galvanized the Black Lives Matter movement under the ersatz slogan "Hands up, don't shoot." Mc Aleer wrote the play because he believed that the truth that it was a defensive shooting was not getting out because of media bias buying into a progressive activist agenda.
What made Ferguson the play notable is that playwright McAleer constructed the verbatum theater completely using the released transcript of the Ferguson Grand Jury. McAleer and director Jerry Dixon worked with a multi-racial cast to put on the controversial courtroom drama for a short run at the 30th Street Playhouse in Manhattan.
On the closing night, Cedric Benjamin commadeered the stage at the close to voice his displeasure as he thought that the play was unbalanced and biased.
Director Jerry Dixon shut down the rogue actor's rant, but the histrionic polemic spilled out into the street, with actor Benjamin accusing playwright Mc Aleer of "white arrogance".
Mc Aleer later praised the director for shutting down the unscripted lecture by a cast member.
It seems ironic that the actor invoked arrogance against the playwright, who raised over $51,000 in a crowdfunding campaign to mount the production, when the actor could not just say his lines. Mc Aleer deliberately brought Ferguson the play to New York after the cast of Hamilton accosted attendee then Vice President Elect Mike Pence to defy the conceit that conservatives are not welcomed in the New York theater community.
On the first production, which was a stage reading in 2015, nine members of the Los Angeles cast walked off, with one actor claiming that he did not trust Mc Aleer's motives. At least those thespians were professional enough to disassociate themselves with a theatrical vehicle with which they could not agree.
Pollster George Barna recently sought to understand why evangelical Christians supported Donald Trump, who seemed to contradict many of their mores. A large part of the answer is that SAGE-cons (Spiritually Aware Governmentally Engaged) conservatives have great distrust in the mainstream (a.ka. lamestream) media because of biased reporting against Trump that they now use alternate media sources to avoid "fake news". By banding together on core issues like rule of law, Barna contends that this 11% sliver of of the American electorate voting for Donald Trump was "The Day Christians Change America" (2017).
The strength of SAGE-cons influencing America was shown more than for Election 2016. The informal boycotts by football fans of the NFL as they tolerate players who Take A Knee during the National Anthem has severely cut into attendance along with television ratings and is influencing advertisers like Papa John's Pizza to pull back. Such a motivated minority of SAGE-cons may well see Ferguson the Play as a chance to actuate their ideas and counter the "fake news" phenomenon in entertainment as well as cultural conceits.
Monday, April 17, 2017
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Sunday, October 23, 2016
A Pence for Fran Lebowitz's Thoughts
Vanity Fair's progressive provocateur Fran Lebowitz made some revealing remarks at the "third annual" New Establishment summit in San Francisco.
When commenting on anti-abortion activists in light of the 2016 Election cycle, Fran Lebowitz advocated for retroactive abortions for pro-lifers like Republican Vice Presidential nominee Governor Mike Pence (R-IN).
How telling. Pro choice politicians seem to consider abortion a sacrament, but it is usually placed on the euphemistic altar of protecting a "woman's right to choose" or the ironic yet pathos laden precept of "womens' reproductive health." Yet Lebowitz advocacy for retroactive abortions makes it clear that progressives favor eliminating enemies which get in their way.
Although it is the height of political season and clearly Lebowitz and Pence would be polar political opposites, Lebowitz modest proposal gives lie to the loft rhetoric of "diversity". Progressives look to identity politics, for externals like race or gender preference but are loathe to be tolerant of perspective which are not their own.
Moreover, Lebowitz's barbaric barb illustrates liberal fascism as was expounded upon by Jonah Goldberg's influential book Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Change (2009).
Of course, Lebowitz is a literary commentator infused with New York values and an in your face attitude. But based upon Democrat Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (D-NY)'s answer in the third debate about the Supreme Court, in which she rattled off a laundry list of liberal leitmotifs without once mentioning the Constitution, we can expect such vilest values to infect the New Establishment if it takes over the District of Calamity (sic).
When commenting on anti-abortion activists in light of the 2016 Election cycle, Fran Lebowitz advocated for retroactive abortions for pro-lifers like Republican Vice Presidential nominee Governor Mike Pence (R-IN).
How telling. Pro choice politicians seem to consider abortion a sacrament, but it is usually placed on the euphemistic altar of protecting a "woman's right to choose" or the ironic yet pathos laden precept of "womens' reproductive health." Yet Lebowitz advocacy for retroactive abortions makes it clear that progressives favor eliminating enemies which get in their way.
Although it is the height of political season and clearly Lebowitz and Pence would be polar political opposites, Lebowitz modest proposal gives lie to the loft rhetoric of "diversity". Progressives look to identity politics, for externals like race or gender preference but are loathe to be tolerant of perspective which are not their own.
Of course, Lebowitz is a literary commentator infused with New York values and an in your face attitude. But based upon Democrat Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (D-NY)'s answer in the third debate about the Supreme Court, in which she rattled off a laundry list of liberal leitmotifs without once mentioning the Constitution, we can expect such vilest values to infect the New Establishment if it takes over the District of Calamity (sic).
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Vetting the Vice Presidential Debate
Democrat Vice Presidential nominee Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Republican Vice Presidential nominee Governor Mike Pence (R-IN) squared off in their only 2016 Election Vice Presidential Debate in Farmville, Virginia.
Much of the District of Calamity’s punditocracy expected the VP Debate to be a snoozer. After all, in prior VP Debates there were few memorable moments, aside from the 1988 Senator Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX) putdown of then Senator Dan Quayle (D-IN) “You’re no Jack Kennedy” and Admiral James Stockdale’s (Reform- CO) 1992 awkward self introduction: “Who am I and why am I here.”A Washington Post Pregame panel postulated that there was even a chance that Kaine and Pence might civilly engage in some substance.
Boy, were we wrong. While the VP Debate lacked the memorable insults from the First Presidential Debate between Donald Trump (R-NY) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY), sparks certainly flew.
The only thing that seemed to shut Kaine up was when Pence contrasted his accomplishments as Governor of Indiana with then Governor Kaine's record in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As a loyal soldier, Kaine apparently took the verbal spearing for raising taxes and increasing the deficit rather than take attention away from his running mate.
Senator Kaine’s rapid fire insults certainly sought to empty the verbal armory on Trump/Pence. But by badgering and using a fast talking facade, Kaine did not allow many of his attacks to gain resonance. Pence exuded the guise of being a mild-mannered Midwesterner, speaking in a less caffeinated cadence and seeming courtly. In addition, Pence masterfully credited Obama/Hillary and Kaine by recognizing their positives before tearing them down. But these civil strategies certainly does not to suggest that Pence did not try to rhetorically draw blood from his opponent.
It seems that Kaine embraced his role of being Hillary’s attack dog and had prepared for the VP debate by memorizing myriad Trump attacks. Rather than being lured down the rabbit hole to defend each of these charges, Pence let his experience as a talk show host guide him to selectively respond. After the stage lights dimmed, Pence's selective deflections of alleged Trump outrageous statements might be criticized as being insufficiently supporting his running mate or as opposition sound byte fodder. But Trump revels in making big bold statements which he later modifies, so it can be exhausting to defend the indefensible.
Senator Kaine kept bringing up the Trump tax returns. This class warfare cudgel was wise wedge politics, it emphasized an arguable Trump flip-flop and was certainly au currant with the illicit New York Times tax forms leak. But repeatedly going to that well diminished its impact and then made it too obvious that it was pre-planned talking points. This was especially evident when Kaine renewed the Trump tax attack when the topic was supposed to be about North Korea nuclear weaponization.
After Kaine returned to the Trump tax routine for the sixth time, Pence parlayed the point into some political jujitsu. Pence countered by explaining the appearance of influence peddling which the Clinton Foundation has while Ms. Clinton was Obama's Secretary of State. At that point, CBS moderator Elaine Quijano cut Pence off.
While Pence comparatively spoke slowly during the debate, he allowed his analogies and attacks sink in. Pence twice used geographical metaphors to counter Kaine's contentions. To criticize Hillary Clinton's economic intentions, Pence referred to a mountain range of debt. Later, Pence poo-pooed Hillary's attack dog sneering an "avalanche of insults". In our hyper-kinetic, post literate culture, being able to evoke mental pictures through words can really make an impact. Again, this may be due to Pence's prior career on radio.When candidates command a national audience at a debate, it is prudent to make appeals to certain voting groups. Kaine clearly went after the womens' vote with the "Why don't you trust women to decide" on late term abortions, while shredding his faithful credentials among practical Catholics. But what was a mystery was how ineffective Kaine was in exploiting immigration. Even though Pence chided Kaine for keep going back to "that Mexican thing", he did not make strong positive appeals to Hispanic voters. Kaine has the background of being an Ignatian volunteer (he was never a Jesuit) in Central America and is proficient in Spanish. In fact, he pandered en la lengua during the Philadelphia convention. Instead, it seemed that he wanted to paint Trump/Pence as "racists" for wanting to slow immigration without thorough vetting of Syrian refugees. If Kaine's goal was to bolster the base and get out the vote, his VP Debate strategy was flawed.
Democrats are reliant of winning the black vote. In this cycle, polling indicates that Democrats have a near lock on that segment of the voting public, but the question is whether African American voters will come out in droves to the polling place when Barack Obama is not on the ticket. Kaine's appeal to Black voters seemed to turn on exploiting a yet unadjudicated controversial police shooting of Philandro Castile.
Kaine probably cited this Minnesota shooting as a way to pander to the Black Lives Matter crowd without uttering their name. But by the same token, it looks obvious that it is exploiting a tragedy and not respecting law enforcement officers presumption of innocence or right to a fair trial. If one dug into details, it was weird that the victim's girlfriend live streamed the shooting on Facebook and ignores the guy's numerous prior encounters. But it allowed Kaine's opponent to pitch Trump's Law and Order, mantra, as well as a Support the Police message while expressing agreement on Community Policing.
In purely tactical terms, Minnesota is not a battleground state and Philandro Castile is not a household name for the Black Voters as Trayvon Martin was in 2012. So Kaine's police violence forays did not win new support nor generally bolstered battleground states. It might have been more strategic for Kaine to point to the shooting in Charlotte, North Carolina. But in doing so, it would not exploit the racial wedge subtext.
Pence seemed more tactical in giving his shout outs. When touting the efficacy of stop and frisk, Pence highlighted how such a policy policy increases safety for good citizens in the inner cities, thus continuing the Trump appeal to African Americans, In pointing out how economic recovery has not reached many Americans, Pence specifically cited Scranton (PA) and Fort Wayne as working class places which have not seen the sunny side of employment numbers. This gave a shout out to key voters in a battleground state (ironically current Vice President "Lunch Bucket" Joe Biden's hometown). This was skillful and sounded natural.
What was remarkable for a Republican was to make an explicit appeal for pro-life voters. The final formal question was to elucidate how each candidate was challenged in being faithful to his convictions as he acted as a public official.
Mike Pence directed his answer to the sanctity of life and how he worked to make Indiana the most pro-adoptive state in America. But Pence continued by questioning the conundrum of how his opponent can claim to be pro-life but politically countenance partial-term abortion.
Kaine countered by claiming that Trump/Pence wants to punish women who make "reproductive choices". And then to slam Trump's waffling, Kaine quoted the gospel of Matthew: "From fullness, the heart speaks". Kaine was so busy attacking on abortion that he failed to hit Pence on RFRA, which came to a flash point in the Hoosier State and could sway Same-Sex marriage supporters.
Pence rejoined by echoing St. Mother Teresa and noting that a society can be judged by how it deals with the most vulnerable. By emphasizing partial birth abortion, Pence made a pro-life appeal with which 90% of Americans agree and may bolster support from conservatives skeptical about supporting Trump.
Aside from being the designated attack dog, a Vice Presidential nominee on the hustings is often employed to counter deficiencies on the top of the ticket. For instance, in the 2000 Election then Governor George W. Bush (R-TX) was perceived as an inexperienced Washington outsider, so he chose consummate Between the Beltways insider ex Rep. Dick Cheney (R-WY) to give him "gravitas" in a running mate.
In this cycle, Governor Mike Pence may well have been picked as an outreach to conservatives with solid Washington and outsider experience by a novice nationalist populist politician like Donald Trump. But Pence also offers a contrast in temperament. Trump is known for his flamboyant, outrageous and unpredictable style, whereas Pence proved in the VP Debate that he was cool, civil and steady.
On the other end of the political pendulum this year, a self-professed progressive Hillary Clinton chose left-leaning Tim Kaine, seemingly to win to Virginia and bank on his identity politics of being a Catholic with outreach to Hispanics. As experienced of an insider as Mrs. Clinton is, she is not a natural politician and does not exude an inviting public personality that is believable. A feasible mission for Kaine during the VP Debate should have been to make his running mate seem warm and fuzzy. Instead, most people will remember the Democrat VP as acting like an obnoxious, argumentative jerk who kept interrupting. This did nothing to mollify Hillary's warmness gap and it made many Democrats agitated at Kaine's discourtesy.
It is dubious if a Vice Presidential debate matters much in the scheme of a Presidential election. We could read the transcript to digest the alluvia of assertions and insults, but it did not seem that there were any measurable moments which encapsulate the event. But I am reminded of what Maya Angelou's pearl of wisdom that: "People may forget what you've said, people will forget what you did but they will never forget how you made them feel." Considering that both major party candidates would be septagenarian Commanders-in-Chief, and one has many prospective health challenges, voters need to seriously consider that the VP might actually occupy the Oval Office. This debate made Mike Pence look statesman-like, steady and civil, which helps Trump out as well as himself. Unfortunately, Kaine seemed like a smarmy, supercilious candidate who does not play well with others. That might stick in the minds of some voters who will remember that a vote for Hillary is a vote for Kaine.
Debating Double Standards in Classified Information Handling
During the Vice Presidential Debate, Republican Vice Presidential nominee Governor Mike Pence (R-IN) impeached his opponent Democrat Vice Presidential nominee Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) on how mishandling of classified information is administered.
Both of the VP nominees have sons on active duty serving in the Marines (as advertised by Sen. Kaine's lapel pin), so Pence's analogy of how the Pentagon would not suffer fools gladly should have hit home.
However, as a good soldier to his boss Democrat Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Kaine reiterated that FBI Director Comey claimed that no reasonable prosecutor would bring a case against Clinton. Of course, that begs the question whether a prosecutor should reinterpret 18 US Code Sec. 1924 to require intentionality or if a Law Enforcement Officer ought to informally adjudicate a case in the first place.
During her first Presidential Debate, Hillary Clinton kept urging viewers to fact check what her opponent says. It would only be just if inquiring minds would apply the same principle to Sen. Kaine's unequivocal denial that the military would decline to court marshal someone under their jurisdiction who handled classified information in what FBI Director Comey characterized as an "extremely careless" way.
One suspects that it would be more fruitful to wait for Tim Kaine to let Mike Pence finish a sentence. Of course, people could save time fact checking and just ask General Petraeus.
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Evan McMullin Questions Trump's Russia Ties
Recently, Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump (R-NY) has again voiced kind words towards Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin while being interviewed by Larry King on RT, a Kremlin based cable news channel.
Trump has a history of admiring strong leadership, even if it is authoritarian. During the 2016 Republican primaries, Trump created a controversy by re-tweeting a quote echoing Italian dictator Mussilini. Just after the brutal suppression of the Tianamen Square protests in Beijing in 1989, Trump had words admiring the strong leadership shown by the Chinese Communists in regaining control .
Trump surrogates, including Trump's Vice Presidential choice Governor Mike Pence (R-IN), reaffirmed Trump's bias towards strong leadership. Gary Kasparov, the former Chess Grand Master turned Russian dissident, had some strong words about liking Putin with strong leadership.
However, some Trump opponents believe that it goes much deeper than Trump's admiration for authoritarian impluses. Independent Presidential candidate Evan McMullin (I-UT), a former CIA officer, drew upon his intelligence contacts to question Trump's Russian ties.
This does not seem like idle speculation from an election opponent. Former high level Trump staffer Paul Manafort was forced to depart from the Trump campaign as shady Russian business ties were severely scrutinized, including helping route $12.7 million to lobby for pro Russian Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych . The 2016 Republican Party platform removed references to arming Ukraine against pro-Russian forces was facilitated by Frank Memourd , a longtime Manafort man who worked Black Sea energy issues at the State Department.
Friday, September 9, 2016
Saturday, July 16, 2016
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)