Bernie Sanders: Betrayal or Honor?

Did Bernie Sanders betray his supporters?  Is he a hypocrite now for supporting Hillary Clinton, a proven dishonest politician?  Here are my thoughts.

While I did not support Bernie Sanders, I did find his honesty refreshing.  He told you exactly what he was and what he was about.  That is why so many people found it easy to support him.  But is he a hypocrite?  No, I thought he was at first for supporting Hillary, but he gave his word to support Hillary Clinton if she was to get the nomination.  He was true to his word.  But he knew he was forced out.  Sanders knew he was being pushed out by the corrupt forces in his own party, but he kept his word to maintain his integrity and his honor.  As such he fall on his sword.

Final Thought:  I feel bad for Bernie Sanders.  He did not deserve this, and I cannot imagine how much pain mentally he had to go through to support Clinton.  However he did it and what's done is done.  Hillary is the nominee and aspects of his promises will be done in Hillary's presidency assuming she manages to win with yet another scandal hanging over her head.  I may not agree with what Bernie Sanders thinks politically, but at the end of the day you have no choice but to respect him. (Note: He did get a private jet from the DNC though).

Political Debate Scheduling issues

There is a problem with the upcoming presidential debates.  They are all scheduled on the same day as major sporting events.  So why is this a problem?

The problem is that it reduces viewership of the debates and thus can swing the election from one side to the other.  Discounting the fact that people are going to purposefully miss such an important debate, let alone three due to a sporting event, this could very well mean that either Trump or Hillary would win depending on whose numbers are higher at the time.  Trump even went as far as claiming that it was electioneering based on how the Democratic Presidential debates were held on Saturdays when viewership would be lowest so as to sabotage Bernie Sanders.  Needless to say this has both political campaigns arguing on if and when to change the dates.

Final Thought:  Well I think the debate dates should be changed and be as close as possible to Election Day as possible.  Basically keep it all fresh in the minds of everyone of what each candidate represents.  I think the debate days will be changed and both candidates’ campaigns will have a hell of a time doing so.  And I think these debates will be very fun to watch.

The Khan family VS. Trump

Khizr and Ghazala Khan are the proud parents of a United States soldier who sadly was killed over in Iraq.  They were invited to speak at the DNC as one of many guest speakers.  There speech however included criticism of Trump saying that he probably has not read the United States Constitution, and that under a President Trump their son would not have been allowed to serve citing Trumps idea for a ban on the visitation rights of Muslims and travel into the United States.  Trump fired back targeting Mrs. Khan saying how she kept quiet during the speech potentially due to her being a Muslim Woman and not being allowed to speak.  This was a mistake as Mrs. Khan was quoted soon after that she did not speak because she was filled with emotion as a picture of her son was being displayed and upon seeing her sons’ picture she could not speak without letting all her grief flow out.  Trump screwed up as he basically attacked a Gold Star Mom (the mother of a member of our military) which has many veterans and other groups condemning his comments as stupid and pathetic.  Mr. Trump has so far not taken back any of his statements and has buckled down.

Final Thought:  As we all know, Donald Trump is abrasive, difficult to deal with, and of course 100% politically incorrect.  Should he have reacted?  Yes, but in a way that respected the family of our armed forces.  He has been quoted however saying that he respects Captain Khan who was killed and his service to the country.  If Trump really wanted to answer in a good way, he should have thanked the family for raising a good son and an honorable soldier, and then left it alone.  This never should have gotten this far and potentially sets a precedent that everyone is fair game to be attacked or counter attacked in this election cycle.

DNC and Russian Hackers

As mentioned in yesterday's article, Russian Hackers got into emails passed between the Democratic Party leadership and the Hillary Clinton campaign.  In these emails it revealed a scheme to remove Bernie Sanders from the race.  Obviously this pissed off a lot of voters in the Democratic Party and has a lot of voters either switching sides, to other candidates like Trump or just not voting at all.  But this is not the biggest issue that comes from this.

These Russian hackers potentially work for the Russian Government.  As such Russia is supporting Donald Trump in the election.  This is all left to theory, but it is my guess that they may find Donald Trump to be a deal maker and thus more likely to end the current proxy war between the United States and Russia going on in Syria with respect to ISIS/ISIL.  But why does Russia want this to end?  Simple, ISIS/ISIL are Sunni Muslim while Russia's allies are Shiite Muslim (Syria and Iran) and Russia can finally build their oil pipeline through the upper part of the Middle East and then reap the economic benefits.  Economic benefits they need as their economy is still not exactly stable.  Additionally Trump does not mind this outside manipulation and influence as it benefits him directly with him even jokingly calling for Russia to release more emails that would make Hillary look bad (something that Trump has taken flack for saying).  And WikiLeaks is going to apparently release more emails as well which may further hurt the Clinton campaign.  

Final Thought:  Do you find it as disturbing as I do that a foreign country is manipulating our elections?  Well if you do not, then you should think again as this means our government will stop being our own.  We could potentially get a puppet President in office and we would stupidly vote them in (Cough think Syria's President Cough Cough).  This is a dangerous situation and we must tread carefully with our want to know what else Hillary Clinton has lied about and the potential of a President Trump.

DNC Reaction

OK we all had a weekend to digest the Democratic national convention and while the presentation was good via excellent speakers, Hillary was overshadowed according to the pundits (Hers was one of the few speeches I missed).  But here is my analysis with some pundits analysis mixed in to make up for what I was missing.

So every speaker at the convention that I saw was great and that includes Michelle Obama and of course President Obama and former President Bill Clinton.  The crowd got swept up in the speeches and it humanized Hillary Clinton.  This was a necessary component as she is often seen as simply a cut throat politician.  Bernie Sanders though was booed by the crowed as he threw his support behind Hillary.  I think this is in part due to the honesty that Bernie represents in politics even if you do not agree with his politics, while Hillary is viewed as a liar and a cheat.  Even worse Russian Hackers released emails that showed that Hillary and the rest of the DNC conspired to remove Bernie from the race.  This is a black mark on Hillary and her campaign let alone the DNC.  This will make the DNC look like it is subverting the Democratic process even though political parties are technically not officially part of the election.  Selections of candidates have always been decided by the party heads and it is only recent that political parties allow any sort of Democratic control by its members.  

Final Thought:  Overall it was all about clinching Hillary as the nominee as the first woman candidate for President in a major political party.  It was all about making her look less like a scheming politician and more of a human being with family values and a family (dysfunctional though they may be).  However hard liners in her party criticize her choice for Vice President saying he is too far to the middle, but this is a calculated move to appeal to the right in the general election especially voters who are disenfranchised by Donald Trump.  However, despite the success of the convention, the DNC and Hillary's campaign is bleeding money, while Trump is spending modest sums.  This may come down to who can out last who in with respect to funding so as to avoid fizzling out.

Hillary's VP: Who is Tim Kaine

Senator Tim Kaine was chosen as Hillary Clinton's running mate.  The man is a Harvard law graduate, attorney and a Senator since 2012.  Additionally he served as Mayor of Richmond Virginia, and lieutenant governor and then Governor of Virginia as well.  So who is he?

For one he is an environmentalist and a believer in climate change even going so far as preserving over 400,000 acres of land.  He signed legislation banning smoking on government property and in restaurants in Virginia.  He also expanded mental health care access in Virginia after the Virginia tech shootings and has it so that anyone involuntarily committed cannot get a firearm.  As Virginia's governor he made tough decisions on cutting spending to meet that State's requirements on balancing the budgets.  He also proposed a $4 billion in tax increases but none of these passed.  He also served as Democratic national committee chair from 2009 to 2011.  He served as a member on the armed services committee, committee on budget, and committee on foreign relations while serving in Congress.  While in the Senate he serves on numerous other committees and sub committees relating to national security and power projection including "Emerging threats and Capabilities", "Sea power" and also served on committees relating to counter terrorism in Parts of Asia and trade.  Basically this guy has experience in areas that Hillary Clinton may be lacking in and more.

Final Thought:  Senator Kaine is actually somewhat conservative.  He is personally against abortion, but supports Roe vs Wade.  So he basically does not want the Federal government to be making reproductive decisions but does support some restrictions like parental involvement for minors.  Also, he is in favor of LGBT community rights such as gay marriage (something I am not opposed to either).  Overall he is more middle of the road than Hillary Clinton and more likely to compromise on issues.  So a great choice by her to attract people who have not decided who they are voting for or are middle ground politically which normally would be turned off by Hillary's far left Progressiveness. 

Trump's VP: Who is Mike Pence

So Donald Trump chose Governor Mike Pence of Indiana to be his running mate.  Before that he represented Indiana's 2nd and 6th congressional districts from 2001 to 2013, before being elected Governor in 2013, a position he has held since.  But what does he stand for?

He is a supporter of the TEA Party and their support for limiting the size of government, taxes, and government spending.  He has served on multiple committees in congress including the judiciary committee, small business committee, agriculture committee, international affairs committee and foreign affairs committee.  Basically he has a well-rounded background with respect to government experience and knows his way around Washington, hence this is the reason why Trump chose him.  Trump needed someone who could help him know how to work the mess that is Washington D.C.'s politics and it turns out that it is Governor Pence.  Likewise Pence is a TEA party guy just like Ted Cruz, and just like Cruz is against abortion, something that will appeal to the more conservative crowd of the Republican Party and the conservative groups in between.  He also opposed the Wall Street bailouts, opposed "card check" (something that would have eliminated the secret ballot for union votes) and called for a flat tax that would allow for people to keep more of their income.  Pence even voted for Earmark reform, for partial privatization of Social Security, and is in favor of free trade agreements.  Overall a very staunch conservative and his policies reflect that.

Final Thought:  To me he is a white Ted Cruz!  They share similar views and ideas on reform, and both support the TEA party and reform in Washington D.C.  Even their views on homosexuality and abortion are similar.  This man, Governor Pence was a great choice in making Trump more palatable to the Republican base and staunch conservatives.