Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Second Poll Shows Public Opposes A Manafort Pardon
A few days ago, I showed you a Morning Consult Poll that showed 60% of Americans opposed Trump giving Paul Manafort a pardon. Now a second poll verifies that. It shows 62% oppose a pardon, while only 15% support it.
The chart shows the results of a new Rasmussen Poll -- done on August 22nd and 23rd of a national sample of 1,000 likely voters, with a 3 point margin of error.
Public Has A Very Low Opinion Of Trump Administration
The charts above are from a survey by the Pew Research Center. That survey was done between July 30th and August 12th of a national sample of 4,581 adults, with a margin of error of 2.4 points.
The survey doesn't paint a very pretty picture of the Trump administration. As expected, Republicans still support him and Democrats still oppose him -- but the public as a whole tend to agree with Democrats.
By a 44 point margin, the public says Trump has NOT set a high moral standard. By a 24 point margin, they say Trump has not improved the way government works. By a 24 point margin, they say Trump has not run an open and transparent administration. By a 26 point margin, they say Trump has not improved this country's standing around the world. And by a 12 point margin, they believe Trump has improperly used his office to enrich himself, his family, and his friends.
Trump Forced To Back Down On His Disrespect For McCain
I did not always agree with the political stances taken by Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), but I respected him. He was honest, and I believe he tried to always do what he thought was best for the country -- and he served heroically in our military. He deserved full honors on his passing. And I think most Americans of all political persuasions agree with that.
Unfortunately, the present occupant of our White House is a small-minded man who cannot put aside his personal grudges to honor a man who served his country. He thought he could continue to show his disrespect for Senator McCain after his death.
It was bad enough that instead of giving a tribute to the senator from his own party (as other politicians of both parties did), he did a two-sentence tweet of condolences to McCain's family, then repeated that in an Instagram sporting his own picture (instead of McCain's). His staff had written a tribute of McCain for Trump, but he refused to give it.
But perhaps the most disrespectful was Trump premature raising of the White House flag. Most of the great politicians of both parties have the flag lowered for several days (until after their burial). But while the White House lowered the flag to half-staff on Sunday, Trump ordered it back to full-staff on Monday morning.
It was a shameful action, and there was an immediate backlash. Politicians of both political parties, veterans groups, and many more were incensed at the disrespectful action by Trump. The backlash was so unanimous and overwhelming that Trump was forced to do something he rarely does -- reverse what he had done. Later on Monday, Trump was forced to sign a document to lower the flag again, and to leave it lowered until after Senator McCain's burial.
Making Trump look even worse was a final statement to America left by Senator McCain, which was read publicly by his friend and former national campaign manager. Senator McCain wrote:
My fellow Americans, whom I have gratefully served for sixty years, and especially my fellow Arizonans,
Thank you for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life that service in uniform and in public office has allowed me to lead. I have tried to serve our country honorably. I have made mistakes, but I hope my love for America will be weighed favorably against them.
I have often observed that I am the luckiest person on earth. I feel that way even now as I prepare for the end of my life. I have loved my life, all of it. I have had experiences, adventures and friendships enough for ten satisfying lives, and I am so thankful. Like most people, I have regrets. But I would not trade a day of my life, in good or bad times, for the best day of anyone else’s.
I owe that satisfaction to the love of my family. No man ever had a more loving wife or children he was prouder of than I am of mine. And I owe it to America. To be connected to America’s causes — liberty, equal justice, respect for the dignity of all people — brings happiness more sublime than life’s fleeting pleasures. Our identities and sense of worth are not circumscribed but enlarged by serving good causes bigger than ourselves.
Fellow Americans' — that association has meant more to me than any other. I lived and died a proud American. We are citizens of the world’s greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world. We have helped liberate more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history. We have acquired great wealth and power in the process.
We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been.
We are three-hundred-and-twenty-five million opinionated, vociferous individuals. We argue and compete and sometimes even vilify each other in our raucous public debates. But we have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement. If only we remember that and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country we will get through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than before. We always do.
Ten years ago, I had the privilege to concede defeat in the election for president. I want to end my farewell to you with the heartfelt faith in Americans that I felt so powerfully that evening.
I feel it powerfully still.
Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.
Farewell, fellow Americans. God bless you, and God bless America.
Beto O'Rourke Calls For "True Criminal Justice Reform"
Beto O'Rourke has been a great congressman for Texas, and hopefully he will also be a great senator after all the votes are counted in the November election. One of his best attributes is his willingness to tell the truth instead of just pandering to what he thinks would be best for his political career.
An excellent example of that was his defense of athletes taking a knee during the national anthem. He understands that, while it may irritate some voters, those athletes were just exercising their constitutional right to demonstrate to correct a wrong in our society.
Now he has done it again. Instead of just pandering to voters and calling for more harsh treatment of criminals (as most politicians do), he recognizes that our criminal justice system is flawed and needs to be fixed.
In an editorial in the Houston Chronicle, O'Rourke calls for Texas to lead the way in true criminal justice reform. The following is part of that great article that lists what kind of reform he thinks is need:
First, we should eliminate private, for-profit prisons from our justice system. Locking someone up is a power that should be reserved for our government, not outsourced to corporations that have the perverse incentive of getting more people behind bars so that there are more profits for their shareholders.
Second, we need to end the failed war on drugs that has long been a war on people, waged on some people over other people. Who is going to be the last man — more likely than not a black man — to languish behind bars for possessing or using marijuana when it is legal in more than half of the states in this country? We should end the federal prohibition on marijuana and expunge the records of those who were locked away for possessing it, ensuring that they can get work, finish their education, contribute to their full potential and to the greatness of this country.
Third, we must stop using mandatory minimum sentencing for non-violent drug offenses — a practice that costs taxpayers dearly and destroys lives in the process by locking up people who could safely re-enter society. And we replace this practice with policies that begin treating addiction like the public health concern it is.
Fourth, we can end the current use of bail bonds that punish people for being poor. This is a tactic that wastes resources on incarcerating those who are not a threat to anyone, not a flight risk, not likely to be repeat offenders. In the Harris County Jail, it’s estimated that 500 to 600 of the inmates at any given time fit this description — in for misdemeanors but without the resources to post bail as I did more than twenty years ago.
Finally, we should provide meaningful reentry to help cut down on recidivism for those who committed non-violent crimes. That starts with strong rehabilitation services, counseling and access to preventative health care. It continues by banning the box on job applications so those formerly incarcerated can work and pay taxes, returning drivers licenses so they can get to that place of employment, allowing them to apply for loans that can unlock skills trainings, and ensuring their constitutional right to participate in civic life by voting is protected. . . .
At the end of the day, this is about ensuring that every single one of us can live to our full potential and contribute to our maximum capacity. Giving low-level offenders a second chance no matter the color of their skin or the economic status they hold can create opportunity for all of us. It will help build a future that is more just, more fair, and more prosperous for every single person in this state and this country. It is time for Texas to lead the way.
Monday, August 27, 2018
Democrats Change Party Rules To Please The Berniecrats
Many of Bernie Sanders supporters claimed that their candidate lost in 2016 because the Democratic Party rules were not fair. It wasn't true, but I guess it made them feel better. The truth was that most Democrats simply preferred Hillary Clinton as their nominee rather than a candidate ashamed to wear the Democratic Party label.
The biggest gripe the Berniecrats had was the SuperDelegates. They were upset that most SuperDelegates supported and voted for Clinton. They claimed that allowing SuperDelegates to support the candidate of their choice was unfair, and they wanted the party to do away with the SuperDelegates.
Last Saturday, the Democratic Party gave in to those Bernie supporters and changed the party's primary rules. They hoped the rule changes would satisfy those voters and keep them in the party. The two biggest changes are:
1. The party keeps SuperDelegates, but they will not have a vote in the first round of convention voting. SuperDelegates will vote only if no candidate gets a majority of pledged delegate votes in the first round (an event that is very unlikely).
2. The party is urging states to abandon the caucus system and go to a primary system -- or to count the absentee ballots at the caucus of those unable to attend. And it looks like several states will follow the party's wishes and moved to a primary vote system.
The crazy part of all this is that if these rules had been in effect in 2016, Bernie Sanders would still have lost and Hillary Clinton would still have been the nominee. With SuperDelegates, Clinton had 2,842 delegate votes, while Sanders had 1,865 delegate votes. But if you take away all the SuperDelegate votes, Clinton would still have won the nomination -- with 2,205 pledged delegate votes to 1,846 pledged delegate votes for Sanders.
The Berniecrats are celebrating the party changes, and I guess that's OK if it keeps them as Democratic voters. But actually the rules may hurt Sanders more than it helps (if he were to run again). That's because he did much better in caucus states than in primary states -- and several states are in the process of changing from a caucus state to a primary state.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)