Weekly Comments Archive
Archived Issue
Sunday, May 8, 2016
ISSUE #869
Clinton vs. Trump: Strategies for November

Who would have guessed it? The Republicans started with 17 candidates and they already narrowed the field down to one. Here I had prepared a bunch of jokes and commentary for a contested convention in Cleveland. But this one might wind up as dull as the last one there, in 1924, when the Republicans stuck with Calvin Coolidge.

Surprisingly, there’s still hope for a raucous Democratic convention in Philadelphia. Hillary Clinton still has pesky Bernie Sanders nipping at her ankles. She says she has all the delegates lined up, but Senator Sanders keeps winning states. Last one was Indiana, and West Virginia is next.

Clinton and Sanders both went to West Virginia to promise the coal miners cash for giving up their jobs. She promised $30 Billion but Bernie topped her with a bid of $41 Billion. See, a Socialist can outbid a Democrat because he is using other people’s money. Trump also went to West Virginia. He told the miners they can keep their jobs and earn as much as they can. Since they’re used to hard work, they seemed to like that idea better.

The only reason that Clinton and Sanders are offering anything to coal miners is because they are determined to finish destroying the coal business. They promised billions of dollars in West Virginia. But they didn’t say how much they will give to out-of-work miners in Kentucky or Pennsylvania or Ohio or Wyoming. Actually, the abundant supply of fracked natural gas is causing pain for the coal business. No reason for politicians and EPA to pile on and make it worse.

I guess they mean well and honestly believe that solar collectors and windmills can quickly replace all fossil fuels. But less than six percent of our electricity comes from solar and wind, and taxpayers had to pick up the tab for 25 to 50 percent of the cost to even get to six percent. Getting up to 70 or 80 percent of our electricity from the sun and wind can you imagine the billions (or trillions) of dollars it would require in subsidies. Wouldn’t be even a dollar left for coal miners.

In spite of Bernie’s persistence, the election will likely come down to Trump vs. Clinton. No matter what you think of either candidate, this will be a unique campaign. A television commentator said this morning, “There is no line between politics and entertainment.” That reminded me of my friend, professional speaker Scott McKain of Crothersville, Indiana, who says, “All business is show business.” You may not think this political campaign is business, but any time you spend a couple of billion dollars in “advertising”, believe me, it’s business.

Trump plans to meet on Thursday with Speaker Paul Ryan and other Washington Republicans to discuss strategy for the general election. Clinton will also have an important strategy meeting this month, with the FBI. Her strategy is to avoid indictment. Republicans hope she will be measured for a new pant suit (an orange one). Democrats are confident she did nothing illegal. Stupid, yes; perhaps even incompetent. But not illegal.

Historic quote by Will Rogers:

          “Politics is the best show in America. I love animals and I love politicians, and I like to watch both of ‘em at play, either back home in their native state, or after they’ve been captured and sent to a zoo, or to Washington.” (Undated notes)

“Children, what was the first thing you learned about politics at school? It was that Politics was business, wasn’t it? That it was advertised under the heading of idealism, but it was carried on under the heading of business.” WA #356, Oct. 20, 1929

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