Columnist.
One of the good things about going off the grid for a while is that it allows you to consider the longer-term (to the extent that six weeks can be thought of as longer term) big picture away from the temptation to respond to the 24-hour news cycle. Two things have struck me over that period.
Democracy has been called the worst form of government ... except for all the others. If the Robert Mueller probe is any example, the same can be said of our justice system, which you should avoid getting caught up in if at all possible.
Watching the current immigration follies play out, I was struck by how much our politics has devolved into sound bites.
If you've been listening to Democrat pundits urging the new House majority to remember that moderate positions on issues like health care won the day, to focus on governing, and to be careful not to overreach, yet you're wondering what the next two years will be like, I give you two names — Nancy Pelosi and Tom Steyer.
It's hard to believe the midterms have arrived. Maybe time just moves faster as you get older. Or maybe things moving at the speed of Trump just sneak up on you. Either way, here we are.
I am becoming increasingly, if cautiously, optimistic about the midterms. It's mostly because of my faith in voter common sense along with recent events that have defined Democrats and highlighted the comparisons between the two parties. I get it — all politics is local. Two weeks is a lifetime, and October is the month for surprises. Yet it's hard to see those voters on the bubble doing anything but breaking for the GOP.
Welcome to the Middle East, which invented negotiations and where nothing is at it seems.
I look at the unhinged behavior of DEM representatives and Far Left activists during the Kavanaugh hearings and wonder what they thought they were going to accomplish.
After weeks of hyper-partisan, win-at-all-costs, disgraceful conduct by the DEMs and the media, we got a lesson in statesmanship and the meaning of advice and consent from Senator Susan Collins.
I tend to ignore polls for the most part. They are marginally useful in tracking trends, but the way the questions are designed to elicit predetermined answers combined with sample compositions that skew Democrat limit credibility on specific issues. However, when the responses wind up in the 60% to 70% range, it gets your attention.
The Democrat hits on Judge Brett Kavanaugh keep coming, and they must not go unchallenged.
As predicted, the testimony of Dr. Christine Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh solved nothing. Ford was credible, compelling, emotional, and 100% certain that Kavanaugh assaulted her. While I could have done without the tears, Kavanaugh was credible, compelling, emotional, and 100% certain he didn't assault her or anyone else, ever.
I got up early to write this before must-see TV, so I have no idea how the Brett Kavanaugh/Christine Ford hearings will go. The likely scenario is that Democrats and protestors will make this a zoo, and we will wind up exactly where we started — with credible and emotional presentations from both, nothing proven, and the outcome dependent on the politics of how a handful of GOP senators react.
Don't blink. Just when the Brett Kavanaugh theater of the absurd was opening Act II, we were bombarded by media reports that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was on his way to the White House to either resign or be fired. Turns out it was neither.
Last week was the 17th anniversary of 9/11, which remains highly personal to those of us in the New York area. So the politicization of it by Democrats and the media made my blood boil.
Football season is underway. My Giants lost, but they showed enough promising signs that the need to hide all the sharp objects in the house can be deferred for another week. Along with the blocks and tackles, viewers were subjected to the Nike commercial featuring Colin Kaepernick.
Perhaps when someone becomes eligible for AARP and is somewhat set in his or her ways, the challenge of understanding the culture and politics of the day increases exponentially. Exhibits A, B, and C have surfaced in the last few days with head-scratching impact. Those would be the "anonymous" op-ed in The New York Times, Nike and Colin Kaepernick teaming up, and the Brett Kavanaugh hearings.
Earlier this week I suggested that evidence we are winning could be found in the increasingly unhinged nature of the anti-Donald Trump, Democrat-entry-fee rhetoric coming from folks considered to have entrenched positions in the Democrat Party and media hierarchies.
The Democrat machinery and the media could barely contain their glee last week, and for a time the CliffsNotes version looked pretty bad for Donald Trump.
