Welcome to WeeklyWilson.com, where author/film critic Connie (Corcoran) Wilson avoids totally losing her marbles in semi-retirement by writing about film (see the Chicago Film Festival reviews and SXSW), politics and books----her own books and those of other people. You'll also find her diverging frequently to share humorous (or not-so-humorous) anecdotes and concerns. Try it! You'll like it!
Category: Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & IdeologyPage 1 of 13
Delve into diverse topics including political ideology, socialization, women in politics, and more. Engage with insightful argumentative essays on American politics and beyond.
President of the United States Joe Biden in Independence, Iowa, on the 4th of July.
Among other measures, Joe Biden pushed through a $1.7 trillion Covid-19 relief package; a $1 trillion program to rebuild the nation’s roads, highways, airports and other infrastructure; and major investments to combat climate change, lower prescription drug costs for seniors, treat veterans exposed to toxic burn pits and build up the nation’s semiconductor industry.
He also signed legislation meant to protect same-sex marriage in case the Supreme Court ever reversed its decision legalizing it. He has unfailingly supported a woman’s right to decide her own reproductive fate, despite his strong Catholic faith, and helped students buried under college debt to dig their way out of that bottomless pit. And his selection of Kamala Harris as his running mate opened the door to a female candidate for the future, and one with an ethnic heritage that shows genuine inclusiveness.
Biden is a religious man who routinely attended his Catholic church (whereas DJT was on the Lolita Express 7 times) and has been an honorable—if gaffe-prone—candidate since the70s. My heart goes out to the Biden family, whom I have met numerous times, and I thank Joe Biden for falling on his sword to save us from a would-be dictator whose own mental fitness for office (or anything else) is unclear.
I remember how stunned I was when LBJ stepped down the day after I was married in 1968, never telling anyone but his family in advance. One of the reasons for LBJ’s decision was that most of the men in his family had died of heart disease at about the age he was then. It is also true that he did not live long after he stepped down. The Vietnam War was LBJ’s nemesis, as the border and Gaza were Joe’s.
Joe Biden and me, 2008 campaign.
This is the second time that a President who did great things for his country has, once again, made the hardest choice of all. Joe Biden has done the selfless thing, although I’m sure it was extremely difficult. Joe Biden is a man of good character, not a convicted felon, and he has always known how to behave as our nation’s representative. I have no doubt that whomever the Democrats select will carry on the tradition of making the United States proud of its representative.
I hope that the stress this period of time must have put on President Biden will abate so that he can heal physically. I would also mention that this is not unlike taking the keys away from your grandfather; it is not an easy thing for either side. Joe Biden promised us that he was going to pass the torch to a new generation, and now he has.
It was the Biden campaign that set up the June 27th debate with Trump that ended his lengthy and honorable career, so “blaming” donors or former supporters or others must always pivot to that fact, which is undeniable.
Gabby Gifford and husband (and former astronaut) Mark Kelly (D, AZ).
Of the names being bandied about to run with Kamala Harris I think that Mark Kelly of Arizona will be a major one mentioned. Beshears of Kentucky, Shapiro of Pennsylvania, the Governor of Maryland, all are worthy, but Kelly has a national profile as a former astronaut and his wife (Gabby Giffords) was the target of an assassination attempt that was considerably more successful than the attack on DJT, which left him with a mark the size of a penny.
“It wasn’t about the donors, it was about Joe Biden’s patriotism,” (Van Jones, Senior PoliticalCorrespondent). “This is a moment in time to honor someone who, for 50 years, put his country first. He always put his country first.”
An EF1 tornado swept through our East Moline court on Monday night at 7:37 p.m. It took out a large tree, which, in turn, took out all of the power. A picture of the 6 trucks that showed up to try to restore power would have been nice, but when I went outside to get one I stayed outside in the 105 heat index too long and ended up passing out on the neighbor’s driveway, (much like my story about the Gold Coast Art Fair.)
This will teach me to start talking while standing around in the blazing sun on any concrete surface! My slump down the side of a red truck with a flat tire that is parked in their driveway (not really a “fall”) was brief and surprising, especially for neighbor Norma, with whom I had obviously spent too long chatting in the sun.
All’s well that ends well, since my “fall” was me feeling dizzy for a few seconds and slumping to the driveway without incident. I can accurately report that the most damage was to my bony arthritic knees when I regained my feet. I had to put pressure on my bum left knee AND my “good” right knee to get to my feet quickly so I would not die of embarrassment. (*Note: I regained my feet without any assistance in each case, but I definitely needed to cool down. Our house was a hot box, which means that we ended up in a local motel where I spent the evening in the hot tub soaking my now very sore arthritic knees while surrounded by very young girls on some kind of party.)
The young girls were sharing stories about how ill-behaved the students in some local high schools have become. One girl—who looked about 14—turned out to be a teacher in Perry, Iowa. She said she would never go above teaching students in 5th grade after being told by her companion that 2 high school students were tasered in the hallways of a local school, their alma mater. Guess I’ll quit telling people who are unemployed but have degrees to re-train as teachers, since it sounds considerably more confrontational in today’s schools than in years of yore. (And I’ve seen some pretty dramatic cat-fights between Silvis Junior High School girls, which easily would give you a black eye if you got in too close while trying to break it up! )
One truck broke and another had to be sent. Soon, six were there. Then the tree people managed to pull all of the wires out of the house 2 doors down while cutting up the large tree.
So, we came back to our house after checking out of Stony Creek Hotel and I have been catching up on the lengthy RNC convention on television. The only part of the RNC I was able to take in before the power failed involved a lot of unknown Black legislators who were also veterans. None were people any of us had heard of, but the message was very definitely an attempt to appeal to young Black males. I know, from chatting with the young Black jocks who run L.A. Fitness in Austin that they were keen on Trump, because he has inaccurately portrayed himself as “strong” and “macho,” even though, to me, he looks like I could take him one-on-one (and I am ridiculously weak and frail.)
Having missed most of the lead-up to Donald J. Trump’s big appearance on this last night of the convention I ended up listening to Stephen Colbert dissect some of the weirder aspects of the night. Aside from Tucker Carlson’s remarks, apparently Congressman Matt Gaetz had some work done on his face. Colbert’s remarks regarding Gaetz’s new look were:
Gaetz looks like a flame-broiled Donnie Osmond .
Gaetz looks like a wax drag queen from Whoville.
Gaetz looks like he is appearing in a business school production of “Cats.”
This is what it would look like if the Joker worked at Sephora.
This is what it would look like if Pennywise went to law school.
Gaetz looks like his plastic surgeon went to med school on a riverboa t.
So, what did I notice about small amount of the RNC that I saw, other than a deranged, red-faced guy chanting and sweating in the crowd? Well, I noticed that Barron Trump was nowhere to be seen (and you’d see this tall lad easily) and Melanie Trump appeared but did not speak, which apparently broke a tradition that had gone on for something like 32 years.
First, I noticed that, just like he tried to engineer a photo op on the steps of the White House when he returned from being treated for Covid. This time, Trump had a mock-up of a firefighter’s outfit set up to represent the firefighter who died at his rally. At 9:45 p.m. in Milwaukee, DJT strolled over and kissed the helmet of firefighter Cory Compertore, referring to the poor guy as “our friend Cory.” He also mentioned the two others who were wounded, David Cutch and James Copenhaver. This is known as milking the moment.
Trumpth on Jan. 6
Trump also made several remarks about the crowd’s behavior after the shooting attempt, saying this at 9:45 p.m. in Milwaukee. Trump claimed that the crowd (which he vastly over-estimated at “tens of thousands”) automatically stood up looking for the sniper and pointing at him. “Most thought I was dead. They thought it was a shot to the head. This beautiful crowd didn’t want to leave me. You could see that love written all over their faces. Bullets were flying all over us, and yet I felt serene. Bullets were flying right over them.” I wasn’t there; I think all of us have seen the video of the crowd, who were obviously shocked and frozen and ducking in most instances (as well they should have been.)
Trump went on in his historically longest acceptance speech in history (93 minutes) and recounted how, “The sniper with one bullet took the assassin’s life. “I’m not supposed to be here tonight.” Also part of Trump’s normal meandering remarks: “The crowd roared with pride for our country like no crowd I have ever heard before.” (Also unable to be determined from the replay.) Trump referenced the crowd as “A giant audience of patriots” and referred to the Butler (PA) rally as “a fateful evening.”
January 6th.
To quote one thing that DJT said on the last night of the RNC with which I actually agree: “This election should be about the issues facing ourcountry and how to make America safe and free again.”
This is true. So, where was the discussion of the issues that really matter? I mainly heard “the border” (over and over again), a lot of anti-immigrant rhetoric alleging that immigrants are taking the jobs of Black people, and remarks that don’t bode well for anyone who is not a straight heterosexual American.
Following on the heels of Trump’s own remark about how the election should be about issues, Stephen Colbert had Senator Bernie Sanders as a guest on his Thursday night show. Here are some of Bernie’s comments regarding what we had all just seen, prefaced by his off-the-cuff remark, “Two o’clock in the morning. Who’s listening?” Hopefully thoughtful voters who recognize that the speeches up to that point had been all style and no substance. (The Screaming Mimi fiancee of Don, Jr., was at it again, screaming at the crowd. Hard to believe she was once married to Governor Newsom of California.)
Bernie was alarmed at how little the real problems of the world were addressed. One that he stressed, which certainly concerns me after hearing chants of “Drill, baby, drill” and realizing that nothing will be done to alleviate climate change if Republicans take control of government: Climate change has cost more than $25 billion dollars so far this year, with the most expensive season yet to come. There is worry that FEMA may run out of money before the end of the summer. Said Bernie: “If we don’t get our act together, the planet we are going to be leaving our kids and our grandfathers is going to be increasingly unhabitable… Think about the future of this planet if we don’t get our act together. Just on the basis of that fact alone nobody should be voting for Trump.” Do you enjoy going almost a week without power? I did not. Insurance has soared 20% from 2021 to 2023 because of the natural disasters everywhere and insurance companies are abandoning some states, if the risk is growing quickly in certain areas. Do you worry about attending any event where, thanks to Trump’s flouting of the normal rules of polite society, we are no longer safe? Are you a gun enthusiast who wants everyone to have automatic weapons? Then don’t attend concerts, parades, rallies, or any other gathering where someone with one a weapon could shoot at you, as they did at Donald J. Trump. The rest of us who are not gun enthusiasts would like some reasonable restraint on things like bump stocks and AR15s.
Insurrection of Jan. 6th.
Bernie went on to say, “Anyone who has any illusion that the GOP will do anything to benefit the working man is sorely mistaken.” Concerning Elon Musk giving money to Trump, “Thank Musk for making this issue so obvious. What we have in America now is a corrupt political system. We live in a semi-democracy. We have the right to vote, but a billionaire has the right to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to further their aims because the billionaires know that they’ll get tax breaks. ..To Biden’s credit, he knows that we have to overturn this disastrous Supreme Court decision Citizens’ United that allowed large corporations to give big amounts of money to control the political process.
In continuing his remarks after a commercial break, Bernie Sanders told Democrats to “stop the bickering.” Of Biden he said, “I am aware that he has been the strongest, most progressive president in my lifetime.” Bernie mentioned the picket line, prescription drugs, rebuilding the country’s crumbling infrastructure, debt relief for students, and recently his 100-day agenda. “You’ve got half of the people on Social Security trying to make it on $30,000 a year or less and you’ve got Republicans talking about cutting Social Security,” said Bernie Sanders. He then praised Biden’s attempts to initiate a rent hike revision. He commented that banks are buying up housing all over the place and that Biden is in favor of building millions of affordable houses. Bernie specifically mentioned housing in Las Vegas, but houses are bought up in Austin, as well.
Donald Trump
In regards to the proposal to institute a code of conduct and ethics for the Supreme Court, he agrees. “If you’re an elderly person today you can’t afford medical care, dental or vision care.” Bernie pointed out that Biden has managed to get the cost of insulin down and that he proposes that Social Security pick up dental and vision care, while the Republicans want to cut Social Security in some way.
Bernie said, “Our medical system is broken. A quarter of the people who get cancer end up going broken and losing their homes because of the expense. Biden is in favor of eliminating all medical debt. “That’s the right thing to do.” I’m not sure how, exactly, this could be instituted, but it is worth noting that NONE of the things that Trump has proposed and said would happen nearly immediately were promised in a logical way that makes one think there is any real concrete plan to achieve same. I would say the same critical thing about Bernie’s off-the-cuff remark. Many of us remember how hard it was to get the Affordable Care Act passed and how relentlessly the GOP has worked to try to eliminate it ever since. I don’t think that the idea is a bad idea, when expressed by either party, but talk is cheap and this plan would not be.
Senator Bernie Sanders
Bernie spoke of the elderly in this richest country on Earth and decried 60% of people living paycheck to paycheck. “People are hurting and they are looking to Washington and they are not getting much of a response. We need a nonviolent political revolution in getting billionaires out of politics. Our job right now is to defeat Trump. We need to transform the Democratic party so that ordinary people can come in and drive a new agenda so that we get income equality. We’re not going to have housing and college unaffordable. Our job is to make government work for everybody and not just the billionaire class.” On another positive front, Sanders mentioned the successful fights against homophobia, sexism and racism that have come a long way. He did not mention how many steps backwards we will take if Trump and company, with Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon as advisors, regain power, but any DJT administration will almost certainly be kinder to the rich and do little for the poor. Plus, a woman’s right to control her own reproductive system will be seriously compromised as, indeed, it already has been by the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
I would add that the GOP programs sound like a giant step backward in being a welcoming country with promise for all that has always defined us. Project 2025 from the Heritage Foundation, widely considered to be the platform that Trump will be adopting if elected, does many things; most of them are horrible for veterans (cutting benefits, etc,) and very anti-immigrant. It moves in the direction of forcing Christianity into the public schools, which has always been one of our Constitutional foundations, separation of church and state. Louisiana has already gone so far as to insist that the Ten Commandments be displayed in schools, which the founding fathers would probably not approve of at all.
Senator Bernie Sanders
We all saw the big chart about border crossings that Trump says saved his life when he did not turn completely to view it. It was about border crossings being lower back in the Trump era when the Trump administration was separating small children from their parents and not keeping good records of where the youngsters ended up. It was totally inhumane in so many ways. Where was the chart about the climate crisis, which experts say we can only avert by cutting down on carbon emissions? (And this must be a world-wide effort.) As the experts have said, if we all hit the guidelines that were adopted long ago the best we could do would be to stop the weather anomalies where they are now. Our weather cannot return to “the way it was.” It can, however, get much much worse. We had 10 tornadoes in our area just 4 days ago. In August of 2020 we had the first “derecho” of my entire nearly 80 years on the planet. I am seriously lobbying for the purchase of a generator after the week we just spent without lights or air conditioning.
Tucker Carlson showed up at the RNC and said, “I do think the entire point of the escalator ride has been to remind us of one fact.” That fact should be that Donald J. Trump was the worst president in history, inherited a good Obama economy (which he rode to relative prosperity), and totally bungled the Covid crisis. He is going to make all of the valid charges against himself disappear and probably pardon everyone he incited to storm the Capitol and threaten his vice president and other elected lawmakers. His flouting of decorum (refused to attend a ceremony at Normandy) and rude remarks (military personnel are “losers” and “suckers,” a remark he made within earshot of Four-Star General Kelly) are the absolute worst example of someone we want representing our nation abroad.
Donald J. Trump
Presidents Biden & Trump
Please, people. Substance over style. Let’s get it together and avoid this con-man like the plague that he presided over. Our nation will not be the same if we don’t and—unlike the crowd that wants to leave Ukraine in the lurch, abandon NATO, and let the planet burn without attempting to solve the very real problem of climate change that DJT has decried for years–. we must think rationally about what DJT really represents and what kind of man he has demonstrated himself to be.
Instead of doing a sexist smear job on our current Vice President, (which was about as fair as insisting that Hilary Clinton was running a sex ring out of a pizza parlor), let’s really think about the “platforms” that currently face us under the two main political powers. A Screaming Mimi telling us to “fight” and shouting slogans is not a platform. Last time out, Trump had NO platform. This time he is expected to follow the Project 2025 manifesto, especially since 31 of the 38 people who put this 900 page document together worked under him in the Trump administration. Get a copy and think long and hard about what Project 2025 says before you vote.
Let’s not forget that I covered the Presidential races of 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 and wrote 3 books on the candidates, often focusing as they came through the Iowa caucuses. I was named Content Producer of the Year for Politics in 2008 by Yahoo and my two books on that race are “Obama’s Odyssey: The 2008 Race for the White House,” Vols. I & II. I am also responsible for BEE GONE about the 2016 election, which I was not allowed to advertise during DJT’s tenure, since it is a comic book rhyming presentation that was hilarious, but which the MAGA folk did not like at all. [One of them called me “Hitler with breasts.” Perhaps that one did not hear about my breast cancer diagnosis?]
If you want to try to find THAT one, your best bet is to go to ConnieCWilson.com and scroll down to “other” books and look it up that way. It is truly hard to find on Amazon and, last time I looked, they only had one copy (which I sent to a friend), If you want one, send me a note.)
I traveled to downtown Austin tonight to hear Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., deliver a speech. The main message of the evening was that RFK, Jr., has gathered enough signatures (more than enough) to get on the ballot in Texas.When I got there, I was told that the speech was not going to be held at that venue. It had been moved to somewhere on Brazos Street and was going to be live-streamed by CNN. The nice volunteer said she doubted that I could get in, but told me it would be available on C-span, live-streamed, which suited me fine.
I left the book that had RFK, Jr.’s picture in it(p. 33“Obama’s Odyssey: The 2008 Race for the WhiteHouse,” Vol. II) and went home, where I watched the speech on C-Span. This was a good thing, because out of an hour and 39 minutes, Bobby Kennedy (Jr.) didn’t come on for a very long time. With it being live-streamed, you could fast forward past the introductions and Nicole Shanahan’s speech.
The wealthy Nicole Shanahan, his running mate, gave a speech about soil.
Interesting, I thought. Something that everyone came for—[NOT].
I fast forwarded past all the greeters and announcers and the VP who is helping finance RFK, Jr.’s campaign (and paid for his SuperBowl ad) and listened to what Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the doppelganger of his famous father, had to say. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Holds Campaign Rally in Austin, TX is now available for viewing in the C-SPAN Video Library.
The first 2/3 of the speech (look it up on the C-Span archives) was random.
Then came RFK, Jr. Bobby told a lengthy story about an Amish farmer who does a podcast. This sounded like a contradiction in terms. Kennedy addressed that by saying that the 35-year-old young man (apparently an Ohio expert on soil and pesticides with very bright blue eyes) could not allow himself to be photographed. RFK (Jr.) had promised not to show the tape of his comments to the world. The conversation concerning the young Amish man’s encyclopedic knowledge of pesticides went on (and on) describing 2 rows of melons on the Amish podcaster’s farm, one of them grown without pesticides and, therefore, far healthier and more pest-free than the other. One was healthy. One was sickly. What this had to do with anything was hard to determine (but keep in mind that I skipped past the Shanahan soil speech, so shame on me). I am onboard with the idea that pesticides and pollution and the variety of pollutants that are covered so well in the documentary “Plastic People” that I reviewed during SXSW are harming us irreparably, so I will assume that RFK (Jr.) is as concerned about this as the Canadian documentary-filmmakers.
After talking about soil and Amish farmers for a rather lengthy time, the 70-year-old Kennedy talked about what a sick country we are, sharing the data that we have only 4% of the world’s population but, during the Covid pandemic, we had 16% of the world’s deaths. There were more remarks about how good health is not found at the end of a hypodermic needle (anti-vaccine position). I just watched (and reviewed) a documentary called “Plastic People,” mentioned above, and much of what RFK, Jr., was talking about this Canadian documentary supported, so I’m not throwing stones here. I have an interest in such things as why the incidence of breast cancer in young women is so much higher than in years of yore. Not to mention colon cancer in younger people, infertiity, and autism disorders.
The reason the CDC said so many of us succumbed to Covid, (said Kennedy), was that those who died had 3.8 pre-existing chronic diseases. Chronic disease was a recurring phrase and topic. Kennedy named cancer, asthma, food allergies and then blanked out. He sought a disease to represent the fourth chronic disease, soliciting it from the predominantly young crowd. The crowd finally coughed up “diabetes.” (Heart disease did not rear its ugly head, and I wasn’t sure that food allergies qualified, but nevermind. Obesity might have made the list, based on anotherstatistic he threw out about 40% of us being obese. No idea if any of these facts and figures were precisely accurate; just reporting what the candidate said,)
This is not a fact-checking article—so go ahead and listen to the speech (link above) for yourself. But don’t omit reading up about the candidate’s background, because we have already been “conned” once in 2016 and elected someone who built a totally fabricated background for himself based on being a success in business, when, in reality, that was very far from the truth. And don’t fail to check the candidate(s) out for their strength of character. We’ve seen THAT happen before (John Edwards, anyone?) and we don’t want to constantly be conned into accepting uncritically media presentations (Fox News, I’m talking about you.)
TRUST IN GOVERNMENT
One refrain that did strike a responsive chord for this seasoned political reporter was the remark that we no longer trust our government, because it’s been lying to us for years. To illustrate this, Kennedy repeated the Francis Gary Powers story.
For those of you who are too young to remember that 1960 U-2 event, Powers was shot down over Russia in a super-secret plane. Wikipedia: “On May 1, 1960, Powers’ U-2A, 56-6693, departed from a military airbase in Peshawar, Pakistan,[13] with support from the U.S. Air Station at Badaber (Peshawar Air Station). This was to be the first attempt “to fly all the way across the Soviet Union. Powers was shot down by an S-75 Dvina (SA-2 “Guideline”) surface-to-air missile[15] over Sverdlovsk. A total of 14 Dvinas were launched,[16] one of which hit a MiG-19 jet fighter which was sent to intercept the U-2 but could not reach a high enough altitude.”
Attempted deception by the U.S. government
“When the U.S. government learned of Powers’ disappearance over the Soviet Union, they lied that a “weather plane” had strayed off course after its pilot had “difficulties with his oxygen equipment”. What CIA officials did not realize was that the plane crashed almost fully intact and that the Soviets had recovered its pilot and much of the plane’s equipment, including its new top-secret high-altitude camera. Powers was interrogated extensively by the KGB for months before he made a confession and a public apology for his part in the espionage.”
Kennedy’s point: that the American public quit trusting their government about the time that JFK was shot dead in the streets of Dallas and Bobby’s father was shot dead in Los Angeles, California, as a result of lies like the Francis Gary Powers incident, rang a bell with me. I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I have always doubted the “single bullet” theory of JFK’s death. So did RFK, Sr.
If Bobby Kennedy (Sr.) had gone on to be elected, he had vowed to get to the bottom of his brother’s assassination. (I know this from reading the book by his nephew, Christopher Lawford.) I don’t doubt that there would have been a much better inquiry than the Warren Commission provided. An investigation that Bobby (Sr.) would have conducted might have come to different conclusions about who was responsible for the death of his brother Jack (JFK).
RFK (Jr.) took a few shots at the national debt and how it is chewing up half of our tax moneys now, simply to service the interest on the debt. He pointed out that neither of the geriatric candidates has really addressed that very important issue. I do have one tiny bit of rebuttal there. While it is true that, “The national debt has increased by around $3.5 trillion under the Biden administration, as data from Statista shows, currently standing at $31.46 trillion. Year-on-year the debt has never decreased since 1957, according to Treasury data.”
However, it is also true that Biden is far from indifferent to the pressing need to reduce the national debt. Between 2020 and 2022, he was responsible for $1.7 trillion in deficit reduction. The exact quote that Biden gave was, “”I might note parenthetically: In my first two years, I reduced the debt by $1.7 trillion. No President has ever done that.” Obviously that is a drop in the deficit bucket and the GOP immediately began to see investigating to see if it held up. (Does anyone besides me remember when Democratic President Bill Clinton left us with a budget surplus?)
Biden gets precious little credit for all of the good things he HAS done and selling a national debt decrease is going to be a hard sell. But it IS true that the debt went way up under DJT. (And the GOP would point fingers at Obama, before him.) We could also point out that desperate times call for desperate measures and some of those increases in 2020 on were created by the pandemic crisis. Was there graft and corruption during a tough time when we were navigating a nationwide pandemic? Is the Pope Catholic?
Fleeting references to the Issues of the Day (abortion, the border) were made. Bobby seemed more critical of the Republican candidate than of the Democratic candidate, (despite the YouTube video that says the opposite). In fact, Bobby said that he, like his supporters in the room, needed to be independent of party noise. He added that he, therefore, had divorced himself from the Democratic party which so many of his relatives served. He said that divorce from being a Democrat was painful, as it went waaay back, even unto grandfathers and beyond. Traditionally, running as a third party has not worked well, even for Teddy Roosevelt and his Bull Moose Party,
The opening of the rally should be mentioned, as it had his famous father repeating some of his most famous quotes in that memorable voice (which, sadly, the younger Bobby cannot emulate because of spasmodic dysphonia, a disorder that causes his voice to quaver and makes speech difficult). He traveled to Kyoto, Japan, to have a titanium bridge inserted between his vocal cords to treat the condition.[315
]The film that ran at the opening of the rally was very professionally done. It was certainly better than listening to a choir of January 6th miscreants singing from prison (and being hailed incorrectly as “hostages.”) Bobby Kennedy, Jr., was onscreen in this opening film introduction, but the voice was his famous father’s.
Many of the people introducing RFK, Jr. were Hispanic. The Big Announcement of the night was that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s name will be on the ballot in Texas with over 235,000 signatures and that the campaign will next move to New York to get on the ballot. He described these two states as the most difficult states to get on the ballot. Kennedy claimed that Texas had actually introduced legislation raising the threshold from a smaller number (150,000?) to one that the Texas legislature thought was too high to ever be reached.
I think the number the team actually secured was more than what they needed. I remember it as being 235,000, but I’d have to wade through the speech on the CNN archives all over again to actually establish that. Feel free to do so and correct me.
To me, it seemed like getting on the ballot was so difficult that, in some way, RFK, Jr., has conflated that with actually getting the electorate to vote for him. Lord knows the country would like a younger leader. Bobby Kennedy is 70, so is that what is meant by “younger?” He is the 5th member of his family to run for President, said Wikipedia. (Don’t ask me to cough up the names of the others: I could only think of JFK, Bobby Kennedy Sr., Ted Kennedy and—-? Maybe running for VP counts? Didn’t Maria Shriver’s father have a flirtation with elective office? Help me out here!)
Bill Maehr on his show criticized Kennedy’s lack of government experience, We all know about putting someone in office, an office for which they have literally no training or experience, and how that works. Or doesn’t. RFK, Jr., doesn’t fall into that category, as you will see for yourself if you visit his Wikipedia page. There’s a lot there to unpack. There is also this Internet page:https://www.kennedy24.com/
And then the rally was over after 1 hour and 39 minutes.
Liz Carpenter was a force of nature who, throughout her 89 years (1920-2010), was often front and center where history was unfolding. leaving her own indelible mark on events. She was a journalist, White House official, Women’s Rights activist, best-selling author, and humorist. Directors Christy Carpenter, Liz’s daughter, and Abby Ginzberg weave candid modern-day interviews with Dan Rather, Bill Moyers, Gloria Steinem, Luci Johnson and others into an entertaining and informative 77-minute World Premiere that took place at the Zach Theatre on March 10th at SXSW 2024.
Liz Carpenter in action.
Born in Salado, Texas, five days after the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution granted women the right to vote in 1920, Liz’s family moved to Austin, the state capitol, when she was 7 years old. She earned a journalism degree from the University of Texas in 1942 and headed straight to Washington, DC, intent on starting her journalism career in the midst of WWII. .
At 22 years of age, she was attending press conferences held by both President Franklin and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt despite barriers against allowing women reporters to be present.
SUPPORTING LBJ
She began covering the political rise of Congressman Lyndon Johnson for the Austin American-Statesman. This developed into a lifelong friendship with LBJ and his wife Lady Bird.
Liz’s reputation as a dogged reporter quickly spread and, by the late 1940s, she and husband Leslie Carpenter established the Carpenter News Bureau. They covered Capitol Hill and the White House for more than a dozen newspapers. She was also known as “the funniest woman in Washington, D.C.,” which made her an in-demand speaker.
In 1954, she was elected president of the Women’s National Press Club, a platform she used to attack barriers to participation in the males-only National Press Club, the foremost journalistic organization in Washington D.C..
LIZ AND JFK’S ASSASSINATION
Christy Carpenter, daughter of Liz Carpenter and co-director of “Shaking It Up: The Life and Times of Liz Carpenter” at SXSW.
In 1960, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson and Lady Bird persuaded Liz to join his campaign for vice president. Once elected, LBJ convinced Liz to join his staff as the highest-ranking woman ever to work for a vice president. Liz Carpenter was one of a small number of his staff traveling with him to Dallas on November 22, 1963. She was riding in the motorcade, in a car behind JFK’s, when President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated.
Carpenter realized she was the only writer on LBJ’s staff aboard Air Force One. On the return trip to Washington she crafted the newly sworn-in President’s first public remarks to a shocked world. LBJ delivered these 58 words, written by Liz while on the plane, upon landing and that footage is included in the documentary:
“This is a sad time for all people. We have suffered a loss that cannot be weighed. For me, it is a deep personal tragedy. I know that the world shares the sorrow that Mrs. Kennedy and her family bear. I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help and God’s.”
The archival footage of the delivery of these remarks is historic.
BEAUTIFY AMERICA
Liz was appointed st aff director and press secretary to the new First Lady.
Although Lady Bird and Liz had very different personal styles, they were both women of action and vision, and together, over the next five years, they pursued an aggressive agenda including, “the most ambitious national environmental effort since Theodore Roosevelt,” according to Lady Bird biographer Julia Sweig. (I can still do a pretty fair imitation of Lady Bird Johnson saying, “Plant a tree, ashrub, or a bush,” with the Texas twang on ‘bush,'”—fodder for comediennes of the era.) The ubiquitous campaign to remove blighted highway billboards and beautify America by planting vegetation became a trademark of Lady Bird’s. A lake and park in Austin in her name perpetuate her legacy.
WAR ON POVERTY
Liz enabled Lady Bird to put a human face on LBJ’s War on Poverty by organizing strategic press tours of Head Start and Job Corps programs across the nation. My mother was then a kindergarten teacher in a small Iowa town. She fought tirelessly for the Head Start program, which, gave disadvantaged youngsters from minority and poorer homes an equal starting point with other 5-year-olds entering the system.
Liz was sometimes dubbed the “P.T. Barnum of the White House,” and was the key mastermind of Lady Bird’s historic and unprecedented Whistlestop campaign tour through the South during the 1964 presidential campaign. In the immediate aftermath of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Southern states were often far from welcoming to the wife of the man who had given Black citizens in the South the right to vote and a leg up on equal rights under the laws of the land.
AFTER THE WHITE HOUSE
Abby Ginzberg, co-director of “Shaking It Up: The Life and Times of Liz Carpenter” at SXSW on March 10, 2024.
After Johnson’s presidency ended in 1969, (with a populist anti-war backlash against Vietnam that saw my generation in the streets chanting “Hey! Hey! LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?”), Liz wrote a best-selling book about her White House years, entitled Ruffles & Flourishes. She would write other best-sellers, utilizing her storied wit and her historic experiences in government.
WOMEN’S MOVEMENT
Liz Carpenter got heavily involved in the growing Women’s Movement – a cause that would consume much of her time and energy until the end of her life at the age of 90 in 2010. Bill Clinton appointed her to serve on the White House Council on Aging.
In 1971, she joined feminist leaders such as Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Congresswomen Bella Abzug, and Shirley Chisholm, to co-found a new organization, the National Women’s Political Caucus. This was a nationwide effort to elect more women to public office, eliminate discrimination, and to push forward legislation to improve the lives of women. Soon Liz was campaigning across the nation, stirring up voters to elect women candidates.
THE ERA
Some fifty years after its introduction, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) finally sailed through Congress in 1972 with huge bipartisan majorities, says the documentary. (*I still have my ERA bracelet in a drawer somewhere, along with the POW bracelet of a U.S. soldier MIA in action from that era.) Sadly, however, after many early successes on the state level, the momentum for ratification began to hit speed bumps. That is putting it mildly.
PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY & EAGLE FORUM
Activist Phyllis Schlafly wearing a “Stop ERA” badge, demonstrating with other women against the Equal Rights Amendment in front of the White House, Washington, D.C.
The film doesn’t dwell much on Phyllis Schlafly and her Eagle Forum organization, but it should. That is my one criticism of this documentary. It was Phyllis Schlafly and her anti-equal-rights work compiling lists of ultra-Conservative prominent women and men who were against the ERA that defeated it. Schlafly—who had her own political agenda—smeared the entire equal rights movement as a ploy for lesbians and women libbers and an anti-family movement. That was, at best, an over-generalization, a technique often used by the GOP to gloss over the realities of issues and, at worst, a hypocritical smear job. (*See “the border issue” in 2024). Although I realize that Phyllis Schlafly’s anti-ERA work merits an entire documentary of its own, I think she should at least have been mentioned in this one, as that opponent of the ERA kept it from passing nationwide and has left it mired in oblivion.
Donald Trump’s early organizational work involved getting those lists from the Schlafly organization, which had painted a biased picture of the efforts to achieve equality for women as being “a bunch of women’s libbers bent on destroying the family,” an untrue characterization.Liz Carpenter was called on to co-chair a new organization in 1976 – ERAmerica –focused on ratification by the last hold-out states. She spent several years lobbying states’ legislators, and governors, and galvanizing grassroots support. (It didn’t work.)
LIZ’s HUMOR
One important key to Liz’s success was her dynamic, magnetic personality, including her well-developed sense of humor — reflecting her pioneer roots and Texas-sized, can-do moxie. Humor was always integral to her identity and effectiveness. Like other recognizable Texas women such as Governor Ann Richards and journalist Molly Ivins, Liz was high-energy and innately funny, with a knack for shaking things up. Her life was spent trying to create a more just, democratic, beautiful and humane world.
CONCLUSION:
The archival clips, alone, are worth seeing this well-done documentary. It is a slice of 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s life and history. It details efforts— some successful, some futile— to advance equality for women world-wide, battles that Liz Carpenter helped lead.
While I have a few reservations about soft-pedaling the tactics of the opposition faced in the seemingly never-ending struggle for equality that women in the United States and the world face, this fine film goes a long way to showing how it can be done, if enough courageous, influential women remember Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s line, “And yet she persists.” See this one if, like me, you lived through it. If you didn’t, you need the history lesson,
The documentary “Stormy” had its World Premiere on Friday, March 8th, at SXSW in Austin, Texas. Directed by Sarah Gibson and executive produced by Judd Apatow, the film was a sympathetic look at the Stormy Daniels saga. It was comprised of film that Stephanie Clifford (Daniels’ real name) shot previously in an attempt to do her own documentary combined with new footage.
Sara Bernstein Executive Produced, while Erin Lee Carr Produced, and Editor Ben Kaplan and Inbal B. Lessner did great editing work. The score was provided by Jeff Morrow for this 104 minute film. With the Stormy Daniels “Hussia” (hush money) case set to go to court on March 25th this is indeed a timely film. And a good one. Don’t miss it.
When porno actress Stormy Daniels met Donald J. Trump at a golf outing in July of 2006 at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, she couldn’t have known that her association with the man who was then the star of “The Apprentice” would lead to financial ruin, the end of her marriage and non-stop death threats. She was 27; he was 60. Stormy’s daughter from her third marriage was then seven.
Donald J. Trump invited Stormy to dinner. She arrived at the door to The Donald’s hotel room early. He was attired in black satin pajamas. Stormy said, “Go put some clothes on. Hefner wants his pajamas back.” Trump did, and they talked for three hours, but when Stormy emerged from Trump’s bathroom (where she noticed gold things everywhere and Old Spice cologne) Trump made a move on her, sexually, and she didn’t say no (although she wishes she had). No dinner was had.
Stormy Daniels at the Stateside Theater on March 8, 2024 at SXSW.
Trump told Stormy he wanted to put her on his TV show, “The Apprentice.” From her book “Full Disclosure” we learn that the two watched “Shark Week” together in The Donald’s hotel room and Hillary Clinton called during the program. The Donald told Stormy that he wanted to put her on his TV show “The Apprentice.” Trump called her for months thereafter, stringing her along with that promise and suggesting more meetings, but finally admitted that he couldn’t put her on his show. Stormy quit taking his calls after 18 months, saying, “I thought we were done.” The story began in 2006, when Barron Trump was 4 months old (Melania Trump had justgiven birth to their now-7-foot tall son.) Stormy was 27 and Donald Trump was 60.The story re-surfaced in 2011.
Stormy grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with a somewhat indifferent mother in a father-absent home. (She hasn’t talked to her father since she was 17). Throughout life, Stormy has seemed to look for love in all the wrong places. She says, “I’ve gotten ripped off by everybody.” We learn that one of her better friends tried to sell the Stormy/Trump story to the tabloids. Her first attorney, Michael Avenatti, who got her the book deal in September of 2018, stole $300,000 of Stacey’s book profits. Avenatti ended up in prison for 4 years for defrauding Stormy and received more time for defrauding Nike and other clients. He has been in prison since February 7, 2022.
Judd Apatow (Executive Producer), Erin Lee Carr (Producer) and Director/Producer Sarah Gibson at the World Premiere of the documentary “Stormy.”
On December 5, 2022, Avenatti was sentenced to an additional 14 years for stealing millions from clients, bringing his total sentence to 19 years without the possibility of parole.
The betrayal by Stormy’s supposed friend and by her first attorney lend credence to her charge that she has been ripped off by everyone. Throughout the film, Stormy’s love and concern for her third husband Brendon Miller and her daughter are an ongoing theme.
Stormy’s husband took responsibility for the care and feeding of their daughter, when Stormy went on gigs, including her “Making America Horny Again” tour. A rift developed when Stormy’s husband learned that she actually did have sex with Donald J. Trump, something she had previously denied. Stormy was set up for arrest after playing a gig at the Siren’s Club in Columbus, Ohio, when 2 female officers attended her show and then contacted authorities to have her arrested, charging assault. The charges were dismissed within 24 hours when it became clear that the female officers were MAGA supporters of Donald J. Trump. Stormy’s lawsuit against the city of Columbus resulted in a $450,000 payout when the bias of the officers was revealed. Stormy also related being threatened by an unknown man in the parking garage while she was with her 7-year-old daughter. (She passed a lie detector test alleging this.)
Director/Producer of “Stormy” Sarah Gibson on March 8, Friday, at the SXSW World Premiere at the Stateside Theater in Austin, Texas.
There was an incident that took place at the Canadian border when border patrol said Stormy could not enter the country because she had 17 assault charges in her FBI file. It became evident that Stormy’s FBI file had been tampered with. This occurred during Trump’s presidency. It is yet another example of why Michael Cohen, who went to prison for making the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, texted her and told her he was seriously concerned for her safety.
The photos of Stormy Daniels onstage show a woman under a great deal of stress. She came late, surrounded by some very large bodyguards. She has been threatened continuously since the rendezvous with Trump emerged in 2011. Those threats have escalated as the trial looms close later this month.
Stormy herself, onstage at the Stateside Theater, used the adjectives “ridiculous, terrifying, and pointless… I have no hope about it any more.” She described the current situation in 2024, when compared with the saga from 2011 and beyond this way: “It is different from 2018. I have more knowledge, but the threats have become more violent.” Her once promising career as a director of porno flicks dried up by 2019. She has given up full custody of her daughter to the child’s father, reasoning that their daughter will be safer with him. The threats against her life are not to be dismissed lightly. There are a lot of zealots in the MAGA camp; it only takes one.
Stormy and cast and crew at the Stateside Theater on March 8, 2024 at SXSW.
She has been called every name in the book, but liar is one epithet she won’t take without fighting back. Said Daniels in this must-see documentary, “My soul is so tired. I’m out of f***. I won’t give up, because I’m telling the truth.”
During the Q&A that followed the impressive documentary Director Sara Gibson said she could not believe the level of stress that Stormy endured. “It makes it very hard to lead your life. I couldn’t believe how stressful this was for her.”
Commenting on the large amount of footage that the editors had to integrate with new film in a very short time, Apatow said he had known Stormy Daniels for a long time—ever since she had a small part in his 2006 film “Knocked Up.” He said that his goal was to “Tell an accurate, empathetic story of what she has really been through.”
When Ms. Daniels took the stage she recounted getting the part in Apatow’s movie, but then potentially losing it because of the death of her step-daughter when filming was to take place on this very date (March 8th) many years ago. Apatow sent flowers to her home in sympathy. He changed the shooting schedule so she could still participate. For someone who expressed the opinion that “nobody ever helped me” and felt as though she were 9 years old again (the year she was repeatedly abused by a neighbor) you can tell that she was genuinely grateful.
Stormy Daniels onstage at the World Premiere of “Stormy” on March 8, 2024 at SXSW in Austin, Texas.
Stormy said, “Nobody cares what the truth is any more.” Describing a never-ending avalanche of court documents, this statement during the Q&A seemed fair: “She deserves to have a voice in a lot louder, larger way. She was a tax-paying American citizen, and she deserves better.”
“Stormy” is one of the investigative documentaries that the American public needs to see before November’s election. It is a Peacock original and will stream there beginning March 18th.
The “Stormy” team at the world Premiere.
Stormy Daniels bodyguards on March 8 2024 at SXSW.
[Among the team producing “Stormy”: Director Sarah Gibson and Executive Producer Judd Apatow (“The 40-year-old Virgin,” “Knocked Up”) of Apatow Productions, Olivia Rosenblum, Erin Lee Carr (Producer), Sara Bernstein (Executive Producer), Meredith Kaulfers, Kelsey Field (Imagine Entertainment), Amanda Rohlke, Emelia Brown, Natalie Goldberg, Brooke Snyder, Ben Kaplan and Inbal Lessner (editors), Shiho Fukada, Jonathan Furmanski, Wolfgang Held, RA Barrett (Cinematography), Denver Nicks, Bob Rose, Jason Sager (Co-producer) and music by Jeff Morrow]
Director of “An Army of Women” Julie Lunde Lillesaeter.
Norwegian director Julie Lillesaeter has directed a documentary about 3 Austin (Texas) women attempting to seek justice for their rapes or sexual assaults. Ultimately, the 3—Amy, Marina, and Hanna—join 12 other women in a groundbreaking federal class-action lawsuit. It is the first lawsuit to argue that sexual assault isn’t prosecuted enough, primarily because it is a crime that predominantly affects women. The plaintiffs also made clear that they were frequently not believed, despite proof that one perpetrator went on to assault 5 other people after raping one of the victims.
Three, in particular are highlighted: including Mary Reyes and Marina Garrett. Lawyers Jennifer Ecklund and Elizabeth Myers charged, in the original 2018 lawsuit, violations of survivors’ Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
The women are shown addressing the Austin City Council about the failure to prosecute their cases in a timely fashion. One of the women had been fighting for justice for 15 years, since 2008. Their rallying cry: “We’re here to force change in a system that seems to be incontrovertibly broken.”
At the time, Norwegian director Julie Lunde Lillesaeter was living in Austin. It was 2019. She told Sarah Marloff (Austin Chronicle) “I was really shocked. I was naively thinking that when assaults happen, there’s a system in place to handle it properly, and make sure it doesn’t happen again. :When I learned about the lawsuit, I realized the system is really failing spectacularly. And there doesn’t seem like anyone in charge wants to fix it.”
THE GOOD
Lillesaeter felt the cause was worthwhile and that the David versus Goliath elements would spark European interest. She said, “I think it’s really hopeful, as serious as it is. It’s a sort of a story that show you can change systems. Even if it’s an Austin story, it feels very relevant no matter where you are.” The documentary has already sold in Germany, France and the Scandinavian countries.
Ultimately, the women persist and change the system, winning these concessions:
Enhanced training for police department and prosecutors.
Adding staff to the Austin Police Department sex crimes unit.
Notification of survivors about progress in ongoing cases.
Creation of a soft interview room.
Releasing data to the public about cases involving sexual assault.
Survivor involvement in policy decisions.
Each plaintiff in the case got $75,000 with $100,000 toward legal fees, and $4,670,000 was assigned for policy improvements.
The women’s group also targeted then District Attorney Margaret Moore and helped elect current Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza (who is currently running for re-election.)
THE BAD
“An Army of Women” at SXSW highlights failures in the Austin, Texas, system for prosecuting sex offenders.
The film is slow-moving. It primarily takes place in courtrooms and the 84 minutes move very slowly. Since that is the point of the lawsuit, perhaps that is appropriate.
When one of the women, Marina, was awarded $20,000 after years of struggle in courtrooms, she seemed extremely excited about how much money she would be receiving. Marina’s story involved her drinking on 6th Street and being dragged into an alley and raped against her will. She said that the police did not believe her.
Even one of the lawyers said that she felt the amount ultimately awarded Marina was “pretty disappointing from a messaging standpoint,” despite the fact that Marina was exulting, saying, “I am so excited about the settlement.”
It seems clear that the Austin Police Department fell down on the job. The plaintiffs had high hopes that the new Travis County District Attorney (Jose Garza) would be a better listener and would do more in office to prosecute sexual assault than his female predecessor had done. (Recent ads during this primary election season run by Garza’s Republican opponents suggest failure(s) on Garza’s part in this department, but that would be standard operating procedure in elections.)
One of the plaintiffs (Hanna Senko) used a pseudonym at the outset of the film, calling herself Amy Smith, Victim #1. By the end of the film, she is willing to use her real name. Her case involved being drugged and date-raped by a man she knew. Difficult to know what the reasoning was for initially concealing her true identity. Marina Garrett, by contrast, began advocating for change back in 2016 when the city’s rape kit backlog made headlines. Several members of the Austin City Council also apologized to the women for how they had been not been believed and how long it had taken for justice to be achieved. Receiving an apology from the city was important to the women plaintiffs.
CONCLUSION
One reason the film seemed so long is that the subject matter is unwieldy. As Director Lillesaeter acknowledged, shaping the story into a concise narrative was a challenge. She said, “There’s so much more that could have been said…When you make a film like this, you have to make choices.”
It’s an important fight and it took too long a time for the long-suffering women to triumph, but the pace of this film also took too long a time.
Excerpts from “Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party,” by Jonathan Karl of ABC News:
Jonathan Karl of ABC News
“He lacks any shred of human decency, humility, or caring,” a former White House official wrote of Trump, the man he had served for more than a year. “He is morally bankrupt, breathtakingly dishonest, lethally incompetent, and stunningly ignorant of virtually anything related to governing, history, geography, human events or world affairs. He is a traitor and a malignancy in our nation and represents a clear and present danger to our democracy and the rule of law.” (p. 263, Jonathan Karl, CBS Political Affairs Reporter)
“Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party” by Jonathan Karl of ABC News.
“Two and a half years after January 6th, the man whom many of the rioters said was ultimately responsible for the carnage seemed on the way to finally being held accountable…He faces a maximum of 55 years in prison—the maximum in the documents case is higher—but because Trump stands accused of betraying the very oath of office he hopes to take once again. The charges include defrauding the United States and depriving Americans of their right to have their votes count—a right central to the meaning of democracy.” (p. 269)
“President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it.” (Mitch McConnell on Feb. 13, 2021.)
“Remnants of the Trump era will be a strange reminder of how Trump operated—his disregard for history and for the law—in this case, the Presidential Records Act of 1978—says that official presidential records are the property of the American people, not of any individual, not even a president. Trump destroyed some of them, others he took home to Mar-a-Lago as if they were personal souvenirs of his time as commander in chief. Fortunately for future historians—and current criminal investigators—many of the documents he attempted to pilfer were returned, and many of those he tried to destroy were gathered, taped back together, and preserved by government employees attempting to comply with a law their boss had no intention of following.” (p. 272).
The MITT ROMNEY IS A TOTAL LOSER napkin: “One of the more unusual documents now under seal at the National Archives is a paper napkin from Air Force One. The napkin—the existence of which has never been made public—is hardly a state secret, but it reveals much more than the words written on it by Donald Trump with a Black sharpie: MITT ROMNEY IS A TOTAL LOSER.” We don’t know the exact content of this presidential musing—or even the date it was retrieved—or why Trump chose to scrawl those words on a napkin. Did he write it after Romney became the only Republican to vote to convict him in his first impeachment trial? Or when Romney became one of seven Republicans to vote to impeach him in his second impeachment trial? Or maybe it was after Romney and his wife, Ann, congratulated Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on winning the 2020 election. “We know both of them as people of good will and admirable character,” Senator Romney said in a statement issued minutes after Biden and Harris were projected as winners of the election. “We pray that God may bless them in the days and years ahead.”
Trump had called Romney a loser many times, but the context of the words scrawled on the napkin—TOTAL LOSER—were different than those he blurted out on Twitter or during speeches. The napkin was a private note, probably one he had written to himself, and an indication Trump had Romney on his mind, and perhaps a reflection of the obsession with the man who won the Republican nomination four years before Trump did. Of course, the note wasn’t completely wrong—Romney, like Trump, was a loser. Both men had lost a presidential election. But, unlike Trump, Romney took his loss with grace and dignity. He did what Trump would never do. He congratulated his opponent—Barack Obama—and put the country above himself, offering words of support to the man who had defeated him.
Sam Houston, 1859–1861
SAM HOUSTON STORY: Sam Houston, the former Governor of Tennessee, battlefield hero, and founding father of Texas independence. Houston was the first president of the Independent Republic of Texas, the first senator from the state of Texas and one of the most independent, unique, popular, forceful and dramatic individuals ever to enter the Senate chamber. Houston put all of that on the line beginning with a vote he took in the Senate in 1854 against what would become the Kansas-Nebraska Act. To Houston’s fellow Democrats, it was a must-pass bill, a test of Southern unity and survival. Houston saw the bill for what it was—a way to reopen the the issue of expanding slavery that would set America on a path to civil war. Not a single Senate Democrat joined him in voting against it...His stand against Southern secession was so forceful, Houston received a few votes to be Abraham Lincoln’s vice president. He traveled around his state to make what had become a very unpopular case for Texas to remain in the Union. While he was campaigning in the city of Waco, a bomb exploded behind the hotel he was staying in—an unsuccessful attempt to either kill or intimidate him. He survived the bombing, but he lost the battle. And when Texas officially seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy, Houston was once again defeated, removed from office after he refused to take the oath of the new Confederate state of Texas. Sam Houston was far from perfect, but at the end of his life, he stood up to the madness of his own party—and the madness of his own constituents. Despite the steep personal price he paid, his place in history was secure—and it started with a vote, an act of political courage—made inside the Senate Chamber.” (p. 279).
“Trump’s betrayal shows just how vulnerable our democracy is and how much it depends on people who are in positions of responsibility to act responsibly.” (p. 281).
“The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed (January 6th) was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.” (Liz Cheney, R, Wyoming, while heading the January 6th Commission.) (p. 285).
Of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump the second time, the vote of Representative Tom Rice of South Carolina to impeach was among the most surprising. Rice’s reason for voting to impeach, articulated in Jonathan Karl’s book: “When Trump watched the Capitol, the People’s House, being sacked, when he watched the Capitol Police officers being beaten for those three or four hours and he lifted not one finger or did one thing to stop it—I was livid then and I’m livid today about it.” (p. 285)
I am thinking back to the Iowa Caucus nights in 2004, 2008 and 2012that my college roommate and I went out to caucus at a local Des Moines high school when the temperature was 17 degrees (2004). It was, until now, the coldest caucus night in history. My hope was that Howard Dean was going to prevail, as he had been leading during the “sleepless summer,” as the press called it.
I dropped her off at the doorway and then had to drive blocks away to park my car. During that time, those in charge attempted to close the doors to late-comers, but she stood by the door to allow me to gain access. (They said they were running out of GOP ballots, for one thing.) Then we were thrown into the chaos of the classroom, with Democratic groups milling about trying to achieve the 15% viability that would allow them to continue. (The Republicans use paper ballots, but the Democrats, at that time, simply stand around in small clumps of people and it is sheer lunacy.)
The 2020 SNAFU in Iowa, when the results weren’t know for days, led to the resignation of the guy in charge, even though there still is debate as to whether an app called Shadow, Inc., developed by someone named Tara McGowan, was at fault. There were charges that both the Buttigieg campaign and the Hillary Clinton campaign had had dealings with the company that developed the app. The entire night was catastrophic for the Iowa caucuses and, this year, the Dems did not come. When you read that 8 precinct results went missing in 2012 and were never counted, you begin to get the idea that this entire throwback town hall meeting thing will soon cease. After all, the success rate of predicting who the standard bearer for each candidate will be is not great. The success rate for predicting the Democratic winner nationally is only 55% and for the GOP it is only 43%.
Is it any wonder that voices are being raised saying the caucuses in Iowa don’t “work” and should go the way of the Dodo bird? Illinois Senator Dick Durbin said, “I think the Democratic caucus in Iowa is a quirky, quaint tradition which should come to an end. As we try to make voting easier for people across America, the Iowa caucus is the most painful situation we currently face for voting.” Former presidential candidate Julian Castro said, “It’s a mess. What we saw out there and heard about are, consistently, errors in the way that this process was done, whether in the initial phase or the realignment. Inconsistencies in how it was done across precinct sites. It is a total mess.” And let’s not forget that campaigning in Iowa is probably not real pleasant when the weather in the Midwest doesn’t cooperate. DeSantis and Trump are from Florida. Haley is from South Carolina. Talk about culture shock!
So, how did this “total mess” come to be at all?
Nikki Haley on the GOP debate stage
One book written on the topic (“The Iowa Caucuses and the Presidential Nominating Process” by Peverill Squire of the University ofMissouri) says, “Iowa became first in the nation pretty much as an accident of the calendar.” One explanation even blames the entire thing on the slow duplicating machine that Iowa used at the time, which required Iowa to set their voting date up earlier and earlier to make sure that materials could be turned out in time. Supposedly, the party wasn’t really angling to be “first in the nation” but that’s what happened.
As for the GOP, they used to use an August “straw poll” thing, which turned out to be totally unreliable and was discontinued. It became a question of who could buy the straw poll. You could argue that that is also true of the caucuses as they now exist, with huge amounts of money being spent by the candidates running in the state. It is easy to see why a state like Iowa would want to continue being the center of attention and raking in advertising (and other) dollars. But will that happen, given the deep freeze that Iowa is going to be on the night of the caucuses this year? Thirty and Forty below zero is life-threatening. Iowans are hardy souls and take politics seriously, but the turnout is definitely going to be affected.
In 1976 then-candidate Jimmy Carter used the Iowa caucuses to give himself the national recognition that he did not have prior to winning there. In 1972 George McGovern won the caucuses, but they had not yet turned into any kind of national launching pad. After Iowa, Carter received attention and invitations to speak and be interviewed that gave him the momentum he needed to go on to win the nomination and be elected as the party standard-bearer and win the presidency. Since then, candidates have been attempting to duplicate that feat, with Barack Obama actually achieving it in 2008, the year I followed the caucuses for 24 months and wrote 2 books on the experience. The Iowa caucuses actually predicted the eventual national nominee and winner twice: Obama in 2008 and Bush in 2000. In 2004 the caucus winner in Des Moines (John Kerry) did go on to become the national nominee, but he did not win office. It is particularly interesting when you learn that Jimmy Carter only campaigned for 17 days in the state in 1976.
Ron DeSantis.
I did not become involved in following the caucuses in person until 2004, which was the year that John Kerry won the Iowa caucuses, John Edwards came in second, and Howard Dean came in third. The Kerry forces double-miked Howard Dean’s impassioned plea to his followers at the post party (I was there) and made him look totally foolish by replaying it what seemed like millions of times on television.
2008: January 3rd at 7 p.m. Temperature that year was 30 degrees above zero, warmer than in 2004 when it was only 16 degrees. In 2012, my last year of following, the temperature was 40, but it was a very quiet night for Democrats, who had an incumbent president in the White House. This year’s thirty below zero prediction is going to be the coldest on record, and one wonders how many will show up to caucus for their candidate.
2012: January 3rd. Supposedly, Romney won by 8 points, but then a recount showed that Rick Santorum might have won by 34 votes and Ron Paul came in third. This was the year that 8 missing precinct reports caused problems and the “win” was also taken from Santorum and awarded to Paul at one point. Not reliable, in other words.
2016: In the Democratic race, Hillary got 45% of the vote and Bernie Saunders came in second. Ted Cruz won the GOP contest, with votes going to Trump, Marco Rubio and Ben Carson, as well.
Vivek Ramaswamy on the GOP debate stage.
2020: Monday, February 3rd. This was the year of the Shadow, Inc. app that was, apparently, never reliably field-tested. Then, the phone number that was supposed to be used as a fall-back method for voting was totally jammed up with calls. Days went by where national talking heads could not report who had won, and the person in charge resigned.
Results over time:
1972 – McGovern
1976 – Jimmy Carter
1980 – Jimmy Carter (Ted Kennedy got votes)
1984 – Walter Mondale
1988 – Dick Gephardt (who withdrew from the race shortly thereafter)
1992 – Tom Harkin (a native son)
1996 – Bill Clinton
2000 – Al Gore
2004 – John Kerry (38%) John Edwards (32%). Howard Dean (18%). Dick Gephardt (11%). Dennis Kucinich (1%). GOP – George W. Bush
2008 – Barack Obama – 38%, John Edwards – (30%), Hillary Clinton (29%) Elliot Richardson got 2% and Joe Biden got 1%.
2012 – Obama – 98% (a very quiet night in Des Moines) Mike Huckabee on the Republican side, prompting my headline: “Huckaboom or Huckabust?”
2016 – Hillary (50%). Bernie Saunders (49%) Ted Cruz on the GOP side.
