Peace Of My Mind

My Pinellas County primary ballot arrived in the mail last week.  Because I voted for a Democrat last election they sent me a Democratic ballot.  That means two things: we don't have an open primary in this state and it wasn't a waste of a stamp.  

Eliminate the ones who have dropped out and the long list ends up much more manageable.  Williamson is gone, whoever, or whatever she was.  So is Castro, Bennett, Booker, Delaney, Patrick, Sestak and Yang.   

Who will it be?  Who can beat Trump?  A harsh and unpleasant man.  I couldn't find a shorter clip of that scene with Maureen O'Hara so you get the pleasure of three and a half minutes of the great John Wayne in Big Jake.  Quick, what is the best JW flick?  The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.  The worst JW flick?  Whatever that mess was where he is Genghis Khan, I think it was called The Conquerer.  My old buddy Mike J. used to say they didn't make any more real movies after John Wayne died.  

I haven't made up my mind yet, but I will pull back the curtain on my thinking, more or less.  Firstly, I am a moderate Independent so we can eliminate two right off the top.  Bernie wants to burn the house down and start from scratch.  He isn't even a Democrat, right?  Trump and Trumpers would have a field day with him as the candidate.  An avowed Socialist who honeymooned in Russia?  Wow.  Policy-wise, Bernie wants free college, a dissolution of college loans, free health and child care for all and, I guess, some kind of radical reinvention of of the American capitalist system.  And he always shouts.  If I was starting a new Utopia I might want him on the advisory board, but President, I think not.  If we can't even pass things to fix crumbling bridges how the hell are we going to pass those pie-in-the-sky things?  

Elizabeth is in Bernie's shadow, so she has to be eliminated, too.  I like her.  She might make a great president, but she is too far to the left.  It is more than expressing all these plans, you need to get them passed, too.  Leftist plans won't get through a divided Congress.  She is smart, prepared and, personable but too lefty.  I wouldn't jump off the Skyway Bridge if she gets it, like I will with Bernie, but I don't think we'd win in November.  If only she was closer to the middle, she'd be a great candidate.

Pete is the moderate who makes the most sense and conforms most to my views.  He is a Rhodes Scholar, a military man, lives in the Midwest, and never errors on the debate stage.  He also kisses his husband after his speeches.  America is not a progressive nation.  We are still firmly rooted in the Puritan notion of sex and voters are net yet at the point where homosexuality is something not to be judged.  He is also pretty young.  His time will come, just not yet.  

Tom Steyer.  Scratch Tom.

Joe, old Joe.  Uncle Joe.  Bumbling Joe.  Meandering Joe.  The guy who starts every other sentence by "Look."  The guy who has run three times before and lost.  The second banana.  VP Doofus under Obama. What's up with those eyes?  Plastic surgery?  The guy with the best hair plugs in politics.  Old Joe.  Old, "let me show you how I can do pushups, Man" Joe. Old.  Joe's a nice guy, and probably holds more of the core Democratic party views and policies as anyone in the group.  He should have taken the mantel and run away with it, especially with Trump attacking his family all winter, but he didn't.  His time seems to have been 20 years ago.  He's lost his mojo and more than that, Trump would crush him on the debate stage.  

Amy, I like Amy.  But less so everytime I see her debate.  A bit shrill.  She always seems to spew her talking points with a grimace like she is constipated.  Like Joe she holds good and winnable Democratic ideals.  Firmly in the moderate lane she does a good job in debates, seems to be quick, and doesn't take any shit from people.  Problem is, can she stand up to Trump?  And she really should have known who the Mexican President was.  Can she get a consensus coalition?  Maybe.  Could she learn on the job and be a good one, yeah, maybe.  Would she lose to Trump, yessssss!

Remember when Maureen said it would take a harsh and unpleasant person in the above clip?  Mike is a harsh and unpleasant person.  He certainly is no debater,  but he has the money to go up against Trump.  He also has the organization and the wherewithall to go up against another New Yorker.  perhaps it takes a harsh and unpleasant person to go up against harsh and unpleasant Trump.  Could Mike who has the bucks stand up to trump in debates where he is so bad, maybe.  But Mike is really a horrible speaker.  He is a builder, a maker of organizations and hires great people.  I don't care if he was a republican 10 years ago, Hell, trump was a Democrat his whole life.  But his baggage is overwhelming and it might be a Republican landslide.

So, there are our candidates.  Frankly none of them wow me.  Who will I vote for, I don't know yet.  Are any of them capable of defeating King Donald?  Probably not.  Astonishingly, half of Americans still want Trump, a guy who is dismantling America, step by step.  It will take not one person, no knight in shining armor, it will take everyone who cherishes freedom and the democratic system to come out and vote.  If they do, then it won't make any difference who we vote in, it will be a new chance for America.

Because from what I see on the debate stage, it's a sorry bunch of mopes.