Just Don't Say "Boots On The Ground"

The US and allies will complete the burial of Hillary's plan for a bootless intervention in Libya sometime soon:

U.S. and Allies Weigh Military Action Against ISIS in Libya

By ERIC SCHMITT and HELENE COOPER  JAN. 22, 2016

WASHINGTON — Worried about a growing threat from the Islamic State in Libya, the United States and its allies are increasing reconnaissance flights and intelligence collecting there and preparing for possible airstrikes and commando raids, senior American policy makers, commanders and intelligence officials said this week.

While no decision has been finalized about when the United States and its allies will formally expand action in Libya against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, administration officials indicated that it might be very soon. A decision will probably come in “weeks” but “not hours,” Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Friday.

“It’s fair to say that we’re looking to take decisive military action against ISIL in conjunction with the political process” in Libya, General Dunford said. “The president has made clear that we have the authority to use military force.”

Presumably Obama will want to coordinate this escalation with the Iowa / New Hampshire political calendar.

The article includes a reminder of the scope of the Mid East debacle:

“There is a concern about Libya,” Gen. Joseph L. Votel, the head of the military’s Special Operations Command, said at a conference in Washington this week. “It can’t all be about Iraq and Syria.”

And Iran. And Yemen. And whatever.

Libya could present the West with challenges equal to those an American-led coalition faces in fighting the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. In those two countries, the Islamic State is hemmed in by a host of armed groups with international backing and is being pummeled by American, British and other allied airstrikes.

Right. Bombing a conventional government into submission rarely works. So what are the prospects for bombing a terrorist group holding the civilian population hostage?

Comments

[Truthbetold]

Why should I take you seriously?

[Threadkiller]

Because you are the bellwether.

[Truthbetold]

TK

Have you ever seen me post anything but conservative views?

[Threadkiller]

Well, I had fun TBT. Thanks for the laugh. (At you, not with you)

I won't help you pollute the fresh page. I'll check back later and see if you were able to pick a winner.

[Cecil Turner]

Cecil, there is logic in what you say... but the last pair of "electable" tomato cans led to Pres Obama.

Romney had serious electability problems . . . enough so that I preferred Newt, hoping he could change the dynamic later . . . the others were just worse. But this time we have a few candidates that actually poll ahead of the competition . . . and we're threatening to settle on the one that doesn't.

[Truthbetold]

TK

Thought you might bail on that question

[hrtshpdbox]

Cecil, as long as we're on the same side of the argument, I'm alright with you calling me "she" (unlike, say, when Bill Parcells used to say of difficult Jets, "I don't know what her problem is").

[boris]

My honest responses on a Trump survey would very likely rate "high negative". Change the channel if he's on for more than a few seconds.

But my negatives on Trump are categorically different from my negatives on Clintons, Obama, or Sanders.

Trump might be like dog doo but they are poison.
And it really is one or the other.
And which one tastes worse is not the deciding factor.

[Threadkiller]

Ok, one more.

Most everything I see you post here starts with a conservative take. But your follow through gets decidedly lefty in technique. And your question answering skills leave a lot to be desired.

You go for the "clever insulting" way to quickly. I happen to enjoy clever insulting which makes it easy for me to spot the poor job you do.

Good luck.

[Cecil Turner]

OOooooops. Sorry.

And I hope you're right about the karma thing . . . but my head says no (unless the injury report has more impact than I'm guessing).

[Threadkiller]

Perfect example. If you looked at the time you posted your question it is at the same time as my comment. While it is possible that was the response you get all cleverly only 2min later.

Poorly played again.

[Cecil Turner]

But my negatives on Trump are categorically different from my negatives on Clintons, Obama, or Sanders.

The head-to-heads suggest you are in the minority.

[Truthbetold]

TK

"Conservative take" , "lefty in technique"

So, are you saying you think I'm a lefty?

[hrtshpdbox]

"And which one tastes worse is not the deciding factor."
lol

"But your follow through gets decidedly lefty in technique."
tk, you haven't picked on me today - whether it's because you're busy or I just don't rate, thanks just the same. :)

[jimmyk]

I'm not confident he can beat Hillary even if she gets indicted (as if).

Electability is a reasonable concern (though hard to know with any precision, and therefore not terribly relevant) prior to the nomination. It is obviously 100% irrelevant once the nominees are chosen.

[Threadkiller]

hrt, I am making agreements left and right to be more civil around here.

:-)

[clarice]

I'm with Ig and Jimmyk. Deb he was a writer for the NYT and the editor of Time/Life books, among other things.

[Jack is on his Back!]

Back from OR sore as hell. Already devoured 2 ginger ale and a pitcher of water. On 4,different antibiotic. Awaiting new culture results. Here for the long haul. Episodic spasms of knee pain driving m e bonkers.

[Truthbetold]

TK

Do you support Trump?

Donald Trump is OWNED by Every Bank on Wall Street

http://www.redstate.com/2016/01/22/every-bank-wall-street-owns-donald-trump/

[Momto2]

Jack - so sorry - as long as you are there, you should insist that they control your pain. They certainly have the ability to give you something that will work. Sometimes you have to be a squeaky wheel...

[Jane]

Porch,

I'm not sure there is a "later" when it comes to "conservatism" if we are talking about a constitutional government.

We have a president who has essentially thrown out the Constitution, and governed by fiat. If Trump is the next president I expect he will follow that precedent. In fact I think it would be tempting as hell for anyone.

After that we are essentially toast. They cheat, we lose so we cheat too. End of this fine republic.

I believe we need a constitutionalist who will put the constitution first and bring us back to what we are supposed to be. I don't think Trump is that guy.

[jimmyk]

The head-to-heads suggest you are in the minority.

Polls in January have about as much predictive power for November as weather forecasts.

[Truthbetold]

Clarice

Do you believe the RedState article?

[boris]

"The head-to-heads suggest you are in the minority"

If true ... so what?

How should that influence my thinking in the least?

What seems obvious to me is if the primary plays out mostly fair what you are claiming will prevail. Cruz or Rubio will win out eventually.

NR crossed a line with what looks to me like an irrational panic fueled attack.

If Trump somehow does win the nomination, which IMO would refudiate your "negatives" argument, better he should win the general. In that sense the Trump Must Be Stopped hysteria is counterproductive.

[Buckeye]

Well, I suspect if I digged deep enough into my portfolio, I would find out that I am owned by every bank on Wall Street too.

[clarice]

It's not as though we cannot count on the media to highlight every R candidate flaw, real , exaggerated or manufactured, Boris.

[Truthbetold]

Boris

Fear of losing is not a good strategy for winning.

[clarice]

Any way per Gore we've only little more than 2 days until the earth becomes a fire ball, so why not just hug and kiss,

[henry]

Ernie back on troll mission number 1.

[Truthbetold]

Henry

Do you think Trump is a conservative?

[henry]

Ernie, Trump is not my favorite.

[Truthbetold]

Henry

Since you brought Axelrod into the conversation...

David Axelrod thinks Donald Trump is pretty great — as a politician, at least

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/17/david-axelrods-admiration-for-donald-trump-the-politician/

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

On the electability issue, as jimmy notes, polls don't mean much now for the general, but are useful for comaprisons. Trump does trail both Cruz and Rubio vs Clinton, but ten months from the general we're talking about a spread of 4 or 5 points. That is not far from the margin of error, is hardly insurmountable and the averages are skewed by outliers like NBC and McClatchy which usually strongly favor Dems.
Moreover, Trump has closed the gap on the unspeakable she-beast from 20 back in the spring while Cruz and Rubio were only 15 and 13 back respectively.

The argument Trump is less electable is possibly correct but tenuous.
The argument he is unelectable is specious guesswork more dependent on personal distaste than facts on the ground or historical realities.

[henry]

I'm sure you and your boss are amused by that.

Trump, along with JEB!, Kasich, Huckster, Rubio and a cast of thousands are Statists (as defined by Sowell). I'm no fan of any of them, yet clearly Trump is better at getting poll rankings than JEB!. At least so far.

Yawn.

[Threadkiller]

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/06/17/romney-invited-axelrod-to-gop-presidential-candidate-gathering-shunned-cruz-and-carson/

[Truthbetold]

Henry

More praise from Axelrod for Trump

So Axelrod did a contribution shout-out on TV to Donald Trump and “he sent me a very large check. One of the largest donations we got,” said Axelrod.

“I will always be grateful for that generous act on Trump’s part,” he added.

[henry]

Yes, Trump funded you via checks to your boss. We get that.

[narciso]

Yes I have reservations about trump that the huntress has not assuaged. But that point about planks in the eye, would apply just as much to the medici, a certain hmo, an water piping company an s&l that went under.
I accepted those tradeoffs as governor, the dems will not be as willing to let dogs lie.

An irony that but that rove is charged with was actually done by one of rubio's current staffers, a local boy from south carolina

[Truthbetold]

Henry

Friendly advice. Don't type drunk.

[narciso]

Division is tracking him as we speak.

[narciso]

Lipscomb has proven to be very perceptive on a number of issues, Erickson less so, although blind squirrel rules apply.

[narciso]

I guess I should be glad that Michael Rubin didn't compare him to zarquawi.

[Truthbetold]

TRUMP: I LOVE OBAMA, CAN’T STAND THE TEA PARTY. SARAH PALIN DOESN’T MIND

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/01/trump-i-love-obama-cant-stand-the-tea-party-sarah-palin-doesnt-mind.php

[Beasts of England]

There's a Clemson Tiger paw on my cookie tin!! Very well played MaryD! And they're damned good, too. Cheers!

[cheerleader]

The people who are being played have been played for so long that they don't know what jokes and hyperbole are any more. It's sad.

[narciso]

I do recall that powerline has not been that keen on many of the huntress's projects in the last few years.

[narciso]

I guess some fulfill William Goldman's proverb more than others, in this regard, take Rick wilson, who's not even on the 9 planet.

[Truthbetold]

Money talks

In 2013 and 2014, Donald Trump Funded John Boehner and Mitch McConnell Against the Tea Party

http://theresurgent.com/in-2013-and-2014-donald-trump-was-funding-john-boehner-mitch-mcconnell-against-the-tea-party/

[Buckeye]

Beasts

She didn't tell you about the saltpeter she added to the recipe.

[henry]

Yes narciso, the consultant class is butt hurt over the idea of a guy the eschews consultants (an aspect of Trump I agree with), and Wilson has a bigger butt for hurt or something.

As far as the Axelrod employee challenge, I'll crack a beer once the football starts. I'm not sure I'll achieve drunk today, I don't care who wins either game. But if I do, I will try typing. Ignoring you is what winners do (Tumptster rhetoric is tempting).

[Porchlight]

enough so that I preferred Newt, hoping he could change the dynamic later

Cecil, for what it's worth, Newt is supporting Trump, or at least saying lots of good things about him. Newt says, among other things, that he's spent time with Trump, has great respect for him, and believes Trump's conversion to conservatism is genuine. And that he can beat Hillary.

Again, for what it's worth.

Iggy @11:21 speaks my thoughts much better than I could.

[Truthbetold]

Trump: “Let’s get to be a little establishment. We’ve got to get things done folks, OK?”

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/01/22/trump-lets-get-to-be-a-little-establishment-weve-got-to-get-things-done-folks-ok/

[narciso]

I lost some respect for Michael rubin, there as I did with Elliot Abramson in the Florida primary.

[Porchlight]

I believe we need a constitutionalist who will put the constitution first and bring us back to what we are supposed to be. I don't think Trump is that guy.

Jane, I don't think Trump is that guy either. But I am looking at the numbers and as things stand, I don't see a constitutional conservative winning the nomination, let alone the general. So I guess I'm reaching the final stage, acceptance, and looking at the positives.

I think I could live with a Trump-Cruz ticket.

[Porchlight]

Is Truthbetold our old friend Anne? I encourage everyone to ignore, ignore, ignore.

[narciso]

Axelrod is a mercenary, his most recent known gig was general buhari, I assume if you need a helmsmen through chitown's river stx you hire him

[jimmyk]

Still using the good old narcisolator.

[Truthbetold]

Donald Trump and the Emanuel Brothers—What’s the Deal?

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/Felsenthal-Files/April-2011/Donald-Trump-and-the-Emanuel-Brothers-Whats-the-Deal/

[henry]

Porch, not Anne. Has been trolling Clarice for years, is associated with a website in Chicago registered to Ernie a character in a Bill Murray film that was a "hard nosed Chicago reporter." Further doxing is possible, but not indicated right now.

[Jane]

So I guess I'm reaching the final stage, acceptance, and looking at the positives.

Can't blame you Porch. I too will get there if necessary. But for me, that is the most important issue in this election because I honestly believe our country is at risk.

[narciso]

So the UK apparently was close to suffer a mass casualty attack like Paris.

[Ann]

Ignatz Ratzkywatzky | January 24, 2016 at 11:21 AM

If I weren't happily married, I'd propose! ♥

[Porchlight]

Thanks, henry. And Jane.

Now let's watch some football!

[jimmyk]

By the way, the whole "Vote for the least bad" is not necessarily the only way. I remember in '92 when Bush 41 was running against Slick Willy, a friend of mine was prepared to vote for BC because he was so outraged at 41's reneging on his "No new taxes pledge," and felt that punishing 41 was more important than electing the most conservative candidate. I couldn't do it, but I could at least see the point.

But that was when the country was in relatively good shape after the Reagan years, and Bill was not as horrible as his harridan wife. I don't think now is the time to cut off our nose to spite our face, so to speak.

[Ann]

I stayed at the hotel across from the Trump Towers in downtown Chicago this summer.

I would bet Trump gave more than 50,000 to Mayor Rahm Emanuel!

It's called living in Realville. :)

[Truthbetold]

Ann

It's done by awarding contracts to friends of Rahm

[Cecil Turner]

If Trump somehow does win the nomination, which IMO would refudiate your "negatives" argument . . .

Not necessarily . . . High negatives have much less impact on a multi-candidate race. Once it gets down to two (if it ever does), he may have too much momentum/declared delegates to be overtaken.

Cecil, for what it's worth, Newt is supporting Trump . . .

I really don't do endorsements (extrapolating on the principle that telling me how to vote is almost always counterproductive). Besides, Newt was the best of a bad bunch, IMO. We're not getting ready to pick out curtains.

I don't think now is the time to cut off our nose to spite our face, so to speak.

Yet again, I'm not sure he's better than the alternatives. At least Hillary has some concept of using national power to achieve ends. I'm not convinced he does.

[anonamom]

Catching up--but have truer words ever been written??

Ig, earlier today:

As a constitutionalist I'm bothered by his bombast and arrogance, but the fact of the matter is if he were to follow, even slightly, the political philosophy he now advances and were to overreach and go too far in its pursuit and have to be restrained from doing too much, it would be the first time in my life any Republican ever had to reined in rather than kicked in the ass to get moving and take the fight to the other side. That possibility alone would be worth voting for in the general.

[JMHanes]

Clarice:

"How much of the anti-Trump venom is fueled by falsity."

I'd put a lot more stock in the Conservative Treehouse rundown of Trump's putative healthcare positions if they had included links to at least a few of those "verbal statements" and "interviews" from which they gleaned things like his healthcare "replacement policy proposal consisting of patient-centered, market-based reform." Maybe someone else can find a commitment to repealing Obamacare on Trump's Website, but aside from reforming the VA (and who's against that?), healthcare doesn't even seem to get a mention.

I'd be curious about how you see "removing the state regulatory barriers on healthcare insurance exchanges" playing out, btw. In any case, however, quotes from Trump supporting universal healthcare etc. also come from the candidate's verbal statements and interviews and video in 2015, so if you want to make a case for falsity, I think you may be looking the wrong direction. If it's honesty we're going for, it seems safer to say we're deep into "pass the bill to see what's in it" electoral territory.

After reading the section on Social Security, I ended up thinking, bless their little hearts for trying to squeeze Trump into a Republican template, let alone sell him as a conservative, but, it's hard: "When you elevate your economic thinking you begin to see that all of the 'entitlements' or expenditures become more affordable with an economy that is fully functional." Whether the authors are accurately representing Trump's jumbled grasp of global economic issues or their own is hard to say, with, again, no supporting links at all for assessment.

For anyone interested in comparisons, I'll put some candidate issue portal links in a separate post.

[Truthbetold]

Anonamom

Rino's need to be reined in all the time.

[Miss Marple]

Years ago my soon-to-be- ex worked for an engineering firm which did site plans for subdivisions and small shopping centers.

A lot of his work involved schmoozing government employees, doing them favors such as steering them to consultants who could give advice, taking them to lunch, getting a summer job for a relative, etc.

This was in small town Midwest suburbia where we do not have high-powered elected officials, powerful unions, and mob influence.

I will tell you this: if you had angered anyone on the zoning board you would have seen a project stopped dead.

To me, a lot of what happened with Trump is simply what happens when you do big-scale construction in big cities.

By the way, I had on NPR in the car and Garrison Keillor did a 5-minute riff on how horrified he was that we are coming off 8 years of the"coolest" president and now we have a bunch of lunatics who want to the guy who will take us back to 1958. He proceeded to trash Trump and his supporters unmercifully, with much ha-ha-ha from the lemmings in the audience.

I think it will be worth it to vote for Trump just to PO Garrison Keillor. It would be a nice retirement present for that gasbag.

[JMHanes]

Here are the Trump campaign's 5 official Position Statements.

Marco Rubio Issues Have I mentioned how much I hate being asked to watch videos instead of being able to download position papers?

Ted Cruz Issues

Chris Christie Issues

Ben Carson Issues Does anyone think he's still in the running? Certainly nobody here has been talking about him lately.

Rand Paul Issues

I was tempted not to bother with Jeb Bush Issues, but he does take a lot of positions (which you access by an Issues drop-down menu not a portal page), and at least he still thinks he's running.

My gut reaction to Cruz pales beside my reaction to John Kasich , but he's certainly got issues.

Carly Fiorina - I'm including this awful (all video) issues page out of pure sentimentality for a fighter. Maybe a Veep slot?

[Porchlight]

Cecil, Newt hasn't endorsed. I thought his observations, especially since he knows the candidate, were interesting.

[Beasts of England]

Yikes, Buckeye!! ;)

Go Gisele's husband's team!!

[JeanD]

OT to MaryD

Since Beasts has reported that your cookies rock, will you share the recipe?

This is especially urgent now that our NYC JOMers were thwarted in their attempt to meet up and make the rest of us wildly jealous.

We can only take so much taunting out here. :)

[Porchlight]

jimmyk, plus Bill ran fairly convincingly as a centrist. The Clintons as we now know them were not known to the country then.

My dad voted for Clinton in '92 for exactly the reasons you describe, incidentally. He later regretted it, of course.

[anonamom]

JiB--one more time--what grew out of your original cultures?

[Cecil Turner]

Cecil, Newt hasn't endorsed. I thought his observations, especially since he knows the candidate, were interesting.

I found this more interesting:

A remarkable revolution has taken place quietly but certainly in the process of electing a candidate for president.

For the first time since the rise of the television networks, the center of power in conducting the national conversation of presidential politics has shifted from the news media to the political party. That remarkable achievement has been driven by years of hard work, shrewd strategy and courageous decisions led by Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.

I find Newt a fascinating process guy, and a good technical legislator, but . . . on this one, he lost me completely.

[Porchlight]

JMH, I hate having to watch videos, too.

[anonamom]

Ann, 1:37--ditto! And that's why he's featured regularly by clarice.
The writing, I mean--I have no idea if she too has decided they would be a good match. ;-)

Thanks for the tip about the oyster suace on the chuck roast. I have never in my life cooked anything that smelled as wonderful as that did.
And I cooked it for four hours, at 300, so the smell was around all afternoon. FABULOUS!!!

[Mikey Spillane's Fedora]

TBT,

Don't make me start on you again?

[Miss Marple]

It's time for me to get myself busy. I have shipping to get ready for tomorrow and some llistings to get up.

Besides, football is starting and I won't have anything to contribute on that subject.

Enjoy the afternoon, folks!

[Porchlight]

Cecil, I agreed with some but not all of his answers in that WaPo article, but not all. When I hear him interviewed on the radio, which was where I last heard him discussing Trump, he is almost always convincing.

[DebinNC]

Newt: "It took the combination of deep conservative and working class anger at President Obama, the collapse of government (Katrina, the veterans administration,the border, inner city schools, etc) the worst economy for male high school educated workers since the Great Depression , the continuous and growing threat of terrorism and a sense that the Republican leadership couldn't solve things reinforced by the rise of 24/7 news and social media for Trump to dominate. He couldn't have [done that] four or eight years ago."

[henry]

Cecil, that Reince thing scares me. He would screw up selecting a cold beer from ones I stocked in my refrigerator.

[Truthbetold]

MSF

Flail away.

[Janet]

To go with anonamom's 2:00 comment-
MM linked this on another thread - http://www.caintv.com/war-national-review-leads-assa?utm_content=buffereeecc&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

"It's fine and good to say that we stand for these ideas, but at some point the country needs you to stop "standing" for things and start making things happen." ....

"Are you sure it's better to throw in with people who "stand for" all the right things but can't make them happen?"

[maryrose]

Go Broncos!
Believe it or not I like the minor candidates better than the major ones
Carson Fiorina and Kasich and Christie
I have no problem with any of these people
In the current race I rank them Cruz Rubio and then Trump

[MaryD]

Beasts, so glad you finally got the cookies! I was getting nervous! (I also had a great time cutting out the tiger paw!)

JeanD -- the Recipe follows. It's from Tate's Bake Shop in Soutampton, hat tip to JiB.

Tate's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup salted butter, 2 sticks
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Grease or line 2-3 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and salt.
In another large bowl, cream the butter and sugars, then add the water and vanilla. Mix until just combined.
Add eggs to the butter mixture and mix them lightly.
Stir in the flour mixture. When flour is mixed in, fold in the chocolate chips.
Drop 2 tablespoonfuls of the cookie dough 2-inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets. Make sure the cookie sheets are well greased. I like to use parchment paper.
Bake for 12-17 minutes or until the edges and centers of the cookies are golden brown.
Remove from oven and allow to cool on wire racks.

[matt]

Wonderful Pieces, clarice!

"The Democrat caucuses in that state resemble nothing so much as the Zimbabwe farmers-workers meetings where in true Marxist style the layabout operatives who can stay at it longer win the game as everyone else goes home to work or tend to their family obligations."

Classic...... But I think the Democrat Party organizations are that way in most states. Next, Bernie will ensure they will be renamed the All Soviet People's Bicycle, Abortion and Green Energy Collectives. The Ned Ludd Chapter will be in Burlington, VT.

Just back from a 5 mile hike up one of the local mountains and back with one of my godsons. A beautiful day.

[Cecil Turner]

When I hear him interviewed on the radio, which was where I last heard him discussing Trump, he is almost always convincing.

I'm to radio like JMH is to videos. (Though I heartily concur on videos, too.)

And it's long past time for the pre-game show. Cheers!

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

-- At least Hillary has some concept of using national power to achieve ends.--

Yeah, but she uses national power for her own or just plain idiotic ends rather than the nation's;
Reset Russia, open-hearth-furnace Syria and 'We came, we saw, he died' Libya being prime examples, not to mention Yemen, Egypt, Iraq and Somalia and even further not to mention China's virtually unchallenged electronic warfare and espionage against us and neighborhood bullying of our allies.

After twenty years of half finished or half fought wars left and right and the US in a more precarious position than before I'm ready for somebody whose idea of the national interest is building a massive military to deter our major threats and only using it when absolutely necessary to utterly smash and destroy our actual, dangerous enemies rather than the marginal and annoying ones.

I'd also prefer a little judicious consideration of what countries stand some minimal chance of rehabilitation into an actual nation-state and which ones [the vast majority] should be left to stew in their own homicidal tribal impulses.

[anonamom]

Yep, Ig.

Truly cannot fathom how a an unknown unknown is more concerning than the known known of HRC is to anybody who hangs here besides DD.

[Mikey Spillane's Fedora]

MaryD

There is also gluten free Tate's. I pack Tate's for Frederick's lunch.

Thanks for posting and getting the word out.

Go Pats. Go Broncos. May the best team win

[derwill]

Regarding the electability thing . . .

From Reuters 5-day rolling average poll of Republican primary voters:

The top three "unelectable" outsiders
Trump - 38%
Cruz - 11%
Carson - 11%

The top three "electable" establishment favorites
Rubio - 8.5%
Jeb - 6%
Kasich - 3%

So the top three so-called electable Republican candidates are only electable to 20% of their own party combined. (And if Jeb!'s super PAC keeps wasting their money running negative ads against Rubio for committing the sin of not waiting his turn, that percentage could fall even further. ) While those dastardly unelectable outsiders are currently garnering 60%.

So here's the reality as I see it today. The race is now between Trump and Cruz, with Trump as the odds on favorite. If the GOPe and the party pundits had had the brains to put their voice and money behind Rubio instead of Jeb!, they might have been able to propel him to the nomination, but I think that ship has already sailed now, and in any event they're still doing their darnedest to tear Rubio down. Stupid, if you're them, but then stupid is as stupid does.

The GOPe and their pundits haven't accepted it yet, but they have lost control of the party, when 60% of their own voters don't want to vote for someone who is one of them.

Oh, and Trump doesn't need to raise his unfavorables as long as he can make Hillary's unfavorables worse than his. Given how he's conducted his campaign thus far, I suspect he will do everything in his power to do so, and Lord knows, she is a ripe target.

IVR.

[pagar a bacon, ham and sausage supporter]

Here is all you need to know about Hillary and her team. She should be in jail NOW along with a good many of her team members.

http://www.weaselzippers.us/252680-hillarys-team-copied-intel-off-top-secret-networks-to-unsecure-email/

Every single one of the members of her team had to know this violated many many Laws. The fact that she is being allowed to run for President of the USA is INSANE.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

I give Hillary slightly less than 50/50 odds of being the nominee.

[daddy]

Clarice (and Iggy),

Great Pieces today. Good Morning!

What's shaking?

[clarice]

Richard Lowry:“the only presidential candidate from either party about whom there is a palpable excitement”.

Charles Krauthammer: “Obama would be a president with the political intelligence of a Bill Clinton harnessed to the steely self-discipline of a Vladimir Putin”, who would “bestride the political stage as largely as did Reagan.”

Bill Kristol:“I look forward to Obama’s inauguration with a surprising degree of hope and good cheer.”

Larry Kudlow: “[Obama] loves to deal with both sides of the issue.” “He revels in the back and forth. And he wants to keep the dialogue going with conservatives.”
http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2016/01/22/reminder-donald-trumps-2016-nro-critics-were-president-obamas-2009-fan-boys/ citing the New Yorker

[daddy]

1st blood, Denver!