Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Katie Cowlick


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Now starring in "The Jayson Blair Witch Project".

Katie, of course, is in the news for her dishonest editing of an interview with gun rights activists. In her video, she asked a rather banal question, with a definite anti-gun bias, and then inserted several seconds of video where the interviewees were sitting in silence, some with their heads bowed, as if they were dumbfounded by the profundity of her question. In reality, they answered without hesitation, and it is we who are dumbfounded at the blatant dishonesty of someone trying to pass this Michael Moore style crap off as a documentary.

Monday, May 30, 2016

The Forever Young Who So Willingly Paid The Price Of Our Freedom

There are places where America’s war dead are best known and still mourned.  Section 60 in Arlington National Cemetery is but one example and yet stone sentinels of forgotten military men jut out from rolling grassy hills all across this country.  Some have not seen a single visitor kneel at their graveside for more than a century.

Known originally as Decoration Day as proclaimed by Gen. John Logan on May 5, 1868, the special day was borne out of the desire to honor the Union war dead and decorate their graves with flowers. 

By the 20th century, competing Union and Confederate holiday traditions, celebrated on different days, had merged, and Memorial Day eventually extended to honor all Americans.

Our co-bloggers Proof and Adrienne join me in offering our thoughts and prayers to all those who are grieving.  Nothing we say can lessen your sorrow, but we do know your loved ones are in the arms of God guarding the gates of Heaven.

Flowing Curves Of Beauty

“I had a dream I named my boat after you. I love to raise your mast.” 






Sunday, May 29, 2016

A Petulant President Scurried Like A Rat To Hiroshima

I’m beginning to loathe the very sight of The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer.

On Friday, May 27th he became the first sitting US president to visit Hiroshima, the most potent symbol of the dawning of the nuclear age where the dropping of the first atomic bomb helped end World War II.

Media outlets throughout the globe used honeyed words to describe the event:
“In a solemn ceremony on a sunwashed afternoon, Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe placed wreaths before the cenotaph, a simple arched stone monument at Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park.” 
“Only the clicking of camera shutters intruded on the moment as Obama closed his eyes and briefly bowed his head.” 
“Then, after each leader gave brief remarks, Obama approached two aging survivors of the bombing who were seated in the front row, standing in for the thousands still seared by memories of that day.”
For those who were born after the end of the global conflagration, anti-American historical revisionism sanitized accounts of that day do little to explain what led to President Harry Truman’s decision to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

On August 6, 1945 returning to America from the Potsdam Conference, Truman was informed that the bomb had been dropped.  Aboard the USS Augusta in the mid-Atlantic ocean, he informed the nation:
“Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima and destroyed its usefulness to the enemy. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of TNT. It had more than two thousand times the blast power of the British "Grand Slam" which is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare.” 
“The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor. They have been repaid many fold. [Emphasis mine]  And the end is not yet. With this bomb we have now added a new and revolutionary increase in destruction to supplement the growing power of our armed forces. In their present form these bombs are now in production and even more powerful forms are in development.” 
“It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.” 
“Before 1939, it was the accepted belief of scientists that it was theoretically possible to release atomic energy. But no one knew any practical method of doing it. By 1942, however, we knew that the Germans were working feverishly to find a way to add atomic energy to the other engines of war with which they hoped to enslave the world. But they failed. We may be grateful to Providence that the Germans got the V-1's and V-2's late and in limited quantities and even more grateful that they did not get the atomic bomb at all.” 
“The battle of the laboratories held fateful risks for us as well as the battles of the air, land, and sea, and we have now won the battle of the laboratories as we have won the other battles.” 
[SKIP] 
“We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake; we shall completely destroy Japan's power to make war.” 
“It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July 26 was issued at Potsdam. Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces in such number that and power as they have not yet seen and with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware.”
In the summer of 1945, the city of Tokyo was decimated in the firebombing which killed about 100,000 people.  Even so, the Japanese refused to surrender.

The near instant death of thousands in Hiroshima had to be followed by a second bombing of Nagasaki three days later to prove to the Japanese that America could annihilate them.

Between 50 and 80 million people died during the war.  The death toll for the Japanese on their soil was a small price to pay to prevent the casualties of perhaps millions more had the war in the Pacific ground on.

The Japanese Imperial Army committed scores of war crimes.  Thousands died in the Bataan Death March because of the brutality of their captors who starved and beat the Filipino and American marchers.

In 1942 about 3,500 men, British and Australian, had been brought to Sandakan camp to build an airfield for the Japanese.  Suffering from Allied bombing raids, the Japanese decided to march the POWs 164 miles into the jungle interior to Ranau. None of the approximately 800 British POWs survived the ordeal of the march and accompanying massacres and atrocities. Only six Australians were alive at the end of the war.

In February of 1942, a group of 21 nurses and a large group of men, women and children evacuated to Johor Baharu in Malaya after the Japanese invaded.  The ship they boarded was sunk by Japanese aircraft near Radji Beach on Banka Island.  They swam ashore and were joined the next day by about 100 British soldiers.  The Japanese killed the men then motioned the nurses to wade into the sea then machine-gunned them from behind in what is known as the Banka Island Massacre.

There were also horrific accounts of cannibalism.in Wewak, New Guinea and the book Flyboys recounts how Lt. Col. George Herbert Walker Bush was among nine airmen who escaped from their planes after being shot down during bombing raids in Chichi Jima.  He was the only one to evade capture by the Japanese.

The other eight “flyboys” were tortured, beaten and then executed, either by beheading with swords or by multiple stab wounds from bayonets and sharpened bamboo stakes. Four were then butchered by the island garrison's surgeons and their livers and meat from their thighs eaten by senior Japanese officers.

Their horrific fate was established in subsequent war crimes trials on the island of Guam, but details were sealed in top secret files in Washington to spare their families distress.

Curtis Houck, writing for Media Research Center noted that notorious liar Brian Williams appeared on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports to “throw some shade in the direction of the US military and then-President Harry Truman complaining that ‘we’re the only nation to have used them [atomic bombs] in anger” against the horrifying Axis Powers member.

The Washington Free Beacon reported that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will not be visiting Pearl Harbor to reciprocate Obama’s visit to Hiroshima.

On the 75th anniversary of the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which killed more than 2,400 Americans, President Obama also will not visit Pearl Harbor.  This is odd given the fact that he spent much of his childhood in Hawaii.

I found Obama’s Hiroshima visit repugnant.  This is the weekend we commemorate Americans who fell on the battlefield including those who died fighting a war the Japanese started.

The atomic bomb gave Japan its postwar mission for peace Obama doesn’t understand this.  His ideological world has little or nothing to do with American reality.

There are simply not enough expletives to adequately express my disgust with this man’s disgraceful apologies to nations undeserving of them.

UPDATE:  Welcome readers of The Pirate’s Cove and thanks to the Admiral for linking to this post.

Friday, May 27, 2016

I'm A Pathological Liar


Loathsome Gasbag Alan Grayson

Remember loathsome gasbag Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL)? 

He’s the idiot who described the Republican Party's health care plan as "die quickly" and who later equated the health care system to an American holocaust.  Grayson also suggested former vice president Dick Cheney was a vampire who could turn into a bat and fly away at a moment's notice.

When he lost his congressional reelection battle in 2010 to opponent Daniel Webster, he called Webster “Taliban Dan”.  When congressional redistricting allowed Grayson to retake his seat, he went on Al Sharpton’s now defunct MSNBC television show to accuse Republicans of legislative terrorism.

Grayson is a despicable piece of garbage.  I rank him right up there with the likes of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, Al Franken and Chuck Schumer.
“It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.”—Ronald Reagan
The mouthy Grayson is facing yet another uphill battle in his bid to be elected to the US Senate.  He’s facing Patrick Murphy who has repeatedly criticized him over ethical questions about his management of a Cayman Islands-based hedge fund. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has called for Grayson to quit the race, saying he has no moral compass. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have endorsed Murphy, as has the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Allegations published in the New York Times and Tampa Bay Times reported Grayson was trading off his power as a congressman. Bloomberg recently reported his family profited from slave labor in Africa. He’s under a congressional ethics investigation, which in March released a 1,000-page report finding he probably broke the law by using his office to operate the aforementioned hedge fund.

Murphy and Grayson are seeking the seat Republican Marco Rubio is giving up after his failed presidential campaign. Republicans running for the seat include Congressmen David Jolly and Ron DeSantis, Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera and businessmen Carlos Beruff and Todd Wilcox.

Recently CNN reported the bad blood between Dirty Harry Reid and the bully reached a crescendo at a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill in which he confronted Reid “only to be shut down and told he hopes Grayson loses his primary race.”

Reid's spokeswoman, Kristin Orthman, blasted Grayson in a statement about the exchange, saying, Reid "was honored to be invited by the Congressional Progressive Caucus to discuss issues on which he and they can work together. Alan Grayson decided to be disruptive, to the embarrassment of his fellow colleagues."

Thursday, May 26, 2016

They Left The Vivid Air Signed With Their Honor

An aerial view of the American cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, near Omaha beach, site of the vast military operation by Allied forces in Normandy, which turned the tide of World War II, eventually leading to the liberation of occupied France and the end of the war against Nazi Germany. 
(Photo credit JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)


As many of you champ at the bit waiting for the three day weekend commemorating Memorial Day to start, I wanted to take a moment to share my thoughts on the magnitude of what this “holiday” means to America.

President Ronald Reagan, speaking at Arlington National Cemetery in 1982, noted that Abraham Lincoln dedicated a small cemetery at Gettysburg marking a terrible collision between the armies of the North and South.  He concluded that Lincoln was wrong when he said, “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; while it can never forget what they did here.”

Reagan said, “His remarks commemorating those who gave their ‘last full measure of devotion’ were long remembered.  But since that moment at Gettysburg, few other such addresses have become part of our national heritage—not because of the inadequacy of the speakers, but because of the inadequacy of words.”
“I have no illusions about what little I can add now to the silent testimony of those who gave their lives willingly for their country. Words are even more feeble on this Memorial Day, for the sight before us is that of a strong and good nation that stands in silence and remembers those who were loved and who, in return, loved their countrymen enough to die for them.”
On Memorial Day or any other day, the cemeteries for those Americans who fell in battle offer profound lessons.

In 1950, four-star General Mark W. Clark wrote about returning to Italy after World War II was won. It was Memorial Day, as it happened, and Clark was with his wife.
“We visited the American cemetery at Anzio and saw the curving rows of white crosses that spoke so eloquently of the price that America and her Allies had paid for the liberation of Italy,” he wrote. “If ever proof were needed that we fought for a cause and not for conquest, it could be found in these cemeteries. Here was our only conquest:  all we asked of Italy was enough of her soil to bury our gallant dead."
How can we remember those who have sacrificed their lives for our country?  To honor its war dead who remained overseas, the United States maintains 24 permanent military cemeteries; 22 of them in 8 countries follow the path of American forces in World War I and World War II in the European Theater and the Pacific Theater of the global conflict.  These are some of the most highly maintained shrines of their nature in the world.  Among the graves are tales of dedication and heroism for the nation.

Beneath the neatly patterned white crosses and Stars of David lie the remains of 125,000 Americans. There are 94,000 more names commemorated on Walls of the Missing whose bodies were never found. Dignified and serene, they were created to honor America's fallen, but they are also intended to inspire and eloquently teach the living the scope of their sacrifice and loss in the sweep of history.

The next few paragraphs are dedicated to my friends who are veterans of Vietnam.  I bear no shame in telling you that I revered Ronald Reagan.  No one did more to heal the nation with his optimism and patriotism and the promise that America was indeed a land that God had blessed.

On Veteran’s Day 1984, President Reagan spoke at the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Statue.
“Those who fought in Vietnam are part of us, part of our history. They reflected the best in us. No number of wreaths, no amount of music and memorializing will ever do them justice but it is good for us that we honor them and their sacrifice. And it's good that we do it in the reflected glow of the enduring symbols of our Republic.” 
“The fighting men depicted in the statue we dedicate today, the three young American servicemen, are individual only in terms of their battle dress; all are as one, with eyes fixed upon the memorial bearing the names of their brothers in arms. On their youthful faces, faces too young to have experienced war, we see expressions of loneliness and profound love and a fierce determination never to forget.” 
“The men of Vietnam answered the call of their country. Some of them died in the arms of many of you here today, asking you to look after a newly born child or care for a loved one. They died uncomplaining. The tears staining their mud-caked faces were not for self-pity but for the sorrow they knew the news of their death would cause their families and friends.” 
“As you knelt alongside his litter and held him one last time, you heard his silent message—he asked you not to forget.” 
“When you returned home, you brought solace to the loved ones of those who fell, but little solace was given to you. Some of your countrymen were unable to distinguish between our native distaste for war and the stainless patriotism of those who suffered its scars. But there's been a rethinking there, too. And now we can say to you, and say as a nation: Thank you for your courage. Thank you for being patient with your countrymen. Thank you. Thank you for continuing to stand with us together.” 
“The men and women of Vietnam fought for freedom in a place where liberty was in danger. They put their lives in danger to help a people in a land far away from their own. Many sacrificed their lives in the name of duty, honor, and country. All were patriots who lit the world with their fidelity and courage.”
Please stay safe this weekend.  Enjoy your freedom and thank you for your readership.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

BREAKING: State Department Audit Faults Clinton In Emails

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A State Department audit has faulted Hillary Clinton and previous secretaries of state for poorly managing email and other computer information and slowly responding to new cybersecurity risks.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report by the agency's inspector general Wednesday.
It cites "longstanding, systemic weaknesses" related to communications. These started before Clinton's appointment as secretary of state, but her failures were singled out as more serious.
The review came after revelations Clinton exclusively used a private email account and server while in office. Clinton is now the likely Democratic presidential nominee.
The 78-page report says the department and its secretaries were "slow to recognize and to manage effectively the legal requirements and cybersecurity risks associated with electronic data communications, particularly as those risks pertain to its most senior leadership."


The Homefront Went to War

Sometime when I was in my late teens or early twenties, I visited a stationery store in downtown Stockton. Back in the day when big box office supply stores had not yet been invented and people quaintly still wrote letters. This one was having a clearance sale of some sort, presaging the going out of business sale that was destined to come. The store closed its doors years ago.

I came across several boxes of Bibles...New Testaments, actually. Pocket sized and...armored! What the well dressed G.I. should be carrying! There have been anecdotes about people carrying a Bible or something in their left breast pocket stopping a bullet. James Doohan, "Scottie" from the USS Enterprise:
Doohan was hit by six rounds fired from a Bren gun by a nervous Canadian sentry: four in his leg, one in the chest, and one through his right middle finger. The bullet to his chest was stopped by a silver cigarette case given to him by his brother.
And they say smoking will kill you!

The primary market for this product, I suspect, was people on the homefront. Anxious mothers, girl friends, relatives seeking to provide some added measure of protection, both physical and perhaps spiritual, to those they loved, would buy these and give them or send them to those within the sound of shots fired in anger. I doubt that many G.I.s bought them for themselves, since at that age, most of them, like myself, believed themselves to be at least vaguely bulletproof.

Some were called “The Heart-Shield Bible". They came with different sayings engraved on them. The ones I saw weren't gold plated or coated. Some had a message from FDR in them*. All of them had a message from Jesus Christ. Hard to say how many of them were actually read and how many of them were simply tokens or talismans, carried to ease their loved ones' minds.

But I'm sure they carried a little bit of home in their left breast pocket. A token of the love felt for them by those back on the home front. Those who wanted them to return to them when the war was finally over. And did the only thing, other than praying, that they knew that they could do.

*Could you possibly imagine a message from our current Commander-in-Chief, printed in a Bible, Koran or Torah, encouraging our troops, "commending the reading... to all who serve in the armed forces of the United States"?  Me neither.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Bernie’s Getting A Little Cocky

Allies of Hillary are sweating bullets over polling that suggests a tightening general election match-up with Donald Trump.  Guess who they’re blaming—the 74-year-old milksop socialist Bernie Sanders. 

They say the long primary fight with the senator from Vermont looks like it could go all the way to the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia.

Sanders, speaking to The Associated Press yesterday said he had a "shot" at winning the June 7 California primary against Clinton and said, given his delegate deficit, it was "imperative" that he perform well.

"What happens if I win a major victory in California? Will people say, 'Oh, we're really enthusiastic about Hillary Clinton despite the fact that Bernie Sanders has now won whatever it may be, 25 states, half the states?'" he said.

If that happens, he added, superdelegates "may rethink that. That is why you want the process to play out."

Just this afternoon, the AP reported the Sanders campaign requested a recanvass in Kentucky’s primary where he trails Hillary by less than one-half of 1 percent of the vote.  It’s interesting to note that AP never called the race despite her slight lead just in case the old codger decided to ask for the recanvass.

Today, while at a rally in Anaheim, ol’ Bernie talked about how his campaign has gotten the youth vote motivated.

“What does it tell us?' Sanders asked.  “It tells us and it should tell the country and certainly the leadership of the Democratic Party that our ideas and our vision is the future of America,” he said.   He went on to tell supporters that a win in the Golden State could keep his bid going imploring them, “If we win California big we're going to go marching into the Democratic Convention with a lot of momentum. And if we go marching into the Democratic Convention with a lot of momentum we're going to march out with the Democratic nomination. And if we march out with the Democratic nomination, Donald Trump is toast,' Sanders concluded. 

With polls showing Trump on the verge of overtaking the Hag from Hell, Sanders can make his case even more loudly.

And just for shits and giggles, here’s a Tweet from my favorite parody account as a palate cleanser because that’s how we roll here:

Dad Surprises Son In Unbelievable Way

Marine Staff Sgt. John York has been deployed three times, but this last deployment was his first since his son Bryson was born.  He would be 7,000 miles away.  He decided to celebrate all the holidays he would miss with his son in the precious 10 days of pre-deployment leave.

The father-son duo went trick-or-treating together.  John went to every neighbor’s house on the block and he had candy that he handed to them so they’d be ready when his son rang the doorbell.
Santa came early with wrapped gifts delivered under a decorated Christmas tree and for his 4th birthday, which the two celebrated early, he got a brand new bike.
Although enjoying the holidays early was an amazing treat for their little boy, having a video keepsake of those moments was an even better treat for John.
The father and son have a bond that John’s wife Priscilla says she’d “never be able to match.”

November Is Trumping

This election cycle is like no other in my lifetime.  Honestly, when my state held its presidential primary I did not vote.  My reason?  I hadn’t settled on a candidate.  I vacillated between Ben Carson, Scott Walker and Carly Fiorina.  I knew I wanted no part of Jeb or the rest of the field.

Now, after a primary season that was nearly as brutal as the saga of Westeros and the battle for the Iron Throne, we are left with a doddering socialist, a bitter and corrupt hag and a real estate gasbag vying for the most significant office in the world.

Interesting times.

With just over five months left before the general election, the polls are tied: The RealClearPolitics.com average of recent polls in the presidential race shows Trump with 43.4 percent and Hillary with 43.2 percent.  All four of the polls sponsored or co-sponsored by television news networks show both candidates within statistically indistinguishable percentages: Fox News and ABC/Washington Post have Trump narrowly ahead, while NBC/Wall Street Journal and CBS/New York Times have Clinton narrowly ahead.

The Washington Times points out that more than 10 percent of registered voters are still reporting themselves as undecided. 

The pundit class and media lapdogs remain flummoxed as we are just weeks away from the Republican National Convention in Cleveland July 18-21 and the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia July 25-28.

The graph below from Real Clear Politics reveals the looming “death cross” for Clinton and the “golden cross” for Trump.


Back in July of 2015 Clinton led Trump in the polls 53.3 to 33.7.  Six months later in December, Clinton’s lead narrowed to 47.0 to 43.5 and now Trump holds a 0.2% lead.

Fasten your seat belts kiddies…

Monday, May 23, 2016

Veterans Aren’t Tourists Yet VA Delivers Mickey Mouse Service

“Disneyland remains the central attraction of Southern California, but the graveyard remains our reality.”

WASHINGTON TIMES— Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald on Monday compared the length of time veterans wait to receive health care at the VA to the length of time people wait for rides at Disneyland, and said his agency shouldn't use wait times as a measure of success because Disney doesn't either.

"When you go to Disney, do they measure the number of hours you wait in line? Or what's important? What's important is what your satisfaction with the experience is," McDonald said Monday during a Christian Science Monitor breakfast with reporters. "And what I would like to move to, eventually, is that kind of measure."

McDonald's comments angered House Speaker Paul Ryan, who tweeted out Monday afternoon, "This is not make-believe, Mr. Secretary. Veterans have died waiting in those lines."

McDonald faced questions at the breakfast about the VA's lack of transparency surrounding how long veterans must wait to receive care at VA facilities around the country. The agency has weathered controversy over the past several years due to its struggle to provide timely care for many patients.

The VA secretary said most veterans report being satisfied with their care and argued that the average wait time for a veteran seeking VA treatment is only a matter of days.

He said he did not believe a measure called the "create date," which gauges a veteran's wait time by counting from the day the veteran first requests care, was a "valid measure" of a veteran's VA experience.

The Government Accountability Office released a report in April exploring the metric used to count a veterans' wait time, called the "preferred date." The measure does not count from the time a veteran first calls to make an appointment.

Independent Journal Review reached out to the Disney Corporation for comment on the assertion that it did not measure wait lines.

A Disney Theme Parks spokesperson responded by phone to deny this claim:
“We take wait times very seriously. We continually push the boundaries to give our guests the best experience possible. A large team of highly trained industrial engineers are tasked with improving our guest’s experiences, from transportation, to guest flow, to ride comfort and certainly wait times.
One of the things we take great pride in is if you have a wait time at our parks, your wait is enjoyable. We call this the Disney Difference. We recently remodeled the Dumbo ride, doubling its size and adding a Big Top area for families waiting for the ride. This area is a huge, interactive, air conditioned area for children to play in and where adults can relax with a buzzer they receive that notifies them when their spot is ready on the ride.” 
 The spokesperson added:
“If you wait at the Haunted Mansion there are musical tombstones that will sing to you. There is a flowing honey wall at the Winnie the Poo ride. We designed animated crabs for The Little Mermaid waiting area which will interact with you and play games while you wait.
We take every facet of the guest experience very seriously. If you have to wait, you should have fun while doing it.”

When asked why the VA Secretary would use their company as an example for wait lines, the Disney spokesperson said:
“I’m not sure. This company was founded by veterans. Roy Disney was an officer in the U.S. Navy and Walt drove an ambulance in France assisting service members directly after WWI.”

Flowing Curves Of Beauty

There is nothing more beautiful than a vulnerable heart in open hands.





Thursday, May 19, 2016

Newt Gingrich for Vice President?

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There's a rumor making the rounds that Newt Gingrich is not only on Donald Trump's short list of VPs, but that he is the favorite. He certainly has been making the rounds of the talking head programs talking up his buddy Trump. Trump could do a lot worse than Newtie. Of course, Newt comes with some baggage that might not set well with some women voters. So, let's take a look at some of the pros and cons of a Gingrich vice presidency.

On the plus side, Newt is really smart. He's formally educated. He's literate. He's the anti-Trump  in this regard. He was the architect and prime mover behind the Contract with America which gave control of the House of Representatives to Republicans, providing balance to the Clinton profligacy, forcing him to balance the national budget, implementing welfare reforms and any number of good things whose successes Bill Clinton took credit for.

Newt knows the ins and outs of getting things done in Washington. He will surely make mincemeat out of anyone the Democrats can dig up in a VP debate. And Newt is fully qualified to assume the Oval Office if, God forbid, something should ever happen to the president. In his presidential bid in 2012, after standing up against a biased media, there was a time when it looked like Newt might take the lead, but it was short lived.* Newt would have been, IMHO, a better candidate than Mitt.

Now the negatives. Newt is not the best liked of politicians. I mentioned a week or so back that a friend of mine from high school demonstrated a visceral hatred of Newt at the mere mention of his name. She repeated the liberal narrative, that Newt had callously handed his first wife her divorce papers while she was laying a hospital bed, racked with disease. And while I don't believe the narrative is true, nonetheless, I doubt her disgust of Newt has moderated any over the years.

Then, there's the question of trade agreements. Newt mentioned just this week that he was the whip that drove NAFTA through the House. Last I heard, NAFTA was still anathema to union guys on the Left. Supposedly there are Bernie voters who talk about gravitating to Trump should Hillary prevail as the Democrat candidate. Now imagine them being asked to hold their nose and vote for a ticket with the father of NAFTA on it? That could prove problematic.

Newt is a brilliant man but he has image problems. Even though in an ideal world that shouldn't matter, in the United States of Kardashia, JFK trumps a Nixon, Reagan trumps Carter and those guys from Air Force One and Independence Day inspire confidence with their square jawed manliness. Newt looks like the kid who gets his lunch money taken away from him.

Will a ticket of two, old white men prevail over the first woman president and a designated minion to be chosen later? Ya pays your money, ya takes your chances!

*Newt and his wife Callista flew off for a vacation in Hawaii in the wake of a very successful debate, reminiscent of Evelle Younger, who, after debating Jerry Brown during his first California gubernatorial re-election bid, flew off to Hawaii with his wife, while Gov. Moonbeam stayed behind, and took to the airwaves of Sacramento radio stations to lie and misrepresent what Younger had said the night before. Both the Gingrichs and the Youngers came back sun-kissed and kissing their elections goodbye.