Another Magnificent Bastard

Ever since November 9, 2016 we have been inundated with a media clinging to the Russian collusion theory that goes way beyond the bounds of rationality.  It must be true, even if it isn't.  This week they think they’ve found the smoking gun in Donald Trump, Jr.  Next week it will be something else.  None of it, in the final analysis, has anything to do with actual collusion.

Enter Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA).  Brat stunned House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in 2014 in the Republican primary going on to win a seat in Congress.

On Friday, Brat was being interviewed by CNN’s justice correspondent Pamela Brown.  Her first question to Brat, “Nancy Pelosi just said that Republicans are enablers.”

Noting Democrats want to impeach the President without any evidence of criminal wrongdoing Brat said, “What you gotta do is just name the statute that’s been violated.  Democrats are upset that Trump won the election and so they’ve been saying ‘impeach, impeach’ since day one.  My Senators from Virginia are getting apoplectic,” Brat argued. “Mark Warner’s seeing smoke everywhere he goes like he’s in a Cheech and Chong movie and [Tim] Kaine now thinks the son is worse than Benedict Arnold.”

“There’s collusion everywhere but the question is whether a statue has been violated,” Brat declared.  “There’s collusion between CNN and the DCCC and the Washington Post and I don’t complain about that–it’s not illegal.  I think it’s unethical but it’s not illegal.”

Laura Ingraham May Challenge Tim Kaine For His Senate Seat In Virginia

Something that’s been tumbling around the Internet for a while now seems to have gained enough steam that today on Fox & Friends, conservative radio talk show host Laura Ingraham stated she is eyeing a senate run against Hillary’s crutch Tim Kaine in 2018.

The UVA Law School grad, former attorney and Reagan speechwriter said she's been flattered by several "well-connected" people in Virginia asking her to be a candidate.

Laura Ingraham announces she is considering a Senate run in Virginia challenging Sen. @timkaine. @IngrahamAngle @foxandfriends pic.twitter.com/TaCT55Q07U

— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 17, 2017

Ed Morrissey of Hot Air noted, “It’s not difficult to understand why party leaders in Virginia would want Ingraham in the race. She’s sharp, well attuned to the state’s politics, and most importantly a well-known conservative whose personality would provide an immediate contrast to the current, somewhat-less-than-exciting incumbent. Unlike others who might get drafted into that position through the normal bench in Virginia, Kaine won’t overshadow Ingraham in a straight-up fight.”

“Ingraham is to be taken seriously. It certainly would make the Virginia Senate race a national affair, and that alone would help Republicans in a midterm fight if they can manage to accomplish the biggest parts of their agenda up front in 2017. It certainly won’t be dull. At least, not on the Republican side,” added Morrissey.

The Republican primary could be crowded. Both Barbara Comstock and Dave Brat are considering a bid, and Brat has already been singled out by Kaine as a top challenger. And there are reports that former Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, a 2010 California Senate candidate, also wants to run in Virginia.

Comstock was sworn in to the 115th Congress on January 3rd marking her second term representing the people of Virginia’s 10th Congressional District.

Brat is most known for toppling then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a 2014 primary.  Cantor arrogantly assumed he had the Speaker of the House position locked up when John Boehner retired.  Boehner, you’ll recall was replaced by Paul Ryan.

Few people did more than Ingraham and Mark Levin to propel Brat from obscurity to national conservative hero.  According to Ingraham the [Republican] party leadership “needed a jolt.” Cantor was not seen as “conservative enough”.   

At a huge event held at the Dominion Club, a tennis and golf club not far from Cantor’s home outside Richmond, Ingraham asked the crowd, “Who do you think Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi want to win this primary? Why do they want Eric Cantor to win?  They want Eric Cantor to win because Eric Cantor is an ally in the fight for immigration amnesty.”

I suspect Tim Kaine possesses an exaggerated sense of self-importance much like Cantor did; perhaps more.

If Laura Ingraham does light the fuse on her candidacy, Kaine had better polish his circus act by not being an over-caffeinated, overtly rude attack dog.  His memorization of a laundry list of blatant lies and catchy zingers ain’t gonna cut it.  Ms. Ingraham wrote the book on zingers.  Of Thee I Zing

CNN conducted a poll immediately following the Vice Presidential Debate. Political Director, David Chalian, admitted the makeup of those polled was skewed more Democrat.  The results showed 67% thought Mike Pence performed better than expected and 43% believed Kaine performed worse than expected.  The Russians could not be reached for comment.

I like the sound of “Senator Ingraham” don’t you? 

Dear @IngrahamAngle, please tell me where I can donate to your campaign. Do you need volunteers? Where and when? https://t.co/nIFV3F7wYD

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) January 16, 2017

Curmudgeonly Cartoons: The People’s Eyebrow

Harmonica Boy Gets A Spanking

The rough-and-tumble of polarized politics was on full display last night during the Vice Presidential Debate.

Both major parties are more cemented in their ideologies than they were a generation ago and there are few signs of partisan swords being turned into plowshares.  Given the divide, I found it remarkable that MSNBC’s Chris Matthews declared Gov. Mike Pence the winner of last night’s debate.

MSNBC's Chris Matthews declares Mike Pence the "winner" https://t.co/cf2VVVApoE #VPDebate pic.twitter.com/TSeGSTtvVx

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) October 5, 2016

Even CNN’s flash poll declared Pence the winner:

JUST IN: CNN flash poll declares Mike Pence the #VPDebate winner https://t.co/vL2hR7qomG pic.twitter.com/RDck4rbHG3

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) October 5, 2016

The Business Insider noted Sally Kohn, another liberal CNN commentator, tweeted there "is no question that, for viewers, Pence won this debate.”

Chris Cillizza deigned Kaine a loser in The Washington Post:

“Someone must have told the Virginia senator he needed to always be on his front foot in the debate, always be the aggressor.  It didn't work. Kaine started the debate talking so quickly and trying to load so many Trump attacks into every answer that it made it virtually impossible to grasp any one attack.  In the middle of the debate, Kaine seemed to relax into it—delivering an effective attack on Trump's comments on women. But that Kaine was the exception, not the rule. When he wasn't trying to stuff 10 pounds of attack in a five-pound bag in his answers, he was relentlessly interrupting Pence.  Every single time. [emphasis mine] Pence started to level an attack against Hillary Clinton, Kaine immediately began to talk over him.  I'm not sure if that was on purpose or not, but it didn't come across well—at all. One glaring example:  As Pence was recounting his personal experience on Sept. 11, 2001, Kaine interrupted to say, ‘I was in Virginia.’ Um, okay. Not a good look.”

Elaine Quijano, last night’s moderator chided, “Gentlemen, the people at home cannot understand either one of you when you speak over each other.”

CBS News went back through each section of the debate and counted every time a candidate interrupted his opponent during his two minutes to respond to a question. Here are the results:

Part 1 (Opening statements): 0 Kaine, 0 Pence

Part 2 (Trustworthiness): 6 Kaine, 4 Pence

Part 3 (National debt and Trump’s taxes): 7 Kaine, 5 Pence

Part 4 (Social Security): 2 Kaine, 0 Pence

Part 5 (Law enforcement): 4 Kaine, 2 Pence

Part 6 (Immigration): 5 Kaine, 2 Pence

Part 7 (Terrorism): 9 Kaine, 6 Pence

Part 8 (Syria): 3 Kaine, 4 Pence

Part 9 (Russia): 12 Kaine, 10 Pence

Part 10 (North Korea): 5 Kaine, 1 Pence

Part 11 (Abortion, social issues): 7 Kaine, 3 Pence

Part 12 (Closing statements): 0 Kaine, 0 Pence

Total: 60 Kaine, 37 Pence

Granny Clinton waited to congratulate her running mate until around 11:45 AM Wednesday according to her traveling press secretary Nick Merrill.  I suspect she was elated he didn’t perform a rendition of “Wagon Wheel” on his harmonica.  From the look on Granny’s face she ain’t happy with him one little bit.

"I look forward to working with you when you go back to the Senate." --Pence to Kaine

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) October 5, 2016

Talking Timmy Doll

Trump Eats Baby At Virginia Rally

When Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer for Fox News Science reported 1,650 foot-wide asteroid Bennu scheduled to hit Earth late in the 22nd century was not nearly big enough to pose an existential threat to the planet; Sweet Meteor O’ Death chided the writer.

SMH. Didn't even bother to ask for comment. Where did you go to J-School? Princeton? https://t.co/Qcp3tpbaDQ

— Sweet Meteor O'Death (@smod2016) August 2, 2016

@TwitchyTeam Completely misleading report from NASA. This year's extinction-level asteroid impact is still on schedule.

— Sweet Meteor O'Death (@smod2016) August 2, 2016

SMOD 2016 is a candidate for president running as a Precambrian conservative “ready to make an impact”.  SMOD joined Twitter in December 2014 as a parody account and resolutely claims he is tough on Putin and Iran.

In addition to reassuring fans of extinction-level asteroid impacts, SMOD weighed in on the kerfuffle that caused heads to ‘splode on the Left.

Donald Trump held a rally in Virginia.  During his speech a baby began to cry.  We all acknowledge the sound of a crying baby is hard to ignore.  You’ve been there.  In church, at the movies and oh Lord, on a plane.  You feel for the mother.

Initially Trump suggested that he did not mind the disruption. “Don’t worry about that baby. I love babies," Trump said after hearing the baby crying during an aside about the trade imbalance. "Don’t worry about it. I love babies. I hear that baby crying, I like it. What a baby. What a beautiful baby. Don’t worry, don’t worry. The mom’s running around like—don’t worry about it, you know. It’s young and beautiful and healthy and that’s what we want.”

The baby cried a little more prompting Trump to quip, “Actually, I was only kidding, you can get the baby out of here.  That’s all right. Don’t worry. I, I think she really believed me that I love having a baby crying while I’m speaking. That’s OK. People don’t understand.  That’s OK,” he said as the crowd applauded.

"I saw that Donald Trump kicked a crying baby out of an event earlier today," Clinton VP Tim Kaine said. "So as I’m thinking about pre-K, sometimes you wonder who the baby is, right? You wonder who the baby is.”

Later Tuesday evening, NBC News reporter Katy Tur said in a television interview that the baby was allowed to stay at the rally. 

Trump makes a joke about a crying baby. The media treats it like it’s some great insight into his psyche. And we wonder why he’s doing well.

— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) August 2, 2016

Paradoxically, the humorless are the funniest people of all.

— jon gabriel (@exjon) August 2, 2016

UPDATE:  Welcome readers of 90 Miles From Tyranny.   We greatly thank Mike for linking to this post.

Do You See What I See?

As people go crazy over #TimKaine speaking Spanish, here's a list of other people who can too:
1. Pitbull
2. El Chapo
3. My 7-year-old niece

— NotKennyRogers (@NotKennyRogers) July 28, 2016

Boy, #TimKaine is boring in 2 languages.

— Raúl R. Labrador (@Raul_Labrador) July 28, 2016

#TimKaine speaking Spanish again. This from #Dem party that calls their Latino outreach the "Taco Bowl". How phony pic.twitter.com/MfsssPDoDJ

— Joe DiBella (@josephmdibella) July 28, 2016

Tim Kaine: The Jokes Just Write Themselves

The unindicted felon announced via text message she’d chosen Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia to be her running mate.  Kaine, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was the former governor of Virginia and a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

CNN reported Bill Clinton’s former Chief of Staff, John Podesta, brought two dozen binders to the Chappaqua home of Crooked Hillary back in April in an effort to help her find a suitable running mate.

The names her campaign floated were Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, NJ Senator Cory Booker, retired four-star Navy Admiral Jim Stavridis and pretend Native American Elizabeth Warren.

If she’d selected Cory Booker the ticket would be Clinton-BookHer.  Since Warren got shut down in the vetting process she will be on the warpath.  Crooked Hillary pretty much had to choose a Kaine or a Walker, but Walker is not a Democrat.  So…Kaine is a crutch.

For the well-oiled and well-funded Clinton Mafioso machine Kaine’s strong ties to politically important Virginia put him over the top and, as it turns out, President Obama strongly suggested the pick.  So, dutifully Clinton phoned the president to let him know she complied with his order to pick Kaine.

Virginia’s battleground status became less significant after news emerged shortly before Clinton’s announcement Friday that the Virginia State Supreme Court ruled Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s decision to restore voting rights to more than 200,000 felons violated Virginia’s constitution.  The decision deals a major blow to the Democratic governor with implications for the November presidential race.

The Washington Post noted the 4-to-3 decision ruled McAuliffe overstepped his clemency powers by issuing a sweeping order restoring rights to all ex-offenders who are no longer incarcerated or on probation or parole.

“Never before have any of the prior 71 Virginia Governors issued a clemency order of any kind—including pardons, reprieves, commutations, and restoration orders—to a class of unnamed felons without regard for the nature of the crimes or any other individual circumstances relevant to the request,” Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons wrote for the majority. “To be sure, no Governor of this Commonwealth, until now, has even suggested that such a power exists.”

.@timkaine is as decent, honorable, selfless soul as you will ever meet. A man with the heart of a servant, who is "woke". @HillaryClinton

— Jennifer Granholm (@JenGranholm) July 23, 2016

My fellow white allies: Please stop beating the dead horse of calling yourself 'woke.' #WokeIsTheNewDown https://t.co/uDtq5u1h50

— Jenna (@RillaCuthbert) July 23, 2016

never tweet https://t.co/uQxIzlzLoM

— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) July 23, 2016

UPDATE:  Welcome readers of Larwyns’ Lynx.  We thank Doug Ross for linking to this post.

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

UPDATE III:  Welcome readers of Maggie’s Farm.  We would like to thank Bird Dog for including a link to this post in the Monday Morning Links.

Hillary/Kaine