tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52005439067869152572024-03-13T02:15:36.081-07:002016 American PoliticsMary Claire Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17488498616555449660noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200543906786915257.post-9880920291381411772016-11-04T11:27:00.004-07:002016-11-11T14:58:10.487-08:00The November Surprise: Back to the 70s<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">By Mary Claire Kendall</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTPa_y3MStO5aLSvbB8OqP5KRozErji5CjuQKElBjvKIcjvhif0JijsONkfRGXKREB5uel3v-yPf6iqU3XQbM0r29pj_3wYcY8eze604jeq_1OC5xUZr5dhroacHHjNAjuacliR-AnboI/s1600/Network-Peter+Finch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTPa_y3MStO5aLSvbB8OqP5KRozErji5CjuQKElBjvKIcjvhif0JijsONkfRGXKREB5uel3v-yPf6iqU3XQbM0r29pj_3wYcY8eze604jeq_1OC5xUZr5dhroacHHjNAjuacliR-AnboI/s400/Network-Peter+Finch.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">If Donald
J. Trump wins the presidency on Tuesday, November 8—and wins fairly big—you
need look no further than the jobs report immediately preceding the vote.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">While many are saying, “<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/2016-election-hillary-clinton-emails-230792">It’s
the emails, stupid</a>.” Or more accurately “<a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/its-the-server-stupid/article/2002671">It’s
the server, stupid</a>.” And, that’s true. To say nothing of “<a href="http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/11/bombshell-hacked-hillary-emails-reveal-knowingly-delayed-benghazi-rescue/">It’s
Benghazi, stupid</a>.” More than, anything, “It’s the economy,
stupid.” </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Call it
the November surprise. While the jobs report has unemployment ticking
down to 4.9%, the real shocker is the stunningly </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/americans-not-labor-force-participation-rate-risesdrops" target="_blank">labor participation number—some 95
million</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">jobless or a mere 62% of working age adults with jobs. It’s the lowest
since 1977, and lower, for US working age males, than in France, </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/161k-jobs-added-unemployment-down-to-4-9-800922179634" target="_blank">said MSNBC’s Steve Rattner</a></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
interesting thing is this current economic picture mirrors the economically
dismal 70s, which paved the way for Ronald Reagan’s win in November 1980—a
win, which, like today, few saw coming.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">While
Jimmy Carter blamed it on voter “malaise,” Hillary Clinton calls out
the “basket of deplorables,” she considers “irredeemable.” </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">In the
70s, in fact, they were “mad-as-hell-and-we’re-not-going-to-take-it-any-more”
voters—many dubbed Reagan Democrats, <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwMVMbmQBug" target="_blank">immortalized by Peter Finch</a></span> in <i>Network</i> (1976). </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Now
Michael Moore points to the <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY-CiPVo_NQ&feature=player_embedded">rust-belt-mad-as-hellers</a></span>, calling them the
“Brexit voters,” some of whom are featured in <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-elections/inside-the-west-virginia-steel-town-destroyed-by-nafta-where-94-of-jobs-have-disappeared-and-donald-a7389846.html">the report</a></span> in Britain’s <i>The
Independent</i> about the dying steel town of Weirton, West Virginia,
on the border of Ohio. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Films of
the 70’s captured the situation brilliantly. Besides the aforementioned <i>Network</i>,
films like <i>Save the Tiger</i> (1973), starring Jack Lemmon in his
Oscar winning performance, and <i>The Prisoner of Second Avenue</i> (1975),
also starring Lemmon, epitomized the desperation. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
latter is about an out-of-work New Yorker, Mel Edison, who regularly goes out
on his porch and screams, until one day his neighbor above pours a bucket of cold water on him, <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST6v8pLpG8E" target="_blank">adding insult to injury, (2:45
minutes)</a></span>. The former features a Los Angeles clothing
manufacturer, Harry Stoner, <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd_21jmDlPQ" target="_blank">losing his proverbial shirt</a></span>. After his partner
(Jack Gilford) cooks the books, thus allowing them to survive another year—what
the government calls “fraud,” Lemmon reminds him—he gets really desperate.
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">While
many might demonize Americans who cast their ballots for Trump, the truth is,
they are just responding to reality. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
establishment might be shocked if Trump wins. And, they are surely in
denial now. But, they will only have themselves to blame, given their
failure to focus on the reality of countless voters’ lives, where desperation
is a frequent, if not constant, companion. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;">“Migrant Mother,” 1936 (Dorothea Lange, photographer).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;">Library of Congress FSA/OWI Collection. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">This
reporting failure, dramatized in <i>Network,</i> was not the case 80
years ago when <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.biography.com/people/dorothea-lange-9372993#synopsis" target="_blank">Dorothea Lange</a></span> captured,
in her <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/128_migm.html" target="_blank">iconic photographs</a></span>, the
devastation of the Great Depression for all to see. The furrowed
brows. Tattered clothes. Empty stomachs. Desperation. She was working on behalf
of the U.S. Government’s <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farm_Security_Administration" target="_blank">Farm Security Administration</a></span>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">This
reporting failure, dramatized in <i>Network,</i> was not the case 80
years ago when <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.biography.com/people/dorothea-lange-9372993#synopsis" target="_blank">Dorothea Lange</a></span> captured,
in her <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/128_migm.html" target="_blank">iconic photographs</a></span>, the
devastation of the Great Depression for all to see. The furrowed
brows. Tattered clothes. Empty stomachs. Desperation. She was working on behalf
of the U.S. Government’s <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farm_Security_Administration" target="_blank">Farm Security Administration</a></span>.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Today,
the damage is complete. We are almost entirely devoid of these tangible images
in the establishment channels of communication. Instead, far too many are
creating our own reality. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Like in
the current film<i> <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rRVCNffvKk">Florence Foster Jenkins</a> </span></i></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">(2016), starring Meryl Streep and
Hugh Grant, where the protagonist has the idea she can become an opera
star. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;">Shuttered steel mill in Weirton, WV. Credit: Andrew Buncombe, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;">who writes: “The steel mills today employ fewer than 1,000 people.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;">In their heyday, they employed 15,000.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Only
problem is, she can’t sing. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">And, the
establishment evidently can’t see. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">*******</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Note: <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2016/11/07/the-november-surprise-back-to-the-70s/">This piece was published in </a><i><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2016/11/07/the-november-surprise-back-to-the-70s/">Daily Caller</a> </i>on November 7, 2016, the day before the election in which Donald Trump trounced Hillary Clinton, becoming the </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 45</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> President of the United States, which this author also predicted in </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“<a href="http://dailycaller.com/2016/10/25/donald-trump-45th-president-of-the-united-states/">Donald Trump: 45</a></span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2016/10/25/donald-trump-45th-president-of-the-united-states/">th</a></sup><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2016/10/25/donald-trump-45th-president-of-the-united-states/"> President of the United States</a>.”</span></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Mary Claire Kendall is a
Washington-based writer and author of </span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.amazon.com/Oasis-Conversion-Stories-Hollywood-Legends/dp/1616368616&source=gmail&ust=1477508187311000&usg=AFQjCNHRZd9T_cmx2BUdW5YICkrN26ivVw" href="https://www.amazon.com/Oasis-Conversion-Stories-Hollywood-Legends/dp/1616368616" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #c73930; text-decoration: none;">Oasis: Conversion Stories of Hollywood Legends</span></a><i style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">. She served four
years in the George H.W. Bush Administration.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
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Mary Claire Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17488498616555449660noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200543906786915257.post-38624386826592205592016-11-02T07:41:00.000-07:002016-11-02T12:50:45.638-07:00November's Election Will Capture America's Reality<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">By Mary Claire Kendall</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">One
of the biggest shortcomings of this year’s presidential election is the failure
on the part of official organs of public life, especially media and government,
to focus on the reality of countless voter’s lives, where desperation is a
frequent, if not constant, companion. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">This
was not the case 80 years ago when <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/dorothea-lange-9372993#synopsis">Dorothea
Lange</a> captured, in her iconic photographs, the devastation of the Great Depression for all to see.
The furrowed brows. Tattered clothes. Empty stomachs. Desperation. She was
working on behalf of the U.S. Government’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farm_Security_Administration">Farm Security Administration</a>.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFLtaG9pJ9qP00ux86c7dr68JcaW0Z9zspPerXxULQqAT3msO2AS6mOJMYTtj2hVb7ZNFU-P330LRQ_mQwIOLANIllJafq9iTUc4Hpajnyn_UVnydIhaqKmIMAn2w-xFpnyDMXZrkIJtmL/s1600/Migrant+Mother.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFLtaG9pJ9qP00ux86c7dr68JcaW0Z9zspPerXxULQqAT3msO2AS6mOJMYTtj2hVb7ZNFU-P330LRQ_mQwIOLANIllJafq9iTUc4Hpajnyn_UVnydIhaqKmIMAn2w-xFpnyDMXZrkIJtmL/s320/Migrant+Mother.jpg" width="244" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">“Migrant
Mother,” 1936 (Dorothea Lange, photographer).</span><br />
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Library of Congress FSA/OWI Collection. The media conveniently <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 107%;">fails
to report the real poverty in America today that rivals the Great
Depression.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Today, we are almost entirely devoid of these tangible images.
Instead, what used to be official repositories of reality in America are
creating their own reality. Just consider the farcical images they employ to try and sway American voters versus the reality of unemployed workers, including, in proportionately greater numbers, our former fighting men and women, suffering drug addiction and the like. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">But, come November 8, the voters, especially in the industrial
Midwest and New England, will, it seems increasingly clear, provide a wake-up call and indelible image of
what Americans are </span><i style="font-family: georgia, serif;">really</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"> feeling and
experiencing in their daily lives – an inkling of which is provided in this report
by British reporter Andrew Buncombe</span><i style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">about the</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-elections/inside-the-west-virginia-steel-town-destroyed-by-nafta-where-94-of-jobs-have-disappeared-and-donald-a7389846.html" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">dying
steel town of Weirton, West Virginia</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">, on the border of Ohio. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">To his credit, Republican Presidential candidate Donald J. Trump
has focused on the positive – what America could be, most notably in
his slogan,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i style="font-family: georgia, serif;">Make America Great
Again </i>– while stating forthrightly how far we have fallen, and
how much work will need to be done to get us back on track. And, come November 9</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">th</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">, and officially,
January 20, 2017, it is looking increasingly likely,</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_clinton-5491.html" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">given
recent polls</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">, that he will be able to take</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"> </span><a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trump-delivers-groundbreaking-contract-for-the-american-vote1" style="font-family: georgia, serif;">his positive vision</a><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">and turn it
into reality as the 45</span><sup style="font-family: georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"> President of the United States. And, along
with the Washington swamp, we will begin to drain the desperation from our towns and
cities, plagued, for too long, by joblessness and hopelessness.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Shuttered steel mill in Weirton, WV. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Credit: Andrew Buncombe, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">who writes: </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;">“</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">The steel mills today employ fewer than 1,000 people.” </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">In their heyday, they employed 15,000.</span></td></tr>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Mary Claire Kendall is a
Washington-based writer and author of </span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.amazon.com/Oasis-Conversion-Stories-Hollywood-Legends/dp/1616368616&source=gmail&ust=1477508187311000&usg=AFQjCNHRZd9T_cmx2BUdW5YICkrN26ivVw" href="https://www.amazon.com/Oasis-Conversion-Stories-Hollywood-Legends/dp/1616368616" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #c73930; text-decoration: none;">Oasis:
Conversion Stories of Hollywood Legends</span></a><i style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">. She served
four years in the George H.W. Bush Administration.</i></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; line-height: inherit;"><br /></i></span></div>
Mary Claire Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17488498616555449660noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200543906786915257.post-40162515784317617972016-10-24T13:46:00.001-07:002016-11-10T07:56:55.079-08:00Donald Trump: 45th President of the United States<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 16px;">By Mary Claire Kendall</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">On the morning of Wednesday, November 9th, after all the
ballots have been cast, and counting done, we will wake up to learn that
billionaire businessman Donald J. Trump has been elected 45th President of
the United States of America.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Or maybe
not.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
liberal/media elite wants us to believe that the presidential race is
essentially over, Hillary Rodham Clinton is the 45<sup>th</sup> president,
and, with that glass ceiling cracked, America’s troubles are over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Clinton
has consistently led in national polls. Her current <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_clinton_vs_johnson_vs_stein-5952.html" target="_blank">Real Clear Politics Average</a> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">shows
her besting Trump by 5.1% in the head-to-head match-up, and 5.4% in the 4-way
race.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Forget
the outlier polls: LA Times Daily Tracking, Rasmussen, Investor’s Business
Daily and others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Forget
the fact that, now, the margin of error for polls is <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/06/upshot/when-you-hear-the-margin-of-error-is-plus-or-minus-3-percent-think-7-instead.html?_r=0" target="_blank">plus or minus 7%</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">, not 3%.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Forget
that President Barack Obama has been a human wrecking ball, as evidenced by
his:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://ijr.com/2016/10/714995-obamacare-continues-to-unravel-major-insurers-bailing-as-1-4-million-americans-will-lose-coverage/" target="_blank">Unaffordable</a> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">“</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-says-obamacare-premiums-going-up-by-double-digit-percent-2016-10" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;" target="_blank">Affordable Care Act</a></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">”;</span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Disastrous Middle East policy—the tragedy in Aleppo
being <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/09/29/aleppo-syria-twitter-holocaustaleppo/91269150/" target="_blank">compared to the Holocaust</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">;</span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Paltry<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-economy-grew-at-a-disappointing-1-2-in-2nd-quarter-1469795649" target="_blank"> job creation</a> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">record, </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-07/where-september-jobs-were-secretaries-waiters-retail-and-social-workers" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;" target="_blank">except when it comes to</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">secretarial,
retail, food service and social worker jobs;</span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/1/obama-presidency-to-end-with-20-trillion-national-/" target="_blank">$20,000,000,000,000</a> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">debt;
and</span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Some <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/20/number-of-illegals-levels-off-fewer-crossing-mexic/" target="_blank">2.5 million illegal immigrants</a> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">crossing
the Southern border since 2009… to name just a few salient examples.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">And,
forget that Hillary Clinton would represent a third term for Obama, and that
over 60% of U.S. citizens believe America is <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/direction_of_country-902.html" target="_blank">on the wrong track</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Forget all this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hillary
Clinton will win (has won) an historic landslide victory, possibly bringing
along a newly Democratic-controlled House and Senate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">But,
seriously, what’s a voter to believe?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Reality. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">In which
regard, consider that: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Trump consistently beat his Real Clear Politics Average during the
primaries. In New York, he won by 7% more than the polls suggested;
Pennsylvania, 10%; Rhode Island, 11%; Connecticut, 5%; Maryland, 9%; and
Indiana, 11%.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Conventional wisdom suggests that voters are loath to admit they
are voting for Trump. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">WikiLeaks—regrettably the biggest “news” source this presidential
election season—exposes inflated polls in its <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-23/new-podesta-email-exposes-dem-playbook-rigging-polls-through-oversamples" target="_blank">latest Podesta Emails release
(10/23/16)</a> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">in which Podesta is quoted suggesting “oversamples
for polling” to “maximize what we get out of our media polling.”</span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.theecps.com/" target="_blank">Emerson</a> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">reported on October 13 (tables tab,
“Presidential Expect”) that African American support for Trump in Virginia
is 41.8%; Ohio, 30.3%; and North Carolina, 23.7%; with </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://www.wnd.com/2016/08/trumps-black-support-explodes-in-biggest-battleground-state/" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;" target="_blank">another poll</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">pegging
their support in Florida at 20%—which would suggest a </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">huge</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> Trump
win. </span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Republicans are far outperforming Democrats in Florida, Michigan,
and Iowa, according to early voting indicators culled by <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.l2political.com/" target="_blank">www.L2political.com</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">.</span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Trump represents change, as most recently reflected in his <i><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trump-delivers-groundbreaking-contract-for-the-american-vote1" target="_blank">100 Day Plan to Make America Great
Again</a> </span></i></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">presented in Gettysburg on Saturday, October
22, coincidentally the feast of Pope St. John Paul II.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Bottom
Line: Ignore the national polls signaling the race is over and vote for the
candidate who you think will take America in the right direction. Hint:
‘Yes, America is heading in the wrong direction’ is winning in polls by a
landslide now, which makes this year’s presidential vote essentially an IQ
test.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Mary Claire Kendall is a Washington-based writer and
author of </span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Oasis-Conversion-Stories-Hollywood-Legends/dp/1616368616" target="_blank">Oasis: Conversion Stories of Hollywood Legends</a><i>. She served
four years in the George H.W. Bush Administration.</i></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i><br /></i></span>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i>*******</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">This
article was published in Daily Caller on Tuesday, October 25<sup>th</sup>, two
weeks before the presidential election. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">URL to article: <b><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2016/10/25/donald-trump-45th-president-of-the-united-states/">http://dailycaller.com/2016/10/25/donald-trump-45th-president-of-the-united-states/</a><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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Mary Claire Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17488498616555449660noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200543906786915257.post-29049027275602368282016-05-13T08:20:00.001-07:002016-05-13T20:57:52.276-07:00Trump: On the way to a ‘10’<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">With some advice, the Donald can be a knockout candidate</i></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 17.12px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times </span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 17.12px;"><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/multimedia/image/5_102016_b3-kend-trump-ten-g8201jpg/" title="Trump Working Toward a Perfect ‘10’ Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></i></a></span>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">By Mary Claire Kendall - - Tuesday, May 10, 2016</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">ANALYSIS/OPINION:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">In the wake of Donald Trump’s huge win in Indiana, the shotgun wedding is complete. Republicans are hitched to “the Donald.” The honeymoon has now begun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">Well, not exactly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">The more apt analogy would be the runaway bride representing much of the Republican establishment — including, notably, former Presidents George H.W. and George W. Bush, Sen. John McCain and former Gov. Mitt Romney, the latter two the party’s 2008 and 2012 presidential nominees, respectively; and, now House Speaker Paul Ryan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">Admittedly, Mr. Trump is not exactly a “10.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">But neither are his rivals in the GOP.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">It’s time to recognize the moment for what it is — a great opportunity for all of us in the Republican Party to come together and see what we can do differently to be at our best.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">This Thursday, our prospective presidential nominee will have a sit-down meeting in Washington. Here is some of what the establishment should tell him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">The way you warmly embrace your audiences as you did in West Virginia in your first campaign stop after Indiana, where the scene was set by John Denver’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZBQjTF_Hpk">“Country Roads,</a>” is awe-inspiring. And your earnest pledge to “make America great again” puts a bounce in our steps.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">But we need to talk about how all of that good is sometimes undermined by your habit of talking in less-than-flattering terms about certain groups of people and individuals. Sure, it’s all part of your schtick as a larger-than-life New York business mogul and reality TV star. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">And a certain amount of candor is refreshing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">However, it’s a new day. You’re on the path to the presidency, and certain things must change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">For starters, you need to speak more inclusively about women. They’re about 54 percent of the electorate. We have no doubt you “love women.” But your words and deeds must align so that they feel the love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">Hispanics and Muslims, too. Building a wall the entire length of the southern border to keep out the former and indiscriminately banning entry to our great country vis-a-vis the latter, are nonstarters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">And you should think about reaching out and building a bridge to Pope Francis — the word “pontiff” means “bridge builder.” Calling His Holiness a “disgrace” in the lead-up to the South Carolina primary and Super Tuesday based on incorrect reporting, while perhaps good politics, is no way to heal religious and sectarian divides.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">Regarding Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and their relationship to tackling the deficit and corollary gaping debt, we agree. Our Dudley Do-Right approach might need some retooling. Nonetheless, please acknowledge the reality that, in preserving those programs, we also need to ensure our nation’s fiscal health is restored.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">And do not threaten NATO. We need NATO now more than ever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">Also, regarding tax policy, your constantly shifting positions are unhelpful. If you want to be Reaganesque, stake out a position and stick with it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">We know you can be a “10” and we’ll do our part, as well. Together, under your leadership, Americans will build a brighter, more secure future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">Mary Claire Kendall, a Washington-based writer, is author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/oasis-conversion-stories-hollywood-legends/dp/1616368616"><i>“Oasis: Conversion Stories of Hollywood.”</i></a> She served in the George H.W. <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/george-w-bush/">Bush</a> administration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;"> ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/may/10/marie-claire-kendall-donald-trump-on-the-way-to-be/">THE WASHINGTON TIMES</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Mary Claire Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17488498616555449660noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200543906786915257.post-51243620860256411002016-05-03T19:15:00.000-07:002016-05-03T19:34:32.253-07:00It’s Not Whether You Win or Lose…<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">By Mary
Claire Kendall </span></span><br />
<br />
<i style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; line-height: 107%;"><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2016/05/02/its-not-whether-you-win-or-lose/" style="line-height: 17.12px;">This piece</a><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"> was originally published in The Daily Caller on May 2, 2016 at 4:19 PM EST. Since then, Senator Ted Cruz has lost in Indiana and suspended his campaign. </span></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW0k3naAV8G-pDJXRtBIXsCNzklqOm89Obz6YI_6TTZM3bK8r0_7O9Pyu7ObDOxc4_YJ9q5yHptR-pKFypyZOFfLxfhgunJzMPua9ODKDGI8sgEEILU9ttj7Wis0fGvhAGPVvrjS23zeU/s1600/Ted-Cruz-Screen-Shot-ABC-5-1-2016-e1462117107713.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW0k3naAV8G-pDJXRtBIXsCNzklqOm89Obz6YI_6TTZM3bK8r0_7O9Pyu7ObDOxc4_YJ9q5yHptR-pKFypyZOFfLxfhgunJzMPua9ODKDGI8sgEEILU9ttj7Wis0fGvhAGPVvrjS23zeU/s400/Ted-Cruz-Screen-Shot-ABC-5-1-2016-e1462117107713.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Donald
Trump’s trouncing in the Acela primary — including in the bluer than blue
liberal bastions of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island and
Delaware, with 58.1, 56.5, 59, 64.7 and 62.6 percent of the vote, respectively
— does not a nomination make.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It’s going
to be a liberal-conservative smack-down in the state of Indiana
this coming Tuesday as Republican voters try and make heads or tails
of this dizzying race.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As if to
underscore the point, in the wake of his Acela losses, Ted Cruz, winner of 9
states to Trump’s 27, picked conservative businesswoman Carly Fiorina as his
Vice Presidential running mate.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/in/indiana_republican_presidential_primary-5786.html">Cruz-Fiorina
Indiana win</a> would give the delegates the power to decide, at the
convention, which candidate would be strongest against, presumably, Hillary
Clinton in the fall. (The answer is not obvious. Trump, while engaging and
guided by common sense, would, polls suggest, get clobbered by Hillary. Cruz,
while young, brash and loathed by the establishment, is as brilliant as Abe
Lincoln, and as skilled a debater.)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It’s as the
founders intended it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Wisely, our
forebears built protections into the system to guard against someone ascending
to power who does not quite have the qualities needed to steer the ship of
state deftly.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Initially,
the protections were seal-tight. Presidential candidates of national parties
were chosen by Members of Congress. Period.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Then, in
1831, the era of conventions began when the small Anti-Masonic Party held the
first such gathering.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
following year, the two national parties, Whigs and Democrats, adopted this new
model and selected, respectively, Henry Clay of Kentucky and Andrew Jackson of
Tennessee as their nominees. When all was said and done, Jackson ascended to
the presidency bringing with him his mud-caked, unruly, and enthusiastic supporters.
It was a great moment for American democracy. But, in fact, his band of
followers were not the ones who had actually elected him. Rather, it was
the electors, as established in Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution.
And, I quote:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Each state
shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number
of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which
the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or
person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be
appointed an elector.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Electors
sometimes upend the popular vote. Recall that in the year 2000 George W. Bush
lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College and became President of the
United States — just as John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Benjamin
Harrison did in 1824, 1876 and 1888, respectively, dashing the hopes of
Jackson, Samuel Tilden and Grover Cleveland, respectively.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For 140
years, nominating conventions elected their party’s respective presidential
candidates. There were some quite dramatic moments — perhaps none as dramatic
as the 1924 Democratic convention when it took 17 days and 103 ballots for the
delegates to finally settle on John W. Davis as their nominee.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In 1972,
everything changed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
contentious 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, four years earlier, had
ushered in democratic reforms and the era of primaries — with hopes of giving
voters more say in the choice of president.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Even so,
voters were still choosing delegates, who would, in turn, choose their
respective party’s presidential candidate at the nominating conventions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It is those
delegates who still have the ultimate say over who will be the party’s nominee.
And, the state parties set the rules over their own delegate selection process.
The national party weighs in, too. For instance, after the 1972 Democratic
primary process produced the disastrous choice of George McGovern, the
Democratic Party gradually instituted “Super Delegates” to ensure more
electable candidates going forward. McGovern had lost 48 of 50 states,
including his own state of South Dakota, while losing the popular vote in the
second biggest landslide in American history.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Which brings
us to the present primary season and the contest over who will be the next
President of the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Problem is,
only one can be president. And, as Lee Atwater used to say, those who can be
president occupy a little boat and there are only so many in that boat.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Which brings
us to Grantland Rice’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbN5Q-Na66U">famous line</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“It’s not
whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Now we are
playing the biggest game in American politics. As in sports, this game has
rules, which those who are truly presidential will follow with grace and class.
(Robocalls to delegates threatening their well-being if they do not vote a
certain way conjures up the exact opposite image.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The stakes,
in terms of realizing America’s vast potential, while mending the hole in her
soul and infrastructure, to say nothing of her fiscal picture, and national
security, could not be higher.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Mary Claire Kendall, a Washington-based
writer, is author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/oasis-conversion-stories-hollywood-legends/dp/1616368616">Oasis:
Conversion Stories of Hollywood Legends</a>. </span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
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Mary Claire Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17488498616555449660noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200543906786915257.post-21090503225776890912016-02-17T07:45:00.001-08:002016-09-29T19:04:43.107-07:00Replacing the Irreplaceable Justice Antonin Scalia<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
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By Mary Claire Kendall</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgget7faxDq76dEl2MgxPocyvjVWkxVTS9Zzg2c4K-DzO5fIRS3Z5FfWNPGS4s2FORL9Oiq1_3pYPGhC_geZVr_NdYFCacyg9ah1rCFETA1tSU2PWQPBcdttnSBB4cKwMBWE-xzdBiEeXA/s1600/Justice+Antonin+Scalia+lying+in+state.2.19.16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgget7faxDq76dEl2MgxPocyvjVWkxVTS9Zzg2c4K-DzO5fIRS3Z5FfWNPGS4s2FORL9Oiq1_3pYPGhC_geZVr_NdYFCacyg9ah1rCFETA1tSU2PWQPBcdttnSBB4cKwMBWE-xzdBiEeXA/s640/Justice+Antonin+Scalia+lying+in+state.2.19.16.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;">Following Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's death, most Senate Republicans aligned behind the idea that the next president, not President Obama, should nominate someone to fill the vacant seat. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)</span></h1>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Last week*, the White House, feigning accommodation with the
GOP over President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee to replace the late
Justice Antonin Scalia, began <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/report-white-house-considering-gop-governor-to-replace-scalia/article/2584092" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">vetting Nevada
Republican Governor Brian Sandoval</a>. Not surprisingly, Sandoval is <a href="http://gov.nv.gov/News-and-Media/Press/2013/Sandoval-Statement-on-U_S_-Senate-Vote-on-Immigration-Reform/" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">liberal on
immigration</a>, the pivot of Obama's calculus. His amnesty proposal created a
loophole for illegal immigrants to vote in November and if the Supreme Court
gives it a pass, game over. (Sandoval has since pulled his name out of
consideration.) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the wake of Justice Scalia's untimely death on February
13 (or 12), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated forthrightly that </span><a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/section/barack-obama" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">President Obama</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> need
not nominate anyone because he will not schedule a Senate hearing or vote. The </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-scalia-death-impact-20160213-story.html" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;" target="_blank">country is too
divided</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, he said, and 'we the people' must first have our say in November
on the next president.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Most Republican Senators went along with that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Then came the second thoughts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, though initially on board, said, according to <a href="http://www.radioiowa.com/2016/02/16/grassley-has-decided-whether-to-hold-hearing-on-obamas-supreme-court-pick/" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Radio Iowa</a>,
"I would wait until the nominee is made before I would make any
decisions."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Furthermore, Senator Thom Tillis said, "I think we
fall into the trap if just simply say sight unseen… " But, he said,
"If he puts forth someone… in the mold of <a data-action="auto_keyword" data-label="president obama" href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/section/barack-obama" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">President Obama</a>'s
vision for America, then we'll use every device available to block that
nomination." (He was speaking on the <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/02/16/3749883/gop-senator-obstructionists/" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Tyler Cralle Show</a>.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Then Majority Leader McConnell's asserted he would <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/270452-mcconnell-will-not-meet-with-obamas-nominee" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">not even meet</a>with
the nominee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But the meeting with Obama solidified Senator Grassley's
stance. Waiting until the next president to fill the open seat, <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/grassley-blames-obama-liberal-courts-for-gop-stance/article/2584619" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">he said</a>, is
"a fair and reasonable choice."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's like watching a tennis match!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If the president is sincere about wanting to work with
Republicans, he should think seriously about nominating someone who was once on
President Ronald Reagan's short list for the Supreme Court, who also happens to
be a close friend of the late Justice Scalia.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When I spoke with Justice Scalia's grieving friend on
Sunday, February 14, he told me the late great justice was his "best
friend in the law" and that his death was "the worst thing for the
country" at this critical time, given his pre-eminent role in preserving
the values that made our country strong. There is no other, he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, almost no other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">His name is Judge Thomas J. Aquilino, Jr. He serves on the
United States Court of International Trade. Born in 1939 in Mount Kisko, New
York, he received his B.A. from Drew University and J.D. from Rutgers, before
serving in the Army, 1962-65. A former clerk to Judge John M. Cannella, he
worked in private practice in New York City and was an adjunct professor of law
at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As Justice Scalia's legal soul mate and, at age 76, his
peer, he would, quite naturally, be the most logical and smart nominee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The two men met while working on the "legislative
veto," which President Reagan <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/23/us/legislative-veto-is-struck-down-by-appeals-court.html" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">appealed and won in
1982</a>. Since then, their bond was unbreakable and it's safe to say, their
friendship was almost like that of brothers. (Scalia was an only child.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Judge Aquilino holds firmly to the same principles of
conservative jurisprudence Justice Scalia <a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2016/02/14/scalia-and-his-legacy/" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">fought for his whole
life</a>. President Reagan had considered appointing him to the same Supreme
Court seat Justice Scalia ultimately filled for thirty years and subsequently
nominated him to serve as a Judge on the aforementioned court, which position
he held from April 1985 to December 2004, when he assumed "senior
status."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">On a personal note, I met Judge Aquilino while working, in
2012-13, with many friends of Reagan to <a href="http://friendsofpresidentreaganschicagohome.blogspot.com/" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">save the former
president's childhood home</a> in Chicago. We were introduced by our
mutual friend, the late Redd Griffin, who had championed the cause. The two had
met in Germany while serving in Army intelligence. Judge Aquilino reached out
to his friend "Nino," who assured him, vis-à-vis persuading the
University of Chicago, where he taught law from 1977-1982, to preserve Reagan's
home, that his weighing in would have the <em style="font-style: italic;">exact opposite effect</em>. We
did not save the home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now, more importantly, we need to save our Republic. Judge
Aquilino would play a vital role in this regard, stepping in to fill his
friend's seat, while the country takes a much-needed long, deep breath.</span><o:p style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"> </o:p><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><em style="font-style: italic;"><b>Mary
Claire Kendall, a Washington-based writer, is author of Oasis: Conversion
Stories of Hollywood Legends. </b></em><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<em style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></em></div>
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<em style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">*<a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/replacing-the-irreplaceable-justice-antonin-scalia/article/2584533">Published</a> in The Washington Examiner on March 3, 2016.</span></em></div>
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Mary Claire Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17488498616555449660noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200543906786915257.post-34064737215457962252016-02-07T14:01:00.001-08:002017-02-10T04:40:03.085-08:00New Hampshire's Jump Ball<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
By Mary
Claire Kendall</div>
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On the
eve of the GOP New Hampshire primary, the picture is becoming clearer and what
is emerging is the lack of a clear GOP presidential front runner, as
exemplified by the latest <a href="http://www.monmouth.edu/assets/0/32212254770/32212254991/32212254992/32212254994/32212254995/30064771087/2114e68d-b5a1-46c5-a375-2d112a71d050.pdf">Monmouth
poll</a>, showing Trump on top with 30%; Kasich (14%), Rubio (13%), Bush
(13%), and Cruz (12%), clustered in the middle; and Christie, Fiorina and
Carson, bunched at the bottom with 6, 5 and 4 percent, respectively.<o:p></o:p><u1:p></u1:p><u2:p></u2:p><u3:p></u3:p></div>
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While
this one poll is but a snapshot in a constantly changing race, it is
instructive to see how the is race tightening, where, at this point, any of the middle tier candidates could surprise by defying expectations and “win” with a second, third, or even fourth place finish. <o:p></o:p><u1:p></u1:p><u2:p></u2:p><u3:p></u3:p></div>
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“Volatility
is the name of the game in 2016’s first primary contest, just as it was in the
first caucus state last week,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent
Polling Institute at Monmouth University. “While Trump’s placement as the top
finisher seems fairly secure at this point, the margin of victory and final
order of the remaining candidates are still very much up for grabs.”<o:p></o:p><u1:p></u1:p><u2:p></u2:p><u3:p></u3:p></div>
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Marco
Rubio beat expectations and came in an unusually strong third in Iowa, as
analyzed for<a href="http://dailycaller.com/2016/02/02/marco-rubios-surprise-close-finish/"> <i>Daily
Caller</i></a>. Donald Trump’s decision to skip the Iowa debate was a mistake,
as predicted in<i> <a href="http://townhall.com/columnists/maryclairekendall/2016/01/28/trump-no-show-a-no-go--the-music-man-lesson-n2111572">Town
Hall</a></i> and was, it seems, one of the main contributing factors in
Trump’s loss.</div>
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But, two
days from now in New Hampshire, it seems, a whole new story will be told.<o:p></o:p><u1:p></u1:p><u2:p></u2:p><u3:p></u3:p></div>
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It’s the
story of how, finally, the “establishment” candidates – the three governors:
Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Chris Christie – are starting to emerge as real
contenders. Saturday’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMWux69RDRM">ABC debate</a> at St.
Anselm College in New Hampshire was replete with examples of how these
candidates are fighting and fighting hard. Monday’s<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://media.wix.com/ugd/3bebb2_40ad3c95ef7d40e5bc8470098cbc702f.pdf">Emerson
poll</a> reinforced this storyline. “Bush and Kasich have the highest
favorability ratings among likely GOP primary voters,” the poll <a href="http://media.wix.com/ugd/3bebb2_40ad3c95ef7d40e5bc8470098cbc702f.pdf">reported</a>.
Bush, polling second place at 16% to Trump’s 31%, suggests this son and
brother of two former presidents is closing in.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s also
the story of how the first place winner in Iowa, Ted Cruz, who was
establishment w<i>hen establishment was cool </i>during the George W. Bush
era, now running hard as an outsider, may lose traction. <u3:p></u3:p></div>
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But, more
than anything, it’s the story of how long and drawn out the process of choosing
a president is. Before the New Hampshire
primary, the <a href="http://nhprimary100.org/">100th anniversary</a> of which
we celebrate this year, party bosses <i>overtly</i> picked the
candidate in smoke-filled rooms. No one
would argue a return to those days. Just a little more predictability. Yet, if
drama is what you want, Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, like any good movie
script, will not be wanting.</div>
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<br />
<b>February 10, 2016 Postscript </b><br />
<br />
The above prognostication was fairly accurate. Trump <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/nh/new_hampshire_republican_presidential_primary-3350.html">somewhat over-performed his polls</a>, coming in first with 35%, <a href="http://www.youngcons.com/almost-half-of-new-hampshire-citizens-who-voted-in-gop-primary-were-not-republicans/">almost half of which came from non-Republicans</a>. Kasich, mirroring election eve polls, had a solid second place showing with 16%. Cruz, as predicted, lost altitude, coming in third with 12%. And, Bush, in the surprise of the evening, finished fourth at 11%, beating out Marco Rubio. Meanwhile, Carly Fiorina, garnering only 4%, suspended her campaign today. And, Chris Christie went home to New Jersey to take a time out and then announced at 4 PM, he was indeed pulling out of the race. Needless to say, South Carolina promises even more surprises. </div>
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<em>Mary Claire Kendall, a Washington-based writer, is author
of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/oasis-conversion-stories-hollywood-legends/dp/1616368616">Oasis:
Conversion Stories of Hollywood Legends</a>.</em><o:p></o:p></div>
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Mary Claire Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17488498616555449660noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200543906786915257.post-83729940723952635762016-01-20T06:32:00.004-08:002016-01-20T18:29:44.370-08:00A year from today, we will inaugurate... ... God only knows who...<br />
<br />
Everybody will be gathered around the West Front of the Capitol, either in person -- the closer, the more important the person -- or hovered around their TV sets or computer screens, as the case may be, to watch the winner of the November 2016 election take the oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution in the process of being sworn in as the next president of the United States of America.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.emersonkent.com/images/reagan_inaugural.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ronald Wilson Reagan being sworn in as the 40th President of the United States on U.S. Capitol's West Front</span></td></tr>
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Who will he or she be?<br />
<br />
Well, I have some clues.<br />
<br />
Every year since 1987, I have picked the candidate out of crowded campaign fields who would not only win their respective party's nomination but would go on to win the presidency.<br />
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President George H.W. Bush (June 1987; I started working for him in August 1987.)<br />
President William Jefferson Clinton (January 1992)<br />
President George W. Bush (June 1998)<br />
President Barack Obama (<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jan/18/forum-guess-whos-winning-voters-hearts/?page=all">January 2008</a>)<br />
<br />
That's a pretty good record.<br />
<br />
But, it's far too soon <i>in this particular election cycle</i> to divine this year's winner. <br />
<br />
Yet, I will say: For months, I have been sensing it will be Trump. That he is sincere in his desire to "make America great again" and that he could be a good, if not a great president since the dirty little secret in Washington is all you need is good judgement, the ability to communicate and connect with voters, good advisors, whom you trust, and a deep and abiding love of America. (If it <i>is</i> Trump, his VP pick, perhaps the one who places or shows in most primary elections -- or maybe someone like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joni_Ernst">Senator Joni Ernst</a> -- will loom far larger than in previous years.)<br />
<br />
But, this year there are far too many wild cards.<br />
<br />
If you trust the <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/elections/">polls at this point</a>, the Democrat and Republican nominees will be respectively, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. And, Senator Sanders will be elected the 45th president of the United States.<br />
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As I say, it's far too soon.<br />
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Though, as I look out my window at the lightly snow dusted roads in Washington this evening, I realize it's not <i>too soon </i>to begin thinking about the perfect gown for the Inaugural Ball honoring our next president, who, God willing, will be a great one!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://agnautacouture.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/ugc1162491.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Jacqueline
Kennedy's Inaugural Gala Gown. Ivory silk satin evening gown, designed by Oleg
Cassini, 1961. Worn by the new First Lady to the Inaugural Gala.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Mary Claire Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17488498616555449660noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200543906786915257.post-17658701789316544792012-11-07T11:21:00.001-08:002016-09-29T19:12:37.857-07:00Winning the Present with TR and Civility<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><b><i>Originally published in PJ Media</i></b></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">June 15, 2011</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh14vXXN9EJmhPoiCxp0QLtB4p8C-17beqm8k6FOkf5FqKuzWDSBttSVOijtF0R9m6fB1H7FBunyjkf9QkHkchD9L5ISpRo5UnxahcqgVbgWFDMzV0Hu1Q14o5NX52xzcJEQKgnLrp912A/s1600/TR+as+Hoss.2.3.16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh14vXXN9EJmhPoiCxp0QLtB4p8C-17beqm8k6FOkf5FqKuzWDSBttSVOijtF0R9m6fB1H7FBunyjkf9QkHkchD9L5ISpRo5UnxahcqgVbgWFDMzV0Hu1Q14o5NX52xzcJEQKgnLrp912A/s200/TR+as+Hoss.2.3.16.jpg" width="181" /></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">It
might seem like an odd pairing, but what the GOP field needs is TR and civility
to <em>win
the present</em><span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span>—
and defeat President Barack Obama in 2012.</span><span style="color: #666666;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">TR, of course, refers to larger-than-life Republican</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #666666;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #00a99d; text-decoration: none;">Theodore Roosevelt</span></a><span style="color: #cccccc;">, who served as president
from 1901-1908, then ran on the Progressive Bull Moose ticket in 1912. </span></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 18pt;">While he was a rock-ribbed Republican, when theory ran
afoul of doing what’s right by the little guy, he always</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 18pt;"> </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 18pt; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;">chose the latter</span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 18pt;">.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">His brand of politics is perfect for slaying today’s
dragons that have gutted the middle class and precipitated runaway spending. </span><span style="color: #666666;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Take, for example, housing prices.</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #666666;"> </span><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-09/shiller-says-u-s-home-price-declines-of-10-to-25-wouldn-t-surprise-me-.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #00a99d; text-decoration: none;">The Case-Shiller index</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #666666;"> </span><span style="color: #cccccc;">recently revealed they’ve declined
more steeply than<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word;">during the Great Depression.</em><span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span>The fact that 75% of consumers
can’t even get loans to purchase a home, let alone refinance, is a big reason
why.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">Investment banker<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/christopher-whalen/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #00a99d; text-decoration: none;">Christopher Whalen</span></a><span style="color: #cccccc;">, whose father served in
Ronald Reagan’s “kitchen cabinet,” says the way around this problem is to raise
the FHA loan cap and help small and medium size banks increase lending. This
would mean giving more power and money to community banks. Obama prefers
letting Wall Street call the shots — in spite of its role in precipitating the
2007-08 housing meltdown — while the little guy gets slammed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">But, Republicans, Whalen says, should out-progressive
Democrats and do what is right, which is TR writ large. TR basically stared down
Wall Street, thus saving it from itself; so should today’s Republicans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">One hundred years after TR’s Bull Moose gambit, many in
the GOP field seem well-positioned to take up his mantle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18pt; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">For instance, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty
emphasizes Main Street production over Wall Street consumption. Congresswoman
Michele Bachmann has that “can do” spirit. And Texas Governor Rick Perry shares
TR’s tough-as-nails persona.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18pt; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Then there’s Mitt Romney, who, like TR, favors universal
health care as the key to economic stability, signing it into law as governor
of Massachusetts (2003-2007).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18pt; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18pt; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Many conservatives deride the 2006 Massachusetts law as
ObamaCare’s twin and Tea Party poison — a comparison Obama smugly reinforces.
But, in fact, ObamaCare and RomneyCare are apples and oranges. Whereas
ObamaCare reduces what doctors are paid; RomneyCare ensures that doctors are,
in fact, paid when a patient, who could otherwise afford it, lacks insurance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18pt; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Also, as Romney underscored in Monday’s CNN debate in
Manchester, RomneyCare did not raise taxes, whereas ObamaCare does — to the
tune of $500 billion — in addition to shifting $500 billion out of Medicare to
fund it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Sixty-three percent of Massachusetts residents favor the
law, according to a recent poll by the Harvard School of Public Health and the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word;">Boston Globe</em>, up 10 percentage points in the past two years,
with only 21 percent opposed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And what of the “individual mandate” that makes people
think RomneyCare<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word;">is</em>ObamaCare?
Well, considering there’s already a federal mandate to provide ER care to
anyone regardless of ability to pay, it’s pretty important to make sure docs
get paid, unless you want to drive them out of business<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word;">a la</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>ObamaCare.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Where it gets tricky is that an insurance mandate only
make sense if, as in the case of automobiles, having coverage doesn’t encourage
crashes, whereas standard health insurance increases utilization. Also,
RomneyCare does not encourage medical savings accounts and streamlined,
just-the-basics insurance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">But, as Romney is at pains to say, the Massachusetts law
was a state solution to a state problem. He vows to rescind cost-prohibitive,
one-size-fits-all ObamaCare if elected president — granting a waiver to all 50
states on Day One.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Meanwhile, Republicans have come up with a way to obviate
a “mandate” — since understandably, it’s not everyone’s<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word;">cup of tea</em><span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span>—
by assessing a fee on those who don’t buy insurance to hedge against costs
incurred should they fall ill or suffer injury.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">But, sensing political opportunity, Romney’s Republican
opponents have been pouncing on him, with Sarah Palin tut tutting the
Massachusetts law in Boston<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word;">one hour</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>before Romney announced for the
presidency. Gov. Pawlenty called out “ObamneyCare” because, he explained
in the debate, Obama claimed RomneyCare was his “blueprint.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The good news, though, is<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2011/06/14/who-was-the-nights-biggest-winner/" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Monday’s debate</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>signaled a truce of sorts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Indeed, if Republicans hope to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word;">win the present</em>, we must nominate a candidate who understands
what ails the economy and how to cure it, of which health care is a big part.
This means civility — honestly assessing opponents’ positions and presenting
your own — will be critically important, lest we destroy ourselves from within. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 18pt;">So, with eyes on the prize, let the race be guided by the
kind of civility our great Republican presidents, such as Abraham Lincoln,
Ronald Reagan, and, yes, even TR, practiced; and inspired by TR’s overflowing
common sense in making life better for the little guy, now suffering under
the weight of Obamanomics.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">*******</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 18pt;"><i>Note: I posted this article on this 2016 American Politics blog on November 7, 2012, the day after the presidential election because I thought a piece on the need for civility was in order! As it is today 40 days before the 2016 presidential election, now more than ever! -- Mary Claire Kendall</i></span><br />
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Mary Claire Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17488498616555449660noreply@blogger.com0