Best of The Worst

A scribe was recently asked for specifics as to why polls have consistently shown that the American people do not like or trust Hillary Clinton.  

He began with Whitewater.  

It was reveled in a March 1992 New York times article that Bill and Hillary Clinton were heavily invested in the Whitewater Development Corporation.  Jim and Susan McDougal were also investors in the real estate investment program. 

Criminal allegations surfaced when David Hale, an Arkansas banker, claimed that he was pressured by Bill Clinton to provide an illegal loan of $300,000 to Susan McDougal to invest in Whitewater.  Three criminal investigations could not tie the Clintons to any fraudulent or illegal behavior.  Susan McDougal went to prison for refusing to testify as to whether Bill Clinton lied in his testimony (Bill perjure himself? – Never) surrounding the scandal.  President Clinton pardoned her just hours before leaving the White House.  

Whitewater also uncovered suspicious activities surrounding what came to be known as “Trooper-gate” “Travel-gate,” “File-gate” and the questionable circumstances surrounding the death of White House counsel and Hillary Clinton aid, Vince Foster.  

Next it was reported that Hillary Clinton purchased 10 cattle futures contracts that cost $12,000 for only $1,000.  The next day those contracts were worth $6,300 and after a mere 10 months, $100,000.  Robert L. "Red" Bone, who allowed the trades, received the biggest fine ever recorded in Arkansas future exchange history and was suspended from conducting all market activities for three years. 

For brevity we will skip “Looter-gate” “Drug Dealer Donor Scandal” “China-gate”

and Norman Yung Yuen Hsu’s 24-year prison sentence for fraud in attempting to manipulating the political process in Hillary’s 2008 Campaign.  

We are now to Benghazi.  We Know – “What difference, at this point, does it make?”  It makes a difference because like all the previous suspicions of wrong doing, Benghazi is also cloaked in a veil of impenetrable secrecy.  This behavior only promotes more serious doubt and suspicions centering on competency, honesty and thus motivations. 

As part of the Benghazi investigations, it was discovered that Secretary Clinton had used her private email server to conduct State Department business.  Following a request to review those emails, Secretary Clinton deleted 3,300 of them in obvious deviance of federal regulations requiring the archiving of all emails.  Hillary has stated that the deleted documents were of a personal nature only.  Yet no evidence can ever be presented to validate that assertion. 

We have learned that in American politics the impropriety is far easier for the American people to dismiss than a coverup.   When President John F. Kennedy was asked who was responsible for the “Bay of Pigs” debacle he responded with grace, humility and honesty in saying he had no wish “to conceal responsibility because I am the responsible officer of government…”  From that point forward it was, for the most part, forgotten. 

The Clinton Foundation has also come under scrutiny and investigation for suspected influence peddling while Hillary was Secretary of State.  While subpoenas have been issued, no illegal wrongdoings or fraudulent activity has been conclusively established.  Yet unethical behavior has been established.  After her visits to foreign countries as Secretary Of State, it became common for her husband to receive an invitation to speak in some of those countries for hundreds of thousands of dollars.  The foundation has managed to raise $2 billion, much of it coming from foreign governments, corporations and political donors.  While that is legal, it once again sends a signal that conflicts of interest could very easily be on the horizon. 

Hillary has further fueled suspicions around potential conflict of interest by refusing to release the transcripts of her Wall Street speeches.  Her position on the refusal is that she has “both a public and private position” on Wall Street.  Again, this feeds into even more doubt as to what she really represents, and what she truly believes. 

And while Hillary should not be held accountable for her husband’s sexual addiction, habitual adultery and impeachment, it is fair to hold her accountable for defending his dalliances and political bungles.  She made a repeated charge that anyone attempting to bring any scandal to light were engaging in a “vast right wing conspiracy.”   The argument that because she was Bill’s wife, she had no choice but to aggressively defend him lacks validity.  For she indeed did have a choice.   She could have remained silent. 

Yes – politics is an ugly business.  But there is simply too much dirty laundry to support the argument that ALL of this was politically motivated.  The repetitiveness unquestionably validates indisputable character flaws in integrity and honesty.  

This has not been lost on the American people. Polls consistently reveal, through

Hillary’s unpopularity reflects that Americans are keenly aware of all this political ugliness.  If we have, in fact, reached the point where Hillary is considered the best choice between the two major party candidates, the we must brace ourselves for the reality that she could ultimately play a huge role in electing “The Donald.” 

Poo-Pooing Career Politicians

The CNN Sunday morning news program “Global Public Square” (GPS) provided a fascinating and enlightening conversation.  It dealt with the immense chore and importance of smoothly transitioning the White House when a new administration takes over. 

The participants were the show’s host Fareed Zakaria, Evan Osnos a writer with the New Yorker magazine and author of a new book entitled “President Trump,” and Melody Barnes who was instrumental in directing the White House transition of the Obama’s administration.  

The size of the project is enormous.  Barnes, who has worked with many CEO’s of major corporations described it as; “…taking some of the largest companies in the world, if you bolted together Exxon and Walmart and doubled them in size you would still not reach…(the) three million employees… (or) the $3 trillion budget” of the federal government.  Therefore, a new president must identify and appoint 4,000 staff members in a matter of weeks after taking office.  Two hundred and fifty (250) of those positions must be filled almost immediately.  This must be done to assure the White House never misses a beat.  Barnes: “there's litigation underway, there are regulations, there are any number of things that are already in motion…” that must be dealt with as though no change has taken place.  Because these appointees must be put in place quickly, there is no time to play politics.  Controversy must be almost nonexistent, their experience and knowledge must be unquestionable and they should be as free of strong partisanship as possible.  

With this reality, Zakaria asked Osnos if Donald Trump’s declaration that on day one he would sign 25 executive orders to eviscerate as much of the Obama presidency as possible is legal and doable? 

Osnos pointed out that it is indeed legal.  He said that “legally, he (the president) has the ability to do many more…things than we might imagine.” He went on: “…on day one or within several days, they (Trump Administration) could withdraw the United States from the Paris climate deal, for instance. They could suspend the Syrian Refugee Program. They could radically accelerate the pace of deportation.”   

It was additionally pointed out that in matters of foreign policy the president has even more unchallenged authority. Trump could effectively refuse “to come to the defense of Eastern Europe because (he doesn’t) think they're paying their fair share.”  He could deny coming “to the defense of Japan. If they want to develop nuclear weapons that's fine by me (Trump).”  Osnos continued; “(this) sends out a message to all of these other governments and (they will) begin to make calculations, (they will) begin to hedge, (they' will) begin to reimagine their relationship with (the) United States and their relationship with other powers, whether it's china or with Russia.”  This would create a very volatile and dangerous situation. 

Osnos went on to maintain that because of the size and enormity of the tasks that would await the Trump administration upon entering the White House, the 25 executive orders claim is implausible.  Osnos said; “… this just further demonstrates an indicator of how little experience this group of political folks actually has.”

Finally, Barnes was asked if being a CEO is a strong qualification for the presidency. 

BARNES: “…there is a difference between leading even one of the largest companies in the world and leading the United States of America.”

“When you're the CEO of a company, you don't literally have to sit down with your loyal opposition every single day to get from an idea to a conclusion and to negotiate your way through that. You don't have the checks and balances in place that our founder(s) set up to ensure that the chief executive of the country doesn't run amuck.”
All of those things are part of what make(s) our republic work and operate.”

As we march off to the polls on November 8^th we may want to carefully scrutinize the notion that we would be better served by a novice in politics than a career politician.  We may want to remember that it was Lyndon Johnson’s and Hubert Humphrey’s political skills and savvy, along with their experience and knowledge on our governmental system and the friendships acquired over the years that ended the filibuster of the 1964 Civil Rights Act paving the way for its passage.  The same is true of Social Security, Medicare and any other crucial piece of legislation ever enacted. 

The presidency is NOT analogous to sitting on the city council.  Like any profession, it takes years of hard work and dedication to reach a level of excellence that is required and that we must demand of our chief executive.

God and Family Values

Honesty is telling the truth to other people. 

Integrity is telling the truth to yourself. 

Okay let’s agree to ignore and totally forget what the Republican Party and Trump loyalists are irrationally demanding we disregard.  Let’s forget about the Howard Stern tapes, the bus comments, the Miss Universe comments, hobnobbing with Hugh Hefner at the Playboy mansion, the Carly Fiorina personal appearance attack and all the other forgotten female slights not noted here.  Just put them out of your mind - give them absolutely no weight.

Now the question becomes; what other demands would these ardent supporters of morality and strength of character also like us to accommodate? 

Would they like us to forget all or just a portion of the following??

·         Mr. Trumps bragging about his dalliances, along with his adultery with Marla Maples while married to Ivana  

·         The mocking of a physically handicapped reporter

·         Calling John McCain, a loser because he was captured in Vietnam

·         War hero and former Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s statement that he will write-in his vote on election day.

·         Trump’s endless bigoted pronouncements 

·         For probably the first and ONLY time both Michael Moore and Glen Beck will be in agreement - Trump should not sit in the oval office.

·         Paul Ryan, the most influential Republican legislator in the country, refusing to campaign for Trump.

·         A third of the Republican senators refusing to endorse Trump

·         “Not a single CEO of a fortune 100 company has endorsed Trump – 11 of them are backing Clinton.  Not one major newspaper has endorsed Trump and some are endorsing a Democrat for the first time in over 100 years.  Even conservative thought leaders (Magazines, Noted Columnists and Pundits)…are in some form Anti-Trump and in some cases have become pro-Clinton.”  - Chuck Todd - Meet The Press 

There is of course more – so very much more – but let’s just start there so we can learn what the legitimate concerns should be when considering Mr. Trump and his character.  After all, supporters of those committed to the party of God First and family values can surely justify why all of this should be routinely dismissed. 

“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters.” ~ Donald J. Trump