The Truth and Nothing but the Truth about the Debate

The Truth About the Republican Debate

 The View from the Middle

As I’ve watched the coverage of the recent Republican Presidential debate, it has reminded me of a quote from one of my favorite historical figures, Abraham Lincoln.  Abe once said, “If you look for the bad in people, expecting to find it, you surely will.”  If you read the New York Times headlines or watched the women of The View, you would get a distorted perspective of what happened on Wednesday night. 

In what I can only describe as the height of hypocrisy, Michelle Collins actually criticized Carly Fiorina’s looks, suggesting that her smile made her look “demented”.  Joy Behar quickly followed that absolutely absurd comment by saying that Ms. Fiorina’s face would make a good Halloween mask.  Wow!  Aren’t these the same women that skewered Donald Trump for making a much less obnoxious statement about Carly?

So if you are looking for a truthful review of the debate, you can’t rely on the New York Times, The View or any of the rest of the left-leaning media.  They enter with a skewed perspective and they are literally “looking for the bad” in all conservatives, even women!!  So if you want the truth, you need to come to The View From the Middle, and here it is.

To be honest, I have been disappointed with the divisive, demeaning rhetoric of the first two debates.  I’m more of a Reagan “build a big tent” moderate and believe there should be no sniping inside the tent.  In this debate I finally saw some unity and some actual support between the candidates.  The fact that they were united against the hapless CNBC moderators is irrelevant.  We need unity among the Republican candidates as much as we need unity among the American people.

And it all started with what Ben Carson described as the “Cruz” missile.  Ted Cruz, who I will declare as the big winner of the evening, laid into the CNBC moderators for their biased, disrespectful and combative questions to the approval of the audience and all open minded people across the country.  At that moment he defended Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Donald Trump as he castigated the moderators.  I can only hope that this will change this entire primary election process and not just this debate.

Marco Rubio was another big winner.  He defended himself well against a small attack by Jeb Bush but he also finally exposed a couple of truths that that the country needs to face.  First, he called Hillary Clinton a liar by using her own words.  She lied to the American people about the cause of the Benghazi attack while she told the Prime Minister of Egypt the truth.  He also described the mainstream media as the “ultimate super PAC” of the Democrat Party.  Maybe we can shame the media into being non-partisan.  That assumes that they have any conscience left.

Chris Christie showed again that he is prepared, smart and works well on his feet.  I loved it when he told John Harwood that, “even in New Jersey” what he was doing was rude.  I actually thought Christie won the second debate but he was not able to use that performance to make a surge in the polls.  We’ll see if he can do better with Wednesday’s effort.

A final winner, in my book, was Carly Fiorina.  I love her message about our huge, complicated, inept and corrupt federal government and think it should be the main battle cry for all conservatives.  She also won the microphone time battle despite the fact that she is 5^th, 6^th or 7^th in the polls, depending on which one you look at.

Trump did fine, and I think I see some maturing from him as a political candidate.  He used 3^rd grade bullying tactics less often (but I wouldn’t suggest going out of the way to antagonize him) and has added more substance to his arguments.  He also actually complimented some of his opponents.  Ben Carson also did fine.  I love his message of unity and civility, but he got the 3^rd lowest speaking time despite his #1 or #2 position in the polls.  He is not a natural “interrupter” and he may have to work on appropriate ways to get his fair share, but I also blame the CNBC moderators and their total lack of control for the imbalance.

The two biggest losers were Rand Paul and Jeb Bush.  Neither made campaign-ending gaffes, but both needed stellar performances to keep them in the news and in the minds of voters, and they didn’t get it.  Their messages were not memorable and they received the two lowest levels of speaking time in the debate.  Jeb will surely hang on for the next debate because he has so much money, but Rand Paul might find himself a victim of a culling process that the field badly needs so that the major candidates can get their full messages out to the people.

Lois Lerner and our lack of Justice Dept.

…And Justice for None

 The View from the Middle

If you haven’t figured it out yet, whenever the government releases information at 5:00 pm. on Friday, it is their attempt to blow a fast one past the American people.  They are hoping that we have started our weekend and by Monday we will have forgotten, or better yet missed, the issue they are trying to hide.  This is a soft version of deception, yet very effective, and it should anger and even sicken all of us. 

So, you ask, what is the latest version of the governmental duplicity?  Last Friday as the clock stuck five, our (lack of) Justice Department announced that there would be no criminal charges filed against any IRS official in connection with its targeting of conservative groups requesting 501 (c)(4) status.  This just confirms this Justice Department’s complete partisanship and incompetence.  They can’t convict a fellow liberal comrade even with a confession.  Don’t take my word for it, let’s see what Lois Lerner said when responding to her own planted question back in 2013:

“They (IRS employees) used names like Tea Party or Patriots and they selected cases simply because the applications had those names in the title. That was wrong, that was absolutely incorrect, insensitive, and inappropriate”

“They also sent some letters out that were far too broad, asking questions of these organizations that weren’t really necessary for this type of application. In some cases…they asked for contributor names. That’s not appropriate”

So, Lois Lerner admitted that the targeting happened and that extremely inappropriate questions were asked of these groups.  She also admitted that their requests were delayed.  And, from a few of her e-mails that weren’t conveniently lost, we know that she called these groups “crazies” who were determined to ruin our country.  And this doesn’t even address the fact that the tax division of the IRS also coincidentally audited these groups.  One of the victims of this abuse described all of this as the “weaponization” of the IRS.  But of course, there was no political motivation or so says Lois Lerner, and she gets off. 

So let’s get this straight.  The targeting occurred.  The damage was done.  People were abused if not destroyed, but as long as the offender says she didn’t mean it, after the fact, then all is forgiven.  Given that standard, we couldn’t convict anyone who is simply willing to lie.  This Justice Department is incapable of looking at the facts of a case and realizing that they are inconsistent with the denials of the perpetrators.  And we wonder why there is no accountability in the government.

But we shouldn’t be surprised.  This is not the first time this (lack of) Justice Department has looked down the barrel of a gun loaded with facts and simply ignored it.  Eric Holder, the Obama bundler and previous Attorney General, actually lied to congress, but paid no price.  Again, don’t take my word for it, here is what Eric Holder said to Congress when asked about abusing the freedom of the press, and in this case the press was Fox News:

“With regard to the potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material – that is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of or would think would be wise policy”

Oops!  He must have forgotten that he had actually signed off on a warrant to snoop into James Rosen’s e-mails and to track his movements.  In the warrant, Rosen was called a potential “aider and abettor and co-conspirator”.  But what’s a little lie like this to Congress anyway?  It’s a felony, that’s what it is.  No problem.  Mr. Holder expressed remorse when he was caught in his lie so his Justice Department let him off.  I’m sure they’d do the same for you or me, right?  Personally, I think we would be rotting in jail for the exact same behavior.

This is the same Attorney General who obtained AP phone records improperly, failed to hold Black Panther activists accountable for voter intimidation and was held in contempt by Congress for not providing documents in the Fast and Furious investigation.  The contempt of Congress charge was a bi-partisan vote, but the (lack of) Justice Department decided not to investigate itself in the Fast and Furious case.  Oh, I feel better.

And finally, we have Hillary Clinton admitting that she lied to the American people and she will not be held accountable either.  Again, don’t take my word for it, here is what Ms. Clinton wrote to the Egyptian Prime Minister within 24 hours of the Benghazi attack:

“We know there is NO connection between the attack in Libya and the video.  This was a planned attack and had nothing to do with the film.”

Of course, at the same time she was telling the American people just the opposite.  The reality is that the American people would not have blamed the Administration for the attack on Benghazi.  They would have taken some heat for being unprepared and for not responding the night of the attack, but that is minor compared to the wrath that the American people have heaped on Hillary for lying to them.  The cover-up is always worse than the original sin.

What is sad about all of these cases, and what infuriates most Americans and me is the lack of accountability in our government.  There seems to be different rules for government employees than for us regular folks.  The good news is that I feel a growing anger in the country about this double standard.  “We the People” are seeing the government for what it is – a huge, inefficient, corrupt, irresponsible and unaccountable blob that needs to be reeled in. 

What we need is a good political outsider for President and term limits in the Congress.  There, now I do feel better.

Hillary dances but stumbles in Benghazi hearings

Hillary Dances but Stumbles

 The View from the Middle

What should you expect from The View From the Middle concerning Hillary Clinton’s testimony yesterday on Benghazi?  You should expect a dispassionate analysis – the truth, which is difficult to come by in Washington and, unfortunately, from the mainstream media.  And you shall have it.  You will remember that after Ms. Clinton’s first appearance in front of Darrell Issa’s committee, I declared Hillary the winner, despite her horrible “what difference does it make” gaffe.  Yesterday, she was not the winner. 

Those who blindly support her simply on Wednesday because she is a democrat or a woman will probably rationalize how they can still support her today.  Those who think she is a serial liar and the worst person we could put in The White House in 2017, will not change that opinion, but it is with the Independents that Hillary could suffer a decline.  Of course, none of this will make a difference in the primary, but could impact the general election.  All that is to be seen.

The partisanship was thick from the very beginning.  Democrats spent most of their time attacking the committee and its chairman and occasionally asking some softball question like, “how did you (Hillary) balance the need for security with the real needs of the country?”  This was usually accompanied by a tear rolling down the questioner’s cheek or at least a pained expression on their faces.  Hillary then went into an obviously pre-planned answer that allowed her to look as Presidential as possible. 

The Republicans did occasionally get too personal with their attacks, which helped Hillary act out her victim roles, but they did at least ask questions.  The most effective questioners for the Republicans, thus also for the entire committee, were Jim Jordan of Ohio and Trey Gowdy, the chairman, from South Carolina.

Jim Jordan went after one of the three key issues of these hearings.  What was the source of the story that Susan Rice spread on five Sunday talk shows that this entire event was a demonstration about an anti-Islamic video gone wrong?  Mr. Jordan laid out a very damning series of e-mails that Ms. Clinton sent to her daughter, Chelsea, the President of Libya and the Prime Minister of Egypt that clearly stated that this was a planned terrorist attack.   All of these communications were within 24 hours of the attack.  The most damning was the e-mail to the Egyptian Prime Minister that stated, “We know there is no connection between the attack in Libya and the video.  It was a planned attack, not a protest.” 

I don’t know how much more obvious he could have made it, that she and the President and Susan Rice were selling a scenario to the American people that they know for a fact was not true.  Some people may have missed this.  Some may try to minimize it, but I predict that this new, revealing information will haunt the Secretary for quite some time, just as her “what difference does it make” comment did.

Trey Gowdy caught Ms. Clinton in another deception.  She described her e-mails from Sidney Blumenthal as “unsolicited”.  She didn’t qualify.  She implied they were all “unsolicited”.  Mr. Gowdy then showed e-mail after e-mail from Ms. Clinton that included obvious solicitation for his input.  He showed e-mails from her that ended with “Please keep it (the information) coming” or “do you have any more info” or “what are you hearing now”.  You may think this is a minor point, but I think it demonstrates Ms. Clinton’s habit of misleading all of us until she gets caught.  She finally suggested that Mr. Blumenthal’s input “started out” as unsolicited.  But we don’t know that either, do we.

Mr. Gowdy also demonstrated very clearly that Mr. Blumenthal, who didn’t work for the State Department and was even shunned by The White House, had infinitely more access to Ms. Clinton than her good friend and Ambassador at a high-risk site, Chris Stevens, had.  This does bring into question how involved Ms. Clinton was in the security of our diplomatic corps despite the fact that it was mandated of her by previous ARB’s (Accountability and Review Board). 

The final question for me is, why didn’t we send some resources to Benghazi as soon as we found out it was under attack.  The story is, we didn’t have time to get there.  Of course, that is a ludicrous answer; because at the time we didn’t have any idea how long this attack would last.  In fact, it lasted 8 hours.  Could we, should we have done something?  I think the answer is, yes.  Maybe we’ll find out more from General Petraeus in the upcoming weeks.  Let’s hope so.

The Democrat Debate and the Elephant on their podiums

Dem. Debate – The Elephant in the Room

 The View from the Middle

There is one thing on which I can agree with every one of the Democratic Presidential candidates, this is a very important election and we, as citizens, need to be educated on the issues and the stances of all candidates on those issues.  We have to cut through the meaningless, factless hyperbole and personal attacks that all of these candidates can make.  The Republican Party does not hate everyone, as much as these people would like you to believe, any more than Democrats do.  Don’t be deceived by these head fakes, but concentrate on the issues.

There were a couple of issues on which I can even agree with Bernie Sanders.  We do need to reform our criminal justice system so that it doesn’t ruin the lives of many young, black men for nonviolent crimes.  The penalties for selling marijuana, which is actually legal in two states, are too harsh and need to be adjusted.  Should possession of it or even selling it be treated more like a speeding ticket than a felony?  I don’t know, but what we have today is flooding our jails and ruining lives.  There has to be some common ground here to fix this problem.

I also think we need campaign finance reform and according to a recent CBS News poll, 85% of Americans agree it should be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt.  I’m a huge believer in free speech, but should a person be able to buy fifty million voices when most of us have just one.  There has to be some common sense limits we can put on campaign contributions that don’t allow undue influence by the extremely wealthy for personal benefit.

Now, let’s get to the real elephant in the room.  Bernie Sanders suggested that global warming would make our planet uninhabitable for our children.  Wow, and Dems accuse Republicans of using “scare tactics”.  If global warming (oops, sorry – climate change) does continue, the new, safer projections by these alarmists say that the cataclysm will occur in 100 to 200 years.  This is conveniently after they have made their millions and have long been dead.  Let me tell you about a real threat that could affect our children and grandchildren, and that is our national debt.   Our debt and deficits did not get a single mention by any candidate and not one single question by any of the moderators.  Let’s call this the “ostrich” strategy being employed by the debaters and journalistic incompetence by CNN.

Our debt is approaching 19 TRILLION dollars, and the service on that debt is $230 billion per year.  This annual expense is the fourth largest piece of the federal budget pie.  Fed interest rate will not stay at virtually zero forever, and for every one percent increase in interest rates, the service on our debt will go up about $180 billion a year.  If rates went up to 5% (the average for the 1990’s), the service on our debt would go over a trillion dollars a year and would rival Social Security and Unemployment combined for the top spot in the budget.  This has the potential of destroying our economy and standing in the world, not in a hundred years but easily in our lifetimes.

And what did these candidate promise?  Even more spending!  Free college tuition!  Free Medicare for all; free family leave pay, extension of Social Security and further subsidization of the wind and solar industry (more Solyndras).  This all sounds wonderful, but considering that annual budget deficits are projected to return to the trillion-dollar level by 2025, at which point our total debt will exceed $25 TRILLION, shouldn’t we start talking about the size of this gluttonous government that will cripple the future of our children? 

And how do they plan to pay for all of this new spending?  Higher taxes.  Bernie Sanders is suggesting a 90% top marginal tax on the rich and unlimited FICA taxes.  Again, this “whack the rich” approach sounds great, but it’s an illusion.  What rich person that you know is going to pay a 90% tax on any of their income.  These people have the flexibility to literally leave this country or at least have their money leave to avoid such a fate.  This avalanche of spending and taxing will not work and suggesting to the American people that it will is criminal.

By not even talking about this issue CNN and all of the Democratic candidates tried to blow a fast one past the American people.  For the future of our children we cannot allow this travesty to continue.  Understand the real issues and vote for realistic solutions to them, no matter what party label is affiliated with them.