Mike Huckibee, Rand Paul, and Rick Santorum Quit the Race

Whoever wins on our side faces Marco Rubio

Yesterday Mick Huckibee suspended (meaning “ended”) his campaign for President.  Today Rand Paul quit the Presidential race, and tonight Rick Santorum has announced that he’s going to withdraw from the race.  It’s the liberal talk show hosts that are much more- - perniciously against Senator Bernie Sanders rather than people like  Shawn Hannity.  As I’ve said elsewhere Hannidy’s view of the Iowa caucuses are in general more objective than the views we get from people like Norman Goldman.  These liberal hosts will hang up on any caller who offers a negative view of Hillary Clinton.  They offer little explanation for this permanent barring of such callers other than it’s just “wrong” for a democrat to attack another democrat.  But by their collective actions even people like Thom Hartman are systematically informing their listeners not to vote for Bernie Sanders under any circumstances.  It doesn’t matter whether Bernie has better ideas.  And it doesn’t even matter that polls show that Bernie would do better against the top three republican opponents than Hillary.  Any discussion of Hillary’s liabilities or weaknesses is simply “not allower”.  Contrast this with the Republicans.  They attacked Ted Cruz right and left attacking the New York bank loans and his position on immigration in the past and also the whole ethanol contraversy in Iowa.  Trump brought Sarah Palin into the campaign and even got the endorsement of Iowa’s governor.  It didn’t do any good.  My point is that hard work and a good “ground game’ win the day.  Bernie Sanders could have had a victor if the would be supporters would have had “permission” to vote for him by their esteemed leaders such as Thom Hartman and Norman Goldman.  Now Norman Goldman is as much as calling for Bernie Sanders to drop out of the race after losing one state.  What are Goldman and Hartman afraid of anyhow?  I remember how Hartman used to be having Sanders on his show every week.  I long for the days when Hartman referred to Bernie Sanders as “America’s senator”.

President Obama visited a mosque today and it’s apparently the first time Obama has visited a mosque since he’s been President.  Shawn Hannity threw a caniption fit over it and has two women with two competing opinions.  One was in favor of the visit and the other was and is rabidly against it.  Hannidy is talking about harshness toward religious minorities.  And of course he’s talking about terrorism and this mosque’s ties to Islamic terrorism.  Any time this President says anything favorable about Islam it sets off alarm bells on the part of the far right.  According to this lady early in his carrier- - Mohamed spoke peace to the Jews but when the Jews would not accept Islam then later verses were written and under Islamic law the later verses of the Koran always supplant the earlier verses.  If this is so it’s not the way Christians view the Bible.   If you asked me Obama made his first mistake severing ties with Jeremiah Wright.  Obama has been on the defensive with regard to religion ever since he did that.

Sean Hannity did a better analysis of the Iowa caucuses than did Norman Goldman.  Donald Trump was the big loser of the day coming in at 24% to Ted Cruz’s 28% and Marco Rubio at a strong third at 23%.   Norman thinks that Bernie is a lower because of the liberal grange movement that’s white and just the sort of voters that go for Bernie.  Sean Hannity pointed out that there were six coin flips and Hillary won them all and won six deligates.  The basic percentage was 49.8% for Hillary to 49.6% for Bernie, or a two tenths of a percent margin of victory.  Don’t call her Landslide Hillary.  But there was other funny business because Hillary voters were counted even after they had switched their allegence to Bernie at the caucus meetings.   But Bernie will get his comfortable victory in New Hampshire next week.   It was 62 degrees today.  I got vanilla flavored instant coffee from Glen in his room for four cigarettes. 

Norman Goldman is battling another pro Bernie caller defending his own hostility toward the Senator from Vermont.  If we were believe Norman's breakdown of the demographics, you'd think nobody voted for Bernie since Hillary leads in all the categories except the youths.  And the tilt toward Sanders there is impressive like 84% for Bernie ant 14% for Hillary.  But Goldman says "This year there was nowhere near the number of youths that came out for Obama eight years ago.  Actually the figure was down four percent.  Goldman considers four percent "nowhere near".  All it shows is that Sanders didn't lie and make wild promises the way that Obama did of things he never delivered on.  Yet Hillary is running for a third year of Obama mention Obama's name any time she has a chance.  I don't remember.  Did Humphrey bill himself as "another term of the Johnson administration?"  I don't think so.  Hillary leads among minorities in a major way and by moderates in a major way.  And yet there are key issues where Hillary fails.  She fought for the Trans Pacific Partnership relentlessly over the past four years.  Today they took some official ratification vote in New Zealand.  Hillary took money from Goldman Sachs.  Hillary is against bringing back Glass Steigle.  Hillary is too extreme on the guns issue.  There is a gender gap where women prefer Hillary.  So in a sense she is the "women's candidate" being for things like abortion, and paid medical leave for new mothers.  But the Trans Pacific Partnership is such an important thing I'd vote for Donald Trump over Hillary at this point because defeating the Trans Pacific Partnership is that important.