As IF Times

Source: Colin Powell Says He’ll Vote for Hillary Clinton – The New York Times

One of the oldest clichés concerning public office is that politics make strange bedfellows.  This old chestnut has never been truer than as it applies to this year’s US elections.  As we all know by now, after a bruising convention, Donald Trump wound up as the nominee for the Republican ticket beating out some well known candidates in bare knuckled fights with unexpectedly personal attacks on their characters and records.

Those hurt feelings have yet to heal (if ever) and many of the contestants have publicly disavowed their support for The Donald.  This animus has extended to other old line Republicans including such as Colin Powell, a former GOP cabinet official, that feel compelled to publicly announce their support of the Democratic candidate.  Party loyalty, at least on the GOP side has been fractured and so other considerations are at play.  While many party deserters are claiming moral conscience in dissing Trump, it is laughingly disingenuous when you consider the alternative.  Party affiliation is obviously more an issue of expediency than of principles.  In the case of Mr. Powell, he claims thusly;

“…I am voting for Hillary Clinton,” he said,  Mr. Powell went on to praise Mrs. Clinton for her skills as a leader and her experience...”

Thanks to WikiLeaks document disclosures of his candid conversations, we know these sentiments are as fake as his former party loyalties.  We don’t recall experience being a requisite when he endorsed the neophyte Obama during his run for office.  Powell should be a man and just state that he despises Trump and would rather eat a bowl of slugs than support him.  Instead, he supports Hilary’s ‘experience’.

Powell’s endorsement is just one of the massive throng of ‘public’ figures rooting for Hilary in addition to most of the major media outlets, so it’s not as if it has any more effect than peeing into the Atlantic.  But if you did not know the issue at hand and only looked at the contingent of people vociferously and publicly championing one side; luminaries such as the bj offering  Madonna, Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake, Kim, Alec Baldwin, George Clooney, Mark Zuckerburg, Black Lives Matter, Joy Behar and Oprah, not to mention the political nutters including Elizabeth Warren, Tim Kaine and Al Sharpton, you’d HAVE to pull an opposite George and take the other side of the trade because that would be the rational thing to do.

As it happens, in this case, it’s politics.  The issue boils down to this:  They would rather vote for the person that has a proven record of duplicity, gotten people killed, is funded by hostile governments and is a danger to national security, than for the other guy because he said mean things.   In fact it’s the gaggle of shrill, bleating mean girls that are doing the bullying.

Source: Oprah Winfrey endorses Hillary Clinton: Its a seminal moment for women – Washington Times

There are those that blame Oprah for the mess that has befallen the US of A the past 7-1/2 years; and I’m one of them.  The former queen of daytime talk TV, cursed with overactive tear ducts, was single handedly responsible for introducing the current president to the nation.  As we know, Oprah’s book recommendations would send a particular tome soaring in sales and elevate the author to instant celebrity with a simple blink of her teary eyes.   We cannot underestimate the power and influence of Oprah’s army, which I dub the AWW; the Army Of Weepy Women.  As much as her influence has done wonders for Kleenex stock, her support for otherwise obscure authors is even more powerful.

Oprah’s effusive support of Obama’s book set him on a path from nobody to Nero in just one year.  I believe one of the reasons touted for his suitability for President was that ‘it was time’, in this case for a black person to hold the office.   In her recent plead for Hilary’s election to the same office, we are not surprised to hear that, ‘it’s time’ in this case, for a woman to hold that role.

The natural question is, why was it not time for Hilary back in 2008 when she was a candidate opposing Obama for the same office?  This is illogical since women have been around at least as long as any conspicuous minority.  How did Hilary get bumped into only next in line?  When you compare the skillsets of both, they are comically similar, that is, both are acclaimed speechmakers but also both are conspicuously lacking in any actual achievement outside of reading a teleprompter.  But now, it’s Hilary’s turn.  Maybe there was a rock/paper/scissors decision at the time.

We should note that Oprah’s sincere endorsement of authors is to be commended for bringing forth authors and stories that would otherwise not be exposed.  Some were commendable.  Unfortunately some, notably James Frey, were frauds and she was genuinely duped like everyone else, falling for the ‘compelling’ story.  It just so happens that some people are quite good at telling stories….especially to a gullible audience.

Getting back to Hilary, I wonder why it wasn’t time for a female VP when Sarah Palin was running.  Or when Carly Fiorina was running for the GOP?  Or Meg Whitman.  Stating that it’s time for a female President makes as much sense as declaring that it’s time for Chinese food for dinner because Pizza was last night.  Or to send a Chihuahua on a rescue mission instead of a St. Bernard because it was the little dog’s turn.  In fact, this entire ‘it’s time’ rationale should encourage all kinds of constituents to clamor for ‘their time’.  Think midgets, red headed people, Hispanics, dyslexics and singers.  They should all have their turn.  Following this logic, the path to the presidency can be like a board game, in which the spin of the arrow dictates who’s up next.  Ability is moot.  Can you imagine the losers you’d have running?  Oh wait…