As IF Times

Nancy Has A Hissy Fit

By now, the infamous images of Speaker Pelosi brazenly tearing up the contents of Trump’s state of the union address have been seen by everyone watching the farcical melodrama which is American politics.  In fact during the majority of the time that Trump was speaking, Speaker Pelosi was in his background drawing attention to herself by shuffling papers and pretending to read them as if she were grading school papers.  She was fidgeting and making faces the entire time as if she was sitting on a pie and needed to pee. She may as well have been juggling cats. Unfortunately, cameras missed the Rubik’s cube and the sudoku puzzle she was working on under the papers.

The mutual disdain that Trump and Pelosi hold for each other was obvious right from the beginning. But politics is politics. It’s standard protocol that despite the deep contempt that politicos often hold for each other, there is supposed to be a veneer of civility which is required during national addresses.  In following the path of events which have transpired over the past 3 years, that veneer of civility has been cast aside completely to reveal the naked incivility and animosity into which political discourse has devolved.

Even as the President outlined the record of accomplishments achieved over the course of his term, all of which should be regarded as praiseworthy by any objective observer, Nancy chose to draw attention to herself while she made goo goo faces behind the President.  It’s quite possible that at 80 years of age, she may be losing control over many of her bodily functions and her mind may be one of them.  She could not help but put her petulance on full display.

She’s hardly alone in her party of course.  She may be just taking a cue from some of the younger upstarts in her party who have captured the limelight with their uneducated and baleful utterances. Over the years, we’ve seen numerous Dems who have displayed their very tenuous link to logic and reality without regard to personal shame. The interminable impeachment charade, which followed the interminable  Mueller saga, which followed the interminable Kavanaugh melodrama all served to reveal the single minded goal of destroying anything Trump without regard for the destruction of their own credibility and dignity.  The real consequence is the abrogation of the duty they were elected for, which is to serve the people.

Nancy’s hissy fit serves to make clear that the political divide is quite stark. On one side of the political divide, people are implementing policies and moving the nation forward.  On the other side are those that are mainly annoyance factors on any given issue regardless of benefit to the nation.  There’s no need to pretend that meaningful discourse can be had on any issue.  On the one side is an administration that in only 3 years has turned around the fortunes of a nation, whereas the other side, many of whom have been ensconced in office for over 40 years, have failed at every major policy decision, whether domestic policy, foreign policy or fiscal policy.

It’s hopeful that we will see the re-emergence  and dominance of people working to get things done rather than those working only to get attention.  The country needs to ignore the plaintive bleats of the permanently aggrieved and bring on people with genuine intentions.  As any parent knows, sometimes you just have to let the babies cry themselves out.

link Cains smoking ad divides Republicans: Reuters/Ipsos poll | Reuters.

What do we do with a guy named Herman.  The funny thing is, neither party knows what to do with him.  From an unlikely post way at the back of the pack, Herman Cain is all of a sudden leading or near the lead of the potential candidates for the Republican Presidential nomination.

The Democrats don’t know what to do with him since their entire attack campaign is geared towards the presumptive front runners Romney and/or Perry.  All of a sudden a charismatic non-politician pops out of nowhere and garners the attention of a large voting segment by force of his plain spoken, common sense style.  He’s a self made man, responsible for successfully running and saving a number of big name corporations and god help them, he’s black!

The left can’t claim that Cain’s lack of political experience is a handicap since the guy they pushed into office didn’t have any either.  Cain at least held a real job and employed people rather than living comfortably off the government dole.   They can’t attack him on his race, checkmate there.   So in the meantime, they resort to the predictable, tired old standby they’ve used for ages against every dangerous Republican contender.  They’ll paint him as dumb and unhinged.  Considering that the Dems are the party of Al Gore, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden, that’s rich.  If one listens closely, you can hear the echoing sound from their heads whenever they speak due to all of the extra space in their cranial cavities.

Democrats have supported themselves for years by their narrative of identity politics especially when it comes to blacks.  The narrative is that without the Democrats to protect and provide for them, blacks would be helpless and disadvantaged in an oppressive society.  A guy like Herman comes along who’s done it on his own without government help and handouts, well that creates some doubt about their narrative.  And he’s a Republican to boot.  Who knows, maybe other blacks will get the same idea and pretty soon, there goes the party.  A guy like Herman is dangerous to them.

The Republicans on the other hand are so busy with their circular firing squad as they try to identify the most perfect candidate, that they don’t even see that Cain appeals to the massive amount of normal people who detest canned and coiffed candidates.  Cain’s main appeal is that regular people can identify with him the way that they can’t with the polished politicos offered up by the Republican establishment.  As of this writing, Cain doesn’t even have an organized team to address the upcoming Iowa and New Hampshire caucuses.  Horrors!  Karl Rove is in panic mode. Who is this guy?  He can’t be a serious contender, he’s not part of the establishment! He’s not doing things the way you’re supposed to.  He didn’t even have the common sense to not be shown smoking in a recent ad.

Well despite what most would expect, the recent ads showing Cain smoking didn’t turn people off.  In fact, it strangely made Cain more human, just a regular guy, not some airbrushed mannequin repeating the same canned talking points.  The guy seems genuine. So he smokes a little.  As much as most find the habit disgusting in this politically correct age, it’s refreshing to see someone not obsessed with his public image.  We see Cain at political appearances wearing a black fedora style hat, showing that he’s not the least concerned about presenting the usual airbrushed image that most politicians present these days.

The GOP had better smarten up.  All of their candidates have shortcomings in one way or another, but any of them would be more capable than the incumbent in the Oval office today.  All are very strong defenders of most conservative sensibilities, but they cannot be everything.  Instead of knocking each other for their worst  flaws, real or imagined, they’d be better off being  supportive of those that best reflect the values of the conservative crowd, which is more than half of the nation.  Conservatives have a big constituency to cover since their group covers such a wide range of opinion and thought so it’s harder for all to get behind one person.   The Dems on the other hand, only have to cover a narrow band of sensibilities, so their decision process is much simpler.   A guy like Herman comes along and he resonates with people for a reason.  He’s not politics as usual.  Everyone’s had enough of professional slicksters.  They want someone real.  To paraphrase the old Star-Kist tuna commercial, they don’t want someone real good, they want someone good and real.   Right now, that’s Herman.