Down To Five

And Governor Dumpster Fire bites the dust, proving once again that as a political prognosticator, I make a pretty good floor wax.

With that in mind, I might as well let my freak flag fly:

Maybe I'm just die-hard and stubborn, but I can't stop thinking this isn't the end of it.  With very small (and fading fast) hopes that Trump won't get the nomination, and knowing pretty well what a monumental cluster fuck is brewing if he does, the GOP has to be scrambling behind the scenes to bring in a ringer.

And there seems to be way too many giddy Dems wandering around thinking the dissolution of the GOP isn't at least potentially a catastrophic systems-level failure.  With so many Repubs in charge of state and local governments, a thorough fracturing and break up of an entire political party could easily spell even bigger trouble for our little experiment in self-government.  We ain't seen nothin' yet, kids.

Hello, Sunday

Today's Quote

Here's a golden oldie.

Powell gave up his credibility when Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld played him for a sucker and talked him into doing that extraordinarily stoopid dog-n-pony show at the UN as we were being pimped into the Iraq war.

But he did the right thing afterwards and just faded away, which restores at least a bit of his honor in my opinion.  And I think part of that restoration shows in his willingness to stand up and call out the bullshit in the GOP when he sees it.

Today's Pix

Donito Trumpelini Speaks

Today's Shitty-Trump-Thing is basically about the standard Trump tactic of listening for somebody to say almost anything even the tiniest bit critical of him, and using it as justification for a massive counterattack - not to answer the criticism, but to pump up his own image as a strong leader.  If this isn't the behavior of a despot (aka: school bus bully turned "politician"), please tell me what is.

And just in case you missed it, at about the 1:45 mark, when Trump is blathering on about how tough he'll be on ISIS, he actually slags the US military as it is now.  I understand that he means it to be a charge of incompetence against Obama, but he says basically that all of our current military leaders are crap: "... if we had a General MacArthur; if we had a General George Patton - I mean, they'd be gone before they had time to go over and check it out. OK? It's a ridiculous situation."  If I'm a general officer in any branch of uniformed service, I'd be voting for just about anybody but this guy.

But wait - Generals and Colonels are more than egotistical enough to think that if they put this guy in power, they could manipulate him so they could run the joint from their own desks.  Which is almost exactly what happened with GW Bush, and why the GOP wants another Empty Vessel POTUS - like Rubio or Jeb.

I really hope they're not thinking Trump isn't smart enough, and unscrupulous enough, to turn the federal government into one big bloody knife fight.

In the end though, I still think this is the next step in Trump trying to find his exit.  He's finally gotten around to taking a big runny shit on the US Military's head - let's see if anybody actually notices, but then let's take a long look at anybody who steps up to say, "Thanks for the hat, Mr Trump."

Deep Thought

Try not to over-think it once you notice that the word "studying" seems like a mashup of "student" and "dying".

Today's Tweet

Not the most current, but hits it on the head where Ms Fiorina is concerned, and so it should be noted.

pic.twitter.com/ySAxhGZoST

— miles reed (@milesjreed) February 18, 2016

Canada For President

That Rubio Spot

Senator Big Gulp is trying so hard.

(This is the one that features a skyline shot of a Canadian city - oops)

Look, Marco, only one guy's allowed to be Ronald Reagan and that guy's been dead for a dozen years; almost a quarter of your life.  You gotta hitch up your short little pants, buckaroo.  Walking around in Daddy's shoes was pretty darn cute for a while, but it's time to stop pretending and start doing for yourself.  

I guess I'd just like to give you a knowing smile and send you out into the big beautiful world with a pat on the head - but I'm afraid your hair would break and I'd get slivers in my hand and it'd be a big mess and - well, just go on ahead, little man.  

But seriously, stop pimpin' Reagan's corpse like that; it's just kinda gross.

Today's Pix