kanesrealm

Last night the remaining five Republicans debated on CNN live from Houston, Texas. I wouldn't exactly call it an exercise in intellectual engagement but more of a National Geographic special, "when animals attack." Like a pair of rabid dogs Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz tried to double team and take down the lion, Donald Trump. Like all rabid dogs they can't be trusted and also bit each other. Contrary to the analysis of some pundits who are so afraid of a Trump victory, he was not harmed by the lesser jackals on stage. He proved without question that he can take a punch. It continues to amaze me how so many "experts" who are immersed in politics everyday still don't get the Trump phenomenon. He doesn't have to provide details about his policies. His supporters don't care about Trump University, undocumented workers building Trump Towers or being fined forty years ago for using Polish workers. No one, including me, cares about his tax returns. If Ru...

At the outset of the 2016 Presidential cycle the Democratic Party made the official decision that there would only be six debates for the entire campaign and they were spread out. Bernie Sanders always wanted more debates but the frontrunner Hillary Clinton was satisfied with the number, but still Bernie asked for more. The Chair of the party Debbie Wasserman Shultz said no. Low and behold the frontrunner is now motivated to have more debates. MSNBC and New Hampshire's Manchester Union Leader proposed to do a debate prior to that state's February 9 primary. Clinton said yes immediately, Sanders very shrewdly said maybe and then negotiated three additional debates. The first of these took place last night and it was unbelievably a good debate. Sanders and Clinton went at it hammer and tong. Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow did a great job moderating because they kept themselves out of it and did not interfere in the exchanges. I have no idea what it's impact is but I do know ...

Are you tired of the lingering stench of the political seasons debates? New from Kanesrealm's R&D labs in Hindtit, Indiana comes Debate Begone®, it's a huge aerosol can available in pine, lavender and mixed nuts. Simply spray a thick fog, then sit back and think of something else. You may be looking for analysis of last night's Republican Debate on FOX Business, what's that, you couldn't find that channel, don't worry neither can Rupert Murdoch. The debates are completely meaningless at this point and frankly are making me nauseous. My cable provider doesn't carry FOX Business, is it really a channel? I saw enough of the highlights to know it had  zero content of insightful information. It continued to confirm that Donald Trump is HUGE and Ben Carson knows nothing about foreign policy or economics. Speaking of Carson it amazes me how pundits so often refer to him as this nice soft spoken man who is pious. Ben Carson's ego is bigger than Donald Tru...

Originally my decision was to not write about this, you have my word, but the situation has evolved or rather devolved to the point it warrants a bit of my much loved brain flatulence. The Republican Presidential candidates have been in revolt since the CNBC debate last week. Well, not all, well it seems they can't even agree on their revolt. You have my analysis of the debate, it sucked. CNBC does share significant blame for this. It was they who billed it as a night that would focus on the economy but it didn't. Most of the questions were personality driven. The stupidest question was the first one, "what is your greatest weakness?". That question should never be asked in any job interview or of any political candidate. For the record the correct answer is, my greatest weakness is my zero tolerance for ridiculous questions. The second worst question was asking Mike Huckabee if Donald Trump has the moral authority to be President. That issue entirely rests with the ...

The latest Republican Presidential debate was held last night in Colorado and hosted by CNBC, MSNBC's conservative sister network. I wish I could tell you it was insightful or at least entertaining, it was neither. The topic was supposed to be the economy but it quickly drifted into more personality driven issues. Go to factcheck.org to see a list of the untruths which were told. They were in Colorado so maybe they should have all smoked a joint before the debate, then it would have been worth watching. I'm not so sure I'll watch the next one and I'm a political junkie. I know, I know you want analysis. So here it is. The winner of the debate was Marco Rubio, not because of his policies but because he displayed a remarkable ability to turn the negatives thrown at him around and back on his opponents. Bush attempted to make an issue of Rubio's chronic abscence from Senate votes. Rubio immediately shot back at Bush and shut him down. Marco Rubio is not the first sit...

It's a lovely fall day here in Hindtit. I'm sitting in my favorite lawn chair staring at the fields across the road. The crops are all gone now, the ground stripped, a reminder of the winter desolation yet to come. Winters in Hindtit can be brutal, similar to our current Presidential race. With great anticipation I patiently awaited the first Democratic Party debate. Before continuing let me say that having more than six isn't necessary. There's a lot of disagreement amongst Democrats over this issue but in this modern era of social media and mass communication such venues as these joint news confererences posing as debates are not required. Some candidates want more, it is after all a cheap way to get your message out, if the moderator let's you. Now to the meat. The CNN Democratic debate was actually quite good. Anderson Cooper was forceful and sharp, hitting each candidate equally hard. The ongoing debate about the debate is who won. Well here's who lost. ...

Isn't that a clever post title? It really captures the energy of the event. Let's have a round of applause for our cast. No one rose or sank as a result of this debate and that's a serious problem for some of them. Before the silly season began, all of punditry said to watch Scott Walker, he's the guy fresh from hard fights and will runaway with Republican voters hearts. Hasn't happened and isn't going to. If there was a loser last night it was Walker. A lot of praise has been heaped on Carly Fiorina and she is a disciplined speaker and campaigner. However, she made a statement which will come back to haunt her or at least should. The topic was Vladimir Putin and Russia. She said she would not speak to Putin, that we've spoken to Putin enough. That's a bold and dangerous statement from someone who wants to be President of the United States. Putin is not going away and not speaking to the leader of Russia is frankly stupid. The consequences could be cat...

Okay, so, the Republican Party has so many announced and not yet announced candidates that the debate sponsors have implemented a magic number that the candidate must achieve in polling data, in order to participate. Oh my gosh this has never happened before. Sorry friends but this is not a new issue. It goes back many election cycles, just ask Alan Keyes, who was denied the debate stage on more than one occasion. Frankly it's a load of hooey. They should all be allowed to participate. Cut the opening and closing statements, focus on one topic per debate and increase the number until enough candidates have fallen away to present a more traditional debate, which let's face it is nothing more than a large press conference. How about a no holds barred rock 'em sock 'em with the moderator only stepping in to stir things up to the next level. Now we got some politicking worthy of our reality T.V. era! In the past this leaving people out has always been explained away as be...