Categories for Musings

Twitter tough-guy talk: sick of it

My friend Charles Adler again had me on his popular Sirius XM radio show the other night – link here – and he stirred me to unburden myself of a few thoughts about the likes of Jason Kenney. I’m expanding on them in next week’s column(s), but here’s the gist:

Here’s what I said, almost word for word: “I’ve written a lot of words for politicians over the years. So I tend to be skeptical about a lot of things they say. And I’m particularly skeptical about Twitter tough talk. Donald Trump has built a career on Twitter. What matters is what Bill Clinton did [after the Oklahoma City terror attack]: he hunted them down, he applied justice, and he put them to death.”

So Charles let me go on: “Jason Kenney is full of crap. When he was there, and when he was in a position to do something about terror…he didn’t. I don’t think we should be taking any lessons from Jason Kenney. And, you know, I’m just kind of sick of political people, and a lot of cops, talking tough about this stuff – but, every day, bad things keep happening, like what happened in France.

So, you know what, guys? Maybe you should all get off Twitter, and get your heads out of your asses, and maybe you should start doing something different from what you’ve been doing – because your little Twitter wars really aren’t protecting us, the citizens. Because, the Twitter wars, about who can express themselves with a tougher adjective? They’re crap.”

Sorry for the Earthy language, but I’ve just had it with the likes of Messrs. Kenney and Trump. You want to show you are tough on terror, boys? Do what Bill Clinton did when he was President – hunt these dogs down, give them a fair trial, and then put them to death.

That’s how you make us safer, tough guys.  Not with a fucking tweet.

 


The ballot question: Bill Clinton defines the choice in 2016

He looked older. He sounded older. He isn’t the guy he was twenty years ago. And, yes, my mind strayed once or twice to that terrible time when he hurt his wife and daughter.

But it was a master speech by a master story teller – and all about her, not him. Her achievements, not his. Brilliantly, he zeroed in on her main weakness – her persona, her occasional inability to connect – and painted a wonderful, compelling picture of a good person.

At the end, he also laid out the ballot question. As I told Charles Adler on Sirius XM last night, the ballot question is now just one thing: Donald Trump. And Bill Clinton framed the ballot question in this way:

See what he did there? The choice is between a familiar, proven, positive, effective reality – or an unknown, untested, unpleasant, unimpressive cartoon.

That’s the choice.


Berned: it matters

daily-cartoon-150513-bernie-sanders-magic-1200

I was at Star Trek Beyond with Sons Two and Four, last night, so I missed much of the antics by the Bernie Brigade.  With their booing, or with their mouths taped shut, they actually reminded me of some Canadian sore losers, the ones who wore black arm bands way back.

Son Two is a big Bernie Sanders fan, still, and we debated all of this stuff before and after Star Trek.  He thinks the DNC stole the nomination from Bernie.  I disagreed, and gave him this rationale about why I (an ex-pat Democrat) could never support Sanders, and he shouldn’t, either:

Don’t believe me? Ask Paul Martin, who never got his Bernie-style supporters to respect a democratic outcome, either – and who consigned the Liberal Party to a decade in the wilderness as a result.

And that matters, or should.