RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://spectator.us/why-the-iowa-voting-fiasco-matters/

The Monday night caucuses were the biggest moment in four years for Iowa Democratic Party. They screwed it up beyond belief. They had one task: to produce timely, accurate, and reliable vote totals, and they failed completely. TV anchors sat around filling time, waiting for Godot to show up with election returns. None appeared. The candidates themselves began flying off to New Hampshire for next week’s primary.

It was a fiasco, a huge embarrassment not only for state officials but for the national party. It denied the winners their big moment before the TV cameras on election night—and the fundraising bonus that goes with it. It left the losers wondering if they’ve been robbed. It left Iowans questioning whether they will ever hold caucuses again or keep their prime spot as first-in-the-nation. The bitterness over this mess will linger, and the Republicans will exploit it.

To begin with, this failure makes the Democratic Party look ridiculous. The damage is compounded because they are the “party of government.” That’s their brand, and it been since Franklin Roosevelt proposed the New Deal. Democratic policies almost always call for more government, run from Washington. When people point to social or economic problems, Democrats reflexively respond with laws, regulations, and bureaucracies to tackle them (and taxes to pay for them). That prospect looks a lot less appealing when you can’t count the votes in a high school gym. It doesn’t encourage people to say, “These are just the people to handle my healthcare.”

https://amgreatness.com/2020/02/02/the-white-field-spells-disaster-for-democrats/

The takeaway from the Democrats’ 2020 field of white politicians is right in front of us. Black Democrats have become less racist, and young Democrats have become more radical.

No one backed the black candidates, not even black voters. Most black voters are not buying woke politics, not from Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), not from Cory Booker (D-N.J.), not from anybody. This presents an opening for President Trump.

There are more black primary voters this year than ever before. They could have turned Harris or Booker into leading contenders. Instead, they chose the old white guy. This is change.

Racial identity alone was a ticket to nowhere. Harris went nuclear and called Joe Biden a racist and all she got was a lousy three-day blip.

It’s the black voters’ choice, but the all-white field is still bad news for Democrats. Very bad news. It is a shocking image. From the first black president to this? Democrats are terrified that too many blacks will stay home on Election Day. That’s more good news for Trump.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/02/mini_mike_bloomberg_starts_making_a_name_for_himself_in_the_campaign.html

Bent rules, big boxes, and lies about gun control in America are all in a day’s work for the Democrats’ great new hope, Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Michael Bloomberg got into the Democrat primary game late but, with $56 billion at his back, he’s making up for lost time. Unfortunately for him, he’s a bad candidate running against a master.

In March 2019, Michael Bloomberg said he wouldn’t run. That was a smart decision, because it let the other 400 (or so) candidates duke it out amongst themselves. Only when the field had been winnowed down, with a few clear frontrunners, did Bloomberg, finally throw himself into the race.

By January, with Democrats worried about an open socialist, a senile has-been, a lying harridan, and a baby boy, did some decide that maybe Bloomberg wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Despite being an unpleasant, out-of-touch plutocrat with despotic tendencies, was Bloomberg just what the Democrat Party needed to save itself?

Certainly, Bloomberg has a great ground game. At one point, he spent more than $100 million on ads in three weeks and is paying field organizers $6,000 month. He already has 1,000 staffers on the ground.

With virtually unlimited funds and the appearance of being sane in an insane field, one would think that Bloomberg would be a shoo-in for the Democrat Party. But there are a few problems.

https://amgreatness.com/2020/02/01/shock-release-of-famed-iowa-poll-cancelled-at-the-last-minute-after-buttigieg-campaign-complains/

The final Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom poll of likely Iowa Democratic caucus-goers was pulled Saturday night shortly before it was to be released, supposedly because of a complaint that a name was left off the list of choices. As a result, the historically accurate, 76-year-old Iowa poll will not be released before Iowa voters caucus on Monday.

CNN had planned an hour-long show to cover the results of the poll live and had to cancel at the last minute.

The announcement stunned the political world and led to widespread speculation that the real reason the poll was spiked was because they didn’t like the results.

According to The New York Times, Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s campaign complained that his name was left off the list of candidates in one call interview.

The poll is conducted by telephone from a call center, where operators read from a prepared script of candidates’ names to determine who a voter plans to support. One operator had apparently enlarged the font size on their computer screen, perhaps cutting off Mr. Buttigieg’s name from the list of options, according to two people familiar with the incident who did not have permission to speak about it publicly.
After every phone call, the list of candidates’ names is randomly reordered, so Mr. Buttigieg may not have been uniquely affected by the error, one of the people said. But the poll’s overseers were unable to determine if the mistake was an isolated incident.

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/trump-impeachment-trial-senator-cory-gardner-does-not-believe-additional-witnesses-necessary/

Senator Cory Gardner (R., Colo.) said in a statement Wednesday that he does “not believe” additional witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment trial are necessary, casting doubt on a Tuesday claim that at least four Republicans were willing to call additional witnesses.

“I do not believe we need to hear from an 18th witness,” the Colorado Republican told Colorado Politics in a statement. “I have approached every aspect of this grave constitutional duty with the respect and attention required by law, and have reached this decision after carefully weighing the House managers and defense arguments and closely reviewing the evidence from the House, which included well over 100 hours of testimony from 17 witnesses.”

Gardner’s public stance comes after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) told his caucus that at least four Republicans wanted testimony from more witnesses. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, with 51 votes needed to call more witnesses.

https://pjmedia.com/trending/above-the-law-hillary-clinton-refuses-to-get-served-tulsi-gabbards-50m-lawsuit/

Last week, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), a Democratic presidential candidate, sued former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for defamation, requesting $50 million in damages. Yet Clinton has twice refused to accept the lawsuit, trying to weasel her way out of a legal battle.

Gabbard’s attorney, Brian Dunne, told The New York Post that Clinton’s staff twice snubbed a process server attempting to deliver the defamation lawsuit.

“I find it rather unbelievable that Hillary Clinton is so intimidated by Tulsi Gabbard that she won’t accept service of process,” Dunne told The Post. “But I guess here we are.”

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/01/sen_dianne_feinstein_indicated_that_she_might_vote_to_acquit_trump__and_then_recanted.html

On Tuesday, Trump’s lawyers ended their arguments before the Senate against Trump’s impeachment. In contrast to the Democrats’ 24-hour marathon of imagination, mind-reading, invective, and hysteria, Trump’s team presented tight constitutional and factual arguments of the type every lawyer loves best: Using the oppositions’ own facts and arguments against them.

On Monday, Pam Bondi revealed what the impeachment is really about: The very serious possibility that Joe Biden used his position as Vice President to obtain unreasonably lucrative jobs for his alcoholic, coke-addled son, a man without skills or morals.

In a presentation that even arch-Progressive Talking Head Jeffrey Toobin conceded was damaging to Biden, Bondi introduced mainstream media footage showing that, despite a complete lack of qualifications, Hunter got an $83,000 a month gig in Ukraine, one that required almost no work and that made no demands on his non-existent skills. At the same time, said Bondi, the average American family earned less than $54,000 a year.

Bondi’s argument underscored that the scandal isn’t that Trump was trying to investigate corruption in the American government; the scandal is that the Democrats are running a sham impeachment so that the object of that corruption investigation can become President of the United States.