I think Rubio is so universally hated in part because everybody who's ever worked has met him. Quite breathtakingly stupid, but just arrogant, unctuous, and litigious enough to remain employed.
When Rubio leaves public life he cracks up within five years. Mark my word. Not out of duty or waste or anything like that; because then he's for lack of a better term alone with himself, and there's nothing there.
I mean, my God, go to Florida. I challenge you to find anybody who'll look you in the eye and say with gusto, "I'm a Rubio man!" It's like voting for a sack of warm meat.
It's not that I hate Rubio. Don't mistake me. My God, no. I would sooner cut my own throat than be in a room with him, but I don't hate him. It's that Rubio is a type and we must make an example of that type.
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I want to make clear some definitions and open questions regarding pardons. First, under Burdick v. United States, a pardon implies guilt, and acceptance of a pardon admits it. I wonder if this is the only thing that has so far prevented pardons of the family and inner circle.
Next, self-pardons are an open question. They are technically legal but as I said go against the basis of the Western legal system for a thousand years.
It is an open question as to whether he could pardon while impeached and facing trial. The pardon power is absolute “except in cases of impeachment” – a political act – but this probably extends to underlying crimes.
Recently I said Rubio is like watching a man with no arms try to thread a needle. I think that’s the best description.
As usual, Rubio’s game is five years late and a thousand dollars short. You can’t talk sense to people who won’t listen. Birchers long ago made up their minds I’m a traitor to this country, for example, and would sooner spit on me than have me for dinner. That’s fine.
The Constitution mandates that power over elections is vested in the States. In general this was both a check on Federal power and a tool of “discernment”; Hamilton insisted it would mostly result in candidates with broad appeal.
The States report election results to the Congress, where the President of the Senate tabulates the result. This is somewhat a vestige of the time when it took weeks for an envelope to get from Maine to Washington.
Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 says the President of the Senate “shall...open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President…”
“It is a mistake for the party to accept the beliefs of Sen. Barry Goldwater and write off the Negro vote. If Goldwater wins his fight, our party would eventually become the first major all-white political party. And that isn’t good.”
I characterized this as a matter of survival, and said the key to winning in the future was to convince black people they are better off economically and will have equal treatment under the law.
I kept my finger in the dike as long as I could, by God. Rather than carry the can you all preferred to watch Nixon’s back bend with the strain. That’s fine. If you want a job done, do it yourself.
Bonds and Clemens were going to the Hall of Fame before the fall, as it were. That should end it. But you need to acknowledge they were the faces of a deep problem. Not just by their fame, but by their actions. The stonewalling. The game is worse for their behavior.
Schilling is to me a different case. He is by the standards I've always held very good, not great. But the Hall of Fame has opened the door to those players. Even so, that he has no friends is his problem. His play is not compelling enough to override that.
Schilling is also an example of a dumb trend in modern Hall of Fame voting: a well-known playoff game living too large in memory.
An airplane, for instance, is a beautiful machine. Operated competently and in good faith it will almost never hurt people. You follow?
What I think the Democrats have yet to learn is that though they have an edge on policy, probably, we're past the point where policy counts. More than ever politics is about societal control. That is why people vote against interest.
If the Democrats have a hope in hell they have to be the square party now. Money in your pocket, the rule of law, a normal life.