Daily Clips: January 12th, 2016
Why are Democrats so gloomy about the economy? Jobs are up, gas is down, and “more than 17 million people have gained access to health insurance.” High school graduation is also up, while crime has declined. So why the doom and gloom from Democrats?
Americans are deeply anxious about the nation’s security and their personal finances. Polls show that only one-quarter of them think the country is on the right track. As a result, the Democratic White House hopefuls face a dilemma that Republicans are relishing…Attempts to strike the right balance were on display last week at a party dinner in Nevada, an early caucus state, where front-runner Hillary Clinton told a boisterous crowd: “We’re standing, but we’re not yet running the way America should.”
Look for that metaphor to be employed by Democrats throughout 2016 (in all races, not just the presidential contest).
David Brooks takes on Ted Cruz: Brooks really does not like Cruz. And after reading this article, one has to wonder if he’d vote for the Democratic nominee over the Texas senator. That sounds crazy at first, but then you read some of Brooks’ qualms with Cruz:
- “Cruz is a stranger to most of what would generally be considered the Christian virtues: humility, mercy, compassion and grace.”
- “…there’s no variation in Cruz’s rhetorical tone. As is the wont of inauthentic speakers, everything is described as a maximum existential threat.”
- “He sows bitterness, influences his followers to lose all sense of proportion and teaches them to answer hate with hate.”
There’s a lot to unpack here. The first is arguing how “humility, mercy, compassion and grace” can ever be isolated as “Christian” virtues? That reeks of ahistoricism and a blind love for one’s own faith. Did such virtues not exist before Christianity arrived? If so, how can they ever be labelled as “Christian” in nature?
The second is claiming it is wrong to “answer hate with hate.” Fair enough, I agree with the author here. Then you realize that this sanctimonious language is coming from David Brooks, a man who really wanted to wage a retributive war with Iraq (for the second time) and dismissed the “ludicrous Vietnam comparisons [and] rampant quagmire forebodings.” Hi pot, meet kettle.
Finally, he argues that Cruz “exploits and exaggerates…fear.” Again, fair enough. But if he was actually consistent with this hatred of pushing fear, why hasn’t he written a similar article about Marco Rubio’s change from positive to pessimistic candidate?
MoveOn.org endorses Bernie Sanders: Make no mistake about it, this is a huge endorsement for Bernie and it provides him with some nice momentum heading into the next Democratic debate on January 17th (Sunday). MoveOn said that Sanders was supported by nearly 80 percent of its membership in an online vote of more than 300,000 members. Clinton received 14.6 percent, while Martin O’Malley received 0.9 percent (yikes).
Nick Hanauer tweets about WA coalition filing an initiative for a $13.50 statewide minimum wage:
Good to see WA min wage initiative filed. If leg won't act, people will. When workers have more money, biz have more customers. #raiseupwa
— Nick Hanauer (@NickHanauer) January 11, 2016
