Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Saturday, March 25, 2017

"Steve, Steve, Gimmie Another Quarter!"


He was probably fantasizing about running over the Freedom Caucus.

And this:
While the rest of his senior staff scrambled to squeeze votes for President* Trump's flailing health care package, one person remained notably absent for most of the week: Jared Kushner.

Along with this wife, Ivanka Trump, another key cog in the president's inner circle, Kushner was on vacation until Thursday, skiing with family in the posh Colorado town of Aspen. Paparazzi caught Jared and Ivanka taking leisurely strolls, enjoying ice cream cones with their three kids and winding their way down the slopes.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, Trump was fuming. According to a source close to the president, "[Trump] is upset that his son-in-law and senior adviser was not around during this crucial week."
Other than help fluff Trump's injured ego, I don't know what ol' Jared could have done. He's no more of a politician than is Trump.

It's about time that people in this country come to grips with the fact that being a politician is a skill, a trade. For all of the whining about "professional politicians" that comes from certain quarters, the truth of the matter is that the pros are the ones who get shit done. Oh, it may not be pretty and it's never 100% ideologically pure, but they get shit done.

You want your mechanic, dentist, cardiologist or accountant to be experienced (or at least trained) professionals. If you've got a bad legal problem, you're not going to someone who is studying for the LSAT. Hell, you want the photographer who shoots your kid's bar mitzvah to have some experience.

So why are Americans so eager to let amateurs govern? It makes no sense.

7 comments:

Stewart Dean said...

"So why are Americans so eager to let amateurs govern?" Because they want somebody who'd be a good drinking buddy (that accounts for Dubya, anyway)

dinthebeast said...

I was gonna say something about St. Ronnie and government being the problem, but then I remembered this video of Molly Ivins speaking about political skill and the presidency. It's 25 years old, but it seems even more relevant today than it was then:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxw2GofpNgI

-Doug in Oakland

B said...

Because we don't want folks who are carreer politicians?

Bubba did a good job of "Getting shit does" So did Reagan. GWB, not so much. "W" did too.

None of them were nutso crooked idealogues

Truly the crop of politicians who rean in 2016 begat Trump. On both sides.

We had a slew on the Republican side, all "Career politicians" none of whome STOOD for anything. ("If you don't like my prinicples, I have others".

THen, on the DNC side, we had Bernie (a "give everyone everything") sorta guy, and, of course, Hillary (whose only redeeming quality was that she wasn't Trump). Plus she was Crooked As Hell and everyone knew it.

The reason we got Trump is that there wasn't anyone else, really.

Blame the parties for that. It was supposed to be the Jeb and Hillary show.(with Hillary winning)...until Trump came along.

No one voted FOR Trump. We all voted Against Hillary.

3383 said...

Against Hillary, yes.

Trump is an ass. I wish he would learn, and listen to others. But to take his example and state that career politicians are a necessary evil is just giving up.

I think our worst problem is our population. When each Representative, uh, represents 600,000 people or so, they and their constituents have a small chance of knowing each other. Our elected officials don't have to ever interact directly with anyone, anymore.

They probably sit in their hallowed office chairs and refer to us as "civilians". And think of us as sheep.

Term limits is still a good idea, but in Cali some just move from one office to another as they term out.

CenterPuke88 said...

Reagan had a team, Bush 1 had a team, Clinton had a team, Bush 2 had a weaker team, Obama had a team handicapped by weakness in the House after the first 2 years, Donnie has shit, it's a bunch of infighting, "outsiders", who are trying to apply business techniques to the Government. Most of the stuff the Government does is stuff that business can't do because you can't use those tactics. Donnie's "team" is pulling in different directions, like Aspen and Sourh America, and is busy mustering a circular firing squad.

Term limits are a crap answer, because you need people who have learned to work with the other side, and that takes time and experience. The problem of the past 20 to 25 years is that polarization has been emphasized because of low turnout in primaries, resulting in more radical candidates on both sides. Until we start getting enough participation at the primary level by representative voters, we will have our choices in the main election hamstrung.

There is fundamental ground for agreement on healthcare, given that the ACA is the Heritage Foundation plan, as used by Romney, with the serial numbers filed off. If the rational and experience politicians on each side were allowed to meet on this and work,out the trade-offs, we could seriously improve the ACA in a manner that both side would accept. We've seen that moderate Republicans will fight to protect some aspects of the ACA, and moderate Democrats have admitted several areas where great improvements could be found using Republican ideas, this would be a win/win. We spend double any other country on healthcare, we deserve better.

dinthebeast said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
dinthebeast said...

I have a hard time believing that guys who give speeches saying that their main focus is "deconstructing the administrative state" have any interest at all in learning how to run the government.
We are paying them good money to run the government, more money each than I'll ever see in my lifetime.
No, I don't care whether Trump "donates" his salary. You can bet that Bannon doesn't, or Sessions, or Miller, or Conway or any of the whole crew whose stated purpose is tearing down the government of my country.
I kinda don't like paying them to fuck me up.
Their supporters don't really seem to mind. Yet.

-Doug in Oakland