Month: April 2016

History News Network Article On My Projection Of Electoral College Vote Coming Monday

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I have been fortunate enough as an historian and political pundit to gain the opportunity this year, and moving forward, to have articles published on the great History website, History News Network.

I have had 14 articles already published, and on Monday, my projection for the Presidential Election of 2016 will be published, so look at the website after Monday morning.

I want to thank Rick Shenkman of HNN for allowing me the chance to publish on his website.

Eventually, all of the articles are put on the right side of my blog under “Articles”, with all 14 of them published so far being found there.

I was also fortunate enough to have one HNN article republished on Time online on April 4, already on the “Articles” list on this blog.

I appreciate it when my readers look at these articles, which are short, succinct, and timely about events and controversies in the political world!

Thanks very much!

America First From Charles Lindbergh To Pat Buchanan To Donald Trump–1941-2016

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In 1941, famed aviator Charles Lindbergh was one of the leading speakers for the America First Committee, arguing against US entrance into World War II. Despite his fame, he was an open antisemite, racist, and nativist who had openly spoken approvingly of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany!

In 1992, Pat Buchanan, former speechwriter for Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, ran for the Republican Presidential nomination against sitting Republican President George H. W. Bush, promoting antisemitism, racism, and nativism, and denying the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany. He promoted an overly nationalistic America First foreign policy, similar to Lindbergh a half century earlier.

Now in 2016, Donald Trump is running for President, and likely Republican nominee, and is a racist, nativist, misogynist, and Islamophobe, who is now promoting an America First foreign policy, similar to Lindbergh and Buchanan.

The concept of shutting out the world, ignoring alliances, and alienating other nations, including those who are natural friends, was damaging in 1941 and 1992, and is still so in 2016!

Rapid Decline In Quality From Ronald Reagan-Richard Schweiker In 1976 To Ted Cruz-Carly Fiorina In 2016!

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Forty years have passed since Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, in a desperate move to try to derail President Gerald Ford from winning the GOP Presidential nomination in 1976, chose a Vice Presidential running mate, Pennsylvania Senator Richard Schweiker.

It did not help Reagan to win the nomination, but at least Reagan had been two term Governor of California, and Schweiker was a two term liberal Republican Senator, who later was Secretary of Health and Human Services for two years under Reagan.

The rapid decline in quality from Reagan-Schweiker then to Ted Cruz-Carly Fiorina two generations later is alarming, demonstrating how candidates for President and Vice President, at least in the Republican Party, are truly disastrous!

Remember that the GOP is great at choosing terrible Vice Presidential candidates, including Spiro Agnew and Dan Quayle, who served as Vice President, and Sarah Palin!

And even the so called “better qualified” VP candidates such as Dick Cheney, who was Vice President, and Paul Ryan, who did not serve, are wanting in comparison to Democratic Vice Presidential candidates, including Walter Mondale, Al Gore, and Joe Biden, as well as candidates Edmund Muskie, Sargent Shriver, Lloyd Bentsen, and Joe Lieberman!

Ted Cruz-Carly Fiorina “Marriage” Is A Total Joke!

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Texas Senator Ted Cruz, arguably the most disliked member of the US Senate, desperately trying to survive until the Republican National Convention as a Presidential candidate, has chosen former rival, and former CEO of Hewlett Packard, Carly Fiorina, to be his running mate, with very little chance that the reality of them being a team will ever occur at the convention!

Fiorina is about as disgusting and obnoxious as Cruz, and does not add anything to Cruz of significance. If this is designed to help Cruz in next week’s Indiana primary, seen by many observers as the last chance for Cruz to survive until the convention as a candidate, then how does Fiorina do that?

And if the purpose was for Fiorina to help in the California primary, how is that possible, when Fiorina lost the US Senate race to Barbara Boxer in 2010 by a literal landslide, and then flopped badly in the 2016 Presidential sweepstakes?

All that Carly Fiorina is good for is as an attack dog against Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, but she was hard to watch during the campaign for the Presidency over this past year, and really has no special expertise, and no experience in government! Who would want her a heartbeat away from the Presidency? And if there was ever a serial liar, it is this woman!

So Ted Cruz has struck out by choosing Carly Fiorina!

Likely Republican Vice Presidential Candidates

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Now that Donald Trump “seems” likely to be the Republican Presidential nominee, after last night’s five Northeastern primary victories, it is time to consider who might be his Vice Presidential running mate.

Many of the potential choices could be seen as true horrors, something to be worried about were Trump elected, and something happened to him, requiring the Vice President to succeed the President!

The list would include:

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie

Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn

Dr. Ben Carson of Maryland

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst

Tom Brady of the New England Patriots football team

Former Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley

Florida Governor Rick Scott

Florida Senator Marco Rubio

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker

At this point, this blogger would think that Christie, Blackburn, Carson and Huckabee are the most likely choices in that order.

The worst choices in this blogger’s estimation would be Scott, Walker, Palin, and Sessions in that order.

Rubio and Haley would probably be much better choices than anyone on the list, but unlikely that either would be selected.

Tom Brady is just a real long shot, but since his ego is as great as Trump’s ego, it could be possible, but unlikely!

And Joni Ernst–good looking, young, and just as dim witted as Sarah Palin, but if Trump is looking for a Palin clone, it could happen!

If Hillary Clinton Fails To Be Elected President, Who Is The Next Likely Woman Presidential Nominee In Either Party?

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What if Hillary Clinton ends up losing the Presidency this November?

Who is likely the next woman Presidential nominee in either party?

Realizing that new “talent” might show up between now and 2020, we can say that there are a few woman on each side of the political equation right now who could be considered for President in 2020!

On the Republican side, one could see South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez (who is a Latina) as possible Presidential candidates, along with Maine Senator Susan Collins and New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte as possible nominees.

On the Democratic side, the best possible nominees would be Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and Washington State Senator Maria Cantwell.

With many potential new women Governors or Senators, the list is likely to grow!

Potential White Male Vice Presidential Nominees For Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Campaign In 2016

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If Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton decides not to go “radical” and select a woman or a person of minority heritage as her Vice Presidential choice for the upcoming Presidential Election of 2016, she has a long list of potential white males to choose from.

She could go for a Senator from a “swing” state, including the following:

Virginia–Senator Mark Warner or Senator Tim Kaine

Ohio–Senator Sherrod Brown (who I projected on December 31 as the likely choice)

Florida–Senator Bill Nelson

But there are other potential nominees, including:

Incumbent Vice President Joe Biden of Delaware, which I recommended on this blog in February 2015, and was interviewed about it by John Hockenberry of THE TAKEAWAY on National Public Radio on January 21 of this year, which can be found under “Interviews” on the right side of the blog

Senator Al Franken of Minnesota

Former Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut

Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon

Of these nine potential candidates, the most likely would seem to be Brown, Kaine, and Franken in that order.

Biden and Nelson will both be 74 this year, five years older than Hillary Clinton, while O’Malley opposed Hillary in the early primaries and Merkley is the only US Senator to have endorsed Bernie Sanders, making them less likely.

Warner seems less likely than Kaine from Virginia, due to his close race for reelection in 2014, one he almost lost, and Murphy, one of the brightest young liberals, is more of a “dark horse”, not mentioned by many, but a possible surprise choice.

The Likelihood Of An Historic Vice Presidential Nomination For The Democrats: A Woman Or A Person Of Minority Heritage

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Speculation has begun about who Democrat Hillary Clinton’s potential choices for Vice President might be, but it seems more and more likely that it will be an historic choice, likely NOT to be a white male, but rather a woman or a leader of minority heritage.

It is true that Democrat Walter Mondale selected New York Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, and that Republican John McCain selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in 2008, but this time around, the possible candidates for a woman are much stronger choices.

If one is considering a woman, which some think is “radical” to do, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is seen as the most likely choice, but her fame and her age work against her, and it would make more sense to pick a woman who is substantially younger, and could be a potential successor eight years from now–such as Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota or Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington State.

If Hillary wants to select someone from a minority heritage, the best would be Latinos, such as former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, presently Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; or Secretary of Labor Tom Perez of Maryland; and if African American, the best would be New Jersey Senator Cory Booker or former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.

In another blog entry forthcoming tomorrow, we will consider white males as potential Vice Presidential nominees, with quite a long list of such candidates!

Richard Nixon And The Environment: Looking Back On Earth Day

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Richard Nixon is rated very low in rankings of Presidents, and in many ways, rightfully.

But it was Nixon who promoted the environment more than any President until his time, except for Theodore Roosevelt.

It was Richard Nixon who promoted and signed into law the Environmental Protection Agency, and backed and signed into law the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Endangered Species Act. He also had Walter Hickel in his cabinet as one of the greatest Secretaries of the Interior in American history.

Nixon may have done some of this for purely political reasons, but the legacy he left is still massive in the area of the environment.

When one looks at the Republican Party today, we know that if it was left up to them, they would set out to weaken and, if they could, destroy federal involvement in the environment, with most of them even denying global warming and climate change!

Ironically, the first Earth Day was started by Wisconsin Democratic Senator Gaylord Nelson on April 22, 1970, and we saw Richard Nixon die on Earth Day in 1994!

The Possibility Of An All Female Presidential-Vice Presidential Team To Lead America: Hillary Clinton And?

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America could be on the brink of seeing the first all female Presidential ticket!

It is rumored that Hillary Clinton might pick one of the following female running mates:

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren

Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar

Washington Senator Patty Murray

Washington Senator Maria Cantwell

Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow

The most exciting is Elizabeth Warren, but the long range future possible female President, after a theoretical eight years as Vice President, would be Amy Klobuchar or Maria Cantwell, both from safe blue states, and likely to be replaced by another Democrat.

The problem with Warren or McCaskill or Murray or Stabenow is their age, and the future in eight years!

Meanwhile, the Republicans might have South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as a potential Vice Presidential running mate. Another possibility would be New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez.