I’ve written a lot over the last few months about the Republican presidential primary race, so I thought that it might be time to give just a bit of attention to the Democrat contest.
In the last week or so, we've seen lots of stories about things starting to go Hillary Clinton’s way. She was seen as having a pretty good performance in the Democrat’s recent debate and as making it through her testimony to the Congressional committee investigating the Benghazi incident pretty much unscathed. Of course, I do wonder what the media and other Democrats would have needed to see in the hearing to consider it a “big deal” that might damage Mrs. Clinton -- video footage of her actually planning the attack on the US embassy in Libya herself or some other outlandish thing of which no one has accused her? It’s obviously not a problem for them that Secretary Clinton’s State Department did not provide extra security even though the ambassador had repeatedly requested it; that she lied to the public and to the victims’ families about the causes and circumstances of the attack; that she and others in the Obama administration scapegoated a man who made an Internet video for actions committed by Islamic terrorists; or that she lied to investigators about and tried to conceal her infamous e-mails related to this matter. Sadly, it seems that the American people, as a whole, aren’t really bothered by these things either. The handling of the Benghazi situation and the misinformation spread by the administration about it were discussed during the 2012 presidential campaign, and the people still chose to re-elect Barack Obama. Now, even with the added private e-mail server issue, although polls do show that many people do not believe Hillary Clinton is honest or trustworthy, she is still the overwhelming favorite to be the Democratic presidential nominee and would have a good chance of winning the general election. Mrs. Clinton’s success in the primary contest became even more likely due to still more pieces of recent good news for her, as two of the other candidates (who really had almost no support anyway) dropped out of the race and Vice President Biden, who might have provided her most serious competition, decided not to run. With only Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O’Malley left, the Democrats might be able to hold their next debate in someone’s cozy living room, and, if the trend continues, Hillary Clinton could wind up giving monologues on stage alone by the end of the year.
That is certainly not the case on the Republican side, as there are still fifteen people running, some of whom keep being denied space in the prime-time debates. So, in the spirit of bipartisanship and sharing, perhaps we could lend the Democrats a few of our candidates to fill out their debate rosters. That way, those tuning in to these Democrat events would have a chance to hear something other than non-stop far-left ideas and proposals, and the candidates would get a chance to speak to another sizable audience (even though the live crowd, at least, might be a little scary!) A couple of hours spent listening to Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindal, for example, giving their take on topics like Planned Parenthood or immigration should give the average Democrat viewer (or listener) some food for thought. Perhaps this temporary “guest candidate” program isn’t generous enough, though, so I would even be willing to give one of the leading candidates from the GOP race to the Democrats outright. The person I have in mind was the Republican frontrunner for months but has views that would seem to fit at least as well in the Democratic party. The evidence that he seems to still be suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome should be enough on its own to earn him honorary membership. It doesn’t seem fair to deprive Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders of the opportunity to share their debate stage and their media coverage with him and his amazing talents for the next several months, so I’m sure they would appreciate my suggested “gift.” Of course, the fact that this arrangement would give us a chance to hear the rest of the Republican field discuss their views and policies in a (physically, at least) Trump-free zone for the rest of the debates would be an added bonus from my perspective.
Yes, I know that these things will never happen. Oh, well, I guess I’ll just have to take a few deep breaths and try to relax before (and after) subjecting myself to tonight’s Republican debate and more campaign coverage. Sigh...
