Assange: There’s a part of me that is sympathetic to Assange. There is a part of me that thinks he’s a high-profile ass, especially on a personal level, and details of his departure from the Ecuadorian embassy bear that out. On the one hand, his contributions to openness are every bit as important to an informed public as the Pentagon Papers were back in Nixon days. On the other hand, he is an incorrigible hacker with no principles. I sympathize with him over the 12 years of dubious asylum which was not much better than a prison sentence but then again, having visitors like Pamela isn’t exactly your ordinary lock-up. In the end, I think that his ouster from the embassy and likely extradition will be good for whatever makes him tick as well as his causes. I probably agree with his goals more than most, but certainly not his methods.
Buttigieg: When I last mentioned Buttigieg, I placed him amongst the no-names that should look more toward 2024. Since then he’s emerged. Just occurs to me, when was the last time Beto O’Rourke was in the news? ….but I digress. Buttigieg is actually attractive for a bunch of homespun reasons that might ring true in the heartland. Hearing the clipped version of his positions, I’d say, “damn, I could vote for the guy”. Then I hear certain less talked-of ideas and he’s as Progressive as any of them. New Green Deal? Of course! But there are two other tiny details that give me as much pause. He’s picked a feud with Mike Pence over his own gayness even though they worked closely and cooperatively in Indiana. Sorry, I don’t like false strawmen. Then there is his name. I once read an article explaining how improbable it is that anyone can be elected to high office in the US with a complicated name. Buttigieg sure fits that problem; thus, his candidacy is doomed.
Omar: Omar is now receiving extra police protection because Nancy Pelosi has interpreted Trumps very brief remarks on her 9-11 quote travesty as hostile. One: I don’t mind extra police protection for a polarizing person but Omar has quite a history of tone-deaf and bigoted statements in her short tenure and even if her most recent statement is being taken out of context, I don’t give her a pass over even a whiff of hate. Her history of bigotry is also context. Two, Pelosi grossly politicizing Trump’s statement on behalf of Omar is an example of why the Dems probably won’t win 2020.
AOC: Notice that she’s not so in the headlines as she was for months? She didn’t play so well outside her own sandbox. I suspect she has been instructed to lay low. Don’t worry, she is a one person ‘sleeper cell’ for socialism.
Bernie: A new headline today declares that Bernie is in front of the field. Thank you, polls! It’s 2016 all over again, except better-er…worse, if you’re a Dem. On the one hand you have Trump polling just below, or over 50% depending on what poll you like, and then you have an old man that just rolled out of bed with that bed-hair beatingthe rest of the field – a field filled with more youth including also a fair number that are attracted to even just shades of moderation from a few other candidates. Then there was that youngish prior president. What’s wrong with this picture?