I'll have to learn something about him eventually, as he is running against Democratic Cipher Jeanne Shaheen for Senate up here. I think my oldest son doesn't like him much, or at any rate thinks the Republicans can do better. Lewandowski has pinch-hit for Howie Carr on radio, so it may be that he's a fire-breather, which would put him off my two older sons' lists right away. Today he said, apropos the investigations, that Democrats are showing that they hate this president more than they love their country. It's a pretty damning comment, and the sort of over-the-top rhetoric we try to discourage.
Except that listening to my temporary office-mate today, Lewandowski has a point. He's a social worker from Chicago, a nice enough guy. He was telling me that this is his first NH primary, and offered opinions. He thinks Biden should get out of the way. He thinks Corey Booker is "principled" but has reached his ceiling. I didn't want to hear who he likes, so I moved the conversation 5 degrees off-center, telling him that he'll be pretty sick of all of them by the end - that even the one's he likes he will feel he has had enough of. Because they are, in the end, all politicians and people who want to tell us what to do.
He was unfazed. "The important thing is that I don't want this president to be validated by being re-elected."
Really? Why would that matter compared to what it is that these gals and guys want to do? (Or not do.) I mentioned that my main worry about Trump had been that his thin-skinned nature would translate into unnecessary military involvements, but that this has turned out not to be so. Quite the opposite. This had no effect. He actually rather doubled down.
To be fair, we all do this to some extent. There are conservatives who not only wanted to see Hillary Clinton go away, but be shamed in the process, and in that subset, that may have outweighed a dispassionate desire for the best for the American people. But for most of us, hey, once Jeanne Shaheen is gone and not causing any more trouble, I hope she is happy gardening, or traveling about, or whatever. (If she takes up lobbying, I withdraw my goodwill.) There are conservatives trying to get us outraged at the hypocrisy of the Obamas buying expensive homes, including beachfront. (Is it Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard?) It's a fair point, but it doesn't get much traction, because we don't much care. Again, assuming no further mucking things up. Hillary remains in the public eye, drawing ire because she puts herself there.
Is it worse now, or has it always been this way?
It's been this way at least since the 2000 election. I think it was in 2002 that someone said to me "Well, he's not *MY* president."
ReplyDeleteYeah, he's an asshat who assaulted a Breitbart reporter. And he's not even the third-most qualified person in the Republican primary. He's probably slightly more qualified than Andy Martin, but just barely.
ReplyDeleteI'm planning to vote for Don Bolduc, since he has actual experience and isn't an embarrassment to the state.
I watched the whole testimony, in bits. The Committee has really outdone itself in being oblivious to what would shame normal people. Lewandowski has some backbone and withstood 95% of the hectoring, although it did clearly wear on him (5.5 hours worth). I think the notion of bringing in hired guns - professional contract interrogators - will like most things come back to haunt the Democrats in the future. They choose the most unfortunate precedents. I liked some of his comebacks to the gunsels ("Yes sir, I did write the book Let Trump be Trump - and it's available at fine bookstores everywhere"). And I don't think Lewandowski did anything wrong to that gold-bricking Breitbart reporter during the campaign - she set it up as a political operator, but cried foul when she didn't get the desired result - so she got what's coming. But I don't think I'd want Lewandowski as a senator, either. To much of the wrong kind of experience in politics, if you ask me.
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