Morality is not determined by the church you attend nor the faith you embrace. It is determined by the quality of your character and the positive impact you have on those you meet along your journey
I don't know about the rest of you but I was kind of writing some these ads in my head last night while watching Pence working overtime to deny that Donald Trump had said the things that every voter in America already knows Donald Trump had said.
And as usual all the Clinton campaign has to do is use the actual words spoken by the two candidates to craft the ad.
It also gives Hillary quite a bit to work with this Sunday when she once again faces off against Jabba the Orange Hutt.
P.S. By the way it appears that the surge after the first presidential debate continues forward as Five Thirty Eight currently shows Hillary with a whopping 316 electoral votes.
This defense by Mike Pence was of course laughable on its face, but it was made even more so by these tweets coming from Trump who was live tweeting the debate.
"Okay Donald I am going to go out there and try to do some damage control and start trying to represent our campaign as one about the issues and not one that engages in childish insults and unprovoked attacks okay?
"Sure Mike that sounds good. I'll be backing you up on Twitter."
"Thanks, wait what?"
Kind of makes you wonder exactly what Mike Pence thought would happen when he joined this ticket?
I know what you're thinking, "Oh my God, I'd rather watch paint dry. I'd rather watch grass grow. I'd rather watch paint drying on growing grass."
I get you, this could very well be much like watching those zombies on the Walking Dead bumping into each other as they amble around a parking lot. You know, but less lively.
However if you are passionate about politics, if you really care about this country, well let's face it you could still go right ahead and skip this.
However since I am your friendly neighborhood political blogger I will be watching and taking notes throughout the debate.
But don't worry, I will not be alone.
I will be watching the great Governor @Mike_Pence and live tweeting the VP debate tonight starting at 8:30pm est! Enjoy!
(Why do I think these tweets will be the most interesting thing to happen tonight? And the only thing the media will be talking about afterwards?)
I will also be live tweeting, only my tweets should be should be somewhat coherent, and you can see my tweets by clicking here.
All levity aside we really should be paying attention to what happens tonight. After all one of these people could be our Vice President for the next four years, and the other could be our actual President while his running mate tries to find some way to make a profit off of winning the election.
Speaking of that second guy here is another reminder that he is really quite dangerous in his own right.
And just think, that's what he wants to do to the entire country.
Update: Somebody already sounds a little pissy.
Wow, @CNN is so negative. Their panel is a joke, biased and very dumb. I'm turning to @FoxNews where we get a fair shake! Mike will do great
Courtesy of Politico: Mike Pence says he is filing his tax returns and will make them available to the public, even as his running mate Donald Trump refuses to do so. "When my forms are filed and when my tax returns are released it’s going to be a quick read," the Republican vice presidential nominee said Saturday on WABC Radio's "Election Central with Rita Cosby." "The Pences have not become more wealthy as a result of sixteen years in public service. There's been a lot of sacrifices, we're a middle class family, and it’s been a tremendous honor to serve as I am as Governor of Indiana, and my years in the Congress, and we'll look forward to making all that information available." Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, has refused to release his tax returns, citing an IRS audit and advice of his lawyers, despite the IRS having no rule preventing someone under audit from releasing their returns.
So to be clear Hillary Clinton, her running mate Tim Kaine, and now Trump's VP choice Mike Pence are all releasing their tax returns.
Leaving only Donald Trump as the only guy who appears to be hiding something.
Why do I get the feeling that Pence did not clear this with his running mate before going public?
Tim Kaine differs with Hillary Clinton on a longstanding rule banning federal taxpayer dollars from funding abortions, the Democratic vice presidential candidate told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union," in an interview that aired Sunday.
That's a rare policy disagreement with Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, and her running mate, who said he was "so humbled" to be chosen for the ticket.
"My job is really to just do everything I can to support a great Clinton presidency and I'm really excited to be off and running on that task," the Virginia senator said.
Abortion, though, remains a point of difference between the pair. Kaine said he supports the Hyde Amendment, a 40-year-old rule preventing federal taxpayer dollars from funding abortions. That contradicts comments by Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook in a July 24 "State of the Union" appearance. Kaine "has said that he will stand with Secretary Clinton to defend a woman's right to choose, to repeal the Hyde Amendment," Mook quoted Kaine as saying.
"My voting position on abortion hasn't really changed," Kaine said in the interview aired Sunday. "I support the Hyde Amendment. I haven't changed that."
Well this is interesting, and kind of addresses some of the concerns that certain progressive had about Hillary's selection of Tim Kaine.
While it is nice to hear that he supports Roe vs Wade, it is a little troubling that he is not as pro-choice as Hillary. Or as pro-choice as the majority of progressives in this country.
The thing that is kind of frustrating to me is that Kaine's point of view seems to stem completely from his Catholic faith, which means that he is a candidate for the VP slot on the Democratic ticket whose opinions are informed by a belief in primitive superstitions.
That is quite troubling in 2016.
As I have stated before I really don't give a shit what fantasies you choose to embrace so long as they do not impact your real world decisions.
Tonight's speakers include Jesse Jackson, Harry Reid, Joe Biden, Gavin Newsom, Martin O'Malley, Jerry Brown, Chris Murphy, actress Sigourney Weaver (I love her.), Gabby Giffords, Sherrod Brown, Michael Bloomberg, Tim Kaine, and of course President Obama to close out the night.
I am not expecting any huge surprises or disruptions tonight but it should be quite entertaining.
After all it features one of the greatest President's in our lifetime.
Apparently yesterday Andrew Sullivan, a longtime critic of Hillary Clinton, had already reached that decision as well:
Some readers think I’ve been too negative, even cynical, tonight. Believe me, I am utterly uncynical about this election. I’m worried sick. We need to put behind us any lingering beefs, any grudges, any memories from the past – and you know how I feel about the Clintons’ past – in order to save liberal democracy. The only thing between him and us is her. So – against all my previous emphatic denials – I’m with her now. As passionately as I ever was with Obama. For his legacy is at stake as well.
I’m not trying to spin you. I’m sitting here in shock. Shock. Tim Kaine was unbelievable.
He was natural. He was smart. He was relaxed and funny, and he was serious. He was proud of himself and his wife and family but never arrogant. He was humble without ever being cloying in that way the politically humble can often be. He was genuine. He was unbelievable.
And part of the way through, this thought struck me: He is the perfect choice for her because he comes across as so at ease and so real. These are two things, as we know, that Hillary Clinton has a lot of trouble with. She’s too scripted, she’s a phony, all that stuff. Kaine was just so easy-breezy, so comfortable with himself and in this role, that he has the potential to wash away a decent chunk of that negativity about her.
Yeah okay, I'm fully on board now.
I mean I was of course always going to vote for the Democratic ticket, but now I can do so with substantially more enthusiasm.
And what's more Kaine is going to REALLY force a couple of those hesitant Republicans to have to seriously consider voting for the much more competent Democratic team this time around.
And seriously who else can hardly wait to see Time Kaine face off against Mike Pence in that VP debate?
P.S. Donald Trump sends his love as well.
Just saw Crooked Hillary and Tim Kaine together. ISIS and our other enemies are drooling. They don't look presidential to me!
If resume is destiny, Kaine was inevitable. He is a former city council member, mayor, lieutenant governor and governor who has become a student of war and foreign policy in the Senate. As governor he even had to prove himself in the tragic role presidents must play all too often, as consoler in chief after a mass shooting (the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre that left 32 people dead).
Kaine’s political credentials are also unmatched. A former national party chairman and a former Catholic missionary to Honduras, he has never lost an election and has a solid approval rating in his state. He may not be Hispanic, but he speaks fluent Spanish. tHe comes from an important swing state with 13 electoral votes – more than twice as many as Iowa (home of another finalist, Agriculture secretary and former governor Tom Vilsack). And, key to Democratic dreams of a Senate majority, Kaine’s successor will be named by a Democrat -- Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
Low-maintenance and low-key, a Southern politician married to the daughter of a former Republican governor, Kaine always seemed a mismatch for the job his friend Barack Obama gave him in 2009 as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He isn’t a partisan pit bull on the order of, say, Dick Cheney. But Clinton will have plenty of willing and ferocious attackers, from Sanders and Elizabeth Warren to a highly articulate and enraged cadre of #NeverTrump conservatives.
Okay, all of that sounds pretty good.
There are a few stumbling blocks for progressives however, including Kaine's wishy washy stance on abortion (He's a Catholic.), his support for TPP, and of course the worst one, he's not Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren,
However there is this.
Various progressive groups give hi ratings to #TimKaine
Brady Campaign 100%
Human Rights Campaign 100%
Planned P 100%
AFL CIO 96%
NAACP 96%
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine took advantage of the state’s lax gift laws to receive an $18,000 Caribbean vacation, $5,500 in clothes and a trip to watch George Mason University play in the NCAA basketball Final Four during his years as lieutenant governor and governor, according to disclosures he filed.
While legal under Virginia’s unusually permissive ethics rules, the gifts could become attack-ad fodder after similar presents led to corruption charges for Gov. Bob McDonnell, whose conviction the Supreme Court overturned Monday. Republicans could also use the records to portray Kaine as part of the self-dealing establishment in a cycle animated by hostility toward the political class.
It's not much, but it gives Trump and the Republicans at least a little something to work with.
And Trump has wasted little time in going on the attack:
The Bernie Sanders supporters are furious with the choice of Tim Kaine, who represents the opposite of what Bernie stands for. Philly fight?
Damn it looks like Tim Kaine scares Trump almost as much as Elizabeth "Pocahontas" Warren did.
You know when Hillary announced that Kaine was her choice I have to admit that I was disappointed, but that had nothing to do with any negative feelings I had about Tim Kaine, but rather my own desire to have somebody on the ticket who I found exciting or inspirational.
To be honest I am not really that big of a Hillary supporter.
I like her just fine, but she really does not get me fired up.
And sadly neither does Tim Kaine.
So yes this ticket is made up of two very strong and capable politicians, who are infinitely better than their Republican counterparts.
But damn, I just wish as a political blogger I had more opportunity to write excitedly about the Democratic ticket, and did not have to instead focus on the lunacy from the other side of the aisle.
But I really have my heart set on Elizabeth Warren.
Now according to recent reporting Hillary is actually down to these three choices:
Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential search is centering on three main contenders, with an announcement expected as soon as Friday as the Democrat prepares for her party’s national convention next week in Philadelphia.
Democrats familiar with the search say Clinton’s campaign has focused in recent days on Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, a former governor, mayor and one-time Catholic missionary fluent in Spanish; Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, an ex-Iowa governor and longtime Clinton ally; and Labor Secretary Tom Perez, a progressive champion who would be the first Hispanic on a major-party ticket.
I REALLY hope that this is inaccurate reporting because not one of those choices appeals to me even a little.
I would much prefer Cory Booker, who at least has some personality, and it not some old boring white dude.
But then again, as I have said many times in the past, Elizabeth Warren is the game changing choice that would give Hillary the kind of bump that would completely knock Donald Trump off of the news cycle for at least 24 hours.
However I am a Democrat, so if my favorite choice does not get the job I will still support, and vote my heart out, for the Hillary and her VP choice.
Whoever that boring choice might be.
Update: So there is a lot of talk about Hillary announcing her VP choice today.
However with this shooting in Munich today I would put all of that on hold if I were the Clinton camp.
They will be drowned out by these events in Germany, and they need to make the announcement when they can own the news cycle.
