Oct 26^th

Yesterday I watched Chuck Todd interview Ben Carson. Todd covered a lot of ground in that interview; we heard Carson speak about gun control, he opposes it (sort of) and abortion, he opposes that in all situations except imminent risk of death to the mother which he claims is very rare. Dr. Carson is a Seventh Day Adventist, a group that believes the Biblically appointed day of rest is Saturday not Sunday, that the Bible is literally true on every point and that Jesus’ return is imminent. They also believe that the dead are just asleep and will remain in that state until Jesus returns.

Carson’s demeanor though out this interview was the soul of calm attentiveness. His eyes were half closed and I thought it might be caused by the glare of television lights but Chuck Todd sat in the same lights and his eyes were wide open. Maybe Dr. Carson has found a tranquilizer that keeps him calm but alert. Several beta blockers are known to do that. In any event Dr. Carson and Mr. Trump present an interesting contrast.

Trump is clearly concerned about his loss of first place in Iowa polling.  He was commenting on this while hunched over his lectern telling his audience that he was a Presbyterian and that was “mainstream folks, that’s right down the middle; Seventh Day Adventist, I don’t know what that is.” Then he got around to those poll results about which he had recently been so proud. Not anymore, he isn’t.  It seems that one is from a newspaper, The De Moines Register/ Bloomberg News poll has him trailing Ben Carson as does the Quinnipiac poll. These polls have him trailing Carson by more than just a couple of points and oh is he upset. He is quick to assure one and all that he still has the lead nationally and he has the lead in New Hampshire; that’s all true but there is now a tear in his cloak of invincibility and he isn’t able to respond to that realistically. If he hadn’t crowed so loudly when the polls had him ahead he could acknowledge the fact that poll results fluctuate; now he’s trapped by his own ego.

Jeb Bush showed more than a little frustration. He said, "I've got a lot of really cool things I could do other than sit around, being miserable, listening to people demonize me and me feeling compelled to demonize them. That is a joke. Elect Trump if you want that," Oh dear, temper, temper, temper! Trump set out determined to provoke Bush and Bush let him do just that. Then the other Bush family members showed up to provide aid and comfort and Trump hit him again with something like, “Now he runs back to Mummy and Daddy.”

Skipping to Marco Rubio who is very discontented with being a junior Senator; he can’t stand the Senate. His problem there was that he tried to offer some legislation and some of it was defeated by Democrats and some defeated by his own party. The result of this frustration is that he won’t run again for the Senate; it’s the Presidency or nothing. Old poker players, and I am one, have a saying, “Bet ‘em high and sleep in the street.” Good luck Marco.