Nov 2^nd

Today we can report increasing consternation in the Republican ranks. I watched the ranting by Joe of “Morning Joe” for a few minutes this morning. Joe Scarborough was mightily upset about the totally unfair questions thrown at the Republican candidates in the last debate. Scarborough claims, and I believe him, that not one of the CNBC questioners had ever actually voted in a Republican primary. That, I guess, is clear evidence of bias. I would bet that none of them had ever voted in a Democratic primary either, but Scarborough makes his living by ranting, not by being reasonable.

Now the candidates have decided to divorce their debate supervision from the Republican National Committee (RNC) and control it themselves. Does anyone believe that these candidates who are in competition with each other can agree on anything substantive? Well, they have. They agree that the temperature of the room should not be too high and that the debate should not be too long and that the networks should not be entrusted to moderate the event. And they have agreed to cancel the next debate, so there! They want much more innocuous questions and, by golly, they will insist on that. They will be sorry about this requirement; much of the applause at the last debate came from Senator Cruz’ and others attacks on “the media;” if the moderators are all certified as friendly to conservatives that bogey man vanishes. (You might notice that Cruz’ rhetorical pauses are now getting long enough to leave his audience wondering if he might have forgotten his next line.)

So what was the questioning like at the Democratic debate? The questioning of Hilary Clinton, the clear leader in this competition, began with a summary of her position changes on various issues. The questioner finished off with this softball. “Will you say or do anything to be President.” So how much complaining have the Democratic candidates done? None that I know of.

An update on my friend Bill whose stroke I wrote about recently. He is recovering and doing quite well. The folks who adjudicate these things have now decided that Bill is eligible for social services such as Medicaid and no longer must prove that he isn’t working. (How could you possibly prove that you haven’t done something? Prove that you have never been disloyal to …) Now that he is in a hospital with a quarter of his skull removed such proof is no longer necessary.