Morning after 2018Election. Ducking hard questions. R.Samuelson

Robert Samuelson a columnist for the Washington Post echoed some of my feelings so well that I want to share some of it over here.  

Considering the 2018 election results (not a complete disaster but, ...) it seems a fairly sure bet that the next two years will be filled with the Democratic House investigating our Russian obligate President and Trump’s all around lawlessness, while the GOP Senate continues focusing on completing their stacking of our Court system with ideological judges probably even more extreme than Kavanaugh.

On the "public dialogue" front Republicans will continue lathering-up their faithful with fear, hatred, and contempt for “others” while doubling down on their faith-based rejection of learning from objective facts and constructive dialogue - topped off by their all around placid acceptance of the malicious calculated lie as their best political weapon.

Democrats hold the key.  Continue avoiding the deliberate brainwashing messaging of FOX News and what Trump-Republicans are force-feeding Americans and Democrats will continue losing the hearts and minds of rational people, as yesterday’s election demonstrated.  It needed to be a clear landslide for American Pluralistic Principles and America's government of the people, by the people and for the people - instead it was a whimper.

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Robert Samuelson, Washington Post, Nov. 6, 2018

Ducking hard questions, we all lost the elections

WASHINGTON – We all lost the fiercely contested midterm elections.

They were a referendum on President Donald Trump, which suited both Republicans and Democrats just fine. Democrats were betting that the public had increasingly tired of Trump’s lies and his vile style. Trump and his supporters believed that Democrats were again underestimating his popular appeal.

What was missing was any realistic engagement with the difficult issues facing the country. In democracies, elections serve not only to select the country’s leadership. They also aim to gauge public opinion on the hard issues and to see whether some sort of consensus is possible. The campaign featured very little of this constructive politics.

What are some of the hard issues? There’s no secret. …

…

… Under the best of circumstances, it would be difficult to achieve. Politicians want to win. By and large, they tell voters what voters want to hear, even if it is exaggerated, selective or dishonest.

But the fixation on Trump and his antics turned a longshot into an impossibility. It destroyed the prospects of anything resembling rational debate. Indeed, public opinion may be worse informed at the end of this campaign than at the beginning. In this sense, the campaign may have been wasted.

Read the complete column at,

https://durangoherald.com/articles/249241-ducking-hard-questions-we-all-lost-the-elections

Robert Samuelson is a columnist for The Washington Post. © 2018 The Washington Post Writers Group

Democrats Alarmed At GOP Use Of Private Security Documents (Spanberger)

MSNBC

Published on Aug 29, 2018

Following revelations that former C.I.A. officer running for office, Abigail Spanberger's confidential personnel file was given to a Republican Super PAC, other Democratic candidates who served in U.S. intelligence are concerned that this is a new Republican tactic. Rachel Maddow reports the latest.

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C.I.A. Officer-Turned-Candidate Says PAC Obtained Her Security Application

By Michael Tackett - Aug. 28, 2018 - New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/us/politics/cia-officer-house-election-super-pac.html

WASHINGTON — A former C.I.A. officer running for Congress accused a super PAC aligned with Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Tuesday of improperly obtaining her entire federal security clearance application — a highly sensitive document containing extensive personal information — and then using it for political purposes.

Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic candidate challenging Representative Dave Brat of Virginia, sent a cease-and-desist letter to Corry Bliss, the executive director of the Congressional Leadership Fund, which has raised more than $100 million to help Republicans in the midterm elections. She demanded that the super PAC destroy all copies of the form and agree to not use the information in any fashion.

Republican Attacks On DoJ Russia Experts A Boon To Russian Mafia | Rache...

I've never been a Rachel Maddow fan, too much rhetorical drama, but just as with lecturers, sometimes you simply need to overlook one's own sensibilities, because the substance of the information is so solid and well laid own.  While I'm still not a fan of her "style" and would love her to be more concise and direct, her final story, message, information is significant and well explained.

MSNBC

Published on Aug 28, 2018 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFiI1dmwDu8 - 12 min.

Rachel Maddow reviews the storied history of Justice Department official Bruce Ohr in prosecuting Russian organized crime, making him only the latest DoJ Russia expert to endure Republican smears in an effort to protect Donald Trump from the Robert Mueller investigation.

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Trump suggests Bruce Ohr, Justice official linked to Russia dossier, should be fired

By Ellen Nakashima , Carol D. Leonnig , Erica Werner and Tom Hamburger

August 29, 2018 at 11:30 PM - Washington Post