Mark Rubin

2016 Election Thoughts – Part I (HRC)

November 12, 2016
Mark Rubin

2016 Election Thoughts – Part I (HRC). Today, we focus on the losing side of the election.

Bernie Sanders

I want to solve for Bernie Sanders straightaway. First, anyone who identifies with a party which uses any variant of Social in its name will never be President of the United States. Had Senator Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton, watching him explain the difference between a Socialist and a Social Democrat would have been lots of fun. In the end, though, his explanations never would have worked.

Second, Senator Sanders was not qualified to be POTUS. Like Donald Trump, he knows how to use a flamethrower. He’s also far smarter and more knowledgeable than our soon-to-be president. And orders of magnitude

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Protest Votes = Wasted Votes!

September 24, 2016
Mark Rubin

Protest votes = wasted votes! I protested in my first two elections. Forty years ago I skipped the top line on the ballot, and four years later, in 1980, I voted for John Anderson, a Republican congressman running as an independent.

I got a pass with my protest votes, for they affected outcomes not at all. In my state the candidates I was least likely to vote for—President Gerald Ford (running against the man who beat him, Governor Jimmy Carter) and Governor Ronald Reagan (who beat President Carter)—won. Still, I felt righteous and pure, and also knew our nation would survive, no matter what. (I had history with the Carters in the 1976 Wisconsin primary, which is why I

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Hillary Clinton. Not Lesser. Not Evil.

July 17, 2016
Mark Rubin

[Note: This post has been percolating for days. Thanks to RF for noting that he is tired of the lesser of two evils narrative as it relates to Hillary Clinton, which brought the thoughts together.]

Last week the Curator mentioned Understanding Hillary: Why the Clinton America Sees Isn’t the Clinton Colleagues Know, written by Ezra Klein for Vox on July 11. I read the piece with interest, for I have friends who know Hillary Clinton very well. They report on her warmth, kindness, and smarts. But for smarts, these attributes do not appear readily for those of us who only know the public woman.

Mr. Klein focuses on Mrs. Clinton’s skills, and, in particular, her ability to listen. Listening

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Emails and Hillary Clinton / Put a Fork in This One!

July 7, 2016
Mark Rubin

Hillary Clinton served as the U.S. Secretary of State from January 21, 2009 through February 1, 2013. She has not been the Secretary of State for 1252 days. That is a few days more than 40 months. Using a private server to send and receive emails was not a secret during her four years in office. It’s also been a known fact since then to many, many people. Time to put a fork in this one!

I offer the foregoing facts because I can’t get my mind around the notion that open and obvious acts—taken over years, and years ago—support a prosecution. That challenge raises two issues for me. First, what is the purpose associated with criminal laws? Second,

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Who Is He? Nate Silver … More

July 2, 2016
Mark Rubin

So I posted Who Is He? Nate Silver on Thursday, June 30. In it I included this paragraph:

FiveThirtyEight.com posted its first general election analysis, Who Will Win the Presidency?, within the last couple of days. It says Hillary Clinton, has a 79.2% chance of winning. Unpacking this analysis matters. First, a 79.2% chance of winning does not mean Ms. Clinton will win 79.2% of the votes. Rather, it means an election, held 100 times, would see Ms. Clinton winning about 80 times.

On July 1, in the evening, regular reader SC wrote me privately—for sure, because he didn’t want to embarrass me—about my statement. Paraphrasing his several words, he wrote “Wrong!” And, after checking in with my

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Nuance, Complexity, and Not Being F*cking Stupid

June 26, 2016
Mark Rubin

We focus on nuance and complexity and not being f*cking stupid today. During the 2004 U.S. Presidential election campaign then Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) used the word nuance to describe his position on the Iraq War. Bad move. No President John Kerry … although it turns out Secretary Kerry got much closer to the right position—blah, blah, blah, flip flop, blah, blah—on Iraq than President George W. Bush. (With a snicker, on several occasions President Bush said “We don’t do nuance in Texas.” Right-O, Mister President.)

NPR reported on Friday that two most asked questions on Google in the United Kingdom, after Brexit prevailed, were:

What does it mean to leave the EU? And

What is

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Guest Blogger Steve Caine: Ms. Clinton v. Mr. Trump

June 24, 2016
Mark Rubin

 

Ms. ClintonMr. Trump

The pundits say: Trump is imploding, Democrats are gleeful, and Republicans are in panic mode. I hate to throw cold water on those rosy / dire predictions but over-confidence can have very negative consequences. If you want a Democrat in the White House next year be wary and focused.

In Part 1 of this two-parter I said this election cycle most brings to mind 1980. I’m not predicting a similar outcome, but I am concerned. (For young people, in 1980 President Jimmy Carter ran against former California governor Ronald Reagan in the general election.) And I’m still focused on 1980!

Donald J. Trump and Ronald Reagan differ in important ways: Mr. Reagan had been a two- term governor, with

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Die on a Mountain

April 30, 2016
Mark Rubin

Several years ago I was sitting in an interminable board meeting. (I used to do that. Often!) An agenda item involved significant religious issues. An “aye” vote would have revved up many local Rabbis. I found myself in the thick of the discussion, taking an unexpected position. Then, a very wise man* who I’ve known since I was a young teenager piped up: “My dear, suffering wife,” he said, “will ask me on something like this, David, are you going to die on a mountain over this?” The topic was tabled within about 60 seconds, and never raised again.

I thought about Dying on the Mountain Moments when I saw a post on FB which claimed Hillary Clinton and Bernie

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Perfect. Lay Off of Good! Now!!!

April 1, 2016
Mark Rubin

Perfect and good have been battling one another forever. Perfect needs to lay off. Now!

“You say you want a revolution? Well, you can’t always get what you want — but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.” With these words Paul Krugman ends Learning from Obama, his April 1 column for the New York Times. In the piece Mr. Krugman notes:

  • the 10,000,000 new private sector jobs during the past seven years (along with still disappointing economy);
  • the Obamacare successes, including a huge increase in the number of people with insurance, fewer employers dropping coverage, and lower than expected costs;
  • financial sector reforms which include, most notably, far less leverage in
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Ideological Purity is an Indulgence – Part 2

March 19, 2016
Mark Rubin

Warren Burger (Earl Warren). Harry Blackmun (Abe Fortas). Lewis Powell (Hugo Black). William Rehnquist (John Harlan; Warren Burger). John Paul Stevens (William O. Douglas). Sandra Day O’Connor (Potter Stewart). Antonin Scalia (William Rehnquist). Anthony Kennedy (Lewis Powell). David Souter (William Brennan). Clarence Thomas (Thurgood Marshall). John Roberts (William Rehnquist). Samuel Alito (Sandra Day O’Connor). These are the Nixon/Ford, Reagan, and Bushes, père et fils, justices, along with those whom they replaced.

Justice John Paul Stevens got almost everything right during his 30+ years at the Court. Others—Justices Harry Blackmun and Sandra Day O’Connor—are responsible for much that is good. Justice Anthony Kennedy and Chief Justice John Roberts have also had their important and worthy moments. Nonetheless, this group of

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