The number of candidates vying for the Republican nomination has forced the Democrat-Media Complex to begin construction to triple the size of their trophy room in their exclusive, members only club on Wisconsin Avenue (See Trophy Room, February 25, 2015, Growltiger's Litter Box). Tripling the wall space also will allow the display of heads and scalps that currently have to be stored in the basement in wooden crates.
Among these heads is that of Jack Ryan (R-IL), brought down when during Ryan's 2004 Illinois Senate race against Barack Obama when the Chicago Tribune and local Chicago ABC affiliate, WLS-TV, petitioned California Judge Robert Schnider to open Mr. Ryan's sealed child custody records against the wishes of both Ryan and his former wife (1). Mr. Ryan dropped out of the race and Mr. Obama won easily. It's just a coincidence that political advisor, David Axelrod, who eventually became one of Mr. Obama's top political advisors once worked for the Chicago Tribune and that the Tribune also had forced open the sealed divorce records of one of Mr. Obama's opponents in the Democratic primary. (2)
To be fair, the media must share credit for bagging Ryan with Judge Schnider who admitted when he unsealed the custody records that doing so could harm the Ryans' child. A judge's gotta do what a judge's gotta do.
The large crop of Republican candidates seeking the party's nomination will make for a veritable safari for the invested media. As indicated in the previous report on the Trophy Room, the media has already bagged Chris Christie with a non stop campaign linking Governor Christie to a traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge. Likewise, Scott Walker's lack of a college degree became a topic of interest. On a recent hunting expedition, the New York Times nailed former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee, as a "snake-oil" salesman who hawked a cinnamon-based diabetes treatment (3). While WEB MD dismisses cinnamon as a diabetes treatment, it does acknowledge a few small studies have indicated cinnamon might be of some benefit in reducing insulin resistance (4), information that is not included in the reports on Huckabee's activities.
Rand Paul, M.D., and Ben Carson, M.D., both have been ambushed and forced to explain their answers to questions about vaccinations (Paul) and homosexuality (Carson). Senator Ted Cruz is never mentioned without the addendum that he "shut down the government". Interestingly, in the early nineties when the Democrats controlled the House and Senate and George H. W. Bush was president, the media blamed the government shut down on the Republican president. A few years later when the Republicans controlled the House and Senate and Democrat Bill Clinton was president, the media blamed the government shut down on the Republican Congress. Apparently whenever the government shuts down, it's the Republicans' fault no matter which branch they control.
President Obama's lack of executive experience makes a case for electing presidents who have executive experience which means governors. But the President's list of foreign policy failures, speaks to electing a candidate who has knowledge of who's who in the world's zoo, and governors rarely have foreign policy credentials.
Fortunately for the country, the Republicans currently have two candidates with both. Mike Pence, current Governor of Indiana represented Indiana's 6th District in the House of Representatives from 2003 to 2013, serving on the committee for Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Middle East and South Asia (Vice Chair), Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution (Vice Chair), and Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet. John Kasich, Governor of Ohio, likewise served in the House of Representatives (1982-2000), chaired the House Budget committee and served on the Armed Services committee. Both men know their way around Washington yet are not Washington insiders.
This means, even if they haven't declared, they are targets. Pence got it first. On a recent Sunday, ABC's George Stephanopoulos drew first blood on Pence when he backed Pence into a corner with a "have you stopped beating your wife" question regarding the governor's signing of the Indiana legislature's Freedom of Religion Act. Before becoming ABC's chief anchor, chief political correspondent, co-anchor of Good Morning, America, and host of Sunday morning This Week, Mr. Stephanopoulos was a Democratic political advisor and worked in Bill Clinton's administration. If this were a family, we might have to call it incest.
(1) Got Him!
(2) Him Too!
(3) Another One!
(4) Web MD
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