Goldwater, 1964

The grand dragon of the Klu Klux Klan in Georgia announced that he would today support Senator Barry Goldwater for President.
The klan leader, Calvin F. Craig of Atlanta, declared that his endorsement of the Repub­lican candidate was based on the issues, not personalities. Mr. craig is himself a candidate for the state Senate in the Demo­cratic primary election Sept. 9.

See Lyndon Johnson making hay of the Klan support.

See Goldwater disavowing the support from the Klan.

“We don’t want the backing of the Ku Klux Klan and I don’t think we’e going to get it.”

Ronald Reagan, circa 1984.

President Reagan, saying he had ”no tolerance” for what the Ku Klux Klan represented, today repudiated the group’s endorsement.
In a letter to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, the President said:
”Those of us in public life can only resent the use of our names by those who seek political recognition for the repugnant doctrines of hate they espouse.
”The politics of racial hatred and religious bigotry practiced by the Klan and others have no place in this country, and are destructive of the values for which America has always stood.’‘

See too 1980.

Next it was the Republicans’ turn to try to avoid any guilt by association with the Ku Klux Klan. The problem arose when the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, said to be the biggest and most militant Klan group, endorsed Ronald Reagan. Its newspaper editorialized that “the Republican platform reads as if it were written by a Klansman,” citing such points as opposition to gun control, the Department of Education, and “forced busing.” Obviously, one does not have to be a Klansman to accept such views, and Mr. Reagan rejected the endorsement, saying , “I have no tolerance with what the Klan represents, and I want nothing to do with it.”

And, yes, it is noteworthy that, for instance, Goldwater relieved Strom Thurmond for bathroom breaks during his epic civil rights filibuster, and it is noteworthy that Reagan referred to “young bucks” for welfare cheats and launched his campaign outside Philadelphia, Mississippi on “state’s rights”…

Just proves a point that even as you’re scooping up the vote off of white resentment, you should still… still… still, off of second nature, be able to throw away the support of David Duke.

Three times on Sunday morning, Donald Trump was given the chance to disavow the support his campaign is getting from white supremacist groups. And three times, he balked.
Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Trump was pressed by host Jake Tapper to distance himself from David Duke, a former KKK leader who has supported Trump’s campaign and gone so far as to say that a vote against the businessman would be a “treason to your heritage.”
Here was answer No. 1:
Just so you understand. I don’t know anything about David Duke, OK? I don’t know anything about what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know – did he endorse me or what’s going on? Because I know nothing about David Duke. I know nothing about white supremacists. And so you’re asking me a question that I’m supposed to be talking about people that I know nothing about.

And when Tapper followed up, here was answer No. 2:
Well, I have to look at the group. I don’t know what group you’re talking about. You wouldn’t want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. I’d have to look. If you would send me a list of the groups, I will do research on them and certainly I would disavow if I thought there was something wrong.

And when Tapper specified that he was talking about David Duke and the Klan, here was answer No. 3:
Honestly, I don’t know David Duke. I don’t believe I’ve ever met him. I’m pretty sure I didn’t meet him. And I just don’t know anything about him.

But he got around to it on twitter, his go to place to get around to these things.

And lest we forget the past… one of the previous forays into Presidential campaigning as he steered off one of his current dopple-gangers, Jesse Ventura, and ran into one of his future dopple-gangers — Pat Buchanan, in the Reform Party.

Mr. Trump painted a fairly dark picture of the Reform Party in his statement, noting the role of Mr. Buchanan, along with the roles of David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, and Lenora Fulani, the former standard-bearer of the New Alliance Party and an advocate of Marxist-Leninist politics.
“The Reform Party now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke, a neo-Nazi, Mr. Buchanan, and a communist, Ms. Fulani,” he said in his statement. “This is not company I wish to keep.” [via Justin Green]

Yes.  A really weird party, that Reform Party — gets weirder when you throw the bopping Buddhists of John Hagelin into the mix.

What dent will such an occurrence make on Super Tuesday?  Well… one more chance for the kvetching of the Republican elite.

And then the “still…”

Trump’s overtly racist campaign makes it hard to see how he wins Western swing states like Nevada or New Mexico that have high numbers of Latino voters. But his economic pitch to the white working class holds obvious appeal in traditional Democratic strongholds in the upper Midwest — communities that have been ravaged by the past three decades of U.S. economic policy. Even if Trump lost every other swing state in the country, turning the Rust Belt red would be enough for him to win the Electoral College.

Somehow the bottom line on the coming Trump — Clinton campaign.

The Republican Party Presidential nomination becomes ever more cartoony…

… with all due respect to cartoons.

Upping the ante from the previous “Desperation for all contenders” debate amongst a field that included a few more candidates, the new ever more “Desperation Debate” …

… and Marco Rubio becomes Donald Trump.  By which I mean, allude to Donald Trump urinating.

He called me Mr. Meltdown,” said Rubio, deriding the botched spelling of Trump’s post-debate tweets. “Let me tell you, during one of the breaks – two of the breaks – he went backstage. He was having a meltdown. First he had this little makeup thing, applying makeup around his mustache, because he had one of those sweat mustaches. Then he asked for a full-length mirror. I don’t know why, because the podium goes up to here. Maybe he was making sure his pants weren’t wet. I don’t know.”

And then… He read aloud from Trump’s Twitter timeline, mocking everything and pointing out three misspellings.  To be sure, probably about the level of presidential electioneering demanded in this surreal age of Twitter.

Chris Christie, who after all is Donald Trump’s dopple-ganger, is not won over by this last minute conversion to the politics of — Trumping — and has endorsed Trump hisownself.  Leaving aside the right-left x-axis (which they both share a spot on anyways — somewhere around the spot of “Politically Opportunistic”) — they share the spot on the y-axis of “jerk”.  Rubio too much a johnny come lately to make any splash.  It’s reminds me of what George Carlin said of the 1996 Bob Dole — Bill Clinton race…

if honesty were suddnely introduced to american society, the whole system would collapse, no one would know what to do. deep down inside~ americans know this too! thats why they elected and relected bill clinton. the american people like thier bullshit close and upfront so they can smell it. bob dole said “i’m a plain and honest man!” bullshit. clinton says “hiya folks! i’m completely fulla shit!” and the people say, “at least he’s honest….”

Which is to suggest one thing about Hillary Clinton.  Her brand may be of the right type to battle back Donald Trump (political reincarnate of Arnold Schwarzenegger?)  She can wobble from any “purity” stance — right?

The remaining figures of the Republican race are best left to shuffle to a dignified exit, with an eye toward 2020 and a sly manner of “picking up the pieces” of a Republican Party defeat… Not that I think Donald Trump losing is a fore-gone conclusion.  We’re entering curious territory here.

And so we gauge the implausibility of anything other than a Donald Trump nomination.  Too may leaps and bounds for Rubio.  Not enough space for Trump to slide into oblivion.  Trump — is he Jesse Ventura — is that what we’re looking at?

“Yeah.  I go to cemeteries.  Mausoleums.  Anywhere Dark.  When I turn 21 I’ll start going to Goth clubs.  Even though I’m not much into the Club Scene at all.  Not really a ‘People Person’.

There aren’t many goths around here.  The people who I know who call themselves ‘goth’… aren’t really goth.  I can count on my hand how many real goths I know.

I’m kind of a blank slate right now.  But I’m going to get [album cover] inked on my back soon…”

Ben Carson is running for… the purpose of being a foil against Ted Cruz, maybe?

And also to make awkward racial points.

Well, that’s good to know.  For the future.

Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush made it clear on Saturday that he would not join Donald Trump’s ticket as vice president.
“No,” Bush responded quickly when asked by a reporter in South Carolina, according to a video surfaced by The Hill.  His reply was met with laughs from supporters, including South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.  “And let’s be clear,” the former Florida governor added, “I don’t think he would ask me, either.”

I… think?… we’re seeing the ending of Jeb. Ultimately, the entire South Carolina Republican apparatus — re: the governor and the Junior Senator — took behind Marco Rubio, and that’s either worth more or more reflective of reality than the Bush Machine of the former President and the Senior Senator (and one time Presidential candidate) taking a stand for Jeb.  (Sends a better message to a part of the electorate angling for something to counter Trump-Cruz: an Indian American woman governor and a black Republican Senator as opposed to … the name that’s been attached to the majority of Republican ballots since 1980.)

John Kasich, apparently, is still entertaining the hopes of Michigan.  Why?  Because… why not?

Ben Carson… who knows what he wants to do now?  At least there’s the explanation for Cruz’s “dirty trick”ery…

Cruz, for his part, has blamed the “misunderstanding” on CNN, who reported that Carson had returned to Florida during the Iowa caucus to pick up some fresh clothes, an act that Cruz claims led him to believe Carson was, in fact, returning to the Sunshine State to announce his removal from the race rather than to briefly weep into his pile of clean laundry.

Loathe as I am to defend Cruz, that is a rational guess as to what Carson is doing in tailing it out of Iowa and to Florida.  As opposed to… laundry?

The Democratic Primary in the South, and if Bernie Sanders wants any head-way he would need to expand from his narrow “white guy” base, and… hm.

A spokesman for Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders on Wednesday dismissed as “gotcha politics” a controversy over comments by rapper Killer Mike, a frequent Sanders surrogate, about whether a uterus alone qualifies someone to be president.
Killer Mike, whose real name is Michael Render, was among several African-American supporters who spoke ahead of the Vermont senator at a raucous rally here at the campus of Morehouse College, a historically black institution.

You know… Entertainers as surrogates are always tricky.  Speak a different vernacular.  Things need to rhyme.

As George W Bush comes in to stump for Jeb Bush’s long stagnant campaign…

… I suppose also hoping to gain traction from Donald Trump’s “If any other Republican had said these things” debate speaks… due to other priorities…

… or who don’t much care if you make that typical whitey gaffe of confusing two black figures?  (Carson and Obama?  Really, Trump?) …

it is worth noting what is defined as a “Bushie“.

It was a very Bushy crowd: Lots of veterans; lots of men in double-breasted blazers; some veterans in double-breasted blazers; plenty of Vera Bradley bags; young boys in monogrammed sport coats with bright-colored pants. Volunteers were generally easy to pick out: They were the clean-cut young men in khakis and either boat shoes or duck boots. Perhaps needless to say, it was overwhelmingly white. Yet while George W. Bush was a strong enough draw to get people to the rally, he wasn’t enough to persuade all of them to back his brother.

The other path, Jeb Bush sees, to winning over South Carolina… erm?  Posting Pictures of Guns with America with the word “America” over it?

Too easily trumped by any other Republican candidate, who can simply post pictures of multiple guns on their twitter page.

I laughed out loud when I heard Antonin Scalia died.  My condolences, and etc.  But… oh Lord what a Political Haywire Act this creates.

Next comes the situational political conviction principle, the stated belief in either the Democratic Principle that “the People” need to have their say to wait for the November Presidential election.

… which would flip if this were the Republican in office.

And, yes, it goes the other way as well.  The Filibuster for the Supreme Court was left in place when the Democratic Party brass was wrangling with Bush and the Republicans over lower bench appointees.

And there are enough precedents in all directions to allow everyone to call everyone else a hypocrite.  (Yes.  McConnell.  1988.  Lest Michael Dukakis get to pick the slot that went to Kennedy.)

And my thought jumped over to Abe Fortas for –if shaky–“precedent” on taking the year off.  Of course, with Abe Fortas it was a good number of southern “conservative” Democrats who batted him down after the appropriate outrage at viewing the smut that Fortas would allow into this country of ours…

The story of Flaming Creatures and the so-called “Fortas Film Festival” illustrates that dialectic. When President Johnson nominated Justice Fortas to replace Chief Justice Warren in 1968, Fortas’s opponents investigated his record, hoping to justify a filibuster. Among other things, they discovered Jacobs v. New York, in which Fortas alone voted to reverse obscenity convictions for showing Flaming Creatures, an obscure art film that featured a transvestite orgy.  Senator Thurmond presented the Fortas Film Festival, showing Flaming Creatures and other films to several other senators and convincing them to join the filibuster.

The games commence.  I think?  Obama has popular opinion on his side in asserting “Here’s my nominee” — and the Republican majority will have to swallow the unexpected shift to a 5-4