Into the Belly of the Beast

In an unusual turn of events, Indiana’s primary mattered this year. Ours happens so late in the season that the candidates on either side usually have the nomination in the bag by now. This was a lot of fun for me because it meant that candidates actually made a stop in our state and in our city. I went to a Ted Cruz rally and left feeling really uncomfortable and vaguely horrified. I skipped the Sanders rally on Sunday because I just didn’t feel like going anywhere that day or dealing with people. I actually had tickets to attend the Trump rally the following day, but after Ken and I saw how many people were expected, we decided to avoid it. If Hillary had had an open event, I would have made sure to be there, though!

I’m glad I skipped the Trump rally because I can only handle so much idiocy right up in my face. I was able to live stream his speech and it helped to be somewhat removed from it. I told Ken that it was a good thing we didn’t go because there were several times when I laughed out loud at some of Trump’s statements, and I’m guessing that his supporters wouldn’t take kindly to someone laughing at their candidate. Even though he deserves every bit of derisive laughter he gets.

Anyway, Indiana had the dubious honor of going strongly for Trump and knocking Cruz and Kasich out of the fight for the nomination. As much as I loathe the oleaginous Cruz and the deceptively mild-mannered Kasich (bullshit policies delivered in a kind, reasonable voice are still bullshit policies), it is horrifying that the Vulgar Talking Yam (thank you, Charlie Pierce!) is the presumptive nominee of the Republican party.

I have voted Republican in the past. I think Richard Lugar was a fine Senator and I was happy to cast my vote for him more than once. Trump is about as far removed from someone like Richard Lugar as I am from an astronaut.

It looks more than likely that the Republican party is going to nominate a bigoted bully who seems to think that “political correctness” is an egregious concept that prevents him from saying whatever the hell he wants to without any consequences. And what he wants to say is misogynistic, racist, Islamophobic, and generally vile. I’m not sure when PC became a bad thing...I’m a big fan of treating others with respect and understanding that just because someone doesn’t share my views or beliefs or race or preference for peach pie over cherry doesn’t mean that they should be vilified.

Everything that comes out of his mouth is laughably absurd, including his economic plans for paying less on our debt, which virtually every economist is saying would be disastrous to the world economy. He changes his tune on issues in a matter of hours, not days. One of Trump's chosen delegates in California is a white supremacist.

It is beyond my comprehension that a significant portion of our populace is supporting this Cheesy Dorito (thanks, Holly!). He is not just ignorant and ill-informed on policy, he’s a fucking asshole. I am to the point where I honestly question the intelligence and competency of anyone who is supporting this nincompoop. I have friends and family who do, and while I continue to love them, I find that I simply cannot understand why they don’t see this demagogue for what he is: a power-hungry narcissist who won’t hesitate to burn the whole thing down.

Gettin’ my vote on

Today was primary day here in the great state of Indiana, and although I initially hadn’t planned on voting (reasons to follow), I couldn’t bring myself to NOT vote!

[Does anyone remember the old voting machines? With the little levers, and then the big lever to register your votes? I never got to use one for a real vote, but I recall using one in a mock vote in school. Filling in an oval is not nearly as much fun as these monstrosities!]

I think there are other states like this, but in Indiana’s primary, you have to vote in one party’s primary or the other; you can’t vote in both. I had two choices today: I could choose a Democratic ballot, although most nominees were running uncontested, or choose a Republican ballot, where there is a primary race that is garnering national attention—incumbent Richard Lugar vs state treasurer and teabagger darling Richard Mourdock. I considered casting a strategic vote in the Republican primary, because my current Congressman, Joe Donnelly, is running unopposed as the Democratic nominee for this Senate seat. Senator Lugar is a stand-up guy, and I have voted for him in the past, but I’m not crazy about his recent pivot to the right to appease the teabaggers, so I would definitely vote for Donnelly over Lugar. Lugar is a stronger candidate against Donnelly, so Mourdock would be a better opponent if we want to pick up the Senate seat, and that was my possible strategic vote.

Ultimately, I chose to vote today (there was a judge I wanted to vote for) and chose the Democratic ballot, because I just could not cast a vote for Mourdock even though I have no intention of voting for him in the general election. Although I disagree with some of Lugar’s votes, I believe he has done his best by his state and by his country, as well as making the world safer for everyone with his work on nuclear arms reduction. I couldn’t vote against him. I think it’s shameful that he has been targeted by the teabaggers because he has worked across the aisle and has been willing to compromise on certain votes and issues. This ideological purity test that is happening with the Repubs lately is just sheer insanity to me, and I don’t see it getting better anytime soon. They can go as crazy as they want, but I won’t aid and abet their idiocy. Part of this was Lugar’s fault, too, for not taking the threat seriously.

Anyway, it looks like Lugar is going to lose, so in the fall it will be Mourdock against Donnelly. As the state treasurer, Mourdock has more name recognition statewide than does Donnelly, so my advice to the Donnelly campaign (if they read this...and I’ve had a few visits from various Washington, D.C. offices, so it’s possible) would be to come out of the gate hard, and start defining Mourdock as an extremist and all that junk. Donnelly is well-known and fairly well-liked in his own district, but he definitely needs to get a real jump on this and define himself—as well as his opponent—statewide.

After my errands and a good workout, the sun had come out enough to burn off the fog, and it ended up being a pretty nice afternoon. I got some reading and sun time in out on the deck, which was an unexpected treat. As an extra-added bonus, I saw a boy hummingbird at the feeder, so the boys have joined the girls! Yay!