If you\u2019ve ever participated in competitive sports, you know the losers lament.\u00a0 It was the umps, the refs, the other team cheated, it was deflated balls\u2026 . Never is there a look in the mirror to determine how bad you or your team actually sucked on a particular day or for the whole season.\u00a0 There is a loser\u2019s mindset also.\u00a0 Its view in the mirror says I am so much better than everyone else, so much smarter, so much more talented, everyone loves me, and wants me to win, so it is very unlikely that I will ever lose unless they cheat.<\/p>\n
There is also the bench warmer\u2019s prayer.\u00a0 If the game is tight and the battle tough, the benchwarmer prays, \u201cLord, please don\u2019t let them hit the ball to me.\u201d\u00a0 Sort of reminds me of the Republican side of Congress.\u00a0 A note to them, winners want the damn ball and they aim to deliver when they get it.\u00a0 Otherwise they become tomorrow\u2019s losers.<\/p>\n
Ronald Reagan skunked Jimmah Carter.\u00a0 It was a landside of epic proportions.\u00a0 If you scan the news and polls, Reagan was not supposed to win \u2013 had no chance.\u00a0 The media and pundits did not give him a chance and establishment Republicans didn\u2019t want him either \u2013 many of them blamed him for Ford\u2019s loss to Carter.\u00a0 The third party candidate was blamed for the loss although analysis showed that had Carter picked up every vote, highly unlikely, he would have still lost by 100 Electoral College votes.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t the third party.\u00a0 It was a bad economy, double digit inflation, the Arab oil embargo, turn your thermostat down and wear sweater speeches, and poor handling of the Iran hostage crisis not to mention Jimmah and his crew ushering in a \u201cmoderate religious leader.\u201d\u00a0 Jimmah lost because he failed at being President \u2013 a leader.<\/p>\n
Most memorable in recent times, Al Gore lost to George Bush.\u00a0 When the Supreme Court ended the never ending Florida recount, Bush became in the eyes of the press and Democrats \u201cselected not elected.\u201d\u00a0 Although recounts completed afterwards demonstrated even if every vote was recounted again Bush still won.\u00a0 Still the meme of an illegitimate presidency spread far and wide through the media and hourly attacks across the liberal media were common \u2013 and it continued right up to the end. Bush never pushed back against the media.<\/p>\n
Next up, Vietnam War hero John Kerry and his trusty sidekick John Edwards lost to Bush.\u00a0 Kerry wanted to concede and Edwards wanted to do a Gore 2.0.\u00a0 Bush lost this one because of the Swift Boat Veterans attack on the war hero.\u00a0 Because it was clear that Bush was not a brilliant and sophisticated as John and John, he could not have possibly won unless the Swift Boaters exposed in their view his less than stellar service record.\u00a0 So for the next four years, the implied label of illegitimacy still hung around the neck of President Bush \u2013 and the media cried endlessly about swift boating among other attacks resulting in his approval rate being in the toilet.<\/p>\n
McCain and Romney lost to Obama and for a myriad of reasons including Bush\u2019s low approval rating.\u00a0 The bottom line however, is that they were poor candidates.\u00a0 Truthfully, both were hold your nose votes for me and millions like me stayed home.<\/p>\n
And now, present day.\u00a0 Proven is the adage that no matter how much things change, they remain the same.\u00a0 Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, oh my, what an election year it was.\u00a0 This may sound familiar.\u00a0 According to the media, the pundits, and the political consulting class Trump had no chance.\u00a0 It was a foregone conclusion that Hillary would win.\u00a0 Establishment Republicans also did not believe he could win nor did they want Trump.\u00a0 Along came election night and Hillary along with all of those talking heads and establishment Republicans got a whuppin.\u00a0 There was wailing and gnashing of teeth.\u00a0 Panic across America.\u00a0 Trump could not have possibly won the election. \u00a0\u00a0It had nothing to do with the failed Clinton candidacy.\u00a0 As we all now know, the Russians did it.<\/p>\n
\u00a92017 J. D. Pendry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"