The optimistic view, I suppose, is that, after all these years, I still possess an innate idealism about American political discourse. Very optimistic.
I do not wish to appear ungrateful to all the people who took the time to answer. But it is no surprise that virtually no one directly addressed the second inquiry. Most respondents defaulted to the sweeping, polarizing rhetoric that dominates our sorry political environment. A lot of people on both sides, but most particularly those who support Trump, appear convinced, as the song goes, that it is the end of the world as we know it. And, then, almost everyone used the online forum to argue with one another.
Here is a sampling, absent most of the overheated, oft-repeated assertions that electing Kamala Harris president will destroy America and that she is a communist.
From Jeff Truskey: “My question to you would be what policy of Trump’s four years in office do you oppose — lower taxes, no wars, good economy, securing the border, etc.? As they say, people are policy. I am not sure where Kamala Harris stands as she is changing long held positions daily now that she is running for president. Not a good sign of character.”
From David Kristofferson: “Note that the bulk of the respondents to #1 did not state why they liked Trump; rather the tendency was to say why they do not like Harris/Biden. Also note that virtually all respondents studiously avoided answering #2 (while also complaining about Harris not answering questions)!!! Perhaps this is simply because, in this virtual land of canned responses, people no longer pause to read what others are saying and instead simply launch into their standard ‘stump speech.’”
From Dirk van Ulden, a regular in the online commentary who is always very civil: “Well Mr. Simon — the question is whether we want a smooth-talking puppet or a somewhat bombastic president.”
And this poster, who opted for the nom de plume Not So Common, came the closest of anyone to rationalizing Trump’s behavior: “Trump is disliked because he does have a bad hair style, he’s bombastic at times, calls names. It’s how he fights but, in the end, he wins, he kept us out of any conflict, (President) Biden paid for and supported two wars. Trump is also disliked by both sides because he’s antiestablishment, he doesn’t toe the political line.”
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Not so Common also started his post with my favorite line out of the whole bunch: “I’ll speak for myself.”
THEY HAVE ONE JOB: By now, you may have discerned that the process by which the San Mateo County Democratic Party produces its official endorsements is barely a process at all. As noted here, an ad hoc committee prepared nomination for endorsements, and then the official party central committee promptly ignored most of those nominations. None of which stopped nonendorsees from complaining that the process was rigged. Still, as was amply demonstrated, anyone could — and many did — lobby the official central committee members and successfully render the ad hoc recommendations meaningless.
Why does it matter? Because the endorsed candidates get their names on the official party mailing that is delivered to every registered Democrat. And that can make a huge difference in the low-profile races for city council and school board.
WATCH THIS ONE: Incumbent Redwood City Councilmember Lissette Espinoza-Garnica, being challenged by Isabella Chu in District 3, ran an unconventional campaign four years ago that included a call to zero out the city’s police department budget. This time, Espinoza-Garnica is skipping endorsement interviews and eschewing customary campaign activities in favor of her own grassroots effort.
I LOVE THE NEWS BUSINESS: Especially when, under the meanest of deadline pressures, someone tries to say in as few words as possible when more might be better. A newspaper at the northern tip of the Peninsula described Woodside as “an affluent Silicon Valley suburb.” Correct, if not accurate.
NAMING NAMES: Retiring Rep. Anna Eshoo will be honored Saturday with a formal ceremony in which one of the new electrified Caltrain locomotives will be christened with her name. This is in recognition of her extraordinary work rounding up federal funds for the electrification project — funds the Trump administration tried to kill. … Also on Saturday, a plaza at the South San Francisco Caltrain station will be named for former Councilmember Karyl Matsumoto, who as a member of local transit boards, advocated continually, even relentlessly, for her hometown.
Mark Simon is a veteran journalist, whose career included 15 years as an executive at SamTrans and Caltrain. He can be reached at marksimon@smdailyjournal.com.
(10) comments
Interesting, Mr. Simon, it sounds like you may have the same issue as Mr. Kristofferson, seeing only what you want to see and not what’s in front of you. You complain about nobody “directly” answering your second inquiry yet it’s apparent from the many responses to your previous column that your second inquiry was answered multiple times and more than adequately, maybe not to your liking or your definition of “directly” but it was answered. Now for the other side of the coin which you and other readers continue to ignore. Feel free to answer the questions below “directly” as per your definition however, at this point, any answer will do.
1. How can someone not vote for President Trump?
2. If Harris could rise above the political mire and provide a dynamic vision for a better America, why hasn’t she already done so these past few years for America and before that, for California?
As always, looking forward to your future columns. It would be interesting (but not likely) if you dove into Harris’s multiple lies during the Trump/Harris debate that were easily debunked and for which news organizations, even ABC, are admitting were lies. Maybe Harris wasn’t speaking for herself?
I was not quoted by Mr. Simon but I did answer the second question in response to one of your comments. My answer was: "imagine the party of Bill "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" Clinton and Ted "I left a woman to drown in my car and lied about it" Kennedy (and many others) lecturing voters about "character".
Since when have politicians been of high personal or moral character?
Unfortunately, too few, but President Obama will always stand out as a shining example, while we now can see Kamala Harris rising as a very promising model!
Hey Jorg - you are a bit early with your April 1 joke.
So, Dirk, who in recent memory would you say stands out as superior to Obama, everything considered, and why?
Still no response, Dirk? Just tossed it out without much thinking, - as usual?
Jorg, I believe Mr. van Ulden is following your lead of tossing something out with much thinking, - as usual. But to clarify, are you talking about the Obama who said the following,
1. “Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go.”
2. "We're the country that built the Intercontinental Railroad."
The Obama who increased the racial divide and their wealth disparity. The Obama who wasted $billions on attempting to pick winners and losers such as Solyndra, Fisker and many other taxpayer money giveaway debacles. Yes, Jorg, a shining example, of ineptness.
It is Obama's fault, he belittled Trump at the White House Correspondents Dinner. When I was watching the Democratic Convention it felt for a movement he might apologize to Trump and say he should have not said those things, but he did not. In full disclosure I vote for Obama for his first term. Has the water problem in Flint Michigan been fixed yet?
Obama was, and is the master of racial divide. He gained the majority of the votes, which means many white people voted for him, not because of the color of his skin, but because they felt he was the best choice. The only thing Obama did was throw gas on the fire of racism. It’s only got worse since he’s left office, because the left, the liberals and the Democrats know that racism is their ace in the hole and use it when they are losing an argument.
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