OK, I am flattering myself in my self-comparisons to Mike Barnicle. Mike Barnicle is the former "Boston Globe" columnist who was caught 1 Plagiarizing, 2 Fabricating and 3 Recycling his previous columns.
Plagiarizing and fabricating are certainly greater sins than recycling but it does say something about how few people actually read Barnicle's column if none of the millions of Globe readers even noticed his serial recycling.
Barnicle is in many ways emblematic of the privileged, anointed, socially-aware, socially-conscious, and most importantly, the socially-connected Left. Despite his repeated exposure as a fraud and a bore, Barnicle has always failed his way to bigger and better things. Last I heard his name he was drawing a check from MSNBC. Oh to be Mike Barnicle!
I hereby recycle a post from September 19 of this year:
Governor Bush, you called Donald Trump a weasel but Senator Paul has called him a snake...Not an exact quote from Jake Tapper but you get the gist of it. A three hour food fight without much sustenance. More heat than light as they like to say.
Without trying very hard I came up with 50 questions that could have been asked. I could easily come up with 50 more but I have a birthday party to attend. This is a good start.
1. Do you prefer a strong or weak dollar?
2. Do you support repealing Obamacare?
3. Do you support repealing Dodd-Frank?
4. Do you consider voter fraud a significant problem? If yes, what would your administration do to correct the problem?
5. Would your administration proceed with criminal investigations involving bureaucratic and/or DOJ abuses of power?
6. Would you allow American citizens to own/possess/use toilet tanks that provide sufficient water to flush in an effective manner?
7. Do you prefer freedom of choice in light bulbs?
8. Do you support the prosecution of body part brokers who procure their commodity in an illegal manner?
9. Would you allow American citizens to play poker on their computers?
10. Do you support prosecuting state and municipal officials who provide non-emergency aid to illegal immigrants?
11. Do you believe that religiously-influenced terrorism is a global concern?
12. Do you think the US should stay in NATO? If yes, should the US demand that other members provide a bigger share of resources?
13. Is ISIS a threat to American security?
14. If elected, do you agree to refer to ISIS as ISIL and instruct subordinates to do the same?
15. Is Al Shabaab a threat to American security?
16. Is Boka Haram a threat to American security?
17. Is the Castro cartel a threat to American security?
18. Is FARC a threat to American Security?
19. Are Mexican drug cartels a threat to American security?
20. Are refugees a threat to American security?
21. Would you keep President Obama's non-treaty that is commonly referred to as The Iran Deal intact?
22. Does global warming exist?
23. Are all natural disasters anthropogenic?
24. In general, do you support the use of hydraulic fracturing to procure energy?
25. In general, do you support the use of coal?
26. Do you support the export of American fuel?
27. Do you support the construction of the Keystone pipeline?
28. Do you support the construction of other pipelines?
29. In general, are business-government partnerships a good idea?
30. Do you support collecting metadata on all US citizens?
31. Do you prefer raising the age of Social Security eligibility?
32. Do you prefer raising the age of Medicare eligibility?
33. Is Social Security a legally-sanctioned pyramid scheme?
34. Is the number of Americans receiving disability payments too high, not enough or just right?
35. Does the 10th Amendment apply to marijuana laws? (Thank you Governor Christie for weighing in on this issue ahead of the pack.)
36. Is the Fort Hood massacre an example of workplace violence?
37. Is Russia an enemy, an ally or something else?
38. Should Israel go retro on their borders as our president has suggested?
39. Should Japan play a bigger role in funding their national defense?
40. Should South Korea play a bigger role in funding their national defense?
41. Is North Korea a threat to US security?
42. Should the US fund higher education? Should there be any stipulations on federal funding?
43. Do you believe the GOP loses every single time they "reach across the aisle?'
44. Do you believe the GOP Congress has betrayed the people who elected them?
45. Do you believe the GOP Congress holds the base of their party in contempt?
46. Do you favor auditing the Federal Reserve?
47. Are there any federal agencies or programs you would eliminate?
48. Does federal spending per se hinder our prosperity?
49. Given that Afghanistan produces most of the world's opium and the Afghani people are not getting rich and the US has a strong presence in Afghanistan and...Oh, excuse me. Nothing to see here folks! Move along!
49a. (To compensate for that ridiculous effort at an inquiry above) Do you believe the Internet should be treated as a public utility?
50. Is the National Debt significant or has its importance been overblown by political opportunists?
Three months later, most of these questions remain unasked and unanswered.
11. Do you believe that religiously-influenced terrorism is a global concern?
This has been addressed now that dozens of innocent people were slaughtered in Paris and 14 more in California. Kind of hard to ignore this one.
13. Is ISIS a threat to American security?
Same as #11.
20. Are refugees a threat to American security?
I have give Trump credit for LEADING on this issue.
22. Does global warming exist?
23. Are all natural disasters anthropogenic?
These issues have been addressed if only indirectly. The GOP candidates have rightly criticized the commander-in-chief for emphasizing climate flimflam as he ignores global terrorism.
30. Do you support collecting metadata on all US citizens?
Thankfully, we do have some clarity on this particular matter.
31. Do you prefer raising the age of Social Security eligibility?
Hat tip to Governor Christie for addressing what used to be a third rail issue.
37. Is Russia an enemy, an ally or something else?
This too has had some light shed on it. Rubio and Christie take a belligerent stance against the bear. I don't know why but they have.
In fairness, some of the questions previously posed don't need much elaboration. We know North Korea is a threat and that Fort Hood was an act of terrorism. Even the president has finally used the T-word. If you want to put FARC or Boka Haram on the back burner, that is understandable. Questions 1 through 10 should have been asked by someone in the well-paid journalistic world a long time ago.
Isn't it amazing how little we have been informed about what we really want to know?
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