2022midterms

It Doesn’t Feel Like the First Time

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The seventies hit rock band Foreigner had many hits back in the day.  One was Hot Blooded, another was As Cold as Ice.

Fast forward to 2022 and the parties keep rocking.

One band of many, The Jack Asses, are hot blooded on the campaign trail.  They’re peddling a lot of T and A.  That’s right, Trump and Abortion.

The other band of many, The Elephants, are as cold as ice.  They’re singing I.C.E.  That’s right, immigration, crime, and the economy.

Who will ascend to the top of the popular charts?  Well, we’ll need to listen to the tunes over and over again until early November to find out.

The Democrats are on their third rendition of Trump just this year.  First, it was the January 6th hearing, which was really more like a staged theatrical musical.  Then, they broke out or broke into a Mar a Lago diddy.  And, yesterday, one of the band members went solo with a head-banging $250 million civil suit against Trump, his family, his dogs, and his goldfish.

Letitia James, NY Attorney General, fulfilled a campaign promise of two years ago by filing suit for the State of NY v. Trump.  She called her melody The Art of the Steal.  How crafty?  For Trump, the hits keep coming.

For the Dems, the more Trump hate the more the base turns out to vote.  Trump was so 2020, but never let an oldie but goodie die.

Joe Biden promised in the early summer that the SCOTUS ruling that put abortion back in the state’s hands would put Roe v. Wade on the ballot in November.  He was right.

I Am Woman hear me roar.  Will the numbers be too big to ignore?

The Republicans sing at a lower key, but the tour stop at Martha’s Vineyard for the illegals was a smash hit.  What it did in one weekend was more than what 2,000,000 Tejano border bands of brothers could belt out in two years.

It is said that people vote based on how safe they feel and how their pocketbook feels.

Crime statistics and defunding the police in key cities across America are on the main stage.  That Starbucks is closing about two dozen “high incident” stores all urban, and all in Democratic-run cities isn’t lost on coffee lovers from seas to shining sea.  For the many that are done with word salad, “high incident” isn’t lost on them either.

And, then there is the economy that Joe calls the best recovery ever.  He’s singing the wrong tune and everyone knows it.  Inflation is eating a hole in wallets.  Inventory on basic items across many industries is wanting.  The prices at the pump and the grocery store remind us of that every week.

Real wages are down as the cost of living increases aren’t keeping up with the cost of living.

The astute economic advisor knows that this spiral up is not caused by ABBA singing Money, Money, Money.  It’s caused by the government printing money, money, money and giving it to one and all, Ukraine and art appreciation students included.

If you haven’t checked your 401k recently, don’t.  You’ll be singing the blues.

So, which is it for America?

Hot Blooded, check it and see.

Or are you As Cold as Ice, willing to sacrifice?

Either way, Americans are no foreigners to mess we are in as it doesn’t feel like the very first time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Special Teams

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

You’ve heard the old adage many times before, “defense wins championships!”   Maybe it does.

Try telling that to Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, or Matthew Stafford.  Heck, try telling that to the Old Gipper, Ronald Reagan, or even the want-to-be Gipper, Donald Trump.  They think the best defense is a good offense.

And, even before the leaves change, two different seasons are starting.  One is the battle for supremacy in the NFL, and the other is the battle for control of the two chambers of the Capitol Building.

You might say there is defense, offense, and offensive.  Sometimes the lines between the three blur.

Donald Trump won the Oval Office with an offense in 2016 that changed the old guard’s game.  On his way to victory, Democrats threw every name at the book at him.  He was a bigot, a misogynist, a homophobe, a womanizer, a Russian colluder, and a Putin lover amongst other atrocities they asserted.

They tried to make him play defense by labeling him offensive.  When it failed they impeached him a time or two while in office to force him to play defense.

They reached deep into their playbook.  And, Nancy even tore up Trump’s playbook on live TV once.

Enter Joe Biden.  After a decent start, Joe got picked off by Afghanistan. The constant Covid handouts and his stubbornness against drilling led to inflation.  And, quickly team Dem was defending.

Ah, but the Dems, too, think the best defense is a good offense.  And, they are quite accomplished on that side of the ball.

They started throwing money around like a well-oiled (or battery-charged) machine.

More covid relief, free shots, more covid relief, free testing, an infrastructure bill (meaning green for green new deals), another green new deal called the Inflation Reduction Act (it should be called the Manchin double reverse), and now some college debt relief has the base offense back in place.

Uvalde put gun control squarely back on the ticket.

They caught a Hail Mary when the Supreme Court ruled in one case that set aside Roe v. Wade after 50 years of women’s reproductive rights/wellness.  Make no mistake, they hate the ruling but love what it does for their November midterm playoff/run-off hopes.

And, now Biden, who ran on becoming the great unifier is taking a lap to drive the messages home. He’ll soon be tripping down the stairs of Air Force One in a blue suit in a blue state near you to hold pep rallies.  And, while gas is still expensive, the flight is a buck cheaper a gallon now than it was eight weeks ago.

The Great Unifier even called MAGA Republicans semi-fascists this past weekend.  And the Republicans deemed that offensive and want an apology.  They will need to wait for that as long as they have waited for the border mess to be addressed.

It’s time to rally the troops and get them to vote.  Maybe you’ll vote because you feel oppressed like multi-millionaire, MTV VMA winner, acclaimed singer, and eclair lover Lizzo does. She pleaded with fans to vote and “make changes to laws that are oppressing us.” “It means everything to make a change in this country,” she said.

Out of bounds is not out of bounds anymore.  You can be on offense, defense, offended, defended, offensive, and defensive simultaneously these days.  That is unless you are oppressed.

The (de)fenced-in Capitol Building awaits the winner.

 

Soon Enough, Hopefully.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

When can’t get here soon enough.  Can it?

When will Joe Biden realize it’s 2022 and not 2020?  Will it be in 2024?

When will the Democratic Party begin the “thanks Joe for saving us from Trump, you were the right man at the right time to bring class and respect back to the Oval Office, and it’s, unfortunately, your choice to move on, but we respect your decision” campaign?  Will it be right after the 2022 midterms that he thinks are the 2020 midterms?

When will the press stop calling Joe’s incoherent thoughts, mumbles, memory loss, misstatements, and outright lies what they are, and not “gaffes?”  Will it be right after said midterms?

When will that same party realize that Kamala Harris is utterly unelectable on the national stage?   Will it be yesterday or sooner?

When will Team Hillary announce that she’s retained advisors looking into the feasibility of another run at the big job?  Will anyone care?

When will Team Michelle Obama announce that she has retained advisors to look into the feasibility for a first run at the big job?

When will the Republicans realize that Donald Trump is no longer electable on the big stage as well?

When will the RNC realize that the independent voters currently running/sprinting from Biden and his party will make a u-turn if Trump gets the nomination?

When will Nancy Pelosi retire?  Will it be after the 2022 midterms that Joe still thinks will take place in 2020?

When will CNN pivot back to the middle?  Will they realize the space is wide open?

When did Biden’s team decide to parade him out yesterday and call this the “pandemic of the unvaccinated” when Omicron is smashing right through the fully vaccinated and boosted as well?  Did the phrase poll well?

When will actually start following the science?

When will Fauci, the NIH, the CDC, and the WHO actually address treatments vs. harumphing the jab every damn day?

When will America collectively stop wearing worthless cloth masks on their face?

When will parents start influencing how schools are run vs. school officials dictating to America how they will be run?

When will America collectively stop yelling about who Twitter censures? When will they understand that Twitter is a public company that can do what it wants with content as long as the content isn’t technically theirs?

When will Elon Musk say enough and buy Twitter and Facebook, sorry Metaverse, with the loose change that he has under his sofa cushions?

When will NY say “enough already” and stop electing officials like newly-installed Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg who will not seek pre-trial detention or prison sentences for crimes other than homicide, public corruption, and a few other exceptional cases?

When will NY realize they hired a woman named AOC who actually has exhibited the brain capacity of a 13-year-old teenager from time to time?

When will this bowl season of 6-6 teams end?  Was it last night?

When will Nick Saban stop focusing on the process and retire?  Will it be a week after never?

When will this writer know when to say when?  Will it be right now, or should it have been a few sentences back?