Hilly's best chance ...

Well, boys and girls (pilgrims), I do believe that unless there is a yuuge hidden vote out there for him and/or against her, she will receive the post inaugural oath salute of all the armed forces in the traditional march past behind the capitol.  A saluting battery will be there and the US Army Band,  "Ruffles and Flourishes" will sound across capitol Hill, and there will be 21 guns for the Commander in Chief.  The troops will grit their teeth and do eyes left as they and the 3rd Infantry Regiment's colors pass her.  For those who do not know, this regiment is colloquially known as "The Old Guard" and is the ceremonial regiment of the Army.  As he watched this regiment march into Mexico City, Winfield Scott told his staff "Hats off, gentlemen, this is the Old Guard of the United States."  They have the singular privilege granted by Congress to pass in review with fixed bayonets.  They had swept the field at Cerro Gordo and Churubusco with the bayonet.

This symbolic march past will go down hard for many.  I remember that little Chelsea when required to accept a ride in General McCaffery's staff car stared at him and said "in my family we don't like the military."  That's what McCaffery said afterward and who am I to doubt the story?  He must have been shocked.  C in C Hilly will have the power to send these deplorable deployables whom she despises out to some god awful place to fight other poor dumb bastards.

IMO her best chance in office will be a continued retention of control of both houses of Congress by the GOP. 

The country is in a state in which the level of alienation between the coastals and the rest is as bad as any state of alienation seen since the 1850s. 

Bahzad wrote here that France is protected from the scourge of internal strife (French on French) by the emotional and political safety valve offered by Marine Le Pen and the Front National.  In this country civil strife can be avoided if Hilly has the ability to say to her sans culottes (including the coastal smarties) that she would have accomplished their Jacobin dreams if the nasty constitution and the GOP Congress had only let her. 

Her actual backers in finance do not give a s--t at all about the sans culottes but as long as the money rolls in ...

Therefore she needs to win without much in the way of coattails.  pl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_U.S._Infantry_Regiment_(The_Old_Guard)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Four_ruffles_and_flourishes,_hail_to_the_chief_(long_version).ogg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican%E2%80%93American_War

http://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Publications/Marines%20in%20the%20Mexican%20War%20%20PCN%2019000412200.pdf

"The Marine Battalion assigned to Scott's army numbered less than 400, but when it was employed in battle or used for other duties the Marines would earn the praise of the Army's highest officers."  That's for you, Mike.  pl

 

Comments

[The Twisted Genius]

My recommendation is to push every one of our Senators and Representatives to revoke every AUMF in existence and get a tighter control on covert actions immediately. In other words, shame the shameless into doing their job. I have only the slightest hope that the Congress will do its duty, but what the hell, we have to do something. FIDO

[plantman]

The elites who run this country have jammed Hillary down our throats thinking we have no choice but to accept. But we do have a choice. I, for one, will never accept this crooked, Wall Street toady as my president.

And, frankly, I think their are a lot of people who feel the same.

[Edward Amame]

Should HRC win, thank goodness we'll have McConnell and co to prevent Scalia's seat from getting filled and prevent her from taking advantage of the opportunity to borrow at historically low interest rates in order to rebuild the country.

[turcopolier]

Edward Amame

What a great idea! She can borrow more money! pl

[Walker]

Colonel, would you mind sharing what you see as Clinton's sans culottes' "Jacobin dreams"?

[Martin Oline]

It ain't over yet. I notice she is letting her surrogates campaign for her. Is that out of fear of having another health attack before the election in public?
Somewhat O.T., but perhaps of a similar nature: I notice that Putin has a habit of cancelling many foreign trips at the last minute. Do you suppose he gets intelligence of domestic or foreign intrigues that are being hatched against him? I would expect the plots. Perhaps the Bear has finely tuned ears.

[wisedupearly]

Wall Street has been so successful in grabbing all the money that they are starving the country and poisoning themselves. Its as if one exceedingly small organ of the body suddenly developed the ability to consume 99% of all nutrients and energy. The result is the death of everything.
Social communities, political parties, capitalism, government, the country.

[Edward Amame]

Col Lang

I think so.

We can use cheap borrowing to invest in priorities that may never be this affordable again. The American Society of Civil Engineers give our U.S. roads, bridges, dams, rail lines, etc a D+. When bridges collapse on main highways, they've gotta get fixed immediately. Unexpected emergencies will mess up budgets. Or we can anticipate them and fix them now while borrowing is cheap. Which will create jobs and pump some more $$ into the economy. That's how fiscal conservatism ought to operate, IMO.

And do you like the idea of an eight person SCOTUS?

[Sam Peralta]

Col. Lang

The alienation you speak of is real and deep. Crooked Hillary will not have much legitimacy to those in flyover country. The Deplorable despicables will not accept her. The GOP establishment is no different than her. IMHO, they will acquiesce to her Jacobin dreams. Congress will find a coalition of the GOP establishment and the Democrats to pass her agenda and SCOTUS nominees. They will give us all the drama of opposition however which the MSM will lap up. The GOP will for all intents and purposes splinter.

The next person that rallies the despicables will make Trump look like MLK! The Borg wars will come home!

[turcopolier]

walker

IMO she and her coastal cohorts aim for a country in which the states are reduced to administrative districts, the citizenry is disarmed, organized religion is discounted and oppressed by the federal government (see Podesta e-mails), Gayness is held up as an ideal of humanism, Wars of world homogenization are to be fought under the "flag" of progress and to be fought under executive order. The American working class are to be kicked into line to accept the idea that they are nothing special, and the world masses are her children. If not minorities they can join the military to be slaughtered in a Borg War. Did this work for you for talking points? Quotable enough? My wife made me take some of the harsher stuff out.l

[Lemur]

Great point about the alienation. The idea of what it means to be an American is breaking down, and so lacking the basic consensus De Tocqueville identified as the precursor to American success, politics will become 'war by other means' rather than a problem solving mechanism.

Almost half of Republicans view Russia and Putin positively now. Those 'deplorables' are starting to understand they have more in common with Europeans nations that still preserve a degree of the traditional mode of life than with their 'fellow American' democrat voters in Minnesota.

[Eliot]

Col. Lang,

I feel as if I live in a different world from "those people." They seem to look down on, if not despise our culture. Making matters worse, they appear intent on destroying the things that hold us together. The institutions that sustain our way of life.

- Eliot

[ambrit]

Speaking as an immigrant from England, (came over in the steerage hold of a Constellation as a nipper,) I am seeing a lot of complete disgust with the entire "ruling elite" on the part of the 'working classes.' People are volunteering commentary of a negative nature concerning the elites. Basically, as one middle aged woman checking me out at a boxx store put it, "No one is promising to make everyone's lives better." There it is; people are fed up with continuing negative messaging. Whoever comes out with a program of national renewal of more than vague generalities will meet up with a vast untapped source of civic power.
One can hope.

[Tyler]

Sir,

Ain't even worried. You wouldn't see the level of panic among the Left if Hillary was "ahead" and the MSM wasn't engaged in full court gas lighting.

[Walker]

Thanks for the reply. Are any of these points based in part on the recently released James O'Keefe / Project Veritas videos?

[eakens]

I haven't been able to figure out if you are serious, or just trolling. The economic output from each dollar of government input is by far the worst possible investment that can be made. Just look at the aggregate growth in the economy as a result of the debt that has been put on since 2010. It was a horrible investment.

The better option is to lower the corporate tax rate, but eliminate loopholes.

[Paul Escobar]

To all,

This is an interesting article about the polling firm "TIPP" (Investors Business Daily):
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/50-politicos-to-watch-raghavan-mayur-094188

They were purported to be "the most accurate" in 2004, 2008, & 2012 (the famous Nate Silver, once a critic, conceded this as well). The article touches on polling methodology. Which seems to be quite the hot topic this election...because Trump is such an unprecedented candidate.

Speaking of unprecedented...IBD/TIPP currently places him 1 point ahead of Clinton nationally:
http://www.investors.com/politics/ibd-tipp-presidential-election-poll/

But the more thought-provoking numbers reside in their "Intensity" & "Zeitgeist" sections. If you play it out, those numbers are actually capable of repressing either candidates turnout. It all depends on how each camp rationalizes what is being played out.

The implication being, there is actually a scenario where Trump wins - without a "hidden monster vote".

Best,
Paul

[jerseycityjoan]

I think we will all end up being quite surprised by what gets done and what doesn't, what changes and what doesn't.

The people -- speaking through the votes for Sanders and Trump -- have said they've had enough and they want something different. They are tired of being controlled and denied.

Now of course the people in charge are very fond of having their own way -- and of telling themselves that those who disagree are not just wrong but morally inferior at the very least, if not too dumb to have their opinions count for anything.

Having alternatives to the usual drivel has made people start to think, which of course is a dangerous thing for the people in charge. God knows what we'll all be saying by the next election in 2020. I hope things are better.

[Freudenschade]

Col.,

The troops may grit their teeth, but the musicians will be smiling. It takes all kind to make a nation.

[Kooshy]

Yes, we only need to barrow more and question less, and pass on the debet, what a great idea.

[mike allen]

Colonel -

The Battle of Chapultepec was reportedly where Marine Officers and NCOs earned the 'blood stripe' on the trousers of their dress blue uniforms.

[Bill Herschel]

"The Pentagon said that an American service member was killed in a bomb blast while supporting the Iraqi forces’ advance. It was the fourth time American service members have been killed in Iraq over the past year."

"As the frustration with the operation mounted, one senior Kurdish official complained that the Americans had not provided nearly as many airstrikes as the pesh merga had expected, a criticism that may have reflected the need to simultaneously provide air cover for the Iraqi counterterrorism service assault.

“We didn’t get anything like what we were promised,” said the Kurdish official, who was granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Col. John I. Dorrian, a spokesman for the United States-led military coalition, insisted that cooperation between forces was still close. “Coalition air power is certainly in demand, and we try to provide fires in a timely fashion when called upon,” he said. “Given the size and scope of the operation to liberate Mosul, there may be times when we are unable to fully meet the demand as quickly as forces on the ground would like.”"

I guess the Kurds are learning the difference between shampoo and real poo.

I invite anyone reading this to explain to me why it was necessary for an American soldier to die in this war. And why is America still at war in Iraq?

I believe Trump finally brought up heroin in New Hampshire. It comes from Afghanistan where we are also at war and where we carefully protect the farmers who grow the poppies.

Will all this continue under President Clinton? Yes. Will a Republican Senate and House do a single solitary thing to stop it? No. The Supreme Court. Interest rates. The national debt. All very very important. Very important. But not very important to the soldier who died or to his family.

[Kooshy]

Fyi, a nice cartoon.

Is The System Rigged? You Betcha
'Big Media is the power that sustains the forces of globalism'

By Pat Buchanan

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article45701.htm

[turcopolier]

mike allen

You are funny. The USMC has manufactured its own legend. So the marines captured Chapultepec? All 400 of them? When I was a kid lieutenant, my battalion hosted the regimental museum of the 2nd Infantry Regiment. In a case was the staff of the regimental sergeant major broken in half over the head of a Mexican soldier on the walls of Chapultepec. I guess he did not know that he was not there. pl

[turcopolier]

Freudenschade

You do know that the musicians in the Army band are solders also? Or don't you? pl