A to Z Mashup 2019 part 2

So today we hit the second half of the 2019 A to Z mash-up, my lazy-man's way to participate in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  This year, we are going through the Democrat candidates in the 2020 Presidential race, and you can go back to the original post (April 11th) to catch the rules, or just pick up the "Martin concept of stretching" used to put each candidate into a spot.  Again, with thanks for your help to Rolling Stone and Quartz for helping me with stats and trivia and Laurie for helping me find where I stupidly put my notes.  And, away we go!

M is for Michael Bennet (Had to use the first name here).   Michael was about to jump all in until diagnosed at the beginning of this month with prostate cancer, so he's essentially on the "campaign DL" until he recovers from upcoming surgery.  His grandparents on Mom's side were caught in the Warsaw ghetto during WWII.  His Dad was as non-practicing a Catholic as his Mom's family were non-practicing Jew, but he "believes in God" (For more details on that, see James 2:19).  His wife is an environmental whacko  lawyer for what used to be the Sierra Club's legal defense wing, now called "Earthjustice".  And his policy keystone is something called "Medicare X"- which, if you think it sounds like a comic book monster, you're close.  From what I can see, it's essentially a way to seep medicare-for-all in without the cost shock of dropping it in in one swell foop.


N is for Bill deBlasio (Because I was running out of spots and thought "N for nitwit." It made me laugh, so...).  The New York mayor has his detractors, that's for sure.  Anyone who thinks it's a good idea to take 8 and a half million people crammed into each other at close to 50 per square acre and give them legal marijuana I have to question.  But even our left-leaning friends at Rolling Stone have there doubts...

The mayor of New York since 2014, de Blasio appears to have come down with an unfortunate case of 2020 fever...

And then, there's the obligatory Quinnipiac poll:

A Quinnipiac poll released in early April found that 76 percent of New York City voters don’t think he should run for the White House....


Ouch...

O is for Beto O'Rourke.  Another member of the ethnically-challenged wing of the party, he believes that tacking a Mexican nickname on an Irish backside makes him more Latino than, say,  a second-generation Cuban born in Canada.  Still, he's closer to Hispanic than Rachel Dolezal is to being black.  And he has AOC-level star power, along with the same bunch of nothing behind it that Ms Ocasio-Cortez has.  On the bright side, if he fails, he's got experience to fall back on, playing drums for several obscure punk-rock bands.  Then he can call himself Beat-o then.


P is for Pete Buttigieg.  In addition to being the candidate who most desperately needs to change his name before running (because Booty-gig- especially given his sexual orientation), Pete is our hometown Indiana candidate, in the fine tradition of Hoosiers like Wendell Wilkie.  He once made Hoosiers proud by saying, "All Lives Matter"- until the buttercup left reminded him that that statement cut the feet out from under their race-division darlings at Black Lives Matter, and apologized for thinking that EVERYONE was more important than just one race.

Q is for Seth Moultan (Because he was stationed at Quantico once.  Hey, at least I didn't put the last guy here...).  A marine who was one of the first to enter Baghdad in 2003, I hate to say bad things about him, other than his misguided party affiliation.  In fact, he would be one of the more palatable candidates for me, except for his grooming by the Young Global Leaders forum (making him an NWO) and a member of the "Trump's a Nazi" club (which makes him TDS-positive).

R is for Tim Ryan.  Like Moultan, RS bashes Ryan for being in the group that tried to eject Mother Nancy Pelosi as Speaker this last cycle.  ... Ryan’s role in the failed Pelosi coup in 2018 speaks against his political instincts...  which is their polite way of saying, "Nice job, dipstick."  He was a young protege of Jim Trafficant, well known for being kicked out of Congress for corruption and spending 7 years in the slammer.


S is for Bernie Sanders.

AKA your "Nuff Said" moment for this post.  The only question was which meme to choose...

T is for Tulsi Gabbard.  The RS and Quartz articles give me a handful of reasons our first Hawaiian/Hindu candidate won't get any traction:

1- ... and sided with Russian president Vladimir Putin against Obama on US intervention in Syria...

2-   ...After Attorney General William Barr released a controversial summary of Special Counsel Mueller’s Trump/Russia conclusions, Gabbard said that it was time to “put aside partisan interests” and “move forward.”...

3- ...Gabbard’s rollout also received an odd signal boost from Kremlin-backed English language media networks, RT and Sputnik..

OMG, more Russian collusion!  Get me Mueller on line one!


U is for Marianne Williamson (for the 'unknown' husband she was married to "for a minute and a half"...)  Meet Oprah Winfrey's spiritual self-help guru.  She learned her craft from a gigantic book from a 'emotionally tortured psychologist' who claimed "it was dictated by Jesus Christ himself over a seven-year period".  In addition, when she isn't helping you find spiritual peace, she isn't exactly a fun person to be with, a la Amy Klobuchar:

She has had major blow-ups with producer Howard Rosenman and photographer-producer Michael Childers, among those most responsible for pulling in big names like Bette Midler, David Hockney, Meryl Streep and Anjelica Huston to her star-studded fund-raising events.

And last month, the staff of her Los Angeles AIDS charity revolted after she fired the most recent in a series of executive directors.

Feared in some quarters for her explosive temper, Williamson acknowledges that she often comes across as "the bitch for God."

now THAT will look good on a campaign poster...

V is for Steve Bullock (Because when you Google him for some help, you get another Steve Bullock who runs some outfit called Virgin Active health clubs).  Steve is Governor of Montana, a firm union man with the support of the AFL-CIO, and the 4th most popular Governor in the nation (not to mention the only Dem in the top 8).  He also is not getting along with fellow candidate Nitwit Bill deBlasio; it seems he fired a dude named O'Brien for sexual harassment while under his employ... but didn't bother to tell Nitwit Bill's people about it when O'Brien was being vetted to work for HIM.  O'Brien got busted for harassment again- and then NB found out about the earlier case after reading it somewhere.  When he busted Bullock for it, he claimed he didn't spill the beans because he though firing O'Brien once would straighten him up.


W is for Elizabeth Warren.  The charter member of or "ethnically confused" club, our beer drinking 1-1,024th Native American is, to her credit, focused on helping lower income groups get a better break, at least when she's not spewing TDS all over Twitter.  Her main policy, other than being not Trump as well as not Indian, is a 2% 'wealth tax' on incomes over $50 million, and 3% on those over a billion.  She's pledged to take no money from billionaires or their PACs; with that wealth tax, I doubt she has much to worry about there.

X is for Michael Bloomberg (Because, last man left.)  The former NY mayor and probable non-contributor for Elizabeth Warren is on Quartz's "Who's not running" list, announcing yet another "NY bail-out" on March 5th.  Just behind Bernie on the 'but will he live out the term' list at 76, he had "re-become" a Dem in October last year after being a RINO since 2001 so he could win NYC.  Forbes says his net worth went up $3.7 billion the last 9 months; based on that,  Elizabeth Warren will be expecting around a $149 million tax payment for the year, thank you.

Y is for Andrew Yang.  Andy is a tech guru with tons of money whose big idea is,  "A $1,000 monthly check sent to every American over 18, so they can pay their bills as robots take over jobs." He told RS, “You want to universalize it so it’s seen as a true right of citizenship.”  Maybe I'll just leave that one there...


Z is for Wayne Messam (b/c of his support for gun-free ZONES).  Actually I missed him on RS, shooting right past since he got a mere 8 lines between McAullife and Bennet.  He had a much more expanded write up on Quartz, who claimed he was a former NFL player (not true, though he was a decent wide receiver for a National Champion Florida State team).  He, like Nitwit Bill, is a mayor; of course his city, Miramar, FL, is 70.5 times smaller.  As you might have guessed from the lead in, gun-control is his issue; he also wants to cancel all student debt and make what's left of Puerto Rico a state.  As RS points out, at least his town is a hair bigger than Buttigieg's South Bend, IN.


And there you have it!  Everything you'll need to vote wisely.  Be sure to share it with the illegals on your lawn care service and any dead relatives you still speak to!