Just say no to The Donald

Our esteemed host has chided me for having made only one post on TBD, so I suppose that I should make up for that lack! 🙂

A fairly liberal fellow going by the nom de guerre of Donviti wrote, “I’m wondering what it takes to get upset to the point you would no longer vote for your own side.” In the case of our host, it could happen if the Republican Party were to nominate Governor Mitch Daniels (R-IN) as its presidential candidate next year, though, to be fair, one could cut Governor Daniels some slack on this, as who would have guessed that a former Army Judge Advocate General officer would have written the decision which inspired Mr Hitchcock’s anger.

While I wouldn’t necessarily jump ship were the GOP to nominate Governor Daniels, some signs around Lehighton, Pennsylvania, have pointed out one case in which I would jump ship: I’m seeing a lot of “TRUMP 2012” signs these days. Now, I don’t know how anyone who has to explain how he combs his hair could ever be considered a serious presidential candidate, but when I look at some of the people whom I never thought of as serious candidates who have gotten millions of votes before — George Wallace, Ross Perot or Barack Obama — and look at the fact that Mr Trump has multiple millions of dollars to throw at such a campaign if he so chose, I have to conclude that yes, this could be a serious candidacy.

Bernard Goldberg said:

What they don’t understand, even the journalists that I have lot of respect for, what they don’t understand is that millions of Americans who live between Manhattan and Malibu think that Donald Trump’s greatest asset is that he is not a politician, that he doesn’t talk like politician or think like a politician. And that he is a businessman and most politicians couldn’t run a lemonade stand. That’s the disconnect between the journalists who will be covering Donald Trump and the people they’re reporting for. The people who live in the United States of America.

It’s certainly true that The Donald is not a politician, and that does seem like an asset. He is a businessman, and most politicians couldn’t run a lemonade stand. But is he a good businessman? From Andrew Leonard on Salon:

I thought that a review of a business career marked by, to borrow (Timothy) O’Brien’s summation, “repeated failures, flirtations with personal bankruptcy, sequential corporate bankruptcies, [and] the squandering of billions of dollars” would provide grist for a thorough denunciation of the Donald. As the political analysts have been quick to point out, Trump’s career should be a gold mine for opposition researchers — and not just because of the multiplicity of political views he has expressed. Let’s not forget that in the early 1990s, the Trump brand meant failure. He had fatally overextended himself by wasting billions of dollars of borrowed money on a spending spree that included, among other things, casinos, airlines, ridiculously overpriced hotels, and luxury yachts unloaded by bankrupt Middle Eastern arms sellers.

He dumped his first wife for a younger trophy, and then dumped her for another trophy, shrugging off the tabloid chatter by telling a reporter “You know, it really doesn’t matter what they write when you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.” He made a habit of buying property when the price was high, and then being forced to unload it at a huge loss when the real estate market crashed. He has proved comically inept as an Atlantic City casino owner — really, it’s one thing to imagine a gambling mogul in the White House, but an incompetent one? In the course of his career, he’s been bailed out by his father, by his siblings, and by the banks to whom he owed hundreds of millions of dollars. By any rational standpoint, his disasters are far more spectacular than his successes. He’s a reality-television star, for crying out loud!

I’d like to think that Republican primary voters would not be stupid enough to give this man the nomination, but he has money, and he’s not a politician. In a Republican nominating year that reminds me far too much of 1996, when all of our candidates look like also-rans, The Donald at least stands out as different. But if the GOP does nominate Mr Trump, you’ll be reading about me voting third party.

It Doesn’t Take A Genius To Be A Thief

What a maroon! What a complete IG NOR AMUS!! This one has to be one for the record books. Seriously, can you be any more stupider than this guy? (HT Duffy)

Indiana Supreme Court Eliminates Fourth Amendment

In Indiana, you no longer have Fourth Amendment protections. You no longer have the right to resist unlawful police entry into your home. Bruce McQuain has the story. In a 3-2 decision, the Indiana Supreme Court essentially killed the Fourth Amendment because they didn’t want to escalate violence or somesuch nonsense.

In a 3-2 decision, Justice Steven David writing for the court said if a police officer wants to enter a home for any reason or no reason at all, a homeowner cannot do anything to block the officer’s entry.

How did Steven David become an Indiana Supreme Court Justice? Possible Republican Presidential hopeful and current Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels appointed him in September of last year.

Two points:
1) This had better be overturned on appeal, and powerfully so.
2) Mitch had better decide to “spend more time with his family” instead of running for Prez. He’s not what we need.

UPDATE:
Doug Powers weighs in with this concluding remark:

So Hoosier Staters can now be arrested and charged with “unlawfully resisting an unlawful entry”? Bizarre.

Bizarre indeed. And 1984. Definitely not Founder and Framer worthy.

Criticize Nightcruzr? Prove You’re You

As the Ann Althouse v Nightcruzr kerfuffle continues to be dragged out into the light, Nightcruzr keeps looking worse and worse. Apparently, people with Blogger IDs who wrote comments critical of the abusive Nightcruzr found themselves in a sticky wicket. They couldn’t post without actually giving Blogger their real phone number to prove they’re them. Here and here in the Patterico thread covering Nightcruzr’s abusive treatment of Ann Althouse, his attempts to memory-hole it (as all good Leftists do), and Ann and Patterico’s de-memory-holing it.

“If you criticize me, I’ll force you to give away your phone number to be able to continue to use this service.” Nice. And by “nice” I mean GET THE HECK OFF OF BLOGGER!!!