At the end of a rather long day, I swung by Neil Cavuto's show on Fox News and was perhaps rather blunt about the current state of both the Republican and Democrat races.
First, the Republican presidential campaign. Rand Paul calls the commanding lead of Donald Trump "temporary insanity" on the part of the voters:
Steyn stated, "Rand Paul says this is temporary insanity on the part of whatever it is, 20-something percent of the Republican base. I think it was Einstein who said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again, and expecting a different result. And the base supported the Republican Party establishment, delivered them a huge victory in 2010 in the House, and a huge victory in the House and Senate in 2014, and got nothing to show for it. And they're tired of being stiffed by the Republican Party establishment. And I think Trump's rise in the poll, reflects actually nothing more sophisticated than the fact that the voter base of the Republican Party absolutely hates the Republican Party leadership and establishment."
He continued, "I don't think he's a Herman Cain character. If you remember, Herman Cain was asked about Uzbekistan, and I don't think he'd heard of the joint. ... And Trump, in that sense, is actually much more on top the facts.. Rand Paul is a very smart guy, but he takes refuge in the same cliches. He said, in part of that statement where he called Trump's voters insane, he says 'Washington is broken.' The problem is, that if you're a Democrat, Washington isn't broken. It works very effectively for you."
That's true. If you're a liberal, Washington isn't in the least bit "broken": It's given you Obamacare, same-sex marriage, massive expansion of welfare... It's an effective vehicle for delivering to liberals the world they want to live in. So they vote Democrat, and Democrats use Washington to reward them. Conservatives vote Republican, and get what? Washington isn't "broken" so much as the GOP is broken.
Steyn also argued that Trump's handling of some of his misstatements is "actually a lesson for other candidates, too. You know, the strangulated, constipated artificiality in which the candidates talk about things - where they say something mildly infelicitous, and then some spokesperson comes out and regrets that they 'misspoke'. Trump basically does nothing but misspeak, and he never apologizes for it. Even the Hispanics don't seem to mind him saying that Mexicans are just a bunch of rapists."
As for the state of the Democrat race:
"Hillary, I think, is a terrible candidate," Steyn said. "She's got all the money, she's got all the cronies, but she herself is a stiff and a bore."
Steyn pointed to the large crowds that Sanders is currently drawing and the interest that his campaign is generating.
"He's a canny guy, he's a smart guy, he's an effective guy," Steyn said, adding if it comes down to debates, Sanders will thrash Clinton.
Steyn said that Clinton seems to re-launch her campaign every two weeks, yet it's deader than ever, and it's going nowhere.
"She's dull as hell. She's a bore, she's a stiff, and she's no good on the stump."
You can see the full interview here.
~Speaking of my telly appearances, you'll recall that a couple of days ago Ken Baskin advised me to steer clear of TV and radio, as I was no good at it. Since then, other readers have been weighing in. On the one hand, John Harold says I'm not as bad as I used to be:
When you first started doing Rush, your timing was quite awkward. I assumed that the radio show thing as the anchor was not yet in your skill set. It seemed like you were composing as you usually do: as a writer, and the ad hoc internal editing was somewhat confusing...
But, for the record, you've become much, much better now.
On the other hand, Peter Brigham thinks the microphone should stretch beyond mere broadcasting:
Re Ken Baskin's comments urging you to drop the Mic: Please do heed his advice, at least when contemplating your attempts at singing. Your version of Nugent's 'Cat Scratch Fever' is god awful.
I write with a sense of kindness. When your critics in the media stoop so low as to attack you ad hominem by playing your recordings on the air, think of my plea!
Peter Brigham
So no TV, no radio, no music. I'm gonna have a lot of time for gardening this summer.
~If you're in the general vicinity of Scandinavia or Northern Europe in September, I'll be speaking in Copenhagen at the Danish Parliament on the tenth anniversary of the Mohammed cartoons. Among those in attendance will be the original commissioning editor, Flemming Rose, as well as Douglas Murray and Henryk Broder, so it should be a lively event. I just hope the last words I hear aren't "Allahu Akb - oh, I almost forgot: You were crap on Hannity and your infidel Christmas album sucks."
For more details on how to secure tickets see here.
