Today's Washington Post has a story about Donald Trump being a tax cheat and comparing him to Leona Helmsley.

 “When you can write off your income and write off your consumption, you’re in a Leona Helmsley situation.” The late Helmsley, who also had a real estate fortune, is remembered for observing that “only the little people pay taxes.”

     So instead of releasing his tax returns Trump dives deeper into the dumpster on the Clintons.

    He is clearly a fraudster, a huckster , a narcissistic self enriching grandizer, and now add tax cheat, yet he seems to go up in the polls. As George McGovern said in 1972, "Come home America!"

   And to that I would hasten " Come to your senses America, and walk past the tabloids in the check out counter. " We can do better.

Dear Republican primary voters: You've been had. I don't know of any other way to put it . Donald Trump is a fraud. He is a very clever fraud and an equal opportunity deceiver who lies better than most, and until now has gotten away with it. No more.

     His whole Schtlick has centered around his being his own spokesperson to manipulate the media and create an image that is glittery and glamorous, but at its core is really frivolous and fraudulent . As it turns out, he is the quintessential recreation of PT Barnum for the 24/7 news cycle age , and he almost had it all . 

     An incredibly talented carnival barker, he can keep your attention focused on whatever shiny object he's selling at the moment. The problem is, what he is selling is no more than snake oil repackaged and delivered via a Boeing 747 Jet instead of a horse drawn wagon like Professor Marvel in the Wizard of Oz. 

     Build a wall and have Mexico pay for it. Ban all Muslims. Round up all the illegal immigrants (11-15 million people) and ship them back to from wherever they came. What taxes he pays or does not is nobody's business, says he. Bring back coal. Climate change is a fraud. Punish women who have abortions and arm all vigilantes, and if someone dares to shout out disagreement with you, punch them in the face. And people are buying this. Hook, line and sinker. Trump can do no wrong. He is the anti politician. He tells them the  truth, unless the truth does not jive with what he is selling you.

    All of this incredible nonsense should have been disqualifying, but wrapped in multiple flags, the "sucker born every minute" crowd has been eating up this provocative pablum, until now. 

     Now, Donald Trump denies on national television,  that he is alleged spokesperson John Miller or John Baron, even though he has previously admitted he was indeed that "spokesperson", under oath. 

    Unless and until Donald Trump fesses up to the  truth , he is dead in the water. For the sake of the Republic, let's hope he just keeps on lying. The more he lies the more he is melting. And the quicker this bogus mirage melts, the better for all of us. 

   In the end, the devil you know really is far better than the devil you don't. 

     Hillary Clinton has just won an impressive victory in the NY Democratic Primary. Projected 60-40 as I write this.  It is now time for a reality check. 

      I have been an enrolled member of the Democratic Party for nearly fifty years. I consider myself a mainstream progressive Democrat on the issues, and a promoter of insuring opportunity, promoting responsibility, and a sense of community. We are all  in this together. 

     I have never really understood or appreciated those who have sat on the sidelines, and refused to declare their allegiance. Bernie Sanders is one of those individuals who has lived on the left, and eschewed the Democratic Party for most of his career.   Now , he is trying to win the approval of members of my party to become their standard bearer. To me, he is sounding more and more like Ralph Nader, and less and less like a true Democrat. 

     I think it is time for Bernie to either suit up, and champion the Democratic Party, it's probable nominee and causes, or break free and pursue his own agenda . I hope he chooses the practical course, and supports the Democratic nominee with heart and soul. If he can't, then it is time for him to declare his true intent, and stop pretending to be a Democrat . 

He has brought much to the table. He has invigorated the process and energized millions of otherwise uninvolved millenials, to his credit. 

   But as the old saying goes," Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party. What say you Sen. Sanders, are you with us or agin' us?

     Hillary Clinton has just won an impressive victory in the NY Democratic Primary. Projected 60-40 as I write this.  It is now time for a reality check. 

      I have been an enrolled member of the Democratic Party for nearly fifty years. I consider myself a mainstream progressive Democrat on the issues, and a promoter of insuring opportunity, promoting responsibility, and a sense of community. We are all  in this together. 

     I have never really understood or appreciated those who have sat on the sidelines, and refused to declare their allegiance. Bernie Sanders is one of those individuals who has lived on the left, and eschewed the Democratic Party for most of his career.   Now , he is trying to win the approval of members of my party to become their standard bearer. To me, he is sounding more and more like Ralph Nader, and less and less like a true Democrat. 

     I think it is time for Bernie to either suit up, and champion the Democratic Party, it's probable nominee and causes, or break free and pursue his own agenda . I hope he chooses the practical course, and supports the Democratic nominee with heart and soul. If he can't, then it is time for him to declare his true intent, and stop pretending to be a Democrat . 

He has brought much to the table. He has invigorated the process and energized millions of otherwise uninvolved millenials, to his credit. 

   But as the old saying goes," Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party. What say you Sen. Sanders, are you with us or agin' us?

     In 1972 I was young, naive and idealistic. I was also an elected official ( A County Legislator at age 23). I ran for and was elected a delegate for George McGovern, for the Democratic National Convention in Miami , from my NNY Congressional District. 

     I was there when McGovern gave a wonderful and empassioned speech entitled " Come Home America!" The problem was that he delivered it at 4am, and other than the political zealots, no one else was was watching. McGovern went on to win the District of Columbia, and the state of Massachusetts. Richard Nixon won everything else. Say Godnight, Irene. 

     Fast forward 44 years, and we have hoards of idealistic young people supporting a self described ideologically committed democratic Socialist from Vermont for President. 

He is vying against an establishment Democratic candidate, whose negatives are very high. Could he win the nomination? Yes. That is a possibility. Could he win the general election? That is far less probable. 

    So what to do, what to do on April 19th in the NY Primary? Vote for ideological purity and take a stand, or vote for practicality and the Democratic tried and true, in the hope that the Commonweal can still advance?    

     At this stage of my life, practicality matters more to me than ideological purity. I do not oppose the potential of a Bernie Sanders, and indeed the reformer in me is drawn to his candidacy, but the adult in me is drawn toward Hillary Clinton, and it is the adult in me who will be casting a vote on Tuesday, April 19th for Hillary Clinton. 

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/news/a54742/why-would-donald-trump-defend-his-penis/?src=social-emailWayne Newton has a head that is disproportionately large for his body, and Donald Trump has fingers that are disproportionately short for his height and size. Those are  facts.   

      Although he denied that anyone had ever raised this "issue" before, we now learn that not to be true either. The editor of the former "Spy" magazine, Graydon Carter, 30 years ago, dubbed him a " Short fingered vulgarian", which Trump has never forgotten as he has messaged Carter recently with pictures of his hands.

     What does all of this mean? Potentially nothing, or possibly everything. It is clear that Donald Trump is narcissistic. It is clear that he has an "edifice complex", building large spire shaped buildings which he slaps his name on. 

    I am not a psychologist, but I am aware of "short man complex", which involves shorter than normal men overcompensating for their size . Could there be another anatomical complex involved here which explains the Donald's behavior? It would appear more likely than not. When someone protests like he did at the debate, and brags about his purportedly substantial private parts , one has to wonder again where the truth lies. 

   I find it hard to believe that I am even writing about this subject, but this is what the Republican Presidential contest seems to have come down to.... A high school locker room contest, with the short handed guy referring to one candidate as little and the other as liar. And, I hasten to add that of all the Presidential candidates in the ring, it is beyond ironic that the one who appears to have the largest cajones of all, is the  one non male candidate in the race. 

There, I have said it.. There is an old saying, " Spot it, you got it". I rest my case. Saturday Night Live awaits. 

Hillary Clinton's hard A

    When Hillary Clinton was running for Senator in NY, she asked me for some advice, and I freely gave it. Asked what I thought of her potential run, I told her, not much. While I had great respect for her bona fides and her ability, what did she know about upstate NY? I said, let me put it this way, Mrs. Clinton, when you can tell me the difference between Oswego, Owego, Otsego and Otego, then she might be ready. Six months later, I saw her after her statewide listening tour, in Watertown, and she motioned to me to come over, and said to me " Oswego is in Oswego County. Owego is in Tioga County, Otsego is in Otsego County, and Otego is in Otsego County as well". " You go, Mrs. Clinton!". I said, and as they say, the rest is history. I became a great fan of hers. I still am. 

 I continue to wish her well, but I have a new message for her. 

Message to Hillary Clinton: drop the hard A . 

During the Clinton years, we all learned what the difference between "is", is, or was, and now, we are learning from

another Clinton what "A" , pronounced as a very hard ""A ( as in " ay", which rhymes with hay, ) victory means, and therein lies the problem.  When you are running for President, or any office for that matter, how you say things, tone, accent, inflection, is often as important was what you say. Hillary has a problem. She uses a hard A too often when a soft A would be better.  It undermines her credibility and believability, and that is a big part of her problem. With all the advisers and political pros she has on her side, I am surprised that no one seems to have told her what. she needs to know. 

     Accents, colloquialisms ,  and regional nuances of speech have historically played a very important part in shaping a politician's success. Take JFK for example. His "pahk your cah in the yahd " accent seemed to elevate his electability , and ability to endear himself to the American people. Somehow.for some unknown reason,  Boston accents are often just adorable. If you don't believe me, consider the success of the car talk guys on NPR. ( The "tap fort" brothers . People just love the way they sound, and how they laugh, in addition to the comedic things they say. 

     People do not much like the way Hillary sounds at times, because with her overuse of the hard A, she seems disingenuine.. It is a school Marmish way of condescendingly talking to the pupils that tends to upend her. She needs to change the way she speaks, and pronto. 

     Bernie Sander's Brooklyn accent, which is off putting to some heartland voters, has actually worked in his favor by building his believability quotient. When he says " Enough already!" , people get it. They hear and believe him in a deep seated kind of way. He is , above all else, believable. If what you say doesn't ring true, doesn't sound true, it will not be perceived as truth. You have to own what you say for people to believe in you, and Hillary just doesn't sound like she owns what she says, much of the time, and that hard A is a big part of the problem. 

     She became a great student of everything Upstate, and she won. She can fix this problem too. But first, she, and her staff have to recognize the nature of the problem, before they can fix it. Hello Houston. Hello Hillary. We've got a problem. Let's fix it.