Why Are People More And More Sick Of The Trumpanzee By The Day?

The Trumpanzee said the polls are fixed against him. So who's fixing the poll showing him doing the worst so far? The Fox New poll which questioned registered voters nation-wide between July 31 and August 2-- entirely after the twi conventions and after Trump's latest meltdown had begun. The poll shows Hillary-- not exactly a Fox News favorite-- beating Señor Trumpanzee 49-39%, with 5% going to other candidates and 4% saying they're staying home.

As Trump has continued to slam Obama, the president's approval rating has steadily risen. It went from the low and mid-40s at the end of last year into the high 40s this spring and now stands at 52%. Of the 10 most salient issues (+ 6 other issues), Clinton led Trump is voters' perception of who would best handle almost all of them.

• Climate change- Clinton 59%, Trumpanzee 28%
• Race relations- Clinton 60%, Trumpanzee 32%
• Education- Clinton 58%, Trumpanzee 35%
• Drug addiction- Clinton 54%, Trumpanzee 35%
• Foreign policy- Clinton 55%, Trumpanzee 39%
• Health care- Clinton 53%, Trumpanzee 42%
• Immigration- Clinton 51%, Trumpanzee 44%
• Terrorism and national security- Clinton 47%, Trumpanzee 47%
• Federal deficit- Clinton 44%, Trumpanzee 49%
• The economy- Clinton 45%, Trumpanzee 50%
• Making decisions about using nukes- Clinton 56%, Trumpanzee 34%
• Looking out for you and your family in tough economic times- Clinton 51%, Trumpanzee 40%
• Nominating the next Supreme Court Justice- Clinton 51%, Trumpanzee 43%
• Preserving and Protecting the Constitution- Clinton 49%, Trumpanzee 42%
• Restoring trust in government- Clinton 43%, Trumpanzee 43%
• Destroying terrorist groups like ISIS- Clinton 42%, Trumpanzee 51%

Asked if they thought the two candidates are qualified for the presidency, 65% said Hillary is and just 43% said the Trumpanzee is. 61% said Hillary is not honest and trustworthy and 62% said the same thing about Mr. Trumpanzee. 64% she had the right temperament to be an effective president and 37% said Trump does. 72% said she had the knowledge necessary to be an effective president but only 40% thought Trump does. And one last thing: 69% of respondents said they consider Trump's response to the Khan family to be out of bounds.; only 19% said it was in bounds.

click to read the results

By the way, the local polls today in battleground states were even more devastating for the Trumpanzee, showing astonishing losses everywhere-- and showing the disgust for the GOP in general with their Senate incumbents losing as well. Maggie Hassan, for example is now leading incumbent Kelly Ayotte 50 to 40% in New Hampshire and even Katie McGinty, the DSCC's weakest recruit after Patrick Murphy in Florida, is beating Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania 39-38% among likely voters. This chart, with Hillary dominating the Trumpanzee in Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Hampshire spells doom for his campaign and is going to be scaring the living daylights out of Republican strategists all day today and will dominate the conversations inside the party hierarchy right into tomorrow. Hillary has a better chance to win in red bastions like Utah, Arizona and Indiana than Trump has to win in traditional battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. The Trumpanzee foray into Portland, Maine isn't going to calm anyone's nerves in GOPLand, I can tell you that, not while they're looking at numbers like these:

My old friend Jim wrote an essay yesterday that helps explain-- certainly better than a fixed Fox Poll-- why the Trumpanzee is in the crapper.


This is How America Treats the Families of Her Honored Dead
-by Jim Kennemur

On April 4, 2004 Army Specialist Casey Sheehan volunteered to go on a rescue mission in Sardar City, Iraq. He and 7 other American soldiers died in a multiple RPG and heavy arms attack during that mission.

Two months and two days later Army Captain Humayun Khan told his company to stand down and take cover as he investigated a suspicious vehicle in Baqubah, Iraq. The vehicle exploded killing Captain Khan, two Iraqi civilians and the two suicide bombers inside.

Captain Khan's parents have been in the news recently because they took the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia calling out Donald Trump for his bigoted rhetoric aimed toward Muslims in the United States. His voice quivering with emotion, Captain Khan's father looked into the camera and said, "Donald Trump, you have sacrificed nothing."

  As I watched this emotional scene on TV I had two thoughts. First, that the Khans were about to be attacked and vilified as they had never been before. They were.

And secondly, I though of Cindy Sheehan, the mother of Casey Sheehan, who literally camped out in a ditch in the Texas heat to call out the people who fabricated the war that killed her son.

Two families suffering and grief stricken. Two families trying to get on with their lives.

Then it struck me. What has been going on in Cindy Sheehan's life since those summer days in Crawford, Texas. How is she coping?

Here from her blog, Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox is the answer to that question:

Do Tell Obama?

The latest media kerfluffle over Donald Trump's rude remarks about the Khan family (Mr. Khan attacked Trump for Hillary Clinton at last week's DNC) has brought a lot of attention to when I spoke out against George Bush and his wars beginning after my son was killed.

The weirdest thing about my part in it is that so-called liberals have been making the absurd claim that Bush was "kind" to me compared to Trump's treatment of the Khans.

Of course, there is no documentation that George Bush ever publicly said anything rude about me, but the attacks on my character and lies about the antiwar movement and Camp Casey have the bloody claw prints of Bush's attack dog, Karl Rove all over them. Republican politicians and right-wing media had a wonderful time going after me and no one accused them of being disrespectful.

I would like to address what Obama told the conference of disabled veterans, though, quoted above.

I have never stopped protesting the US's wars since Obama assumed command of the Evil Empire. I have been arrested a few times right in front of his White House protesting his war. I have been manhandled by the police; dumped in a cold cell with no food for 53 hours once; received a stay-away order from the perimeter of the White House that came with a six-month jail stay if I violated it and the Justice Department sent three US Attorneys from DC to Sacramento to persecute me for being a war-tax refuser.

Like Bush, Obama has refused to meet with me to discuss his continuation of the Bush wars.

So, what I really think the Drone Bomber meant, was that only Gold Star Families who do not oppose him and his Imperial violence and treachery should be "honored."

Should Trump apologize to the Khans-- of course, but the Democrats should quit pretending they care about people whose children they slaughter with their support for the wars against mostly Muslims in Arab countries. They only fake-care in elections years.

Democrats shed huge crocodile tears for my son and for my story until they got what they wanted, then we very unceremoniously got kicked to the curb.

  The hypocrisy is stunning, but what is even more stunning is that there is one person left in the US who believes any of the filth that spews out of the mouth of any politician.

So there you have it. The military industrial complex continues to grind out profits and our political leaders continue to pay lip service to the cannon fodder they have spun into gold.

The Khan family deserves better. The Sheehan family deserves better. America deserves better.

Blue America Welcomes Dr. Steve Porter, Progressive Candidate For Congress-- Round 3

Last night I read that Cindy Sheehan had qualified for the November ballot to oppose Nancy Pelosi and will base her campaign on Pelosi's refusal to start impeachment proceedings against Bush and for not taking any effective action against the war in Iraq. I used to live in the district. If I still did, I'd vote for Cindy. And she isn't the only worthy independent running for Congress. Today is a week shy of the one year anniversary of our last chat with Blue America fave Steve Porter. As he did in 2006, Steve is running for the House seat still held-- if tenuously-- by Republican rubber stamp Phil English. Of course, when Steve was our Blue America candidate in 2006, he was running as a Democrat-- even if the national Democrats ignored his race.

This year, like Cindy, he's fed up with the national Democrats, didn't run in the primary and decided to challenge both parties in the November general election as an independent. Steve will be with us at Firedoglake for a couple hours this afternoon and he's eager to answer questions about his campaign and his new book, America's Dying Democracy.

Republicans and Democrats need 1,000 signatures to get on the ballot in PA-03. Independents need 2,171 and Steve filed a thousand extra, having collected almost all of them himself by walking door to door around the district and introducing himself to voters. He's says he's campaigning more vigorously this year than he did in 2006. "I'm running a more grassroots, door-to-door campaign this year," he told me. "I've walked over 500 miles so far; thousands of homes that I've been to." In nearly a third of the houses he visited, he found that the people weren't registered to vote. "It's alarming that so many people have given up on democracy and just say, when they come to the door, 'I can't stand it anymore; go away. I'm not registered; I don't vote.' In fact, that's one of the reasons I'm running for office. For me, both major parties have been derelict in their leadership... to put it mildly."

I asked him if he has a real chance to win this race-- after all, English is being underwritten by his corporate masters to the tune of around $1.5 million (so far) and if the DCCC ignored the independent minded Porter, they are lavishing support on the empty-headed cookie-cutter Democrat running this year, Kathy Dahlkemper. He told me he has a reasonable chance to win.

I think it depends very much on the level of frustration that people feel in this district and nationwide. Independent registrations have gone up while major party registrations have decreased and I think that people are in a mood to listen to an alternative voice. Neither major political party represents, or can represent, the average citizen of the United States. They're owned by special interests and I think the public is catching on to that. The lies that are being told-- by President Bush on the one hand and by Nancy Pelosi on the other-- are simply catching up to them. Polls show that the Democrats gained control of both Houses of Congress in 2006 for one overarching reason: the public believed that the Democrats would get us out of Iraq. And the day after the election, Nancy Pelosi takes the impeachment hearings off the table. The Democrats caved in and gave Bush virtually everything that he wanted. Other than raising the minimum wage they accomplished nothing. They did nothing about Social Security, nothing about health care, nothing about shoring up the economy, nothing about the energy crisis, nothing about ecology of the planet; they did nothing about our borders. Congress' approval rating is the lowest in history; I'm not surprised. I'm hoping the public will listen to an alternate voice that's not owned.

He makes the point that after running twice already, he has far more name recognition than Dahlkemper does. In 2006 over 82,000 people voted for him (to English's 104,000). English spent $1,466,487 (around $14.10 per vote) and Steve spent $63,034 (or .77 per vote).

He feels that the biggest difference since leaving the Democratic Party is that his hands are no longer tied. "I can say what I need to say. You don't get anywhere with the two major parties unless you sell yourself to them. I was willing to do that in 2006 because I still believed in their message and that they were serious about getting us out of Iraq. I really did. I was take in. I was very angry when Pelosi took all of that off the table; it was the clincher for me. The Democrats don't want people who think for themselves. They want people who they can control, just like the Republicans do. People who think for themselves don't make it in the two major parties."

In the end he knows he'll have to caucus with the Democrats if he's elected and he's aware that they might not like him. "I'm not going there to be Miss Congeniality. I'm going there to help my country and to help the people of this district... I'm not going there to whore myself out or to be anybody's ass kisser. I'm going to do the things I need to do to satisfy my own conscience and work for the well-being of our people. I'm not going to be like Kathy Dahlkemper. Kathy Dahlkemper is an idiot; she can't speak four coherent sentences in a row. She's a woman who doesn't believe in choice. But she's well-packaged and she's exactly what the Democrats want: someone they can lead by the nose."

ActBlue only collects donations for Democrats. You can give to an anti-choice candidate like Dahlkemper but not to a pro-choice independent. If you'd like to donate to Steve's campaign today, you can't do it through the Blue America site. You can do it on his own site or by sending a check to Porter for Congress, 9451 Page Road, Wattsburg, PA 16442. This weekend, anyone who donates at least $50 through Steve's site-- or who sends a check with a little "BLUE AMERICA" notation will get an autographed copy of America's Dying Democracy.

HAVE YOU JUST GIVEN UP ON STOPPING BUSH AND HIS WAR IN IRAQ?

I watch so little TV, other than South Park, that maybe I just missed it and there really was tons of coverage of the peace demonstrations that took place all over America this weekend. I probably just couldn't find it but I didn't see any mention in either the NY Times or the Washington Post, or maybe that means, officially, there were no peace demonstrations. Oddly, the BBC covered them with a small article.

Tens of thousands of people have taken part in demonstrations against the war in Iraq in cities across the US.

Rallies took place in a dozen cities, with the biggest crowds gathering in New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

They were timed to coincide with the fifth anniversary of a vote by the US Senate to authorize the Iraq invasion.

Those taking part, who included relatives of servicemen fighting in Iraq, urged the US congress to cut off funding for the war.

The 'national day of action' was called by the United for Peace and Justice coalition.

And the San Francisco Chronicle gave it some coverage on the first page... of the B-Section. Oh, and the Salt Lake Tribune covered the march and rally in Salt Lake City, at which the mayor, Rocky Anderson, spoke.

But mostly I'm just hearing about it via e-mail. Friends all over America have mentioned that they marched. Sometimes I get the feeling that too many of us have just bought into the Democrats' pathetic message that they can't do anything about it because Bush is president. They don't mention that Mr. 24% Approval Rating has a very special protector in the Speaker of the House who has taken the one tool that the Founding Fathers gave us to remove him, off the table. Anyway, I despair sometimes that everybody is just resigned to letting him and Cheney and their cronies go on their tragic killing ways until the day Hillary is elected who seems to maybe, probably, hopefully be saying she'll... wind this thing down... if she can?

The e-mail I got from Cindy Sheehan today (which is posted on her blog) outlined some of the problems anti-occupation activists are facing. Personally, and somewhat quixotically, she's trying to hold Pelosi accountable by running against her for Congress. I used to live in that district. If I still did I would be voting for Cindy and I wouldn't have to think about it twice.

In November of 2006, the peace movement scored a major coup but we later discovered that the Democrats had only used our vibrant, angry and deeply committed movement to regain both Houses of Congress. Some of us erroneously thought that we could relax a little and allow the 110th Congress to take some of the slack from us hard-working activists to end the war and hold BushCo accountable. After all, that's what we pay them for, isn't it? I, and my organization, was roundly criticized by many people for going to Congress in January to demand that the Dems do the job we elected them to do. "Give them a chance." "Shut the f**k up." These and harsher epithets were hurled at us. I understand, because we wanted to relax, too. In November, we were as shocked as everyone else was, though, when Nancy and Harry (Bush Enablers Number One and Two) took impeachment "off the table." We knew there would be no rest for the weary with this Congress, and, unfortunately, I think we have been vindicated?very regrettably for democracy around the world.
 
Where do we go from here?

CINDY SHEEHAN WANTS TO PRIMARY NANCY PELOSI-- GOOD THING?

I had a few e-mails this week from a friend-- I'm not sure if the messages were supposed to private or not, so let me forego mentioning his name. He had been a very progressive Democratic candidate for Congress twice against a rubber stamp Republican. I had been looking forward to supporting him again next year. But he told me he decided not to run again. He's fed up with the Democratic Party and he feels they can't be cured from inside. He asked me if Blue America would still support him if he ran as an independent. I told him that the Blue America community likes him a lot and that we'd have him on for a chat and people would make up their own minds. So far I'm not impressed with the middle-of-the-road Democrat who is looking to get into the race.

At the same time I noticed that another frustrated Democrat looks like she may jump into an electoral campaign. Cindy Sheehan announced to day that she may challenge Nancy Pelosi unless he allows impeachment back onto the table. Cindy is giving her two weeks-- 'til July 23.

"Democrats and Americans feel betrayed by the Democratic leadership," Sheehan told The Associated Press. "We hired them to bring an end to the war. I'm not too far from San Francisco, so it wouldn't be too big of a move for me. I would give her a run for her money."

Like my friend, she decided to leave the Democratic Party because they haven't delivered on promises they made during the campaign. Other progressive heroes have decided to not give up on the Democrats and to try again. One of our favorite candidates from last year, John Laesch, just took some time off to get married and, back from his honeymoon, he's fighting again. He just posted a blog over at Kos. Blue America has endorsed him again-- as we have Donna Edwards (just yesterday, who is trying to take down a corrupt and reactionary Democratic Insider, Al Wynn), Charlie Brown, Eric Massa, Angie Paccione and Victoria Wulsin, all progressives who came close to dislodging rubber stamp Republicans last November and who we would like to see in DC to help the good guys.

I understand-- as anyone who reads this blog surely knows-- Cindy's frustration. Too bad she-- or like-minded Democrats-- don't run against reactionaries whose voting records, unlike Pelosi's, support the Republican agenda. There are Democrats in very red districts who vote with the Republicans and were they to lose a primary to a moderate, the moderate might lose to a far right Republican. Or maybe not. But the districts that I'm interested in are blue districts with reactionary Democrats. That's where we need primaries. Or how about challenges to the really bad leaders like Steny Hoyer and Rahm Emanuel, the very worst of the Democratic Party? If either of them is defeated by a progressive, the progressive would win the general election hands down.

For the hell of it, here's a list of the Democratic House members with the 50 worst voting records. Each has earned a primary but the ones in bold are in Democratic districts where a moderate or a progressive would win the general if the incumbent were defeated in the primary. The list is in order of how bad they are, the first being the Democrat who most frequently votes with the GOP to support Bush's toxic agenda:

Gene Taylor (MS)- solid Republican district
Bud Cramer (AL)- solid Republican district
Dan Boren (OK)- solid Republican district
Collin Peterson (MN)- Republican district
Ike Skelton (MO)- solid Republican district
Allen Boyd (FL)- Republican leaning district
Mike McIntyre (NC)- Republican district
John Tanner (TN)- Democratic leaning district
Jim Marshall (GA)- solid Republican district
Jim Matheson (UT)- solid Republican district
Tim Holden (PA)- Republican district
Lincoln Davis (TN)- Republican district
Solomon Ortiz (TX)- Republican leaning district
Charlie Melancon (LA)- Republican district
John Barrow (GA)- Democratic district
John Murtha (PA)- Democratic district
Henry Cuellar (TX)- Democratic leaning district
Chet Edwards (TX)- solid Republican district
Bart Gordon (TN)- Republican district
Leonard Boswell (IA)- Democratic leaning district
Alan Mollohan (WV)- Republican district
Marion Berry (AR)- Democratic leaning district
Jim Cooper (TN)- Democratic district
Heath Shuler (NC)- Republican district
Sanford Bishop (GA)- toss-up district
Jerry Costello (IL)- Democratic district
Joe Donnelly (IN)- Republican district
Michael Doyle (PA)- solid Democratic district
Jason Altmire (PA)- Republican district
Stephanie Herseth (SD)- Republican district
Earl Pomeroy (ND)- Republican district
Baron Hill (IN)- Republican district
Silvestre Reyes (TX)- solid Democratic district
Nick Lampson (TX)- solid Republican district
Brad Ellsworth (IN)- Republican district
Rick Boucher (VA)- Republican district
Melissa Bean (IL)- Republican district
Adam Smith (WA)- Democratic district
Jim Costa (CA)- Democratic district
Dennis Cardoza (CA)- Democratic district
Jane Harman (CA)- solid Democratic district
Nick Rahall (WV)- Democratic leaning district
David Scott (GA)- solid Democratic district
John Spratt (SC)- Republican district
Ruben Hinojosa (TX)- Republican leaning district
Gene Green (TX)- Democratic district
Dennis Moore (KS)- Republican district
Bob Etheridge (NC)- Republican district
Vic Snyder (AR)- toss-up district
Paul Kanjorski (PA)- Democratic district

And one last note: if you want to contribute to primaries against reactionary Democrats, think about donating some money to the Blue America PAC.