Mountain Views News          Saturday, April 9, 2016

16

OPINION 

 Mountain Views News Saturday, April 9, 2016 

RON Paul

Mountain 
Views

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 DICK Polman 


How screwed up are 
the Republicans? Just 
read the Wisconsin 
primary exit polls. 
It doesn’t bode well 
for November when 
a huge chunk of the 
GOP electorate says 
it won’t support its own presidential 
nominee.

Yes, Ted Cruz buried Donald Trump 
with a double-digit win Tuesday night, 
and he snatched nearly all the delegates, 
thereby upping the odds of a contested 
national convention. But if you dig into 
the exit polls, you discover this stunning 
stat: If Cruz were to win the nomination 
and face Hillary Clinton, a whopping 34 
percent of the Republican primary voters 
would not support Cruz. That’s a bad sign 
for a party that hasn’t won Wisconsin in a 
presidential election since, oh, 1988.

But it’s actually a choice between bad 
and worse, because when the Republican 
voters were confronted with an autumn 
matchup between Trump and Clinton, 39 
percent said they’d spurn Trump. Most 
said they’d be “scared” of a Trump presidency, 
while another 20 percent would 
be “concerned.”

No other frontrunner has ever had to tote 
that kind of baggage. Politically, that’s a 
death sentence.

And yet, the Wisconsin Republicans 
seemed reconciled to a grim fate. When 
confronted with the prospect of a contested 
convention - with no candidate 
having secured a majority of the delegates 
- they basically sided with Trump. A solid 
56 percent said the nomination should go 
to the guy who won the most votes during 
primary season.

So, the Republicans are probably screwed 
either way.

If Trump fails to clinch on the first ballot 
(a scenario that’s a tad more likely thanks 
to Wisconsin), he could ultimately lose 
the crown to Cruz, the voters’ runner-
up. But if that happens, Trump’s fans are 
likely to walk and thus doom the GOP in 
November.

On the other hand, if Trump weathers 
Wisconsin, wins big in the upcoming New 
York, California, Pennsylvania, and New 
Jersey contests, and manages to eke out 
a nomination victory, that too will likely 
doom the GOP in November. When Hillary 
Clinton is reportedly trailing Trump 
by only three percentage points in Mississippi 
- three points, in a state that has 
voted Democratic just once in the last 13 
elections - that portends defeat.

Courtesy of Wisconsin, Cruz will be emboldened 
to ramp up his quest for every 
last gettable delegate. His ground game 
trumps Trump’s, a fact confirmed by 
Cruz’s pickups last week in North Dakota 
and Tennessee. Nevertheless, Tuesday 
night’s exit polls confirm what even 
Republicans have known for awhile, that 
they’re basically stuck with a choice between 
repulsive and repugnant. 

And that bodes well for Democrats, in a 
state they need to win this fall, a state that 
voted twice for Bill Clinton and twice for 
Barack Obama. They’re far happier with 
their ‘16 candidates than the Republicans 
are with theirs. Hillary Clinton got blown 
out by Bernie Sanders in the primary voting, 
but 68 percent of all Democrats said, 
nevertheless, that they’re “excited” or 
“optimistic” about a Hillary presidency; 
and when asked who’d be better at beating 
Trump, they favored Hillary over 
Bernie by 11 percentage points, 54 to 43.

Sanders’ fans will likely contend that Wisconsin 
has given him the “momentum” to 
overtake Clinton down the stretch - even 
though he barely dented her 2.4-million 
lead in the aggregate primary season 
popular vote. In fact, he barely dented 
her daunting delegate lead, which, by the 
way, is far bigger than Barack Obama’s 
lead at this point in the ‘08 calendar.

Sanders fans should read up on history. 
In 1976, Jimmy Carter was beaten repeatedly 
in the late primaries, on the way to 
his nomination and November victory. In 
1992, Bill Clinton suffered late-primary 
losses on the way to his nomination and 
electoral victory. In 2008, Obama lost six 
of his last nine contests on the way to his 
nomination and electoral victory.

This is what Democrats typically do. They 
send messages before they buckle down.

David Plouffe, who guided Obama’s ‘08 
bid, knows this drill better than we do. 
Here’s what he wrote on the eve of Wisconsin 
(which he pre-awarded to Sanders): 
“I believe Hillary Clinton has a zero 
chance of not being the Democratic nominee.” 
Indeed. 

And after Democrats lick their intramural 
wounds, they can kick back and track 
the mounting Republican chaos.

Dick Polman is the national political columnist 
at NewsWorks/WHYY in Philadelphia 
(newsworks.org/polman) and a 
“Writer in Residence” at the University 
of Philadelphia. Email him at dickpolman7@
gmail.com.


CRUZ CONTROL AND THE RISING ODDS 
OF REPUBLICAN CHAOS

50 YEARS LATER, WE’VE 
LEARNED NOTHING 

FROM VIETNAM

Last week Defense Secretary Ashton 
Carter laid a wreath at the Vietnam 
Veterans Memorial in Washington 
in commemoration of the “50th 
anniversary” of that war. The date is 
confusing, as the war started earlier 
and ended far later than 1966. But the 
Vietnam War at 50 commemoration 
presents a good opportunity to reflect 
on the war and whether we have 
learned anything from it.

 Some 60,000 Americans were killed 
fighting in that war more than 8,000 
miles away. More than a million 
Vietnamese military and civilians also 
lost their lives. The U.S. government 
did not accept that it had pursued 
a bad policy in Vietnam until the 
bitter end. But in the end the war was 
lost and we went home, leaving the 
destruction of the war behind. For the 
many who survived on both sides, the 
war would continue to haunt them.

 It was thought at the time that we 
had learned something from this lost 
war. The War Powers Resolution 
was passed in 1973 to prevent 
future Vietnams by limiting the 
president’s ability to take the country 
to war without the Constitutionally-
mandated Congressional declaration 
of war. But the law failed in its purpose 
and was actually used by the war party 
in Washington to make it easier to go 
to war without Congress.

 Such legislative tricks are doomed 
to failure when the people still refuse 
to demand that elected officials follow 
the Constitution.

 When President George H.W. Bush 
invaded Iraq in 1991, the warhawks 
celebrated what they considered the 
end of that post-Vietnam period 
where Americans were hesitant about 
being the policeman of the world. 
President Bush said famously at 
the time, “By God, we’ve kicked the 
Vietnam Syndrome once and for all.”

 They may have beat the Vietnam 
Syndrome, but they learned nothing 
from Vietnam.

 Colonel Harry 
Summers returned 
to Vietnam in 1974 and told his 
Vietnamese counterpart Colonel Tsu, 
“You know, you never beat us on the 
battlefield.” The Vietnamese officer 
responded, “That may be so, but it is 
also irrelevant.”

 He is absolutely correct: tactical 
victories mean nothing when pursuing 
a strategic mistake.

 Last month was another anniversary. 
March 20, 2003 was the beginning of 
the second U.S. war on Iraq. It was the 
night of “shock and awe” as bombs 
rained down on Iraqis. Like Vietnam, 
it was a war brought on by government 
lies and propaganda, amplified by a 
compliant media that repeated the lies 
without hesitation.

 Like Vietnam, the 2003 Iraq war was 
a disaster. More than 5,000 Americans 
were killed in the war and as many 
as a million or more Iraqis lost their 
lives. There is nothing to show for the 
war but destruction, trillions of dollars 
down the drain, and the emergence of 
al-Qaeda and ISIS.

 Sadly, unlike after the Vietnam 
fiasco there has been almost no 
backlash against the US empire. In 
fact, President Obama has continued 
the same failed policy and Congress 
doesn’t even attempt to reign him 
in. On the very anniversary of that 
disastrous 2003 invasion, President 
Obama announced that he was 
sending US Marines back into Iraq! 
And not a word from Congress.

 We’ve seemingly learned nothing.

 There have been too many war 
anniversaries! We want an end to all 
these pointless wars. It’s time we learn 
from these horrible mistakes.

 Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

 Ron Paul is a former Congressman 
and Presidential candidate. He can be 
reached at the RonPaulInstitute.org.

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LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN 

MICHAEL Reagan

HOWARD Hays As I See It

CAN DONALD CLOSE THE DEAL 

IN CLEVELAND?


“Panama is a world 
leader when it comes 
to allowing large 
corporations and 
wealthy Americans to 
evade U.S. taxes, by 
stashing their cash in 
offshore tax havens”.

- Sen. Bernie Sanders 
(I-VT), Senate floor 
speech from October 
2011

It confounds me when Sen. Sanders is dismissed 
as some “outsider” candidate, and it infuriates 
me when he’s grouped in that category with 
Donald Trump. Here’s a guy who’s been a U.S. 
Senator for nine years and served in the House 
for sixteen years before that. Far from being an 
“outsider”, he’s been in the thick of things – 
from the civil rights and peace movements of 
the 1960s on – for over fifty of his seventy-four 
years.

 That experience brings awareness of what’s 
going on. Last week’s “Panama Papers” 
revelations made news, but must have been 
no surprise to Sanders who, in the above quote 
from five years ago, warned President Obama 
against pushing ahead with the Panama Free 
Trade Agreement held over from the Bush 
Administration. Secretary of State Clinton 
supported the treaty (after initially being against 
it), while our own two senators were split 
(Sen. Feinstein voting in favor with Sen. Boxer 
opposed).

 Rebecca Wilkins of Citizens for Tax Justice 
explained back then that a tax haven “has no 
income tax or a very low-rate income tax; it has 
bank secrecy laws; and it has a history of non-
cooperation with other countries on exchanging 
information about tax matters. Panama has all 
three of those . . . They’re probably the worst.” 
Sen. Sanders noted at the time that some $100 
billion was already being stashed in offshore 
shelters.

 The revelation also came as no surprise to 
journalist Glenn Greenwald, who noted a 
similarity to the national security documents 
leaked by Eric Snowden; it wasn’t so much the 
illegality exposed, but rather the realization that 
so much of what was going on was perfectly 
legal that was shocking. Greenwald quoted the 
ACLU’s Jameel Jaffer’s reaction to the NSA leak; 
“The deeper scandal is what’s legal, not what’s 
not.”

 We know what’s illegal, a lot of which it 
appears this Panamanian law firm was connected 
with - money laundering for drug lords, hiding 
the wealth of corrupt government officials, 
enabling illegal tax avoidance, etc. But mostly 
it was simply exploiting the system to allow the 
super-rich to avoid their fair share of taxes. (Most 
identified so far have been from overseas; more 
U.S. connections are expected later). 

 Things are the way they are because those 
who profit from it have invested heavily in 
keeping it that way, by investing heavily in 
those who make the rules. It’s no surprise that 
those in Congress squawking loudest against a 
$15 minimum wage, subsidized healthcare and 
support for public schools would also be most 
determined in protecting tax dodgers cheating 
our country out of billions annually by stashing 
wealth in offshore accounts. Those now trying 
to subpoena intimate medical records of 
patients, doctors and researchers connected 
with abortion and tissue research would most 
adamantly defend the sanctity of a billionaire’s 
bank records. 

 Sen. Sanders and others pointed out at the 
time that with an economy .2% (that’s two-
tenths of one percent) the size of ours, the 
argument this deal with Panama had to do with 
“jobs” was laughable. Much less talked about 
were restrictions the proposed treaty placed 
on our ability to investigate suspicious wealth-
hiding activities servicing clients from our own 
country and elsewhere.

 Aside from recalling Sanders’ comments 
from five years ago, another consequence of 
this Panama Papers revelation was shoving 
from the headlines another document-leak that 
just broke. Unaoil is a Monaco-based firm that 
facilitates contracts and relationships between 
multi-national energy firms, producers, 
government officials, etc. – focused on the 
Middle East and Central Asia. In other words, 
they’re a “bagman” – the party seeing that 
bribes and kickbacks get from those giving to 
those getting.

 Among firms implicated in the leaked 
documents as being embroiled in the pay-offs 
is Dick Cheney’s Halliburton/KBR. U.S. defense 
giant Honeywell is shown conspiring to hide 
bribes via phony contracts in Iraq. 

 Arguing the Panama Treaty had to do 
with “jobs” was as bogus as suggesting voter 
suppression had to do with voting fraud. 
It’s as bogus as arguing against moving on 
President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme 
Court in order to “let the people decide”. 
The reason behind that refusal is that the 
president nominated someone with a record of 
moderation, scholarship and integrity – which 
means someone who couldn’t be counted on to 
protect the system of privilege and corruption 
reflected in the Panama Papers and leaks from 
Unaoil.

 In reading the LA Times article on the 
Panama Papers, what struck me most was 
the last sentence – a reminder that in the U.S. 
there’s no requirement for disclosing source of 
funds in forming a corporation. And as long as 
the Supreme Court’s “corporations are people” 
Citizens United ruling is allowed to stand, our 
elections will continue to be influenced by 
corporations formed with funds laundered 
through Panama, Morocco or wherever.

 That’s why front groups like Judicial Crisis 
Network are channeling millions of non-
disclosable dollars from the Koch brothers to 
assure that those who make the rules remain 
subservient to those who really make the rules. 
And for any Republican who might waver, 
there’s the threat of millions more to support a 
primary challenger more reliable in serving the 
interests of those who are really calling the shots.

 I’m sure the Sanders campaign appreciated 
the opportunity to resurrect video of that 2011 
Senate floor speech in response to the Panama 
Papers revelations. I’m also sure that when 
he gave it, the last thing Sen. Bernie Sanders 
thought of, or wanted, was that five years from 
that time he’d be having to say, “I told you so”. 

Thanks to Ted Cruz’s primary win in 
Wisconsin, it’s now all but certain the 
Republican convention is going to be 
contested.

Donald Trump is going to come close 
to winning the delegates he’d need to 
win the nomination on the first ballot, 
but I don’t see him getting the GOP 
cigar.

Someone else will, I’m guessing. And 
don’t be shocked if his initials are not 
TC or JK.

The big question for right now is how 
the conventioneers in Cleveland and 
the Republicans watching on TV will 
react when their party’s intramural 
cage match is over.

Will those who saw their man knocked 
out of the ring act like adults or will 
they get angry, stomp out and not 
show up to vote for the GOP nominee 
in November?

As I said last week, it’s time for Republicans 
to relax and let the nominating 
process play out. It’s not time to unite 
behind a Cruz, a Kasich or a Trump. 

It’s too late for any of them to throw 
in their towels. Even Kasich, the one 
everybody but him agrees should have 
quit a dozen states ago, has a chance 
to win at a contested or deadlocked 
convention.

Most people can’t imagine what a 
contested convention will be like, but 
I can.

I was at the last one in 1976, when my 
father and his team did everything 
they could to stop a sitting Republican 
president from getting the number of 
delegates he needed.

To stop Gerald Ford my father tried 
to get delegates by shaking up the delegations 
from New York and Pennsylvania 
anyway they could.

Before the convention he said he’d 
pick Pennsylvania’s liberal Republican 
Senator Richard Schweiker.

The Reagan team also schmoozed and 
badgered the New York delegates so 
hard it drove Gov. Nelson Rockefeller 
mad.

At one point he ripped a phone out of 
the floor of the convention stage and, 
emitting a string of obscenities, threw 
it halfway across the hall.

It’s a rough and tumble business, 
folks. It’s not for pansies

It’s for people who want to get fully 
engaged in the cantankerous and raucous 
and riotous 
process of 
nominating a 
president.

My father 
fought hard 
in 1976 but 
he lost that 
process. His 
people fought hard too.

After all the backroom deals and fights 
over rules, they were disappointed 
and went home angry.

But in November they did the right 
thing. They united behind the party’s 
nominee and showed up at the polls 
to vote for Ford.

My father did the right thing too. Before 
the convention in Kansas City 
ended he stood up and supported 
Ford. Then he campaigned for him all 
over the country.

The lesson here is that you don’t get so 
angry about your guy losing that you 
don’t vote for the other guy who wins.

The process is the process.

Your guy might have the most delegates 
going into the convention, but 
if he doesn’t have at least 1,237 delegates, 
it’s not enough. Them’s the 
rules.

To win the nomination at a contested 
convention, your guy’s got to start 
making deals. Maybe with the Rubio 
delegates or the Kasich delegates or 
the Cruz delegates.

If anyone should understand this, it’s 
Donald Trump. He’s the guy who 
keeps telling us he’s the greatest dealmaker 
on the planet and can’t wait to 
start making trade deals with the Chinese 
and the Mexicans.



He’s the brilliant business guy, in case 
you haven’t heard him say it since 
noon, who wrote “The Art of the 
Deal” in 1987.

If he’s incapable of making a deal at 
the Republican convention to win the 
delegates he needs to clinch the nomination, 
maybe the GOP should look 
for the real author of “The Art of the 
Deal.” Because apparently it wasn’t 
the Donald.

Michael Reagan is the son of President 
Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, 
and the author of “The New Reagan 
Revolution” (St. Martin’s Press). 

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