Chris Matthews - Hard Ball

One thing leads to another.  Donald Trump trashes Megyn Kelly and it makes me look harder at Megyn Kelly.  I like her.  Who knew?

MSNBC suggests Rachel Maddow (I'm a fan) might be the smartest person on television, and I look harder at Ellen DeGeneres, the TV show host, actor, writer, producer, philanthropist and activist.  I think Rachel should aspire to the the Ellen DeGeneres of political pundits.

But the biggest surprise to me is the way Chris Matthews interviews a person with such a badgering manner.  Hardball I guess.  In his interview with Donald Trump, Matthew's signature method of asking a question, and as soon as the answer starts, he pounces with quick one liners amplifying the question or even changing the subject.  He makes a listeners try harder to understand the person being bullied.  I've never before tried to understand Donald Trump.  (Still don't.)  

​In defense of Chris Matthews, he treats everyone same, even his colleagues.  I've come to like them better, too.

It's hard to believe that anyone could believe that we are seeing real debates in this political season.  The Democrat debates are just OK and the Republican thing does not deserve the name.

But debates have a place.  We can learn the positions of those in the debate and the organizations they represent.  So what would serve our purposes?

How about a debate between Paul Ryan and Elizabeth Warren. Here are two intellectually active members of our government who a articulate and have a stand.  They oppose each other on some very critical issues, and they can speak to the issues with mutual respect along with conviction.

Would anyone deny this would be better than the foolishness we are currently being served?

Those of us of a certain age recall the cold war Civil Defense training that we had in school.  In case of a nuclear attack, hid under your desk at school.

Today, with the War on Terror, we do not have the same directive. We're told to be watchful.  Look for anything out of the ordinary. Is this the same as thinking out of the box?

The governments of the world will take care of us?  Surely they will do the best they can.  And there is considerable they can do. But the real point is what can we do?

An interesting case might be made based on the stupidity of Mr. Trumps desire to close our boarders to Muslims. Surely this makes Muslims easier to radicalize, but that's for a different discussion. We desperately need Muslims all over the world to discover those few radicals and stop them. Muslims are us.

And then every person in the world, must join with our Muslims friends to also discover those few radicals and stop them.

The governments have their turf to operate on.  Citizens of the world have theirs. And the citizens are smart and can take action.

The investigating agencies need to tell the world how a terrorist works. The time when a strategy of secrecy has past. Sure it is possible that telling us all how the Brussels terrorists did their deed might train copycats.  But among those that want to be terrorists, the methods are not secret.  The secret is being kept from those who might notice and report and act in ways to thwart the terrorist.

Publish it all! Teach us exactly, precisely the things we are looking for. Those charged with being watchful should know what they are watching for. And as new methods are practiced, those should be know widely.

Knowledge is power.




 

Today is the day of a Brussels double bombing by ISIS.

Today is the day the President spoke in Cuba.

Today is the day Trump calls for waterboarding.

Today is the day of a bunch of primary action.

Today is the day to talk this over.