Democrat

Thursday December 8, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday December 8, 2022

Red states and blue states; the coming 2024 U.S. Presidential Election

November 17, 2022

Donald J. Trump’s unusually early announcement of a third presidential campaign was aimed in part at clearing the Republican field for 2024, but his first three weeks as a candidate have undercut that goal, highlighting his vulnerabilities and giving considerable ammunition to those in the G.O.P. arguing to turn the page on him.

Since emerging from the November election with a string of humiliating losses to show for his pretensions to be a midterm kingmaker, Mr. Trump has entertained a leading white supremacist and a celebrity antisemite at his South Florida mansion.

He has suggested terminating the Constitution — the one that a president swears to preserve, protect and defend — in furtherance of his long-running lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

Friday February 7, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday February 7, 2020

Is Donald Trump America’s new normal?

November 16, 2019

The political fates are fickle. This was supposed to be Donald Trump’s worst week as America’s president, but it’s turned into his best.

This was supposed to be the week his impeachment trial exposed him as unfit to hold the highest office in the land, the week his abysmal record in the Oval office came back to haunt him and the week his Democratic opponents proved they’re ready to take him on in November’s presidential election.

None of it happened. The Democrats, who invested so much political capital into impeaching Trump, need to come up with Plan B. Their Plan A was a flop and the Democrats are stumbling just when they should be hitting their stride.

If you think Trump’s presidency has been an unmitigated disaster for the planet — and we know the vast majority of Canadians do — you should be worried by all this. Very worried.

October 10, 2019

Instead of signalling the death of his erratic presidency, Trump’s impeachment trial breathed new life into it. There was clear proof he pressured a foreign country — Ukraine — to discredit one of his potential political rivals — Joe Biden. We know he called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last July. We know Trump was withholding $391 million (U.S.) in military aid to Ukraine, too.

Despite the damning evidence against him, it was always going to be an uphill struggle to convince two-thirds of the Senate, which is dominated by Trump’s own Republicans, to convict him. Trump’s acquittal was predicted. But because the Republicans blocked the testimony of key witnesses, the trial was a sham that discredited a once noble house of Congress.

As for the great American public, it largely tuned out from the televised tedium. No wonder Trump gloated. The latest Gallup poll gives him a 49 per cent approval rating from Americans, his highest score since being elected. And on Tuesday, the day before his Senate acquittal, Trump had the opportunity to sing his own praises in his annual State of the Union address, claiming undeserved responsibility for what he calls the “Great American comeback.”

November 2, 2019

Clearly the prevailing winds are at Trump’s back. What’s more troubling is they’re blowing in the faces of the Democrats. They were thoroughly embarrassed by the technical glitches that delayed the results from their Iowa caucuses Monday.

Far more seriously, the party is badly split, uncertain whether its path to victory runs through the moderate centre or the progressive left of the U.S. political spectrum. Nor would we recommend betting your house on an election win for any of the Democrats’ current crop of candidates, including the self-proclaimed democratic socialist Bernie Sanders or the leaden, former vice-president Biden.

As we look at an America and cherished American institutions that increasingly seem unrecognizable, we wonder if three years of Trump have succeeded in deadening the nation’s senses to the divisions and disruptions he has sewn at home and around the world. If you live with a clown long enough, maybe you’re comfortable in a circus.

Of course, we’re commenting partly on the events of one week. The election remains nine months away and Trump’s presidency could still end in a train-wreck. But Trump became president in 2016 with less than half of the popular vote and could do so again.

It will be up to American voters to rid their country and the world of this president. It will be up to the Democrats to choose a candidate who can convince the country to do this. Today, sadly, neither of these things is at all certain. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

Tuesday November 6, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Tuesday November 6, 2012

Election envy? Canada’s the lucky country

Canadian beaver looks forward to US election boxing match

How time flies! Four years ago tonight, we Canadians were feeling awfully sorry for ourselves. You’d just elected the coolest, hippest president since JFK. We’d just elected Stephen Harper. No wonder we had leader envy. Why couldn’t we find a leader as progressive and charismatic as yours? Why were we stuck in a cold country with politicians who are as dull and uninspiring as November’s mud?

Today, we wouldn’t change places with you for anything. Canada has held its own while you’ve gone downhill. The United States is flat broke, and so are California, New York and Illinois. Your unemployment rate is higher, your inequality is greater and you have 46 million people on food stamps.

What’s worse, you might wind up with a Republican president again. Aieee!

In the event of a debacle, some of you have asked if Canada’s doors are open to you. I assure you that you would be more than welcome. Disgruntled Americans have been fleeing to Canada since 1776. We could set up refugee camps with Target stores so you’ll feel at home.You’ll be relieved to know we already have Starbucks. But if you want to fit in, you’ll need to practise saying “double-double.”

There are other tricky nuances to life up here. “Blue” and “red” mean the opposite of what you’re used to. Our blue politicians are pretty red, meaning progressive. If you listen to some people in Toronto talk, you might think our government is led by fascists in jackboots, but that’s not strictly true. Even our Conservatives believe in universal health care. They’ve even promised to cut military spending. By the way, did I mention that gay marriage has been legal for years?  (Source: Globe & Mail) 

 

Thursday January 26, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Thursday January 26, 2012

Obama’s speech echoes Occupy movement themes

The Crown-First Nations gathering in Ottawa was a classic example of a failure to communicate.

President Obama’s State of the Union speech was widely described as populist for its focus on economic fairness and demand that the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share of taxes.

Linking the dominant themes in Obama’s nationally televised address Tuesday to the mantras of the Occupy Wall Street movement would have been unthinkable five months ago. But in having its message echoed in the State of the Union address, the Occupy movement reached a milestone in changing the national conversation.

When Obama said Tuesday that “if you make under $250,000 a year, like 98 percent of American families, your taxes shouldn’t go up,” Rosenthal said, “it’d be hard not to say that he was alluding to the Occupy movement.”

Obama never specifically mentioned Occupy – and probably won’t, analysts said, because the term remains politically divisive. For some, the dominant images of Occupy are of street activists confronting police and committing vandalism, as has occurred several times after Occupy demonstrations in Oakland.

The movement is also influencing the GOP presidential primary race.

If not for Occupy, said Miller, it is doubtful that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and others would attack fellow Republican Mitt Romney for layoffs at companies run by Bain Capital, the private-equity company Romney founded. But such attacks became more palatable after Occupy took hold, Miller added. “For the Republicans to say that was extraordinary,” Miller said. (Source: San Francisco Chronicle) 

 

Tuesday October 21, 2008

 

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 21, 2008

Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama

Colin Powell, a Republican and retired general who was President Bush’s first secretary of state, broke with the party Sunday and endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president, calling him a “transformational figure” while criticizing the tone of John McCain’s campaign.

The former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman said either senator is qualified to be commander in chief. But after studying both, he concluded that Obama is better suited than McCain, the standard-bearer of Powell’s own party, to handle the nation’s economic problems and help improve its world standing.

“It isn’t easy for me to disappoint Sen. McCain in the way that I have this morning, and I regret that,” Powell said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where he announced the endorsement and delivered a serious blow to the aspirations of his longtime friend, Arizona Sen. McCain.

But, Powell added: “I think we need a transformational figure. I think we need a president who is a generational change and that’s why I’m supporting Barack Obama, not out of any lack of respect or admiration for Sen. John McCain.”

The endorsement by Powell amounted to a stunning rejection of McCain, a 26-year veteran of Congress and a former Vietnam prisoner of war who has campaigned as the experienced, tested candidate who knows how to keep the country safe.

Powell’s endorsement has been much anticipated because of his impressive foreign policy credentials, a subject on which Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, is weak. Powell is a Republican centrist popular among moderate voters. (Source: Daily Herald Tribune)