Tag: hated

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Accountability incumbents insider corruption moral hazard national politics & policies term limits too much government

Most Hated

John Tyler, Trump, hated, leverage, elites, Ted Cruz, Paul Jacob, despised, term limits, unpopular

I was once “the most hated man in Washington.”* Why? For my work on term limits.

I wore the appellation as a badge of honor.

Last year I noted that Ted Cruz had taken up the mantle, but now, certainly, it’s President Donald Trump’s.

Has ever a president been as hated? 

Thomas Jefferson was characterized as the Antichrist. Andrew Jackson made many enemies in overthrowing the Second National Bank. But John Tyler is the most interesting case. 

President Tyler was a Jeffersonian democrat who took up the office from William Henry Harrison, who died several weeks after being sworn in. Tyler was never accepted as legitimate by — get this — the Whig Party that nominated him. He was dubbed “His Accidency.” After opposing a revival of the national bank notion, there were riots, and his party expelled him. He received hundreds of death threats in the mail. Later he was almost impeached. 

Admittedly, Republicans haven’t abandoned Trump — yet. But the Democrats have opposed him from the beginning. And the Entertainment Industrial Complex never ceases to wage a culture war against him. What should the most hated man do?

Make the most of it.

One of his promises was to put congressional term limits into the Constitution. Congress is reluctant. But Trump can do what I couldn’t: use all the powers of the presidency — from the bully pulpit to the veto pen — to leverage those in Congress into proposing a constitutional amendment.

It won’t make President Trump any less hated in Washington, but will win support everywhere else.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

 

* That was in days of yore, the 1990s, and it was Bob Novak who gave me the appellation. Politicians, lobbyists and other government insiders hate term limits.

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nannyism national politics & policies political challengers too much government

Precedents for Hillary

Hillary, Nixon, president, awkward, hated, illustration

That grin. That cackle. Please: No more!

While there is much to be said against Donald Trump, and I’ve said some of it, the sheer unlikability and … distastefulness … of Hillary Clinton is … precedented.

Historically, she reminds me of two past Republican presidential candidates: Richard Milhous Nixon (1913 – 1994) and James G. Blaine (1830 – 1893).

Nixon was a power-​lusting careerist — just like Mrs. Clinton. Both made runs for office and were brushed aside before ultimate success. Clinton lost the Democratic nod to Obama in 2008; Nixon famously lost the presidential race to John F. Kennedy in 1960, and then went on to lose a governor’s race in California — to the current governor’s father.

But he got in when the Democratic Party was divided over the Vietnam War. If Clinton gets in it will be largely the result of Republican disarray, not her own sparkling personality and charm.

‘Crooked’ Hillary, like ‘Tricky Dick,’ demonstrates extreme social awkwardness as well no small trouble keeping her temper, and being likable. Both are probably best defined as misanthropes. That was Florence King’s judgment of Nixon, and I’d concur regarding Hillary.

But, in terms of corruption, could Hillary be worse than Nixon?

Surely, she’s not as corrupt as James G. Blaine was. Indeed, it was this Maine politician’s outrageous corruption that led to his undoing, and to the election of Democrat Grover Cleveland — despite Cleveland’s sex scandal.

Win or lose, Hillary will have made history, but it won’t be for her gender. Instead, for her striking similarity to past … deplorables.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Hillary, Nixon, president, awkward, hated, illustration

 

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Accountability ideological culture national politics & policies political challengers responsibility

The Most Hated

Ted Cruz, John Boehner, Paul Jacob, hated, MOST HATED MAN , term limits , Bob Novack

I’ve been robbed!!!

By Ted Cruz, no less.

Yes, without so much as a passing “Howdy-​do,” the Texas senator stole my cherished public mantel, simply waltzed in and snatched what was once my own special place in our nation’s capital.

You’ve heard it on the news, I’m sure. In a speech at Stanford University, former Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner lit into Sen. Ted Cruz, referring to him as “Lucifer in the flesh.” And a “miserable S.O.B.” to boot.

Boehner vowed never to vote for Cruz, adding: “Over my dead body will he be president.”

Back in January, former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, a 34-​year Washington fixture, attacked Cruz, arguing his nomination would lead to “cataclysmic losses,” and that, in Washington, “Nobody likes him.”

Can’t. Ignore. Ugly. Truth. Must. Face. Facts. Unmistakably: Sen. Ted Cruz is today … the MOST HATED MAN IN WASHINGTON.

Once upon a time, back in the day, I was hated. A LOT. The most, arguably.

In 1995, I was running U.S. Term Limits, battling Republican congressional leaders (an oxymoron), who were playing games to block term limits. At a news conference, then-​House Speaker Newt Gingrich, never a friend of term limits, went on a tirade. One of his more colorful slings was calling us “cannibals.”

Which turned out to be a great name for our softball team.

After the Speaker’s temper tantrum, the late, great Bob Novak told me I was “the most hated man in Washington.”

Now? Well … campaigning in Indiana, Sen. Cruz responded to Boehner’s attacks succinctly: “What made John Boehner mad is that I led a movement to hold Washington accountable.”

Yeah, sounds familiar.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Ted Cruz, John Boehner, Paul Jacob, hated, MOST HATED MAN , term limits , Bob Novack

 

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