Hillary Hillary Clinton’s acceptance speech was classic tax-and-spend liberalism, with numerous sops thrown to Bernie Sanders supporters. Why oh why couldn’t the GOP nominate someone who could decently and honorably oppose her?  But no.  Follow the link to yet another penetrating analysis from David Harsanyi of The Federalist:

“The DNC Reminded Us Just How Badly the GOP Blew It” July 29, 2016

. . . to find out that Donald Trump has banned Washington Post reporters, as well as those of other major news outlets, from attending his campaign events.  They have had their press credentials taken away, and as you will see in the story below, his security is not even allowing a reporter to attend a rally as a private citizen.  This should be a wake-up call to every Trump supporter.  I had several other ideas in mind to write about today.  (Actually, I was going to ask why the Democrats seem to get all the good speechwriters.)  But this action by the Trump campaign takes the cake.  It is simply more of the same attitude that Trump showed previously when he threatened to sue reporters who wrote anything negative about him.  Folks, this is scary stuff.  Whatever criticisms you may have of Hillary Clinton, and there are puh-lenty of them to have, believe me, this is operating on a whole ‘nother plane. 

“A Post Reporter Was Banned from a Trump-Pence Rally Yesterday.  That Should Frighten You.”  Washington Post, July 28, 2016.

Well, the DNC is now half over.  I’ve declared a moratorium on sitting in front of the TV and watching it, so tonight I’ll be painting the deck and listening to it on the radio.  No matter what your stance in this election you’ll have to acknowledge the stark contrast between Ted Cruz’s being booed off the stage for refusing to endorse Trump and Bernie Sanders’ call for a unanimous approval for Clinton.  I have a feeling that there was plenty of arm-twisting behind the scenes to produce that result, but who knows?  And my goodness!  As I said to Gideon last night after Bill Clinton’s speech, “Did she really do all that stuff?  It would have taken six people, surely.”  I haven’t taken the time this morning to go to the fact-checking websites to see how much of his speech was accurate.  You have to hand it to the man, though: he knows how to get a crowd to listen to him.

I’m going to shamelessly depend on The Federalist again today for thoughtful commentary.  There are a number of articles critiquing various aspects of the convention so far on this site which are well worth reading.  However, since the theme of my blog is the hard choice that must be made by thoughtful conservatives in this election, I’m posting the following:

“If David Duke Won, Would Republicans Have to Vote for Him?” by David Harsanyi, July 27, 2016.

Huge embarrassment over the past few days for the Democrats as they headed into their convention, with the party chair, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, being forced to resign over the revelations of less-than-even-handed behavior on the part of the Democratic Party toward its two main candidates.  First W-S was still going to gavel the convention (and I’m sure that would have gone over well) and then, at pretty much the last possible moment, she was replaced in that role by Representative Marcia Fudge of Ohio.  (Rep. Fudge showed up in the PBS booth after she’d opened the convention, and I’d have to say that the phrases “tough cookie” and “cool as a cucumber” both apply to her.)  So this whole kerfuffle is getting a lot of play by the Republicans, and one has to say, fair enough.  After the drubbing the RNC took in the media last week, they’re looking for ammunition to use similarly against the Democrats.

In the breathing space between the two conventions, here’s a very thorough analysis of the foundations of Donald Trump’s philosophy (if I’m not totally devaluing that term by using it in this way).  It’s quite long, but you can get the gist of it in the first three paragraphs.  Later on in the piece there is the fabulous line:  “Short of Jesus Christ, no one can centrally plan an economy.”

I would encourage you to take the time to read the entire piece:

“Donald Trump’s Culture War” by Joy Pullmann, The Federalist, July 25, 2016

 I hope your blood froze last night as you listened to Donald Trump say at the end (finally) of his 76-minute acceptance speech (longest in recorded history) that “no one knows the system better than me, which is why I’m the only one who can fix it.”  Grammar aside, this was a telling statement.  He’s saying, “Just trust me.  I know what to do.”  Thank goodness he showed his true colors in this speech.  No one now has any excuse for thinking he’s the guy for us.

Follow the link to yet another perceptive, thoughtful article from The Federalist:

“Trump’s Acceptance Speech Was a Eulogy for the COP” by John Daniel Davidson, The Federalist, July 22, 2016

Here’s my question:  Wh-a-a-a-t?!

You’re going to have to stick with me here as I try to parse this whole “Hillary is really a Satan worshipper” hoo-ha. Here’s the point I’m trying to make: We conservatives (please note the “we”) just make ourselves look foolish and waste a lot of time on these completely, absolutely, totally ridiculous rabbit trails that have nothing to do with the issues at hand.  Just like the birther movement.  (In my darkest moments of cynicism I think that whole theory was dreamed up by a brilliant Obama staffer. “Hey guys!  I just thought of a way to make the conservatives look naive and gullible!” But alas no.  We all know who the most prominent Birther of them all is.)

There’s an embarrassment of riches about the embarrassments at the Republican National Circus, but if I have to choose one to highlight today it would be the egregious benediction given at the end of the first night by Pastor Mark Burns.  Read the article here:

“Why Mark Burns’ RNC Benediction Was Terrible” by Hans Fiene, The Federalist, July 19, 2016

One benefit to my interest in following this campaign has come from stumbling across the rich treasure trove of thoughtful, conservative articles at The Federalist, many of them obviously written by Bible-believing Christians (including one by a former member of our beloved downtown DC church).  See the sidebar for a full listing of all articles that I’ve cited in this blog thus far.

Excellent article in The Federalist setting out in no uncertain terms what many wise commentators have also been saying:  The only Republicans/conservatives who will have any credibility left after this election will be the ones who had the guts to withhold support from Donald Trump.  And they will basically have to build a new party.

I was forcefully reminded of two sayings that my childhood pastor repeated many times:

1.  Everything rises and falls on leadership.

2.  If you want to know what a pastor is like, look at his church.  The wider application:  If you want to know what a leader is like, look at his followers.

Here’s the article:

Cleveland Is the End of the GOP As We Know It
by John Daniel Davidson, July 18, 2016

The Briefing 4-01-16