WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2016
Today’s Good News And Bad News
From Our Local Political Junkie We’ll Call “Cincy Dave”

WIKILEAKS OCTOBER SURPRISE IS A BUST
The “devastating” blow to the Hillary Campaign, as promised by Trump advisor, Roger Stone, didn’t happen. Instead, an army of Trump Supporters and Hillary haters were the ones who were devastated, having stayed up all night to view the promised unveiling of the damaging information about Hillary that was supposed to be the end of her. The press conference at 3 A.M. Eastern Time with Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, turned out to be nothing more than a 2-hour long infomercial for Wikileaks on its 10th anniversary, selling books and asking for donations.

By the end, all the watchers realized that he had been had, or as one put it, “wikirolled”. Assange, as it turns out, had taken a page from Trump’s own playbook by drawing an audience with a tease, only to leave those tuning in feeling that they’d been tricked. He did however dangle the possibility of issuing some damaging information on Hillary at some vague future date.

Trump aide Roger Stone has therefore kept his streak alive of never saying anything factual for his entire life. Perhaps the promised Wikileaks dump on Hillary is just going to be a little bit late this year because the modern equivalent of the KGB is having a harder time than expected making stuff up that will pass the smell test. 

LAST NIGHT’S DEBATE
The Vice Presidential debate last night between Tim Kaine and Mike Pence was 90 minutes of accusations and question dodging that didn’t shed any light on who the VP candidates are, other than that they are both religious.

Mostly they talked about Trump and Hillary, as expected. Kaine repeatedly asked Pence to defend Trump’s statements and actions which Pence deftly didn’t even try to do. Kaine’s charges looked a little too well-rehearsed and Pence called him on it. In the after-debate spin, the Republicans naturally claimed that Pence won and the Democrats claimed that Kaine won.

The only real post-debate survey was a CNN survey which had Pence the winner at 48 to 42, probably based on the idea that Pence looked more presidential, white hair and all, and didn’t exhibit much emotion. In that, he was the opposite of Trump, prompting one Republican politician to suggest “flipping the ticket” to make Pence the presidential nominee. It is almost certain that Pence did himself more good than he did Trump, because it is widely agreed that the VP debate never makes even the slightest difference in the outcome of the presidential contest.

OOPS!
The GOP website, gop.com, published their post-debate analysis and comments, but just a little bit early – about 2 hours before the debate began. Of course, they said Pence won the debate and Hillary lost, but how did they know this? Maybe they have a time machine. If they do, can they tell us who won the election?

TRUMP’S TAX GENIUS
As we suggested a couple of days ago, Trump was not the tax genius that Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie claimed he was when he showed a $915 million loss in one year – it was his accountant. Now that accountant has come forward, telling reporters that he did all the work and The Donald didn’t do anything until the finished product was presented to him for his signature. The accountant, Jack Mitnick, is a specialist in preparing taxes for wealthy real estate investors. We wonder how long Giuliani and Christie can maintain the “Trump is a genius” story. 

GOOD NEWS FOR HILLARY
A federal judge has rejected a freedom of information request to release drafts of a proposed indictment of Hillary that was never issued. This proposed indictment stemmed from an investigation of the Whitewater controversy in the mid-1990s. At the time, the prosecutor who was seeking the indictment estimated the odds of a conviction at 10 percent. The judge is a G.W. Bush appointee, who said that, at the time, Hillary was a private citizen and although first lady, held no government position and therefore had privacy rights. The conservative group seeking the information vowed to fight on. 

MORE TRUMP FOUNDATION SHENANIGANS
Donald Trump used funds from the Trump Foundation to promote himself as a conservative candidate according to an article in Real Clear Politics. Many people have wondered how a thrice-married gambling casino owner could become the darling of the conservative Christians, so this is probably the answer. He simply used the money in his Foundation, that was donated by others, to buy the support of Christian organizations.

GARY JOHNSON
Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson has an interesting spin on how his ignorance of geography and foreign affairs is a plus for him. He says, “I can’t start wars with places if I can’t find them on a map.” This is both peculiar and not exactly true. If he were president, he could probably order the military to attack, say, Mosambique, and THEY would be able to find it, even if he couldn’t. All in all, not knowing where anything is doesn’t seem like much of a qualification for president.

TODAY’S STATE POLLS
The only real swing state here is North Carolina. If that one goes to Hillary, the rest will be a lot easier.

— More Good News And Bad News Tomorrow —