Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/656275
GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIALBOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS It'sthigh-slappinglyfunnytorecallthatRNC chairman Reince Priebus said on the eve of this national race that "Republicans will choose from a deep bench of presidential material." Afterthelatestroundof contests and the latest win- nowing of the field, here's what the GOP is left with: A celebrity hate-peddler whose agenda is built on bluster, a far-right government-crash- ing ideologue who would lose 40 states, and a governor whose primary season record is 1-28. Yes, folks, the GOP's long- gestating existential cri- sis has finally arrived. What does it stand for as a party? Three years after vowing, in an official report, to adopt a more tolerant tone and nur- ture relations with an in- creasingly diverse elector- ate, is it now willing to let it- self be trampled by Donald Trump? How hard is it pre- pared to fight (if at all) to re- gain its self-respect and re- tain its claim to being "the party of Lincoln?" The delegate math makes these questions ever more ur- gent. After winning in Flor- ida, Illinois, North Caro- lina, and (apparently) Mis- souri, Trump is well-poised to reach the Cleveland con- vention with a solid plurality of delegates. His loss in Ohio, courtesy of home-boy Gov. John Kasich, is a stone in his shoe that slows his march, but he can still clinch a del- egate majority if he wins 60 percent of those not yet cho- sen. That's arguably a tall or- der. But his chief rival is Ted Cruz, who's widely hated in the party, and who's surely toxic in late-voting delegate- rich states like California, New York and New Jersey. Within the party, there's still great unease about Trump. According to the Ohio exit polls, 43 percent of those who voted in the Re- publican primary said they would "seriously consider voting for a third-party can- didate" if Trump wins the nomination. That's signif- icant, because no Republi- can has ever won the White House without winning Ohio. And similar sentiment was expressed elsewhere. In North Carolina, a state that went blue eight years ago, 39 percent of voting Repub- licans said they'd seriously look at a third-party candi- date if Trump gets the nod. In Missouri, a state that has tilted red in the last four elections, that share was 43 percent. In swing-state Flor- ida, it was 29 percent. So is the GOP prepared to blow up its own convention in order to thwart Trump? Under the current rules, only those candidates who have won the majority of delegates in eight states can be for- mally placed in nomination. Right now, only Trump meets that criterion. Cruz might hit that mark, but Kasich probably won't. But if the GOP is serious about stop- ping Trump, it could vote to dump that rule — thus boost- ing Kasich, or perhaps pav- ing the way for a late entrant who didn't run in the prima- ries at all. The hope — among saner, civil Republicans — is that Trump comes up short on the first ballot, so that enough delegates would be freed up for subsequent ballots. The hope is they would then ratio- nally assess the race by look- ing at electability. And the fact is, Hillary Clinton has been beating Trump in virtu- ally every poll. But if the GOP heeds the electability factor and some- how manages to come to its senses, what would happen then? Trump might well an- nounce that the party isn't treating him nice and bolt, taking his fans with him. Which would leave the party just as fractured. Still, maybe a Trump ex- odus is the best outcome — because otherwise, this au- tumn, all the down-ballot swing-state Republicans will be compelled to say whether they agree with their nomi- nee's denigration of women, stoking of violence, endorse- ment of torture, exploitation of bigotry, and whatever acts of repugnance that have yet to be committed. It's their soul at stake. Will they try to save it? DickPolmanisthenational political columnist at NewsWorks/WHYY in Philadelphia (newsworks. org/polman) and a "Writer in Residence" at the University of Philadelphia. Email him at dickpolman7@ gmail.com. Dick Polman GOP gapes at its existential crisis Cartoonist's take Over the weekend, I wit- nessed yet more violence by the anti-Trump left in Arizona. As I pointed out last week, it is a form of violence to vi- olate a political rally—a private event arranged and paid for by a candidate's cam- paign—with in- terference that ef- fectively nullifies the constitu- tional rights of that candidate and his supporters. Those decrying physical force used against such agita- tors should bear in mind the "Rambo" adage: "They drew first blood." I don't want Mr. Trump to condemn those in his rallies for taking a stand against the disruptors until we hear, from the mouths of Hill- ary Clinton or Bernie Sand- ers, firm condemnations of the violent mobs that shut down Trump's Chicago rally or that shut down a road providing ac- cess to an Arizona rally, includ- ing violent property destruc- tion. Look up "Chicago Cop: Anti- Trump Mob More Aggres- sive and Destructive than Re- ported," by Warner Todd Hus- ton, Breitbart.com. "It seems the [media] aren't broadcast- ing footage of the debris be- ing thrown across Harrison by Sanders/Hillary supporters at Trump fans," the officer wrote at "Second City Cop blog." Also, no reports surfaced of "pro- testers running through park- ing lots and breaking windows of cars with Trump stickers on them." Instead, Bernie wouldn't con- demn left wing disruptors but said, "they are only responding" to Trump. Yeah, like the union goons in Philadelphia, when then-President Bill Clinton came to town, who beat up (re- sponded to?) families peacefully holding anti-Clinton signs. Or union thugs caught on camera beating up (responding to?) Tea Party demonstrators in 2010— including a disabled black man at a table selling buttons at a congressman's town hall. Or similar leftist union hood- lums that forced their way into town hall rooms so they could push out (respond to?) citi- zens that simply wanted to ex- press their objections to the Obamacare law. Or college left- ist "brown shirts" that have routinely disrupted, and force- fully taken the stage from (re- sponded to?), conservative im- migration opponents or Israel supporters. I saw "crosshairs" centered on Donald Trump's face dur- ing a phone interview on ABC's "This Week with George Ste- phenopoulos". ABC's digital backdrop had one horizontal line and several vertical lines; next to Trump's face were the words, "On the phone: Donald Trump." One vertical line crossed the horizontal line precisely in the middle of Trump's face at his teeth level. Coincidence? As of yesterday, the screen shot re- mained at the beginning of the 5-minute interview posted at slate.com, "Donald Trump re- fuses to condemn supporter who punched and kicked a pro- tester." We all remember caterwaul- ing over "crosshairs" in politics in 2011. That January, "CNN's John King issued a prompt on- air apology minutes after a guest on his program used the term 'crosshairs' during a seg- ment: 'We're trying to get away from using that kind of lan- guage.'" Here are samples of Obama's rhetoric, 2008-2009: "Argue with neighbors, get in their faces… If you get hit, we will punch back twice as hard… I don't want to quell anger. I think people are right to be an- gry. I'm angry… If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun. Because from what I un- derstand folks in Philly like a good brawl." The headline, "Obama's Dis- honest Assessment of the GOP Presidential Race," almost writes itself, given Obama's aversion to the truth: "Today at his press conference, Presi- dent Obama was asked about the battle for the Republican presidential nomination. His re- sponse could hardly have been more dishonest. "Echoing a favorite talk- ing point of Hillary Clinton and the DNC, Obama asserted that Donald Trump merely ex- presses in 'more interesting ways' the views of the GOP field as a whole. This is untrue." No other Republican candi- date proposes a ban on Muslim entry to the U.S.; neither do any candidates propose systemati- cally rounding up and deport- ing every illegal immigrant in the U.S. To be thoroughly hon- est, Trump only proposed a "temporary" ban on Muslim im- migrants until it can be made certain that none of them are supporters of the Islamic State or jihadist terrorism. Most Americans would support such a policy, as they support, in a poll I saw, removing illegal im- migrants with few exceptions. When Obama, or any other Democrat supporting Hillary or Bernie, say Republicans are "anti-immigrant," "anti-Mus- lim" or "racist," they are, to be frank, simply lying; they have no factual support or corrobo- rating statements. "Finally, Obama said that all of the Republican candidates 'are denying climate change.' This turns out to be false as well. Some candidates do not accept 'the science' on climate change as settled; others (basi- cally half of them) do, but reject the left's prescription for deal- ing with the problem." (Paul Mirengoff) A pair of tweets are worth a thousand words on Hillary Clinton's hypocrisy and cor- ruption. First, Hillary sent this: "It's absolutely unacceptable that the gun industry can't be held accountable when they en- danger Americans." A respond- ing tweet from one Miranda, @Moonraker33, went: "Do we hold the computer industry ac- countable when someone mis- handles classified gov't Intel on a private email server?" Donald Trump tweeted: "Hillary Clinton has been in- volved in corruption for most of her professional life!" He practi- cally invited this response from Ted Cruz: "Then why did you contribute thousands of dollars to her?" The old Chinese curse of "liv- ing in interesting times" ap- pears to be upon us. Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@ yahoo.com. The way I see it More hijinks from the le According to the Ohio exit polls, 43 percent of those who voted in the Republican primary said they would "seriously consider voting for a third-party candidate" if Trump wins the nomination. Don Polson President Barack Obama: The White House 1600Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, D.C. 20500 Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456- 1414 Fax: 202-456-2461 president@whitehouse.gov U.S. Senate Dianne Feinstein: Hart Senate Office Building Room 331 Washington, D.C. 20510 Phone: 202-224-3841 Fax: 202-228-3954 One Post St., Suite 2450 San Francisco, CA 94104 415-393-0707 Fax: 415-393-0710 Website: feinstein.senate. gov Barbara Boxer: Hart Senate Office Building Room 112 Washington, D.C. 20510 Phon e: 202-224-3553 Fax: 202-228-3865 501I St., Suite 7-600 Sacramento, CA 95814 916-448-2787 Website: boxer.senate.gov U.S. Representative Jared Huffman: 1630Longworth House Office Building Washington D.C. 20515 Phone: 202-225-5161 Fax: 202-225-5163 3173rd St., Suite 1 Eureka, CA 95501 Eureka phone: 707-407- 3585 Fax: 707-407-3559 Website: huffman.house.gov Governor Jerry Brown: State Capitol Building, Suite 1173 Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: 916-445-2841 Fax: 916-558-3160 State Senate Mike McGuire: 130310th Street Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: 916-651-4002 Fax: 916-651-4902 710E Street Suite #150 Eureka, CA 95501 Eureka phone: 707-445- 6508 Eureka fax: 707-445-6511 To email, visit http://sd02. senate.ca.gov/contact/ email State Assembly Jim Wood: P.O. Box 942849 Sacramento, CA 94249- 0002 Phone: 916-319-2002 Fax: 916-319-2102 Eureka phone: 707-445- 7014 Fax: 707-445-6607 To email, visit http://asmdc. org/members/a02/ Local Tehama County Supervi- sors: 527-4655 District 1 Steve Chamblin, Ext. 3015 District 2 Candy Carlson, Ext. 3014 District 3 Dennis Garton, Ext. 3017 District 4 Bob Williams, Ext. 3018 District 5 Burt Bundy, Ext. 3016 Red Bluff City Manager: Richard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Corning City Manager: Kristina Miller, 824-7033 Let them know How to contact local and national public officials. OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, March 22, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6