Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/679557
It'smyparty,andI'llcryifIwantto Cry if I want to, cry if I want to You would cry too if it happened to you Idon'tknowifthelateLes- ley Gore was a Republican or a Democrat. But after what's hap- pened in the last year, the Re- publican National Committee ought to license her 1963 hit for its theme song. I know a lot of conservatives who'd sing along with "It's My Party" — many with tears in their eyes. As I've said, like it or not, the Republican Party is no lon- ger the Party of Lincoln or Reagan. It's the Party of Don- ald J. Trump — for the next six months, at least. If Republicans stand the slightest chance of winning back the White House and hold- ing on to Congress this fall, and they still do, it's all up to Trump. He's the one who spent the last year smashing the GOP platform into splinters with his pseudo Republican positions and promises. He's the big- mouth who threw schoolyard insults at the lineup of Republi- can primary losers whose help he now desperately needs. Trump is the only one who can put the Party of Humpty Dumpty back together again, the only one who can save the country from four years of "Cor- rupt Hillary" and her tiresome old man. Trump thinks he can win the general election with- out the help of the GOP estab- lishment or his primary victims, but he can't. Defeating the GOP's bloated all-star team in the primary without anyone's help was one thing. Winning the general elec- tion will be a lot different and a lot harder. This fall Trump is going to need the blood, sweat and tears of every politician and voter in America with an "R" af- ter his or her name. He's the new leader of the Re- publican Party, whether he or Mitt Romney likes it or not. He's got to man up, put a choke leash on his ego and be- gin talking and acting like a fu- ture president. His first important job, which I hope started Thursday with his meet-up with House Speak Paul Ryan, is to patch up his re- lations with all those fellow Re- publicans he had so much fun offending and discrediting. Yes, Donald, that means reaching out to "Lying Ted's" people, "Little Marco's" peo- ple "Lazy Jeb's" people and even "Loser Mitt's" people. It means at least making the effort — in public or in pri- vate — to say whatever needs to be said to the Bush family and everyone else to get them on board the 2016 Trump Train — even if they're just passengers. Ditto for Lindsay Graham and everyone else in the Never Trump camp who said they'd rather take poison than support the billionaire populist. It's pretty simple. Trump needs Cruz's people, Rubio's people, Mitt's people and every other elected Republican's peo- ple to show up at the polls in November and vote for him. But for that to happen Trump has to figure out how to get humble real fast. He has to apol- ogize and sweet talk everyone from Cruz and Rubio to George W. Bush's favorite hunting dog. Trump's the one who broke the GOP. He's the only one who can put it back together again. If he can't do it soon — like yesterday — millions of Republi- cans are going stay home again this fall and Hillary will start shopping for Supreme Court Justices. Then you'll really hear some crying at what's left of my father's party. MichaelReaganisthesonof President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press). Send comments to Reagan@ caglecartoons.com. Follow @ reaganworld on Twitter. MichaelReagan DonaldTrump still needs the Republicans Cartoonist's take GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD 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 Greg Stevens, Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD 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 By Michael Reagan Of all the hype and non- sense in the presidential cam- paign — and there's an over- whelming amount of it — the biggest ca- nard is that many Republi- cans will refuse to support Don- ald Trump. Paul Ryan's tap dancing makes that clear. Shortly after becom- ing House Speaker in Octo- ber, Ryan said flatly he would support any GOP nominee, in- cluding Trump. Then he shuf- fled a bit in response to a few of Trump's outlandish remarks. Trump countered by warning that if Ryan didn't support him he'd "pay a very big price." Once Trump locked up the nomination, Ryan made over- inflated headlines by declaring that he couldn't support Trump "right now." Shame on news me- dia for reporting that gibberish as if it were anything other than short-term posturing. Less than a week later, Trump and Ryan issued a "joint statement" that they had made "a very positive step toward uni- fication." Translation: by July, Ryan and virtually all of the Re- publican hierarchy will be glad- handing Trump at the GOP con- vention and campaigning for him into November. And why not? The truth about presidential politics nowadays is that voters are se- lecting a party to control the executive branch. Primaries are about personalities, but not so general elections. It would be nice if that weren't true — and a lot more would be accomplished in the gridlocked halls of Congress if elected officials, and voters, were willing to compromise. But they're not. If you're a Republican, you agree wholeheartedly with the statement released by Trump and Ryan: "The United States cannot afford another four years of the Obama White House, which is what Hillary Clinton represents." And if you're a Democrat, no matter what you think of Clin- ton and her whopping "un- favorables," nothing is more important than keeping the White House out of Trump's hands — whatever size they turn out to be. There are a few representa- tives of the GOP elite, such as Mitt Romney, who have dug such deep holes in bashing Trump that they might have to sit out the election. But they are few and far between. More typical is Louisiana's Bobby Jindal, writing in The Wall Street Journal: "I do not pretend Donald Trump is the Reaganesque leader we so des- perately need, but he is cer- tainly the better of two bad choices." Jindal reminds us that he "mocked (Trump's) ap- pearance, demeanor, ideology and ego in the strongest lan- guage I have ever used publicly to criticize anyone in politics." And now Jindal is endorsing Trump. Case closed. The same return to party reasoning will occur with most of Bernie Sanders' sup- porters when, in November, it comes time to vote for Clinton: Not Clinton the person, but Clinton the Democrat. If nothing else, the future of the Supreme Court alone should drive voters to the party of their choice, not ei- ther individual candidate. The two parties had their chance in the primaries and an argument can be made that both sides blew it. Imagine a Kasich-Biden election. What a fascinating political exercise that might have been. Instead we have two candi- dates, neither of whom, indi- vidually, is the life of the party. Yet, in this election, their par- ty's life is at stake. Peter Funt can be reached at www.CandidCamera.com Peter Funt Nonsense in the presidential campaign It was a long time coming. Women's voting rights, I mean. In 1916 Jeanette Rankin of Montana was the first woman elected to the House of Repre- sentatives. Wood- row Wilson stated that the Demo- cratic Party plat- form would sup- port women's suf- frage. In 1917 New York women gained suffrage. The word simply means "the right to vote." In June, arrests of the Na- tional Woman's party picketers began on charges of obstructing sidewalk traffic. Subsequent pick- eters were sentenced to up to six months in jail. In November, the government unconditionally re- leased the picketers in response to public outcry and an inability to stop National Woman's Party picketers' hunger strike. In 1918 Representative Rankin opened a debate on a suffrage amendment in the House. The amendment passed, but failed to win the re- quired two thirds majority in the Senate. In 1919 President Wilson ad- dressed the Senate about adopt- ing woman suffrage at the end of World War I. The Senate finally passed the Nineteenth Amend- ment and the ratification process began. Finally, August 26, 1920 three quarters of the state legis- latures ratified the Nineteenth Amendment and American Women won full voting rights. This overdue remedy was indeed slow in coming. The next step? To vote a woman into the office of the Pres- idency. The Presidential ballot this fall will most likely contain the familiar name of a woman on it. So, what's not to like? Well, for one, Hillary Clinton. On the local level a reader sent me the following after having read my column and of my appar- ent endorsement of H. Clinton: "I don't think she is a good can- didate at all. It is not that impor- tant to me to have a woman in the White House — just a strong leader. I'm looking for some- thing completely different from the 'hope and change' we have had for the past 7.5 years. Hillary would be more of the same except she is more of a hawk." I replied, "I understand your concern, but best not to vote at all than vote for Trump." However, the reader did not agree and the debate goes on. ••• As a sidebar to women's rights, there is trouble brewing regard- ing the suggestion that a woman's face should appear on the next $10 or $20 bill. Why would that upset members of the fair sex? Be- cause some of the Treasury gents want to put said face on the rear of an existing bill. What? More back of the bus affrontry? ••• Speaking of women in politics, be aware that Candy Carlson is running for re-election as Super- visor in District 2, and as vote by mail ballots are coming out, vot- ers would be well served to see her continue in office. She has in- stigated regular "talk to the Su- pervisor" sessions which allow tax payers' gripes to be heard. Not only heard but to be acted upon. However, she is up against a block of entrenched males who often vote in concert thus change is not forthcoming. I urge you to vote Candy Carl- son to remain in office, and to think of elections in the fu- ture which may break up the Tehama County Supervisors' "block parties." ••• Police Log in DN: "A Motel 6 employee reported guests had left property and a dog behind in their room." Some people do not deserve to own a dog, and when they abandon one, they should be suitably rewarded for their behavior. I'm thinking 20 lashes for starters. ••• From Leah Garchik's Monday column in the S.F. Chron: "Ruth Bailey observes with hope and op- timism, 'that Trump will be in- cluded in the new air bag recall.'" And in a Daily News column by Dick Polman, he offers us another observation by the great critic H.L. Mencken, uttered nearly 100 years ago but so very true to- day: "On some great and glori- ous day the plain folks of the land will reach their hearts desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." ••• Not for a moment are we lumping Trump Supporters in with the movement to create the State of Jefferson here in North- ern California, but suffice to say both groups yearn mightily for change, and this sometimes is cause for poor judgment and strange bedfellows. For example, Brian Dahle, As- semblyman for the 1st District, received and responded to a let- ter writer from Redding in which she urged him to introduce legis- lation to divide the state. He re- plied, in part, "I have the pleasure of representing nearly 500,000 constituents in my Assembly dis- trict, and at this time I do not get the sense that the majority of these constituents support the State of Jefferson movement." Good show Brian. ••• A painter by the name of Mur- phy, while not a brilliant scholar, was a gifted portrait artist. Over a short number of years, his fame grew and soon people from all over Ireland were com- ing to the town of Miltown Mal- bay, in County Clare, to get him to paint their likenesses. One day, a beautiful young English woman arrived at his house and asked if he would paint her in the nude. This being the first time anyone had made such a request he was a bit perturbed, particularly when the woman told him that money was no object; in fact, and she was willing to pay up to $10,000. Not wanting to get into any marital strife, he asked her to wait while he went into the house to confer with his wife Mary. They talked much about the Rightness and Wrongness of it and it was hard to make the de- cision but finally his wife agreed, on one condition. In a few minutes he returned. "T'would be me pleasure to paint yer portrait, missus," he said. "The wife says it's okay. I'll paint you in the nude all right; but I have to at least leave me socks on, so I have a place to wipe me brushes." Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmurray@ hotmail.com. I say The road to women's suffrage was slow in coming Robert Minch The two parties had their chance in the primaries and an argument can be made that both sides blew it. Peter Funt OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, May 13, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6