Gov. Danel P. Malloy made a little bit of news on our show yesterday when he said not only that August primaries are bad idea but that he might try to prod the legislature to move the date in the future.
Low turn-out primaries can, of course, produce fluky results. A measure of that this year might be the vote commanded by Mark Greenberg in the Republican Fifth. If Greenberg does well, it means that mad dogs and Englishmen, so to speak, are going out in the noonday sun in disproportionate numbers.
I confess I had totally mis-pegged Greenberg as a brainy neo-con. I don’t know where I got that idea. As he proved last week on WWL, he’s basically Connecticut’s Donald Trump: an intellectually lazy rich guy who don’t know what he’s talking about, doesn’t care and fires off half-conceived and utterly miscarried opinions without a shred of embarrassment. Let me put it this way: I don’t often find myself thinking, “Wow. Chris Donovan would kill this guy in a debate.”
The Islam stuff got all the press, but listen to Greenberg talk about health care. It’s really astonishing. His level of insight is roughly what you’d wind up with if you did nothing but listen to Sean Hannity, not very carefully.
Now Dick Morris has dipped a toe into the Connecticut race and endorsed The Mark. Greenberg could learn much at the feet of this wise man.
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9 Responses to Trump on the Housatonic
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At the feet of this wise man?
Yeah right. Like that isn’t suggestive of something sicker than politics.
No. I apologize. In CT that would be considered trendy.
Note to Greenberg: Muslims hate us because we invade THEIR lands and kill their people; and support Dictators who do the same. Period!
When asked about his plan for health care reform, he did not have a specific plan. “I don’t have the answers for everything. I’m the first to admit it,” he said.
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I like little Dick Morris, but never have understood the toe thing. Don’t get gambling, either.
Greenberg might have easily made a better statement about health care. He might have said, for example, that it makes zero sense for individuals to get tax free health insurance from their employers. But, on the other hand, implicit in his acknowledgement that he doesn’t have “the answers” is an important truth; we don’t want pols and their bureaucrats thinking, or pretending for political reasons to think, that they know how to deliver scarce resources. The federal government was not intended for such, and its present misuse is killing us. Let the markets do their invisible-handed job. I appreciate Mr. Greenberg’s modesty.
Peter, did you actually listen to the interview?
Because, in fact, he had a lot of answers.
It was only when he was asked follow-up questions about those answers and had no real solid thinking to support them that he would say, “I don’t have all the answers.”
“Peter Brush is a blithering idiot.”
“Really? Because I read his comments online and he seems really articulate and thoughtful. What makes you say he’s an idiot?”
“Look, I don’t have all the answers.”
There is absolutely no human being on earth who could listen to that 49 minutes and conclude that Greenberg is modest.
No, I didn’t listen. I don’t know Mr. Greenberg, whether or not he’s modest as a person (or whether in this night and age modesty is still a virtue). I guess what I mean is that I appreciate folks who view the power of their public offices as limited.
I listened to (part of)your program last night about “trolls.” It was one of those conversations I found enjoyable even as I didn’t know what was up. At the risk of being an argumentative troll…
OK. I listened to the first part of the interview. I have to say, Colin, that, you are maybe being unfair to Greenberg.
Honestly, he doesn’t come off to me as a Donald Trump-type. When discussing the “problem” of money in politics he (mistakenly) agrees that it’s an issue, doesn’t know if “corporations are people” (I’ve forgotten why that’s important. The First Amendment says about “people” only that they can “assemble.”), and doesn’t know what to do about it. Knowing more is better than knowing less, but, on the other hand, there is the Socratic preference for at least knowing what one doesn’t know. I can’t imagine The Donald admitting his ignorance on any subject.
I think part of our difference may be related to the fact that I believe govt., particularly the federal one (which was explicitly designed to be limited), has become way too big and way too complex. I can admire wonks and lawyers who have a great understanding of legal and bureaucratic intricacies, but I don’t see too many like that in Congress. (Certainly not my guy from the 1st District.)
I don’t hold it against a prospective elected guy if, for example, he doesn’t have his mind completely around the details of the campaign finance laws our courts and legislatures, in their wisdom, have developed over the past 40 years. I like a guy who sees the morassitude of our present government, particularly of Obamacare and Dodd/FRank, as a problem in itself, aside from the sheer unaffordability of it. I like a guy who knows he’s not smart enough to replace myriad market forces and actions with legislative social engineering.
I think a better Nutmeg pol analog to Trump might be Linda McMahon (although more for her lack of knowledge than for any blustering arrogance). But, I’m a Chris Shays guy.
“Wow. Chris Donovan would kill this guy in a debate.”
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“These additional arrests show at the very least, Chris Donovan’s campaign to be a corrupt operation and the indictment also suggests the Speaker may have known of this illegal activity,” Greenberg said. “This case is not about party politics. Republicans, Democrats and Unaffiliated voters should be outraged that our state is once again making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Donovan’s campaign has joined the list of offenders in Connecticut political corruption cases.”
Greenberg said of the alleged criminal activity by Donovan’s campaign staff members: “If he knew about it, it’s a big problem. If he didn’t know about it, it’s still a big problem.”
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Donovan may be a dirt bag, or he may merely make a good show of being one. Is promotion of the Chris Donovan Career so important that the Dem Party can’t replace him with a decent candidate in the 5th? Or is it that the new Nutmeg/Dem/Acorn Party really kinda admires down and dirty politicians who know how to get things done?
I don’t know much about this Greenberg guy since I live way out here in Willimantic, but he passes the first test.
Mr. McEnroe doesn’t like him so he can’t be a RINO.