NATIONAL SCENE: SUNDAY POLITICAL TALK SHOWS - 1/25/15

If it weren't for "inflategate" the Sunday Political Talk Shows would have died of boredom. NO WAIT! There was that State of the Union Address to discuss. And more Republican candidates come out of the shadows.

FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): White House chief of staff Denis McDonough; Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio.
MEET THE PRESS (NBC): McDonough; former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark.
FACE THE NATION (CBS): McDonough; Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
THIS WEEK (ABC): McDonough; Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La.
STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): McDonough; former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.; Reps. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill, Adam Schiff, D-Calif, and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz.; former Gov. Jon Huntsman, R-Utah.

Heh.

That's my synopsis of the recent State of the Union address by President Obama and it was even sadder than that.

Indeed there was very little discussion about the SOTU last week save Donna Brazille on Meet the Press who always praises Obama to the stars. No one else thought much of it. Donna Brazille reminded other round table pundits that Obama also mentioned implementing serious cyber-security and that impressed everyone.

Okay, let's get tongue out of cheek and quickly go over the main guest of the day, Denis McDonough, White House Chief of Staff.

The reason this guy was sent on all the shows is due to the flap over John Boehner's invitation to Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu top address a joint session of congress. Seems Boehner did this without notifying the White House and seems doing such a thing is against protocol.

And so the White House got busy on the telephone calling everyone they knew on any newspaper in the world, lambasting Netanyahu and vowing not to receive the man when he comes to America.

If anyone is surprised at this, raise your hand.

This administration despises Israel as do their Islamic allies. And I think Netanyahu's address to the American congress is a desperate measure.

I am not going to criticize Boehner just yet. Yes I know had Nancy Pelosi done such a thing to Dubya the Repubs would have been furious.

Difference is that THIS White House flips the bird to the opposition party as well as the constitution, taking executive actions willy-nilly and spurning any attempts to bring the peeps together.

So for a second I ponder Republicans with some serious courage and have an open mind about this.

For Iran is building a nuclear bomb, I am not fooled nor should you be. Israel is constantly stopping these rogue middle-eastern nuts from getting a working nuke but it won't take long for Iran, especially with the White House looking the other way.

Maybe the American people need to hear, first hand and uncensored, from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. It's hard to get the truth out with this opaque administration.

It was McDonough's job to make the White House seem innocent in all this although the whole thing was unclear and muddled.

On Fox News Sunday we had Ohio Governor John Kasich as a guest and he was just horrible. Now I know everybody with the slightest chance is stepping up and shouting to not forget them…more on this later.

So Kasich thinks he's got a shot at the Big Job come 2016 but The Wise I says no.

First, he asserts, I don't know why or at what prompt, that he would never abandoned the working poor or the mentally ill.

And who does this Governor Kasich? I mean what's he saying here…that's he's better than those bombastic Tea Party types who would throw the crippled into the streets and stone the lepers?

It was a most irrelevant comment given the mess of Obamacare, a nuclear Iran coming up soon, Yemen going down in flames.

Let's scratch Governor Kasich off our list of potential Republican presidential contenders. The only thing he has going for him is he comes from a pivotal electoral state.

A week of Sunday political talk shows could not go by without John McCain and, indeed, he showed up on Face the Nation.

McCain discussed the problems with ISIS and the lack of success in the war on terrorism. It was more yada, yada….face time for Juan.

One of the more interesting guests of the day was Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. He too is throwing his hat into the presidential ring it would seem.

The Wise I has an open mind on Jindal. Jindal defended his former defense of the communist Common Core by saying it's all changed since it was first conceived.

I think Common Core is just so damn unpopular all the would-be Republican presidential contenders are backing away.

As well they should.

All of the Sunday political talk shows had some commentary on the infamous football scandal-"inflategate".

Heh.

So the Patriots allegedly cheated by letting air out of the football?

I heard it summed up the best on a Sunday round table. To the effect that basketball nets are often raised slightly to get a better chance of containing the ball as it enters. Grass around a golf tee is patted down, often wetted, to better hit the ball.

Some other examples were offered.

As I understand it, there are specific rules as to the inflation of a football and hey, if a team is caught I suppose they must be punished.

But seriously…throw them out of the Super Bowl? Such a thing would destroy football as we know it.

Because instead of actually winning the game fair and square, everyone will be looking for any little detail that has nothing to do with noting.

Not that I am any expert on football or anything, but I'm jus' sayin'.
===========================
I do not respond to comments on my posts. I certainly have no problem with such commentary and, indeed, encourage it. But I’ve written my piece and I don’t want to argue it further.
Please feel free to email me at patfish1@aol.com if you want to send me a special comment or have any ideas or information you want to share.
NEXT Upcoming Sussex county council meeting.