Thank you Robert, for mentioning the current status of Kari Lake's pathetic attempt at litigating a fairy tale. I had not heard nor read about the latest details yet. Her behavior is and was disgusting. I'm so glad her law suit is failing. You've made my night!
Thank you Robert Hubbell and Editor for this interpretation of Kari Lake’s frivolous lawsuit.
Somehow it seemed that the Court would hear her case, and I was concerned whether she could win by a legal loophole -- faulty printers or that Secretary of State Katie Hobbs had refused to recuse herself.
Is there no chance that Lake could appeal, or ask the (corrupt -- I mean the six conservatives, not the three liberal women Justices) Supreme Court to hear her case?
Also, might there be a recount of some votes, maybe Maricopa County?
She will appeal. But after reading the order of dismissal, it seems that her allegations border on delusional. I think she will lose on appeal. But as to the remaining two claims, she will have to prove that accidental malfunctions were deliberate acts of sabotage to suppress votes. That isn't going to happen. Her suit is a PR stunt.
I appreciated your summary, Robert because today was the Audubon Christmas Bird Count at least in Santa Clara County (perhaps nationwide). 10,300 steps starting at 8 am meant I missed the live broadcast of the House's January 6th committee. If a very amateur's couple of pictures of birding might uplift your readers - tired of the narcissistic Trump and Sinema news and the seditious and vile acts of groups committed to tearing down our democracy, I am happy to share nature:https://photos.app.goo.gl/pYwXJZt4cFoXmsBL8
This is a great way to take a break. I live next to a national wildlife refuge in NJ and captured this timely but poor shot of seven swans-a-swimming and six geese-a-laying.
Bob, I also live next to a national wildlife refuge and love it when the Trumpeter Swans start migrating, along with the American White pelicans. Then, a little later, the Tundra Swans show up, eat and rest a little, then fly your way! Can’t tell what these are but it really doesn’t matter. All beautiful- thank you!
I'm not sure what they are either. Perhaps Mute Swans. There are actually about 50 of 'em currently. I hope they got the memo about the bomb cyclone heading our way.
We also have Great Blue Herons, cranes, egrets, gulls, swallows, an assortment of ducks, and an occasional eagle, but none of them are in Twelve Days of Christmas!
I did go to Cape May in September. The Audubon folks were dismayed by the MAGA folks who have moved in, destroyed the wild hedges and put in mowed grass using diesel sit upons making the habitat for the warblers and other passerines at risk. Why the zoning commission hasn't taken this up is beyond me. A national treasure being destroyed by avarice and self-aggrandizement. Sorry: I am on my high horse but really. You'd think the Chamber of Commerce would be all over these idiots.... And the Mute Swans are there because of Carnegie or one of those Moguls : https://www.michigan.gov/invasives/id-report/birds/mute-swan#:~:text=Mute%20swans%20were%20introduced%20to,and%20damage%20across%20the%20state.
💙 this, Alice. Here in Florida a group of high school students are reaching out to legislators and “lobbying” ,with much support, for our native and endangered scrub-jay to replace the mockingbird,state bird in 4 other states.
But here in Fl the mockingbird is much beloved by Marion Hammer, former NRA president and lobbyist who helped write our controversial “stand your ground law”. Hammer has thwarted previous attempts to replace the mockingbird. I’m betting on these kids to stand their ground !!
Hi Alice. I did watch the J6 meeting. The Committee did a tremendous job today, as it has in every televised hearing. But you had a better day out with nature! Thank you for the photos!
OH, thank you so much for this delightful distraction....Mother Nature can be healing and soothing....and in this case she is! BTS 10,300 steps is quite impressive
77 and finally getting my mobility act together after two hip replacements! By some miracle, moving at home (elliptical peddling and a bit of yoga) and in the pool twice a week has become part of my life - w/o the usual battle. I just like how it feels. Small bits of new movement....Happy Holidays!
Dec 20, 2022·edited Dec 20, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
First, Speaker Pelosi, Democrats and several (but far too few) Republicans house members demonstrated how our Constitutional democracy works by appointing the J6 Committee to investigate the events leading up to and including January 6, 2021. The J6 has done honor to our Constitution, our government, and our Democracy.
Trumps' effort to undermine the credibility of US elections started before the November 2016 election where he claimed if he lost, it would be a result of voter fraud. He then continued that same criminal effort during the Pandemic to claim that mail-in voting would result in voter fraud. Further, in his effort to further undermine the Nov 2020 election, he and his USPS appointee, Louis DeJoy, conspired to reduce US mail service to impair mail-in voting. And, as the article points out, the Republican Party, including Mitch McConnell, blocked all efforts to help states deal with the increase in mail-in voting.
The bottom line is that this conspiracy by Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party to defraud the United States and its voters was a vast, long term effort that continues even to this day!
What is so horrible is the lack of ethics and the inability for elected officials to stand up for their oaths of office. Spineless and narcissistic selfish .. the ends justify the means or the means justify the end.. What a quagmire our democracy has become. Consider that almost 50% of Georgians voted for a non resident alleged woman-abuser. It boggles my mind.
Of course, as you watch or read these you'll find the Dems made gerrymandering efforts but never as successfully as Rs, as I see it. The entire system needs to be condemned and replaced with a better approach to represent all with a diversity of ideologies. If we never get there we continue the partisan divide. Ugh!
Thank you, Mr. Hubbell, for an excellent summary of the Committee's Report. It provides a solid ground from which to think about the layers upon layers of complexity that often seem impenetrable.
I agree that shining a light right through that tangle is the simple, unprecedented fact of the Committee itself. They actually did what they did, against all possible odds.
And they did it with a combination of professionalism, meticulous organization, clarity of purpose, and just plain damed Style, that I don't believe I've ever seen before. And, again, to summarize your thought, THEY DID IT!
Thanks, Robert, for an excellent summation of the summation. It's amazing how much Trump accomplished in the two months between Election Day and J6. Imagine what he could have accomplished (or other damage he could have wrought) if he'd done his damn job!
The January 6th Committee figuratively "connected all the dots."
Your bullet point summary does the same.
It strikes me that the MAGA followers have had the option all along of accepting reality, and finding the off ramp. However, there is a phrase that continued to apply to them:
So true. It is easy to see what you believe but it takes a strong and fair minded person to look honestly at what is in front of you. I am glad I believe the truth will prevail but this is truly a “post truth” moment in society... scary times where good and honest leadership is imperative. Let’s pray we can find and elect the leaders to help guide us through this new world.
Thanks Robert. This summary of the report is a keeper - for future reference as I discuss this with others.
I have a bottle of champagne chilling in the basement which will be popped open when I read Jack Smith's recommendation - I will pour right after I fly the American Flag on the front of our house.
I’m old enough to remember Watergate. Indeed, I was practicing law by then. And more than half a century later, I recall—though not with precision—the growing sense that the net was closing around the Nixon cabal and that the Constitution would be vindicated. The Senate and House Watergate committees (in the House it was the Judiciary Committee) live in history as high points of American democracy at work. The January 6th Committee will join them and, if anything, be more respected for its professionalism, dedication, honesty and courage. With any luck, we shall not need to see their like again.
Don't people check their opponents' CVs. I didn't run for elected office because I had lived with a married man who was Catholic and who had made a promise (lucky for me.. another story) but the thought of someone using that against me influenced me years ago.... And to think that no one from his stolen identities recognized that: ??? ...
Given that the Republicans having been promising revenge, I expect they will do everything they can to prevent him doing his job. Given what I've read, it's likely an investigation is warranted. It's very likely they won't bother with actual facts. just make a lot of noise and will use the "investigation" to cast doubt on all Dems.
I'm a little slow on the uptake, but I don't understand why the insurrection case against the former president is "more complex and time-consuming." He did it on national TV in the speech prior to the riot. I'm not even an old country lawyer like the one who presided over the Watergate hearings, but public commission of a crime seems pretty damning to me and, I'm willing to wager, had it been you, me, or one of your other readers we'd already be in jail. I have no need to read the Committee's report for the existence of which I'm very grateful but would make a good juror because I can swear under oath and without fear of punishment for perjury that I could, if the evidence warranted, find the former president innocent of the crimes for which he should be indicted; I just don't think such evidence exists or it would already have been presented.
Hi, Dave. .You could be right. But I think the intent elements require a lot more circumstantial evidence to reestablish than the defense secrets crime, which has no intent element.
Thanks Robert. On the whole, I agree with John's comment below but recognize that the legal system, as it has evolved, makes the crossing of t's and the dotting of i's an essential part of pursuing the process successfully. I wish Mr. Smith the best success and, if I'm honest, don't care which of the multiple laws he broke is the one that ends his public career, just want to make sure one of them does.
For most Americans who have paid attention it seems that intentions were clear even before the 2016 election. The criminal minded candidate and later president began to undermine the U.S. election system prior to November 2016 by stating that if he lost it would be because the election was rigged. Add to those earlier comments his efforts to hold Ukraine funds to extract a promise to investigate Biden, and go on from there.
Personally, it feels to me as though the Republican Party has for over a decade worked to undermine our institutions with the drumbeat of Benghazi investigations, e-mails, and much, much more. But then, I digress.
Trump has always presented himself to this reader as a “criminal mind.” His intentions have never been honorable. To that end, the party and a few million voters should be asking, “why did I ever fall for this former guys lies and violence prone conduct?” (Remember the Vermont rally when he had an attendee thrown out while saying he deserved to be roughed up? Check my facts on this, perhaps his comments have been conflated.)
Thank you for your excellent summary and distillation of the House Select J6 Committee public hearings and findings summary today. Regardless of your like or dislike, support or opposition of DJT, in the final analysis, the only thing that matters if and when DJT is indicted and tried for alleged crimes is what a jury finds is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. We all have views, opinions, and strong feelings about that issue. To that end, it is my intention to take the time to read the full report summary when it is published and labor through the most important portions of the full report when published. I am going to make this herculean effort as I believe strongly that this is among the most important historical events of recent years, and it is important as an avid student of history and government to have as complete, accurate, and unbiased a picture of these events as possible.
It is now the responsibility of the DOJ to do likewise, further investigate as appropriate, and make decisions about who to charge for what crimes for which sufficient evidence exists to prove them to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.
It will then be our job to form our own views about those charged, the evidence of what transpired, and why to determine what we believe should be done to be sure our country is never again faced with similar criminality, violence, and violations of revered democratic norms. I wish to be as well prepared as possible to make those judgments.
I just read this from Dan Pfeiffer and I thought I would share it.
“ r, the Republicans abandoning Trump over his legal troubles and penchant for dining with Nazis are not doing so out of moral outrage or concern over the fate of the Republic. This is about electability. Pure and simple. Trump’s political troubles worsened when the Republican Party followed the MAGA King over a cliff in 2022. If the GOP had won the House by a large margin and taken the Senate on the backs of Trump’s candidates, the reaction to these recent troubles would be very, very different.
Ultimately, it is on this question of electability where the referral and other legal problems will manifest themselves. And that is a pretty depressing statement about the parties that make up our two party system.“
Thank you Robert, for mentioning the current status of Kari Lake's pathetic attempt at litigating a fairy tale. I had not heard nor read about the latest details yet. Her behavior is and was disgusting. I'm so glad her law suit is failing. You've made my night!
Thank you Robert Hubbell and Editor for this interpretation of Kari Lake’s frivolous lawsuit.
Somehow it seemed that the Court would hear her case, and I was concerned whether she could win by a legal loophole -- faulty printers or that Secretary of State Katie Hobbs had refused to recuse herself.
Is there no chance that Lake could appeal, or ask the (corrupt -- I mean the six conservatives, not the three liberal women Justices) Supreme Court to hear her case?
Also, might there be a recount of some votes, maybe Maricopa County?
Please forgive my even asking this.
Even tough your assessment makes perfect sense.
She will appeal. But after reading the order of dismissal, it seems that her allegations border on delusional. I think she will lose on appeal. But as to the remaining two claims, she will have to prove that accidental malfunctions were deliberate acts of sabotage to suppress votes. That isn't going to happen. Her suit is a PR stunt.
You call it a "PR stunt". I call it a grift, in the image and likeness of her hero, #45.
CNN Dec. 22nd
CNN POLITICS: “Maricopa County elections officials push back on Lake's fraud claims as trial ends.”
There may be a trial on January 2nd on the two parts of her claim the Arizona Judge had allowed.
I appreciated your summary, Robert because today was the Audubon Christmas Bird Count at least in Santa Clara County (perhaps nationwide). 10,300 steps starting at 8 am meant I missed the live broadcast of the House's January 6th committee. If a very amateur's couple of pictures of birding might uplift your readers - tired of the narcissistic Trump and Sinema news and the seditious and vile acts of groups committed to tearing down our democracy, I am happy to share nature:https://photos.app.goo.gl/pYwXJZt4cFoXmsBL8
This is a great way to take a break. I live next to a national wildlife refuge in NJ and captured this timely but poor shot of seven swans-a-swimming and six geese-a-laying.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/pq2Twzg7KmpW1hf58
Nicely done. Thankfully there were no drummers drumming to scare them away.
Lucky you, Bob...Thanks for sharing!
Bob, I also live next to a national wildlife refuge and love it when the Trumpeter Swans start migrating, along with the American White pelicans. Then, a little later, the Tundra Swans show up, eat and rest a little, then fly your way! Can’t tell what these are but it really doesn’t matter. All beautiful- thank you!
I'm not sure what they are either. Perhaps Mute Swans. There are actually about 50 of 'em currently. I hope they got the memo about the bomb cyclone heading our way.
🦆 Laughing still. Thanks.
We also have Great Blue Herons, cranes, egrets, gulls, swallows, an assortment of ducks, and an occasional eagle, but none of them are in Twelve Days of Christmas!
I did go to Cape May in September. The Audubon folks were dismayed by the MAGA folks who have moved in, destroyed the wild hedges and put in mowed grass using diesel sit upons making the habitat for the warblers and other passerines at risk. Why the zoning commission hasn't taken this up is beyond me. A national treasure being destroyed by avarice and self-aggrandizement. Sorry: I am on my high horse but really. You'd think the Chamber of Commerce would be all over these idiots.... And the Mute Swans are there because of Carnegie or one of those Moguls : https://www.michigan.gov/invasives/id-report/birds/mute-swan#:~:text=Mute%20swans%20were%20introduced%20to,and%20damage%20across%20the%20state.
Can't really 'Like' this one, it is beyond sad. Cape May is a beautiful place and it hurts to hear what you describe.
💙 this, Alice. Here in Florida a group of high school students are reaching out to legislators and “lobbying” ,with much support, for our native and endangered scrub-jay to replace the mockingbird,state bird in 4 other states.
But here in Fl the mockingbird is much beloved by Marion Hammer, former NRA president and lobbyist who helped write our controversial “stand your ground law”. Hammer has thwarted previous attempts to replace the mockingbird. I’m betting on these kids to stand their ground !!
I have an octogenarian friend in Florida who might love to take this on. Will let her know!
https://www.wmfe.org/one-central-florida-high-school-group-thinks-florida-needs-a-new-state-bird-they-are-not-alone/195784
will send it to Ann ....
Hi Alice. I did watch the J6 meeting. The Committee did a tremendous job today, as it has in every televised hearing. But you had a better day out with nature! Thank you for the photos!
OH, thank you so much for this delightful distraction....Mother Nature can be healing and soothing....and in this case she is! BTS 10,300 steps is quite impressive
83 and much too sedentary. Happy holidays.
77 and finally getting my mobility act together after two hip replacements! By some miracle, moving at home (elliptical peddling and a bit of yoga) and in the pool twice a week has become part of my life - w/o the usual battle. I just like how it feels. Small bits of new movement....Happy Holidays!
Nice photos, Alice. Thanks for posting.
Beautiful pictures Alice. Thanks.
Great pictures, thanks.
First, Speaker Pelosi, Democrats and several (but far too few) Republicans house members demonstrated how our Constitutional democracy works by appointing the J6 Committee to investigate the events leading up to and including January 6, 2021. The J6 has done honor to our Constitution, our government, and our Democracy.
I have one comment.
Perhaps the J6 Committee was constrained by time. Trump and the Republican Party's effort to defraud the United States began well before the election of November 4, 2020. I refer you to this article in The NY Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/15/us/politics/trump-voter-fraud-claims.html.
Trumps' effort to undermine the credibility of US elections started before the November 2016 election where he claimed if he lost, it would be a result of voter fraud. He then continued that same criminal effort during the Pandemic to claim that mail-in voting would result in voter fraud. Further, in his effort to further undermine the Nov 2020 election, he and his USPS appointee, Louis DeJoy, conspired to reduce US mail service to impair mail-in voting. And, as the article points out, the Republican Party, including Mitch McConnell, blocked all efforts to help states deal with the increase in mail-in voting.
The bottom line is that this conspiracy by Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party to defraud the United States and its voters was a vast, long term effort that continues even to this day!
Good point, and agree!
What is so horrible is the lack of ethics and the inability for elected officials to stand up for their oaths of office. Spineless and narcissistic selfish .. the ends justify the means or the means justify the end.. What a quagmire our democracy has become. Consider that almost 50% of Georgians voted for a non resident alleged woman-abuser. It boggles my mind.
Andrew, This is more than a good point. It recounts the history of failed leadership and fraudulent agenda of the Republican Party for well over a decade. Here's one source to consider: https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000005921047/gerrymandering-history-future.html.
Here's another: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/29/magazine/the-new-front-in-the-gerrymandering-wars-democracy-vs-math.html
Of course, as you watch or read these you'll find the Dems made gerrymandering efforts but never as successfully as Rs, as I see it. The entire system needs to be condemned and replaced with a better approach to represent all with a diversity of ideologies. If we never get there we continue the partisan divide. Ugh!
Thank you, Mr. Hubbell, for an excellent summary of the Committee's Report. It provides a solid ground from which to think about the layers upon layers of complexity that often seem impenetrable.
I agree that shining a light right through that tangle is the simple, unprecedented fact of the Committee itself. They actually did what they did, against all possible odds.
And they did it with a combination of professionalism, meticulous organization, clarity of purpose, and just plain damed Style, that I don't believe I've ever seen before. And, again, to summarize your thought, THEY DID IT!
Thank you, again
Thanks, Robert, for an excellent summation of the summation. It's amazing how much Trump accomplished in the two months between Election Day and J6. Imagine what he could have accomplished (or other damage he could have wrought) if he'd done his damn job!
The January 6th Committee figuratively "connected all the dots."
Your bullet point summary does the same.
It strikes me that the MAGA followers have had the option all along of accepting reality, and finding the off ramp. However, there is a phrase that continued to apply to them:
They see what they believe.
So true. It is easy to see what you believe but it takes a strong and fair minded person to look honestly at what is in front of you. I am glad I believe the truth will prevail but this is truly a “post truth” moment in society... scary times where good and honest leadership is imperative. Let’s pray we can find and elect the leaders to help guide us through this new world.
I love how you answer our questions before we even ask them, Robert. Saves a lot of back-and-forth!
Your "Summary for Dummies" keeps my head from throbbing as well. Many thanks.
Perhaps you should be fighting for statehood for DC and then you wouldn't have had to move in order to vote for a Senator ...
Uh, my widowed mother moved her two daughters (I was 7; my sister was 9) out of D.C. in 1959. But thanks for the advice.
Thanks Robert. This summary of the report is a keeper - for future reference as I discuss this with others.
I have a bottle of champagne chilling in the basement which will be popped open when I read Jack Smith's recommendation - I will pour right after I fly the American Flag on the front of our house.
I’m old enough to remember Watergate. Indeed, I was practicing law by then. And more than half a century later, I recall—though not with precision—the growing sense that the net was closing around the Nixon cabal and that the Constitution would be vindicated. The Senate and House Watergate committees (in the House it was the Judiciary Committee) live in history as high points of American democracy at work. The January 6th Committee will join them and, if anything, be more respected for its professionalism, dedication, honesty and courage. With any luck, we shall not need to see their like again.
The last paragraph is the question I had while reading this abbreviated report from MSNBC on a NYT article. I know it's off subject, but in my opinion, our failures as a party start with simple, no brainer blunders like this one. https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/incoming-gop-congressman-accused-radical-public-deceptions-rcna62367
A travesty! I will write about this scandal sometime soon.
Don't people check their opponents' CVs. I didn't run for elected office because I had lived with a married man who was Catholic and who had made a promise (lucky for me.. another story) but the thought of someone using that against me influenced me years ago.... And to think that no one from his stolen identities recognized that: ??? ...
Given that the Republicans having been promising revenge, I expect they will do everything they can to prevent him doing his job. Given what I've read, it's likely an investigation is warranted. It's very likely they won't bother with actual facts. just make a lot of noise and will use the "investigation" to cast doubt on all Dems.
Nice piece of writing Mr. and Mrs. Hubbell. Thanks.
Thank you, Robert Hubble, for your summary clarification of the J6 report.
Great letter. What is the source of the final quote: “Do not be fooled…”
I made that up.
good quote - give yourself credit - format makes it look like someone else said it.
I'm a little slow on the uptake, but I don't understand why the insurrection case against the former president is "more complex and time-consuming." He did it on national TV in the speech prior to the riot. I'm not even an old country lawyer like the one who presided over the Watergate hearings, but public commission of a crime seems pretty damning to me and, I'm willing to wager, had it been you, me, or one of your other readers we'd already be in jail. I have no need to read the Committee's report for the existence of which I'm very grateful but would make a good juror because I can swear under oath and without fear of punishment for perjury that I could, if the evidence warranted, find the former president innocent of the crimes for which he should be indicted; I just don't think such evidence exists or it would already have been presented.
Hi, Dave. .You could be right. But I think the intent elements require a lot more circumstantial evidence to reestablish than the defense secrets crime, which has no intent element.
Thanks Robert. On the whole, I agree with John's comment below but recognize that the legal system, as it has evolved, makes the crossing of t's and the dotting of i's an essential part of pursuing the process successfully. I wish Mr. Smith the best success and, if I'm honest, don't care which of the multiple laws he broke is the one that ends his public career, just want to make sure one of them does.
Hi, Dave. A reader just sent me this link to an article by Dennis Aftergut, which is a more comprehensive response to your original question:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/12/january-6-committee-insurrection-charge-trump.html
Excellent, thanks Robert. Aftergut makes a regrettable amount of sense.
For most Americans who have paid attention it seems that intentions were clear even before the 2016 election. The criminal minded candidate and later president began to undermine the U.S. election system prior to November 2016 by stating that if he lost it would be because the election was rigged. Add to those earlier comments his efforts to hold Ukraine funds to extract a promise to investigate Biden, and go on from there.
Personally, it feels to me as though the Republican Party has for over a decade worked to undermine our institutions with the drumbeat of Benghazi investigations, e-mails, and much, much more. But then, I digress.
Trump has always presented himself to this reader as a “criminal mind.” His intentions have never been honorable. To that end, the party and a few million voters should be asking, “why did I ever fall for this former guys lies and violence prone conduct?” (Remember the Vermont rally when he had an attendee thrown out while saying he deserved to be roughed up? Check my facts on this, perhaps his comments have been conflated.)
Thank you for your excellent summary and distillation of the House Select J6 Committee public hearings and findings summary today. Regardless of your like or dislike, support or opposition of DJT, in the final analysis, the only thing that matters if and when DJT is indicted and tried for alleged crimes is what a jury finds is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. We all have views, opinions, and strong feelings about that issue. To that end, it is my intention to take the time to read the full report summary when it is published and labor through the most important portions of the full report when published. I am going to make this herculean effort as I believe strongly that this is among the most important historical events of recent years, and it is important as an avid student of history and government to have as complete, accurate, and unbiased a picture of these events as possible.
It is now the responsibility of the DOJ to do likewise, further investigate as appropriate, and make decisions about who to charge for what crimes for which sufficient evidence exists to prove them to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.
It will then be our job to form our own views about those charged, the evidence of what transpired, and why to determine what we believe should be done to be sure our country is never again faced with similar criminality, violence, and violations of revered democratic norms. I wish to be as well prepared as possible to make those judgments.
I just read this from Dan Pfeiffer and I thought I would share it.
“ r, the Republicans abandoning Trump over his legal troubles and penchant for dining with Nazis are not doing so out of moral outrage or concern over the fate of the Republic. This is about electability. Pure and simple. Trump’s political troubles worsened when the Republican Party followed the MAGA King over a cliff in 2022. If the GOP had won the House by a large margin and taken the Senate on the backs of Trump’s candidates, the reaction to these recent troubles would be very, very different.
Ultimately, it is on this question of electability where the referral and other legal problems will manifest themselves. And that is a pretty depressing statement about the parties that make up our two party system.“