This and that this week…
Rest in peace, Mr. Creighton
Vernon Creighton lost his life last week in a farm accident in Brown County. Mr. Creighton was my 7th grade basketball coach and 8th grade history teacher at Lynchburg-Clay, and a favorite of mine and any other students who were fortunate enough to cross his path.
He was a very young teacher when I was there, but he ended up teaching at Lynchburg-Clay for 25 years. He was later the principal at Russellville Elementary for 10 years, and was president of the Southern Hills Board of Education and served as an Eastern school board member for many years.
Mr. Creighton was one of those coaches and teachers whose respect and approval was important to me. He was, simply, a good man, and news of his passing hit hard, as I know it did for thousands of other students, coworkers, friends and family.
Thank you for everything, Mr. Creighton. Condolences to his wife, Joy, their children and other family members.
Trump vs. ORP
And so now, in Ohio, we have open warfare between the Donald Trump presidential campaign and the Ohio Republican Party’s chairman, Matt Borges. Over the weekend, Trump’s Ohio campaign director, Bob Paduchik, sent an email to the state GOP central committee saying, “This past week Chairman Borges conducted a self-promotional media tour with state and national outlets to criticize our party’s nominee. Some Ohio Republicans have described it as disgraceful. I find it utterly bizarre.”
Borges, of course, has long been an ally of Ohio Gov. John Kasich, which explains it all pretty clearly. Borges took over as chairman of the state GOP in 2013 with Kasich’s backing. Borges supported Kasich’s presidential bid and was never seen as an enthusiastic Trump supporter, even when the state party began officially backing Trump.
But after the “Access Hollywood” tape from 2005 emerged, Borges gave an interview to Channel 10 in Columbus, where he said he didn’t know if he was voting for Trump for president, and added other critical or at least lukewarm comments about the GOP presidential nominee.
Paduchik had enough, and emailed central committee members with his outrage over the state GOP chairman not standing firmly with the GOP presidential nominee. Paduchik’s email added, “It’s no great secret that Chairman Borges was never fully on board, but his actions over the last week demonstrate that his loyalties to Governor John Kasich’s failed Presidential campaign eclipse his responsibility as Chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. The Chairman is also driven by an apparently insatiable need for publicity.”
Plus, Paduchik claims Borges has begun angling to become chairman of the Republican National Committee, which would put him into the top national party slot as Kasich makes his all-but-declared run for president again in 2020.
Fact is, Trump would be best served at this point running as an independent against the entire Washington establishment.
Polling disparities
Seldom have we seen major polls in such disagreement about where the presidential race stands nationally. The Real Clear Politics average has Hillary Clinton with a 5.5 point lead.
But as of Monday, the most recent results range from the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll showing Hillary with a 10-point lead, 51-41, to the L.A. Times/USC tracking poll showing Donald Trump up one, 45-44. The ABC/Washington Post poll shows Clinton up four, 50-46. The Rasmussen poll – not used by Real Clear Politics – shows Trump up two, 43-41.
Every year, whichever candidate is trailing in the polls tells supporters that the polls are wrong. They say their support is being under-measured. Then, on Election Day, the polls generally turn out to be right.
In this case, which poll is right? NBC? L.A. Times? ABC? Rasmussen? None of the above?
Who knows, but it’s possible that this could be such a unique election that when it comes to Trump, the polls really are failing to measure his true level of support, and everyone could be in for an Election Day surprise. Or maybe not.
Great movies abound
October is always a favorite time of year because of the monster movies that are aired. This year, Turner Classic Movies reached back for the true classics – the Universal Studios Frankenstein films. On consecutive weekends in prime time, TCM aired “Frankenstein,” “Bride of Frankenstein,” “Son of Frankenstein,” “Ghost of Frankenstein,” “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man” and “House of Frankenstein.”
The first three, all with Boris Karloff as the Monster, are classics. The latter three with Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi and Glenn Strange playing the part, are still pretty good.
TCM then moved on to the Hammer Studios Frankenstein films of the 1950s and ‘60s, with Peter Cushing as Dr. Frankenstein and a number of actors playing various incarnations of lab-created monsters, most notably Christopher Lee in the first Hammer Frankenstein film, “The Curse of Frankenstein.” Keep ‘em coming.
Hypocrisy abounds
When it comes to the Drew Hastings case (without discussing the case itself) many of us have been on the receiving end of high-minded lectures about the importance of adhering to the letter of the law. We are a nation of laws, not men, we are told.
Fair enough. Among those laws, by the way, are court-imposed gag orders barring anyone associated with the case, including witnesses, from commenting about the case to the media or on social media. This prohibition includes inventing a fake name to go online and lecture everyone about the importance of adhering to the law while, in so doing, violating it.
This will be one interesting trial.
Reach Gary Abernathy at 937-393-3456 or on Twitter @abernathygary.
