So, like 80 million or so other Americans, I watched every second of the first presidential debate between Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and I will admit that the former First Lady, U.S. Senator from New York and Secretary of State absolutely wiped the floor with the businessman/real estate developer/reality TV star who somehow fooled Republican voters into thinking that he would be a better choice than the dozen or so much more qualified GOP candidates he ended up besting during the primary process.
And, as a native Lawn Guylander, it was hard to not see the irony of two candidates I truly dislike, each with ties to New York, duke it out at Hofstra University, which is 15 minutes from where I grew up.
Does anyone…even the staunchest Republican supporters…still believe that the unprepared, unimpressive “La Donald” was the best choice for the GOP to try to take back the White House after eight years under President Obama? Seriously?
Trump didn’t just lose the debate; he embarrassed himself and his supporters. Registered Republicans across the country let out a collective “uh-oh” as the billionaire stumbled, bumbled and sniffed (what was that anyway? a cold? allergies?) his way to the worst on-stage performance by a Republican since Sarah Palin.
Trump railed on about the number of murders in Chicago, but seemingly only because it’s Pres. Obama’s hometown, not because he had some important (or valid) point to make. He gave himself credit for changing his mind about the president’s birth certificate not being real, but never explained why he did three+ years after that certificate was produced.
When Trump jabbed lightly at Clinton about her 33,000 deleted emails, she countered with a smashing left hook to the jaw about why he won’t disclose his taxes. “Maybe he’s not as charitable…or as profitable…as he’d like us to think,” Hillary said to the American people. “But mainly, I think it’ll show that he hasn’t paid any federal income tax for years.”
“That just makes me smart,” the precocious billionaire sniffed back.
Smart? OK, maybe he is. But, appealing to undecided middle and lower class American voters who somehow have to pay thousands of dollars a year to Uncle Sam while only making thousands themselves? I don’t think so.
As I mentioned in my editorial after the first debate, I’m a registered Republican who could have happily supported Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson or Marco Rubio (I voted for Rubio in the primary, even though I don’t agree with all of his Tea Party positions), saying that I could get behind almost anyone other than Trump.
The only other major candidate who gave me similar pause was the second-place Republican Ted Cruz, who would attempt to make Christianity our national religion, despite our country’s diverse population. Trump may have sold GOP voters on the “fact” that he was the only non-politician in the field — just as he sold unsuspecting students on the bogus Trump University and unsuspecting condo buyers in New York, Tampa and other locations on buildings with his name on them that he ultimately walked away from without completing — but his “non-politically-correct” responses did nothing throughout the campaign but convince me he was the wrong choice, even as he built up his treasure trove of delegates.
So, obviously, I can’t vote for Trump — or recommend that anyone else should either. Even so, I also can’t throw my support behind Clinton, as I twice did Obama. A few weeks prior to the debate, I heard the former Secretary of State take credit for being in the “war room” as Pres. Obama and our top military officials came up with the plan to ultimately “take out” Osama bin Laden, but where was the First Lady when her husband was President? Meeting multiple times with the Al Qaeda leader after he had made his first (and unsuccessful) attempt to blow up the World Trade Center?
Did we even once hear Hillary say, during either of her Presidential campaigns, that, “We should’ve taken out that SOB when Bill had the chance” all those years ago?
No. Instead, we have been (since the 1990s) — and continue to be — told about the “stand by my man” relationship between Hillary and her husband, who surely didn’t begin and end his process of wooing White House interns with Monica Lewinsky. I don’t believe the Clintons are in any way, shape or form a loving couple. I say Hillary has stuck with her hubby only because she feared that she would never become president herself if she divorced him, despite his blatant philandering.
Hillary claims to be fighting for you and me, but I honestly believe neither candidate cares as much about us as they do themselves.
Yes, Clinton dominated Trump in Round One. It was so bad that if it were a prize fight, it would have been stopped early, with Trump sniffing blood back into his nose instead of sniffling before and after every time he spoke.
Even so, I will still be at the polls on Nov. 8, voting for other offices. I just can’t see myself casting a ballot for either of these two, even though one of them has to win. Heavy sigh.
Shortly before we went to press with our latest issue (which hit Wesley Chapel mailboxes Friday), it was announced on TampaBay.com (and on the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce website, 
The signing ceremony, held at the Chamber office in The Grove at Wesley Chapel, featured New Tampa Rotary president Brice Wolford and WCCC Board chair Tracy Clouser signing off on a document that took a little while to finalize, but will definitely prove to be worth the wait for both the organizers and the likely thousands of attendees who will be on hand to help raise money for the New Tampa Rotary’s selected charities.
One of my favorite dishes is the Murphy’s chicken sandwich, which you can get grilled or blackened. It comes with crisp bacon, melted Swiss, lettuce, tomato and onions, a split-top bun and served with your choice of
O’Brien’s also makes great hamburgers, from the no-frills Wesley Chapel burger to the Florentine burger with spinach and artichoke dip, blue cheese crumbles and bacon bits and the new shamrock burger, which is a grilled burger topped with corned beef and Swiss — and many more. 
I was saddened to learn that Toast Wine & Café, located in the Oak Ramble Plaza (which still has Acropolis Greek Taverna, Mr. Dunderbak’s, Jersey Mike’s and Takara Sushi & Sake Lounge, among others) had closed, and apparently it’s been more than a month since it happened at our press time.