Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Having Opposition Party In A President’s Administration A Tradition!

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It is quite common for a President of one party to select a leading figure of the other party to be part of his Administration.

The number of examples abound, as follows:

John F. Kennedy appointed Republicans including:

Robert McNamara as Secretary of Defense
C. Douglas Dillon as Secretary of the Treasury
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr as Ambassador to South Vietnam

Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Republicans including:

John W. Gardner as Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr as Ambassador to West Germany

Richard Nixon appointed Democrats including:

Sargent Shriver as Ambassador to France
John Connally as Secretary of the Treasury

Gerald Ford appointed Democrats including:

Daniel Patrick Moynihan as Ambassador to the United Nations

Jimmy Carter appointed Republicans including:

James Schlesinger as Secretary of Energy
William H. Webster as Director of the FBI

Ronald Reagan appointed Democrats including:

Mike Mansfield as Ambassador to Japan
Jeane Kirkpatrick as Ambassador to the United Nations
William Bennett as Secretary of Education

George H W Bush appointed Democrats including:

Robert Strauss as Ambassador to the Soviet Union/Russia

Bill Clinton appointed Republicans including:

William Cohen as Secretary of Defense

George W. Bush appointed Democrats including:

Norman Mineta as Secretary of Transportation

Barack Obama appointed Republicans including:

Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense
Jon Huntsman Jr. as Ambassador to China
Robert Mueller as Director of the FBI
Ray Lahood as Secretary of Transportation
Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense

Donald Trump appointed Democrats including:

Gary Cohn as Director of the National Economic Council

Joe Biden appointed Republicans, including:

Christopher Wray as Director of the FBI
Jerome Powell as Chairman of the Federal Reserve
Jeff Flake as Ambassador to Turkey
Meg Whitman as Ambassador to Kenya

Chuck Schumer, The Great Jewish Hope: The Highest Ranking Elected Jew Ever In American Government!

Ronald 8 Comments

The new Senate Minority Leader is New York Senator Chuck Schumer, who has been in the Senate since 1999, and defeated a tough opponent, Republican three term Senator Alfonse D’Amato.

Schumer began his political career at the age 23, and entered the House of Representatives at age 29 from Brooklyn, New York.

He had to compete first with fellow, soon to be retired Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and then his newly elected replacement, Hillary Clinton, who would seek the Presidency despite being the Junior Senator from New York.

Schumer worked his way up the leadership, being a loyal subordinate for ten years to Nevada Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and built up the Democratic majority in 2006 and 2008, before the bottom fell out, and the Democrats lost seats, from a high of 60 down to 46 and now up to 48 in 2017.

Schumer is a man who is very accessible and warm, and will do a lot of good for the Democrats, and he happens to have the distinction of being the highest ranking elected Jews ever in American government.

Yes, we have had other distinguished Jewish US Senators, but none in a leadership position in the Senate.

Yes, we had House Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, second ranking in the House of Representatives, and hoping to become Speaker of the House someday, before he was defeated for nomination to his seat in 2014 by a more extremist right wing Republican, David Brat.

Yes, we have had Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who was Vice Presidential nominee with Al Gore in 2000, when they won the popular vote, but lost the Electoral College to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

Yes, we have had Jewish cabinet officers, including Henry Morgenthau, Jr, Henry Kissinger, Abraham Ribicoff, and Arthur Goldberg among others, who have had impact on government.

And yes, we have had Jewish Supreme Court Justices by appointment, including Louis Brandeis, Benjamin Cardozo, Felix Frankfurter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and Elena Kagan among others.

But Schumer has the potential to have a greater impact politically than most party leaders, so we must wish him the best fortune as the Democrats battle against the Trump Presidency.

Yesterday, Schumer gave a fighting, defiant speech to the Senate on his first day as Minority Leader, making it clear his party would contest Trump on the Cabinet and on every policy that undermines the middle class and promotes the elite wealthy against the average American.

“Crossing The Aisle”: BiPartisanship Of America’s Presidents From FDR To Obama

Ronald 2 Comments

A common theme in American history is the “crossing of the aisle”, the bipartisanship encouraged by just about every American President, and the utilizing of leaders of the opposition party to help make his administration successful.

Franklin D. Roosevelt had Henry Stimson as his Secretary of War from 1940-45, with Stimson having served as Secretary of State under Herbert Hoover. He also had Frank Knox as Secretary of the Navy from 1940-1944, who had been the Republican Vice Presidential nominee in 1936.

Harry Truman had Warren Austin as his United Nations Ambassador from 1947 to 1953.

Dwight D. Eisenhower had Robert Anderson in various roles, as Secretary of the Navy, Deputy Secretary of Defense, and Secretary of the Treasury, during his eight years in office from 1953 to 1961.

John F. Kennedy had Robert McNamara as his Secretary of Defense and D. Douglas Dillon as his Secretary of the Treasury and Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (who he had defeated for the Senate in 1952, as his Ambassador to South Vietnam.

Lyndon B. Johnson kept on McNamara, Dillon and Lodge as close advisers in his administration, after he succeeded to the Presidency upon Kennedy’s death.

Richard Nixon had Sargent Shriver as Ambassador to France, John Connally as Secretary of the Treasury, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan as Ambassador to India.

Gerald Ford had Moynihan stay on as Ambassador to India, and then as Ambassador to the United Nations.

Jimmy Carter had James Schlesinger as Secretary of Energy, and Lawrence Eagleburger as Ambassador to Yugoslavia.

Ronald Reagan has Mike Mansfield at Ambassador to Japan, Jeane Kirkpatrick as Ambassador to the United Nations, William Bennett as Secretary of Education, and Paul Volcker as Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

George H. W. Bush had Richard Stone as Ambassador to Denmark, and Robert Strauss as Ambassador to the Soviet Union.

Bill Clinton had Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve and William Cohen as Secretary of Defense.

George W. Bush had Norman Mineta as Secretary of Transportation.

And Barack Obama has had Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense, Ray LaHood as Secretary of Transportation, Jon Huntsman as Ambassador to China, John McHugh as Secretary of the Army, Ben Bernanke as Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and now has pending the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense.

Notice that Obama has had more members of the opposition party in his administration than any President!

Positive Campaigning Can Be Done: Patrick Leahy And John Hickenlooper As Examples!

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The average American is disgusted by nasty, negative campaigning, where character assassination is employed! 🙁

The effect is to discourage citizens from voting, and to make the American people cynical about politics!

But is it possible to run a political campaign and avoid negativism against your opponent? The answer is YES!

Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont just won his seventh term in the Senate, and completely avoided nasty, negative campaigning!

Democratic Mayor John Hickenlooper of Denver just won the Governorship of Colorado and completely steered away from negative campaigning, a major feat considering that his major opponent was former Republican and Constitution Party nominee Tom Tancredo, one of the most despicable, divisive, nasty campaigners of all time, making his career on the issue of being an anti immigrant nativist of the most venal kind! Hickenlooper’s other opponent was Republican Tea Party nominee Dan Maes, whose campaign collapsed in the face of Tancredo, therefore weakening the GOP image in the Rocky Mountain state, as both of them ran horrible campaigns of character assassination! 🙁

But the tactic did not work, and Colorado is fortunate in having Governor-elect Hickenlooper, a man of principle and decency!

Another example of a politician who avoided negative campaigning in his Senatorial campaigns was the outstanding former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who served as a Democrat for four terms from 1976-2000, and proved to be a man of both principle and intellect, a combination hard to find in the US Senate today!

This country desperately needs a return to civility in both political campaigns, and in the business of running the government on a daily basis, instead of the politics of personal destruction! 🙁

The Conspiracy Industry And Barack Obama: The Trip To India!

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President Barack Obama has been accused of being a secret Muslim, a Kenyan, a non citizen, a Socialist, a Marxist, planning to put people into government sponsored concentration camps, etc etc etc, ad infinitum! 🙁

Now the right wing nuts, or as John Avlon calls them, “wingnuts”, claim that President Obama’s trip to India is costing the government $200 million a day, and requires 40 planes and includes 3,000 guests, on what is portrayed as a “vacation”, rather than a trip to promote economic interests and diplomacy! 🙁

This conspiracy theory began with Michele Bachmann, and has been promoted by Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and other people, rightfully called “wingnuts” by John Avlon! 🙁

Why do people choose to make up such lies, and why do so many millions of Americans choose to believe this propaganda? 🙁

As former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York once said, a person is entitled to his opinions, but not to his own facts! 🙁

It is scary how so many millions of Americans do not seem to realize that they are being bamboozled, being made out to be jerks who have no ability to analyze and evaluate evidence, and instead are manipulated by liars who have no scruples or ethics, and meanwhile are rewarded with public office and obscene wealth based on their despicable propaganda! 🙁