Dennis Hastert

Speaker John Boehner Finally Shows “Cojones” Against Tea Party!

Ronald 5 Comments

Speaker of the House John Boehner FINALLY has shown “cojones” against the extremist Tea Party movement and other right wing whackos in his caucus, who are anarchistic and reckless.

He overcame the “Hastert Rule”, started by previous GOP Speaker Dennis Hastert, that no bill would come up for a vote unless there was a majority of Republicans behind it.

Having already abandoned this rule a few times, Boehner took a major step yesterday when he allowed a “clean” vote on the debt limit being taken off the table as a decisive issue until March 15, 2015, insuring economic stability and growth over the next year by that action!

By a vote of 221-201, with 193 Democrats and 28 Republicans, the debt limit increase passed, but many committee chairs and Paul Ryan, Budget Committee Chair, voted NO, and it made it on the record that 199 Republicans were willing to have the government go into default, something that should harm them in the midterm elections coming up in November. Interestingly, other members of the House leadership, including Eric Cantor, the heir apparent, and Kevin McCarthy, and Darrell Issa, voted with Boehner and the 28 Republicans who voted for the debt limit extension.

Boehner may end up leaving Congress, or at least, losing the Speakership if he stays and his party keeps control, but yesterday was a profile in courage FINALLY!

And if, by some chance, Texas Senator Ted Cruz tries to block the debt limit extension by calling for a 60 vote majority to consider it, and if five Republicans cannot be found, then Harry Reid, the Majority Leader, has threatened to use the “nuclear option”, allowing for all votes in the Senate to be based on a 51 vote majority, destroying the filibuster, and then a flow of legislation has a chance to get through the Senate!

The time of the Tea Party Movement dominance over Congress MAY have come to an end, and not too soon!

Republican Party Discipline Is Gone: Looking Back At The Days Of Speaker Newt Gingrich And Speaker Dennis Hastert!

Ronald 2 Comments

The Republican Party from 1995-2007 was headed by Speaker Newt Gingrich for four years and Speaker Dennis Hastert for eight years.

With all of their faults and shortcomings as Speakers of the House of Representatives, there was a sense of loyalty and obedience to the House leadership when it came to floor votes on legislation.

But that is now a dim memory, as Speaker John Boehner is unable to control his own caucus, and was embarrassed yesterday to lose on a vote on the Farm bill, due to the Tea Party radicals who are determined to wipe out the Food Stamp program completely, and have no concern if children, the elderly, and the disabled are starving!

When one listens to the debate and the lack of concern and human compassion that the Tea Party wing nuts have, one would think that Boehner should make a dramatic announcement that he is resigning as Speaker, since the job has become impossible to manage!

Boehner is being destroyed from within, including undermining by his own House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia, who is the evil genius behind the Tea Party movement in the House.

Cantor is only concerned about his dream to become Speaker of the House, and is willing to ride roughshod over Boehner, as Cantor has no ethics, morals or scruples, and is a monstrous example of power grabbing gone mad!

The poor GOP performance should lead to repudiation by their constituents in 2014, but with gerrymandering and an old Confederate mentality still existing in much of the South and the border states, and anti government militia mentality in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain areas of the nation, more of this incompetence, stalemate, and gridlock are likely, whether or not John Boehner sees the handwriting on the wall, and resigns, allowing turncoat Eric Cantor to accomplish his dream of turning America backward to the years before the New Deal and Great Society!

Newt Gingrich And Former Speakers Of The House Of Representatives: No Love Lost Either Way!

Ronald Leave a comment

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, now seeking the Presidency, has had a confrontational relationship with many people in his career, among them all living former Speakers of the House.

Three Democratic Speakers, Jim Wright (1987-1989), Tom Foley (1989-1995), and Nancy Pelosi (2007-2011) have crossed paths in difficult ways with Gingrich. Wright was brought up on ethics charges by Gingrich in 1989, and forced out of the Speakership on grounds far less than Gingrich, who himself was involved in ethics violations pursued by Nancy Pelosi in 1997-1998, and pushed out of the Speakership by his own party at the end of 1998. Foley was the Speaker facing the attacks of Gingrich as he built the GOP majority that finally ousted Foley in the 1994 Congressional elections.

But even the two GOP Speakers have no love lost regarding Gingrich. Dennis Hastert (1999-2007) was picked to get away from the theatrics of Gingrich, and Hastert now supports Mitt Romney for President. And the present Speaker, John Boehner, is known privately to oppose Gingrich, who he helped to push out of the Speakership in 1998. It is believed he will make his view public IF Gingrich continues to surge, to attempt to prevent what he and many other Republicans believe would be suicide to have Gingrich heading their ticket in 2012 against Barack Obama.