Kenya

The Coming Battle For The Hispanic Republican Leadership: Marco Rubio Of Florida Vs. Ted Cruz Of Texas

Ronald 2 Comments

Florida Senator Marco Rubio is gaining the spotlight next Tuesday evening, when he is commissioned by Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to deliver the Republican Party response to the State of the Union Address of President Barack Obama.

Rubio is young, good looking, charming, charismatic, and represents the Sunshine State, which sometime late in this decade will surpass New York in population and become the third largest state. In addition, it is a “swing state”, arguably the most important if the Republicans are ever to recover from their last two defeats for President, and losing the popular vote in five of the past six elections. And Rubio is clearly planning to run for President. So his response to the State of the Union Address will be crucial to his campaign to build up his image.

But as he becomes seen as the “savior” of the Republican Party, as Time Magazine terms it, he will have another Hispanic Senator, like Rubio a Cuban American, as a rival, who comes from a state much larger in population and in land area, and that is newly minted Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, second in land area to Alaska and second in population to California, and four and a half times the land area of Florida.

Cruz, just 17 months older than Rubio, clearly has his own Presidential plans in the future, and he is much more willing to be openly aggressive in his rhetoric and behavior than Rubio, who tends to be more gentlemanly by nature. Cruz is like a bull in a China shop, and does not care what anyone thinks, because he is an open Tea Party activist, while Rubio is only loosely connected to that right wing movement.

Rubio is diplomatic compared to Cruz, who is less than tactful in just a short time in the Senate, going on the offensive, not being a quiet freshman in the Senate. Cruz was born in Canada, but claims he can run for President, an issue which would have to be investigated further for its validity, particularly when Barack Obama was born in Hawaii, but has had his native citizenship questioned because his father was Kenyan. Cruz is an “in your face” type, and his arrogance is likely to cause him to have fewer friends in the Senate than Rubio.

So Cruz cannot help but wish that Rubio “falls on his face”, as Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal did in delivering the response to the State of the Union Address in 2009.

The irony though is that both Rubio and Cruz represent only three percent of Hispanics, and their conservative ideology is highly unlikely to draw Mexican American support (almost two thirds of all Hispanics in America) or Puerto Rican support ( the second highest percentage among Hispanics with a little over 9 percent), something that they seem not to understand.

So it really does not matter what happens with Rubio and Cruz and their Presidential ambitions, as it is clear that the vast majority of Hispanics will continue to vote Democratic over the long haul. A sign of this is that even the Cuban American population, traditionally Republican because of Fidel Castro, is starting to move in the direction of the Democratic Party, at least among the younger generation which has no memory or experience in fleeing Communist Cuba under Castro control for the past 54 plus years!

Poll On Republicans: 26 Percent Positive, 49 Percent Negative

Ronald Leave a comment

A new poll shows Republicans at a low point in popularity, only gaining 26 percent support, while 49 percent see the party as negative.

Also, 64 percent of Republicans believe Barack Obama is hiding his past, with many believing the “Birther” theory that he was born in Kenya, and is not an American citizen. Also, 19 percent believe Obama stole the 2012 election.

What can one say after hearing these poll numbers? The Republican Party has become so right wing, so out of touch with reality, that it will believe anything negative about Obama, and has made clear that they will do everything possible to block any successes by the President on any subject, including the economy.

With their inability to gain majority or near majority support of women, Hispanics and Latinos, Asian Americans, African Americans, young people, gays and lesbians, labor, environmentalists, and of 60 percent of the electoral votes of the nation, the Republican Party needs to change its tune, but looks as if they are doubling down on their obstinacy, obstructionism, and negativism.

This means further defeats, and possible dissolution of the Republican Party after 160 years of existence, including glorious times, sadly now a faint memory!

Impeachment Threat Against Barack Obama Grows, But Really A “Paper Tiger”!

Ronald 10 Comments

President Barack Obama is being inaugurated for a second term as President in a few days, but is already being threatened by reckless critics with the idea of impeachment, if he takes action on the economy, gun rights, the war in Afghanistan, immigration, or just about any other issue that causes fury among his critics, including the moronic “Birthers”, who still insist that Obama was born in Kenya, not America.

But the reality is that the threat of impeachment is a “paper tiger”, a totally useless exercise which will not, under any circumstances, lead to the removal of Obama from the Presidency.

The reasons for this conclusion include:

The fact that Obama has done nothing and will do nothing that is truly impeachable, meaning he will not “commit high crimes and misdemeanors in office”.

The fact that the critics know this, but may want to besmirch his reputation, using the same tactics against Bill Clinton in 1998-1999, a development which actually raised Clinton’s popularity and reputation and undermined the Republican Party image and standing.

The fact that removing Obama will not improve the situation politically, as Vice President Joe Biden would continue the same policies and initiatives of the President, and this would give him a leg up for the next Presidential election.

Finally, there is the interesting fact that Obama would have an unusual and ideal situation were he to be impeached, and face a Senate trial. This is that Obama would be the only President facing impeachment who would have a Senate with a majority of the membership being of his own party!

55 Senators are Democrats, and with the need to gain 67 votes to remove, it would require 40 percent of the Democrats and all of the Republicans to remove the President from office, and that will never happen!.

In comparison, Andrew Johnson, Democrat, had 42 Republicans in a 54 member Senate in 1868.

Richard Nixon, Republican, had 57 Democrats in a 100 member Senate in 1974.

Bill Clinton, Democrat, had 55 Republicans in a 100 member Senate in 1999.

So realize that impeachment is a political weapon that only demagogues will utilize, and while a majority of the House of Representatives can vote to impeach on flimsy grounds, and while such an action becomes part of the obituary of that President, there is no threat at all to Barack Obama asserting his powers and leading us for the next four years!

The Impeachment Threat Against Chief Justice John Roberts: Totally Ludicrous!

Ronald 1 Comment

The right wing extremists are at it again, now threatening to move to impeach Chief Justice John Roberts IF he swears in President Barack Obama next weekend for his second term in office.

The “Birther” movement, led by Orly Taitz and others, and still insisting that Barack Obama is not eligible to be President because he was born in Kenya, is leading the movement to force Roberts out of office, a totally insane and ludicrous idea!

As has been stated earlier in another entry, a President can be sworn in by ANY judge, and examples of such are Lyndon B. Johnson sworn in by Federal District Court judge Sarah Hughes on Air Force One after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963; and Calvin Coolidge, sworn into office in the middle of the night in Vermont by his own father, a local justice of the peace in 1923.

And if Roberts refused to swear in the President, which he will not do, then ANY of the other Supreme Court Justices, such as Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Stephen Breyer, or Anthony Kennedy, could do the same. Does the “Birther” Movement plan to impeach all of the members of the Supreme Court?

And were Roberts or any Supreme Court Justice to be impeached by the House of Representatives, which is highly unlikely, particularly for Roberts, who was appointed by George W. Bush, there is no chance of gaining a two thirds vote in the Senate to remove him from office! With a Democratic Senate, not even half the votes would be obtained, even if all 45 Republicans were to vote to convict, something that is absolutely NOT going to happen!

All that the “Birther” Movement is doing is adding to its image as a group of wing nuts, not worthy of newsprint or any other public attention!

And Chief Justice Roberts, a man who has wished to avoid controversy, now can commiserate with President Obama, particularly after Roberts’ crucial vote upholding “ObamaCare” in June of last year, a path breaking moment in the history of the Court and of American reform!

Jerome Corsi, World Net Daily, And “Gay” Barack Obama! How Low Can Conspiracy Theories Go?

Ronald 1 Comment

Jerome Corsi, a well known and notorious conspiracy theorist, who collaborates with the right wing World Net Daily website, called “World Nut Daily” by MSNBC ‘s Rachel Maddow last night, has come up with a new theory involving President Barack Obama.

One of the leading advocates of the “birther” conspiracy theory, that Obama is a secret Muslim born in Kenya, now Corsi is promoting what anyone who has followed the attacks on Obama could have predicted would eventually emerge in this Presidential campaign as a last resort to stop the Obama march to victory—the accusation that Obama is secretly gay, that he had a gay lover killed, and another one paid off to remain silent, and that Obama is well known in gay circles and bathhouses in Chicago!

Corsi is the same man who not only has promoted the “birther” myth, but also was involved in the “Swift Boat Veterans” attack on Senator John Kerry, the Democratic Presidential nominee in 2004, which helped to undermine Kerry’s candidacy against President George W. Bush!

Corsi is also a believer in other conspiracy theories, and is obviously frustrated that his recent book on Obama and “birtherism” has failed to have an impact, so he and the World Net Daily website now have reached a new low, but that any intelligent person could have figured would eventually come to light.

The thought in this man’s mind and that of the website supporters is that Obama being called gay is going to defeat him, but it will not, and with the country warming up to the concept that being gay is a private matter, and that being gay is not a crime, and more people being accepting of someone being gay, it will only insure that Obama will not be hurt by scurrilous charges that most certainly would have been revealed years ago, had they been true!

The idea that Barack Obama has such connections and influence that he can “hide” his Kenyan “birth”, his “Muslim” faith, and his “gay” sexual orientation from the American people and actually become President, and be on the verge of a second term, is so ridiculous, that one must wonder about the mental stability of those who believe it, and totally destroys the credibility of both Corsi and World Net Daily, if there was any left in the minds of serious minded, normal people!

Mitt Romney Reaches An All Time Low: Emergence Of The “Birther”!

Ronald 5 Comments

Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney has just reached an all time low in degrading the office he seeks!

Mitt Romney, in his home state of Michigan, just said that there was no debate about where he or his wife were born, as they were born in Michigan hospitals! Specifically, he said “No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place where we were born and raised.”

In so doing, he is spreading the sick, vulgar myth that Barack Obama was not born in the United States, but instead in Kenya!

There is absolutely nothing more despicable and disgraceful that Mitt Romney could say about President Obama than to legitimize and spread the lie that the 44th President of the United States is illegitimate to serve in the highest office of the land!

Romney is spreading the poison of hate and racism represented by Orly Taitz, Donald Trump, and the many others who hate Barack Obama because he is African American, and refuse to show respect and a sense of dignity to a President who has faced the greatest challenges of any President in 80 years, since the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Great Depression!

These despicable “Birthers” are promoting the “Big Lie” technique that was utilized in Nazi Germany by Adolf Hitler, and their racism classifies them as no better than the Ku Klux Klan and other violent groups that have made ethnic and racial and religious hatred their purpose and aim throughout American history!

Romney has produced the most sinful accusation for a man who claims to be a person of “faith”, and he adds to the racism that his Mormon Church practiced until 1978, and then suddenly changed!

He cannot be forgiven for such an insult and the degrading of his own reputation, and the American people will pay him handsomely by a repudiation of his divisive, dishonest, unprincipled campaign, which has no limits to his obsessive ambition to be President, no matter how much he divides the nation!

This outrage also makes John McCain, the 2008 Presidential nominee, look so much more principled when he challenged those who spread rumor and gossip and lies about the origins of Barack Obama!

Mitt Romney, you should be totally ashamed of yourself, and make a profusive apology, but one can be sure no such admission is forthcoming!

Barack Obama And Mitt Romney Have Similarities In Many Ways!

Ronald 2 Comments

It is certainly odd, but it is reality that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have many things in common.

Among them are the following:

Both were born to families that had polygamy in their family history–Obama’s father being a Muslim, and Romney coming from Mormon background.

Both have graduate degrees from Harvard University–Obama with a law degree, and Romney with a law and a business degree.

Both Obama and Romney served in their prominent position for only four years–Obama in the US Senate from Illinois, and Romney as Governor of Massachusetts.

Both Obama and Romney are very bright and knowledgeable, but people find both of them are somewhat aloof and difficult to know on a personal level.

Both Obama and Romney have wives who are very popular, more than they are, and their wives are major assets to their careers and candidacy.

Both Obama and Romney saw health care as a primary issue, with Romney promoting a program in many ways adopted by Obama nationally, although now Romney repudiates his health care program in Massachusetts as a model for a national plan, and endorses the end of the Obama Health Care legislation.

In their careers, both were more liberal than most members of their parties, but both became more moderate in office as time went by.

Both have an element of shyness, and are considered analytical introverts, as compared., say, to Bill Clinton or George W. Bush. In this way, they are more like Jimmy Carter or Richard Nixon.

Both are suspicious of the news media, but then most politicians are that way!

Both love Star Trek, which shows an interest in science fiction and imagination.

Both Obama and Romney have had their religious heritage from their fathers (Muslim and Mormon respectively) seen as suspect, particularly with the fact that their fathers were born in foreign countries (Obama, Kenya and Romney, Mexico).

Both Obama and Romney had strong mothers, not uncommon, and in fact, very common among recent Presidents (including Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush).

Both Obama and Romney lost an earlier race of significance, Obama for the House of Representatives in 2000, and Romney for the US Senate in 1994.

Both Obama and Romney set a new standard for the Presidency, with Obama being the first African American President, and Romney potentially the first Mormon President.

Both Obama and Romney are excellent family men, with not a hint of personal scandal in either one’s background.

Both Obama and Romney would have to be considered among the most intellectual politicians and Presidential candidates we have ever had in US history.

There is no question that debates coming up in September and October will be fascinating to watch and analyze!

Mitt Romney And Donald Trump: A Mistaken Alliance!

Ronald 5 Comments

Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney has decided to associate himself closely with Donald Trump, a massive mistake!

Trump is an arrogant, condescending jerk, and unfortunately, Mitt Romney already comes across as an arrogant, condescending individual, leaving out the word “jerk”!

Trump is now promoting the “Birther” idea anew, that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii, and Romney spokesmen say that does not mean that Romney endorses what Trump is promoting.

But it is not that easy, as the old saying is that we are “judged by the company we keep.”

There is no way that allying with Trump helps Romney, and one wonders why he cannot see that.

All the connection does is promote the idea of one very rich man supporting another very rich man, with neither having a clue as to the struggles of everyday Americans in the midst of the recovery from the Great Recession!

Romney is casting his lot with a notorious publicity seeker, and will be held accountable for whatever Trump says as his surrogate during the next five months.

And one can be sure that IF Romney somehow wins, the “friendship” between Romney and Trump will deteriorate, and Romney will come to rue the day that he decided to associate so closely with the man who, for anyone who is sane, comes across as a clown!

The Greatest Danger Of All: Right Wing “Patriot” Groups Which Are Encouraged By Republican And Conservative Anti Obama Propaganda

Ronald Leave a comment

The Southern Poverty Law Center does an annual report on the status of hate groups on the right, which represent a dire threat to American freedom and liberty.

In 2008, there were 149 groups, increasing in 2009 to 512, increasing again in 2010 to 824, and jumping to 1,274 in 2011. That is 755 percent growth in three years!

These “Patriot” groups emerged during the 1990s with the rise of domestic terrorism, including the attack in Oklahoma City in 1995. But the economic collapse of 2008, along with the growing minority groups in America, and the election of Barack Obama, further accelerated this right wing surge.

While we must be concerned about terrorism from abroad, in many respects our domestic terrorist threat is far greater, and these are not Arabs or Middle Easterners, but rather traditional white Americans who promote conspiracy theories about government taking away private guns, and planning concentration camps formed by FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency!

Militia groups also believe that Mexico is going to take back the American Southwest, and that the government will be unable to stop them on this matter, as crazy as that sounds!

With many Republicans and conservatives still spreading rumors and gossip about Barack Obama being from Kenya, and being a secret Muslim, they are actually abetting the instability of our nation in political, economic and social terms. Their recklessness is mind boggling!

The Reverend Franklin Graham: A Hypocrite Of Massive Proportions!

Ronald 1 Comment

The Reverend Franklin Graham, the son and inheritor of the mantle of the Reverend Billy Graham, now 93 years old, has never been the equal of his father, and today on Morning Joe on MSNBC, he proved just how hypocritical a person he is!

Graham claimed he did now know if Barack Obama is a Christian, but would take him at his word, although he was troubled that Obama’s father, grandfather and great grandfather from Kenya were Muslims, and could understand that many would have doubts about his Christianity. He said he thought Obama might secretly be a Muslim, because Obama was working to give the Islamic faith a “free pass” by promoting the idea of contacts with the Islamic world, and was failing to protect Christians in Islamic nations from attack. Actually, Obama HAS issued a statement calling upon Islamic countries to protect the rights of minority religious groups, including Christians, but Graham conveniently lied about that fact. Graham has also earlier questioned whether Obama was born in the United States, making him a “birther”, at least in the past.

Franklin Graham measures whether one is a “good Christian” based on what they say, EXCEPT for Barack Obama!

Franklin Graham decides that one is religious, based on church attendance, when that proves absolutely nothing about a person.

What proves whether anyone is “religious” is his or her treatment of other human beings on a daily basis, on how he or she judges others, on whether one keeps an open mind, and does not condemn people who have other religious beliefs.

Graham also expressed doubts about Mitt Romney being a Christian, as he pointed out that many Christians thought that the Mormon Church was not a Christian church.

But he had no doubts that Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich were Christians, taking them at their word, although he pointed out that both were Catholics, and that Protestants had differences with Catholic beliefs.

Basically, for a evangelical Christian like Franklin Graham, there is a quandary as he is faced with a person he thinks may be Muslim, a Mormon, and two Catholics. This, plus the fact that the US Supreme Court has six Catholics and three Jews is troubling to those who have problems with both Catholics and Jews. He accepts Santorum and Gingrich as “better” than a ‘ secret Muslim” and a Mormon, but is obviously troubled that his way of looking at religion is not found in any of the possible Presidential candidates!

What it comes down to is that Franklin Graham is a hypocrite big time, and an embarrassment to his father, the Reverend Billy Graham. He is not the worthy successor of his father by any standard one can create!