Politico

A Salute To The Free Press And Committed Journalists!

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As the year 2022 goes into the history books, and 2023 brings its new challenges, it is time to applaud and salute the free press and committed journalists for pursuing truth and facts, and continuing the never ending battle for freedom and democracy in the United States and worldwide.

Those who attack the free press in America and elsewhere are enemies that must be challenged and confronted in every way possible, as it is the free press that promotes progress and shows us reality.

Evil is a force that is always present, but we must thank committed journalists, newspapers, periodicals, and cable and internet websites that continue to pursue the goal of expanding basic civil rights and humane outcomes in the midst of the constant barrage of mistruths, propaganda, and discrimination.

So whenever someone attacks the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, Politico, Huffington Post, and a multitude of other news media, they are attacking all decent people who simply want to live their lives wishing for the promotion of peace, tranquility, and the protection and betterman of human rights worldwide.

White House Chief Of Staff Ron Klain Summarizes Joe Biden’s Record In Office After 19 Months!

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White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain has summarized Joe Biden’s record in office after 19 months.

After a period of struggle and disappointment, now Joe Biden’s record is quite amazing for a President in office just a bit more than a year and a half, a truly transformational President!

As Klain describes it in an interview with POLITICO, Joe Biden “has delivered the largest economic recovery plan since Roosevelt.”(Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal)

Biden has brought into law “the largest infrastructure plan since Eisenhower.” (Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Interstate Highway System)

Biden has accomplished “the most judges confirmed since Kennedy.” (John F. Kennedy)

Biden has accomplished “the second largest health care bill since Johnson.” (Lyndon B. Johnson and Medicare) and (after Barack Obama and the Affordable Care Act)

Biden has “the largest climate change bill in history.” (since Jimmy Carter promoted need for change)

Also, we have seen the first gun control bill since Bill Clinton’s time. (Brady Bill legislation)

And Biden has placed the first African American woman on the Supreme Court (Ketanji Brown Jackson) (After Lyndon B. Johnson placed the first African American man on the Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall)

Additionally, as many observers have noted, we have seen 9.5 million jobs created; accomplished the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years; forced the rich and corporations to pay their fair share of taxes; lowered drug prices and general health care costs, including insulin costs for Medicare recipients; lowered the national debt; confirmed the most diverse set of judges to the federal bench; accomplished the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the American Rescue Plan to combat the COVID 19 Pandemic; canceled some student loan debt; and passed the CHIPS and Science Act, and the PACT Act to help sick veterans from our wars.

In foreign policy, Biden ended America’s longest war (Afghanistan), which Donald Trump had arranged to end actually three months earlier than Biden; strengthened NATO by adding Finland and Sweden; took out Al Qaeda’s top leader; and come to the defense of Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

Los Angeles PBS-Politico Democratic Debate In Narrowed Field: Opportunity For Pete Buttigieg And Amy Klobuchar To Gain

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Tonight’s Democratic debate in Los Angeles, co-sponsored by PBS and Politico, has a narrowed field of only seven candidates who qualified in polls and financial support.

Sadly, only one person of color, Andrew Yang, who is of Chinese parents from Taiwan, is in the debate, with Cory Booker and Julian Castro unable to meet the thresholds required.

It is an opportunity for Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar, both moderates, to shine and gain on Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren, all considered front runners at this point.

The odds of the other two candidates, both businessmen without political experience–Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang–seems unlikely to benefit.

This is the time for Pete and Amy to surge forward, and we shall see how they perform in the two and a half hour debate starting at 8 pm Eastern time.

Hillary Clinton Seems To Be Planning To Ask Joe Biden To Be Her Secretary Of State! If So, Fantastic Move!

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Politico reports that Hillary Clinton is planning to ask Vice President Joe Biden to be her Secretary of State!

If the news is true, that would be a fantastic beginning to a Hillary Clinton Presidency!

This author and blogger has proposed this in the past, and it would be great news if it turned out to be reality.

Joe Biden is the absolutely best person to head our foreign policy in the next four years.

Joe Biden has a record of enough caution in his views on foreign affairs that it would help allay fears on the left of the Democratic Party that Hillary Clinton would be prone to engage us in foreign interventions, due to the image, much of it unwarranted, that she is a “hawk”.

Joe Biden knows all world leaders, and he knows how to get along with everyone, and move them toward his ideas, even including Republicans on Capitol Hill, who genuinely like him and had him as their liaison to President Obama during the last eight years, due to Biden’s well known ability to “schmooze” in a way unique to American politics.

Joe Biden has been right much of the time, including his suggestion years ago that Iraq should probably be three nations, each with its own religious sect and nationality—the Shiites, the Sunnis, and the Kurds. That is still the ultimately best solution for that battle torn nation, once ISIL (ISIS) is destroyed.

Joe Biden has 44 years in government, and was head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and no one past or present, has the depth of experience and knowledge that this man has.

Even though Joe Biden will be 74 next month, he still has loads of energy, enthusiasm, stamina, and motivation to serve his nation, and he is a true jewel who should be utilized in our next President’s administration.

The report on Hillary Clinton planning to ask Joe Biden to join her cabinet is a true sign of her wisdom and genius in running a sane, sensible foreign policy in the future!

Large Numbers Of Republicans And Conservatives, And Growing, Coming Out Against Donald Trump

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We are starting to see Donald Trump losing more and more Republican and conservative support as a result of his total disintegration in process.

He has shown the worst possible traits, so many that one cannot list all of them in one blog entry, but a few of them are:

Ordering the removal of a mother and her crying child from a rally
Attacking the Khans, whose son sacrificed his life in Iraq
Accepting a Purple Heart from a person, and saying he always wanted one
Threatening to add the New York Times to a list of media banned from his rallies, including the Washington Post, Politico, and Huffington Post, among others
Claiming that the public opinion polls are rigged against him, and hinting that he might not participate in Presidential debates in September and October
Refusing to support John McCain and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan in their reelection races.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, and many conservative intellectuals, connected to conservative think tanks, and to the National Review and The Weekly Standard, have denounced Trump as dangerous in foreign policy, as well as totally unhinged in so many areas, and on so many issues.

It is clearly time that the Republican National Committee break their ties to this maniac, and take the nomination away from him, and the sooner the better!

The “Bandwagon” Effect Begins To Take Hold: Republicans On The Run, Including Paul Ryan!

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We are now seeing polls showing Barack Obama with a double digit lead in several states–Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida— and leads widening in Virginia, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa and New Hampshire.

The “bandwagon” effect has begun to take effect, and Republicans are on the run, backing away ever more from Mitt Romney and his clearly failing campaign for President.

And all that Romney and his supporters can say is that the polls are wrong, and that the media are against them, even though even Fox News Channel polls show Obama’s lead widening.

So in other words, trust Romney, even though he constantly lies and deceives, and believe that he can win the election.

Gamblers are not taking bets that Romney will win, and instead the odds of Obama winning are about 80 percent, to 20 percent for Romney.

So Senate and House candidates are running scared, and many will likely go down in a massive Romney defeat six weeks from today!

And it turns out, even Paul Ryan, the Vice Presidential running mate, has come to recognition that he must save himself and his future, which looks a lot more cloudy now than it did before he accepted the Vice Presidential nomination.

Now, Ryan is in danger of losing his Congressional seat in an Obama landslide in Wisconsin, along with presiding over the US Senate and having illusions of being a future President!

So it has been reported by Politico that he is “going rogue”, as Sarah Palin did in 2008, doing what he wants at campaign rallies, saying what he wishes to say, ignoring direction from Romney aides, so as to make himself stand out and save his own skin.

One can sense that the relationship between Romney and Ryan is not what it was, and the body language shows it when they appear together, with Romney seemingly jealous that Ryan gains more applause than he does.

The possibility of a Democratic House and Senate seem more likely by the day, with the rapid implosion of Mitt Romney in evidence!

Republicans In Trouble:Todd Akin and Kevin Yoder— How It Could Hurt Mitt Romney And Paul Ryan!

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The Republican Party and the Romney-Ryan campaign are reeling from two controversies that could affect not only the party fortunes in November, but also their Presidential campaign.

Republican Senate nominee and Tea Party favorite, Congressman Todd Akin, who is opposed by Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, declared yesterday that there was such a thing as “legitimate rape”, but that women should still bring the pregnancy through to birth, causing an uproar, which has led some to demand that the Congressman resign as the Republican Senate nominee.

At the same time, it was revealed by Politico that a group of Republican Congressmen, while in Israel on a “fact finding tour’, got drunk at the Sea of Galilee, and jumped in the water partially clothed, including aides of Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy, who are part of the GOP leadership in the House of Representatives. But Kansas Congressman Kevin Yoder, a freshman member, fully stripped and jumped in, and now there arr calls for him to resign, in what has been seen as a major scandal by many! Yoder also has had an incident with a police officer, who stopped him for speeding, and Yoder refused a breathalyzer test, and paid a fine.

It is not that Democratic Congressman or Senators, or other Democratic officeholders, are incapable of similar incidents, but that the Republican Party professes a “holier than thou” attitude on moral issues, and then becomes involved in such controversies.

It will be interesting to see how the extreme right view of abortion, that under no circumstances should abortion be legal in any situation, will cause a controversy for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, now that they have declared that rape is an exception where abortion should be allowed, in reaction to the Akin controversy. It also contradicts Ryan’s public stand in his 14 years in the House of Representatives! So we shall see how this all works itself out!

Oh No! Speculation About 2016 Democratic Presidential Nomination Already? And Involving New York?

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It is hard to believe, but Politico has published an article speculating about two possible candidates for the Democratic nomination for President in 2016 almost seven months before we settle who will sit in the Oval Office on January 20, 2013!

And get this: the two political figures mentioned are both New Yorkers, a state thought by many to have no role in the future of Presidential races, but anyone thinking that would be wrong!

The two are Secretary of State and former Senator Hillary Clinton, wife of the 42nd President, Bill Clinton, and Governor Andrew Cuomo, son of former Governor Mario Cuomo, himself the subject of much speculation for President in the 1990s, but never running.

Speculation is rampant, although Hillary denies it, that she might be tapped for Vice President in place of Joe Biden, or that she will just retire for two years, write a book, relax, and then come back and run for President, but with Andrew Cuomo not allowing that to stand in the way of his own ambitions.

And then, outside of the Politico article, there is speculation that Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York will also wish to move ahead and seek the Presidency in 2016!

Imagine New York being a center of Presidential speculation, and we don’t even know if the President in office will be leaving in 2017 (Barack Obama), or be finishing his first term in office (Mitt Romney)!

A Forecast Of The Future? Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley Vs. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell

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Yesterday, the political website POLITICO sponsored a debate between Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell over the controversial social issues that have come to the forefront in the past few weeks.

Martin O’Malley came to the strong defense of President Barack Obama, and hailed the successes of the administration, while being critical of the Republicans, led by Virginia’s Governor Bob McDonnell, who became embroiled in a controversy over an invasive vaginal ultra sound bill to undermine abortions by women.

O’Malley at the same time defended the decision in Maryland to make that state the eighth state to legalize gay marriages.

Bob McDonnell was on the defensive, as he explained his change of heart on the invasive ultra sound bill, after much outrage by women and the news media and others who believe in the right of privacy and women’s rights.

As one watched this debate, one could imagine the scenario of a possible 2016 Presidential debate between the two men, governors of neighboring states, with totally opposite views, and both strong defenders of their viewpoints.

Martin O’Malley is already seen as a top tier Presidential candidate for 2016 in the Democratic Party, and Bob McDonnell has obvious ambitions on the Republican side, and has made it clear that he is interested in a Vice Presidential slot with Mitt Romney, if Romney were to choose him. That is the obvious, although denied, reason for his backing off on the invasive ultra sound bill that he seemed ready to sign.

O’Malley has showed evidence that he would be a hard, aggressive campaigner if he ran for President, as he has become one of the major defenders of President Obama’s record, and a critic of the governors of not only Virginia, but also Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida, all hard line conservatives, who he accuses correctly of presiding over very poor employment growth, while Obama, by intervening in Michigan and other Midwestern states, has promoted a revival of the auto industry and the general economy, along with the general progress in decline of the unemployment rate.

Not only is Martin O’Malley demonstrating that a Catholic can have an open mind on issues such as abortion and gay marriage and labor rights, but also Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, is showing the same on these issues, and both are certainly to be considered front runners for the Presidential nomination in 2016.

Not all Catholic politicians allow their faith to dominate their politics, although Rick Santorum, particularly, and convert Newt Gingrich, both seem to feel that their religious views should be dictated to the population at large, even though we were founded as a nation on the concept of separation of church and state, which John F. Kennedy so clearly enunciated as the first Catholic President of the United States!

The Implosion Of Herman Cain: Arrogance, Egotism, And Sexual Harassment!

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So the Herman Cain candidacy was “fun” while it lasted, even though it lacked any principle, consistency, or substance!

How anyone could have seen Herman Cain as qualified to be President, when even his business background has been less than Wendell Willkie in 1940, the only businessman with no political experience to be a Presidential nominee, is beyond understanding!

The man has no concept or understanding of what it means to be President, as shown by his 9-9-9 plan, his abortion statements, his comments on a border fence to keep out illegal immigrants, his thoughts on dealing with terrorism, and refusing the idea of any Muslims in his cabinet.

For Herman Cain to believe he was qualified to be President shows a high level of arrogance and egotism, and it is just further proved by the revelation of charges of sexual harassment by two female staffers at the National Restaurant Association back in the 1990s, who were paid financial settlements and signed agreements not to talk about the incidents publicly.

Herman Cain refused to answer when asked four times by a reporter from Politico, and yet it is known such financial arrangements did occur, so it means Herman Cain’s campaign, while it might go on for a while, is not going to survive long term. The issue will dog him on the campaign trail, and it should turn evangelical Christians in Iowa and elsewhere against his candidacy.

To blame liberals for the reports is hypocrisy personified, as it is well known that many liberals have been exposed for sexual harassment, and this is not an issue of ideology. It is an issue of honesty, integrity, ethics, and responsibility for personal behavior, and Herman Cain cannot be allowed to claim he is a victim, what could be called the Clarence Thomas card!

Instead, just as much as John Edwards, Bill Clinton, and others have been pursued, personal behavior for public figures DOES matter, and it has nothing to do with politics!