Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Vice President Joe Biden Has Regrets, And So Do Many Democrats Who Hoped He Would Run For President In 2016!

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In twelve days, Vice President Joe Biden enters his eighth and last year as Vice President of the United States.

Biden has been a “jewel” for President Barack Obama, being a great contributor and supporter to all of of Obama’s many tough decisions.

Biden has been willing to challenge Obama on some issues, but always supportive after the decision is made.

Biden has also been a spur to change, as when he pushed Obama into support of gay marriage before the President was ready to state so.

Joe Biden has given this nation 43 years of dedicated public service, and he has always put his full energies and full commitment to this nation.

Biden is now expressing regrets that he chose not to run, due to the mourning over his son Beau, who died of cancer at the end of last May.  By the time he felt he was ready, emotionally and physically, the deadline for a serious entrance had passed, as he told us in October.  Many of his millions of supporters also regret that he is not in the race, forcing them to choose between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

Biden is such a good soldier, such a passionate person in his work life, that to see him retire in a year seems ridiculous, so that is why if Hillary Clinton becomes the 45th President, she should appoint Joe Biden to be the Secretary of State for the next four year term, with his great experience and knowledge of foreign policy, including his Chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for two two year terms.

Foreign Policy Experience Mediocre For Republican Party Candidates: A Danger For America!

Ronald 21 Comments

It is clear that foreign policy is going to be a crucial part of the Presidential Election of 2016.

When one looks at the Republican candidates for the Presidency, it is very alarming how little background and experience the group has.

Donald Trump, Dr. Benjamin Carson, and Carly Fiorina, the “Non Officeholders”, have ZERO experience, and just because one is in the business world or is a medical doctor, is NOT qualifications for the Presidency!

Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal, George Pataki and Jim Gilmore were or are  Governors and have no experience in foreign policy. but love to act like bullies.

Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul have no understanding of the intracacies of American foreign policy, with one so hawkish in his rhetoric that he is literally scary, and the other being totally naive about the world with his overly dovish views.

Former Senator Rick Santorum has no skills to understand the world scene, and Lindsey Graham, while more knowledgeable on foreign policy, is famous for wanting troops everywhere, as he is a super hawk!

Senator Marco Rubio is on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which helps his credentials, but he lacks a serious understanding of world affairs.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has the plus of being related to his dad, who was a foreign policy specialist, but he is more inclined to follow the disastrous policies of his brother, George W. Bush.

John Kasich has the most varied career, and gained foreign policy knowledge while in the House of Representatives for 18 years, and has a more balanced view of the world than any other potential nominee, but he does not have the expertise of Jon Huntsman, who was a potential nominee in 2012 and was Ambassador to China.

The fact is that NO Republican matches the background of Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, pure and simple!

 

Marco Rubio Emerges From “Pack” Of Republicans As “Officeholder” And “New Generation” Of Leadership!

Ronald 4 Comments

It is interesting that in the midst of the “non officeholders” —Donald Trump, Carley Fiorina, Dr. Benjamin Carson—together gaining a majority of the support in most public opinion polls for the Republican Presidential nomination, that we are seeing the rise of Florida Senator Marco Rubio, and to a lesser extent Ohio Governor John Kasich, in the polls, while others, including Jeb Bush, are losing support.

Rubio is taking advantage of the situation to point out that he is on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and that he is a “new generation” of leadership, surpassing his own “mentor”, Jeb Bush!

Rubio has many weaknesses, but the fact that he is Hispanic, is from the  leading “swing” state, Florida, and makes a good personal appearance, are all factors in his rise.

The question is whether he can overcome the “non officeholders” and continue to improve enough in debates to end up as the leader in the polls in the next few months before the Iowa Caucuses occur on February 1.

Historic Leaders Of The Senate Foreign Relations Committee

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The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is one of the most important of all committees in the history of that body, having begun as early as 1816.

It is one of the most significant committees, with many future potential Presidential seekers wishing to be seen as “experts” on American foreign policy.

It is a committee often in conflict with the President of the United States on strategy and policy toward other nations.

There have been many colorful leaders of the committee, both Democrats and Republicans, who have become famed or notorious for their principles and impact on American foreign policy.

The committee again has become focused on as part of the heated debate over the Iran nuclear deal, and its recent former Chairman, John Kerry, is now the Secretary of State, charged with gaining the support of the committee, which, clearly, however, under Republican control, is a lost cause.

Among its leaders have been Presidential nominees Rufus King, Henry Clay, and John Kerry; President James Buchanan; and Vice Presidents Hannibal Hamlin and Joe Biden.

Such prominent political figures, other than those mentioned above, who served as Chairman of the committee include: Thomas Hart Benton, Charles Sumner, John Sherman, Henry Cabot Lodge, Sr., William Borah, Arthur Vandenberg, J. William Fulbright, Frank Church, Charles Percy, Richard Lugar, Claiborne Pell, Jesse Helms, and present Chairman Bob Corker, with Fulbright serving the longest as Chairman, 16 years from 1959-1975.

Those who made the most news included Lodge fighting Woodrow Wilson on the Versailles Treaty and League of Nations; Vandenberg playing a crucial role in backing the containment policy of President Harry Truman, despite them being from different parties; Fulbright fighting against the Vietnam War under Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon; and Helms being a major problem for Bill Clinton on many foreign policy issues.

Joe Biden Vs. John Kasich: The Most Experienced, Most Qualified Candidates For President in 2016!

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We are now seeing the full emergence of the Presidential race of 2016, with four candidates having announced, and many more to come between now and July, six months out from the Iowa Caucuses and New Hampshire Primary.

It is becoming quite clear that IF the two political parties are looking for the most experienced, most qualified candidates to compete against each other in November 2016, then they will nominate Vice President Joe Biden and Ohio Governor John Kasich.

The nation would be very fortunate if this was the end result of the upcoming election, but it is not even certain that either Biden or Kasich will actually announce for President.

Biden seems to be avoiding the issue for now, fully aware that Hillary Clinton is the prohibitive favorite, but also carrying a lot of “baggage” over the lost emails and the Clinton Foundation, and the general feeling among many people of distrust of the former First Lady, former New York Senator, and former Secretary of State. But with the growing possibility that Hillary might falter, he is waiting in the wings and could decide to challenge her, rather than leave it alone and allow Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chafee to challenge her instead.

It is a clear cut fact that none of these alternatives can fill the shoes of Joe Biden in pure experience, knowledge, and qualifications, with Biden having had, by 2016, a total of 44 years in government, 36 as a Senator, and 8 as Vice President. Biden has been a leader in both domestic and foreign policy, and was Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and has been ranked as one of the best Senators in American history. His role as Vice President has been massive, and President Barack Obama acknowledged his role and significance at the White House Correspondents Dinner this past weekend.

Of course, Biden is not perfect by any means, but has far fewer controversies than Hillary Clinton, and his faults are primarily his loose mouth at times, and his loose hands recently with women at public events, all embarrassing, but not taking away from his great leadership role over more than four decades. And his personality is a winning one, and Joe Biden is the most accessible, genuine, authentic, decent politician in America today, bar none.

At the same time, John Kasich is a man of principle, who just this weekend said he would not change his views to appeal to any particular group or agenda, and he comes across as a man of decency, accomplishment, and experience that far outstrips any other Republican nominee for the Presidency.

Kasich served in the House of Representatives for 18 years from 1982-2000, and was House Budget Committee Chairman, and understand economic matters better than most. He also has been now the two term Governor of the most crucial state in any Presidential election, Ohio, with the reality that no Republican has been elected President who has not won Ohio. This makes Kasich, easily, the best possible nominee that the Republicans could nominate, and the nation would be a lot more secure and safe with him than with any other Republican nominee for the White House.

An election between Joe Biden and John Kasich would be in the best traditions of American history, and would give us, no matter who won, a competent, qualified person to be our President for the next four years from 2017-2021. Let us hope for such good fortune to be given to this country!

Vice President Joe Biden: What Are You Waiting For? Time To Enter The Presidential Race Now!

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With the questions arising over the viability of Hillary Clinton, it is time for Vice President Joe Biden, who has desired to be President now for the past 28 years, to put his “hat in the ring”, as Theodore Roosevelt called it when he announced his Presidential candidacy in 1912.

Joe Biden is one of the most colorful, charismatic, dynamic political figures to arise in a long time. He is more experienced than ANY Presidential candidate in the past, having served 36 years in the United States Senate, and eight years as Vice President by the end of 2016, a total of 44 years, unmatched by any President or nominee in American history.

Joe Biden has been at the center of American history since 1972, when he was elected, days before his 30th birthday, and overcame the personal tragedy of the loss of his wife and daughter in a horrific auto crash just weeks after his victory.

Joe Biden was a leading voice in the Senate on all kinds of issues that are important–civil rights, women’s rights, labor rights, the environment, and as Vice President on gay rights and gay marriage. He has also risen to chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate, and despite what Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton has said, Joe Biden has been correct on most foreign policy issues, including his suggestion in 2003 that Iraq should be divided into Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish sections, so obviously true that Iraq was the false creation that has been a nightmare since after World War I.

Joe Biden is the most genuine, real, authentic person in American politics, and one can feel he is a “regular guy”, a man who was the “poorest” in the Senate, only having his home, his salary and his wife’s salary as a professor as his assets, and truly not being a millionaire many times over, as most members of Congress are.

Yes, Joe Biden has faults and shortcomings, but who does not among us, and particularly among politicians?

Yes, he plagiarized a term paper one time in law school. Yes, he once copied wording of a speech of a British politician. Yes, he acts goofy at times with some of his public utterances, and at times of swearing in of Senators to their new terms of office. And yes, he has been sometimes too “touchy feely” with wives or daughters of other officials, something a bit weird, but he has never been accused or associated with any inappropriate liaisons with other women, and is very dedicated to his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, who has been a great Second Lady! He has never been accused of drunkenness or illegal drug use.

But he is so engaging and charming even when he blunders. Joe Biden does not have an evil bone in his body, and has never been personally nasty to anyone, and is even well liked by Republican opposition leaders, who feel they can work with him even when they seem to detest President Obama.

Joe Biden has been a very loyal and active Vice President, who has added to the office tremendously, and been invaluable in his advice , and he is a great emissary to Capitol Hill, a kinder, gentler version of Lyndon B. Johnson. He has been a tremendous asset to the President and the nation over the past six years, and has restored the dignity of the Vice Presidency after the decline in reputation and likability and trust and respect under the previous Vice President, Dick Cheney.

Joe Biden would bring excitement to the race with his oratory, and would know how to give the Republican Party “hell”, as Harry Truman did seven decades ago. And yet, he would still gain the respect of his opponents which he still has today in 2015 after 42 plus years in American politics, and how many other public figures can say that? And he made mincemeat of Sarah Palin and Paul Ryan in debates for the Vice Presidency in 2008 and 2012, and was one of the best debaters in the 2008 Democratic Party primary debates.

Yes, Joe Biden will be 74 right after Election Day in 2016, but Ronald Reagan was older in his second term, and there is no age limit in the Presidency constitutionally, and many of the other potential candidates will be around the same age, or in their 70s during the next Presidential term. Age is just a number, particularly, with someone as energetic and engaged as Joe Biden is.

If Joe Biden was our 45th President, America would be better for it, and Joe Biden would do his best in dedicating very minute of his time and every bone in his body to the advancement of America to a better position both in domestic policy and in foreign relations.

Eric Cantor Not Only Congressional Leader Defeated For Re-election

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The defeat of Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader in his Congressional primary in Virginia by David Brat, was stunning and shocking, but not the first time that a Congressional leader was defeated for renomination or reelection.

Other prominent cases include:

Senator Richard Lugar, former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, of Indiana in 2012 by Richard Mourdock

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota in 2004 by John Thune

House Speaker Tom Foley of Washington State in 1994 by George Nethercutt

Former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski of Illinois in 1994 by Michael Flanagan

Congressman Emanuel Celler, House Judiciary Committee Chairman of New York, in 1972 by Elizabeth Holtzman

Senate Majority Leader Scott Lucas of Illinois in 1950 by Everett Dirksen

Senator Robert La Follette, Jr of Wisconsin in 1946 by Joseph McCarthy

Notice that ONLY Cantor, Lugar and La Follette, Jr. were Republican officeholders defeated, while the others listed were all Democrats.

So it is newsworthy and highly unusual for Congressional leaders and prominent members to lose reelection!

The Case For Joe Biden For President

Ronald 11 Comments

Almost everyone thinks Hillary Clinton is the almost certain Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in 2016.

This entry is NOT designed to attack her credentials, or her worthiness to be President, and it is NOT designed to be critical of Martin O’Malley, Andrew Cuomo, Amy Klobuchar, Mark Warner, Elizabeth Warren or Brian Schweitzer, other rumored possible candidates.

It is simply an entry to point out the case for Joe Biden for President of the United States!

When one examines Joe Biden’s political career, one can only marvel at his background and experience, although it is well known that often those with far less experience in government end up in the Presidency, as for instance: Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

But, seriously, if one is to use the measurement of experience in NATIONAL government, NO ONE comes even close to Joe Biden!

Only three Presidents had extensive experience in Congress before becoming President, and two of them became President originally by succession during a term–Andrew Johnson and Lyndon B. Johnson. The person to have the most national experience was, sadly, James Buchanan, often ranked as the absolutely worst President we have ever had in our nation’s history.

So one might say, see what happens when you put an experienced person in national government in the Presidency–that they turn out to be disasters, such as Andrew Johnson and Buchanan, and with much dissatisfaction with Lyndon B. Johnson for the Vietnam War escalation.

But it is really unfair to judge having experience as meaning an ultimate failure, and the point is that Joe Biden has a total of 44 years of experience in national government, unmatched in our history, and only Republican Presidential nominee Bob Dole in 1996 coming close, with 36 years of Congressional service!

Biden has unmatched experience and expertise in both foreign policy and legal matters, as he was Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman at different times.

Joe Biden is as skilled with working with the opposition party as Lyndon B. Johnson was in the 1950s, but for a much longer period of time.

Joe Biden would have the ability to get things done, that, arguably, Hillary Clinton would not have, and that other, less experienced Democratic nominees would not have!

Joe Biden is an extremely charming, charismatic , warm human being, and extremely likable and genuine. What you see is what you get, and Biden would be one of the most colorful and dynamic Presidents, were he to gain the Oval Office.

Joe Biden’s shortcomings are his age (although he has tremendous energy and shows no signs of slowing); his tendency to make verbal gaffes (although he has never said anything that did more than make him look foolish and really, human, in that regard); and his one great sin, if that is what it is to be called. That “sin” is having plagiarized in some speeches, and possibly in a term paper in his college years. This is certainly to be criticized, and it knocked him out of the 1988 Presidential race, which, however, was lucky, since he soon suffered an aneurysm, which required brain surgery. One could be concerned that he could have a repeat aneurysm, but it has been 27 years since that event, with no sign of that problem emerging.

The important thing, as always, with any Presidential candidate, is to have a strong, competent, decent running mate for Vice President, in case something tragic occurs, which can happen to anyone at any age! It is not a reason to dismiss someone for President, considering Lyndon B. Johnson’s heart troubles, and Dick Cheney’s multiple heart problems, among other cases of health issues (including John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt), faced by candidates for President and Vice President, as well as those holding the offices.

One thing is very clear! iF Joe Biden were to become President, he would do the nation proud, and we would know we have a President who has our backs, as he does not have a mean bone in his body, and really is compassionate and caring about all of us!

And also, Joe Biden is as close to an “average guy” as we will ever get, a guy who is likely close to the poorest politician throughout his career, living off his and his wife’s salaries, and off sales of his autobiography in recent years. He is not materialistic in the way other officeholders are, and has never had even a hint of scandal in his personal life or his financial life.

That is the kind of man that America deserves in the White House!

John Kerry Makes Rand Paul Look Foolish And Naive!

Ronald 13 Comments

Secretary of State John Kerry “cleaned the clock” of Kentucky Senator Rand Paul in yesterday’s hearing on Syria in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, suggesting that Paul attend secret briefings and become “informed” about the Syrian matter, rather than spout isolationist propaganda.

Anyone watching had to be impressed by Kerry, and appalled by the ignorance and pure stupidity of Rand Paul, who has this vision of being our President!

The fact is that Rand Paul would face vehement opposition within the GOP if he runs for President, and if he, somehow, became the nominee, with his bankrupt libertarian ideology, he would lose in a massive landslide, which might actually be the only way to wipe out of national politics the delusional, crazy ideas not only of Rand Paul, but also of the “godmother” or libertarianism, Ayn Rand, who is also “loved” by Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s Vice Presidential running mate in 2012.

What We Lost In 2004: A Great Statesman Named John Kerry!

Ronald 6 Comments

Looking back now nine years, it is clear that America lost out when George W. Bush, who lied us into a war in Iraq in 2003, and was not keeping track of Al Qaeda before September 11 while on vacation in Crawford, Texas in 2001, defeated John Kerry in 2004 in a ruthless campaign based upon lies and deceit!

Senator Kerry had been an outstanding Senator from Massachusetts for 20 years, had been a courageous soldier in Vietnam, but had the “nerve” to oppose the continuation of the war in 1971 under Richard Nixon’s Presidency, after returning home from his war service.

For this, Kerry was pilloried by the Bush campaign, while Bush served in the National Guard, and was mostly absent, if not reading magazines, while on so called “duty”, gaining preference because of his dad!

So Kerry went back to the Senate, and continued a brilliant career, becoming Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, until he was tapped by President Barack Obama to replace Hillary Clinton in the State Department’s top post.

And now, just months into his time as Secretary of State, Kerry has already shown just how principled, how committed he is to international law, to morality and ethics, to common decency, and to concern for human rights and the lives of innocent men, women and children, who have been slaughtered by outlaw dictator Bashar Al Assad with the use of chemical weapons!

Kerry is a true statesman, a man who hates war due to personal experience, but knows that if nothing is done in this attack against humanity, it will embolden other dictators to think they can get away with this in the future, reminding us of what happened in the 1930s, as people stood by and allowed Adolf Hitler to take advantage of weakness!

But ultimately, the civilized world had to fight Hitler and Nazi Germany anyway, but it was just that much more difficult because of the delay in reaction, and the fear of taking action!

We are indeed fortunate to have John Kerry as our Secretary of State, a true statesman and historic figure, even if he was not elected President of the United States in 2004!