Speaker Of The House

Congressional Republican “Vacation” An Absolute Outrage With So Many Problems And Issues That Need To Be Dealt With!

Ronald 6 Comments

There is criticism of President Barack Obama taking a vacation with his family, with so many foreign policy crises emerging. But it must also be said that the Republican House of Representatives, led by Speaker of the House John Boehner, which sets up the Congressional calendar for both the House and Senate, is absolutely outrageous in its short calendar of work dates, and planning more time off to campaign, while there are so many problems and issues to deal with!

What is the Congress unwilling to deal with, which should be priorities?

The Border Crisis of Central American refugees, many of them children.

The funding of veterans benefits and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Highway Trust Fund, which will run out of money for infrastructure spending, and which will lead to layoffs of workers, adding to the unemployment rate.

The increase in the minimum wage, which has not gone up since 2009, while the cost of living has increased, as it would over any five year period.

The lifeline of the unemployment compensation, which has left many millions without any sustenance, and increased homelessness across the nation.

And these are just the biggest priorities, but this Congress, the 113th, is the absolute worst in modern history, if not at any time, surpassing the previous 112th Congress in negativism!

Speaker John Boehner Moves To Sue Barack Obama Over Use Of Executive Orders: Move Toward Impeachment Proceedings!

Ronald 7 Comments

As pointed out in an earlier entry on this blog, all Presidents have utilized executive orders to take action they felt was necessary, and when Congress has been unwilling to do what needs to be done.

But now, Speaker of the House John Boehner has said he plans to “sue” President Obama for his less often used power of executive orders, to block action on immigration, climate change, and other actions designed to bring about progress and fairness in American policy!

In so doing, it represents the first shots of the upcoming impeachment battle over President Obama, which seems more certain than ever, particularly IF the Republican Party wins control of the US Senate.

The Senate is the key battleground, as it seems that the House of Representatives will not be likely to turn over to a Democratic majority, although the GOP edge in seats might become smaller.

Gaining control of the Senate will allow not only movement toward an impeachment trial of Barack Obama for the Republicans, but also to block any nominees of President Obama for the courts and executive branch, a very worrisome situation.

So the battle for each Senate seat is the key battleground of the election, and every vote will count, so there must be encouragement of all citizens to vote, not sit home, as if the midterm elections do not matter, because they most certainly do!

Again, however, it is important to remember that it is impossible for the Republicans to remove President Obama, were he to be impeached by the Republican House, as 67 votes, or two thirds of the Senate, would be needed, and under no circumstances would there be 67 Republicans, or a smaller margin with enough, or really, any Democratic votes to remove the President from office!

And again, a reminder to the Republicans. Were Obama to decide to leave voluntarily, which will not happen, we would get Vice President Joe Biden, with the ability to gain two terms in office, and with a definite edge for the Democratic Presidential nomination over Hillary Clinton and any other Democrat, as he would be President with less than two years left in the present term, so he could be eligible to have up to ten years in office, and therefore, the second longest time in office to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 12 years and 39 days!

New Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy A Vast Improvement Over Eric Cantor!

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The Republicans have selected their new Majority Leader in the House of Representatives, in the aftermath of the defeat in the Virginia primary of Congressman Eric Cantor.

Kevin McCarthy of California becomes the fastest rising figure to House leadership in American history, being in the House only seven years, and being Majority Whip after only four years.

McCarthy has a winning personality; has the ability to cross the aisle to make deals; and is seen as someone who, while promoting the Republican cause, is not a man who will show the kind of lack of respect for the President and the White House that John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and so many others have demonstrated in the past three and a half years!

A kinder, more gentle approach does legions for anyone in any field of work, and McCarthy will be a vast improvement over Eric Cantor.

It would be a good move for McCarthy to become Speaker of the House, replacing John Boehner, IF the GOP holds on to the House in the midterm elections. Boehner has worn out his welcome, and with a Speaker McCarthy, it is possible to imagine SOME progress on SOME issues, and at least, a more cordial relationship with President Obama, which sets a good example for the nation, as the country is sick and disgusted with the constant confrontation of the past three and a half years!

Of course, the Tea Party whackos will fight a more genial McCarthy, but interestingly, they were unable to prevent his elevation!

One could imagine a Ronald Reagan-Thomas “Tip” O’Neill relationship between Barack Obama and Kevin McCarthy, something that was never possible with John Boehner, and certainly would NOT have happened with Eric Cantor!

So the Cantor defeat, even if it elevates Professor David Brat to the Congress, arguably worse than Cantor, at least it brought us Kevin McCarthy as a potential future Speaker!

Tea Party And Right Wing Talk Radio Against Kevin McCarthy As House Majority Leader!

Ronald 3 Comments

Now that Eric Cantor is being forced out of Congress by his Virginia district, the battle is on over who should be House Majority Leader, and the Tea Party Movement and Right Wing Talk Radio has come out fighting against present House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of California.

Right wing radio critics, including Mark Levin and Laura Ingraham, who worked against Eric Cantor and for his opponent in the primary, David Brat, condemn McCarthy as part of the “Establishment”, as much as Cantor and Speaker of the House John Boehner, and the Tea Party is ready to fight anyone connected to any cooperation on any matter with Barack Obama. Despite strong opposition and criticism by Boehner, Cantor, and McCarthy toward Barack Obama, they can all be accused of making some agreements with him, including ending the government shutdown, and planning some kind of immigration reform, although far less than Obama has wanted.

The fact is that McCarthy, as conservative as he is, comes across as “moderate”, less combative in rhetoric, more congenial, a more pleasant persona than either Cantor or Boehner. The fact that he comes from California is seen, however, as a negative, since the Tea Party gets its strength from the “heartland” of the nation.

The fear is that if McCarthy becomes second ranking House Republican, one is looking at the potential future Speaker of the House, as Cantor was thought to be, until his defeat this week.

So the civil war in the GOP continues to fester and boil over!

The Tea Party Movement At Five Years: What Has It Accomplished?

Ronald 8 Comments

The Tea Party Movement reached five years of age in the last few days, and the question is what has been accomplished?

The Tea Party Movement has led to the following:

Complete stalemate and gridlock in both houses of Congress.

The weakening of the power of the Speaker of the House John Boehner to the level it was in 1910 after the “House Revolution” against Speaker Joseph Cannon.

The loss of a potential Senate majority for the Republican Party twice, when it seemed possible.

The undermining of the American economy and America’s image in the world.

The promotion of racism, misogyny, nativism, and hate and confrontation.

The undermining of national government in favor of sectionalism and secession.

The growing inability of President Obama to gain any kind of cooperation from the opposition party, unseen since the time of Andrew Johnson.

The loss of any reasonable civility between the leaders of the Republican Party and the President of the opposition party.

The growing split between the two major political parties in a manner unseen since the Civil War-Reconstruction Era 150 years ago.

The growing personal threats of assassination against President Obama, unseen at this level since the time of Abraham Lincoln.

But there are signs that the American people have had it with the Tea Party Movement in the Congress and in the state governments.

This is a clear cut warning for those promoting this divisiveness and anarchy, that the time for return to civility has arrived, and that if those in government now refuse to see the handwriting on the wall, then they will be repudiated in 2014 and 2016!

Suddenly, Joe Biden Makes It A Race With Hillary Clinton For 2016!

Ronald 10 Comments

Here many thought that the Democratic Presidential race for 2016 was over, and that Hillary Clinton would saunter to the nomination without opposition.

True, that former Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer and Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley were hinting that they might challenge Hillary, but the thought was it could just be an attempt to gain some publicity, and hope that Hillary would not run, giving them the edge simply on intention to run.

Well, forget about that, as Vice President Joe Biden has made it clear that he does not wish to be ignored or overlooked, and that IF he decides to run, it will not be affected by what Hillary does. After all, even good friends compete in life, right? Biden does not want to be seen, certainly at this point, as a “lame duck”, still wanting to be seen as significant and in the game for the next three years as Vice President and beyond.

When one thinks about it, since Richard Nixon, it has been assumed, and often the fact, that a sitting Vice President was seen as a likely successor to the President he served, at least for the nomination. Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, Gerald Ford, Walter Mondale, George H. W. Bush, and Al Gore all became Presidential nominees after serving under Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. Nixon and Bush became President, while Humphrey, Ford, Mondale and Gore failed to win the Presidential elections after they were nominated by their party. Only Dick Cheney never considered running for the Presidency, after being Vice President under George W. Bush. Even Spiro Agnew, before he was forced to resign due to scandal, was perceived as the likely successor nominee to Richard Nixon, and the same for Dan Quayle under George H. W. Bush, who tried and failed to win the Presidential nomination in 1996.

So the idea of Biden wanting to run is not at all out of the norm, and when one looks seriously at Joe Biden’s record in public life, all one say is WOW!

The reality is that NO Vice President has EVER had the wealth of experience in public office of Joe Biden!

BIden served 36 years in the Senate, and will have had 8 years in the Vice Presidency, for a total of 44 years in public service by 2016.

Biden is a well liked, admired, gregarious, public figure, even if one does not agree with his viewpoints and record.

It is well known that Biden can build bridges with the Republican opposition, and that Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell like him, work well with him, and that Joe Biden has helped to resolve differences on many issues for the Obama Administration. Biden has been a major player and influence over policy and strategy for President Obama, and has been a loyal soldier when his viewpoints have lost out in the cabinet and national security meetings.

Joe Biden has chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his expertise in foreign policy, and his knowledge of, and relationships with foreign leaders make him invaluable in dealing with national security and defense issues. He was often thought of as a possible Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense in the past, due to his brilliance in these areas of such great importance to America’s future.

Joe Biden has also chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee, and his knowledge and understanding of constitutional matters and the Supreme Court, make him invaluable on legal controversies, including his advocacy of gay rights and gay marriage ahead of most politicians who have served in Congress or the executive branch.

Joe Biden is a leader, who if he were President, would be able to get things done much more easily, and is a “wheeler dealer” in the mode of Lyndon B. Johnson, but with a more kind and caring edge than the former President, who could be quite brusque and crude at times.

Hillary Clinton has great background and experience, but on pure years and accomplishments, she cannot match Joe Biden, and in fact, NO ONE in public life can do so!

The major shortcomings of Joe Biden are:

His age, which will be 74 and two months if he took the oath of office in 2017, making him the oldest first term President, and in theory, the oldest President altogether, if he had two terms, and left office at age 82 and two months.

His health, the question whether it would hold up, as he had serious health issues in 1987, due to an aneurysm, which required brain surgery, and his son, Beau Biden, the Delaware Attorney General, suffered a similar health crisis a few years ago, also recovering, but making it seem to be a genetic problem, which could arise, although health issues could also arise for Hillary Clinton, and really, for any Presidential candidate or winner of either party at any age!

His tendency to say embarrassing, or sometimes, purely stupid comments, although one could argue all of us do that, but when in high office. it can have reverberations, and there are critics who keep lists of “Bidenisms”, but they do NOT match the moronic nature of comments made by Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann or Louie Gohmert in the present, or Dan Quayle in the past!

One thing is certain: If Joe Biden were to become President, we would have one of the most lively, colorful, dynamic Presidencies, with Biden being very warm, genuine, sincere, caring, and yet hard nosed enough to get things done and read the “riot act” on his own party members to get things done!

It would be nice to see such a Presidency, which would be inspiring in so many ways.

Having said all of the above, it is clear that if Hillary Clinton runs, she is likely to be the Democratic nominee.

If she chooses not to run, then Joe Biden is the odds on favorite for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

However, if Hillary does not run, or even if she does, it is likely that a “younger generation”, an idea advocated by this blogger in entries before now, are likely to enter the race and make it interesting, including the already named Schweitzer and O’Malley, and if Hillary bows out of the race, possibly Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and Virginia Senator Mark Warner.

The Right Wing Talk Show Hosts Go Whacko Over Republican House Leadership Allowing Debt Limit Extension!

Ronald 3 Comments

For once, just once, the House Republican leadership, recognizing that the Tea Party whackos were out to cause a default and another economic crisis, did the right thing, in allowing a one year extension of the debt limit to March 15, 2015.

So Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and 26 others, including Kevin McCarthy, but NOT Paul Ryan, did the responsible thing, joining with 193 Democrats, to take the debt limit off the table as an issue to prevent further disarray.

But that upset the conservative talk radio hosts and Fox News Channel and right wing foundations no end, and the fury is spreading!

So we have Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage, Mark Levin and other demagogues who are denouncing the Republican leadership, and calling for their heads to be guillotined!

If one listens to these characters, one wonders why any intelligent human being wastes his or her time listening to their poison!

It is clear that all of these crooks, and that is what they are, are only interested in their own wealth and in selling books and giving speeches at high rates of pay before gullible audiences. They could not care less about the future of the American nation, as they are only interested in their own aggrandizement, and their pursuit to be part of the top one percent, if they are not already there!

Will John Boehner Be Removed From Speakership Before End Of 2014? Highly Unlikely!

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The courage and guts of Speaker John Boehner, in finally rejecting the Tea Party whackos in his caucus, and moving ahead to insure that the debt limit issue be taken off the table until March of 2015, could lead to his being deposed as House Speaker before this year is over!

It seems likely that Boehner will NOT be able to remain as Speaker after this year at the most, and he might, very well, decide to quit Congress in disgust at the end of this term.

But IF Boehner is forced out before the midterm elections, it would be likely that the GOP will lose control of the House, as unlikely as that seems to most political observers at the moment.

Never has a Speaker been forced out during his tenure, with the closest example being the stripping of much of the power of Speaker Joseph Cannon in the famous “Revolution of 1910” in October of that year, with the election for the House a month later, and the opposition Democrats winning the House and installing Champ Clark as the new Speaker in 1911-1912!

In any case, GOP disarray can only help the Democrats, and with Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, forcing by his filibuster tactics, that Mitch McConnell, the Minority Leader, had to vote for the extension of the debt limit, makes his Tea Party challenger in Kentucky have a greater chance of defeating McConnell, setting up a whacko against the Democratic nominee for the Senate, Alison Lundergan Grimes, and making the likelihood of the continuation of a Democratic Senate much more likely!

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!

Speaker Boehner: Halt Threat Of Presidential Impeachment NOW!

Ronald 29 Comments

Speaker John Boehner, we are well aware that you do not agree with the Tea Party whackos in your party, and that you wish to move immigration reform forward, and prevent future crises over raising the debt limit and shutting down the federal government!

We know that you have expressed, recently, your exasperation with these reckless, disobedient, anarchistic elements, but it is now time to put up or shut up, and that means halt IMMEDIATELY ANY talk of impeachment of President Barack Obama!

You know, Mr. Speaker, that Obama is a decent man, who you disagree with on policy, similar to what Senator John McCain said during his 2008 Presidential campaign. But McCain showed guts and courage when he contradicted a moronic woman at a campaign rally, who told him that Obama was a Muslim, not an American, and should not be respected.

It is now time for you to make clear that you will NOT allow any motion for impeachment to move forward, similar to what Speaker Nancy Pelosi made very clear when a small cabal of Democrats called for impeachment of President George W. Bush in 2007. She stated then, that while she disagreed on policy matters, there was no just cause for impeachment, and the idea was immediately dropped!

Speaker Boehner, you know in your heart of hearts, that Obama has done nothing illegal; has not committed high crimes and misdemeanors; and was voted into the Presidency twice by the voters by a clear margin. You should respect that reality, and take impeachment off the table, come hell or high water, in regards to retention of your own Speakership!

No move to impeach Obama will lead to his conviction in any case, so do not besmirch his reputation and his obituary, as sadly, Bill Clinton suffered unjustly in 1998-1999, only harming the Republican Party image and reputation!

And finally, realize that IF Obama, somehow, were to be removed, you and your party would be elevating Vice President Joe Biden into the White House, with less than two years left by the time of the impeachment trial, and that would give Biden the upper hand for the nomination and election in 2016 and 2020, creating the possibility of near to a ten year Biden Presidency, only surpassed by Franklin D. Roosevelt!

Do you really wish to do that, Mr. Speaker, as, after all, Joe Biden would promote the same agenda as Obama, and just might have the ability to get things done that could match Lyndon B. Johnson in domestic affairs?

So, Mr. Speaker, be a profile in courage, and nip the impeachment threat in the bud, as it benefits no one, including your party, and the nation at large!