Speaker Of The House

The Total Hypocrisy Of Republican Politicians!

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The Republican Party and the conservative movement love to pontificate about morality and ethics, and yet are the biggest hypocrites that exist!

So we have the late Congressman Bill Young of Florida, who left his wife of 36 years in 1985 for his secretary, and totally ignored his children from that first wife, and they were even denied allowance to come to his funeral, after he died last year, after 42 years as a senior “Family Values” Republican in the House of Representatives.

So we had House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde of Illinois, who led the impeachment move against President Bill Clinton in 1998-1999, who it was shown he had a child with another woman while condemning Bill Clinton for his sexual exploits.

So we had Congressman Bob Livingston of Louisiana, who was supposed to be Speaker of the House in 1999, after Newt Gingrich left, but was also shown to have had children and relationships outside of his marriage.

And of course, Newt Gingrich, the most obvious hypocrite of all, had spent his years in Congress, cheating on his wife, serving her with divorce papers while undergoing cancer surgery, married the woman he had the affair with at that time in the late 1990s, and then divorced her, after having an affair with wife number three, the blond bimbo who accompanied him on his Presidential run in 2012. Gingrich has no shame, never has, and was condemning Bill Clinton while doing the same thing, but acting puritanical.

There are so many other examples, including gay members of the Republican Party, such as Ken Mehlman, Republican National Chairman under George W. Bush, who finally “came out of the closet” after doing great damage to gays and lesbians; former Congressman David Dreier of California; Senator Larry Craig of Idaho; and most recently, Congressman Aaron Schock of Illinois, all of whom have done everything to harm and limit gay rights, while all being clearly gay men.

The lying and deceit of these GOP Politicians past and present, in the midst of condemning others for what they do, is beyond normal condemnation. It is worse than committing the acts that others do, and being “holier than thou”, and this includes evangelical pastors who are corrupt, and Catholic priests who are corrupt, but are only too willing to condemn the behavior of others who conduct their lives in the same fashion.

So the Republican party and the conservative movement are NOT the paragon of virtue. and NOT good role models for “Family Values”!

Eric Cantor Declares War On The Unemployed And Poor: Bad Omen For 2014!

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Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who salivates to become Speaker of the House when John Boehner finally leaves, which may be this year, continues to prove how disgusting and disgraceful he is!

The only Jewish Republican in Congress, Cantor has become an embarrassment to open minded, compassionate Jews, who are shocked at his callousness and lack of concern for the unemployed and the poor.

Being a leading supporter of cutting food stamps, and against ever raising the minimum wage, he now has made clear that any extension of unemployment benefits, after the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, is off the table, and that means, unless it is somehow overcome by Boehner calling a vote and willing to let the Democrats gain the majority of the total vote for extension, that millions of unfortunate Americans, who have worked hard all their lives, but have suffered from the Great Recession and its aftermath, shall be left in a situation with lack of food, inability to pay rent, unable to get medical aid when sick or injured, and with their children and senior citizen parents being truly deprived of basic needs! And yet, all workers have contributed to their unemployment compensation, and there is as much right to that as to Social Security and Medicare!

How can anyone with a conscience do this to fellow Americans? How can such people sleep at night? All this will do is increase the number of deaths of people unable to meet basic needs, and it also is an obvious threat that some desperate people will turn to violence to get basic needs met. There is no justification for violence, but it does not mean that it will not happen.

What makes Eric Cantor tick? He needs, desperately, a mental examination, as he is a man of mean spirit and lack of compassion, not native to the Jewish or any other religious spirit!

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!

Will Speaker Of The House John Boehner Be A “Profile In Courage” On Immigration Reform?

Ronald 11 Comments

Speaker of the House John Boehner has a job that no one in their right mind would envy–being leader of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives, when the Tea Party Movement has taken over a good portion of the Republican caucus, and is out to destroy any possibility of any Congressional action on just about anything, unless it fits their extremist right wing philosophy!..

Boehner has been heavily criticized on all political fronts of the left and the right, of the Democrats and Republicans, for trying to maintain some semblance of order, decorum, and discipline in the House.

Boehner is not exactly a likeable character, but one can sympathize with the burden he carries, and he has shown willingness four times this year to move legislation that does NOT have a majority of his party willing to back by their votes.

Boehner has pushed legislation with a minority of Republicans and a majority of Democrats in the following circumstances:

Passage of the “fiscal cliff” legislation in January of this year.

Hurricane Sandy relief vote in January.

Extension of the Violence Against Women Act vote in February.

Federal acquisition of historic sites vote in April.

Now Boehner has the most challenging situation, whether to allow an immigration reform vote, when the majority of his House majority will be bitterly against it, while Boehner has been supportive of immigration reform in his past career as a Congressman from Cincinnati, Ohio.

California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher has threatened to call for a vote to unseat Boehner as House Speaker if he calls for such a vote.

So Boehner has to decide to gamble his Speakership on this matter–choosing between his own career, and doing the right thing, something which would revive Republican fortunes with the growing Hispanic-Latino community in America, and also just doing what is fair and just for eleven million people, many born here, and others coming only for economic betterment, not to commit crimes, which only a miniscule number have engaged in over the years!

Is the Speakership that important? Does not John Boehner secretly wish he could give up the burden, which has become a nightmare with the lunatic Congressmen and some Senators of his party who have set out to destroy the historical reputation of the party of Lincoln, TR, and Ike?

The conclusion of the author is that Boehner will allow a vote, and immigration reform will pass the House, if a large majority of the Senate, including Republicans, pass a bill.

And if that happens, and even if Boehner loses his Speakership, we will be able to add Boehner to the list of people who have been a “Profile in Courage”, as John F. Kennedy termed it in his Pulitzer Prize winning book in 1956!

Speaker Of The House John Boehner: Worst Speaker Of Modern Times!

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Speaker of the House John Boehner faces a vote today on whether he will retain his job in the new 113th Congress.

For so many reasons, he should be repudiated, although the alternative of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is no better!

Why should Boehner be removed as Speaker?

Boehner has presided over the most unproductive, least accomplished House of Representatives since at least World War II, if not throughout American history! The 112th Congress has been a total disgrace, with a public opinion rating of 12 percent!

Boehner has been totally unable to quell the Tea Party Movement within his party, a group that is destroying the party’s future!

Boehner has set a bad example by his drinking, smoking, and tanning habits, all of which are a terrible model for young people.

Boehner has utilized foul language toward Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, despite the fact that he must meet with and work with the Senate leader in the aftermath, and that demonstrates poor judgment and leadership!

Boehner has now indicated that he will NOT have any more personal, private meetings with President Obama, which insures further deadlock and stalemate for the next two years or more, and is a contrast to Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill and President Ronald Reagan, and even Newt Gingrich with President Bill Clinton.

Face it: Speaker Boehner is a disgrace to his office, and should NOT be two heartbeats away from the Presidency under the Presidential Succession Law of 1947!

Presidents Who Did Not Seek The Office

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With the recent comment by Tagg Romney that his father, Mitt Romney, did not have a great ambition to be President of the United States, it brings up the issue of actual Presidents who in the past century did not lust after the job, and it was promoted by others, or the job fell into their lap symbolically.

Six Presidents would fit this description as follows:

William Howard Taft (1909-1913) was prodded by his wife and President Theodore Roosevelt to run, with him preferring to be a judge, later becoming the only President to serve also as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1921-1930), and being much happier in that position.

Warren G. Harding (1921-1923), who also was prodded by his wife and political professionals in a so called “smoke filled room” to run, and actually hated the responsibilities of being President.

Harry Truman (1945-1953), who was drafted for the ticket as the fourth term Vice President under Franklin D. Roosevelt, and never imagined himself as President, before he was, suddenly, thrust into the position in the last months of World War II.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was wooed first by the Democrats in 1948, and finally convinced by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. of Masachusetts and other moderate Republicans, that he was needed to be a candidate in 1952 to stop the conservative candidacy of Senator Robert Taft of Ohio, son of President Taft.

Gerald Ford (1974-1977), who was planning on finishing his career in the House of Representatives, with his only desire being to be Speaker of the House some day, but suddenly was thrust into the Vice Presidency when Spiro Agnew resigned, and soon became aware that he was likely to become President due to the Watergate crisis of President Richard Nixon.

Ronald Reagan (1981-1989), whose wife prodded him, along with conservative supporters, to run at the advanced age of 69 in 1980, when he had given up any thoughts of being President after losing the nomination to President Ford in 1976.

So six Presidents of the past century, if the situations had been different, would not be part of the exclusive “Presidents Club”.

Speaker John Boehner And The Uncontrollable Republican Majority

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It is absolutely amazing how Speaker of the House John Boehner has been totally emasculated by the Tea Party Caucus in the House of Representatives, and seems unable to strike a deal with President Barack Obama on avoiding the so called “Fiscal Cliff”.

The only good thing out of this is that the Republican Party, already way down in the polls, and seen as an extremist, uncompromising group, will suffer further from the lack of an agreement, and the Democrats will have the edge on the issue of spending and taxation when the new year begins, and after a short period of uncertainty, the tax cuts for 98 percent of the American people will be restored, while the tax increases for the top two percent will continue, and maybe go back to the $250,000 range, rather than the deal Obama was striking to make it $400,000.

The Republicans, with a reduced majority and fewer Tea Party members in January, will face the music that they have self destructed, and it is time to consider that we may be witnessing the death of the Republican Party as we once knew it, and that a new moderate, centrist party, a real competition to the Democrats, might emerge sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, the Speakership office has suffered its greatest decline since the “Revolution of 1910” against Speker Joseph Cannon, which took away a lot of power from the Speaker’s office.

Boehner will NOT go down in history as an outstanding Speaker, such as Sam Rayburn or Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, but more like Joseph Martin or Jim Wright. And even Newt Gingrich, with all his faults, will rank higher in history than John Boehner!

Rumored Deal On Raising Medicare Eligibility Age Totally Wrongheaded!

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As the “Fiscal Cliff” deadline nears, there are rumors emerging that President Barack Obama might be ready to make a deal with Speaker John Boehner and the Republican Party, that in exchange for their support on raising taxes on those making over $250,000 a year by a few points, that the Democrats agree to raise the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67.

Some see this as similar to the “grand deal” between President Ronald Reagan and Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, adopted thirty years ago in 1983, that raised the Social Security age from 65 to 67 in graduated amounts over a long period of time.

However, that was a totally different situation, and only involved a delay in gaining full benefits on Social Security over a long period of years.

This involves a rapid move to 67, and with no benefits until that age for Medicare, while Social Security has always allowed a smaller benefit as young as 62.

Also, this is MEDICAL, not a check every month, and people in their mid 60s are more likely to have health issues, and many jobs are such that a person cannot be expected to work extra years (particularly physical kind of jobs), and will therefore have a gap of years without medical coverage, and any such coverage would be prohibitively expensive!

The answer is to tax a higher percentage amount for Medicare, as everyone should be entitled to Medicare at no later than 65!

It would be unconscionable to throw people nearing or in retirement off of guaranteed health care at a vulnerable age!

Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Tom Harkin of Iowa are leading the fight against any changes in the retirement age, and President Obama needs to have pressure brought to prevent such a radical change that would really hurt working class people, both white and minority!

Progressives and liberals need to let Obama know that they have his back, and that he must NOT bend to Republicans on this issue, and if he does, he will have lost much of his support which put him in the White House twice!

And this would anger this blogger as well! Let me make that perfectly clear!

Speaker Of The House John Boehner In Danger Of Being Unseated By Tea Party Extremists!

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Speaker of the House John Boehner is in great danger of being unseated by Tea Party extremists and radical right wing opinion journalists, with RED STATE blogger Erick Erickson leading the charge!

They are concerned that Boehner will make a deal with President Barack Obama on the controversy over the “Fiscal Cliff”, and it has been made clear that if 16 Republicans in the new House of Representatives refuse to back Boehner on January 3, that he could lose his Speakership in a right wing revolt, and likely be replaced by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

This situation has been brewing for the past two years, since Boehner has been a conservative who is seen as too much establishment oriented, and has displeased Tea Party wingnuts!

It is clear that the opening of the new Congress will not be dull in any sense!

Speaker Of The House John Boehner Removes Hard Line Conservatives From House Budget Committee And House Financial Services Committee

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Speaker of the House John Boehner, faced with a Tea Party caucus that has made life miserable for him, and held the country hostage on the issue of tax increases, has summarily removed four “troublemakers” from their positions of power on the House Budget Committee and the House Financial Services Committee.

This was a courageous act on his part, but it could portend a revolt, whereby the Tea Party Caucus could refuse to vote for Boehner next month to be Speaker, as the new Congress convenes on Thursday, January 3.

The House leadership under Boehner, including Majority Leader Eric Cantor, is backing Boehner in his actions, but one has to wonder what this means in reality when that vote for Speaker arrives in a month.

It is, however, a good sign that Boehner understands that some kind of deal with the Obama Administration is necessary to avoid going off the fiscal cliff before the end of the month.

But ti also portends a difficult time for Boehner, having to deal in the future with the far right wingnuts in his party, who, as has been described by others as the inheritors of the John Birch Society of the 1960s and after, were repudiated by conservative columnist William F. Buckley, Jr., publisher of the National Review, then and still the leading conservative journal of opinion.

Where is a man of courage and principles in the conservative movement today, to repudiate today’s wingnuts, in the mode of Buckley?