John McCain

A Contrast In Two Republican Women: Day Of Reckoning Tuesday For Liz Cheney, Sarah Palin!

Ronald 2 Comments

Two Republican women politicians face the voters this coming Tuesday.

Congresswoman Liz Cheney, whose father is former Vice President Dick Cheney, faces what seems like a certain defeat for her statewide Congressional seat in Wyoming, as Harriet Hageman, endorsed by Donald Trump, is up to 30 points ahead in various polls.

This author and blogger does not agree with Liz Cheney on just about anything, except her courageous, principled stand against Donald Trump and his incitment of the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection, the most dangerous threat to American government institutions since the War of 1812.

She has worked as co-chair, with another Republican, Congressman Adam Kinzinger, on the January 6 House Committee, and has endured vicious attacks and repudiation by her Republican House colleagues.

She is a “Profile in Courage”, as is Kinzinger, and they are on the right side of history, against the great evil of MAGA, the right wing Fascist movement led by the most corrupt and dangerous President America has ever experienced!

It seems likely, assuming she loses her Congressional seat, that Liz Cheney will mount a Presidential campaign, if for nothing else, than to split Republican and conservative votes and insure that Donald Trump, or anyone who runs in his place for President as a Trump supporter, is defeated for the Presidency.

The survival of American democracy is at stake with Liz Cheney’s battle against evil!

On the other hand, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Senator John McCain’s Vice Presidential running mate in the Presidential Election of 2008, is coming out of the “woodwork”, and plaguing us again with her inane, dumb, clueless candidacy for the open House seat in her state, caused by the death of long term Congressman Don Young.

Sarah Palin is part of the extremist right wing, divisive deterioration of the Republican Party in the past quarter century, and as a supporter of Donald Trump, it is hoped she will be repudiated by the voters, as she has nothing positive to offer her state.

If she is elected to the House, she will be an annoying figure such as Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, so hopefully she can be rejected, and returned to private life!

A Moment To Commemorate: 7,400 Entries Since August 2008, And Joe Biden And Sarah Palin Then And Now

Ronald 2 Comments

Today is a day of commemoration, as this is the 7,400th entry on “The Progressive Professor”, since its inception on August 11, 2008!

The first entry on August 11 was on the Vice Presidency, and Joe Biden was the center of attention as being the best choice, before his selection by Barack Obama.

And an entry on the disaster of Sarah Palin being chosen by John McCain for his Vice Presidential nominee, on August 29, was also the center of attention in that first month.

And now Joe Biden is in his second year as the 46th President, and Sarah Palin has come out of the woodwork to announce her candidacy for the vacant Alaska House seat!

So after 13 years and 8 months of posting articles on this blog, it is fascinating to look back at the beginning!

Sarah Palin Comes Back Into Politics In Alaska, With Death Of Long Term Congressman Don Young

Ronald 1 Comment

Former Alaska Governor and 2008 Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin has come out of the woodwork, so to speak, to announce her candidacy for the statewide US House seat vacated by the passing of long time Congressman Don Young last month, after serving longer than any Republican member of either house of Congress in American history, a total of 49 years since 1973.

There are a slew of candidates running for that seat, but since Palin is a known factor, she probably will have an edge on the nomination and election to that seat, but we shall see.

If she wins, she will join the group of lunatics that are now disgracing themselves in the House of Representatives, such individuals as Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Madison Cawthorn, along with others who have served longer than the present term in the lower chamber.

Palin will wish to compete for craziness with such people, as she craves attention, but she remains the most disastrous Vice Presidential selection ever in American history.

Thank goodness John McCain, who came to realize the mistake he had made, putting her, theoretically a heartbeat away from the Presidency, never came to pass, with Barack Obama defeating McCain in the Presidential Election of 2008!

The Republican Accountability Project Priceless In Its Attack On Trump And His Supporters

Ronald 1 Comment

The Republican Accountability Project is dedicated to defending the principles of the Republican Party and is against Donald Trump and everything he stands for, including the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection.

In league with the earlier Lincoln Project, designed to undermine Trump in the 2020 Presidential Election cycle, those Republicans and conservatives in the earlier and present organizations are working to insure that the conservative values they share are able to prevent the future nomination of Donald Trump for President in 2024, and any other political leader who has been willing to sell their soul to support and court Donald Trump.

Those in the group include: George Conway, whose wife KellyAnne Conway, worked for Trump during his Presidency and still supports him; Steve Schmidt, who worked for John McCain in his 2008 Presidential campaign; John Weaver; Rick Wilson; Michael Steele, former head of the Republican National Committee in 2009-2010; Kurt Bardella; Susan Del Percio; Stuart Stevens; Max Boot; Jennifer Rubin; Bill Kristol; Mike Murphy; Miles Taylor; and Olivia Troye.

The ads the Republican Accountability Project has produced, and will continue to do so, hopefully will lead to the failure of Trumpism to keep a hold on the party as we near the Midterm Elections of 2022 and the Presidential Election of 2024!

Senator Lindsey Graham: A Toady To Donald Trump, Who John McCain Would Condemn And More!

Ronald Leave a comment

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham has long been controversial in so many ways, but when his good friend, former Arizona Senator John McCain, passed away in 2018, the world witnessed a man who had totally lost all credibility, after being a massive critic of Donald Trump.

It is embarrassing to see the denuncations of Graham regarding Trump, followed by total obsequiousness to Trump since McCain’s death.

Even when Trump continued to denounce John McCain in the years since his death, Graham had nothing to say.

It is clear to any intelligent person that if McCain was still alive and in the Senate, he would have, at least symbolically, been motivated to slap Graham front and back and in the head, for his traitorous behavior!

And now, Graham says unless Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky makes obedience to Trump a priority, that Graham will vote against McConnell remaining as the leader of the party, whether minority or majority status!

As much as McConnell has been a disgrace and a disaster as Republican leader, he still has enough self dignity that he will not be likely to bend to Donald Trump.

And if push comes to shove, at this time, it would seem that the Republican caucus would NOT join Graham in replacing McConnell as their Senate leader!

Fareed Zakaria CNN Special From May 2021 Updated: “A Radical Rebellion: The Transformation Of The GOP”

Ronald Leave a comment

The Welfare State–Secularism—changing racial situation.

Fareed Zakaria on a CNN Special today, updated from May 2021, entitled “A Radical Rebellion: The Transformation of the GOP”, presented an analysis of the disaster that the Republican Party has become:

in an era of conservatism attacking the concept of the Franklin D. Roosevelt New Deal and the Lyndon B. Johnson Great Society;

allowing Right Wing evangelical Christianity and theocracy to take over the party in the name of God;

and working against the reality that the white majority face a future in America of minority racial groups together being a majority of the population in about 2040-2045.

He covers from the John Birch Society in the 1950s;
to William F. Buckley, Jr and the National Review;
to Barry Goldwater and the conservative takeover in 1964, leading to massive victory of Lyndon B. Johnson and the Great Society;
to Richard Nixon and the “Southern Strategy”in 1968;
to Jerry Falwell and the “Christian Coalition” and the “Moral Majority” in the late 1970s and early 1980s;
to Ronald Reagan and the “Reagan Coalition” in the 1980s;
to Pat Buchanan’s challenge of George H W Bush in 1992;
to Newt Gingrich and the “Republican Revolution” of 1994 and after;
to the promotion of right wing propaganda and lies by Fox News Channel starting in 1996;
to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in the 2000s;
to the Tea Party Movement rise under Barack Obama’s Presidency;
to the rise of Donald Trump in 2015-2016;
to the “Big Lie” about the Presidential Election of 2020;
to the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection;
to the present extremism in the Congressional and State Republican parties in 2021;
to the constant threat to women’s rights, including abortion;
to the right wing rejection of Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, Bob Dole, John McCain, and Mitt Romney as not conservative enough;
and the growing racism, nativism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, misogyny, and homophobia that have become alarming realities for the future of American politics!

Remembering Ted Kennedy, John McCain, Lyndon B. Johnson, WEB DuBois,19th Amendment Anniversaries In Time Of Turmoil

admin Leave a comment

Late August is a time to remember the contributions of three political leaders who were true statesmen, one civil rights leader and educator, as well as the celebration of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts died on August 25, 2009; Senator John McCain of Arizona died on August 25, 2018; President Lyndon B. Johnson was born on August 27, 1908; WEB DuBois died on August 27, 1963; and the 19th Amendment (Women Suffrage) was ratified and declared in effect on August 26, 1920.

These four individuals had a dramatic effect on American history, and the woman suffrage amendment has transformed American history as well.

Ted Kennedy is one of the greatest US Senators of all time, with his 47 plus years of service on all kinds of crucial issues.

John McCain is one of the heroic Senators, who also sacrificed years of torture and imprisonment in Vietnam, and was the true conscience of the Republican Party.

Lyndon B. Johnson promoted the greatest series of domestic reforms (“The Great Society”) since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, and those reforms still impact America today.

WEB Dubois was the most significant early leader of the Civil Rights Movement before Martin Luther King Jr. and impacted the concept of Black History, and holding America to a higher standard of racial advancement.

The 19th Amendment overcame the long discrimination against women participating in public life, and has had an immeasurable effect on the American promotion of democracy.

The Republican Party Base Is Anti Immigrant, But They Are Also Anti Science And Anti Historical Fact!

Ronald Leave a comment

The Republican Party base is anti immigrant (nativist), and has prevented immigration reform, despite the efforts over the years of Republicans, such as John McCain and George W. Bush to deal with the issue, alongside Democrats, including Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and a multitude of others.

It is also anti Science, allowing right wing evangelical Christians to utilize mind control, and to attack evolution a century after the Scopes Trial, and to be anti vaccine and anti mask advocates, and also anti climate change, along with attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci.

And the Republican Party base is also anti history, wanting to promote a “white” history, without discussion of the horrendous treatment and abuse of African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic-Latino Americans, and Asian Americans over the long run of American history.

The situation for teachers of the Social Sciences and American history, and also of American literature teachers who assign fiction that depicts and informs us of horrible mistreatment and racial language, is in crisis, as many teachers will lose their positions as state governments in many of the states dictate how their curriculums are to be controlled and presented.

Lawsuits are beginning by teachers’ unions and other groups to stop censorship of the truth, but the Republican Party base promoting “Know Nothingism” on immigration, science and history are an attack on academic freedom that must be fought through all legal means!

Mitt Romney Being Booed At Utah Republican Event Demonstrates How Loony The GOP Has Become!

Ronald 1 Comment

This author, blogger and scholar was not thrilled by Mitt Romney during and after his 2012 Presidential campaign, but there has always been respect for his dignity, principles, and basic virtues.

Romney, like John McCain before him, were Republicans this author would not support, but always felt that they presented basic Republican principles in a respectable manner.

Such is not the case with Donald Trump, but it is now clear that the Republican party of history is dying rapidly.

The bitter attacks on John McCain in his last years in the Senate, and the nasty attacks on Mitt Romney for repudiating Trump and voting to convict him on impeachment charges demonstrated that the Republican Party is much like a Fascist Party, controlled and dominated by a lunatic and maniac who has no regard for American democracy.

For Mitt Romney to be booed at a Utah Republican state party event demonstrates how loony the GOP has become!

By all rights, Donald Trump should be in prison for inciting the January 6, 2021 Capital Insurrection, and yet we have crazy Trump followers in the Congress and the state legislatures who bow to him as if he was Benito Mussolini or Adolf Hitler.

One does not have to agree with Mitt Romney on issues to feel sad that he is being mistreated for having basic decency and admirable principles, so we are witnessing the destruction of the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush, as well as John McCain and Mitt Romney!

Two Weeks After Joe Biden Victory, Only A Small Number Of Republicans Have Acknowledged Reality

Ronald 4 Comments

Two weeks after President Elect Joe Biden’s victory, only a small number of Republicans have acknowledged reality, and congratulated Biden in a proper manner.

The list includes:

Senator Mitt Romney of Utah
Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska
Senator Susan Collins of Maine
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida
Senator John Cornyn of Texas
Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota
Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota
Senator Jim Risch of Idaho
Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland
Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts
Governor Phil Scott of Vermont
Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio
Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas
Governor Gary Herbert of Utah
Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama
Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire
Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming
Congressman Fred Upton of Michigan
Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois
Congressman Tom Reed of New York
Congressman Will Hurd of Texas
Congressman Paul Mitchell of Michigan
Congressman Don Young of Alaska
Congressman Francis Rooney of Florida
Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska
Congressman Fred Keller of Pennsylvania
Congressman John Curtis of Utah
Congressman Peter King of New York
Former Governor John Kasich of Ohio
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Former President George W. Bush
Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida
Former Vice President Dan Quayle
Former Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee
Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee
Incoming Governor Spencer Cox of Utah
Former Bush Strategist Karl Rove
Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly
Former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton
Former Republican Presidential Contender Carly Fiorina
Pro Trump Pastor Robert Jeffress

Also, many other former Republican officeholders, and people who worked in the John McCain and Mitt Romney campaigns, and the George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, and even the Ronald Reagan Administrations had come out against Donald Trump during the campaign, and they all accept Joe Biden’s victory and wish him well, and support the transition moving forward expeditiously!