Mark Levin

Gun Violence Against Congressman Steve Scalise And Others Deplorable, And Incited By Bad Blood On Both Sides, And By Donald Trump!

The shocking violence in Alexandria, Virginia, by a crazed gunman, who shot five people, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana is a sign of escalating violence in this nation, incited by bad blood on both sides of the political spectrum, but also by Donald Trump, who in the past two years has called for violence against his opponent Hillary Clinton, and encouraged violence by his supporters at his campaign rallies against any critics, and that he would pay their legal costs, or so he said.

The political invective is higher now than it has been since the Civil War Era, and Trump cannot be said to be innocent in any fashion, and he likes to act like a bully, and intimidate his critics and opponents. But also, the two parties, Democrats and Republicans, have reached a stage where they cannot “cross the aisle”, as they often did in past decades, to accomplish major goals in legislation.

And conservative talk radio and Fox News Channel has also incited people with their poisonous atmosphere–including Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Laura Ingraham, Ann Coulter, Tucker Carlson, and so many others, all of whom spew hatred.

Some conservatives try to claim that Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, Chris Hayes, Jake Tapper, Anderson Cooper, and others considered to be progressives, are doing the same thing on their programs, but that is pure BS!

The political atmosphere has been deteriorating for the past 25 years since Bill Clinton came to the Presidency, and many of the talk show hosts on the Right have become multimillionaires in the process, and Republican leadership has gone along with this to gain their own agenda.

The fact that the shooter of Steve Scalise and others was a Bernie Sanders supporter in 2016, will, assuredly make the right wing talk show hosts further inflame the situation, so those on the left cannot remain silent, as some are advocating.

We deplore the shooting, and do not advocate violence, but that does not mean we shall remain silent in the midst of government abuses and illegalities.

The American people expect their government to be accountable to its citizenry!

Conservatives Against Donald Trump

Conservatives and the conservative journals of opinion are generally deeply alarmed by the Presidential candidacy of Donald Trump, and many say that under no circumstances will they endorse or back Trump in any way, fashion, or form.

This includes, among others, the following:

THE NATIONAL REVIEW
THE WEEKLY STANDARD
REDSTATE
THE BLAZE
Bill Kristol
Jonah Goldberg
Erick Erickson
Glenn Beck
Robert Kagan
Max Boot
Mark Levin
Stephen Hayes
George Will
Mona Charen
Ross Douthat
Charlie Sykes
David French
Jennifer Rubin

This is far from a complete list, but the numbers are growing daily.

They see Trump destroying the conservative movement for a generation or more, and are determined to take him down, even though they have no clear alternative to vote for.

Conservative Revolt, But Also Civil War, Against Donald Trump, For The “Soul” Of The Republican Party!

A full scale revolt, but also a civil war, has emerged against Donald Trump, for the “soul” of the Republican Party, and it insures the massive defeat of the GOP in November!

The National Review, the most prestigious journal in the Conservative community, founded by William F. Buckley, Jr.  in the mid 1950s, has just published an issue calling for the defeat of Donald Trump, and includes many top conservative ideologues, and a few crazies, including Erick Erickson and Glenn Beck.

But others, particularly on radio, including Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, and of course, Sarah Palin, support Trump, while others have avoided taking a stand as of yet.

But it is clear that American conservatism is in deep crisis, all to the advantage of progressives, so just sit back and eat popcorn and drink soda, and enjoy the split that is developing!

If either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz is the GOP nominee, the party is totally doomed, and will die a natural death!

To save the Republican Party, only John Kasich or possibly Jeb Bush can save the future, although each has multiple issues, but they can revive the Republican future.

We shall see what happens, and enjoy a rare moment of triumph in the never ending battle of the Left vs the Right!

Have Democratic Presidents Been Treated “Better” Than Republican Presidents By News Media Since FDR Onward? NO!

If you listened to Republican and conservative propagandists, it would seem that the Republican Party  is at a disadvantage when it comes to the “liberal”, “mainstream” news media, in coverage of Presidents and Presidential candidates.

Nothing could be further from the truth, as anyone who studies American history KNOWS that Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have all been subjected to an inordinate amount of attacks and criticism on every issue and personal quirk imaginable, and many have been purely fiction and mythology!

The job of ALL news media is to challenge, expose, and reveal weaknesses and inconsistencies in Presidential candidates, and Hillary Clinton, in particular, has had much more attacks, criticism  and fictional and mythological stories than ANY GOP Presidential candidate.

But the fact that Marco Rubio has issues with handling his finances; that Donald Trump has had three marriages and multiple bankruptcies; that Dr. Benjamin Carson has sponsored phony nutrition supplements that supposedly cure cancer; that Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, and Bobby Jindal support an anti gay church leader who advocates gays be murdered; that Chris Christie has left his state in financial tatters and is still being part of the investigation of the “Bridgegate” Scandal in New Jersey; that Carly Fiorina lies constantly about just everything she talks about; and numerous other issues and controversies that  are real and true, not fabricated, is something that the news media and hosts of political debates should be expected to address, and to confront the candidates on these issues.

Instead, the Republican candidates as a group are “crybabies”, and Ted Cruz has suggested that a political debate be conducted by right wing conservative talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Mark Levin, none of them legitimate journalists, but instead pure hate propagandists who exploit the gullible nature of too many listeners on talk radio and viewers of Fox News Channel.

And yet, one Republican Presidential candidate, Governor John Kasich of Ohio, says the party and candidates need to stop complaining and “sniping”, grow up, and expect the news media to be on the offensive, and to be mature enough to deal with it, and really answer the questions posed to them, just as Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O’Malley have to deal with regularly!  And that makes John Kasich a legitimate and serious Presidential candidate, separating the adults from the chidren!

The Tea Party, Or Freedom Caucus, Or Liberty Caucus Of Republicans: A Danger To Political Stability Of The Nation!

There is a group of extremist right wing Republicans in the House of Representatives, coming almost exclusively from “Red States”. with particular emphasis in the South, that is out to destroy any chance of political stability in the nation.  They are supported by many radio talk show hosts, including Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage, Mark Levin and Ann Coulter, among others.

They are in the process of causing the disintegration of a major political party, the Republicans of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and even Ronald Reagan in their mad quest to take us back to the Gilded Age of the 19th century, as they pursue destroying the good faith and credit of the United States, and wiping out the reforms of the Progressive Era, the New Deal, and the Great Society.  They want to shut down the government, and refuse to raise the debt limit, radical actions which would undermine our nation’s economic stability.

They promote racism, nativism, misogyny, and Islamophobia, and the worship of unbridled capitalism and the libertarian philosophy of Ayn Rand, mixed with a mean spirited view of Christianity toward the poor and the disabled, sick and elderly in American society.

They want to promote a high moral standard on society, while they do not practice it themselves, but spout extreme religious dogma, and they want to send America into wars overseas even though most of them have never served in the military, and would not allow their sons and daughters to sacrifice their lives in foreign crusades.

They have a hatred toward President Barack Obama bordering on obsessive-compulsive behavior, and many would applaud the demise of our President by violence, as they have no moral compass despite their claims of religiosity.

They find the leadership of their party as insufficiently conservative, attacking Speaker of the House John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnnell, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, and Senator John McCain as examples of insufficient conservatism, considering them RINOS (Republicans In Name Only).

They call themselves the Tea Party Caucus, or the Freedom Caucus. or the Liberty Caucus, but their precise membership is fluid, but includes from three to four dozens members of the House of Representatives, with the greatest number from the major populated states of Texas and Florida, numbers two and three in population nationally.

They are holding the Speakership of the House of Representatives hostage, and the uncertainty about who the next Speaker will be, and what he will do on crucial budget issues, is undermining faith in our government. And the fact that the Speaker, whoever he is, is second in line for the Presidency under the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, endangers the Presidency itself, in case of an emergency!

The Five Worst, Most Dangerous Republican Presidential Candidates!

The Republican Party is offering us a disgraceful group of candidates for the Presidency, with most of them being an embarrassment to the glorious history of the party historically!

The Republican Party was the party of the Civil War and the end of slavery!

The Republican Party was the party, originally, of progressivism in the early 20th century!

The Republican Party was the party of moderate centrism, under Dwight D. Eisenhower, and offered many governors and senators who were moderate centrists or moderate progressives, in the image of Nelson Rockefeller, in the years after Ike was in the White House!

But since the time of Ronald Reagan, the Republican party has moved so far to the Right and been captured by Christian conservatives and Tea Party extremists, who have moved the party out of the mainstream. The party has allowed itself to be influenced by Fox News Channel and talk show hosts, such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, and Laura Ingraham!

So we have a group of candidates, some of which can be seen as the worst, most dangerous candidates imaginable!

We would include in the list of five worst, most dangerous Republican Presidential candidates the following:

Donald Trump
Ted Cruz
Mike Huckabee
Scott Walker
Rick Santorum

Any of these five would be especially threatening to the nation’s future, both in domestic and foreign policy! Luckily, only Walker, at this point, seems a real threat, but Trump is taking all of the oxygen out of the room with his divisive candidacy, including personal insults against all of his opponents.

In so doing, he is insuring a Republican party loss by a massive landslide in the Presidential Election of 2016!

Right Wing Hate For Barack Obama Far Surpasses Any Criticism Of Any Earlier President!

The right wing hate, led by the Tea Party Movement, for President Barack Obama, has reached the point of no return, and has FAR surpassed any criticism of any earlier President!

Whether it is talk radio, with Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage and others of their ilk; or Fox News Channel spewing poison and lies consistently; or the right wing think tanks, headed by the Heritage Foundation and others who distort facts and have an agenda to promote an oligarchy; or the super wealthy, such as the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson, and others who are trying to destroy the middle class and promote their own profits at the expense of the entire nation; or the conservative journals of opinion, such as the Weekly Standard and the National Review, which promote their extremist agenda; or the lunatic House members, such as Michele Bachmann, Louie Gohmert, Steve King and others; or the right wing extremist Senators, including Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, newly elected Thom Tillis and Joni Ernst and others; as well as the leadership of many corporations and other special interests—there is a concerted campaign to destroy Barack Obama, with many wishing for his demise, meaning his death by whatever means possible.

Obama is more threatened now than any President since Abraham Lincoln, and in many respects, more than Lincoln, since the population is ten times what it was during the Civil War 150 years ago!

The venom, disrespect, racism, hatred, and accusations against Barack Obama have not had any limits. He has been accused of being a Muslim, a Kenyan, an Indonesian, anti Semitic, a racist against whites, a person who is bisexual, a gay man, an illegal drug abuser, having a mother who was a whore, having a different father who was a black nationalist, and much more.

Obama has been called an Emperor, a King, an abuser of Presidential power, but at the same time, he is weak and wimpy.

Sensible people see Obama as a moderate Republican of twenty to thirty years ago, not at all extreme, as Bruce Bartlett who worked for Ronald Reagan has said, who also says in many ways Obama is a traditional conservative, who has not done what liberals and progressives have wanted him to do.

On issues of human rights, Obama has been more aggressive, such as labor rights, civil rights, and gay and lesbian rights. On issues of importance to the future beyond our own time, he has supported the need for an aggressive policy on environmental protection.

But Obama has pushed a health care plan that the Heritage Foundation and Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole backed twenty years ago, giving health care companies control over health care, not exactly radical in nature, although depicted as such.

Obama has been attacked and criticized for every sin and fault imaginable, including wearing a tan suit; going on vacation (actually less than any recent President); using a veto power that he has only used twice; using executive orders less than any recent President; being unwilling to engage us in more wars and interventions, etc.

Through all the personal and policy attacks, Obama has always acted with dignity and calm, annoying the hell out of his critics, who want him to be the “angry black man”, and the leaders of the Republican Party, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, give him no respect at all.

And now, the idea is being suggested by the despicable editor Richard Lowry of the National Review, that John Boehner decide not to invite the President to give his State of the Union Address before a joint session of Congress!

Go ahead, right wingers, do exactly that, and the President will speak instead from the Oval Office, and will win public opinion, and show once and for all what the right wing nuts represent! If he chooses to denounce, finally, his right wing critics, who have gone beyond the pale in so many ways, it will boost his public opinion rating, just as Bill Clinton’s ratings went up after the impeachment effort against him in 1998-1999!

Expect that Obama will face impeachment by this right wing crowd, but he will come out shining as a result, and will not be removed from office. All it will do is show the Republican Party and the right wing for what they are–despicable hate mongers who will stop at nothing to destroy the 44th President of the United States!

The greatest fear is not impeachment, or not being invited to speak before a joint session of Congress, but the dangers against his life that Barack Obama faces every day, encouraged on in spirit, if not in direct statements publicly, by the opposition, which, again, is more hateful and vehement than any time since at least the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln!

Mississippi Victory Of Thad Cochran Leads To Move For Right Wing Third Party–Fantastic For Democratic Party And Saving Grace For Future Of Republican Party!

It looks as if the two party system of Democrats and Republicans is about to see the emergence of a third party movement, an extremist right wing party that will break away from the Republican Party!

This is all based on the victory of solidly conservative, but NOT Tea Party whacko, Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi over Tea Party challenger Chris McDaniel!

The reality is that the primary runoff in Mississippi saw African Americans, who are Democrats, swing over in an open primary system to support Cochran, simply on the basis that he has done a lot to bring federal largesse to the poorest state of the Union, while McDaniel condemned any federal assistance to help black and white poor on housing, education, and health care!

Without what Cochran has been able to do, Mississippi would qualify not only as the poorest state, but matching third world nations in poverty! He is no paragon of virtue, but a vastly preferable choice over McDaniel, a mean spirited, nasty radio talk show host, who immediately gained the support of right wing radio talk show hosts, Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz and other destructive forces, who are out to move the GOP toward fascism, and to destroy any chance of cooperation on anything between the two major political parties! This cooperation would be to the benefit of the American people, but the right wing does not care about anything but the top two percent and the rapidly diminishing white population in this nation!

So, if Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, and other right wing lunatics push for a third party, all to the good, as it will force the Republican Party to move back toward the center of the political spectrum, and become a responsible political party, as it was for much of its legendary history!

And in the short run, it is fantastic for the Democratic Party, as it insures Democratic dominance in Congress and the Presidency after 2016 for certain! So bring it on, Tea Party whackos and right wing talk show hosts, and Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz et al!

Did Veiled Anti Semitism Help To Defeat Eric Cantor In His Congressional District?

Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader, lost his party’s nomination to an opponent who constantly talked about his Christian faith, and credited his victory to God!

Cantor is the ONLY non Christian Republican officeholder in Congress, a proud Jew of the Conservative (moderate) brand of Judaism, and a very strong supporter of Israel and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He managed to win public office in Congress, and earlier in the state legislature, despite his being jewish in an area around Richmond, where the Jewish population is only one fourth of one percent!

Since only 65,000 people voted in the GOP primary, in an area with many rural voters, many of whom have never interacted with Jews, it makes one wonder if anti Semitism may have played a role in his defeat. The margin of victory, about 6,500 votes, makes that scenario a possibility!

This is not an assertion that Eric Cantor lost for this reason, as his arrogance and cockiness, and lack of contact with much of his district, spending an inordinate amount of time in nearby Washington, DC as second ranking Republican, certainly played a major role in his defeat. His stand on immigration reform may also have undermined him, plus the opposition of right wing talk show hosts Laura Ingraham and Mark Levin (himself Jewish).

But since there is a right wing Christian element of anti Semitism out there in the population, particularly in rural areas, even the thought or possibility of Cantor’s religious beliefs playing a role in his defeat, is very disturbing!

It is certainly of concern, in any case, that the Republican Party in Congress now is all white (except for appointed Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina), all Christian (much of it extreme right wing), and heavily male and Southern or Great Plains.

This is not representative of America now, or its long range future!

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

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!