Month: January 2015

The Republican Presidential Race Is In Full Swing, Even Without Formal Announcements!

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Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has stirred up a hornet’s nest, simply by indicating that he is considering seeking the Presidency, and taking the first steps in that direction.

Suddenly, we saw the reaction, including:

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee resigning from his Fox News Channel Sunday evening show

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP Presidential nominee, indicating he is seriously considering running for President for a third time, encouraging financial supporters, and making known that his wife Anne is on board.

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, making clear his intention to run, and attacking rivals Mike Huckabee, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, and even attacking Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who Santorum said he doubts will actually run for President. The language utilized by Santorum against these rivals was to call them “bomb throwers”, as if he has, himself, not been exactly that throughout his political career.

In the wings are New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Texas Governor Rick Perry, as well as Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan (Mitt Romney’s running mate for Vice President in 2012).

The Presidential race has two components: the mainstream “establishment” race of Bush, Romney and Christie; and the Tea Party right wing race of the others; with Walker and Ryan possibly joining the mainstream “establishment” race, if they actually enter the fray.

And as I write, Donald Trump has hinted he plans to enter the race, only adding to the drama and, also, comedy, that will be present in the race!

The potential for 12 or more candidates getting in the race are good, and the gloves are starting to come off, and it should be a very interesting race, but on the way to defeat in 2016 to the Democratic nominee, most likely Hillary Clinton at this point, but really any Democrat having the edge in the Electoral College battle that decides the Presidency!

Presidential Ambitions, And Political Scandal Destroying Ambitions!

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The ambition to be President is a “disease” which hits many people who think they are a “gift” to the nation, due to their own egotism and arrogance.

We have at least five potential Presidential candidates in the Republican Party who have gone through this metamorphosis of potential candidate, to the point of being engaged in a political scandal, destroying the careers of three of them, and potentially having the same effect on two others.

In the 2012 Presidential cycle, we had:

Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, who became involved in a sex scandal with an Argentine woman, which forced him out of office, and ended his Presidential ambitions, although he is now back in Congress by vote of his Congressional district, from where he had emerged as Governor before his downfall.

Senator John Ensign of Nevada, who also had Presidential ambitions, destroyed by a sex scandal, now back in his veterinarian practice.

Most recently, we had Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia, whose Presidential ambitions went asunder, and now convicted of corruption, faces a prison term, a total downfall.

And then we have in the 2016 Presidential cycle two examples of ambition, egotism, and arrogance!

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are both involved in political scandals, but both seeking to run for President, with the likelihood of failure in their Presidential campaigns at the least, and possible legal issues for both of them at the most!

The Inauspicious Beginning Of The Republican 114th Congress: 25 Republicans Repudiate John Boehner, And White Supremacist Steve Scalise Kept As House Majority Whip!

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The opening of the Republican controlled 114th Congress was an embarrassment in two major ways.

First, while Speaker John Boehner began his third two year term in that position, he suffered the repudiation of 25 members of his caucus, who refused to support him, making for the largest rebellion against a sitting Speaker in 150 years, since the Civil War era. Instead, these 25 rebels voted for Florida Congressman Daniel Webster (a distant descendant of the great Massachusetts Senator of the 19th century; Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert; Florida Congressman Ted Yoho; Kentucky Senator Rand Paul; former Army General Colin Powell; and others, making a joke out of the proceedings.

Then, despite the outcry against Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise, who spoke at a David Duke sponsored event in 2002, claiming not to know that Duke sponsored the event, failed to stop him from being kept on as House Majority Whip. Scalise had claimed in the past that he was a “David Duke Republican”, but now claims ignorance of the racist, antisemitic career of the former Ku Klux Klan leader and his connections to the American Nazi Party. Duke ran for Governor and Senator in the early 1990s in Louisiana, and former President George H. W. Bush led the fight against his candidacy for Governor in 1991, but somehow, Scalise was not affected by that history, and was wiling to connect himself to Duke. Yet, the GOP decided to keep him as third ranking Republican in the House.

So a very inauspicious beginning for the GOP, as they try to convince the American people that they represent the nation, and should gain the White House, as well as Capitol Hill, in 2016!

Mean Spirited, Nasty, Uncaring Republican Presidential Candidates!

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The Republican Party of 2015 is, amazingly, a mean spirited, nasty, uncaring bunch, and this includes many potential Presidential candidates.

The potential nominees who stand out for these ugly traits include:

Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey

Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin

Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana

Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin

Former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania

Former Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas

Former Governor Rick Perry of Texas

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas

Retired Pediatric Surgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson of Maryland

At the same time, there are a few Republicans who might run for President, who do NOT come across with these ugly traits, including:

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida

Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida

Governor John Kasich of Ohio

Former Governor Jon Huntsman of Utah (if only he could be convinced to enter the race, highly unlikely at this point)

If any of the first group becomes the nominee of the GOP, it will make the most extremist right wing nominee in the 160 year history of the party that had such luminaries as Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, and George H. W. Bush. And it is an insurance that the GOP would suffer a massive defeat and repudiation in the Presidential race of 2016!

The Iowa Republican Presidential Caucus: NOT An Indicator Of The Nominee Or Winner Of The Presidential Election!

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The race for the Presidency begins in Iowa, with the caucuses in early January of the election year!

But Iowa has never been a true indicator of the future of a Presidential candidate, and the tendency has been, in the Republican Party, to have one of the most extreme right wing candidates win Iowa, and then collapse over time, and one can say, thank goodness for that!

So in 2008, Mike Huckabee won in Iowa.

So in 2012, Rick Santorum won in Iowa.

The likelihood is that someone as extreme and divisive as Huckabee or Santorum, both of whom are testing the waters to run for the Presidency again, will win Iowa in 2016, and again, make it a totally irrelevant event!

Expect that one of these two past winners of the Iowa Caucuses wins it again in 2016, but also Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Dr. Benjamin Carson, Bobby Jindal, Scott Walker, and Rick Perry have a shot at winning, while Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, and Chris Christie have no chance of winning Iowa, but all to the good long term!

The Politics Of Genuine Personality: Few And Far Between!

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To find a politician past or present who was a genuine personality, a REAL person, who gave or gives a damn about the American people, not his or her own agenda, has always been difficult, and the list of national leaders who fit this description, are, indeed, few and far between!

There is so much cynicism about politics, and the thought that there are no decent political leaders, who truly care about the welfare of their constituents and the betterment of the nation is common, BUT there are politicians who, through their actions and words, have proved how genuine they really are!

A selected list of such political leaders follows:

Senator Robert LaFollette Sr. of Wisconsin (1906-1925) (R) (Progressive)

Senator George Norris of Nebraska (1913-1933) (R)

Senator Robert Wagner, Sr. of New York (1927-1949) (D)

Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota (1949-1964, 1971-1978) also Vice President (1965-1969) (D)

Senator George McGovern of South Dakota (1963-1981) (D)

Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota (1991-2002) (D)

Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin (1993-2011) (D)

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont (2007- ) (Socialiat)

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts (2013- ) (D)

Senator Joe Biden (1973-2009) also Vice President (2009- ) (D)

Vice President Joe Biden: The Star Of Day One Of The 114th Congress, A Charmer, And Very Much Underestimated For Presidential Election Of 2016!

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Today was the opening day of the 114th Congress, and the star of the day was Vice President Joe Biden, playing the role of the President of the US Senate, and swearing in all of the Senators reelected, and those beginning their first term.

Not only did he do this ceremonial duty, but Joe Biden also did what he does best: charming the families of the Senators–the wives, the children, the grandchildren, the parents, the siblings, cousins, etc.

NO ONE does this better than Joe Biden, with his tremendous smile, jokes, charm, charisma, warm personality, and genuine nature!

It is very hard for anyone NOT to like Joe Biden, even if one disagrees with his viewpoints, actions, and statements. The guy is just an amazing, REAL, human being, who is an excellent politician, as he remembers names and faces like few politicians do.

Joe Biden sticks his neck out and take strong stands, and has done so for 42 years. NO ONE has the depth of experience on both foreign and domestic policy issues that Joe Biden has.

And yet, when he is mentioned for the Presidential race of 2016, he is seen as unlikely to run, unwilling to challenge Hillary Clinton, underestimated as having any realistic chance to be the 45th President of the United States!

But Joe Biden LOVES public service, has more than any one mentioned for President, stands out above everyone in total background and knowledge, and could be seen as an effective President, due to the fact that he has loads of friends, including Republican leaders, and could be nearly as effective as Lyndon B. Johnson was in a more crude manner!

But Biden would have more grace, more smoothness, and could accomplish, with his winning personality, more results than anyone since Lyndon B. Johnson, in the next four to eight years beyond 2016.

To assume that Joe Biden will not run is to underestimate his ambition; to assume that he could not be the nominee is to underestimate hid potential; to believe that he could not be the successor to Barack Obama is to underestimate the American people, who once he is unleashed, could fall in love with him, and elect him the 45th President of the United States!

Republican Insanity In The House Of Representatives As Speaker John Boehner Is Challenged By Louie Gohmert And Ted Yoho!

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The 114th Congress is due to open on Tuesday, and this first all Republican Congress since the end of 2006 should be one for the books, in a negative way!

Having come off two successive Congresses (112th and 113th), which set records for the most incompetent, unaccomplished Congresses in modern American history, with both having a divided Congress, rare in American history, we can now expect total breakdown, craziness, and outrage to become the norm ever more.

It all begins with a last minute challenge within the GOP to the leadership of Speaker of the House John Boehner of Ohio, who has been seen as the worst modern Speaker in many decades!

Boehner has had trouble controlling his own caucus members in the past four years as Speaker, and had a challenge to his second two year Speakership two years ago, but now he faces another threat to be dumped by his caucus when it meets on Tuesday.

The largest Republican caucus since 1929, but with fewer Tea Party members as a percentage of the total, Boehner should have no problem disposing of his opponents, but the whole idea that two lunatic members of the right wing fringe Tea Party are challenging him, is in itself memorable as to just how much insanity there is the Republican Party of 2015!

Who would think that two of the most looney members of the Republican Party–Louie Gohmert of Texas and Ted Yoho of Florida—would believe they are qualified to lead the House, and be two heartbeats away from the Presidency as a result?

Gohmert, in the House since 2005, joined the loonies of the loonies—Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Steve King of Iowa—in being part of the “Three Stooges”—the most embarrassing trio in Congress, bare none, and now Ted Yoho, a newcomer as of two years ago, has been competing to join this trio, which now lacks Michele Bachmann, who retired at the end of the last Congress, under investigation for corruption in her 2012 Presidential campaign, which marked the looniest campaign for the White House in memory. Yoho, with a name like that, desperately wants to be noticed, and is unwilling to allow Gohmert to get all the attention, so is making it a two pronged attack on the Speaker.

This should insure that Boehner keeps the position, even though, by all same judgments, he should be kicked out as someone who has disgraced the office, and desperately needs Alcoholics Anonymous, as everyone knows, but few speak out, that he has a major drinking problem that needs attention!

What a statement that the best that the GOP can conjure up for the Speakership of the “People’s Branch”, is Boehner, Gohmert, and Yoho!

The Last Of The Moderate Progressive Republican Senators Of The 1960s And 1970s Passes Away: Edward Brooke Of Massachusetts!

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News of the death of former Massachusetts Republican Senator Edward Brooke (1967-1979) yesterday, marks the end of the group of moderate progressive Republican Senators of the 1960s and 1970s, who worked with Democrats across the aisle, and made the Republican Party a mainstream party with a conservative majority, but reputable and dignified moderate progressives who added distinction to the party’s history.

Brooke, the first popularly elected African American Senator in American history, served two terms of distinction, and promoted civil rights, the legalization of abortion, closer relations with China, and opposed Richard Nixon much of the time on his Supreme Court appointments and on the Watergate scandal. He worked to promote aid to the poor and to the cities of the country, and spoke up for the end of the Vietnam War.

Brooke was one of a small, admirable group of Republicans, no longer found on Capitol Hill, where the word “moderate” or “progressive” is now a dirty word. It was easy to praise Brooke, along with Maryland Senator Charles Mathias, Illinois Senator Charles Percy, and Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield, who all added greatly to the distinction of the Senate!

Will the Republican Party ever have men of the distinction of these four Senators, and others who started earlier in the Senate, including Jacob Javits of New York, and Clifford Case of New Jersey? Right now, that seems highly unlikely, as the Senators mentioned above would be called RINOS (Republicans In Name Only) by the present mentality in the Republican Party!

Mario Cuomo, Progressive Warrior In Tradition Of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hubert H. Humphrey, And Fiorello LaGuardia!

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Mario Cuomo’s death on New Year’s Day took some attention away, momentarily, from the greatness of this man, a progressive warrior in the tradition of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Hubert H. Humphrey, in a later generation, and with an ethnic tinge as with Fiorello LaGuardia!

Cuomo, an Italian American, was the first prominent white ethnic politician since LaGuardia to promote the liberal-progressive cause, and to be considered a serious Presidential candidate, other than John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert F. Kennedy, both Irish Catholic ethnics.

Cuomo spoke up for change and reform, at the height of the ascendancy of Ronald Reagan, who worked to undermine the New Deal of FDR and the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1980s.

Cuomo worked to ban assault weapons and promote gun control; worked for legal abortion rights to be upheld; promoted the first mandatory seat belt law in cars nationally; vetoed the death penalty; and reformed the state courts to promote diversity. He served longer in office than any New York Governor, except Nelson Rockefeller.

Cuomo stood up for the middle class, working people, women, and minorities, a battle which continues decades later, but was the focus of Cuomo, who would have made a great Supreme Court Justice or President. He was, himself, from a struggling immigrant family, and understood the plight of those of similar background.

It seems clear that had Cuomo sought the Presidency in 1992, we would not have had Bill Clinton as President, and there would be no Hillary Clinton being considered today for the Presidency.