Bob Livingston

The Harvey Weinstein Scandal Makes Holding Donald Trump Accountable For Misbehavior With Women An Urgent Matter!

Ronald Leave a comment

The disgraceful behavior towards women of Harvey Weinstein, famed Hollywood producer, has brought the issue of sexual harassment and sexual aggression of powerful men toward women in Hollywood and the corporate world and in society in general into new attention.

It is totally unacceptable that any woman in the work world should have to deal with this.

One would think after the Justice Clarence Thomas debacle in 1991, and the adoption of sexual harassment laws shortly after, that this would not be the problem that it clearly is in 2017.

One out of five women, and possibly more, have faced or will face such misbehavior by men, and our President is clearly a leading abuser of women and their bodies, as he himself bragged about in the infamous Access Hollywood tape a year ago, which should have been the nail in the coffin of his Presidential candidacy, but did not lead to his defeat.

But Trump still needs to be held accountable, as much as Harvey Weinstein and every other sexual abuser, no matter how famous or unknown each person is.

Bill Clinton was held accountable and impeached by the House of Representatives in 1998, although not convicted and removed from office by the Senate in 1999. But he suffered the torment and embarrassment of going through the impeachment process.

Meanwhile, the Republican leaders of the House of Representatives were themselves engaged in such misbehavior, including then Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and others, including Henry Hyde, Bob Livingston, and even Dennis Hastert, future Speaker who had victimized teenage boys in his earlier career as a high school wrestling coach.

The Republicans were very willing to pursue Bill Clinton, while continuing their own bad behavior.

Where is the Republican outrage about Donald Trump and his misbehavior over the years?

It is time to hold Donald Trump accountable, as much as Harvey Weinstein, Bill Clinton, and others, and to impeach him for his misbehavior, along with many other impeachment charges, and make it clear that just because one is wealthy and powerful, that he cannot get away with such abuse.

The Destruction Of The Speakership Of The House Of Representatives Under Republican Control Since 1994

Ronald 57 Comments

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is two heartbeats away from the Presidency, and is the top constitutional officer in the legislative branch of government.

The Speaker is chosen by the majority party in the chamber, and he has responsibilities which include introducing the President of the United States at a State of the Union address, and all other special speakers to a joint session of Congress, including foreign government leaders.  The Speaker has been second in line of succession to the Presidency since the Presidential Succession Act of 1947.

The Speakership has had its major figures historically, including those for whom House Office Buildings are named: Joseph Cannon, Nicholas Longworth, Sam Rayburn, and Thomas “Tip” O’Neill.  It also has had a President, James K. Polk, and two Vice Presidents, Schuyler Colfax and John Nance Garner, as Speakers.  It also had three Presidential nominees, John Bell, James G. Blaine and Henry Clay.

Henry Clay was the greatest single figure in the whole history of Congress, who ran for President three times, including against Polk in 1844.  It also has had Thomas B. Reed, who promoted the growth of the office to its all time greatest authority, continuing under Joseph Cannon.

It also had John McCormack, who played a major role in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and much of the Great Society programs of Lyndon B. Johnson.  Had there been no 25th Amendment passed in 1967, Carl Albert would have succeeded Richard Nixon when he resigned in 1974.  Were it not for Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to be Speaker, there would have been no ObamaCare legislation passed in 2010.

It was a rebellion of progressives in the Republican Party in 1910 , in combination with the minority Democrats, that created a “revolution” in House rules, stripping the Speaker of the absolute control of events that existed under Thomas B. Reed and Joseph Cannon, but still the office has played a major role in American history.

Since the Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives in 1994, after 40 years of being in the minority, and keeping control except for 2007-2011, the Speakership has become an office of disaster and controversy.

First, Newt Gingrich became very confrontational with Bill Clinton, and caused crisis after crisis, until he was forced to resign, with his private scandalous love life being discovered as Bill Clinton faced impeachment for his own scandalous love life.  Bob Livingston was supposed to succeed Gingrich, but his own private scandalous love life prevented that, so Dennis Hastert, a back bencher, became Speaker, lasted longer than any Republican in the position, and avoided most controversy, until now in retirement we have learned of his abuse of male students while a teacher and wrestling coach in high school in the years before he engaged in politics.

John Boehner came into the Speakership under Barack Obama, and faced a Tea Party rebellion, which prevented ability to negotiate, and finally, he lost the confidence of his party, and decided to resign, but his planned successor, Kevin McCarthy, self destructed in the past two weeks, and decided yesterday that he would not run for Speaker, uncertain of support of the Tea Party element.  So now Boehner is back temporarily, and there is a major crisis among House Republicans as to who would be acceptable as an alternative, with Paul Ryan, head of the House Ways and Means Committee and 2012 Vice Presidential nominee, being pressured to take the job, but not wanting to take it.

The Speakership is in crisis, and the Republican Party has done great damage to the position in the past 21 years, and besmirched the historical reputation of the position and of the House of Representatives, and the only way to retrieve it is the hope that, somehow, the Democrats can regain control in 2016, but considered highly unlikely!

The Crisis In The Speakership Of The House Of Representatives: Not A Laughing Matter!

Ronald 126 Comments

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is, under the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, second in line for the Presidency behind the Vice President of the United States.

Therefore, who is the Speaker of the House is not an idle matter, but of crucial importance, that he or she be a mainstream, responsible public official.

The Republican Party has produced disasters in the Speakership since 1994.

First, we had Newt Gingrich, who had a scandalous private life, and was extremely confrontational in his dealings with President Bill Clinton, and yet, right wing conservatives were unhappy with him, and he resigned after two terms as Speaker, a total of four years.

Then, his theoretical successor, Bob Livingston, was forced to turn down the Speakership, due to his own private life scandals.

Then, Denny Hastert became Speaker, seemed noncontroversial, and in comparison to Gingrich and Livingston, was just that.  But now, years after his decision to leave Congress after the Republicans lost control of the House in 2006, Hastert faces prosecution and is involved in a sex scandal involving when he was a high school wrestling coach 35 years ago.

And then, there was John Boehner, who lasted almost five years, but was under constant attack by the far right Tea Party Movement, and now has decided to resign at the end of October.  Boehner created constant confrontations with Barack Obama, but also, at times, was cordial with limits imposed by his party’s dynamics.

Eric Cantor, who was supposed to be Boehner’s successor, unexpectedly lost his seat in a nomination fight last year, just as he had the chance to become the first Jewish Speaker of the House, and his defeat apparently delayed Boehner’s decision to leave, until now after the Pope has visited the United States, and spoken before the Congress in joint session.  This event brought out the tears so common to Boehner, a devout Catholic.

Now the issue is who should succeed Boehner, two heartbeats away from the Presidency, with new House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy  of California favored even though he has only been in Congress nine years, has sponsored no important legislation, and never would have been in this position had Eric Cantor not been defeated  last year.

McCarthy seems pleasant enough on a personal basis, actually more than Gingrich, Livingston, Hastert, and now Boehner, but will the right wing Tea Party movement be satisfied with him, and will he be responsible enough to conduct himself with a willingness to work with President Obama for the next year?

What if a true right wing extremist ends up as Speaker, with House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, a possible successor seen as a true extremist and often compared by many to David Duke, the former KKK leader, due to Scalise’s opposition to a Martin Luther King Holiday in Louisiana, one of the last states to adopt it?

America cannot tolerate a right wing extremist to be two heartbeats away from the Presidency, and it can be hoped that, under the present circumstances, Kevin McCarthy become Speaker, but somehow, although unlikely, hope that disillusionment with the Republican control of Congress leads to Democratic control of the House, as well as the Senate, to occur in the 2016 national elections.

Since the House is gerrymandered, giving the GOP control despite more total popular votes for the chamber being Democratic, this seems unlikely, but those who feel it is urgent that the next Democratic President have both chambers of Congress willing to work with him or her, must work very hard to try to elect a Congress controlled by the Democrats!

Senator Rand Paul, Bill Clinton, And Hillary Clinton

Ronald 7 Comments

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, a clear contender for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2016, has decided to go the route of attacking Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton through her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

Yesterday, on MEET THE PRESS, Paul brought up the sex scandal of the 42nd President sixteen years ago, reviving memory of Monica Lewinsky, and the impeachment of Bill Clinton.

No one is trying to defend Bill Clinton on his reprehensible, disgraceful, and potentially dangerous behavior, as if Monica Lewinsky had been a spy or connected to Organized Crime, which thankfully she was not, it could have been a danger to America’s national security. One cannot forget that President John F. Kennedy WAS involved with a Mafia woman, Judith Campbell Exner, a terrible gamble and dangerous action in the time of the Cold War and the battle against Organized Crime being key issues in American politics.

So it is not as if any ethical person was not shocked by Clinton’s misbehavior, and this author condemned the whole situation at that time. But the Republicans acted holier than thou, at a time when Newt Gingrich, Henry Hyde, Bob Livingston and other Congressional Republicans were engaged in sexual affairs outside of marriage themselves! What hypocrisy on a grand scale! Do not forget that the Republicans moved to impeach Clinton, and that his future obituary will always include the scandal and the impeachment in an early paragraph. But the impeachment was not justified, and the GOP failed to remove Clinton, and they suffered in public opinion, and Clinton’s popularity soared, and remains extremely high after 16 years since those events!

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton chose to stay in her marriage, which is her business, and went on to a distinguished career in the US Senate and as Secretary of State, and she deserves to be judged on her own accomplishments, not the shortcomings of her husband!

This tactic of Rand Paul will backfire in a major way, and he needs to “get a life”, and spend less time attacking Bill Clinton, and more time trying to justify why a person who came to office on the back of his dad, former Texas Congressman Ron Paul, and has done nothing positive in three years, except to embarrass himself and make one wonder how he became an eye specialist, although not certified by the national organization, seems to think that he is qualified to be President of the United States!

The Total Hypocrisy Of Republican Politicians!

Ronald Leave a comment

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”!

15th Anniversary Of Bill Clinton Impeachment By The Republican House Of Representatives

Ronald 3 Comments

Fifteen years ago today, President Bill Clinton was impeached by the Republican House Of Representatives on flimsy grounds, and well knowing that there was no possibility of Clinton being removed from office in his impeachment trial in the US Senate.

The major issue was Clinton’s illicit sexual tryst with Monica Lewinsky, but as reprehensible as that was, it was not an impeachable act, a high crime or misdemeanor, and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Majority Leader Bob Livingston, and Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde were guilty of the same reprehensible behavior.

Clinton survived the impeachment trial, and has recovered very nicely in public opinion ever since, really the most popular former President in modern times while still alive and kicking.

His wife, Hillary Clinton, has had a distinguished career in the Senate and State Department, and is for now the frontrunner for the Presidency in 2016, even if one can see faults and issues in her record, which is par for the course for any Presidential candidate.

Bill Clinton has devoted his life to good deeds through the Clinton Initiative and Clinton Foundation, and like Jimmy Carter, has devoted his post Presidency to commitment to social justice.

Impeachment was a major mistake, and yet now the Republicans in the House are threatening to impeach President Barack Obama, although he has done nothing to deserve such action, and were he to be impeached, again he would not be removed, but it is all based on vindictiveness and hate.

The Republican Party: The Party Of “Family Values” And A Multitude Of Sex Scandals!

Ronald 44 Comments

The Republican Party broadcasts its belief in “family values’ constantly, and the most religious people in this nation tend to vote for that party on a regular basis!

The author is not trying to claim that Democrats are not capable of engaging in sex scandals, but they do not use the hypocrisy of claiming to be the party of “family values”, and the number of Republicans who have engaged in sex scandals is much longer than that of Democrats!

A selected list of Republicans involved in sex scandals includes:

Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, just elected back to his House seat
Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, who has been reelected by his state despite his scandal
Senator John Ensign of Nevada
Senator Larry Craig of Idaho
Senator Bob Packwood of Oregon
Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois
Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich of Georgia
Congressman Bob Livingston of Louisiana
Mayor Rudy Guiliani of New York City
Congressman Mark Foley of Florida
Presidential Candidate Herman Cain of Georgia

Instead of promoting “family values”, including concern about the lives of the elderly, the young, the poor, women, and the disabled, the GOP does the “religious” thing, while lining their own pockets with the money of lobbyists, who work against the interests of the American people, and promote the rich becoming more wealthy, and presiding over the poverty and deprivation of many of their constituents who, stupidly, vote for them!