Democratic Party

Joe Manchin Not Running For Reelection: No Great Loss For Democrats!

West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin has announced he will not run for reelection in 2024, as it seems clear that the heavily Republican state would be highly unlikely to reelect him, despite his basic conservative voting record.

His leaving the Senate will make it more difficult for the Democrats to keep the Senate majority, also undermined by Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona becoming an Independent, and likely meaning her Senate seat will be a very difficult seat to retain, as well as West Virginia!

Manchin was a necessary evil in the Democratic Party, a person tolerated despite his right wing orientation, and the US Senate is now a body that will ever more be in danger of ending up under the control of MAGA Republican forces. This scenario is likely, unless the Democrats, who have been successful once again in political races, are able to overcome their disadvantage with a total commitment to maximizing the struggle for American democracy in the Congressional and Presiential Elections of 2024!

Abortion Rights Score A Big Victory In 2023 Elections!

Abortion Rights won the day yesterday in the 2023 elections!

Ohio voters by 14 points agreed to put abortion rights into the state Constitution.

Virginia voters gave Democrats control of both houses of the state legislature, a blow to Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, who was promoting abortion restrictions to be put into state law.

Kentucky reelected Democratic Governor Andy Beshear who promoted abortion rights, which already had been supported earlier by citizen vote in 2022.

So now, 8 states have rejected the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe V Wade, including

Kansas in August 2022

Vermont, Montana, Michigan, Kentucky, California in November 2022

Kentucky again yesterday, along with Ohio and Virginia

Religious people have a right to their views, but NOT to impose it on the entire population, and to dictate the reproductive lives of American women!

Democrats Again Triumph On Election Day!

A glorious evening as Democratic Governor Andy Beshear wins reelection in Kentucky by at least 5 points over monstrous Republican State Attorney General Daniel Cameron, and Ohio backs abortion rights in the state constitution, despite Republicans trying to outlaw it totally!

And in Virginia,it seems that Democrats will retain control of the upper chamber of the state legislature, undermining Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin!

And even in Mississippi, Democrat Brandon Presley is running a good race against Republican Governor Tate Reeves at this writing!

Once again, Republicans have not done well, and Democrats have had election success!

Kentucky And Mississippi Gubernatorial Elections Important Sign For Future!

Two Gubernatorial elections on Tuesday will be an important sign for the future.

In Kentucky, Democratic incumbent Andy Beshear is favored to win over Republican Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who is the first African American major party gubernatorial nominee in that state’s history.

In Mississippi, Republican incumbent Tate Reeves is in a close race with Democratic nominee Brandon Presley, the Public Service Commissioner for the Northern District of that state since 2007, and a second cousin of rock star Elvis Presley.

If both Beshear and Presley can win, it will be another sign of Democratic strength in states strongly Republican!

One Year To Presidential Election Of 2024, And Joe Biden Looks In Bad Shape!

With one year to the Presidential Election Of 2024, President Joe Biden looks in bad shape, based on a New York Times-Siena College poll.

According to the poll, Donald Trump is ahead of Joe Biden in five of six swing state—4 points in Pennsylvania; 5 points in Michigan and Arizona; 6 points in Georgia; 10 points in Nevada; and with Biden ahead of Trump in Wisconsin by 2 points.

These statistics are stunning and worrisome, but one must realize that the history of polling shows one year out is no judgment of what will occur on Election Day.

One year ahead, there were no predictions that Harry Truman would win a full term in 1948; or that John F. Kennedy would win in 1960; or Richard Nixon would win in 1968; or Jimmy Carter (an unknown) would win in 1976; or Ronald Reagan would win in 1980; or Bill Clinton would win in 1992; or George W. Bush would win in 2000; or that Barack Obama would win in 2008; or that Donald Trump would win in 2016.

Also, one must realize that never has a President lost reelection to an opponent he had first defeated since Benjamin Harrison lost reelection to Grover Cleveland in 1892.

And with Donald Trump likely to be convicted on some of the 91 charges over four indictments in the next year, to believe that he will be able to defeat the man who defeated him, for the first time in 132 years, is to be living in an era of delusion.

Assuming that the economy will continue to do better, and with international crises a major factor, the President in office is, historically, highly likely to win reelection, particularly against someone who represents chaos, corruption, and incompetence, and as a threat to the American democratic system and to international stability!

But it is also clear that the message and the efforts to reelect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and insure a Democratic controlled House of Representatives and Senate must move full scale ahead, as there is no time for any sense of relaxation about the future of the nation and the world at large!

Dean Phillips Challenge To Joe Biden For Nought!

Dean Phillips is a 4th term Democratic Congressman from the Minneapolis-St Paul area of Minnesota, with a one hundred percent support of President Joe Biden, but is challenging him for renomination in a quixotic manner as he feels Biden’s age is an issue, and that Democrats should have an alternative.

Phillips was the promoter of the product of Talenti Gelato, which he later sold, and is the grandson of Dear Abby, Pauline Phillips, who wrote her advice column under the name Abigail Van Buren.

Many observers think Phillips is trying to make a name for himself for a future Presidential run in 2028, and that could well be reality, but despite fears and doubts about Joe Biden and his age, for now, he is in a commanding position, and the heir apparent, if things go awry, is Vice President Kamala Harris.

MAGA Republicans In Charge In House Of Representatives: Its Implications!

Having “slept” on the elevation of Mike Johnson to the Speakership of the House of Representatives, this author and blogger has woken up to the horrors of this MAGA Republican, who seems to be a “nice” person on the surface, but has horrendous views on so many issues!

This man, now two heartbeats away from the Presidency, is a rabid social conservative who is vehemently opposed to abortion, gay rights and gay marriage, and has a hardline Christian view of marriage and family, more like the 1950s and earlier!

Johnson also led the Election Denier movement in support of Donald Trump, and has never backed away from refusing to accept that Joe Biden is President.

Also, he has spoken in favor of changing Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid.

Johnson is the Speaker with the least government experience since the 1880s.

He is also not a supporter of Ukraine in its war with Russia under Vladimir Putin, and is likely to have a difficult relationship with President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

So, while the whole fiasco of the Speakership battles is likely to harm the Republican Party in 2024, for the next year, and including through the lameduck session after the Presidential Election of 2024, there could be a massive crisis in acceptance of the election results with a Trump supporting MAGA Republican in charge in the House of Representatives!

New House Speaker Mike Johnson: An Election Denier! :(

Finally, the Republican Party has united around Louisiana Representative Mike Johnson, age 51, as their new Speaker of the House.

There was an urgency to elect a Speaker to stop the paralysis of Congress, but it is disturbing that Mike Johnson was an Election Denier over the Presidential Election Of 2020.

But now, with Donald Trump having backed his elevation, his becoming two heartbeats away from the Presidency, when Johnson is hardly a known figure, hopefully, he will act responsibly.

A social conservative, there will be clashes with the Senate Democratic majority and the Democratic President and Vice President, but for the moment, one feels give Mike Johnson some slack and let us hope for the best!

Republicans In Total Breakdown In Speakership Struggle: Time For Bipartisanship!

There is pure insanity in the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, as newly nominated Congressman Tom Emmer of Minnesota has withdrawn his candidacy for Speaker of the House of Representatives, as about 26 Republican hardliners refuse to support him.

It is time for a bipartisan agreement, with Democrats helping to elect Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, with the assistance of the more moderate Republicans, from the Problems Solvers Caucus, including those from Long Island, New York joining Don Bacon of Nebraska and Brian Fitzgerald of Pennsylvania and other rational Republicans, of which there are not many!

The Republican Party in the House of Representatives has been hijacked by seditionists and traitors who do not care if they cause damage to our country, and instead, only care about remaining loyal to Donald Trump!

We are now in the fourth week of paralysis in the lower house of Congress, and this cannot continue, without major disaster for the nation and the world!

Support Of Israel And Ukraine Linked, Especially For American Jews!

Military support for both Israel and Ukraine has become essential to promote and preserve democracy against Hamas and Russian authoritarianism.

Particularly for American Jews, and Jews around the world, there is an emotional commitment to preservation of both nations’ ability to survive against massive threats to their sovereignty.

Personally, this author and blogger, being Jewish and whose ancestry is from Ukraine, and with Israel being the national homeland of the Jewish people, feels a special affinity to continued support for both nations.

The vast majority of the Democratic Party is behind continued support of Israel and Ukraine, while many Senate Republicans and some House Republicans agree.

But the MAGA Republican element, as respresented by Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan’s bid to be Speaker, are a dire threat to Ukraine, and unreliable on their Israeli support, as they bow to the evil of Donald Trump, who now attacks Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for accepting Joe Biden’s victory in 2020, and praises Hezbollah, the threat to Israel from Lebanon. And Trump was impeached in 2019 for trying to force Ukraine to help him against Joe Biden, and is a known supporter of Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation!