Dennis Hastert

Speaker Of The House Mike Johnson May Lose Leadership During Unproductive 119th Congress!

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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson of Louisiana has been the leader of the House of Representatives (119th Congress) now for two years and one month, but his time as Speaker seems assured to be limited, and to end soon.

His House majority is becoming smaller, and after the announced resignation of Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, to take place in January, there are strong hints that some more House Republicans, sensing doom in the Midterm Congressional Elections of 2026, may opt out before then, leaving vacancies.

The 119th Congress already stands out as the worst, least productive Congress, possibly going back to the early 1930s, and the 71st and 72nd Congresses (1929-1933), as the Great Depression overtook the nation under Herbert Hoover!

That led to Democratic dominance for the next six decades from 1932-1994, and helped to bring about the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson.

If more House Republicans decide to take an early exit, suddenly, the House of Representatives could fall into the control of the Democrats, dislodge Johnson, and make Hakeem Jeffries Speaker of the House.

Even if that does not occur, there is a lot of discontent in the Republican Party with Johnson, who is seen as having “caved in”, being a sycophant and obsequious to the demands of President Donald Trump, and not concerned himself enough with pleasing his own House majority.

Hard to believe, but many think of Johnson as the worst Republican Speaker of modern times, which is saying a lot, when one considers his competition is Kevin McCarthy, his direct predecessor; Paul Ryan, who preceded McCarthy; John Boehner, who preceded Ryan, and even Dennis Hastert, the longest serving Speaker from 1999-2007, who ended up in federal prison on charges of sexual abuse of teenage boys.

By comparison, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (2007-2011, 2019-2023) shines as a brilliant House leader, regarded as one of the top few of all time, and now choosing to retire at the end of the 119th Congress at the end of 2026!

Nancy Pelosi Greatest Woman In American Political History, And Among Top Few Speakers Of The House!

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California Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the House (2007-2011) and (2019-2023) has announced her retirement at the end of the present term in 2026, after nearly 40 years in the House of Representatives.

There is no way that anyone can deny that Nancy Pelosi is the greatest woman in American political history for anyone elected, as only a few First Ladies (Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama) even come close in influence, and also Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would be in that category.

Clearly, Pelosi is the best, by far, Speaker of the House in modern times, with only Sam Rayburn, Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, and Henry Clay competing with her for the greatest of all time.

Those three Speakers served 17, 10, and 10 years, respectively, as Speaker, while Pelosi served 8 years.

Her impact was massive, as she helped bring about the Affordable Care Act under Barack Obama, and resisted Donald Trump and his authoritarian impulses in his first term in the White House, and is still actively working against Trump’s dangerous moves in the first year of his second term. Also, she promoted the first gun violence prevention legislation since the early 1990s, during the Presidency of Joe Biden.

Pelosi was subjected to direct threat by the Insurrectionists on January 6, 2021 at the US Capitol, and the hateful rhetoric of Trump helped incite the attack on her husband in 2022.

Pelosi showed great courage and determination in the face of constant attacks by the opposition party in the House of Representatives over her two decade leadership of her party.

She was a master strategist, and had the respect of her caucus, which she was able to lead with great skill.

Not bad for a woman who had five children and did not enter politics until her mid 40s, a true model for women who wished to pursue public service.

The fact that Donald Trump continues to condemn Pelosi even now, says legions about the character of both Pelosi and Trump.

At the same time, the last six Republican Speakers since 1995–Newt Gingrich, Dennis Hastert, John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy, and now Mike Johnson, have been steadily getting more outrageously horrendous with each new Speakership!

While Pelosi will go down in history as among the greatest Speakers and Congressional leaders of all time, Donald Trump is assuredly, more every day that passes, adding to the reality of being the WORST President, by far, in American history.

It is causing reconsideration of James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, and Franklin Pierce, the others Presidents, all around the Pre Civil and Civil War period, who have been rated as the worst Presidents of American history!

The House Speakership Continues Downhill Under Republican Control

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The Speaker of the House of Representatives is second in line of succession to the Presidency under the Presidential Succession Act of 1947.

Sadly, under Republican majority leadership periods, the Speakership has been going steadily downhill in competence, accomplishments, and even common decency.

In the past thirty years since the Republican “Revolution” in the midterm elections of 1994 under President Bill Clinton, we have had now six Republican Speakers, and only one Democratic Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who was a true star and extremely accomplished leader from 2007-2011 and 2019-2023.

The rest of those years, we have had one disaster after another from the following chronological list of Republican Speakers:

Newt Gingrich 1995-1999
Dennis Hastert 1999-2007
John Boehner 2011-October 2015
Paul Ryan October 2015-2019
Kevin McCarthy January 2023-October 2023
Mike Johnson October 2023-Present

Each one was horrendous and divisive, but Mike Johnson seems to have lowered the reputation of the office ever further.

Hopefully, Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House leader will ascend to the Speakership in January 2025!

The Great, Prominent Speakers Of The House Of Representatives In History

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At a time of chaos and anarchy over the issue of the Speakership of the House of Representatives, it is instructive to examine the history of that office, which has had 55 individuals filling that role.

A small number of Speakers of the House of Representatives have made history, and are seen as exceptional.

The longest serving Speaker was Sam Rayburn of Texas, who held that position for 17 years, only ended by his death in 1961.

Henry Clay of Kentucky, arguably the greatest Presidential candidate who did not win the Presidency in all of US history, served a total of 10.5 years as Speaker of the House.

Thomas (Tip) O’Neill of Massachusetts was third longest serving, 10 years from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s.

John W. McCormack of Massachusetts served 9 years in the 1960s, followed by Nancy Pelosi, who served 8 years from 2007-2011 and 2019-2023.

Dennis Hastert of Illinois, later disgraced by conviction on sex charges, is the longest serving Republican Speaker, serving a few days less than Pelosi, but still about 8 years at the end of the 20th and early 21st century.

Champ Clark of Missouri served about 7 years in the 1910s and Carl Albert of Oklahoma served about 6 years in the 1970s, followed by slightly less service in days by Joseph Cannon of Illinois, often called the “Czar” of the House because of his great authority that was tamed by “revolution” in House rules in 1910, and by Tom Foley of Washington State in the 1990s.

So about 87 years out of the total of 234 years of the history of the House of Representatives were served by these 10 individuals, with the other 45 serving a total of 147 years among them.

Kevin McCarthy’s 9 month tenure made him the third shortest serving Speaker, only more than Michael Kerr who died in office in 1875, and Theodore Pomeroy, who served one day in 1869.

Speaker Of The House Kevin McCarthy Clearly A Total Disgrace!

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Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has no guts, principles, or courage! 🙁

He was elected only after many multiple ballots, and is trapped by the extreme right wing of his House majority, most specifically the “Freedom Caucus”, including Matt Gaetz of Florida, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Chip Roy of Texas and others.

McCarthy is about to allow the government to be shut down at the end of the month, which will harm the American economy!

He also insulted Ukranaian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, by not allowing him to speak before a joint session of Congress, forcing the speech to be in the old Senate chamber in the US Capitol, where a majority of Senate Republicans continue to support aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

The House Republicans and MAGA Republicans supporters of Donald Trump, along with the disgraced former President, do not wish to aid Ukraine, and show evidence of being pro Russian, which would astound Republicans of the past, including Joseph McCarthy (no relationship), Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and a host of others.

Kevin McCarthy’s catering to right wing demagogues and Russian supporters will condemn him in history as the worst Speaker in modern times, and that is not an easy assertion, as past Republican Speakers included the disgraced Dennis Hastert and the despicable demagogue Newt Gingrich!

To think that Kevin McCarthy is two heartbeats away from the Presidency is a danger sign, and Democrats MUST retake the House of Representatives in 2024 to restore the dignity of the House, that was so well represented by former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi!

Goodbye And Good Riddance To Speaker Of The House Paul Ryan: A Despicable Legacy Of Ayn Rand Worship And Obedience To Donald Trump

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Speaker of the House Paul Ryan will be leaving Congress, and the best way to look at it is: Goodbye and Good Riddance.

Ryan is a despicable legacy of Ayn Rand worship, whose goal in Congress, luckily unmet, was to wipe out the Social Welfare State of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society, along with other reforms brought about by other Presidents of both political parties.

Ryan seemed excited at the thought of ending Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, although he gained from Social Security when his father died when he was a child, but seemed unperturbed in denying those less fortunate, and poor mothers and children the idea of any government support in their plight.

A so called “good Catholic”, who actually was denounced by Catholic leaders for his hard hearted attitude toward the poor and sick, he was anti abortion but did not care what happened once a child was born.

Ryan also showed willingness to be obedient toward Donald Trump’s abuse of power, and he presided over a massive increase in the national debt by his promotion of massive tax cuts to the wealthy, and his party now has to own the great increase in the national debt that occurred under George W. Bush and Donald Trump, which he ignored, while being constantly critical of Barack Obama, and refusing to come up with an alternative to ObamaCare.

The thought that he could be a heartbeat away from the Presidency as the potential Vice President under Mitt Romney in the 2012 Presidential Campaign was horrifying, and this author denounced Ryan regularly at that time, and was bitterly attacked by the right wing in a vicious manner, but that did not intimidate me in calling him a disgraceful and despicable Republican leader.

To say that he was worse than the previous Speakers John Boehner and Dennis Hastert is quite a testimony to the disaster he represented as two heartbeats away from the Presidency while Speaker from 2015-2018.

He is being replaced by Democrat Nancy Pelosi, previously Speaker of the House from 2007-2011, the most productive years of any Speaker going back to the times of Thomas “Tip” O’Neill from 1977-1987.

Nancy Pelosi Proves A Woman Can Overwhelm A Bully, A Braggart, A President Who Is Unfit To Be President

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Nancy Pelosi was a great, productive leader of the House as Speaker from 2007-2011, and she will be again.

She was easily the best Speaker of the House since Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, who was Speaker under Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan from 1977-1987.

She accomplished more under the last two years of George W. Bush and the first two years of Barack Obama than any modern Speaker other than O’Neill in the past 45 years, and makes all Republican Speakers–Newt Gingrich, Dennis Hastert, John Boehner, Paul Ryan–look pitiful by comparison.

The House of Representatives will have a much more complicated calendar for the first time in 12 years, as she will push and promote the Democratic agenda in the next two years, along with consideration of the possible impeachment of Donald Trump.

Her performance in showing up Trump at an open to the press 17 minute verbal dispute in the Oval Office was masterful, and showed she can best a man who thinks he is smart and brilliant, but was shown to be “an Emperor without clothes”.   Trump was humiliated by how Pelosi portrayed him  and his manhood, and has shown, despite her reaching the age of 80 by 2020, that she is the right person to lead Democrats into a hoped for massive victory in 2020 for the Presidency and the US Senate, and retention of the House majority.

The Sickening Sexual Harassment Scandals

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The last few weeks have seen the destruction of the public reputations of many prominent people in Hollywood and in politics.

Being a public figure, and with great power, influence, and financial assets, many well known men have exploited women, and in some cases, men, in a disgraceful way over the years.

It was an unspoken secret that this was going on for a long time, with few individuals being exposed.

The attention was primarily on Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy, but also many Republicans, including Newt Gingrich and Strom Thurmond, plus Dennis Hastert, Henry Hyde, Mark Foley, Rudy Giuliani, Bill O’Reilly, Bill Cosby, and now in the last month, Harvey Weinstein, and numerous others who became infamously involved in sex scandals.

But now the list of exposed public figures continues to mount, with resultant disillusionment by many that such people as George Takei, Dustin Hoffman, Richard Dreyfuss, Kevin Spacey, and Al Franken, all much admired, have been engaged in sexual harassment and abuse, including children and boys, as well as girls, women, and men.

And now, Bill Clinton, who went through impeachment and disbarment twenty years ago, is again being pilloried, along with his wife, Hillary Clinton for covering it up, but somehow, Donald Trump, the ultimate sexual harasser and abuser, seems able to escape accountability, along with Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.

The only good aspect of the present revelations is that women are now more engaged in doing something momentous about it, unlike the failure to move ahead on this after the Clarence Thomas scandal of 1991.

Women must insist on full disclosure of misbehavior, and do whatever is necessary, to change the situation in Hollywood, politics, sports, and the corporate business community.

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

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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 Ten Longest Serving Speakers Of The House Of Representatives

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Paul Ryan is the 54th Speaker of the House, but the top ten longest serving have dominated in the 226 years of history of Congress.

The ten longest serving have been in the Speakership for 81 of the 226 years, more than one third of the time!

They are, in order,with time rounded off:

Sam Rayburn  17 years

Thomas “Tip” O’Neill   10 years

John W. McCormack  9 years

Dennis Hastert  8 years

Champ Clark  7 years

Henry Clay  7 years

Carl Albert   6 years

Joseph Cannon  6 years

Thomas Foley   6 years

James G. Blaine  5 years

Six of these ten (Rayburn, O’Neill, McCormack, Clark, Albert, and Foley) were Democrats for a total of 55 years.

Three of these ten (Hastert, Cannon, and Blaine) were Republicans for a total of 19 years.

One of these ten (Henry Clay) was a Democratic Republican for a total of 7 years, later becoming a Whig as a United States Senator.

Clay, Blaine and Cannon were in the years from 1811-1911; Clark and Rayburn were in the years from 1911-1961, and McCormack, Albert, O’Neill, Foley and Hastert in the years from 1962-2007!

So modern Speakers on the average have served much longer periods than earlier Speakers!