George W. Bush

Speculation On 2016 Presidential Election Beginning: Early Speculation For Hillary Clinton And Jeb Bush!

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Despite the ups and downs of a Presidential election campaign, most observers sense that Barack Obama is likely to win a second term in the White House.

If that is assumed to be likely, it allows for speculation as to what might happen in 2016, and early thoughts are with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

Both have been vetted in most aspects of their lives and careers, although certainly other information will arise as time goes by, but both are very famous and experienced, and of course, have the “sex appeal” of being the wife of a former President and the son and brother of two former Presidents, almost like having two royal families.

Hillary Clinton will be 69 years old in 2016, and will have come off two years of retirement, if her plans to leave the State Department at the beginning of the next term comes about. She will have had the eight years in the White House under her husband, Bill Clinton, as an activist First Lady, one of the standouts in that unelected office. She will also have had eight active years in the US Senate, a vigorous experience as a Presidential candidate in 2008, and four stupendous years as Secretary of State, embellishing her foreign policy credentials. With the growing emphasis on women’s rights, and her speech at the Women’s World Summit last weekend, this would be the time to start planning for another Presidential campaign, and no one would ever question her energy, her intelligence, and her breadth of knowledge and expertise. This is no Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann for certain!

At the same time, Jeb Bush would be 63 years old, with eight years as Florida Governor, the fourth largest state in America, and a record of handling hurricane crises on a very professional level, and demonstrating intelligence, depth, and knowledge on a Presidential scale, without all of the faults and shortcomings of the present GOP Presidential field.

Bush could have entered the race this year, but chose not to, with the major reason being thought to be his secret belief that it would be better to run when the Presidency was open, rather than running against an incumbent President. Also, he is well aware that the name BUSH is still unpopular after the eight years of his brother George W. Bush in the White House.

But Bush comes across as serious and a front runner for 2016, as it would be eight years after his brother’s terms of office and 24 years after his father’s one term of office. Of course, it is highly unlikely that his parents would be here to see their second son become President, an unbelievable distinction were it to happen, but one never knows what might happen, as with modern health treatments available to former Presidents, the best there are, George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush would be 93 and 92 in 2016, and it certainly is possible they could both still be with us.

Imagine a race between Clinton and Bush, bringing back memories of a full generation, 20 years of Bush-Clinton-Bush, and possibly resulting in either a sequence of Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama-Clinton OR Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama-Bush! What confusion for students studying history in the future with either of the above chronological successions of the Presidents!

At the same time, there would be the desire of a younger and newer generation to challenge both Clinton and Bush, including Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland and Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York at the minimum for the Democrats; and Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal at the minimum for the Republicans.

Needless to say, one can be assured there would be somewhere between ten and a dozen candidates seeking the Presidency on both sides of the political equation!

But experience and family connection could be the winning combination!

The Special American-British Relationship Prevails: Obama And David Cameron

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The long term American-British friendship and relationship prevails, even now with a “progressive” President and a “conservative” Prime Minister.

Just the opposite of the relationship between a “conservative” President George W. Bush and a “progressive” Prime Minister Tony Blair, still the common ties connect the two nations, which have been closely allied since Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt linked in the Second World War era.

Britain has been America’s greatest ally in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they are committed to work together against the growing threat presented by the Islamic Republic of Iran, with its move toward a nuclear program that is seen as likely to cause danger not only to Israel and its Arab neighbors, but to Europe and the United States as well.

While Great Britain is promoting austerity to deal with its economic problems, a policy that does not seem to be working very well, the Conservative Party of that nation is nowhere near as right wing as the Republican Party and the conservative movement in America has become.

David Cameron has decided to be part of the cheering section for Barack Obama, something certainly not appreciated by Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul. It is clear that the British government does not have high regard for any of them, while recognizing the need, if any of them are elected, to deal with them.

Rick Santorum: Another Barry Goldwater, But Far Worse!

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Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum’s victories in Dixie tonight, in Alabama and Mississippi, now sets up the ultimate confrontation between Establishment Republicans and the extreme right wing of the party.

The difference is that Mitt Romney is no Nelson Rockefeller of 1964, and Rick Santorum is no Barry Goldwater of 1964..

Rockefeller worked to fill the centrist position in the party, while Romney has flirted uncomfortably with trying to satisfy the far Right, which sadly cannot be done.

Barry Goldwater was at heart a libertarian, and Rick Santorum is as far from that as anyone can imagine, with his desire to control the social and private lives of Americans.

Nelson Rockefeller would be shocked at the performance of Mitt Romney, and Barry Goldwater would be totally appalled at the social totalitarian mentality of Rick Santorum.

In his time, 1964, Barry Goldwater was considered a “nightmare” by Establishment Republicans, many of whom, including Rockefeller abandoned him, leading to the worst GOP defeat since 1912.

Today, Rick Santorum is considered a “nightmare” by Establishment Republicans, and many will abandon him if he is the nominee of the Republican Party, and Santorum will suffer the greatest defeat since 1964, 48 years ago!

Rick Santorum, if he won the Presidency, would undermine the country with his right wing views, making him the most extremist President EVER in American history! He would make us long for the times of George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge, and William Howard Taft, considered the five most conservative Presidents of the 20th century in no special order, but all having some personality traits or views that showed their humanity!

Rick Santorum has NO such visions or leanings!

The Vice Presidential Competition: Who Makes Sense For The GOP

Ronald 1 Comment

Assuming that Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts Governor, is going to be the Republican Presidential nominee, the speculation about who might be his Vice Presidential running mate has begun.

Were Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania Senator, somehow able to pull out a miracle and become the nominee, the list would change, with some of the speculative candidates being eliminated, and others not now mentioned being added to the list.

The present list, as reported by NATIONAL JOURNAL is long, but with certain candidates ranked in order of likelihood of being the nominee.

The list is fascinating, but in the opinion of the author, flawed, with the assumption that Romney wants to have a real chance to win, and many of the choices are just too controversial even for him, in the mind of this author.

So we begin with Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, both attractive looking candidates from battleground states, but both highly flawed by recent events, as reported by this author just a short period of time ago. These were the top two on this list provided by NATIONAL JOURNAL.

Their active movement against women and reproductive control of their bodies is a major negative, which did not exist in the same way just a few short weeks ago. Nominating anyone closely associated with this attack on women’s rights would NOT help Mitt Romney to win this crucial voting group!

But third place finisher, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, while applauded by many conservatives, is simply too headstrong and bossy to be anyone’s Vice Presidential nominee, and has a tendency to blow up and say things that are both arrogant and nasty, and would harm the Romney candidacy for President.

Ohio Senator Rob Portman, number four on the list, is far less controversial than McDonnell, Rubio, and Christie. Not as well known as the first three, Portman is a solid conservative who one can feel supplements Romney in a competent way, with his only negative being that he was the Budget Director under George W. Bush, as the budget went awry in the past decade. But, as much as that seems to be a negative, Portman still is far better as a nominee than the previous three combined. One does not want to forget that a nominee from Ohio, being the most crucial state for a Republican Presidential candidate, makes Portman even more important. Remember that EVERY GOP Presidential winner since Abraham Lincoln, the first, has won Ohio.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is fifth on the list, followed by Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Jindal has become less exciting and impressive as time has gone on, with his main advantage, sadly, is that he is an Indian American, darker skinned than any other Republican, including Hispanic and Latinos possibilities, and might fool people into thinking that he is African American, but if that is the reason to select him, it only highlights the race problem the GOP faces. His home state is not important enough to be a consideration, as it will go Republican anyway, although if the people of one of the poorest states used their head, they would not vote Republican!

Ryan, on the other hand, is very good looking and well spoken, and as head of the House Budget Committee, he would seem a good match, and his home state of Wisconsin is seen as in play. But his plan to change Medicare as we know it, and his overall controversial budget plan, makes him not as good a choice as Rob Portman. Having said that, except for Portman, he seems a better fit of the top group of six possible nominees, ahead of McDonnell, Rubio, Christie, and Jindal.

Of the so called plausible alternatives, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, the next choice, would be an excellent candidate, even though he withdrew early from the Presidential race. A strong supporter of Romney, and a front runner for John McCain’s running mate in 2008, Pawlenty is not dynamic or exciting, but a competent choice with far less controversy than most.

The rest of the list is uninspiring: Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, South Dakota Senator John Thune, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, and Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuno..

The mention of Rodgers, Martinez, Sandoval, and Fortuno really brings raised eyes, as simply pandering to women and Hispanics and Latinos, as they remind us too much of picking Sarah Palin for being a woman more than any true qualifying factor.

Only Thune brings any excitement, as he is handsome, dynamic, and comes from the Senate, but his state adds nothing to the electoral base of Romney.

In summary, it seems to the author that the best choices for Romney to consider for Vice President as reputable, qualified, competent, less controversial, and qualified to be President in case of an emergency (not to be ignored), would be Rob Portman, Paul Ryan, Tim Pawlenty, and John Thune.

NONE match Vice President Joe Biden as a competent, qualified person to be next in line to be President of the United States!

Barack Obama Advice From Yogi Berra: “It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over”!

Ronald 1 Comment

There will be the tendency for Barack Obama supporters to feel good after Super Tuesday, and feel that Barack Obama has a second term in the White House in the bag.

That would be the worst assumption possible!

On paper, yes, things are looking good as the GOP race for the Presidential nomination continues, and Mitt Romney looks in trouble, and Rick Santorum, who most logical people cannot see having any chance to win the nomination or election, continues to do well, particularly in the heartland of the nation.

Eight months to go until the election, and the world can turn upside down and inside out, in less than that amount of time.

We could have a major war in the Middle East against Iran, or another economic downturn, which could be triggered by that war with Iran.

Unforeseen circumstances we cannot imagine could occur, and the tides could turn.

Remember that Thomas E. Dewey was ahead of Harry Truman in 1948; Richard Nixon ahead of John F. Kennedy in 1960; Jimmy Carter ahead of Ronald Reagan in 1980; Michael Dukakis ahead of George H. W. Bush in 1988; George H. W. Bush ahead of Bill Clinton in 1992; and Al Gore ahead of George W. Bush in 2000 to the end, but not considering the electoral vote issue that would help Bush in the end.

There is plenty of work ahead for the Obama team, and they cannot afford to be cocky.

They need to remember the admonition of Yankee great, catcher Yogi Berra, who is famous for his line about baseball games: “It ain’t over till it’s over”!

No more true statement can be expressed regarding politics, as well as sports!

The George Washington University Debate Between Ann Coulter And Lawrence O’Donnell

Ronald 4 Comments

In a rare case of a conservative and liberal commentator agreeing to debate each other in a public gathering, Sunday night witnessed a confrontation of conservative columnist and author Ann Coulter and MSNBC talk show host Lawrence O’Donnell at George Washington University in Washington, DC.

The audience, mostly college students, was shocked when Ann Coulter stated that college students should not be able to vote, and proposed raising the voting age to 26, when students have to pay for their own medical insurance!

She also stated that it would be better if women did not vote, as in every national election since the 1950s, women tend to vote Democratic, and claimed that only in 1964, would the Republicans have lost if the women’s vote had not existed. Of course, she forgot that Republicans elected since the 1950s included Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush!

Many other issues were discussed, with the audience clearly in O’Donnell’s camp, but the above points were the most controversial assertions by Coulter.

Coulter continued to be consistent in being controversial in her views, setting out to provoke the audience, and smiling constantly through her purposeful attacks and assertions. This woman LOVES to be controversial, but one has to wonder if she really believes anything she says, or just expresses it to make money selling confrontational books with controversial titles and book covers!

Coulter seems more like an entertainer than a political expert, with her views often inconsistent, and working at bring outrageous and rude!

Confessions Of Dirty Deeds By Those On The Right Politically, But Cowardice By Many Republican Leaders!

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In the midst of obscene racism and misogyny and bashing of labor and gays by right wing extremists in the media and the Republican Party, every now and then, we get some who feel guilt and confess to their horrific work and ask to be forgiven.

Examples include Lee Atwater, who mastered the concept of the political smear for the campaign of George H. W. Bush in 1988 against Michael Dukakis, and later confessed and asked for forgiveness on his death bed, dying from cancer.

Another such case was David Brock who smeared Anita Hill in the Clarence Thomas controversy in 1991, and did other dirty deeds for right wing hate mongers including smearing Bill Clinton, but later confessed and works to expose Fox News Channel and others who distort and smear, through his leadership of Media Matters For America.

And a third is Ken Mehlman, former chairman of the George W. Bush re-election committee in 2004, who helped to promote an anti gay agenda that year, and yet is himself gay, and has now apologized for what he did eight years ago.

This kind of conservative dirty tactics, as practiced by Atwater, Brock, and Mehlman still is very widespread, so we find Republican leaders unwilling to condemn Rush Limbaugh, for his description of a college student, who testified for the right of women to have contraceptive coverage on health care plans sponsored by employers, as being a slut and prostitute, who should produce sex tapes for Rush and others to watch! Speaker of the House John Boehner, and Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have no ethics that allows them to openly condemn such outrages by Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and other propagandists.

At the same time, there are conservative commentators who are decent and principled enough to condemn these kinds of statements and actions, including David Frum, Kathleen Parker, and Chris Buckley.

What a disgrace, that there is no standard of decency past or present on the right, in the mad rush to condemn, besmirch, and smear those they oppose, rather than criticize based on issues and viewpoints alone!

The Growing Looniness And Insanity Of Obama Critics: Joe Arpaio And Richard Cebull

Ronald 1 Comment

It has been said that politics is entertainment, and the right wing has been more and more the lunatic fringe, never letting up on their vicious attacks on President Barack Obama.

Bill Press, the talk show host and liberal activist, has just published THE OBAMA HATE MACHINE regarding this, but even since publication, we are seeing more evidence that the pace of hate is growing ever faster.

Now we have Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is being investigated by the federal government for racial profiling and abuse of power in the handling of illegal immigrants, and Hispanics and Latinos in general, and the kind of harsh conditions that are used in jails in his county.

Arpaio now has decided to accuse Barack Obama as having a forged birth certificate, and held a press conference a few days ago to revive the “birther” conspiracy theory which has been ridiculed and exposed as false so many times that it makes one want to scream! This is his way of getting revenge on the Obama Administration, and it shows that Arpaio is a loose cannon out of control, not giving a damn about what people say or publish about him. He is an example of the worst element in law enforcement, and undermines respect for that very important group who do not need a lawess, arrogant man such as Arpaio to ruin their reputation.

And then we have US District Court Judge Richard Cebull of Montana, appointed by President George W. Bush to the federal courts in 2001, and becoming the Chief Judge for the district in Montana in 2008, who has done the most outrageous thing possible for a federal judge. He sent an email that was both racist and sexist about President Obama, stating it was a joke, showing terrible judgment, and making one wonder whether he could ever be objective in future court trials and cases in Montana. The joke was that that African Americans were equivalent to dogs, and that Obama’s white mother had had sex with animals. Cebull apologized profusely, but the damage was done, and saying it was not racist and sexist, but only anti Obama was insufficient, as a federal judge does not have the right to express political views that could affect his supposed objective judgments on cases involving race and gender that come before his court. Cebull issued a profuse apology, but that is simply not enough!

The answer is that Arpaio needs to be forced from office for his corruption and abuse of power, and that Cebull resign in disgrace, or face impeachment investigation and removal by the US Senate for his behavior, since both people are totally beyond the pale in their dealings and utterances.

Those who believe in fairness and equity in the field of law and justice MUST fight to remove these cancers from our law enforcement and judicial communities!

Super Tuesday: The Significance Of Ohio For Republicans, And Particularly For Mitt Romney!

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Next Tuesday, ten states will be voting in GOP primaries and caucuses, the most of any day in this Presidential campaign.

The state that will matter the most of those ten states is the Buckeye State, Ohio, a state with more delegates and more electoral votes than any of the other nine, and also a Midwestern state which has suffered a great deal from the Great Recession and its aftermath, and has benefited from the survival and success of General Motors and Chrysler promoted by President Barack Obama.

It is also a state which has given us more Presidents than any state except Virginia. And it is a state which EVERY Republican President has won, and every failed Republican nominee has lost.

To put it succinctly, Ohio is a MUST state for a Republican Presidential candidate, and yet it looks very possible that Mitt Romney, despite his narrow victory in his home state of Michigan, might lose this state to Rick Santorum.

If Mitt Romney, presumed to be the front runner and likely Republican choice for President, cannot win Ohio, then how can one expect that he can win it in November against Barack Obama?

So if he loses Ohio, and going by the history of the Republican Party, he loses Ohio in November, then Mitt Romney will lose the Presidential election, and is, therefore, a flawed candidate.

Of course, there is always the chance that for the first time ever for a Republican nominee, Mitt Romney could lose Ohio and win the Presidency, but again, this has NEVER happened from Abraham Lincoln through George W. Bush, and one cannot expect such a quirk would occur.

Rick Santorum The Promoter of Class Warfare, Not Barack Obama!

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Republicans have, on a regular basis, accused President Barack Obama of promoting “class warfare”, because he promotes the concept that the wealthy have been very fortunate, with the biggest tax cuts in history during the Bush and early Obama years, and must start to pay their fair share of taxes to help support the national commitments and responsibilities.

But actually, it is Rick Santorum, above all, who is promoting class warfare, by advocating an anti elitist view about the news media, colleges and universities, and liberals, blaming them for reporting what is going on, and promoting investigation of the mess created by the Bush Administration and the Republican Party during the years they controlled the national government, and advocating open inquiry and analysis and thinking, rather than accepting what we are told is the ultimate truth from a man who advocates religion in government, rather than separation of church and state.

Santorum is trying to organize blue collar whites who are not educated beyond high school and have a much higher unemployment rate against white collar workers and college educated people who have a much lower unemployment rate.

Instead of seeing that education is the road to success and the stable middle class, and despite the fact that Santorum himself has three college and university degrees and will certainly hope his own children will get a college education to advance themselves economically over a lifetime, Santorum calls educated people snobs, and Obama is blamed for promoting a better life for the future generation!

This campaign pitch of Santorum is promotion of resentment, anger, and against the role of education in attainment of life’s goals. It is sick, insane, destructive of social mobility for the future of the nation, and Santorum needs to be repudiated in a massive way by his party, but they seem unwilling to take him on, and they are therefore promoting further degradation of the middle and working classes by NOT advocating what Obama says is necessary for success–as much education as any young person can handle, rather than a drive to the bottom!

If the blue collar whites of the Midwest back Rick Santorum, they are guaranteeing their continued decline into poverty and degradation!

Santorum’s pitch is the closest to that of Pat Buchanan in 1992 and George Wallace in 1968, but he is more of a threat to be the standard bearer of a major political party, and this could, therefore, be a calamity in the making!