George W. Bush

The Hispanic Leadership Network Inaugural Conference And The Republican Presidential Field: A No Show Except For Tim Pawlenty!

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The inaugural conference of the Hispanic Leadership Network is taking place in Coral Gables, Florida, designed to promote a connection between the Hispanic community nationally and the Republican Party.

However, only ONE of the generally accepted list of potential GOP nominees is appearing before the group–former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who claims no interest in running, is hosting the conference, and his brother, the former President George W. Bush, sent a message of support as well. Additionally, Florida Governor Rick Scott and Texas Senator John Cornyn are speaking before the group, as is former Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman.

But the fact that Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Haley Barbour, Mike Pence, John Thune, Mitch Daniels, and Rick Santorum chose not to appear is a sign of the problem the GOP faces–that they are unwilling to face the reality of the growing power of the Hispanic and Latino community, and that is at their detriment in the electoral future!

The Sick Psychology Of Sarah Palin: Always The Victim In Her Own Mind! :(

Ronald 3 Comments

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is proving day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, that she is totally lacking in the necessary credentials to be the President of the United States and the leader of the free world.

We are coming to realize more than ever that Sarah Palin has the wrong psychological makeup to be given power and authority, and to have to deal with the pressures of high public office!

She could not stand “the heat in the kitchen” as Alaska Governor and quit!

Well, she now needs to announce that she is NOT going to run for President, in order to save the country from the spectacle of a woman who has a SICK psychology, believing in her heart that she is a VICTIM!

You have to understand that Sarah Palin in her own mind is ALWAYS the victim!

The fact that she does not know how to answer a question as to her reading materials, or Supreme Court cases, is blamed on Katie Couric.

The fact that campaign personnel in the John McCain campaign criticized her ignorance and stupidity and prima donna nature leads to her attacks on them in her first book.

She cannot handle criticism at all, and has refused to communicate with the press, except through Fox News Channel, where she has people, including right wing extremists Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, fawning all over her, although on the sidelines we have learned that a lot of people at Fox News have made fun of her.

Now when a crisis arises, she refuses to come out and admit her errors and shortcomings, and instead has the gall to make herself a victim, instead of Gabrielle Giffords, and nineteen other victims, with six of them murdered in Tucson! 🙁

Sarah Palin is demonstrating that in many ways she is like Richard Nixon–not brilliant and intelligent like he was, but also seeing enemies, rather than opponents and portraying oneself as a “victim”; shutting herself off from the public when times get tough, as Nixon often did; and refusing to take responsibility for mistakes, similar to Nixon, and also George W. Bush!

It seems quite clear that were she to become President, she would engage in illegal and unethical actions, similar to some of the issues in Alaska which led her to resign the Governorship; and would be a real danger to this nation in international affairs, as she is totally ignorant about the world and would not understand how to deal with diplomacy!

But the good thing about this Tucson tragedy is that it is giving the nation the opportunity to see just what Sarah Palin is all about, and to learn from it that this is not a woman to give high public office to, as it would endanger the nation and the world!

The conclusion is that Sarah Palin, the “victim”, has major psychological problems and is too sick to consider for national leadership!

The Ultimate Fatal Flaw In Sarah Palin’s Potential Candidacy For President!

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Sarah Palin is being blamed by many for having incited violence that led to the tragic events in Tucson, Arizona, last weekend, particularly by posting a graphic last year with cross hairs on 20 Congressional districts, including Gabrielle Giffords’s, of Democrats who supported the Health Care Reform legislation.

Of course, no one is literally saying that Sarah Palin directly advocated violence, so her protests that she is against violence ring true without any question.

But Sarah Palin fails to realize that she has, along with others, including Michele Bachmann, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck, created a toxic environment which can incite loonies to take action because of political conflict that they engender by their rhetoric.

Enough has been said about Sarah Palin’s inferior qualifications to be President of the United States. She has proven to be lazy, lacking in curiosity, ignorant of basic information, and unwilling to answer tough questions with news media that might challenge her.

But her ultimate fatal flaw has now been revealed: that she is unwilling to admit responsibility, that she has made errors, and allows herself to be defended by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. She is now shown to be outside the mainstream of American politics, a person who creates conflict, rather than bring us together.

We do not need another President like George W. Bush who was unwilling to admit shortcomings, and who is less informed than the former President!

We need a President who is willing to admit errors and shortcomings, and is in the moderate center of our political system. The fact that Obama is called every possible name, including Marxist, Communist, Socialist, Nazi, etc., as Franklin D. Roosevelt was, shows us that despite the loonies and their assertions, he is in the center, while Sarah Palin is not!

If the Republicans hope to compete in 2012, they must make it clear that Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck are NOT representative of what they offer, or they will end up in the dustbin of history! 🙁

Another Potential GOP Presidential Candidate: Congresswoman Michele Bachmann Of Minnesota, An Absurd Candidate! :(

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As the new year has begun, we are getting more hints or rumors of possible Republican Presidential candidates for the 2012 election.

First, we added former Utah Governor and present Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman to the list of possibilities, arguably one of the better people on the long list.

Jeb Bush’s name has come up again, although he denies any interest, at least for 2012, but leaving open the possibility for 2016, which would be when Barack Obama would no longer be running for the position. It would also be precisely eight years after his brother’s term ended, while George W. ran exactly eight years after his father’s term was completed. This actually makes a lot of sense, as bad memories of George W. would be gone by then, and Jeb might have an advantage at that time, if his party failed to win the White House in 2012.

But now, an absurd and scary candidate is hinting at her interest in running, and the author is not referring to Sarah Palin!

Rather, it is the extremely controversial Congresswoman from Minnesota, Michele Bachmann, who has made a name for herself by her extreme right wing ideas and loony statements in the four years she has served in the House of Representatives. Now she is a member of the House Intelligence Committee, by choice of Speaker of the House John Boehner, and has announced she will be going to Iowa to speak to various GOP groups in the first Presidential caucus state.

Compared to Sarah Palin, she actually has advantages, including a law degree, four years and counting of congressional experience, a lot of press coverage already (although much of it negative in tone), and a very attractive personal presence. She certainly makes Sarah Palin look less appealing by comparison, but still she is a very scary proposition. The thought that such an extremist, who has no problem with distortion and manipulation of the truth on anything, could actually be the Republican nominee for the Presidency of the United States, is enough to give one nightmares! 🙁

So much of the potential list for President on the Republican side is so horrific, that it certainly makes people such as Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, and even Jeb Bush look far better by comparison!

Congressman Darrell Issa: Publicity Seeker And Witch Hunter! :(

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Congressman Darrell Issa of California is about to become Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and that means he will be in the news on a daily basis, as he seeks to promote an agenda.

And what is that agenda? It is to prove what he believes: that the Obama Administration is the most corrupt administration we have had in a long time!

On the Rush Limbaugh radio show in October, Issa went so far as to say that Barack Obama was the most corrupt President of modern times, but has now changed it to say it is not him, but his administration, without clarifying what the difference is, or to explain what he means!

But then, is it necessary to have facts, or is it not just enough to throw around charges and accusations, and make the front pages of the news, and prevent the administration from trying to deal with real problems, by having to deal with constant subpoenas for material, and appearances by officials at constant hearings? 🙁

Is Darrell Issa anything more than a publicity seeker and witch hunter, in many ways similar to Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, who claimed Communists in every bed and under every bed and everywhere else? 🙁

It might be interesting to investigate Darrell Issa himself, who never saw any problems during the Bush Administration, and happens to be the wealthiest member of Congress, and is only surpassed in personal wealth by one politician in America–Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City!

This is also the man who led the movement to “recall” Governor Gray Davis of California only months after he won a solid re-election victory in 2002, leading to the special “recall” election which made Arnold Schwarzenegger Governor, after Issa came to the conclusion that he was unable to compete in that race itself! 🙁

Is Darrell Issa the savior of America, when he fails to realize that the Nixon, Reagan, and second Bush Administrations had plenty of scandal, which he conveniently forgets, while he throws around wild accusations against Barack Obama and his administration? 🙁

What it comes down to is that Darrell Issa is a nightmare for the country, and will contribute nothing positive to deal with the many problems the nation faces in the next two years! 🙁

The Evolving Supreme Court: The Dynamics Of Nine Human Beings Working Together!

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The Supreme Court has undergone a lot of change in the past five years, with four appointments to the Court.

George W. Bush appointed John Roberts as Chief Justice and Samuel Alito as an Associate Justice, while Barack Obama chose Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan as Associate Justices.

Roberts has certainly made his impact as Chief Justice, and has become controversial because of his activism, which contradicts his testimony that he believed in “stare decisis”, the role of precedent in deciding whether to accept past Court decisions. Instead, Roberts has become a confrontational Chief Justice, including criticizing President Obama for attacking the revolutionary Citizens United Case of January, 2010.

Alito seemed to be quieter, but this year, he openly objected to Obama’s criticism of the Citizens United Case, and is now regarded as an outspoken conservative firebrand in the same vein as Roberts, meaning that the four conservatives on the Court are very aggressive in their advocacy. No one would ever accuse Antonin Scalia or Clarence Thomas as being “wallflowers” in their activist views, even though Scalia claims to be an advocate of “originalism”, interpreting the Constitution based on the actions of the Constitutional Convention of 1787.

But the liberal side of the Court has also been much more outspoken. Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, now the oldest member of the Court, is certainly willing to express her views, and Justice Stephen Breyer is seen as the intellectual leader of the liberal wing of the Court.

But even the newest Justices are making clear their liberal tendencies. Justice Sotomayor is seen by the New York Times as “guiding” the liberal wing. Sotomayor spoke up for prisoner rights, with a challenge by Justice Alito.

And Justice Elena Kagan has joined Sotomayor in what is described as a subtle shift of the Court, with Sotomayor more passionate and Kagan as a “bridge builder”, but yet seen as strengthening the liberal wing. Kagan is seen as having the ability to draw Anthony Kennedy, the truly independent member of the Court, to consider her side of the issue, much like John Paul Stevens used to be able to do that in his latter years on the Court.

What this all means is that the Supreme Court is in constant readjustment of nine human beings, with evolution of the dynamics fascinating to watch and to evaluate on a regular basis! 🙂

The Tea Party Nation, Religion, And America’s Presidents!

Ronald 1 Comment

Judson Phillips, the founder of the Tea Party Nation, a specific Tea Party group, has condemned the Methodist Church for supporting the DREAM Act for children of illegal immigrants, for backing Obama health care which he considers “socialism”, and he says the church is the “First Church of Karl Marx”!

Realize that Mr. Phillips used to be a member of the Methodist Church, but left the church because it is involved in what he considers interference with separation of church and state!

It is alright if a religious group of the right gets involved in taking political stands, apparently, but if a more open minded, liberal church takes leadership on political controversies, that somehow is a sin!

Going on that basis, it means a third of our Presidents must have been “socialists” or followers of “Marxism”, as they were involved in faiths NOT conservative in their doctrine, or not connected to organized religion at all!

Let’s go through the list of 15 Presidents who do not fit Judson Phillips’ satisfaction on religious beliefs!

Four Presidents were Methodists, including James K. Polk, Ulysses S. Grant, William McKinley, and George W. Bush, plus Rutherford B. Hayes, who was unaffiliated and then Methodist later in life.

Three were unaffiliated throughout life, including Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, with Grant and Hayes unaffiliated at times, and also Barack Obama.

Four Presidents were Unitarian, very far from traditional Christian religion, including John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Millard Fillmore, and William Howard Taft.

Also, we have had two Quaker (Society of Friends) Presidents, also out of the mainstream of Christianity–Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon.

So apparently these 15 Presidents were heretics “in league with the devil”, because they had a more open mind on organized religion, and took a more compassionate, social justice view of what religion is all about!

This is exactly what we need, a President who believes in tolerance and concern for those less fortunate, as no one can be considered truly “religious” who has a narrow minded, intolerant view of those who are different than them, or less fortunate in economic circumstances!

The Roberts Supreme Court: Back To The Gilded Age And The 1920s! :(

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New evidence is now available indicating that the Supreme Court headed by John Roberts, the 17th Chief Justice, since 2005, has become the most pro business Supreme Court since the 1920s and the earlier Gilded Age, both periods in which corporations were given license to run amuck over small business, labor, and consumers in their mad dash for maximum profits and exploitation! 🙁

The Citizens United case in January, allowing unlimited corporate contributions in political campaigns, upending a century of regulatory laws on that subject, is just the most obvious case.

But with a five member majority, with two appointments by Ronald Reagan, one by father George H W Bush and two by son George W. Bush, the Supreme Court now has demonstrated that 61 percent of the time, they favor big business, as compared to 46 percent in the last five years under Chief Justice William Rehnquist, and 42 percent in all the years since Earl Warren became Chief Justice in 1953.

The Chamber of Commerce and other business groups have been able to get a sympathetic ear from the Supreme Court in greater percentages as the years go by, and this is another troubling piece of evidence, shown by many legal scholarly analyses, that the concept of “an equal day in court” for everyone is really a myth! 🙁

What is emerging is the disturbing reality of a growing oligarchy which wins the day in the courts and in the Congress so often that the idea of a “land of opportunity” and the “American dream” is more than ever, for almost everyone, except a small elite, a total distortion of reality! 🙁

Buyer’s Remorse: Second And Third Thoughts On Tax Deal Between Barack Obama And The GOP! :(

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The tax legislation negotiated between President Barack Obama and the Republican leadership this week has had much reaction from all sides of the political spectrum, and it has been a long week of serious reflection on the value of the arrangement.

Originally, the author called this a “Pearl Harbor” event, and then was swayed by many commentaries that called it a sign of bipartisanship, and switched his view to support.

Upon further reflection this weekend, and after a great discussion with my son David, who has worked on Capitol Hill or with people on Capitol Hill for the past four and a half years, I must now express what I call second and third thoughts on the agreement, and withdraw my support of the deal, sorry to say! 🙁

While bipartisanship is important as a concept, it is unrealistic to expect that there will be any truthful cooperation between the GOP in the House and the growing Republican minority in the Senate with President Obama.

What it comes down to is that the wealthy received a continuation of a tax cut which is what has created the tremendous national debt growth since 2001. What was the so called “Bush tax cuts” are now the “Obama tax cuts”! 🙁

While it is true that unemployment compensation was allowed to be extended for another 13 months, the reality is what will happen in a year when unemployment will still be very high, and the Republicans in the House will refuse to promote a bill that will extend it? 🙁

What will those millions of people, many of them middle aged or older, with little education, no money to do job training, already losing their homes, unable to support their families on minimum wage jobs if they could get them, be expected to do to survive? Are the Republicans going to give a damn what happens to these families, including single mothers with children, and not just minorities, but millions of whites as well, when they now argue that many people on unemployment compensation don’t want to work? 🙁

What about the reality that the so called “99ers” do not get any extension at all now, and apparently never will, and will be living on the streets, or in their cars if they are not dispossessed? What about the harm being done to millions of children who are victims of this economic mess? 🙁

Beyond the unemployment compensation issue, by lowering the Social Security tax by two percent for two years, the Social Security system is being harmed, and when Obama calls for a return to the original 6.2 percent tax for Social Security in 2012, the Republicans will call it a tax increase and work to prevent it, therefore undermining the whole social safety net that Social Security represents. 🙁

It is clear that if it is left up to the Republican Party, the social safety net represented by Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will be destroyed over time, and that will make the country even more stratified, whereby by 2050, half the wealth of the nation will be in the hands of the top one percent, instead of the present 24 percent, brought about by the massive tax cuts to the wealthy since 2001! 🙁

Also, supposedly the government is committed to prevention of increase of the national debt, but has now agreed to legislation which will add nearly a trillion to the debt, which the GOP will blame on Obama in 2012.

So while Charles Krauthammer might say that Obama has improved his chances of winning a second term in 2012 by making this deal, the question is even if that were to be true, what is most important is NOT whether any person wins the Presidency in 2012 (although Obama would be the best choice available), but how it affects the welfare of the American people for the long term!

While obviously the liberal Democratic base cannot expect to win all that they want to occur, for Obama to have alienated them to the point that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid absented themselves from the signing ceremony for the tax deal, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was present, is disturbing!

Has Obama made a deal with the “devil” and turned against the “angels”? It could be that is the case! 🙁

Of course, some might say in refutation, that Obama wanted to avoid pain and suffering for the unemployed and for middle class taxpayers, but it seems more than ever that by what he agreed to, he may just have delayed the pain and suffering, and wounded the Social Security system and the social safety net to boot! 🙁

It may very well be that the long range effect may be more harmful than the short term gain, whatever it might be seen as being! 🙁

Vice President Joe Biden On Way To Becoming Most Influential Vice Presidency In History! :)

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The Vice Presidency has been growing in authority and influence since the days of Richard Nixon in that office, the first Vice President to have a great impact on a Presidency.

After Nixon, Nelson Rockefeller, Walter Mondale, George H W Bush, Al Gore, and Dick Cheney added to the office in so many ways.

But it looks likely now that Joe Biden may eventually be seen as the most influential and powerful Vice President, even surpassing the role of Dick Cheney under President George W. Bush.

Originally a rival of Barack Obama for the Presidency, Biden is rapidly becoming more significant, particularly now that the Congress will be divided for the first time since 1987.

Biden, with his contacts on Capitol Hill, and good relations with members and leaders of both political parties, is the perfect person to negotiate for the administration, and comes across as a more “affable fellow” than Rahm Emanuel was, or really, any other person around President Obama.

Biden has been involved in the negotiations over the tax package, and also is working hard on the START Treaty that is soon coming up for a vote, and requires GOP support to pass with a two thirds vote.

Biden and Obama have truly bonded over time, and while Biden might not win every battle, as with Afghanistan policy, who can say that Obama will not eventually go Biden’s direction and lower our involvement in that forsaken nation?

Biden is totally loyal to Obama and a great team player, and he is proving to be a tremendous asset in so many ways.

And his big plus is everyone likes Joe, while many detested Dick Cheney.

Personality can get one far in politics, and Joe Biden has always been a “nice guy” who can get things done, and proves that it is not always true that “nice guys finish last”.