John Boehner

The Age Of Right Wing Republicans Begins! State, National, And Supreme Court Evidence Of The Changed Reality! :(

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A number of pieces of news today makes us aware of just how far right wing this country is to be taken by the Republican Party, once the new 112th Congress begins tomorrow! 🙁

News comes that the GOP Governors of many states are declaring “war” on public employee unions, making them the scapegoat of the economic crisis the nation faces! 🙁

The myth is that public service employees are overpaid, have too many benefits, and don’t work very hard. The facts are that people who work for state and local governments are NOT overpaid, and never have been, and while benefits might be better than average in a country where only 15 percent of private employers provide a traditional pension, the reason for their existence is exactly because pay in these jobs is below what many privately employed workers receive.

This is a case of turning the people of the states against their own teachers, police officers, firefighters, prison guards, nurses, social workers, librarians, and agency workers as a move of revenge, as if it is the fault of these workers that economic conditions are terrible.

Rather than blame corporations and the refusal of government to regulate their practices in the public interest, instead the goal is to destroy labor unions of all kinds, even though only NINE percent of all workers are union members! 🙁

Also, we learn that Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Antonin Scalia have no problem being partisan, when they are supposed to be objective and neutral on public matters.

Roberts has sworn in top aides of Speaker John Boehner, a highly unusual action, and Scalia, promoting his concept of “originalism”, now states that women are not protected constitutionally by the “equal protection” clause of the Constitution! 🙁

How outrageous such a statement is, and if that were to be utilized in the future by the Supreme Court majority, it could set us back to the 19th century, and include African Americans, Latinos, Jews, Catholics, and others as not being protected by the Constitution! Is this a move to repeal the 20th century by a reactionary Supreme Court, which would be overruling past Supreme Court cases upholding “equal protection”? 🙁

And finally, Darrell Issa is now asking corporations what laws they want considered for repeal as interfering with their economic activities, as he begins his term as head of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee in the House of Representatives! What could be more corrupt than that, and yet, Issa has the gall to say that the Obama Administration is the most corrupt in a long time! 🙁

It is hard to imagine that by 2012, there will not be “buyer’s remorse” about the Republican Party control of the House and growing influence in the Senate.

And realize that all that the Democrats need to regain control of the House of Representatives is a gain of 25 seats, certainly a manageable possibility!

The Leadership Of Nancy Pelosi And Harry Reid: Pilloried But Successful, Nevertheless!

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The Democratic leaders in the now ended 111th Congress, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, both faced unprecedented attacks by Republicans, conservatives, and much of the news media, as well as the general public which was mostly ignorant of what they were doing, and the pressures they were constantly under.

Never in the history of the nation has Congressional leadership been so pilloried, ridiculed, abused, mistreated, disrespected to the level that these two stalwarts faced daily, as the barrage of criticism was non stop for both of them.

For Harry Reid, in some ways, it was worse, as his opponent for re-election, Sharron Angle, blamed him for everything that was wrong with America, including, it seemed, “original sin”!

But despite that, Reid came back to the Senate for another six year term, after having the burden of Republican filibusters, his campaign problems, and his wife’s serious auto accident. What a set of burdens to carry, and Harry Reid carried them with grace and dignity. A soft spoken man, often underrated, he did much more than anyone thought he could, culminating in the Lame Duck Session triumphs of the past two weeks!

Pelosi, considered in the class of Thomas “Tip” O’Neill and Sam Rayburn as a Speaker of the House, faced vilification, with much of it based on the fact that she was a woman, a strong, outspoken woman, who was not going to take GOP opposition and allow it to dominate the Congressional agenda. More legislation was passed under her than since the mid 1960s, and there were also hundreds of other bills that never made it through the Senate, making her an extremely productive leader!

There is no way around it, but to say, that we should applaud both Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid for a job well done, and a Congress which will stand out in history as one of the best ever, despite all the naysaying and negativism that prevails.

Will John Boehner have anywhere near the level of accomplishment and success of Nancy Pelosi with his caucus, with so many Tea Party activist rebels in the group? Don’t bet on it! 🙁

“Prima Donna” Senate Republicans: A Massive Headache For Mitch McConnell!

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It has often been said that the Democratic Party is not an organized party with any discipline, but it seems obvious that in the 112th Congress, that Mitch McConnell and John Boehner will have trouble controlling their membership!

This is particularly true in the US Senate, which can be said to have two distinct groups of “prima donnas”, people who are not good at working together and with others!

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post referred to a group of Senators, who complained bitterly about being “rushed” to do things, and feeling that the idea of having to work to just before Christmas was somehow an outrage!

Realize that it was because the Republicans asked for delays on many issues and procrastinated on them, that required the Senate to stay in session through yesterday, December 22. Also, these Senators seem to live in an unreal world, as if no one works to the day before Christmas. In other words, they are “petulant”, but also prima donnas, not an image designed to win support of the American people!

For the record, who fits into the “petulant” group of Republican Senators? They include Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John Thune of South Dakota, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Orrin Hatch of Utah, and Jon Kyl and John McCain of Arizona.

Now in the new Congress, McConnell must work with the five new “Tea Party” Senators–Marco Rubio of Florida, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Mike Lee of Utah.

This sounds like a massive undertaking, to gain their cooperation and willingness to do what needs to be done, not always what they want to be done.

Let’s just say that no one should envy the challenge facing Mitch McConnell, as well as John Boehner, now that their party has more seats in the Senate and controls the House of Representatives.

It is not just how the GOP relates to President Obama, but also how they relate to each other, that will be the biggest political news story of 2011!

The Reality Of Budget Cuts To Come In The 112th Congress: The Poor, The Young, The Retired To Suffer Greatly While The Rich And Privileged Suffer No Pain! :(

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We hear a lot these days about “cost cutting”, and “budget cuts” and “reckless spending” as code words for what the 112th Congress under House Speaker to be John Boehner will be addressing next year.

What it comes down to, though, is that the rich and privileged and the corporations will suffer no pain at all, and instead the poor, the young, and the retired (mostly elderly) Americans will bear the brunt of such a dramatic slashing of the budget!

It means that medical care will be denied, as it is, for instance, in Arizona to Medicaid recipients who need heart, lung, kidney and liver transplants, and instead will die, being given a “death panel” decision by Governor Jan Brewer! 🙁

It means that class sizes will be dramatically raised, making educational conditions in thousands of school districts across the country far worse than they already are!

It means that crime fighting and fire fighting will be impeded, which will affect poorer communities more than wealthier areas within the states!

It means many prisoners will be released because of overcrowding and budget cuts in state prisons, and that will add to the crime rate, particularly in poorer areas!

It means that college students in community colleges and state universities across the nation will, in many cases, be priced out of higher education, or go so deep into debt with rising tuition and housing costs, that they will be forced into bankruptcy in future years! 🙁

It means that dedicated civil service employees who have devoted their lives to serving the public in many capacities will now be cheated out of labor arrangements and retirement plans that they thought were legally binding!

It means that basic amenities such as parks, beaches, libraries, and other public services will be cut back dramatically, making the quality of life far worse!

It means that basic services to the elderly poor will be cut back, endangering many in their health and safety, and the whole concept of the “golden years”!

The more one thinks about this series of realities, the more the inequities of the situation scream out. So the rich and privileged will do just fine, while large portions of the population will suffer in an age of selfishness and greed, unparalleled since the 1920s and the previous Gilded Age (1865-1897), which one would think we would not repeat.

And now we will have a Republican leadership that does not apologize for this circumstance, and instead embraces it with impunity! 🙁

Tim Scott And Allen West: New Black GOP Congressmen Creating Headaches For Speaker Of The House John Boehner! :(

Ronald 1 Comment

Next month, John Boehner of Ohio becomes Speaker of the House, and he has been tearful about the fact that he has risen to the top from a difficult economic circumstance as a child.

But he may be doing more than being tearful, once he has to deal with the Tea Party favorites that have been elected in many House districts.

Already, the two freshman Black Republican Congressmen, Tim Scott of South Carolina, and Allen West of Florida, are causing grief with their statements and intended actions! 🙁

Scott and West both have spoken up against raising the debt limit when that unpleasant issue occurs in the spring, an action which if pursued by enough other Republicans in the House and Senate would cause the bankruptcy of the government, and lead to a world wide economic collapse.

Both Congressmen-elect talk about cutting hundreds of billions of dollars in spending as an alternative, which it is not, as to cut spending drastically at a time when most cities and states are already in bankruptcy or close to it, would cause human suffering and mass unemployment on a scale unseen since the Great Depression. 🙁

And the fact that these men are from minority background, and refuse to recognize that it is precisely people of their own race who are suffering the most when it comes to unemployment, bankruptcy, home foreclosures, hunger, and poverty in this economic downturn, makes them truly disgraceful, and is a sign of their truly loony and wacky behavior, in many ways worse than that of their white counterparts who are so far to the right that one wonders if they have basic humanity as part of their nature! 🙁

Republicans Gone Mad: Jan Brewer And Mitt Romney Go Neanderthal! :(

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It is very obvious that the next two years of Republican control of the House of Representatives is going to be a literal “nightmare” for the country, and the attempt to promote “compromise” or “common ground” as Speaker to be John Boehner terms it, is almost certain to fail, and not because Barack Obama is causing it.

But it is not just Congress that will be a center of conflict. It is already showing up in other ways that are very alarming! 🙁

We have Arizona Governor Jan Brewer denying transplants to about 100 very sick people, and saying they should ask the federal government for more stimulus money, something the GOP has been totally against until now! 🙁

But the cost involved for these approximately 100 patients is only 5 million dollars! So Republican Governor Jan Brewer does not believe in the “right to life” for transplant candidates, but insists that every fetus must come to term! And this is the party of Sarah Palin who talked about Obama’s health care plan promoting “death panels”! And what is this going on in Arizona, and probably soon in other states? Have we lost all our humanity? 🙁

Then, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, seen by many intelligent, rational people as probably the best potential nominee for President in his party, including the author, suddenly starts to appeal to the extreme right wing of his party by proposing that unemployment compensation be privatized, a shocking idea that people should open up accounts for the threat of unemployment in the future, with their own investments in the stock market, similar to what George W. Bush proposed for Social Security in 2005, which if it had been done, would have totally destroyed Social Security in 2008 when the stock market crashed! 🙁

If Romney is trying to appeal to the hard right of his party, heaven help us! Who is there out there that we can call a sane, civilized candidate who this nation could live with? Has Mitt Romney gone mad in his quest to be President, that now he backs away from his own state health care plan in Massachusetts, and obviously will now promote privatizing of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid? How will he differentiate himself from the “loonies’ in his party if he is to adopt every demagogic concept they advocate? 🙁

This is not just being partisan, what Brewer and Romney are advocating, it is TOTAL INSANITY! 🙁

It is attempting to take all morality, all decency, out of American politics!

It is aiming to destroy the New Deal and Great Society which has humanized this nation over the past 75 years!

It is saying everyone is in this world just for himself, and to hell with anyone who is suffering from illness, unemployment, poverty, deprivation!

The message being sent is that this is a country of, by, and for the wealthy, and the “American dream” is to take as much as one can gain, no matter how it is acquired, as basic common decency no longer applies! To hell with those less fortunate or needy, as this is unadulterated laissez faire capitalism at its best! 🙁

The GOP is declaring war on common decency and morality and ethics, and the fight must begin to overcome this threat to our principles! The future of this nation as a beacon of freedom and opportunity is at stake! 🙁

John Boehner, The “Strange Duck” Who Is Second In Line To The Presidency! :(

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As of January 5, 2011, Congressman John Boehner of Cincinnati, Ohio, will be the new Speaker of the House of Representatives.

We are learning a great deal about John Boehner, and it is a strange portrait!

In newspaper interviews, and now on a “Sixty Minutes” discussion with Lesley Stahl of CBS, Boehner comes across as, to say the least, a “strange duck”!

This is a man who is known to have gone to tanning salons, and has an almost orange tinge to his skin, but now he denies that he has ever gone to a tanning salon.

This is a man who smokes like a fiend, two to three packs a day, and it is rumored, will allow smoking to be restored to the House of Representatives chamber, after it was banned as unseemly by present Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

This is a man who used to tend bar for his father, and is said to go the bars every night around dinner time.

This is a man whose wife chooses to live in Cincinnati, while her husband lives in Washington, DC.

This is a man with a frown often displayed, who can yell with the best, but also is a “weeper” to the point of appearing ridiculous.

Boehner talks about the “American dream”, and how hard he had to struggle, and told Lesley Stahl that he cannot go to any schools anymore and see young children, because it makes him cry to think how difficult it is for them to pursue the “American dream”. His experiences should, if anything, make him wish to do more to promote the “American dream”, but instead he wishes to cut spending for education and other social programs, making success even more difficult for future generations of children, if they are born poor. This just makes absolutely no sense, especially when one considers how Boehner associates with lobbyists who represent wealthy interests, and he has no problem promoting massive tax cuts for the wealthy!

Also, John Boehner rejects the idea of “compromise”, preferring to call it “common ground”, another very weird thing, as politics is the art of compromise. But to believe that Boehner and his party will promote “common ground” is to believe in the tooth fairy, as it is clear that the GOP has no intention of cooperating with President Obama, as after all, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said, the purpose of the Republican Party is to defeat Obama in 2012.

Kentucky’s US Senators: Not Good For Kentucky! :(

Ronald 1 Comment

Kentucky, the Bluegrass State, somehow has managed to have elected US Senators who are not good for the state’s population! 🙁

Not only did they have Senator Jim Bunning, the Baseball Hall of Famer, who was considered by many observers, to be one of the absolutely worst Senators the chamber has ever had, who was always hard to work with, and who constantly seemed angry when he was not seen as loony!

But now they have Senator elect Rand Paul, a Tea Party favorite, who is a libertarian all the way, and will likely over time make Kentuckians wish that Jim Bunning was back! Paul has led the move against earmarks, the bringing of projects to a state that is one of the poorest in the nation, and shows no concern about the conditions of coal miners in his state, despite recent coal mine disasters in West Virginia!

And now Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has looked like a genius when compared to Bunning and Paul, has shown himself to be a hypocrite (actually nothing new) as he was a champion ear marker, bringing nearly a billion dollars to his home state over the years, but now switching gears and agreeing to prevent earmarks over the next two years, and therefore undermining his state’s ability to improve its poor economic conditions!

And why has McConnell done this? It is because of pressure from conservative and Tea Party favorite Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who was seen as a rival of McConnell for the leadership of the Senate Republicans!

So in order to keep his job and look in sync with other Republicans, Mitch McConnell shows a lack of courage and principle, except for one thing!

He has made it clear that the Republicans will do everything to undermine President Obama and assure that he is a one term President! And this is already showing by the fact that the scheduled meeting of House and Senate Republicans with Obama at the White House that was due for Thursday has been postponed by McConnell and Speaker to be John Boehner due to “scheduling” problems!

What is that supposed to mean? Why would anyone after arranging an appointment at the White House with the President of the United States suddenly change it? The only good reasons would be death or illness, but neither is the case!

It is simply pure rudeness and disrespect for the President, and a sign that there will be no attempt by the Republicans in Congress to cooperate at all with the President over the next two years!

So what else is new? 🙁

Reality: Tea Party Movement Caused Loss Of Senate Majority To Republicans!

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The Tea Party scored some major victories on Election Day, taking a substantial number of seats in the House of Representatives, making the job of Speaker Designate John Boehner of Ohio all the more difficult to accomplish anything over the next two years!

But in the Senate, the Tea Party Movement actually caused the loss of what could have been a GOP majority!

Tea Party candidates Christine O’Donnell of Delaware, Sharron Angle of Nevada, and Ken Buck of Colorado came across as unqualified and loony, and therefore lost those states which could have gone to the GOP if mainstream candidates Mike Castle, Sue Lowden, and Jane Norton had been the Republican nominees!

So these candidates, along with other Tea Party favorites Linda McMahon of Connecticut and John Raese of West Virginia, in effect, caused the loss of a Republican majority in the Senate!

And Joe Miller, by his arrogance and weird stands and statements, also allowed for the possibility of incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski to win a Write In victory in Alaska, declaring opposition to Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Movement, another slap at both!

The Tea Party will be more of a burden to the Republican Party than a blessing, and the “establishment” Republicans will soon be fully recognizing of that reality! 🙁

The House Of Representatives: How Many Seats Will The Republicans Gain?

Ronald 1 Comment

It is time to start assessing and prognosticating how the election results will play out this coming Tuesday!

It will likely take a few days to be sure of the final results in all 435 races for the House of Representatives.

As the author sees it, there is no question that the opposition party will win seats, as that is traditional in a midterm election.

The question is whether the Republicans will be able to gain a net total of 39 seats, with the expectation that the Democrats will win 4-6 Republican held seats, which effectively means that the GOP will have to gain 43-45 seats.

Predictions are between the low 30s and the very high number of 60-70 seats if there is a total collapse of the Democrats on Election Day.

The belief of the author is that, after all the votes are in, the Republicans will gain a net total of 33 seats, six short of a majority, meaning a House of Representatives with 224 Democrats and 211 Republicans!

Of course, with such a small margin, it is always possible, after the fact, that six or seven Democratic survivors who are more moderate to conservative could switch over to the Republican party, and have an effect on organization of the House in January!

So, imagine a Democratic held House by a small margin where a few Democrats votes to back a Republican Speaker of the House!

So will Nancy Pelosi be Speaker of the House in a closely divided House, or will she bow out and even possibly resign from her seat?

The prediction is that to manage to keep the small Democratic majority, she will resign and be replaced by her deputy, seen as somewhat more moderate, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland!

And should the GOP gain enough seats to win control of the House of Representatives, will John Boehner become Speaker of the House? Don’t bet on it, as one must watch the “Young Guns”, led by House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy, and Paul Ryan, who are overly ambitious and much more aggressive, and planning for future leadership in the House. So if Boehner ends up as the Speaker, he will know he has these younger members sniping at his heels, ready to undermine him if he does not tow to their line!

So in summary, neither Nancy Pelosi nor John Boehner will have an easy time if either is the potential Speaker of the House in the 112th Congress!

It is more likely that Steny Hoyer or Eric Cantor will be the ultimate beneficiary of these congressional elections two days from now!