John Boehner

John Boehner And Mitch McConnell: Watch Out For Challenges To Your Leadership In Congress!

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The Republican establishment, particularly the leaders of the party in both houses of Congress, had better watch out if the party gains control of either or both houses of Congress! You might be regretful that your party gained power, as you are under threat and are in the cross hairs of Tea Party types and sympathizers, who are very likely to try to seize control of the party leadership from you before you even realize it! 🙁

I am referring here to so called “Speaker of the House” John Boehner of Ohio, and so called “Senate Majority Leader” Mitch McConnell of Kentucky! Both of you gentlemen are an “endangered species”, with the word “gentle” soon to be not in vogue in Washington DC! 🙁

Who are the threats to the leadership of John Boehner? There are four names that stick out, with two in particular–Mike Pence of Indiana, who just won the straw vote at the so called Values Summit, and is considered likely to seek the Presidency on a very socially conservative platform, but has worked at wooing the Tea Party Movement activists; and Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House Minority Whip, who often has had tough relations with Boehner, and has now published a book, YOUNG GUNS, with two other conservatives who, like him, are politically ambitious and flirt with the Tea Party Movement–Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, and Kevin McCarthy of California! Does Boehner really think he will be able to sleep at night with these four colleagues, and particularly Pence and Cantor, hot on his heels? 🙁

And who is the threat to Mitch McConnell, that should have him worried? The answer is a whole slew of potential Senators–Tea Party Favorites–including Rand Paul of Kentucky, Sharron Angle of Nevada, Mike Lee of Utah, Ken Buck of Colorado, Joe Miller of Alaska, Linda McMahon of Connecticut, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Christine O’Donnell of Delaware–all of whom were not supported by the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee and its head, Senator John Cornyn of Texas–but won the nominations against candidates endorsed by that committee! 🙁

And who would they, or many of them, be likely to back for Senate Majority Leader? The answer is Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who has declared himself the leader of the Tea Party revolt, and is supported by such as James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who might wish to be Senate Majority Whip! 🙁

This is a horrifying scenario in both houses, IF the GOP gains the majority! And even if they don’t, the present leaders could still face the axe by disappointed rebels who would desire to “purge” the party leadership and move it to the extreme right!

So there will be an interesting next few months for the GOP, whether they actually gain the majority in either house of Congress, or just come close!

As stated many times earlier in this blog, the future of the Republican Party hangs in the balance, as to whether it will be a legitimate opposition party with any future after the attempted takeover by the Tea Party Movement! 🙁

The Republican And Conservative Exploitation Of September 11 :(

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On the eve of the 9th anniversary of the most horrific day in American history since Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it is shocking to recognize how the Republican leadership and conservative talk show hosts have utilized September 11 to divide this country by promoting hate, hysteria, and panic on a level WORSE than Joseph McCarthy and his Republican and conservative backers stirred anti Communist “witch hunts” during the late 1940s and early 1950s!

There is nothing that these despicable public figures will not do to promote their agenda, including comparing Pastor Terry Jones’s threat to burn Korans with the Islamic interfaith center that is planned for two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City! The former is designed to promote hate and bloodshed, while the latter’s purpose is to promote interfaith understanding and dialogue!

It is not too much for Newt Gingrich, John Boehner, and Sarah Palin, among others, to exploit this comparison, but also Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck find no problem in exploiting September 11 for financial gain, by holding a gathering in Anchorage, Alaska with highly expensive tickets to be bought on Ticketmaster, and selling liquor as well, to commemorate that fateful day! Any such event should not have a ticket charge, and liquor being served is totally against the somber nature of the event!

But Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck have no shame and no limits to their hypocrisy, as also John Boehner, Newt Gingrich, and many others, including the many Republican leaders who chose to remain silent and avoid taking a stand for principle, on the evil of Pastor Terry Jones and the principle of religious freedom and diversity represented by the interfaith plans near Ground Zero!

The Total Hypocrisy Of John Boehner, The Would Be Speaker Of The House! :(

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House of Representatives Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio is confidently planning to be the next GOP Speaker of the House, even though if anyone in his congressional district or in the country looks at his total hypocrisy, they would vote to remove him from Congress altogether! 🙁

This is a man who has promoted total obstruction and lack of concern for what this Great Recession has done to millions of Americans! 🙁

Boehner has also constantly lied and misled us in an evil way, trying to pin the blame for the Great Recession solely on the Democrats, as if the GOP did not control the White House and Congress for the first six years of this century! 🙁

He would have everyone believe that the so called “Bailout” that most Republicans voted for in September 2008 was solely a plot of the Democrats to harm the American people!

The fact is that IF that “Bailout” promoted by President George W. Bush, Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson, and other Republicans and many Democrats had NOT been done, we would be today in total GREAT DEPRESSION NUMBER TWO! 🙁

And, of course, Boehner would not want us to remember that he was weeping on the floor of the House of Representatives on September 29, 2008, begging his party members to do what was right for the nation’s economic survival! 🙁

So the Republican Party is lying through its teeth, and John Boehner is a total hypocrite, who deserves to be denied the Speakership of the House if his party somehow wins control, and rightfully, should be defeated for reelection by his district as not concerned about their interests!

The Coming Conflict Within The Congressional Republican Party!

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Assuming that the Republican party wins control of the House of Representatives this November, and even possibly the Senate, does this mean a united GOP against President Barack Obama in 2011 and 2012?

The clear answer is NO, as younger and more right wing conservative members now, and newly elected, will be desirous of grabbing power and going in a more extreme direction in policy and philosophy!

It is hard to know which new House members will become leaders of a “revolution” in the House, but one can be assured that Eric Cantor, the House Minority Whip from Virginia; Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who is seen as the ideological leader of major conservative oriented reform; and Kevin McCarthy of California will lead the charge for change, and just might challenge John Boehner’s leadership.

Cantor, Ryan and McCarthy are publishing a book called “Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders”, and it is a clarion call for moving away from the stodgy, unimaginative leadership of Boehner, who is from the Newt Gingrich era, and a lot older than them! And they fail to even name him in their book!

Will libertarian, Tea Party Movement supporters who are elected this fall move to oust Boehner in favor of Cantor? No one can be certain, including Boehner!

And, as stated elsewhere by the author, IF a whole group of libertarian oriented Tea Party types are elected to the Senate–Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, Mike Lee, Ken Buck, Joe Miller, Marco Rubio, Pat Toomey, and Linda McMahon–or most of them–it could be a very uncomfortable time for the old line Republican leadership of Mitch McConnell and other traditional conservative Republicans in the upper chamber!

Imagine this internal set of battles going on as the GOP tries to make a case for its nominee to challenge President Obama, and with Sarah Palin possibly complicating the battle by becoming a burden to the other GOP presidential possibilities by either deciding to run, or trying to influence who IS the nominee!

Will the GOP be able to accomplish anything in the 112th Congress, and make a case for their keeping control and for a Republican President in 2012?

It might actually be better for them to be unable to gain control, but come close, so that the burden of governing is still left in the hands of the Democrats! It would make it easier for them to build a case for a GOP majority and a Republican President in 2012!

Alan Greenspan And David Stockman: Tax Cuts For the Wealthy Based On Borrowed Money Are Wrong And Do Not Pay For Themselves!

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Alan Greenspan, the former head of the Federal Reserve Board, and clearly a conservative and Republican in his philosophy, was on the ABC News This Week show yesterday.

Greenspan was asked if a continuation of the Bush tax cuts was a good idea with such a tremendous deficit situation. His response was that, in theory, tax cuts are good, but NOT on borrowed money!

Greenspan also said tax cuts DO NOT pay for themselves in the sense of economic expansion!

Is there any need to go further in seeing that what conservatives and Republicans are enunciating is totally hypocritical? 🙁

We cannot afford, supposedly, to give extended unemployment compensation to those who are long term out of work, even though giving this to them promotes spending and the creation of jobs! But we can give more tax cuts to the top two percent, even though it has been shown that in most cases these people SAVE the money, rather than spend it, and DO NOT create new jobs because of receiving more tax cuts!

To top it off, former Reagan Budget Director David Stockman came up with exactly the same prescription: that tax cuts to the wealthy top two percent on borrowed money does not stimulate the economy! Instead, economists tell us it creates a more stratified society, already the most stratified in the industrial world!

But does this affect Sarah Palin, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, or others in the GOP? No, just keep on borrowing money and raising the deficit so that the rich can become richer, the middle class is made poorer, public services are cut, and the poor become even poorer!

Is this the kind of America we want? To think this is justice requires a warped sense of morality! 🙁

What Obama And The Democrats Must Do To Defeat The Republicans In November 2010!

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Republican House Leader John Boehner has made clear what the goal of his party is if they regain control in November: repeal all legislation passed under Barack Obama, and rescind all regulations and reforms that have been enacted! 🙁

This is a negative approach, which basically is saying that we should go back to the Bush years of deregulation and corporate malfeasance, and ignore the reality of suffering for millions of Americans affected by the Great Recession brought on during the Bush Administration!

So the Democrats MUST go on the offensive, and in a sense, fight a guerrilla war against those who speak up for corporate America, for the privileged, for the elite! Make it clear that we gave the conservatives nearly 30 years in power in one form or another, and that it is now time that progressive and liberal ideas be permitted to bring about necessary reforms and fulfill the American dream of equal opportunity and a sense of fairness and justice, all of which has been lacking over the past generation!

And understand, this is not an issue of race, as there are millions of middle class and poor whites who have been exploited by the corporate world with impunity; millions of elderly and retired people who have seen their nest eggs irreparably stripped from them; millions of young people who have a sense of hopelessness about the future!

The Democrats must use the tactics of the Republicans to fight them, including exposing the truth of their records, their connections, their associations, and their heartlessness! It is very evident that the GOP does not care about the damage done to millions upon millions of American citizens by the economic crisis, the oil spill, and overwhelming power of the special interests! 🙁

The Democrats are far from perfect, but their history, their connections and associations, and the accomplishments that have occurred under President Obama offers greater promise for a brighter future than the negativism and chants of repeal and oppose, which has been the GOP message in the first year and a half of the Obama Presidency!

Imagining Speaker Of The House John Boehner: Not A Pleasant Thought! :(

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Congressman John Boehner of Ohio, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, has served in Congress for twenty years. He is the Speaker in waiting, meaning if his party wins 39 or more seats beyond what they have now, then he will become Speaker of the House for the 112th Congress in 2011-2012!

The question that arises is what kind of Speaker he would be if the GOP did indeed gain 39 or more seats and have a majority!

Would John Boehner be any less partisan than Nancy Pelosi, Denny Hastert, or Newt Gingrich before him? Based on observations of others and the record of how he has conducted himself in opposition during the 18 months of the Obama Administration, the answer is NO!

Would he accomplish positive change for the nation, including cutting spending and promoting movement toward a balanced budget? Based on the GOP experience for the twelve years (1994-2006) that they controlled the House, the answer is NO!

The reality is that Boehner’s intention is to repeal the Health Care Reform law, and cut back ruthlessly on the entitlements brought about by the New Deal and the Great Society! It is no secret that the aim of the GOP leadership is to be negative, and begin the attack on the Democrats and President Obama, in order to get ready for a full scale assault in the Presidential Election of 2012! 🙁

There is no good will, no desire to compromise, no willingness to concede in any form, on the part of John Boehner and his colleagues! 🙁

If the American people allow themselves to believe that a GOP takeover will bring heaven on earth, they will have a rude awakening come January 2011! And as outgoing GOP Senator Robert Bennett has stated, the Republicans might win, but then rapidly lose power, if they continue to have no vision, no agenda, no program, other than to block any change or progress promoted by Barack Obama and the Democratic Party! 🙁

John Boehner, Social Security, And The Long Term Future: A Proposal Of A Solution!

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House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio has stirred up a controversy with his statements about the future of Social Security!

There is no question that the problem of the future of Social Security is a crucial one, that desperately needs to be dealt with in a serious manner, as it was in 1983!

That year, President Ronald Reagan and House Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill negotiated an agreement which governs Social Security ever since then. Despite their political and ideological differences, the two men and their party members recognized the need for Social Security reform.

Sadly, the reforms of 1983 were not enough to solve the problem for the long term, meaning to the end of the 21st century, but it did solve the problem to the mid point of this century. As a result, people born in 1943 and after had to wait to age 66 to receive full benefits, and those born in 1960 and after had to wait until age 67. But these people were given plenty of notice in order to plan their futures, and age 62 remained the minimum age to receive lower Social Security benefits!

Now, John Boehner has proposed that the Social Security age be raised to 70 for those twenty or more years from retirement, meaning those born after 1970. He also suggested that although everyone pays in, that those who are wealthy give up the benefit as they do not need it! He also stated that this sacrifice would help finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan!

The uproar is massive, but Boehner is not totally wrong in what he advocates!

There has long been a reality to recognize the need to raise the retirement age long term. What makes more sense, however, is the following proposal: Raise the retirement age to age 68 for those born in 1970 and after; to age 69 for those born in 1980 and after; and to age 70 for those born in 1990 and after!

This means that people now 40 and under would understand that the age is 68; that people now 30 and under would know that the age is 69; and that people now 20 and under would accept that the age is 70 for full retirement benefits! This gives all these groups plenty of years to plan ahead!

Also, we need to face the facts that age longevity is growing, and now with national health care, it should improve further, so there is no reason that people cannot work to the older ages if they wish! But always, they can retire as early as age 62 at lower benefits!

But beyond this reform, should wealthier people give up their benefit? The answer is NO, as they have contributed to Social Security and should be entitled to the proceeds of their efforts! There should NOT be a means test for Social Security!

But to help finance the long run future of Social Security, the limit of Social Security contributions should be lifted to cover ALL wages, just as is with Medicare! That will supply a much larger amount of funding from the growing percentage of people earning much more than $106,800, the present limit!

Finally, should Social Security be linked to support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Absolutely NO, as the plan should be to withdraw from both wars as soon as possible, as neither has contributed one iota to our security and safety after September 11!

So John Boehner has contributed to the debate over Social Security, but what has been suggested by the author is a much better solution to the long term future of Social Security and its recipients!

We must not have young people thinking that they will see the demise of Social Security, therefore lowering their desire to want to see it continue!

When Social Security was started 75 years ago, it was seen as a contract with the American people to give an element of peace of mind to senior citizens and widows and orphans. It is a social contract that cannot be allowed to be broken!

So the only way to protect and preserve it is do what is suggested above, and also NOT to invest it in the unstable stock market! That is a person’s private choice with other funds, but not with their Social Security contributions!

The Republicans And The Great Recession: They Just Don’t Get It! :(

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The Republican Party is proving yet again that they just don’t get it when it comes to the Great Recession! 🙁

Resisting necessary financial reform, and blocking an extension of unemployment compensation to desperate people, it reminds us too much of the years of the GOP under Herbert Hoover, and during the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt! 🙁

When, oh when, will the American people understand that it was the GOP which put us into this mess, and now refuse to do anything to get us out, as to them, the only thing that matters is preventing Barack Obama from having any success! 🙁

The thought is that if Obama fails to accomplish his goals, they gain, as Obama himself said yesterday in a public rally in Racine, Wisconsin! But it seems to the author that exactly the opposite will happen, and that the American people will come to realize that Obama is concerned about them, and the Republicans are not! 🙁

Outgoing Senator Robert Bennett of Utah, a victim of the Tea Party Movement, has stated recently that while he thinks his party will win Congress this fall, that they only have slogans, and no programs or ideas, and that therefore, it is likely that even if they do win control, they will lose in in 2012!

Certainly, every utterance of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Minority Leader John Boehner fails to give any encouragement or inspiration to anyone who is listening! They come across as hard hearted, unconcerned, vapid spokesmen for their party!

The thought of Boehner as Speaker of the House makes one wonder, as his reputation is that he is NOT a hard worker, and cannot be reached after 5 pm! In other words, he is lazy and uninspiring!

On the other hand, listening and watching McConnell makes one feel as if he is at a wake! LOL

A more inspiring leader may be House Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia, but there are rumors that he is looking to run for the Senate against Jim Webb in 2012, and that his heart is not in the House anymore. In any case, he and Boehner do not act seamlessly, and therefore, the GOP leadership is mediocre! 🙁

But it is not just the leadership! It is also the membership in both houses that simply can be seen as having no imagination, no new ideas, and ultimately, no concern for the American people! 🙁

Hopefully, the American people will see this by November, as Vice President Joe Biden predicts will be the case! We shall see soon enough!

The Republican Party And The BP Gulf Oil Crisis: A Total Disgrace! :(

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It is indeed shocking, but not surprising, that Republicans past and present are working very hard to back British Petroleum in any way they can, and to have them avoid full financial and legal responsibility for the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico! 🙁

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Bush Chief of Staff Josh Bolton, Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Congressman Don Young of Alaska, and House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio are among the GOP leaders who are working behind the scenes, and also in public statements, to whitewash BP’s legal and moral responsibility, and to make it out that the environmental disaster not be totally placed on BP stockholders by a loss of dividends paid by the corporation! 🙁

When one wants to think that the GOP is maybe worth some slack, the party leaders work very hard to make it impossible to have such sympathies! 🙁

How can any of these leaders, and others in the party, have other than total outrage at BP? And yet they go about their merry way justifying, defending, belittling criticism, and conspiring to help the oil company and put the burden of the disaster on the American people! 🙁

The Republican leadership has lost all morality and decency, if they ever had any! 🙁