New York

Andrew Cuomo Alienates Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, And Other Right Wingers: Poor Boys! LOL

Ronald 1 Comment

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has caused a stir with his statement last weekend on a radio interview, in which he said that those right wing extremists who are”pro life” (while not caring about poor children and their mothers), pro assault weapon, and anti gay, are not welcome in New York State, as the Empire State is much more tolerant, advanced, and civil than those who are intolerant of women, gays and lesbians, and have no concern about massive gun violence.

This led to a explosion of anger by the right wing, including talk show hosts Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck.

Hannity said he was outraged by the intolerance of Governor Cuomo, and would now give up his New York citizenship and high Long Island property tax and state income tax payments, and move to either Florida or Texas, both low tax states. And he said, unfortunately, his over 100 worker staff will lose their jobs, and the state of New York can provide for them!

What a nice guy Hannity shows himself to be! He is full of intolerance toward so many groups, and flirts with the anarchistic, fascistic Tea Party Movement, and has the gall to invite people on his show on Fox News Channel to promote assassination of President Obama! And he has no concern about the welfare of his staff, as all he cares about is his own wealth, and not labor rights of his staff! This man is so selfish, greedy, a massive liar and hypocrite, and even now, suggests when he moves to either Florida or Texas, that he might seek to enter Congress, so as to spew his hate and propaganda ever further! A better suggestion for Hannity is why not leave the United States altogether, as you contribute nothing positive to political discourse, and are a true demagogue!

And lunatic Glenn Beck, the alcoholic, racist, reckless, promoter of chaos and anarchy in the name of his own advancement, now suggests, as a result of the hurt feelings he has from what Cuomo said, might leave Texas, even though it is low tax, and go to some other country, because he feels besieged and unloved by his own country, and the government which “persecutes” people such as him!

Oh poor boy Beck, as well as poor boy Hannity! You have both exploited the gullible Americans who listen to or watch your programs and buy your books, and do not understand what charlatans you both are!

Let us hope that Beck leaves the country, and that Hannity joins him, and also Rush Limbaugh, who had said when the 2012 Presidential election was on, that if Barack Obama won, he would move to Costa Rica! Well, that is a great idea, and it is important that Beck and Hannity join Limbaugh in Costa Rica (even though that wonderful democracy deserves better than them as residents, and in fact, has socialized Health Care! LOL ), and no longer grace our country with their poisonous and divisive rhetoric!

The Greatest Rockefeller In Public Office, With The Least Fanfare!

Ronald 1 Comment

A long unsung hero in American politics and the US Senate is West Virginia’s former Governor Jay Rockefeller, who is retiring as Senator after thirty years of service at the end of 2014.

The only Democrat in the Rockefeller family political history has been an outstanding Senator for one of the poorest states, and will be remembered for how much he has done to promote the economic future of his state.

Jay Rockefeller could have replaced Senator Robert F. Kennedy by appointment of his uncle, Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, in 1968, but refused the opportunity and moved to the poor state of West Virginia, with the intention of bringing reform and change to his adopted state. He also refused to allow his father in law, Illinois Republican Senator Charles Percy, to use his influence in any way.

Instead, Jay Rockefeller worked his way up the political struggles to become a member of the West Virginia state legislature, Secretary of State, Governor of the state for two terms, and now finishing five terms in the US Senate.

Unlike his more famous uncle, Nelson Rockefeller, who sought the Presidency three times and was Vice President under Gerald Ford, Jay Rockefeller was satisfied to have an influence on his state, and to promote liberal Democratic ideas. He is now also actively engaged in investigation of the Chris Christie scandal, and is unafraid of challenging the status quo and the establishment’s leaders, always having supported and promoted progressive causes.

Jay Rockefeller has turned out to be more significant in many ways than his uncle Nelson, hard to believe, and certainly more so than his other uncle, Winthrop, Republican Governor of Arkansas in the late 1960s and early 1970s. And his career has been much longer, without any interest in seeking the Presidency in his younger years.

So Jay Rockefeller will be much missed when he retires from his distinguished career in the Senate at the end of this year!

The Top Political Comedians Of 2013

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Most political observers are well aware of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert and the Comedy Channel, and find their political humor engaging.

But really, both Stewart and Colbert, and other comedians who do politics, including on Saturday Night Live, have so much material due to the fact that there are people in politics who make total fools of themselves, and seem to have no shame.
https://www.theprogressiveprofessor.com/
Below are listed the author’s top choices for “Political Comedians of the Year 2013”, but in no special order.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R) of Minnesota
Congressman Steve King (R) of Iowa
Congressman Louie Gohmert (R) of Texas
Congressman Steve Stockman (R) of Texas
Congressman Paul Broun (R) of Georgia
Congressman Tom Price (R) of Georgia
Senator Ted Cruz (R) of Texas
Senator Rand Paul (R) of Kentucky
Mayoral contender and former Congressman Anthony Weiner (D) of New York
Mayor and former Congressman Bob Filner (D) of San Diego
Former Governor Sarah Palin (R) of Alaska

A Rare Moment Of Bipartisanship: Marsha Blackburn-Carol Maloney Promotion Of A National Women’s History Museum In Washington, DC!

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Lo and behold, a sign of bipartisanship on an idea that may seem minor to the less informed, but is a wonderful idea: the establishment of a National Women’s History Museum on the Mall in Washington, DC!

It is a pleasure to announce that Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Democratic Congresswoman Carol Maloney of New York are co-sponsoring legislation to provide for the building of one more museum in or near the Mall in Washington, DC, a museum that is urgently needed to record and commemorate the tremendous contributions and sacrifices of women in American history, who have helped to advance American democracy!

This is long overdue, as we have a national museum for Native Americans, as well as the progress on the African American museum, and a few years ago, the Museum of American Jewish History was opened in Philadelphia, and will demand a visit from this author in the spring of 2014.

There is also a Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, affiliated with the Smithsonian Museum, but there is no Museum for Asian Americans which incorporates all Asian groups.

There is a push for a National Museum of the American Latino, but there is also discussion of a National Immigration Museum, which might usurp such a initiative, as too many museums and not enough space in DC, forcing it to be elsewhere as the Jewish Museum and Japanese American National Museums already are.

Even if not all of the museums can find a home in the nation’s capital, it is important to commemorate the contributions of all of the varied groups which have made America what it is, a melting pot of the world’s ethnicities!

And while we are at it, how about a National Labor History Museum to commemorate the sacrifices of the working men and women who have made this country what it is, and deserve proper recognition as well?

Sniping Back And Forth Among Republicans: Wonderful To Witness!

Ronald 8 Comments

It is very clear that the Republican Party is bitterly divided on strategy toward President Obama, and on the issue of foreign policy and national security.

So we are witnessing sniping back and forth, and this is a hint of what is to come, as the Presidential rivalries heat up in the coming months!

Examples of the sniping are that between Arizona Senator John McCain and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, with it being clear that the two Senators have no love lost for each other.

At the same time, we see Governor Chris Christie supportive of the gathering of intelligence by the National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency, due to the reality that New Jersey suffered the second most losses on September 11, 2001, and being critical of those who are libertarian, such as Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky!

Also, New York Congressman Peter King of Long Island has attacked the Tea Party Movement Republicans who were against aid to New York and New Jersey after Super Storm Sandy last fall!

And Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee of Utah, and Marco Rubio of Florida have been criticized for their threat to shut the government down if ObamaCare is not defunded, with major critics being John McCain, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Roy Blunt of Missouri, and Richard Burr of North Carolina!

And Establishment Republicans such as former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, former Republican National Chairman Michael Steele, and George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove are shaking their heads at the splintering of the party, and the recklessness of many of the younger members of the party in the House of Representatives and Senate, as they well know that the future of the party is in tatters, if this extremist wing is allowed to become the face and image of the party! Finally,

Finally, Iowa Congressman Steve King’s ranting against immigrants has led to condemnation by Speaker of the House John Boehner and others in the Republican Party.

It looks more than ever as if the GOP is on the way to the worst Presidential defeat for their party since the demise of Barry Goldwater in 1964, nearly fifty years ago, and even Goldwater now looks “moderate” by comparison, and far less reckless!

Bill And Hillary Clinton Revisited: The 1990s And Now!

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Throughout the 1990s, Bill and Hillary Clinton were put through the constant torment of accusation, investigation, rumors, character assassination, and, ultimately, the stain of impeachment by a Republican party and a conservative movement led by party officials who were corrupt themselves, including in their personal life, but setting out to destroy President Clinton and any hope of his wife having a political future!

But Bill Clinton survived the impeachment, left office very popular, and he and his wife, an accomplished leader as US Senator from New York and Secretary of State, remain highly popular among the American people, with every indication, at this point, that if Hillary chooses to run for President in 2016, that she would leave other Democrats, as well as the Republican opposition, in the dust!

This is, ultimately, why there is the attack going on right now by the right wing to build up the so called “scandals”, that are not a scandal, but a political ploy to weaken President Barack Obama, so he cannot achieve any of his goals in his second term, but also to destroy Hillary Clinton’s prospects for the White House!

Face the facts: Hillary Clinton does not have a perfect record in public office, any more than Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, or anyone else! But to believe that her shortcomings, any more than theirs, is enough to make the mediocrity of Republican leadership or Presidential candidates able to overcome her and return the White House to Republican hands in 2016 is to live in a state of delusion and fantasy! As in the 1990s, the Clintons may be under attack, but they will triumph, ultimately in public opinion, as much as will President Barack Obama, in the face of the lunatics who wish to impeach him and remove him from office, with the odds of removal even lower than Bill Clinton faced in 1998-1999!

The Coming Battle For The Hispanic Republican Leadership: Marco Rubio Of Florida Vs. Ted Cruz Of Texas

Ronald 2 Comments

Florida Senator Marco Rubio is gaining the spotlight next Tuesday evening, when he is commissioned by Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to deliver the Republican Party response to the State of the Union Address of President Barack Obama.

Rubio is young, good looking, charming, charismatic, and represents the Sunshine State, which sometime late in this decade will surpass New York in population and become the third largest state. In addition, it is a “swing state”, arguably the most important if the Republicans are ever to recover from their last two defeats for President, and losing the popular vote in five of the past six elections. And Rubio is clearly planning to run for President. So his response to the State of the Union Address will be crucial to his campaign to build up his image.

But as he becomes seen as the “savior” of the Republican Party, as Time Magazine terms it, he will have another Hispanic Senator, like Rubio a Cuban American, as a rival, who comes from a state much larger in population and in land area, and that is newly minted Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, second in land area to Alaska and second in population to California, and four and a half times the land area of Florida.

Cruz, just 17 months older than Rubio, clearly has his own Presidential plans in the future, and he is much more willing to be openly aggressive in his rhetoric and behavior than Rubio, who tends to be more gentlemanly by nature. Cruz is like a bull in a China shop, and does not care what anyone thinks, because he is an open Tea Party activist, while Rubio is only loosely connected to that right wing movement.

Rubio is diplomatic compared to Cruz, who is less than tactful in just a short time in the Senate, going on the offensive, not being a quiet freshman in the Senate. Cruz was born in Canada, but claims he can run for President, an issue which would have to be investigated further for its validity, particularly when Barack Obama was born in Hawaii, but has had his native citizenship questioned because his father was Kenyan. Cruz is an “in your face” type, and his arrogance is likely to cause him to have fewer friends in the Senate than Rubio.

So Cruz cannot help but wish that Rubio “falls on his face”, as Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal did in delivering the response to the State of the Union Address in 2009.

The irony though is that both Rubio and Cruz represent only three percent of Hispanics, and their conservative ideology is highly unlikely to draw Mexican American support (almost two thirds of all Hispanics in America) or Puerto Rican support ( the second highest percentage among Hispanics with a little over 9 percent), something that they seem not to understand.

So it really does not matter what happens with Rubio and Cruz and their Presidential ambitions, as it is clear that the vast majority of Hispanics will continue to vote Democratic over the long haul. A sign of this is that even the Cuban American population, traditionally Republican because of Fidel Castro, is starting to move in the direction of the Democratic Party, at least among the younger generation which has no memory or experience in fleeing Communist Cuba under Castro control for the past 54 plus years!

The “Gang Of Six” And Immigration Reform Moving Ahead

Ronald 18 Comments

President Barack Obama has made immigration reform one of the major goals of his second term in the Presidency, and now, after much resistance for years by the majority of Republicans, suddenly we have a “Gang of Six” US Senators who are cooperatively working together toward that goal, making the likelihood of such reform much more likely.

The members of the “Gang of Six” are:

Democrats Charles Schumer of New York, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, and Dick Durbin of Illinois

Republicans Marco Rubio of Florida, John McCain of Arizona, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

This group includes Senators from key states that have growing Latino population—New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Florida, Arizona and South Carolina.

it includes two leading Hispanic Senators, both Cuban—Menendez and Rubio.

It includes two Democratic leaders, the number 2 and number 3 in the leadership—Durbin and Schumer.

It includes former Republican Presidential candidate McCain, and his good friend, Graham.

If any combination of Democrats and Republicans can accomplish the goal of recognition of the need for a reasonable immigration reform, rather than the anti immigrant view of Mitt Romney during the Presidential campaign of 2012, it is this group of US Senators!

The “New” Generation Of Democrats: Led By Andrew Cuomo Of New York And Martin O’Malley Of Maryland!

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As the next Presidential term begins in a few days, the focus has been on Vice President Joe Biden and outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the two most likely front runners for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2016.

While certainly that is possible, it is also conceivable that a “New Generation” of leadership may be emerging to contest their front runner status, and just might be the alternative to either Biden or Clinton.

Two Northeastern Governors have likely plans to announce for President, and both are working very hard to establish their credentials in similar fields of endeavor.

These two gentlemen are New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley.

Both have become leaders in promoting gay rights and gay marriage in their states, and both have taken leadership in the area of gun regulations in wake of the Sandy Hook Massacre in Connecticut.

Both are very bright, articulate leaders of the future, whether or not they enter the contest for the Presidency, and both have extensive executive experience in public office.

Both will certainly be heard from in the future, and will be discussed regularly over time on this blog! So stay tuned!

The Chris Christie Boomlet: Interesting, But Leading Nowhere!

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New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has become a media “darling” lately, due to his courage and leadership in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which did devastation along the shoreline of New Jersey and New York, and other damage to Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

Christie had the common sense to work with President Obama on surveying the damage, even though the alliance occurred a week before the Presidential Election of 2012, and caused great upset in the Mitt Romney Presidential campaign.

Also, Christie was quick to criticize the House Republicans and Speaker of the House John Boehner for their failure to pass an extensive Hurricane Sandy relief package in the waning moments of the 112th Congress, and blamed Boehner by name.

Now, Christie has become the cover of Time Magazine, named “The Boss”, and has continued to lobby publicly for quick action by the House Republicans in the 113th Congress on the disaster relief bill, pointing out that aid to Louisiana and Mississippi, after Hurricane Katrina, occurred ten days after the tragedy, and now it is more than 70 days since Hurricane Sandy.

Many see Christie as the ideal GOP nominee for President in 2016, without understanding that he does not represent the core constituencies of the present day party. He speaks his mind, and in many respects, he does not match the extreme right wing tilt of the House Republicans and even many Republican Governors. He is a Northeastern Republican, who has learned within limits to work with the opposition Democrats in the New Jersey legislature, while House Republicans are on the warpath, refusing to cooperate at all with President Obama.

To believe that Chris Christie will, somehow, magically, become the Republican nominee for President in 2016, and that he will defeat the Democratic nominee, whoever he or she is, is to be willing to gamble big time.

But as this blogger and author stated last month, there are still many reasons to believe that Chris Christie is highly unlikely to be the Republican nominee in 2016, and in any case, the odds of the GOP nominee becoming President are highly remote, not worth betting money!