Rand Paul

Republicans Start To Deal With Foreign Policy Finally! First Mitt Romney And Later Jon Huntsman!

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The Republican Party has been busy trashing President Barack Obama and economic problems in America, but has failed to address the world scene and our foreign and defense policy.

Barack Obama has done a masterful job in many ways on the international scene, often seen as his strong point, particularly with dealing with international terrorism, including Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Many problems, of course, remain, including North Korea, Iran, China and the Middle East crisis. He has also had a masterful Secretary of State in Hillary Clinton!

But the question arises: Do the Republican candidates have any vision of how to deal with the outside world, considering that only former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman has had any real expertise, as former Ambassador to Singapore and China?

Well, now, Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts has announced in a speech at The Citadel in South Carolina, what is defined as a “muscular” foreign policy!

Romney calls for:

1. Increased Naval shipbuilding.
2. Strengthening alliances with Great Britain, Israel and Mexico
3. Keeping aircraft carrier groups in the Persian Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean as a deterrent against Iran
4. Spending more on national missile defense
5. Renewed emphasis on diplomacy and foreign aid to the Middle East
6. Increased diplomacy and trade with Latin America
7. Figuring out how to deal with Afghanistan beyond 2014
8. Devising a national cyber security strategy

Romney calls for a “new American Century”, with aggressive and hawkish foreign policy reminiscent of Ronald Reagan and the two Presidents Bush. This is in contradiction of the Tea Party Movement followers, and the libertarian, isolationist view of Congressman Ron Paul, an opponent in the Republican Presidential contest and his son, Senator Rand Paul, as well as liberal Democrats who want to avoid military conflicts overseas, which Romney seems clear to be unwilling to avoid if it is seen as necessary to assert American power.

Romney’s doubt about working through the United Nations will also turn many off from his strong foreign policy and defense policy statements, and of course, the question will be how the costs of this new, bold foreign policy will be managed in the present budget mess we are facing as a nation!

Next week, Jon Huntsman will enunciate his views, as foreign policy goes from the back burner to the front burner of American politics, as indeed it needs to do. But the question is can Romney or Huntsman convince the American people that Barack Obama has not, overall, been successful in areas of defense and foreign policy?

One thinks that will be difficult to convince the nation over the next year!

The Knives Are Out For John Boehner And Mitch McConnell: Extreme Right Wing Coup Likely In Republican Party In Congress!

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Republican leaders John Boehner, Speaker of the House, and Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader, are in deep trouble within their own party, having angered Tea Party radicals and right wingers in their own chambers, and it is clear that the knives are out to take away their leadership, if not immediately, which would be difficult to achieve, but certainly in 2013 when the new Congress convenes!

Eric Cantor, House Majority Whip, is very obviously angling to seize the leadership from Boehner, and is likely to be backed by the “Young Guns”, such as Kevin McCarthy of California, the Majority Whip, and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin! Also, don’t be surprised if there will be a challenge to Boehner in his Ohio district in the Cincinnati area by a Tea Party radical in the primaries next year!

McConnell has a safe seat to his next election in 2014, but is likely to face opposition then in the primaries by Tea Party radicals, and Jim DeMint of South Carolina, and his own fellow Kentuckian, Rand Paul, who he has very little in common with, are certainly no friends of his, much like Marco Rubio of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah, who also flirt with Tea Party types and are young and very ambitious! One of these individuals will try to take away the Senate leadership from him in 2013!

It is a sad scene that the GOP leaders cannot control their own membership, but it demonstrates how extremist the Republican Party has become, and the danger it represents to the American future, even more so with the possible Presidential candidacy of Michele Bachmann, herself one of the original Tea Party favorites and organizers!

This nation needs help to avoid the disaster that the Tea Party represents, not only to the GOP, but to the country at large!

The Coming Implosion Of The Republican Party: Congress And The Presidential Race!

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Just as Barack Obama shows evidence of great fund raising, an all time high, and the Republicans show weakness in fund raising, the Republican Party is facing an implosion on both the Congressional and Presidential campaign level!

The Debt Ceiling Crisis has shown chinks in the armor of the Congressional Republicans, as the leadership of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell has split the Republicans on Capitol Hill, into the predictable split between Establishment Republicans and the Tea Party Movement freshmen in the House and a few in the US Senate!

Boehner has been pressured by his deputy, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who is obviously trying to overrule Boehner and push him out, as everyone in the know is aware of Cantor’s personal ambitions to be Speaker of the House!

McConnell, convinced that no deal on the debt ceiling extension can be reached, has come up with a plan he thinks will help the Republicans win control of Congress and the White House in 2012, declaring he cannot work with Obama. His plan is to allow three votes of disapproval on extensions of the debt limit–one now, one in the Fall and one in the Summer of 2012, assuring an extension of the debt but with only Democrats voting for it, giving Republicans a campaign issue to be used in the upcoming election, and avoiding the financial uncertainties of NOT raising the debt ceiling.

Tea Party freshmen are furious at McConnell, and Boehner who has backed him, so a rebellion within the party is in evidence, with Eric Cantor leading it in the House and Jim DeMint and Rand Paul in the Senate!

The thought that the Republicans will somehow be able to use this debt issue as a way to win control of the executive and legislative branches in 2012 is a real long shot, as it is not as if the Republicans did not raise the debt ceiling SEVEN times under George W. Bush! It is much more likely to reverberate against them, and with a split party in Congress, actually cause them to lose seats in both chambers and likely lose control of the House of Representatives, where a switch of 25 seats gives Democrats control, not all that hard to attain!

And with Michele Bachmann surging as the real threat to Establishment Republicans and Mitt Romney, we could see Bachmann become the nominee, and end up as the Barry Goldwater of 2012, as to imagine her winning the White House and helping her party to win control of both houses of Congress requires hallucination on a major scale!

To top it off, IF Sarah Palin or Rick Perry, or both, end up running for the Presidency, still hard to imagine or conceive, it will only complicate the situation even further, and undermine GOP hopes for control, so it is now more likely that they will go back to minority status, through their own ineptness and incompetence, and failure to recognize the needs of the American people in the midst of the aftermath of the Great Recession!

The War Powers Act Of 1973 And The Libyan Intervention

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It is now 60 days since the Obama Administration decided to intervene in the Libyan Civil War against Moammar Gaddafi in unity with NATO, without using ground troops.

So far, the Libyan intervention has not succeeded, and it is exasperating to many that this nation is now, in some form, involved with three wars at the same time–Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, although the Iraqi intervention is not considered a war situation at this point.

Controversy is now arising over the Obama Administration being involved in Libya, and six extremely right wing senators, including some Tea Party favorites, are now demanding that the administration seek a joint resolution of Congress to measure whether the Congress is willing to back a continued involvement in that North African nation.

The list of six senators includes a “nightmare” list of the worst senators in that chamber–Rand Paul of Kentucky, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin (all Tea Party activists)– along with Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and John Cornyn of Texas.

They claim to understand the War Powers Act of 1973, which was vetoed by President Richard Nixon, and has been opposed in principle by every President since of both parties. But Senator John McCain, Obama’s opponent in the 2008 Presidential election, claims the law is unconstitutional, and that the President cannot be hamstrung by legislation limiting his Commander in Chief powers.

The legislation has never been considered by the Supreme Court, but the understanding of the author is that IF the Congress, by majority vote in both houses, demands a troop withdrawal from a military action begun by the President, that the President then would have a 60-90 day period to withdraw the troops. It is not clear that the President must gain a majority resolution in both houses to CONTINUE the war effort!

The War Powers Act has long been seen as a “paper tiger” that is a feeble attempt to control the President’s war powers. The reality is that in the modern world, the whole concept of interfering with a President’s military powers seems counterproductive, as the President and his advisers have more information about our defense posture and national security, and that senators or congressman who have a political motivation to interfere with smart policy making cannot be allowed to interfere in such a way as to undermine his ability to do his job.

Having said the above, it is clear to the author that the Libyan intervention is questionable as to its purpose, effectiveness, and its righteousness, but to allow a group of right wing senators who, in many cases, either backed, or if they had been in Congress, likely would have supported the Iraq War, to now be so “principled” on Libya, makes one want to laugh heartily, as it is obviously just a political ploy by men who have few principles in reality!

Haley Barbour And Ron Paul: One Out Of GOP Race, And The Other In!

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Republican politics is more amazing by the day!

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, a power player in the party apparatus as head of the Republican Governors Association, has decided NOT to run for President, although many thought of him as a “heavy hitter”! Barbour was liked by lobbyists in the party, but that was precisely why he looked undesirable to others, along with his insensitive comments about African Americans in Mississippi fifty years ago, which made him radioactive, as we are not about to elect an old Southern type to the White House in 2012. But many thought he would run, so his decision not to run is a big surprise!

Does this benefit anyone? YES, probably former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who continues to look like the “dark horse” who might emerge from the pack, with similar views to Barbour, but a much better public image and presentation than Barbour was capable of demonstrating. Barbour has a lot of friends and associates who could be valuable to anyone he might endorse, and it is highly unlikely he would back either Mitt Romney or Jon Huntsman!

At the same time, Congressman Ron Paul of Texas is forming an exploratory committee to run again for President, despite the fact that he has absolutely no chance to be the nominee!

Paul’s libertarianism on domestic policy and his opposition to America’s role in overseas military adventures can appeal to many, but even with Tea Party backing, there is no possibility to believe that he could, at age 77, win the nomination or the Presidency. He is a gadfly who is more annoying to the GOP than anything else, and has already been ridiculed in the past when he ran in the 2008 primary season!

The only good thing about Ron Paul running is that it prevents his son, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, from entering the race, as he could be more of an annoyance and potential threat than his father! But we must realize that Rand Paul will certainly run in future campaigns, a highly regrettable situation!

So the Republican Party wends its way toward total disaster in the Presidential race, while at the same time committing suicide politically with its”bully” Governors and the Paul Ryan plan to eliminate Medicare, both developments causing major headaches for the Republican Party in polls all across the country!

The Next Doomsday: May 16! Debt Ceiling Extension Crisis!

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Now that the government shutdown was averted at the last minute this past Friday, April 8, a much more dangerous deadline is looming: May 16.

Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner has declared that by that date it is essential that the Congress extend the borrowing limit, the federal debt ceiling, beyond the present $14.25 trillion limit, or face the inability of the government to pay its bonds and debts on time, an action which could trigger world wide economic repercussions, and make it impossible for the US government to borrow money, because of a technical state of bankruptcy!

Geithner has informed Congress that if federal accounts were moved around, the doomsday scenario could be delayed to July 8 at the latest!

For the government to fall into default would be extremely damaging, both short term and long term, and yet there are the Tea Party radicals in the House of Representatives, and lunatics in the Senate such as Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida who are, seemingly, willing to risk the nation’s future in their ideological struggle against the federal government!

With the ability of the Republicans to filibuster in the Senate, and the Tea Party members of the House unwilling to bend, the battle over extension of the debt limit will center around the Obama Health Care plan, the environment, abortion rights, and other GOP demands that the Democrats have been able to avert in the most recent battle over shutting down the government.

So the likelihood of the economic revival going on smoothly seems less likely over the rest of this year, and then the 2012 budget plan presents the next crisis, if we ever resolve the debt limit crisis now facing us in the next month to three months!

On The Way To Armageddon: April 8 or May 16?

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The United States is on the way to Armageddon, in regards to the national budget, as the impending date of April 8 is coming upon us, whereby if there is no agreement on budget cuts, the federal government will, effectively, shut down, to the detriment of all of the American people!

Speaker of the House John Boehner is caving in to the Tea Party Movement members in his Republican Party, and refusing to compromise, with the Democrats agreeing to go more than half way, with $33 billion in cuts, as compared the GOP demand of $61 billion in cuts!

And the problem is that an even more dangerous deadline is brewing: six weeks from today, Monday, May 16, when if there is no action by both houses, the government’s debt limit will be reached, and without an extension of the debt limit, the national government will be in bankruptcy, unable to pay its bonds, likely to cause an economic disaster nationally and overseas, as the American economy and its reputation as good payers of debts will have been destroyed!

Do the Tea Party activists in both houses of Congress care about this? NO, and that includes Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, both reckless and irresponsible, along with many of their colleagues in both houses!

If either April 8 or May 16 lead to disaster, it will be the Republican party, not Barack Obama and the Democrats, who will ultimately be held responsible, just as they were in 1995 under Speaker Newt Gingrich, leading to the re-election of Bill Clinton, and the weakening of the GOP majority in both houses of Congress!

Eric Cantor And The Constitution: Back To Government 101 For The House Majority Leader!

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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia has come across over the years as extremely ambitious, intensely partisan to the extreme, and possessing a great level of arrogance in dealing with opponents, and this showed through this past week, when Mr. Cantor suggested that the House of Representatives, controlled by his Republican Party, pass legislation authorizing the enactment of the House spending bill even if the Senate, controlled by the Democrats, failed to agree to the legislation!

Such a move would be patently unconstitutional, and in any case, could not become law without passage by the Senate and the signing of the law by the President, none of which would happen! So maybe Eric Cantor needs to go back to Government 101, and learn the reality that the House cannot act recklessly on its own!

This suggestion is totally a sign of the impatience and arrogance of the House majority, being pressured by the Tea Party freshmen, who want no compromise on the spending for the rest of the present fiscal year, with the House demanding $61 billion in cuts, as compared to the $33 billion acceptable to Senate Democrats and the President!

It seems more and more likely that the Tea Party activists would love to see a government shutdown, and this includes freshmen Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida among others, who are a literal nightmare to their party and to the nation because of their unreasonable and uncompromising nature!

Donald Trump: Ego Maniac, Publicity Hound, And Now Fox News Channel Contributor!

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Real estate magnate and reality television series star, Donald Trump is, obviously, an ego maniac, publicity hound, and a newly converted “Birther”, latching onto the belief that Barack Obama may not have been born in the United States!

Hinting that he may seek the Republican nomination, and stating his willingness to spend $600 million of his own fortune in such a quest, Trump has been making himself look more and more like a fool and a weirdo, joining Michele Bachmann and Rand Paul in the circus atmosphere of what the Republican Party has become, what with all the other Republicans who are becoming “Birthers”, including Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich among others.

Even conservative and Fox News Channel talk show host Bill O’Reilly has ridiculed the “Birther” idea and ridiculed Trump on that matter in an interview on his nightly show. But at the same time, Fox News Channel is giving Trump an opportunity to spew forth his views on public affairs once a week, as a new contributor to the channel, even though he is flirting with a Presidential run! Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum were taken off Fox as contributors, but Trump is added, and Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee are allowed to remain for the time being, which makes Fox News Channel look totally ridiculous in their so called “principles”!

The likelihood is that Trump will NOT announce for President, but he is certainly gaining the attention and publicity he constantly craves from the American people. Seems to the author that Trump may be super wealthy and bright, but that he is quite the classic psychological case for the psychiatrist’s couch, as man who has issues, and would actually be very dangerous as he seems to think being a “bully” with China and other foreign nations is an acceptable method of diplomacy, and that firing people is the answer to domestic policy making!

Republican Loonies Start Emerging In The Presidential Race: Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump, And Rand Paul!

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The Republican Party of 2011 is on the road to total insanity, as we are about to enter the season of the loonies running for President, and making the Republican Party look both ridiculous and reckless!

As stated in other blog entries, if the GOP hopes to have a real shot at the Presidency, they need to nominate either Mitt Romney or Jon Huntsman, with the outside possibility of Tim Pawlenty.

But if they nominate Newt Gingrich, with all his skeletons in the closet and contradictions, they lose.

If they nominate Sarah Palin, with all her mindlessness and lack of knowledge and capabilities, they are destroyed.

If they nominate Haley Barbour, with his racial insensitivity and image as a promoter of the Old South and political wheeling dealing, they lose.

If they nominate Rick Santorum, with his emphasis on socially conservative issues, and his concern about man having sex with animals if gays have rights, they lose.

If they nominate Mike Huckabee, after his recent “birther” comments about President Obama and his promotion of himself as a preacher of morality, they lose.

But on top of all the above and their difficulties as candidates for the White House, it actually gets worse!

Those recently emerging as possible seekers of the Presidency include Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump, and Rand Paul–a move from the ridiculous to the loony and insane!

Michele Bachmann has been hinting she will run, because God wants her to run! This woman has proved herself to be absolutely ignorant, prejudiced, confrontational, accusatory in a way that reminds us of Joseph McCarthy at his worst, and just plain stupid, but also dangerous. She also sets up a potential rivalry with another candidate actually dumber than she is–Sarah Palin. If they both run, that should be something worth observing! Bachmann could also present a problem for Tim Pawlenty from the same state of Minnesota, as well, particularly in Iowa, the first state to vote in 2012 in their caucus, and a state where evangelical Christians play a major role, a fact that would make it impossible for Romney or Huntsman, both Mormons, to have a chance at competing!

Donald Trump has the virtue of being intelligent, but he is also arrogant, belligerent, and would be a danger in foreign policy because of his bellicose nature, and crazy belief that one can insult and denounce foreign governments, such as China, and that there will be no counterproductive developments. He could spend $600 million of his own money, but that in itself is obscene, as the last thing we need is for a President to, literally, “buy” the position! However, his involvement in debates should be some of the greatest entertainment ever seen in American politics!

And more unbelievable and loony than anyone would be the possible entrance of RAND PAUL, not Ron Paul, his dad, in the Presidential race. As bad as Ron Paul is in so many ways, Rand Paul is much more radical and dangerous and plain stupid in his assessment of how to deal with domestic and foreign policy! Libertarianism is NOT the future, and would be extremely destructive in the hands of someone who is not even certified as an optometrist by the traditional professional organization of his field, but rather by an organization formed by HIMSELF!

The Republican Party is going to provide a lot of entertainment, but unless, again, they nominate Romney, Huntsman, or Pawlenty, they are throwing away the Presidential Election of 2012 before it starts.

Oh, and by the way, some say, what about Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. The answer is to forget that, as Daniels is having trouble in his state getting legislation accomplished, and his anti labor leadership is not going to work, as the Wisconsin debacle of Scott Walker is going to hurt the Republican Party massively in 2012, and if the GOP does not realize that, they are also doomed!