Right Wing

Republican Insanity In The House Of Representatives As Speaker John Boehner Is Challenged By Louie Gohmert And Ted Yoho!

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The 114th Congress is due to open on Tuesday, and this first all Republican Congress since the end of 2006 should be one for the books, in a negative way!

Having come off two successive Congresses (112th and 113th), which set records for the most incompetent, unaccomplished Congresses in modern American history, with both having a divided Congress, rare in American history, we can now expect total breakdown, craziness, and outrage to become the norm ever more.

It all begins with a last minute challenge within the GOP to the leadership of Speaker of the House John Boehner of Ohio, who has been seen as the worst modern Speaker in many decades!

Boehner has had trouble controlling his own caucus members in the past four years as Speaker, and had a challenge to his second two year Speakership two years ago, but now he faces another threat to be dumped by his caucus when it meets on Tuesday.

The largest Republican caucus since 1929, but with fewer Tea Party members as a percentage of the total, Boehner should have no problem disposing of his opponents, but the whole idea that two lunatic members of the right wing fringe Tea Party are challenging him, is in itself memorable as to just how much insanity there is the Republican Party of 2015!

Who would think that two of the most looney members of the Republican Party–Louie Gohmert of Texas and Ted Yoho of Florida—would believe they are qualified to lead the House, and be two heartbeats away from the Presidency as a result?

Gohmert, in the House since 2005, joined the loonies of the loonies—Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Steve King of Iowa—in being part of the “Three Stooges”—the most embarrassing trio in Congress, bare none, and now Ted Yoho, a newcomer as of two years ago, has been competing to join this trio, which now lacks Michele Bachmann, who retired at the end of the last Congress, under investigation for corruption in her 2012 Presidential campaign, which marked the looniest campaign for the White House in memory. Yoho, with a name like that, desperately wants to be noticed, and is unwilling to allow Gohmert to get all the attention, so is making it a two pronged attack on the Speaker.

This should insure that Boehner keeps the position, even though, by all same judgments, he should be kicked out as someone who has disgraced the office, and desperately needs Alcoholics Anonymous, as everyone knows, but few speak out, that he has a major drinking problem that needs attention!

What a statement that the best that the GOP can conjure up for the Speakership of the “People’s Branch”, is Boehner, Gohmert, and Yoho!

Right Wing Hysteria Over Obama, Proved Wrong Again And Again!

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When Barack Obama was reelected President in 2012, the right wing went nuts, claiming all kinds of disasters for the nation, and they continued to state that in 2014, as well as 2013.

Gasoline was supposed to rise to over $5 a gallon, but instead it is half of that or less.

Unemployment was supposed to stay at 8 percent, but instead it is under 6 percent.

The stock market was going to crash, but instead it is at an all time high.

The American economy was going to go belly up, and instead, we have the strongest growth in many years, and a 5 percent growth rate in the third quarter of 2014.

Nearly eleven million jobs have been created, the most since Bill Clinton was President.

Ebola was supposed to decimate America, and it has, instead, turned out to be a major scare based on hysteria and panic, encouraged by the right wing.

California was going to go bankrupt, and instead has a four billion dollar surplus, a tremendous revival, despite projections that this “blue” state was going down the wrong path, and instead it is Kansas, a “red” state, that is in dire condition because, unlike California, which raised taxes, Kansas cut them dramatically.

Barack Obama was accused of undermining Israel, but it was our Iron Dome system which saved Israel in the recent Mideast conflict, and despite petty differences between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Obama remains a strong supporter of the Jewish state, without necessarily having to agree on every detail and request of the Israeli government.

Obama was accused of having one scandal after another, but every so called scandal has collapsed on its own weight of no substance, including the attack on Benghazi, Libya, that led to the death of four diplomats and support staff, including the US Ambassador to Libya.

It was said that Barack Obama was going to declare martial law, and that he was lawless and dictatorial, while also being accused of being weak and unwilling to use American military power, but both accusations have been proved ridiculous, and Obama is doing an excellent job of dealing with terrorism in the Middle East and Africa, without putting boots on the ground.

The right wing, whether Fox News Channel, Talk Radio, the Republicans in Congress, or the conservative think tanks, have been proved wrong and hysterical so often, one wonders how any intelligent person could take anything that they claim to be legitimate!

Alternate Universe Of The Right Wing On Barack Obama And The Economy

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The Right Wing on talk radio and Fox News Channel, and the Republican Party nationally and locally, demonize Barack Obama on every subject imaginable, including the economy.

At the same time, the following is reality:

The stock market is at its all time high, about 150 percent above what it was when Barack Obama became President six years ago.

The unemployment rate is the lowest since the beginning of the Great Recession under George W. Bush in 2008, and millions of jobs have been created, with the number of jobs lost all regained, and new additional jobs created, and starting to be better paid jobs.

The increase in the deficit on the annual budget is the lowest it has been since the Bill Clinton Administration.

Ten million more people have health care now, due to the expansion of Medicaid and the adoption of ObamaCare, and health care costs have decreased for many.

The price of gasoline is the lowest in five years.

We have seen record corporate earnings in the pasty year.

Economic Growth, at five percent in the third quarter, is the highest since 2003.

The Obama public opinion rating shot up four points last month, the highest in nearly two years.

America has a positive view of the economy for the first time since 2007, when the economic decline began, and accelerated rapidly.

Considering that the Republican Party controlled the House of Representatives for 16 of the past 20 years, and the Senate for 13 of the previous 20 years, it is clear that Barack Obama has presided over a growing economic boom, as occurred under Bill Clinton, but did not under George W. Bush!

Three Outstanding U.S. Senators Retiring: A Loss To The Institution

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As the 113th Congress nears its end, setting a record as the worst, most unproductive Congress in modern history, it is time to reflect on the loss of three outstanding US Senators who are retiring, after decades of exceptional service.

Those three Senators are:

Tom Harkin of Iowa
Carl Levin of Michigan
Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia

Harkin and Rockefeller served 30 years in the Senate, while Levin served 36 years.

All were principled men who stood up for the middle class and promoted progressive values and principles in their years in the Senate.

All three were men of conscience who worked against right wing attacks on the Democratic Party and its constituents, and added dignity to the Senate.

All three will be greatly missed, but will go down in the annals of Senate history, as having been among the greats in its history.

Combative President Obama, Ready To Make His Mark In His Last Years In The White House!

Ronald 3 Comments

President Obama has accomplished so much, but yet it does not show in his public opinion ratings, in the low 40s.

But whoever said that public opinion is knowledgeable, with all of the propaganda that has been unleashed by the right wing, convincing ignorant people that Obama has been a disaster, when he has been anything but that!

Has Barack Obama made mistakes? Of course, he has, and every President does, and every human being who has ever lived does! It is just that if one of us makes a blunder, it does not become public knowledge (thank goodness), and is not beaten to death by critics, who are out to look for the negative, and ignore the positive!

Most of what is wished is that Obama had been more aggressive, more outspoken than he has been, that he unleash the full power of his personality and his goals for the nation, but he has been accused of being too cautious in his approach.

Well, that stage seems to have ended, as Barack Obama is becoming more assertive, demonstrating that he is not going to allow himself to be cowed by critics, that he is determined to promote an activist Presidency in his last two years, and leave a legacy of accomplishment on the level of our great and near great Presidents!

The more he is threatened with lawsuits, with impeachment, with petty threats that he should not be allowed to use Air Force One, or not be allowed to speak before a joint session of Congress, or other demeaning and disrespectful treatment, the more he will fight and challenge his critics, always staying within the Constitution, which he understands far better than his enemies.

In a way, the Republican victories in the Midterm Elections of 2014 have made clear to Obama that he must use the powers of his office, as Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson did, to make life better for America, both in domestic and foreign policy areas! He has been liberated to move toward greatness in the annals of the history of the Presidency!

2014 Best Year For Job Gains Since 1999! But Will Obama Get Credit From Critics?

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As it turns out, the year 2014 will be the best year for job gains since 1999, with 321,000 jobs added in November.

The greatest economic recovery in American history is in full swing, but yet Barack Obama will NOT gain credit from critics.

Instead, the right wing ignores the abysmal record of George W. Bush on the economy, even before the Crash in 2008, which led to the Great Recession.

The American people were bamboozled to think that Obama was at fault because the economy did not recover over night, when the reality is that the damage done by the Great Recession would take a few years to overcome, just as in the Great Depression under Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The point to be made is that the Bill Clinton Presidency saw great economic gains, and now the Obama Presidency is showing it after a long hard struggle.

So despite the critics, and the work that must still be done to create new jobs that pay a decent wage, progress has been made, and should be commended!

Right Wing Hate For Barack Obama Far Surpasses Any Criticism Of Any Earlier President!

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The right wing hate, led by the Tea Party Movement, for President Barack Obama, has reached the point of no return, and has FAR surpassed any criticism of any earlier President!

Whether it is talk radio, with Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage and others of their ilk; or Fox News Channel spewing poison and lies consistently; or the right wing think tanks, headed by the Heritage Foundation and others who distort facts and have an agenda to promote an oligarchy; or the super wealthy, such as the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson, and others who are trying to destroy the middle class and promote their own profits at the expense of the entire nation; or the conservative journals of opinion, such as the Weekly Standard and the National Review, which promote their extremist agenda; or the lunatic House members, such as Michele Bachmann, Louie Gohmert, Steve King and others; or the right wing extremist Senators, including Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, newly elected Thom Tillis and Joni Ernst and others; as well as the leadership of many corporations and other special interests—there is a concerted campaign to destroy Barack Obama, with many wishing for his demise, meaning his death by whatever means possible.

Obama is more threatened now than any President since Abraham Lincoln, and in many respects, more than Lincoln, since the population is ten times what it was during the Civil War 150 years ago!

The venom, disrespect, racism, hatred, and accusations against Barack Obama have not had any limits. He has been accused of being a Muslim, a Kenyan, an Indonesian, anti Semitic, a racist against whites, a person who is bisexual, a gay man, an illegal drug abuser, having a mother who was a whore, having a different father who was a black nationalist, and much more.

Obama has been called an Emperor, a King, an abuser of Presidential power, but at the same time, he is weak and wimpy.

Sensible people see Obama as a moderate Republican of twenty to thirty years ago, not at all extreme, as Bruce Bartlett who worked for Ronald Reagan has said, who also says in many ways Obama is a traditional conservative, who has not done what liberals and progressives have wanted him to do.

On issues of human rights, Obama has been more aggressive, such as labor rights, civil rights, and gay and lesbian rights. On issues of importance to the future beyond our own time, he has supported the need for an aggressive policy on environmental protection.

But Obama has pushed a health care plan that the Heritage Foundation and Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole backed twenty years ago, giving health care companies control over health care, not exactly radical in nature, although depicted as such.

Obama has been attacked and criticized for every sin and fault imaginable, including wearing a tan suit; going on vacation (actually less than any recent President); using a veto power that he has only used twice; using executive orders less than any recent President; being unwilling to engage us in more wars and interventions, etc.

Through all the personal and policy attacks, Obama has always acted with dignity and calm, annoying the hell out of his critics, who want him to be the “angry black man”, and the leaders of the Republican Party, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, give him no respect at all.

And now, the idea is being suggested by the despicable editor Richard Lowry of the National Review, that John Boehner decide not to invite the President to give his State of the Union Address before a joint session of Congress!

Go ahead, right wingers, do exactly that, and the President will speak instead from the Oval Office, and will win public opinion, and show once and for all what the right wing nuts represent! If he chooses to denounce, finally, his right wing critics, who have gone beyond the pale in so many ways, it will boost his public opinion rating, just as Bill Clinton’s ratings went up after the impeachment effort against him in 1998-1999!

Expect that Obama will face impeachment by this right wing crowd, but he will come out shining as a result, and will not be removed from office. All it will do is show the Republican Party and the right wing for what they are–despicable hate mongers who will stop at nothing to destroy the 44th President of the United States!

The greatest fear is not impeachment, or not being invited to speak before a joint session of Congress, but the dangers against his life that Barack Obama faces every day, encouraged on in spirit, if not in direct statements publicly, by the opposition, which, again, is more hateful and vehement than any time since at least the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln!

Barack Obama: Who Is Our 44th President?

Ronald 5 Comments

The attacks on Barack Obama, our 44th President, have reached a point of being totally ridiculous and preposterous in so many ways!

Critics say Obama is a Muslim, even though he never attended services at a mosque, and has called himself a Christian. Meanwhile, he has had America war against terrorist Muslims, and has used drones and troops to kill more Muslims than George W. Bush, including Osama Bin Laden!

Critics say Obama is a weak President, who has been unwilling to confront Vladamir Putin and defend Ukraine, while George W. Bush did not confront Putin on military action in Georgia in 2008; Lyndon B. Johnson did not confront the old Soviet Union on military action in Czechoslovakia in 1968; and Dwight D. Eisenhower did not confront the old Soviet Union on military action in Hungary in 1956.

Critics say that Obama is an “Emperor” or “King” because of action on immigration reform, but this is the same President they have said is “weak”, and when Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and all of the other Republican and Democratic Presidents since Dwight D. Eisenhower took action on immigration, none of them were called “Emperor” or “King”. So Obama is a “weak” President who is also an “Emperor” or “King”?

Critics say Obama is a Socialist, but Obama accepted the Newt Gingrich–Bob Dole–Heritage Foundation–Mitt Romney concept of health care, when he pushed for “ObamaCare”, which gives private insurance companies full control over health care when many Democrats and liberals and progressives really want “Medicare for all”.

Critics say Obama is anti capitalist, but Obama has tied himself to Wall Street much more than many Democrats and liberals and progressives wish he had, and the stock market is at an all time high, up about 250 percent from when he came in.

Critics say Obama is adding more to the national debt than anyone, forgetting he came in at the lowest point in 75 years, and that much of the new debt was an outgrowth of the disastrous George W. Bush economic policies that would have added the same to the national debt if John McCain and Mitt Romney had been elected President.

Critics say that Obama refused to work with the opposition party, but NO President EVER had such obstructionism as Barack Obama has had, and Republican Presidents, in particular, have found that opposition Democrats, while challenging them, NEVER promoted total lack of cooperation as the extremist right wing Republicans, led by the Tea Party Movement, have done over the past six years. Despite that, Obama has presided over a long list of accomplishments.

Critics blame Obama for the loss of seats in Congress in midterm elections, when ALL Presidents have faced that, except Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1934. Harry Truman in 1946, Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954, Bill Clinton in 1994, George W. Bush in 2006, and now, Barack Obama in 2014, have seen the opposition party gain control of both houses of Congress. Also, FDR in 1938, Truman in 1950, Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958, John F. Kennedy in 1962, Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966, Richard Nixon in 1970, Gerald Ford in 1974, Jimmy Carter in 1978, Ronald Reagan in 1982, George H. W. Bush in 1990, and Barack Obama in 2010 lost seats, and in the case of Obama, control of the House of Representatives.

These are just eight ways in which the critics of Obama are manipulating the truth and the facts, and despite all these attacks, Barack Obama stands tall and will look much better in history than his critics wish to concede!

Barack Obama In Line With Presidents Abraham Lincoln And Harry Truman! Profiles In Courage!

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President Barack Obama is in line with Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Harry Truman in his courageous use of executive orders, which were highly unpopular, but the right thing to do!

Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, despite his entire cabinet suggesting that he not do so, as it would cause great controversy. But Lincoln knew it was the right thing to do morally and ethically, and that politically, it would help to prevent Great Britain and France from recognizing the Confederate States of America, which would have caused war between the US and the two major European powers.

Truman knew that his executive order ending segregation in the armed forces and in Washington DC would rile up the Southern states, and cause his election campaign a lot of damage in the Old South, but he went ahead anyway, because it was the right thing to do, and politically, it made him a profile in courage. Despite losing four Southern states to the States Rights Presidential candidate, Governor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, Truman still staged an upset victory over Republican nominee Thomas E. Dewey. His actions against segregation cemented an African American alliance long term with the Democratic Party, and spurred the growth of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s.

Now, Barack Obama taking action on immigration reform, is taking a courageous action, vehemently opposed by Republicans and conservatives, but the right thing to do morally and ethically. The long term effect will be to cement the Hispanic-Latino-Asian alliance with the Democratic Party, and will insure that the Republicans will be marginalized, as the white population dwindles over time, and the elderly right wing majority will disappear over time.

Let us salute our President, as history judges Lincoln and Truman, for having done the right thing in the midst of massive assault and threats of retribution. This is what the Presidency is all about–principle, conviction, and courage!

Executive Orders On Immigration Common Since Eisenhower Under Every President!

Ronald 2 Comments

The major controversy over immigration reform is reaching a fever pitch, with President Obama ready to issue executive orders if Congress does not take action by the end of 2014.

The Senate passed a bipartisan immigration bill 68-32, but the House will not consider it due to Tea Party extremists, so Obama is ready to do what he feels is essential.

There is nothing illegal about the use of executive orders, whether for immigration or any other issue, as it is a common thread throughout American history.

Every President since Dwight D. Eisenhower has utilized executive orders on immigration without exception, and only now is there the threat of impeachment if Obama does the same!

So the answer is NOT to back off, but move forward and do it, and know that impeachment is possible without any justification, as it was with Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, but progress on immigration reform is essential NOW!

The President must NOT allow himself to be intimidated by the bullying of Republican leadership, and if they are crass enough to move to impeach him on that basis, they will suffer the repudiation of the American people, and make Obama a hero, much like occurred with Bill Clinton after his impeachment at the end of 1998.

So bring it on, Right Wing and Republicans! Show just what you are, and condemn your reputation in history!