US House Of Representatives

The Suicide Of Newt Gingrich Equals The Suicide Of The Republican Party!

Ronald Leave a comment

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who just announced his candidacy six days ago, has already committed suicide in regards to his campaign for President, by what he said in his Sunday interview on Meet the Press.

Regarding Paul Ryan’s plan to wipe out Medicare as we know it in ten years, something all but four Republicans in the House of Representatives voted for, Gingrich said it was radical, and that a personal mandate for all, which he had supported, as most Republicans did in the 1990s, was essential.

In so stating, Gingrich was actually agreeing with the personal mandate aspect of Barack Obama’s Health Care plan, something which all Republicans have been railing against for the past two years.

By attacking the House GOP plan and backing a personal mandate, which actually makes total sense, Gingrich has destroyed his candidacy for President, not that he was seen as having a real chance, what with his constant controversial statements over the years and recently, and his private life, which certainly does not measure up to the family values enunciated by his party, no matter how hypocritical such assertions might be!

But the suicide of Newt Gingrich, and the insistence of the Republican Party that any candidate MUST be against the personal mandate and support the end of Medicare as we know it, is for sure the road to destruction of any chance the party has to win power in 2012!

The bitter reaction of voters in polls and at Town Halls against the Paul Ryan plan is causing an uproar that has shocked the party faithful, but the idea of supporting Gingrich in his statement that the personal mandate is being responsible–as much as having auto insurance–is totally unacceptable as party philosophy.

So the destruction of Gingrich will, ironically, cause the suicide of the Republican Party in the 2012 Presidential Election!

The Flaws In The Newt Gingrich Candidacy For President

Ronald Leave a comment

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is about to announce his candidacy for the Presidency, but he presents many flaws and shortcomings that make the success of his candidacy highly unlikely. They include the following:

1. Gingrich is seen after all these years as a Washington insider, not exactly appealing to many rank and file in the Republican Party.

2. His years in Congress, including his four years as Speaker, were highly controversial and added to the gridlock and turmoil that has become endemic now in America, making him far from the ideal person to try to unite the country.

3. His approach to issues and people is to “slash and burn”, to have the attitude of “take no prisoners”!

4. His private life with three marriages and two controversial divorces does not fit the image of “family values”.

5. Gingrich is highly intelligent and a dynamic speaker, but therefore has trouble relating to “average” Americans and their daily lives, after being a college professor and a person on the public payroll for so many years, who is best at stirring public debate without having any reasonable, mainstream solutions.

6. Gingrich has made reckless statements about President Obama and has seemed to accept the “Birther’ myth, making him lose credibility with independents.

7. We have only seen one Congressman go to the White House directly, James Garfield in 1880, and he was soon removed from office by assassination.

8. Gingrich has been out of public office, out of the public spotlight as a decision maker, for 14 years by 2012, an extremely long time to be on the sidelines, just making money as a media personality, but having no responsibility for public policy for so long a time.

Anyone taking odds on a President Gingrich should be aware that his chances of being the GOP nominee, and winning the Presidency, are extremely close to zero!

House Republicans Begin A Strategic Retreat On Medicare Portion Of Ryan Budget!

Ronald Leave a comment

The Republican Party may have committed a “Waterloo” on themselves by promoting the Paul Ryan plan to privatize Medicare over ten years, and taking a vote where all but four Republicans in the House of Representatives voted in favor of what has become a major controversy in House districts all over the nation during the Easter recess.

When Paul Ryan himself, Allan West in South Florida, and other GOP Congressmen witnessed massive assaults on them at Town Halls in their districts, it had a tremendous impact on them, putting some of them into panic mode.

So now House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia has indicated that the GOP will not push the change in the Medicare system until after the 2012 elections.

That is a warning sign of what can be expected if the American people are stupid or ignorant enough to elect a Republican House of Representatives and Senate and a Republican President in 2012.

The Republicans are biding their time, and hoping that corporate outlays in campaign spending and effective propaganda commercials can fool the people a second time!

The Democrats, led by Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, have made it clear that they will hammer home what the GOP wanted to do, and what it will certainly do if they gain complete control of the government. And one can be sure that Democratic National Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the South Florida Congresswoman, will be effective in pushing the issue as well!

There is no question of the need to reform Medicare, but not destroy it, as the GOP has wanted to do since it was first born over their opposition in 1965 under President Lyndon B. Johnson!

Is Unemployment The Priority Of The 112th Congress? Apparently Not!

Ronald Leave a comment

Considering that we have more unemployed people, over 15 million now, greater than ever in American history, one would think that the 112th Congress would be doing something about it.

However, any such thoughts have been shown to be just that, thoughts, as the Republican House of Representatives, led by Speaker John Boehner, is clearly unwilling to address the issue, certainly not with more spending to create public service jobs, even though there is clearly a need for infrastructure building and rebuilding.

If anything, the goal is to cut government spending, and to stop interference in state government budget crises, as President Obama attempted to do in the first two years of his administration, with a Democratic Congress.

The effects of the state budget crises all over America is to cause growing unemployment in public jobs, and the rhetoric is more toward ignoring the plight of millions of Americans, who are discovering that the GOP majority they created in the House of Representatives, plus the takeover of many Governorships by Republicans, is showing utter disregard of the unemployed and unfortunate among us.

It is likely that this 112th Congress will go down as the least productive since the time of Herbert Hoover, in regards to the reality that unemployed people are desperate, and the “99ers” are left without any income, in an economy that offers no hope of any change for many years, and for some of them, probably never!

Since the GOP controls the budget matters before it gets to the US Senate, any chance of Democrats or President Obama doing anything substantive for the unemployed, seems unlikely.

The only hope is that the nation will see how the Republicans simply don’t care about those less fortunate, and that these unemployed, plus many people fortunate to have a job, will react by throwing the Republicans out of control of the lower chamber in 2012!

Can The “Gang Of Six” In The Senate Promote A Solution To National Debt Crisis?

Ronald Leave a comment

In the midst of the national debt crisis, and the issue of the extension of the debt limit just around the corner, six US Senators, three Democrats and three Republicans, have been meeting for months trying to come up with a plan that can be accepted by both parties, and show the American people that the politicians in Washington can work together on an issue that is threatening the short term and long term stability of the economy.

The Democrats are Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, and Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota. The Republicans are Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, and Senator Michael Crapo of Idaho.

No matter what these six Senators come up with, it could fail in the Republican controlled House of Representatives, if the extremist Tea Party people refuse to budge on tax reform or tax increases on the wealthy and corporations, even by getting rid of tax loopholes and tax breaks.

It is clear there will have to be not only tax increases, as well as cuts in military spending, but also reforms of Medicare and Medicaid that will not destroy the system but modify it, and long range planning to change the full Social Security age and tax all income on Social Security, instead of the limit on contributions now in the law.

This is a time for politicians to do what needs to be done, without fear of losing their seats in future elections, and to take the philosophical view that they would rather do what is proper and sensible to do, than to bend to extremists who have no understanding of the need for change, and only want to promote their one sided, impractical, and dangerous views of the future of the nation, despite the realities of the urgency of action!

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Finally Throws Down The Gauntlet To Senate Republicans: Vote For The Paul Ryan Plan On Medicare!

Ronald Leave a comment

A moment of reckoning is coming for the 47 Senate Republicans, who have been railing against Barack Obama’s Health Care plan!

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has finally shown some “cajones”, by deciding that there should be a roll call vote on the Paul Ryan House plan to make Medicare a voucher system in ten years, which gained the backing of 235 House Republicans!

Ever since then, the House Republicans are discovering in Town Halls in their congressional districts that the citizens are furious with them, and Paul Ryan himself in his Wisconsin House district has been subjected to booing and jeers and verbal challenges to defend his plan!

It will be interesting to see if any of the Senate Republicans abandon the Ryan plan, but in any case, those who vote for it, including those who face re-election contests in 2012, will be taking a big gamble, as the tides are turning against them, as the American people realize that the GOP cares not a whit for the welfare of senior citizens, young people, the unemployed, the sick, the handicapped, minorities, or labor, but only for the advancement of unbridled capitalism and the welfare of the corporations and the elite wealthy, who have destroyed the middle class and have no limit in their greed and selfishness!

So go ahead, Senate Republicans, vote and show your true colors to the nation!

The Housing Crisis In America: Not Just Mortgages, But Rents!

Ronald Leave a comment

A lot has been heard and published about the mortgage crisis faced by millions of American homeowners, many of whom are being manipulated and deceived by the banks that hold their mortgages, when the homeowners are in trouble but are promised assistance that does not occur.

What has not been so recognized is the crisis that millions of renters also face. About one out of four renters, over 10 millions, are now paying half their pre -tax household income on rent and utilities, the highest percentage in a half century!

Rents are rising rapidly due to homeowners who have lost their homes, and to young people attempting to leave the nest of their parents, although many are actually returning home after being away at college for four or more years.

So housing rises to the top of the list of major problems, and this is not including those who are becoming homeless!

And in the midst of all this, what are the Republicans doing in Congress to deal with this crisis, as well as unemployment? NOTHING, as they would rather spend time talking about cutting Medicare, and their party prefers to dwell on the theory that Barack Obama was not born in the United States, as if that creates jobs or housing for the millions who are suffering in this nation!

Town Halls Turn Against Republican Budget Plan To Destroy Medicare As We Know It: A Reversal Of 2009-2010!

Ronald Leave a comment

In 2009-2010, the Obama Health Care plan received belligerent responses in many Town Halls for Democratic members of Congress, leading to much controversy and many confrontations!

Now, the tables have been turned, and Republican members of Congress are discovering in Town Halls that their constituents do NOT want Medicare destroyed, which the Republican budget plan of Congressman Paul Ryan represents!

The problem is that 235 Republicans in the House of Representatives just voted a week ago to adopt the Ryan plan, and as many predicted, it is becoming an albatross around the necks of the Republicans, and could lead to a massive switch in seats again, putting the Democrats in control of the House of Representatives after the 2012 election results are in!

What the Republicans refuse to recognize is that the American people, by large margins, including Independents, Republicans, and even Tea Party Movement people, want Medicare preserved as it is!

It is not just the senior citizens of this nation who like Medicare; it is also their children! And also, the seniors are not just selfish for themselves, but really feel strongly that their children and grandchildren should be entitled to the same excellent health care represented by Medicare!

Yes, Medicare is expensive and has cost overruns! But the answer is not to change Medicare into a voucher system which will victimize future senior citizens, but instead to TAX appropriately, as every other Western industrial nation does, so that EVERYONE is entitled to excellent health care in the long run, not just the short run!

And it is time to TAX the WEALTHY and the CORPORATIONS, both of which have a responsibility to all of us for their good fortune, and must play their role in promoting the best health care available!

Barack Obama, Paul Ryan, And The Fight Over Medicare’s Future!

Ronald Leave a comment

During this Easter-Passover break in the Congressional session, President Obama has been campaigning against the Paul Ryan Republican plan on the budget, particularly with the proposal to change Medicare over ten years to a voucher system.

Obama has said that such a change would be destructive and make it essential for seniors in the future to pay heavy extra costs for health care, as the vouchers would only pay about one third of the expenses.

Ryan has said that the voucher is the only way to save Medicare and promote a future balanced budget.

But Ryan has been gaining some unfriendly reactions, even in his own district in Wisconsin, and Obama has been seeing growing support in public opinion polls, against major changes in Medicare, even among Republicans, and even Tea Party people, as well as Independents!

It is clear that Americans want Medicare retained in its basic form, with some tinkering with it to cut costs!

After all, either an American is on Medicare; or nearing Medicare; or his or her parents or grandparents are on Medicare; or smartly realizes that one day they will be elderly and want the protection and the benefits of Medicare!

In any case, most Americans are willing to pay more to insure that the overwhelmingly popular Medicare enacted by Lyndon Johnson’s Administration survives into the long term!

So, the GOP should go ahead and promote privatization of Medicare, and the more Paul Ryan and other Republicans promote it, the more it helps the Democrats and Barack Obama!

The fact that 235 Republicans in the House of Representatives voted for the Ryan plan has the potential to destroy the GOP majority in the House in 2012. It could very well be the wedge that keeps Barack Obama in the Presidency, the Democrats in control of the US Senate, and help the Democrats gain the 25 or more votes needed to regain the House of Representatives!

So, Paul Ryan and the Republicans, keep on advocating the end of Medicare as we know it! Don’t stop; keep pushing it, and allow Democrats to salivate!

The Donald Trump Phenomenon: It Can Only Hurt The Republican Party And Help The Democrats!

Ronald 1 Comment

Real estate mogul Donald Trump is on a tear, exploiting the “Birther” conspiracy theory about Barack Obama, and he has now surged in some polls to a lead in the race for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2012.

Despite his multiple business bankruptcies, his three marriages, and his tendency to “shoot from the hip” with ridiculous and reckless statements and assertions over many years, Trump is suddenly taking all of the oxygen out of the air in the Republican Party.

Trump is becoming more ridiculous and even stupid as he marches on, now claiming, much like Congressman Ben Quayle of Arizona, son of former Vice President Dan Quayle, did in his campaign for Congress last year, that President Obama is the absolutely worst President in American history!

For Trump to make such a claim, and say Obama has now surpassed former President Jimmy Carter as the worst President ever, shows his absolute ignorance, as if he had studied history, he would well know that there is a long list of Presidents, mostly before and after Abraham Lincoln’s Presidency, that are FAR worse than either Carter or Obama! In fact, in the first estimate of Obama a year ago, he was rated in the top fifteen of the Presidents, while Carter was rated above at least twelve Presidents, putting him in the second tier of three rankings of the Presidents! And Carter seems certain to move up over time, not down to the bottom five or ten, as some like to state, which shows their total lack of knowledge and understanding of the history of the Presidency!

Also, when Trump was asked how many members there are of the House Of Representatives, he was annoyed and refused to answer, a sign that he did not know, putting him in the same camp as being stupid and ignorant as Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Santorum, all of whom have shown they have no clue about any facts or details of our nation’s history!

Why should Donald Trump be expected to know anything other than how to make money, fire people on his television show, and look for constant publicity, since, after all, he inherited his wealth, and has never known what it is to be an ordinary American, who has to worry constantly about staying above water economically?

Rather than study and know the issues, Donald Trump would rather talk about telling China off, seizing Iraq oil revenues, and create constant controversy with his loose mouth?

And get this: Trump is now threatening that if he does not win the GOP nomination for President, he might run as an Independent in the 2012 election, and that with spending up to $600 million of his own money, that he could win the White House! In other words, he would buy the job, much like Rick Scott did in Florida”s Governorship race!

But the difference is that the Electoral College, often much maligned, prevents such a possibility, and NEVER has and NEVER will an Independent be able to win the White House! Ross Perot spent $62 million of his fortune, received 19 percent of the vote, but won no electoral votes in 1992! And Theodore Roosevelt, the much beloved former President, ran as a Progressive in 1912, and won only six states and 27 percent of the votes, and 88 electoral votes, an all time high, but nowhere near winning the Presidency! And this was not just anyone, but rather Teddy Roosevelt!

So stay ignorant and stupid, Donald, and spend your money on your own ego, help the economy in so doing, get your publicity and attention that you constantly need, destroy the Republican Party which is doing a good job by itself in doing so by flirting with the Tea Party, and help Barack Obama, supposedly the worst President ever, to win reelection and continue his great leadership of the nation for another four years!