Free Your Congressman from House Monarchy

Our republic dodged a bullet last week when, at the 11th hour, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced that he was removing himself from consideration for Speaker of the House. His surprise announcement came after John Boehner had assembled all GOP House members to elect his replacement.

Speaker Boehner, who is supposed to retire at the end of the month, had rushed this election to ensure that McCarthy, his chief lieutenant, would succeed him. However, when McCarthy bailed, Boehner asked for unanimous consent to postpone the vote. Before anyone could object, he dismissed the caucus, leaving the two remaining candidates in the race, Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Daniel Webster of FL, twisting in the wind. Continue reading “Free Your Congressman from House Monarchy” →

The Titanium Lady

In the last GOP debate, there is a reason that Jeb Bush, searching for a suitable woman to put on the $10 bill, came up with Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan’s British partner in the Cold War. It was Bush’s proximity to Carly Fiorina.

The former Hewlett Packard CEO just naturally causes one to think of Lady Thatcher who was the longest-serving British Prime Minister in the 20th century and the only woman to have attained that high office.

Some would say that Fiorina was channeling the ghost of Margaret Thatcher as she calmly laid out her vision for a United States that is capable of taking on Vladimer Putin, ISIS and the rest of the world if needed. Continue reading “The Titanium Lady” →

Why Donald Trump’s Star Is Rising (He’s Our Bernie Sanders)

Some are baffled that Donald Trump has ridden a sea of controversy to the top of the polls of GOP presidential candidates.

The same head-scratching is going on in Democrat circles over the irascible Bernie Sanders who is now within striking distance of their crown princess, Hillary Clinton. How could this aging socialist threaten the planned coordination of their queen?

These two men are as far apart on the political spectrum as any two candidates can be, but they do have one thing in common: bad hair. Is America really yearning for a fright wig or a comb-over?

That’s not it. Continue reading “Why Donald Trump’s Star Is Rising (He’s Our Bernie Sanders)” →

Ring in the New Year by Ringing out the old Budget

The time has come to put away the holiday decorations and prepare for the new year. It’s also time to deal with an old piece of business, the 2015 CRomnibus budget deal that was rammed down our throats at the 11th hour by an unholy trinity: John Boehner, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

The 1600+-page CRomnibus was passed much like ObamaCare, cloaked in secrecy until hours before the vote. Lawmakers were urged to “pass it” before they could” find out what was in it.”

The time has come to take a cold, hard look at this pig in a poke. Continue reading “Ring in the New Year by Ringing out the old Budget” →

The bad news? GOP’s same Spineless Leaders

So you think the fact that Republicans now control both houses of Congress there will be a rollback of Obama’s unpopular policies? Guess again.

If you hit the snooze button for another two years, there will be a lot of whining and gnashing of teeth, but nothing important will get done. Obamacare will still be the law of the land. We will still be spending more than we take in and our immigration laws will still be a joke.

But wait a minute. Isn’t this why the electorate gave the Republicans control of Congress? What about the millions that were spent on the ads Repubican candidates were running touting these very things? Aren’t these the very issues this election was supposed to be all about? Continue reading “The bad news? GOP’s same Spineless Leaders” →

Why I left the Democratic Party

Recently, I received an email from a former television colleague. I’ll call him Jack (not his real name). Jack lamented the recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, and invited me to read and post on his blog. It had been years since we’ve had any direct contact, but I have great respect for this man. Therefore, I went to Jack’s blog and began reading. It sickened me, so much so that I was, for one of the few times in my life, speechless.

It was one of the worst biased political rants I have ever seen.

It began with a personal story. As a young photographer, Jack covered a race riot in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., where he discovered that the local police chief had sent officers in blackface to stir up the rioters so he could crack down on them. After that, the “chief” ran for Congress as a Republican and won.

I don’t doubt Jack’s veracity. However, it was as if time has stood still for him. Therefore, he believes all Republicans (and tea party members and other conservative-leaning organizations like the Heritage Foundation) to be racist. Continue reading “Why I left the Democratic Party” →

The Lady Has Balls

In the race for the Iowa Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democrat Tom Harkin one candidate has balls, a lady. Those balls have propelled her into the lead in a crowded Republican primary and they just may be enough to take her all the way to Washington.

Make no mistake. I’m not talking about a transvestite. Those balls belong to Joni Ernst, a mother of three. They are not her own. They are the ones she bragged about taking from the pigs she castrated on her family’s farm in her first 30-second TV commercial. Continue reading “The Lady Has Balls” →

McConnell’s Ill-Timed “Fighting Words”

One thing coaches fear is a player with a loose tongue. He may say something derogatory about an opposing team that can be used to gin up the opposition on the eve of a big game. Over the years, these “fighting words” have inspired many weaker teams to prevail over stronger, cocky opponents.

Feeling his oats after a brief appearance before the Conservative Political Action Conference last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) committed such a faux pas during an interview with The New York Times which was published Saturday.

McConnell and two other Republican senators with questionable conservative credentials are facing strong Tea Party-backed challengers in their primaries this year. McConnell simply could not hide his disdain. “I think we are going to crush them everywhere,” he told the Times. “I don’t think they are going to have a single nominee anywhere in the country.” Continue reading “McConnell’s Ill-Timed “Fighting Words”” →

What the Polls are REALLY telling us about the Shutdown

Woe to the GOP! Beware of a government shutdown! You will be blamed and if you persist in challenging the president. You will lose control of the House of Representatives and kill any chance of regaining control of the Senate!

These “world will come to an end” warnings were issued by the Republican establishment and often repeated by timid GOP elected representatives who fear — above all else — being thrown out of office and having to get real jobs like the rest of us poor saps who pay their salaries.

Who can blame them?

In the USA they helped to create, jobs are hard to come by and even harder to maintain.

Now, the party establishment and their echo chorus in Congress are gleefully pointing to the latest Washington Post/ ABC News poll that shows that 74 percent of the American people are unhappy with the way they are handling these negotiations and saying, “I told you so!”

Not so fast. Continue reading “What the Polls are REALLY telling us about the Shutdown” →

Cruzing for a Bruising

Some things are worth fighting for. Ted Cruz believes that defunding Obamacare is one of those things and he is willing to use every means available to make that happen.

Some people say his 21-hour talkathon on the Senate floor was tantamount to trashing at windmills. I say he accomplished his purpose. He not only put that issue front and center, he exposed the leaders of his party as weak-kneed scaredy cats.

If you go into a fight you have to be willing to get your nose bloodied to win. Has Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell ever put up his dukes? He is too busy playing footsie with Democrat Leader Harry Reid to fight for anything.

Make no mistake: McConnell has the power to make Reid agree to allow a clean up-or- down vote on the Continuing Resolution passed by the House that would fund the government sans Obamacare by getting 41 Republicans to back a filibuster. However, the lily-livered McConnell and his lieutenant, John Cornyn, are working with Reid to strip the bill of that requirement. Continue reading “Cruzing for a Bruising” →