Tag Archives: AOC

national news

Why should we care what AOC thinks about … anything right now?

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made an appearance last night on late night TV and was asked by her host what she’ll do if Bernie Sanders is not the Democratic Party nominee for president of the United States.

I keep circling back to this question: Why does — or should — anyone care what a freshman member of Congress thinks about the status of the primary race for the most powerful and exalted public office in the United States?

AOC wants Sanders to be the next president. Fine. That’s her call.

However, I continue to be amazed beyond all reason as to why she keeps getting the attention she garners.

AOC needs to earn her spurs. She needs to enact some meaningful legislation. She needs to develop a record of accomplishment.

I wish her well. I think she’s got a bright future in politics.

She’s just too damn green to be taken seriously … at this moment!

national news

Now it’s a newbie GOP blowhard who gets all this attention

I have spent a bit of blog time and effort criticizing Democratic U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s instant fame in the House of Representatives. I have suggested she hasn’t earned all the attention she craves … and receives!

In fairness, I now shall blast a GOP blowhard who for the life of me I don’t understand how he gets all this publicity.

Step up, Matt Gaetz, a GOP congressman from Florida. He’s been in the House all of one term already; he is serving his second term.

But this is the clown who led that Republican assault on Capitol Hill this week that disrupted House committee hearings on the impeachment inquiry under way against Donald J. Trump.

Gaetz is a fanatic Trump supporter. He has attacked the “process” rather than defending Trump on the issues that are likely to result in his impeachment. Those issues deal with whether he violated his oath by seeking foreign government help for political purposes. Gaetz won’t say that Trump “would never do such a thing.” Oh, no. He’s attacking the alleged “secrecy” surrounding the closed-door hearings in the House.

The hearings will be made public. Probably soon at that. They are being held under rules established in 2015 by a Republican-run House, and signed by then-Speaker John Boehner; yep, he’s a Republican, too.

Now we have Gaetz showboating, prancing, preening and bellowing in public about so-called “sham” hearings.

This guy hasn’t earned his time in the spotlight any more than AOC has earned her time.

Settle down, young man. Rep. Gaetz, how about letting the process run its course as prescribed by the rules? 

national news, political news

How does a rookie congresswoman’s endorsement matter so much?

For the life of me I cannot come to grips with the notion that a presidential endorsement from a freshman member of Congress is somehow seen by many on the left as a “game changer” in the 2020 race for president of the United States.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders, the independent from Vermont who’s running in the Democratic primary.

Sigh …

Why does this matter at all?

The young woman known as AOC became a media star the moment she took office at the beginning of the year. She beat a longtime Democratic congressional heavyweight, Joseph Crowley, in the 2018 primary and then cruised to election in the heavily Democratic congressional district. She took office and immediately could be seen on damn near every media outlet in the country; even on Fox News, which has covered her every utterance, using it as fodder for its on-air critics of the self-proclaimed socialist.

I don’t have any particular animosity toward AOC, other than she has embraced a celebrity status that she hasn’t yet earned. Nor do I particularly care that she endorsed Sanders, the one-note samba candidate who peppers every response to every question with some reference to “income inequality.”

I actually want AOC to become a consequential public official. She has potential, but she hasn’t realized any of it just yet. The fact is that AOC needs a lot more congressional seasoning before I start to take anything she says with any sort of seriousness.

Maybe she’ll acquire the wisdom and seasoning she needs. Maybe she’ll emerge as a legislative champion, someone who puts her name on landmark bills that become the law of the land. Just maybe she will be able to present herself as one of the wise women of the U.S. House of Representatives.

At this moment, she is just another loudmouth rookie legislator who has managed to elbow her way to the center of the political stage. Trust me on this, too: She is far from being the only grandstander among the current crop of freshman congressmen and women, which is why I don’t take any of the others as seriously as I might when they obtain the wisdom I believe they will have earned.

So, she endorses Bernie Sanders for president? Pfftt.

local news

New congressman disappoints on racist tweet resolution

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I had the pleasure of meeting recently with my new congressman, Van Taylor, a Plano Republican.

I found him to be an earnest young man, a serious legislator, someone keenly interested in building bipartisan relationships with his Democratic colleagues.

That makes it all the more disappointing to know that the freshman lawmaker choked on a resolution condemning Donald Trump for his racist-sounding tweets involving four Democratic congresswomen, all people of color, all U.S. citizens … and all of whom Trump said should go back to their country of origin. Oh, wait! Three of them were born in the United States!

Taylor didn’t join the four Republican House members who decided to put country ahead of the president and his party. I just wish Rep. Taylor had acted more decisively on the danger being posed by a president who says the things he does about House members who disagree with him politically.

Trump’s Twitter tirade against Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar were clearly in my view dripping with racist intent. The House was correct to condemn the president for issuing them.

I just wanted there to be more of a bipartisan voice in that chorus of condemnation. I especially expected better of my congressman.

national news

Trump: It’s either support me or ‘hate’ for America

Donald Trump is quadrupling — maybe even quintupling — down on this hideous feud he has launched against four freshman members of the House of Representatives.

He told the four congresswomen that they could return to where they came from if they didn’t like the country they were elected to serve in Congress. Most Americans believe the Twitter tirade was racially/ethnically/religiously inspired. Three of the four congresswomen were born in the United States, making them every bit as American as Trump; the fourth came here as a pre-teenager from her native Somalia.

He is not letting up. Trump said Tuesday that the congresswomen “hate” the country. They “hate” American values and want to “destroy” the nation as we’ve known it.

Here is what I heard him suggest: Either you agree with me or you must hate the country.

This is utterly, profoundly, astonishingly ignorant. Donald Trump is suggesting that you either support him wholeheartedly or you want to turn the nation into some sort of socialist enclave.

Wow!

Donald Trump is accusing his critics of doing precisely what he did four years ago when he declared his candidacy for president.

Have the Trump legions been afflicted by acute amnesia? Do they not remember what this carnival barker said about President Obama? Do they not recall the intensely personal criticism he leveled not just at Obama, but also at President George W. Bush, President Clinton?

Indeed, this con artist ran a campaign based virtually exclusively on righting what he called the “stupidity” of previous presidents’ policies. Let’s not forget, too, that he did all this against the backdrop of his fomenting the lie that questioned President Obama’s birthright as a U.S. citizen.

So, for the president to say today that you’re either for him or against our nation is to imply that he, too, hated the country four years ago when he sought to be elected president.

I’ll say it once more: Donald Trump is unfit for the office he occupies.

national news

POTUS lays out his re-election strategy in stark terms

Voters should have no doubt — none whatsoever — about the strategy Donald J. Trump will employ as he seeks re-election as president of the United States.

It will be to talk only to his base and to say to rest of the country — the roughly 60 percent of us who detest this individual — you all may go straight to hell!

Trump fired off those hideous tweets about the four congresswoman, all of whom are women of color. He told them if they don’t like it in this country they are welcome to return to where they came from. Oh, wait! Three of them were born in the United States; the fourth emigrated here when she was 12 from Somalia. They’re all U.S. citizens.

Their sin! They disagree with Trump’s policies, which makes ’em America haters, in POTUS’s view. Indeed, on Tuesday he acknowledged that, too, saying that because they disagree with him that they hate the United States.

Hmm. Ponder that for a moment. Did that mean when Trump campaigning for president and he was calling out President Obama’s policies and the individuals who crafted them as “stupid” that he, too, “hated America”?

Trump laid down all his cards, though, when asked whether he should be alarmed that white supremacists are in league with his statements about the four House members. He said he doesn’t care about that because “a lot of Americans agree with me.”

There … you … go!

He will seek to energize his base of supporters, seek to demonize his foes. Trump will continue his Divide and Conquer Strategy in 2020, just as he was able to do successfully in 2016.

He justifies the racist Twitter tirade because many Americans agree with him. With that statement, he all but acknowledges that he has decided against expanding his base, that he will not reach out to other Americans, that he will do nothing unify a divided nation.

He will enrage Democrats, pander to Republicans. Oh, and look for him to seek to eke out the same kind of victory he got in ’16: forgoing the actual vote in favor of an Electoral College squeaker.

This guy needs to be kicked out of office. Impeachment might not work. The only plausible strategy likely will have to involve ballots.

national news

Racist tweets reveal chilling side of POTUS

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To critics of this blog who have challenged my assertions — along with those of others — that Donald Trump has posted “racist” tweets regarding four members of Congress, I want to respond with a question.

Would the president ever have dared to say such a thing had the congresswomen been of, say, western European heritage?

You know the answer. He would not have said such a thing. 

The four Democratic members of Congress, in case you’ve been hiding in a cave, are: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib.

They are in order, of Puerto Rican, Somali, African-American and Palestinian descent. Three of them were born in the United States; Rep. Omar was born in Somalia, but came here when she was 12 years of age.

They’re all U.S. citizens. They all are duly elected members of the House. They all are women of color.

Donald Trump’s tweets — that said they should return to their countries of origin — are soaked in racism. Do they confirm that Donald Trump is a racist? Well, you know the saying about whether the shoe fits … correct?

The president has just made history once again by dragging his high office into the gutter of racism. Yes, Donald Trump’s Twitter rants are racist to the core!

national news

Aren’t progressives allowed to ‘love’ the U.S., too?

I guess it’s all right for self-proclaimed conservatives to proclaim their love for the United States of America; everyone buys into it.

However, when a self-proclaimed socialist, a progressive politician does so, critics cast those proclamations into doubt; socialists cannot love this country, they declare, because they want to “destroy” it.

Donald Trump has gone to rhetorical war against four women who serve in the U.S. House. They’re all progressives. One of them is an avowed socialist. They’re all fighting back. They’re freshmen lawmakers, having just bee elected in 2018. They are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (the aforementioned socialist), Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar. Three of them were born in this country; Omar was born in Somalia but emigrated here when she was 12.

Trump said they all could return to the country of origin if they didn’t like it here.

AOC, though, spoke quite openly Monday of the “love” she feels toward this country and toward all Americans. Her statement flew right over the heads of those who weren’t about to listen to her.

How do we allow this to happen? How do we allow right-wing ideologues to get away with (a) proclaiming their love of country without qualification and (b) doubting left-wing ideologues’ proclamation love of country.

The president said the four women are free to leave if they “hate” this country. To be fair, he didn’t say they must leave, only that the door is open to them to depart if that was their desire.

It’s still a mindless comment, born of ignorance of the principle of dissent and discord under which the nation’s founding fathers crafted this republic.

These women do not “hate” this country, in my humble view. Their hatred is focused on the policies being espoused by the president of the United States. Specifically, they hate the separation of immigrant children from their parents and they damn sure hate the squalid conditions under which those children are being detained.

Demagogues such as Donald Trump, though, will have none of that. Instead, they level personal blasts at their foes and turn their words inside out.

national news

Trump digs in against accusation of racism

“If you’re not happy here, then you can leave.”

There you have it. That’s the view of the president of the United States of those who have the temerity to criticize government policy, who seek radical change, who believe the government needs to do a better job for all Americans.

Donald Trump has doubled down on his racist Twitter rant against four congresswoman who have been highly critical of the government.

They are Alexandrea Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanne Pressley and Rashida Tlaib. What do these women have in common? They are women “of color.” That’s it. Oh, they also are all U.S. citizens, three of whom were born in this country; the fourth congresswoman, Omar, is a naturalized citizen.

Trump said they all could return to where they came from and fix the problems there. That, I submit, is one more testament to the stupidity that the president exhibits with shocking regularity.

I’ll make one final point: This nation was founded by dissenters. Its very first constitutional amendment speaks directly to the rights of citizens to seek “redress” from their government.

Trump doesn’t get that. He needs to read the U.S. Constitution. He needs to come to grips with its meaning and the philosophy that led to its ratification as the governing framework for this great nation.

national news

Go back to … Sweden, Norway, the UK? Hah!

If we are going to be totally candid and honest, the Twitter tirade that Donald J. Trump let loose this weekend against four Democratic members of Congress reveals a nasty and sinister side of the president of the United States.

He told four women of color to return to “where they came from.” Three of the women were born in the United States of America; a fourth was born in Somalia but is a naturalized U.S. citizen.

We have just witnessed an evil side of one human being’s attitude toward individuals of certain ethnic or racial backgrounds. Indeed, have we ever heard folks say such things of those from, say, Scandinavia, or western Europe, or even from southern Europe?

No. This is the kind of blathering that flies out of the mouths of those who proclaim western European heritage. They aim such nonsense at those who, um, look differently than they do. Or, they might worship a non-Christian religious faith.

The four congresswomen are well-known to political junkies: Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandrea Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. They all have spoken out frequently and loudly. They apparently have gotten under the president’s skin.

So he lashed out via Twitter with that vile message about them return to “where they came from.”

There longer can be an “Is this it?” moment for Trump. One might think any one of dozens of hideous statements or insults would have doomed this individual’s political career. They didn’t. This one likely won’t, either. Why? Because the president has managed to redefine the standards of decency we normally have set for those who seek to represent us in government.

His political base, the only audience he seems to aim his remarks, will continue to slobber all over him. The rest of us will shake our heads in disgust.

So very sad.