Tag Archives: GOP

State news

Open borders? Where?

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott didn’t answer a direct question posed by ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz.

She prefaced the question by stating that President Biden never has said he favors “open borders.” The only people making that contention are Republican foes of the Democratic president. Gov. Abbott is one of them.

Is it the GOP mantra that is spawning the massive influx of migrants to our southern border? Raddatz asked Abbott that question directly, as it was broadcast this morning.

He didn’t answer it. He veered somewhere else with some rambling response about the chaos that will develop if a Donald Trump-era restriction is lifted.

C’mon, governor … aren’t Republican critics’ lies and demagoguery about an “open border” fueling this crisis?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Defamation, anyone?

Defaming a fellow public official’s good name is difficult to fight in a court of law, I suppose, which might explain why we haven’t seen many defamation lawsuits filed in this age of extreme political anger and vilification.

I mention this because of the hideous lie that U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, a Republican, said regarding fellow Rep. Katie Porter, a Democrat.

Jackson put a tweet out there that accused Porter of saying that pedophilia isn’t a crime. She didn’t say that. She said nothing of the sort. Porter said gays have been treated unfairly as pedophiles and “groomers.”

Has Jackson, the GOP rep who lives in Amarillo — the city I once called home — apologized to Porter? Hah! Nope.

That brings to mind the hideous statements that have flown from the pie holes of the QAnon/MAGA cabal of public officials. They have accused high-ranking Democrats of peddling children for sex. Yes, there have been lawsuits and the victims of that hideous epithet have won judgments.

Jackson needs to be slapped with a lawsuit for the constant barrage of moronic messages he has fired off via Twitter on any number of Democrats. The guy is a disgrace to the office he occupies and to the governing body where he serves.

What’s more, the overwhelming majority of Twitter messages that come from Jackson seek to denigrate those on the other side of the great divide. Any constructive notion, any positive comments about legislation he either authors or supports are not to be found.

All of this is my way of suggesting that those he denigrates — such as Rep. Porter — ought to ponder whether it’s wise to take this clown to court. To put words in someone’s mouth for the purpose of embarrassing her, as he did with Katie Porter, surely can be grounds for defamation.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Cheney’s credentials: They are impeccable

You aren’t about to read the final blog item I’ll ever post about Liz Cheney, but I feel moved to say this as she prepares to cast the most significant votes of her congressional career.

She is going to vote Monday — I am quite certain — in favor of referring criminal charges against Donald J. Trump for his role in the insurrection and assorted other crimes he committed.

Cheney, a congresswoman from Wyoming who lost her primary battle earlier this year to a Trump sycophant, has been accused of being a “traitor” to the party.

Hmm. I want to make this point one more time, with emphasis.

Cheney’s voting record during her years in Congress has been as staunchly Republican and conservative as anyone ever elected under the GOP banner.

She is staunchly pro-life on abortion; she has opposed legislation aimed at curbing gun violence, standing with the gun lobby every single time; she has been a small-government conservative, favoring tax cuts for businesses, even those that make billions of dollars for their owners; she has been tough on illegal immigration; she supported our war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Liz Cheney voted in favor of Trump’s legislative agenda more than 90% of the time!

She isn’t my type of legislator. However, she won the hearts of liberals and even a few moderate Republicans for the courage she has shown in standing firm for the Constitution and for opposing Trump’s blatant, illegal and immoral power grab.

The allegation of being a “traitor” comes from those who pledge their loyalty to a man and who — like their cult hero — ignored the oath of office they took to protect and defend the nation’s governing document.

I declare once more my admiration for Rep. Cheney for standing up for the rule of law. Would I vote for her for any public office? Uhh, probably not, but … I would if the only other opponent on any ballot was the man she wants to ensure “never gets close to the Oval Office ever again.”

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Boehner shows touch of grace

1 Comment

Just to let us know how things used to be in Washington, D.C., where Democrats and Republicans could say nice things about each out loud and in public, up stepped a former GOP House speaker to offer high praise to the individual who succeeded him.

John Boehner got misty while saluting the career of Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Boehner said he wished for his daughter to emulate Pelosi, who is stepping down as speaker in January as the Republicans prepare to take control of the House of Representatives. Imagine any of the MAGA morons doing such a thing.

It’s not yet clear who among the GOP lawmakers will succeed Pelosi. Suffice, though, to acknowledge that whoever it is likely won’t show nearly any of the grace and class that Boehner has shown.

You see, Boehner — who battled hard against President Obama’s agenda — is able to set aside partisan differences to honor the service and love of country shown by a political adversary.

To think as well that Boehner only stepped away from the speaker’s chair in 2015. In just seven years, the atmosphere in D.C. has gone from relatively clear to damn near toxic in the partisan vitriol that fills the air.

I should point out that in today’s world, the attack on Pelosi’s husband, Paul, by a deranged moron who was looking to do physical harm to the speaker, has actually drawn snide and snarky comments from some prominent Republicans.

Thanks, therefore, belong to former Speaker Boehner for demonstrating a needed touch of class.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Now will GOP reassess itself?

Mitt Romney’s loss to President Obama in the 2012 presidential election prompted the Republican Party to determine it needed a thorough examination of its future.

The party pledged to search its soul and look for ways to appeal to more Blacks, Hispanics, suburban women and other demographic groups known to be friendlier to Democrats.

I don’t know what the party came up with, but four years later it nominated a certifiable racist, sexual assailant, pathological liar as its presidential candidate. Donald Trump then won the 2016 election. The party since has taken many steps backward from where it was when Romney led the GOP.

I want the Republican Party to reassess its position these days as much as Republicans do … if only for different reasons.

I remain committed (more or less) to Democratic Party principles. I also want a return to honest debate pitting philosophies against each other. Today’s Republican Party is too enamored with The Big Lie, with MAGA demagoguery and with fealty to Donald Trump.

Furthermore, I want to state for the record once again that Trump entered politics in 2016 without spending a moment of his disgusting life working to improve people’s lives. Even after serving a term as president, public service remains an unknown concept to Trump.

I would welcome a return to honest and vigorous debate. I relish a good fight between politicians with serious policy disagreements. We aren’t getting that quality of discourse now. Instead, as we just witnessed, we saw a stable of Republicans defeated because they had earned the anointment of the twice-impeached former POTUS, who backed them because they swilled the Big Lie Kool-Aid.

We can do better than that.

Mitt Romney’s narrow loss a decade ago should have taught Republicans a valuable lesson. It didn’t. Maybe now the GOP will heed the message that voters are telling them.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Election over … get busy

I find no need to look back on the 2022 midterm election, which came to a wonderful end with the re-election this week of Raphael Warnock to the U.S. Senate.

Warnock’s victory extends by just a tiny bit Democrats’ majority in the Senate, enabling that body now to proceed with some important business on our behalf. I have said all I intend to say about the (lack of) quality in Sen. Warnock’s Republican opponent … except to speculate whether Herschel Walker will return to his mansion in Texas and consider running for politics here. God forbid …

What’s ahead for the Senate? Lots of business that Democrats can do — hopefully with Republican help. But with a 51-49 majority, Democrats now can lose one of their members to the other side and still have Vice President Harris waiting in the wings to break a tie. The good news for Democrats? It’s no longer as urgent a fallback position.

The Senate now can proceed with filling federal judicial vacancies. President Biden has nominated judges for these vacancies, but the Senate had been hamstrung by GOP obstructionists. They need to be filled. It is with great pleasure I acknowledge that the House of Representatives, with its slim GOP majority, has no voice on that matter.

To be sure, the Senate cannot act on its own without some assistance from the House. There needs to be legislation to codify women’s reproductive rights that the Supreme Court stripped away when it trashed the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. Congress should seek legislation to make it even more difficult for lunatics to purchase firearms.

To be sure, the next Senate is going to have more election deniers among the ranks of senators. Two of them won election in Ohio and North Carolina. However, with Democrats’ position strengthened, the Big Lie believers can be silenced more readily.

The 2024 campaign for president is likely to commence soon. Joe Biden is sounding more like a candidate for re-election. Only heaven knows how many Republicans will step forward to seek their party’s nomination. That’s all well and good.

I am ready for a political breather.

Thus, I also am ready to watch the 118th Congress takes its oath and get to work.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Warnock wins! I can breathe now

1 Comment

OK. There will be plenty to say in the days to come about what the nation has just witnessed in Georgia.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock has been re-elected to a new six-year term. It was a nail-biter. Frankly, I did not believe Sen. Warnock would have this kind of difficulty securing his victory over Republican Herschel Walker.

But … he did.

What I am going to try to assess over the immediate term is how in the world Walker held up as a serious candidate for the Senate.

I am shaking my head at the prospect that Walker actually could win this race. I am delighted, though, to know that Sen. Walker is returning to his post in the Senate. He is a good man who — as he pointed out during his campaign — actually “knows what he is doing.”

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Day of reckoning for GOP?

There should be no doubt about it, that the Republican Party’s hierarchy needs to stage a “come to Jesus” meeting on an issue involving the titular head of the party … the immediate past president of the United States.

Donald J. Trump has all but declared war on the Constitution, the document he once swore to defend and protect. He now believes that it is time to “suspend” the cherished governing document so that he can be reinstalled as POTUS.

So far —and it’s still early in this game of political chicken — too many Republican honchos have remained silent on this utterly frightening call from the former POTUS. There has been hardly any direct condemnation of this kind of rhetoric. Indeed, when pressed Sunday on the “This Week” TV news show, GOP Rep. Dave Joyce said he could support Trump if he is the party’s nominee for president in 2024. ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos pressed the congressman several times to disavow and condemn the language that came from Trump; he refused. Simply astonishing!

This is an unacceptable world view. To say out loud that it is time to suspend the Constitution is so beyond the pale it defies any sort of logic or reason.

Is there a chance on this good Earth that Trump will succeed? Not a chance! This idiocy, though, does fan the embers of those who continue to believe The Big Lie about the 2020 presidential election and it keeps alive the moronic view that Trump actually won an election that he lost.

Donald Trump needs to be chopped down and tossed into the political trash heap. The only viable means to ensure he is silenced is for the Republican Party leadership to condemn him — by name! — and turn its back on the trash he continues to sputter.

One obstacle stands in the way. It is the collective cowardice of those who purport to cherish the Constitution.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

 

national news, political news

What is wrong with Rs?

For as long as I can remember I have shied away from lambasting those who adhere to a political party’s ideology or follow its guidance over the cliff … just because party leaders tell ‘em to do it.

I can’t remain silent now as the Georgia runoff for the U.S. Senate approaches. My question is this: What in the world is wrong with Georgia Republicans who continue to stand behind the moron masquerading as a candidate for the Senate seat held by Democrat Raphael Warnock?

Herschel Walker is without question the most unfit, unqualified individual to run for the Senate in the past century. Hell, maybe ever!

And yet … we see political polls showing the race still in the neck-and-neck category.

My goodness! The list of disqualifiers for Walker is approaching the list that accompanies Donald J. Trump.

He preaches a strong anti-abortion stance, but has been accused by at least two women of forcing them to abort babies conceived by Walker himself. He stands as a “family guy,” but has nothing to do with many of the children he brought into this world. Walker claimed a tax exemption in Texas that goes to “primary residents” of this state … but he’s running for political office in Georgia. Walker recently spent several minutes on the stump mumbling nonsense about whether it’s better to be a vampire or a werewolf. Finally, Walker cannot speak with any semblance of intelligence about any serious policy matter.

Yet he continues to run close to Sen. Warnock.

This phenomenon makes me wonder out loud what I have kept to myself for virtually my entire adult life: Are grassroots Republican voters really that stupid?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

McCarthy is no Pelosi

Having declared my faint hope that the cowardly U.S. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy will find the courage to stand up to the MAGA cabal within his congressional caucus, I want to offer a brief comparison to the woman he hopes to succeed as speaker of the House.

McCarthy will march to the MAGA cadence, I am quite sure. The current speaker, McCarthy’s fellow Californian Nancy Pelosi, also felt pressure from her progressive House members. They wanted her to impeach Donald Trump far sooner than she eventually did.

Pelosi stood firm against the likes of The Squad and other ultra-progressives. She, in effect, told them to pipe down and let her lead the House as she saw fit.

Pelosi eventually announced the impeachment inquiry after the then-president sought a political favor from the Ukraine president, seeking him to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. The speaker was not going to be pushed into acting prematurely.

Will the man who wants to be speaker show the same courage?

I am trying to stop snickering at the notion.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com