Tag Archives: GOP

Joe Biden, national news

Midterm result: Boring is good

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When he was campaigning for president in 2020, I wondered at the time whether Joe Biden could somehow find a way to make “boring” a more fashionable form of politics.

I believe the result of the 2022 midterm election suggests that well might be the case. President Biden, in the eyes of Democratic political strategists, simply turned to his legislative accomplishments and sold enough Americans in key states that it’s OK to plod along and produce legislation that benefits them.

The election result produced a stunning outcome. Democrats retained control of the Senate; their grip on the upper chamber might tighten just a bit if Sen. Raphael Warnock knocks off Herschel Walker in the Dec. 6 runoff in Georgia. A Warnock victory would give the Democrats a 51-49 majority, which I realize isn’t great, but it’s better than a 50-50 tie; it’s a damn sight better than turning the body over to the wacky GOP that adheres to nutjob notions that most Americans oppose.

One of the reasons I supported Biden’s election in 2020 was that he brought a steady hand to the executive branch of government. Lord knows we needed steadiness after the chaos brought by the previous four years.

Now, to be sure the president hasn’t been successful with every single effort he has undertaken. But with the help of a strong House speaker in Nancy Pelosi and a Democratically controlled Senate that at times seemed to wobble in its support of key legislation, the president has been able to notch some key victories.

Congress enacted legislation aimed at curbing gun violence; it has enacted infrastructure repair and renovation; it has approved legislation aimed at combatting climate change; the president sought and achieved legislation that curbs the cost of prescription drugs.

How President Biden helped Democrats avert a midterm disaster (msn.com)

And, yes, the annual budget deficit has shrunk, the nation has added millions of jobs, we are vaccinating more Americans daily against the COVID virus.

Do not tell me that the inflation we are enduring is President Biden’s fault exclusively. It is nothing of the sort. The inflation is a worldwide crisis that is being felt in rich countries and poor ones. It’s a result of the supply chain issue, the Ukraine War and other factors that no U.S. president can possibly hope to control.

Yep, boring is good. I believe the boring list of accomplishments that Joe Biden has rung up has given the nation an important political victory by staving off the so-called “red wave” that frightened millions of us.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Revenge on its way

We had better steel ourselves for what appears to be shaping up as the new Congress gets set to takes office in January.

Of particular concern is the House of Representatives, which will have slim Republican majority. What’s on tap? Vengeance, man!

House GOP leaders have made it clear they intend to go after Hunter Biden, his business interests and whether his father — the president of the United States — is somehow implicated in allegedly illegal activity.

Climate change? Gun violence? Roe v. Wade? War and peace? Forget about it!

No. The House GOP is sighting its weaponry on Hunter Biden. They are angry because Democrats managed to impeach the former POTUS twice, once for soliciting political help from a foreign government and once for inciting an insurrection. The second impeachment resulted in a Senate trial in which 57 out of 100 senators voted to convict, but it didn’t meet the two-thirds threshold required by the Constitution.

So, here comes the revenge.

You want good government? Or the search for common ground? Constructive legislation? Don’t make me laugh!

The MAGA wing of the GOP is positioned now to put maximum pressure on congressional leadership. They have shown zero reluctance to fight back when any opportunity presents itself … or when they can create their own opportunities.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Traitors don’t deserve pity … ever!

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the moron who represents Georgia’s 14th District in Congress, wants fellow Republicans to show “pity” for those who attacked our government on Jan. 6.

Pity? Yes! She believes the treasonous mob that sought to “Hang Mike Pence!” and capture and possibly execute House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are being treated unfairly by the government that is seeking justice against the mob that sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Marjorie Taylor Greene Pushes Republicans To Show Pity For Jan. 6 Rioters (msn.com)

Let that sink in for just a moment.

Greene is a member of the party that is about to take control of the House after the midterm election. She already had been stripped of committee assignments over her idiotic statements regarding the Holocaust. She now is trying to weasel her way back into the good graces of GOP leadership … by seeking “pity” for the traitors who stormed Capitol Hill on 1/6.

This individual is a disgrace to the government she abhors.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Lame-duck Congress needs to soar

One usually doesn’t expect much from lame ducks, whether they are politicians or the governing bodies in which they serve.

That is decidedly not the case involving the current Congress, which is now officially entering its lame-duck status. Those of us who are concerned about the status of good government and of congressional investigations into the effort to overturn a free and fair election are expecting a great deal out of this lame duck Congress.

I shall specify.

Republicans who are taking over leadership of the next Congress say they intend to investigate — get ready for it! — Hunter Biden’s business dealings. Yes, President Biden’s son is being targeted for investigation. What about inflation? What about the Ukraine War? What about climate change? Or gun violence? Hey, that’ll have to wait until the GOP finishes its probe into Hunter Biden’s business activity! What utter crap!

Then we have the 1/6 committee’s report. The House select panel is finishing up its own probe into Donald J. Trump’s effort to overturn the election that tossed him out of office. The committee led by Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., needs to get its findings on the record. House Republican leaders are all but certain to toss it aside once they assume power.

The House GOP’s slim majority apparently gives the nut job wing of the Republican caucus even more power. The MAGA/Big Liar cabal is going to lean hard on the presumptive speaker, Kevin McCarthy, to do its bidding. It will be fascinating in the extreme to see whether McCarthy resists their demands and gives the more establishment members of his caucus — not to mention the Democrats — more of his attention.

McCarthy has shown a cowardly tendency, sad to say, toward kowtowing to the nut jobs — starting with the Nut Job in Chief, one Donald John Trump. McCarthy stood on the floor immediately after the assault on the Capitol on 1/6 and declared that Trump was singularly responsible for inciting the assault on our government. Then he ventured to Mar-a-Lago, shook Trump’s hand and mugged for the cameras as if to tell the Insurrectionist in Chief, “Hey, it’s OK now. I was just kidding when I said those things. I’m with ya.”

Thus, the lame-duck Congress becomes important. Highly important, in fact.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

GOP to take over the House

Kevin McCarthy now appears likely to become the Man of the House … of Representatives when Congress convenes its new term in January.

Republican House candidates have secured the body’s 218th GOP seat, giving Republicans the gavel.

It’s not yet a cinch that McCarthy will succeed his fellow Californian, Nancy Pelosi, as speaker. The GOP’s underwhelming performance in the 2022 midterm election — which was supposed to produce a Republican tsunami that would sweep Democrats out of office — has brought plenty of recrimination to McCarthy.

McCarthy said he’ll seek the speakership. He will have a fight on his hands, not that I really care.

Whoever takes the speaker’s gavel from Pelosi will take command of what appears to be a razor-thin majority. The projections tell us the Rs will finish with 219 seats, compared to the Ds with 216. No wiggle room, man.

The red wave never materialized. The new Congress will be fun to watch … don’t you think?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald Trump

Trump jumps in again

Donald J. Trump today announced his intention to run for president a third time.

You’ll have to excuse me for refusing to push any panic buttons. He will not be elected POTUS in November 2024. He might not even be nominated by the Republican Party. Indeed, he might pull out of the race once the criminal indictments pour in.

He garnered fewer votes than Hillary Clinton in 2016 but was elected on the basis of the Electoral College victory he scored. I accept that he won. Trump collected 7 million fewer votes than Joe Biden in 2020 and lost his re-election. I embraced that outcome.

What happens now? Beats me.

I do know this: The ex-POTUS is going to make an ass of himself.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

Now … for a positive outlook on election

With all the reaction — replete with blame over who did something wrong during the midterm election — I want to take a moment or two to ponder the positive takeaways one can get from the balloting.

Democrats held off the Republican “red wave” by maintaining control of the Senate and, also importantly, by minimizing the Republican ascent to majority status in the House.

When the ballots are counted, it appears that the GOP will occupy 219 House seats, compared to 216 Democrats serving in the lower chamber. Republicans need 218 to win an outright majority. They got one more than the bare minimum.

Who deserves credit for Democrats’ stronger-than-expected showing? I suppose you can start with the abysmal quality of many GOP candidates. Some of them didn’t deserve to be nominated by their party, let alone elected to public office.

I am struck by the message that voters seemed to deliver, which is that they are weary of the conspiracy nonsense. Voters favored candidates who vowed to govern. They sought out the thoughtful candidates who promised to stop demonizing local election officials, individuals who work hard to ensure and protect the integrity of our electoral process.

The process does work. It’s not perfect. But it works. It did so again in the midterm election.

I won’t seek to assess which politicians benefited from this election. It’s easy, I suppose, to wonder whether the midterm result enhances President Biden’s chances at re-election. I won’t go there. One message, though, seems to have resonated with voters. It is that Joe Biden does not deserve blame for worldwide inflation.

If he were to shoulder that blame, then he should bask in the notion that inflation appears to be lessening. Then again, I won’t assign that credit to him, either. Global economics is far more complicated than many of the MAGA types would have you believe.

The election is over. The task now awaiting Democratic and Republican politicians alike is determining how they intend to govern with such narrow majorities in the Senate and the House. Remember that if Democrats secure 51 seats in the Senate and Republicans finish with 219 seats in the House, neither party has any room for mistakes.

Still, the midterm election ended with democracy having a good day at the polls.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Oz does what? Concedes?

Mehmet Oz did something that in another time wouldn’t be cause for comment. The here and now, though, prompts a brief response.

Oz lost his race for the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania to Democrat John Fetterman. What did Oz do? He conceded the race and called for unity!

Why is that worth a hats off? Because Oz had been endorsed by Donald J. Trump, but shied away from some of Trump’s more outrageous mantras, such as The Big Lie about voter fraud tainting the 2020 presidential election.

Oz, though, stayed on the high road. Fetterman defeated the Republican by about 5 percentage points. Unlike his political benefactor, Oz had the good taste and grace to do with losing candidates have done since the beginning of the republic. He conceded the contest to his opponent.

If only the Big Liar in Chief would follow that lead.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

This story needs to be told

The media are grossly underreporting a stunning result of the 2022 midterm election, which involves a Democrat flipping a GOP-held seat in the House of Representatives.

What’s more, this story takes place in a congressional district just across the Columbia River from my Portland, Ore., hometown. I now intend to give this story some of the attention it deserves.

U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler voted in 2021 to impeach Donald J. Trump after Trump incited the Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill. Beutler represents Washington state’s Third Congressional District, which includes Clark County, just across river from Portland.

Beutler also is a Republican. Her payback for voting to impeach the crooked POTUS was to face a GOP primary foe this year. Joe Kent, a MAGA-worshiping Trump sycophant defeated Beutler in the primary.

Oh, but wait! Then Kent, running for election in the midterm, got thumped out of office by Democrat Marie Gleusenkamp Perez.

Karma is wonderful … you know?

Washington’s Third Congressional District voters provided a stunning statement of disapproval of The Big Lie, of the Trump cult message of “fraud” that doesn’t exist.

It speaks as well as any individual House election result of just what drove voters to keep the Senate in Democratic hands and which could result in Democrats maintaining control of the House of Representatives. I acknowledge the latter event isn’t likely; but then again, they haven’t stopped counting the ballots in about 20 House districts.

The message to the MAGA lovers and the Big Liars out there ought to be crystal clear. The nation is weary of the conspiracy theories put forth by those who adhere to such nonsense.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

’22 midterm: so much to digest

I am still trying to grasp what in the world happened this week during the 2022 midterm election.

  • Democrats were supposed to be eviscerated by Republicans. It didn’t happen.
  • First-term presidents always suffer badly during midterm elections. President Biden reportedly can’t stop smiling.
  • Republicans have vowed revenge as payback for the two impeachments leveled against the most recent GOP president. Their razor-slim House majority might get in the way.

I dare not even begin to predict what the consequences of this startling election will mean for the cause of good government. The U.S. Senate appears set to remain in slightly stronger Democratic hands. The U.S. House will turn Republican, but the GOP margin is likely to make their majority virtually unworkable.

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy’s quest to become speaker might face some peril. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell could face ouster if enough Senate Republicans get their dander up over the Democrats’ stunning election result.

It just boggles my mind to consider what could have happened at the polls. The election deniers by and large got the boot. Many of the MAGA acolytes faced the same fate.

I won’t necessarily buy into the notion that Americans are happy with the state of the economy, although our nation’s economic health is far better than many partisan critics have described it.

It well might be that Americans are sick and tired of the dangerous rhetoric that comes from the MAGA/election deniers within the Republican Party. That message became the centerpiece of many Republican candidates for important offices, such as governor, members of Congress, secretaries of state.

Just maybe the American electorate said, “Enough is enough!”

If that is the case, then the cause of good government has received a much-needed and necessary boost. Not a bad outcome.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com