Tag Archives: GOP

national news

Hoping that Democrats can flip Alabama U.S. Senate seat

State elections for the U.S. Senate have national implications.

The individuals elected to any of the 100 Senate seats get to vote on national laws that affect all Americans. Thus, I remain intensely interested in the race down yonder in Alabama. Indeed, my interest in that race is a good bit more than usual.

Republicans are running Roy Moore; Democrats are pitting Doug Jones against him. I want Jones to win. If I could vote in that race I most certainly would cast it for Jones.

Moore is not just a man accused of committing sexual abuse of underage children, he is a man of questionable political judgment at many levels. I’ve spoken already about him.

https://highplainsblogger.com/2017/09/roy-moore-would-bring-a-scary-element-to-u-s-senate/

I want to turn my attention here to Jones, who is hoping the state’s large African-American voting bloc can deliver the votes to him. Jones has plenty of leverage with black voters.

He is a former federal prosecutor who sent two men to prison for their role in the infamous and dastardly bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963 that killed four young African-American girls. He reopened the case and then prosecuted two Ku Klux Klansmen. They were convicted of the hideous crime and are now serving their time in prison.

Politico profiles Jones’s campaign

And yet, Donald Trump has said Jones is “weak on crime” while backing Moore’s “total denial” that he did anything wrong with the accusers who allege he made improper sexual advances toward them. The very idea that Donald Trump would have a single word to say about an accusation of sexual misconduct is laughable and disgraceful at the same time, given his own acknowledged behavior toward women.

Moore is a dangerous man to have helping shape federal legislation. Jones is much more of a mainstream candidate who understands the U.S. Constitution and grasps the founders’ goal of creating a secular government.

I hope Doug Jones can send Roy Moore packing.

national news, political news

Ronald Reagan would be aghast at GOP’s internal strife

I wasn’t a fan of President Ronald Reagan. I voted against him twice, in 1980 and 1984.

As the years have gone on and as I look back at the late president’s legacy, I am struck by one element of the manner in which he governed. He governed with a measure of good will toward his foes.

Yes, he could blister liberal Democrats with the best of ’em. He did so with a touch of humor. You’ve heard as well about his personal friendship with the late Democratic U.S. House Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill.

President Reagan also crafted what he called the “11th Commandment,” which was that “Republicans shall not speak ill of other Republicans.”

That “commandment” has been tossed into the crapper, onto the scrap heap, burned, torn to shreds. You name it, today’s Republican Party has abandoned the 11th Commandment with a vengeance.

Don’t misunderstand: I don’t have a particular interest in seeing Republicans lock arms, hug each other’s necks, sing from the same hymnal page. I’m just amazed as I watch GOP officials lambaste each other how irrelevant their idol’s admonition has become in today’s climate.

The most glaring and daring example of Republican cannibalism involves Roy Moore, the Alabama candidate for the U.S. Senate. He is accused of making improper advances on underage girls. Congressional GOP leaders want nothing to do with this guy. Moore in return as all but declared political war on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell; other senators are backing McConnell, with many — if not most — of them withdrawing their endorsement of Moore. They believe the accusers’ account of what Moore allegedly did.

What might the former president think of all this? What might President Reagan say to his fellow Republicans? Indeed, would the president stand with the Alabama candidate or would he choose to believe the man’s accusers?

This isn’t The Gipper’s Republican Party. Of that I am certain. Indeed, my strong hunch is that President Reagan’s affection for the likes of Speaker O’Neill might subject this once-beloved political figure to much of the intraparty condemnation he once banned.

national news, political news

RINOs take over congressional GOP

Republican Party “purists,” whoever they may be, must be furious with what the GOP majority in Congress has done.

Republicans who control both congressional chambers have just rammed through two versions of a tax cut that by many economists’ view is going to explode the federal budget deficit.

Therefore, congressional Republicans — virtually to a person — comprise Republicans In Name Only. They are the dreaded RINOs that purists keep condemning as closet big-spenders masquerading as members of the party of fiscal responsibility.

One Republican — lame-duck U.S. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee — managed to vote “no” on the Senate version of the tax cut. But he was the only one.

Now this monstrosity goes back to the House of Representatives, which will seek to reconcile its differences with the Senate version. Then they get to vote again on it.

After that? It goes to the Oval Office, where the president of the United States will sign it. He’ll boast about the “victory” he won. Donald Trump will take credit for enacting a bill about which he likely doesn’t know a thing.

Do you remember the time when Republicans used to blister Democrats for running up those huge deficits? As recently as the 2016 election, Republicans were pounding freely at Democratic President Barack Obama for overseeing a sharp growth in the national debt. But here’s the deal: Under the Obama presidency, the size of the annual deficit was decreasing almost every year; by the time President Obama left office, the annual budget deficit had been cut by about two-thirds from the amount he inherited when he took office in January 2009.

I guess those days are gone, along with any chance that Republicans and Democrats are going to find common ground on matters that affect all Americans.

As for the country’s budgetary future, it’s now in the hands of RINOs. When are the party purists going to start squawking?

Hello? Is there anyone out there?

business news, national news, political news

Where have the deficit hawks gone?

I always have thought that congressional Republicans were deficit “hawks,” officials who hated federal budget deficits and certainly derided those spendthrift Democrats for piling up the national debt.

Why, then, are GOP senators so intent on pushing a tax cut bill that will explode the annual deficit and add hundreds of billions of dollars to the debt?

A new non-partisan analysis indicates that the GOP tax plan will spur some limited economic growth, but it’s going to add $1 trillion to the deficit.

Here is part of what CNN is reporting:

The Joint Committee on Taxation, the Congressional scorekeeper for tax bills, estimates that the Senate tax bill could generate enough growth to create nearly $408 billion in new revenue over a decade. But even with that additional revenue, the bill would still add an estimated $1 trillion to deficits.  

JCT’s macroeconomic analysis — also known as a dynamic score — falls far short of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin oft-made claim that the tax cuts will pay for themselves.

There also doubts about whether the wealthiest Americans are going to pay more or less under the GOP-railroaded tax overhaul. Donald Trump keeps insisting it will “cost me a fortune … believe me.” Actually, I’ve discovered that whenever the president says “believe me” I need to discount the veracity of any point he is trying to make.

But if Republicans are so damn hawkish on budget deficits when Democratic presidents are seeking to boost the economy, shouldn’t they remain that way when their political brethren seek to do the same thing?

local news, political news, State news

Bad behavior claims another one

Now it’s Joe Barton who’s bailing out of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Barton is a Republican from Ennis who reportedly sent some nasty pictures of himself over Twitter while he was engaged in a relationship with a “mature, adult woman.” The scorn poured over him. Barton, the senior member of the Texas congressional delegation, hung tough for a little while.

Then he announced his retirement, effective at the end of his current term in 2018.

Barton had to go. His departure should not be a surprise to anyone. The mood across the country has revealed a diminishing tolerance for public officeholders’ lewd behavior. Barton, of course, was careful to explain that the recipient of the hideous pictures was engaged in a consensual relationship with him.

Fine, congressman. Hit the road, will ya?

Barton is just the latest in a long list of Texas lawmakers who are calling it quits. His announcement, to no one’s surprise, contains no mention of the trouble he brought onto himself.

Read more about Barton’s announcement here.

***

With the departure of the Texas congressional delegation’s dean, the longest-serving member from Texas is Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, who took office in January 1993.

And, hey, that means the Panhandle’s GOP House member, Mac Thornberry of Clarendon, who was sworn in just two years later, in January 1995, becomes the No. 2-ranked tenured member of the delegation.

I mention that only because Thornberry was elected in that 1994 Republican wave that ran on the Contract With America, a lengthy platform of government reforms that included term limits for members of the U.S. House and Senate. Thornberry has voted for term-limit amendments to the U.S. Constitution whenever they were presented to House members; they just haven’t gotten the votes needed to be referred to state legislatures for ratification.

And, no … he never made a personal pledge to bow out after three terms in the House.

I just thought I would bring it up because it seems oddly relevant.

national news

Chuck and Nancy no longer pals with Donald

Hey, I thought Donald Trump had made new friends in Congress.

Didn’t he once say he and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi were partners in an effort to actually get some legislation approved?

He called ’em Chuck and Nancy. He supposedly worked out an agreement with them to keep the government functioning until early December.

Now, though, the friendship is on the rocks. Surprised? Neither am I.

He said today that he didn’t see a deal in the making that would prevent a government shutdown. Chuck and Nancy were supposed to go to the White House to meet with Republican congressional leaders … and the president.

Then they backed out. They left their chairs empty at the White House conference room table.

Who’s to blame for the scuttling of this friendship? Who among them is the most stubborn? POTUS or Chuck and Nancy?

Here’s what needs to happen, though. The government funding measure is set to expire a week from this coming Friday. If the two sides don’t rekindle their friendship, then the feds are going to shut down the government.

This kind of brinkmanship is not why voters elect these people. It’s damn sure not why they sign on to “serve the public.”

Can’t they all be friends … again?

national news, political news

Alabama vote may tell us plenty about GOP

It’s difficult to overstate the national impact of a single state’s upcoming election to fill a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Two men, Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones, are vying for the chance to succeed Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who once represented Alabama in this Senate seat.

But, oh, that’s where the routineness of this election ends. It’s nothing of the sort. This election might tell the nation plenty about one of the nation’s two major parties.

Moore has been accused by several women of making improper sexual advances on them when they were underage girls. Yes, they are allegations. Nothing’s been proven. Moore denies doing what the women say he did.

But Moore’s denials aren’t going over well with Republican leaders in both chambers of Congress. GOP senators are turning their backs on Moore. They want nothing to do with him. They say they believe the women’s account of what Moore allegedly did.

Here, though, is the rub: The race is neck-and-neck in Alabama. Jones, a former federal prosecutor, has been unable — to date — to put any distance between himself and Moore.

I’ve chatted briefly via social media with a couple of journalism friends in Alabama. One of them, a university journalism professor in the northern part of the state, has indicated that Moore is ripe for defeat; the other, an opinion journalist in the southern part of Alabama, believes Moore’s evangelical Christian base is going to rally behind him and might be able to neutralize any bleeding of support from moderate GOP voters.

That is the biggest puzzle to me. The evangelical vote is standing by their guy, who’s been accused of sexually abusing children. Moore talks the talk of a religious zealot, and he well might be the real thing.

The message that comes from the election on Dec. 12 could tell the rest of the country one of two things. If Moore wins, the message might be that GOP voters devalue the moral content of their candidate as long as he is able to provide them political advantage in the halls of power. If Jones wins, the message might be that Republicans — in Alabama, at least — have had their bellyful candidates who talk the talk but who behave badly in the extreme.

Regular readers of this blog know how I hope this election turns out. Moore scared the crap out of me before the allegations came to light. He doesn’t respect the Constitution’s establishment of a secular government.

I also am willing to join congressional Republicans who say they believe the women’s accusations of sexual abuse.

If only Alabama voters are able to make the correct choice.

media news

GOP lawmaker is sorry … for this?

Anthony “Carlos Danger” Weiner apparently had a soul mate in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Weiner, a Democrat, is now serving prison time for “sexting” underage girls. But lo and behold! Check out this item regarding Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Barton from right here in Texas.

According to The Hill:

Barton’s acknowledgement that he appears in the photo emphasizes that the women he was involved with in the past, one of whom may have shared the photo, were above the age of consent and willing participants.

“Each was consensual. Those relationships have ended. I am sorry I did not use better judgment during those days. I am sorry that I let my constituents down,” he continued.

The photo in question is of Barton’s, um, penis. It has been distributed on the Internet.

Oh, Joe, Joe, Joe …

You know about Weiner. He used the nickname “Carlos Danger” while sharing pictures of himself via Twitter during an earlier scandal.

The most hilarious part of Barton’s mea culpa, though, is this: He references having affairs with “other mature adult women.”

Do you get why I think it’s funny? He said in a statement that he fooled around with “adult” women and not — as it has been alleged about GOP U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama — with underage girls, children.

Man, oh man. This social media stuff seems to get ’em all.

national news

Trump endorses an accused pedophile

Roy Moore is in league with Vladimir Putin.

That means they’re in league with Donald John Trump.

Follow this logic for just a moment:

* Several women have accused Moore, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Alabama of making improper sexual advances on them; the accusations have resonated with many political leaders, who say they believe the women and have abandoned Moore. Meanwhile, Moore denies doing what they allege he did.

* Intelligence experts in this country have concluded that Putin ordered the Russian government to hack into our electoral process during the 2016 presidential election, aiming to swing the election in Trump’s favor. Putin has denied doing it.

So, Moore’s denial and Putin’s denial have cinched it for the president.

Trump has said he believes Putin’s denial that Russia didn’t interfere with our election. Now he implies belief in Moore’s denial that he preyed on women when they were underage girls.

“He denies it. He totally denies it,” Trump said, noting the alleged incidents took place around 40 years ago. “Roy Moore denies it — that’s all I can say.”

‘We don’t need a Democrat’

The president said that Democratic candidate for the Senate seat, Doug Jones, is wrong on national security, on taxes, on immigration and on crime. Moore’s the man, according to Trump.

But … what if the allegations are proven to be true? Senate Republicans don’t need an y more persuading. They are running away from Moore as quickly as they can. Some GOP senators say they are throwing their support behind Jones, who hasn’t been accused of the kind of disgraceful behavior that Moore allegedly has done.

None other than the attorney general of the United States, Jeff Sessions, whose seat Moore and Jones are seeking to fill, has said he also believes the women!

This is sickening in the extreme.

national news, State news

Republicans are ‘eating their young’

The late Texas state Sen. Teel Bivins, in an entirely different context, once told me how Republicans occasionally were prone to “eat their young.”

So this form of political cannibalism appears to be occurring in the current election cycle. We’re seeing Republican officeholders making GOP primary endorsements, picking fellow Republicans over other fellow Republicans.

Donald John Trump endorsed U.S. Sen. Luther Strange in his primary contest against Roy Moore in Alabama. Moore ended up winning that primary and … um … it hasn’t worked out too well for the GOP. Moore has been accused of making improper sexual advances on underage girls. It’s getting ugly down yonder, man.

Closer to home, we have Texas Gov. Greg Abbott endorsing a Republican challenger to a GOP state representative. State Rep. Sarah Davis’s primary foe, Susanna Dokupil, has earned the governor’s endorsement.

As Ross Ramsey writes in the Texas Tribune, it is rare for Texas governors to endorse against incumbents; it’s even more rare for them to get involved in primaries of their own political party. Abbott has scored a two-fer with his endorsement in that particular legislative contest.

Abbott weighs in

And so it goes with the Republican Party’s war with itself.

U.S. senators are lining up against the president, who’s firing back at them. GOP Sens. Jeff Flake and Bob Corker are retiring from the Senate in 2019. They both have been highly critical of the president of their own party. Donald Trump has returned the fire with angry statements and a bit of petulant name-calling to boot.

Republicans in both congressional chambers have fought among themselves over how to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act. They’re now arguing over “tax reform” proposals that look good to one legislative chamber, but not nearly so good in the other one.

And, let’s not forget that the D.C. Republican establishment is gnashing its teeth over what to do if Roy Moore wins that U.S. Senate election in Alabama.

It’s no fun to be a Republican these days.

Especially if they’re about to be eaten.