Tag Archives: House GOP

national news

Why worry about Santos?

For the life of me I cannot fathom easily why I should give a damn about a freshman Republican congressman from New York.

But I kinda do give a damn! Here’s why.

George Santos has been indicted by the Department of Justice on a number of charges related the bucketload of lies Santos told while getting elected to Congress in 2022. They relate to mail fraud and campaign expenses.

Santos has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.

Whatever … here’s the deal about this serial liar.

He has become a top target of Democratic Party strategists looking to flip the House district back to their corner after Santos’s surprise victory in 2022.

Santos probably ought to just resign his seat and concentrate on defending himself in court. Were he to do that, it would reduce the GOP’s razor thin House majority even more, giving Speaker Kevin McCarthy even more reason to complain about sleepless nights.

Let me remind you, too, that McCarthy had to make a whole lot of concessions to the MAGA wing of his GOP caucus just to win election as speaker … on the 15th ballot.

Thus, it becomes important that George Santos be held accountable for (a) the lies he told to get elected and (b) the allegations that he misspent campaign money given to him by those who swallowed the baloney he served them.

I suppose I should mention, too, that even his Republican colleagues cannot stand him. Do you recall seeing anyone standing with this liar defending him for the deceitful campaign he waged?

I suppose one of the lessons all voters should take from this loser’s saga is to remain vigilant when someone talks about family members surviving the Holocaust or 9/11. Santos’s lies on those tragedies helped open the door to all the lies he told to win voters’ trust.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

GOP changes formula for fitness

What am I missing as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy doles out committee assignments for the 118th Congress?

Republican House members lost committee seats in the previous Congress for a number of legitimate reasons. Marjorie Taylor Greene likened COVID-19 mask mandates to the Holocaust; Paul Gosar thought it was funny to depict the murder of a Democratic colleague. Now the new speaker has decided to return them to key committee assignments. Oh, and then he seats a pathological liar, George Santos, on two key committees while he is under investigation by the House ethics panel for possible violations of House rules.

Then the speaker boots Democrats Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell off the House Intelligence Committee for — get this! — impeaching Donald J. Trump.

How can one set of hideous transgressions be reversed while dropping the hammer on Democrats simply for doing their constitutional duty?

I don’t get it.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Chaos in the House

I must admit to some joy in watching U.S. House Republicans stumble over themselves trying to nominate a speaker of their legislative body.

GOP leader Kevin McCarthy failed three times to get the required 218 votes to win election as speaker. He is being stymied by the right-wing nutjob caucus within the Republican conference. They think he’s too accommodating to Democrats. That makes me laugh out loud.

I don’t know who will emerge from the tumult in the House. It doesn’t matter too much to me at this point. My mind is occupied with more pressing concerns closer to home … such as the health challenge facing my bride.

I just had to take a moment to chuckle, snort and giggle at the sight of congressional Republicans try to find someone to lead the body.

Now I will turn back to the thing that matters more than anything else on Planet Earth: my bride’s well-being.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Why give these rookies so much attention?

Regular readers of this blog might remember when I took a then-rookie member of Congress to task for being so damn out front on every issue imaginable. She is a progressive Democrat from New York City: Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.

She was, well, everywhere. At once! She seemed to defy the laws of physics. She even became known as AOC and became the most visible member of a progressive team of congresswomen known as The Squad.

OK, she’s now in her second term, along with other members of The Squad.

She has given way to another brand of congressional newcomer. This latest batch comes from the other end of the spectrum. These are the right-wingers, adherents to that thing called QAnon.

President Biden recently referred to one of the leaders of the Class of 2020 gang of loudmouths as “What’s Her Name.” The representative from the 14th Congressional District of Georgia just couldn’t stand that kind of put-down. Hey, I thought it was so good, I am going to adopt as my own rule of referencing her in this blog.

From now until I decide otherwise, I’ll refer to this idiot as What’s Her Name. You’ll likely know to whom I am referring.

I guess in a way, Rep. What’s Her Name took a page from AOCS’s playbook two years earlier. Something comes up that gets the media’s attention? Rep. What’s Her Name shows up in front of a bank of microphones. She then spews whatever nonsense she can find. Reporters scribble their notes furiously. She gets all the attention in the world … none of which, I believe, she deserves.

There used to be an unwritten rule that suggested that House members or senators needed at least a term, or two, to earn any attention.

Hah! That rule, just like so many others, has been flushed away.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Tough to comprehend

I am likely to go to my grave never understanding how a politician can be heard threatening his colleagues over their conduct in the wake of a violent political insurrection can receive — allegedly — a standing ovation when he rises to speak to them in person.

So it was, reportedly, when U.S. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy spoke to his GOP colleagues today. It all comes after media reports — complete with audio recordings of McCarthy — of the pol’s indignation over the 1/6 riot that sought to subvert our democracy.

I mean, you can hear McCarthy talk angrily of his colleagues’ behavior during and immediately after the riot. Then he said something profoundly stupid to them.

He wasn’t talking “publicly” about them, only “privately,” and added that he wouldn’t ever say those things in public.

Why, the House Republican caucus members just stood and cheered their hero, who wants to be the next speaker of the House if his party takes control of Congress after the midterm election later this year.

Go fu**ing figure.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot

Will House GOP boss deny saying what we heard?

Politicians are known to be among humankind’s slipperiest subspecies, correct? That said, I am intrigued with how U.S. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy is going to slither his way out of what the whole country has heard him say about Donald Trump’s conduct during the 1/6 insurrection.

Hmm. How does this go?

Two New York Times reporters have stated that McCarthy said he would call Trump shortly after the 1/6 riot and urge him to resign from the presidency. McCarthy said the House would impeach him for inciting the riot and that the Senate very well could convict him.

OK so far?

Then McCarthy denied saying what was reported. His office issued a statement declaring the reporting to be false.

But wait! Then came the recording. We hear McCarthy’s voice telling Rep. Liz Cheney that he would urge Trump to quit. That was him on the recording, right? I know McCarthy’s voice when I hear it and it damn sure sounded just like him.

Where does this go? Good grief! I have no clue, other than it exposes McCarthy to be the lily-livered coward many of us have believed him to be. He excoriated Trump shortly after the insurrection, then flew to Florida after The Donald left office and had his picture taken with him hanging out in Trump’s glitzy resort/home.

McCarthy has his sights set on becoming the next speaker of the House, presuming the Republicans take control of the body after the midterm election. Therein might lie the biggest takeaway from this tumultuous development.

Do American voters really want a sniveling coward leading the House of Representatives? Is this what lies in store for the country once we count those ballots?

God help us!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

GOP House members join key panel

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

U.S. House of Representatives Republican leader Kevin McCarthy came through with the names of five of his GOP colleagues to serve on the select committee that is going to examine the Jan. 6 insurrection.

One word of advice now goes to the committee chairman, Democrat Bennie Thompson of Mississippi: Keep a tight leash around the neck of Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, one of the five GOP members McCarthy has selected.

Of course, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has veto power over any selections for the panel. If she decides to allow the loudmouth Jordan to serve, then it falls on Chairman Thompson to keep Jordan focused on the task at hand: finding the truth behind the riot that killed five people, injured dozens more, damaged the Capitol Building and sought to overturn the results of an election that chose President Biden over the GOP incumbent.

Jordan was one of the GOP caucus members, you will recall, who voted against certifying the election results. The dude is a loose cannon. He tends to come unhinged while defending his hero, POTUS No. 45. He also tends to badger witnesses, not allowing them the opportunity to respond to his hectoring.

Jordan is likely to object to using the term “insurrection” to describe what happened on Jan. 6. Except that’s precisely what it was. Chairman Thompson, don’t let Jordan get away with trying to change the subject or trying to persuade the nation that the mob of domestic terrorists were not intent on doing harm to officials who were doing their constitutional duty, which was to certify the results of the Electoral College tally.

The GOP congressional caucus wouldn’t go along with an independent commission. The House select committee is the next best step toward determining what happened, why it happened and seeking ways to prevent a recurrence.

This panel needs room to do its job. It must not tolerate diversions from some members of its ranks. Listen up, Jim Jordan: Listen with your ears for once … and not your mouth.

national news

Cheney for POTUS? Wow!

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The Liz Cheney soap opera is getting downright weird, man.

The congresswoman from Wyoming, who has just lost her job as House Republican caucus chair, has been asked whether she would run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024. Her answer: She said she will do anything to stop Donald Trump from getting the nomination.

“I’m very focused on making sure that our party becomes again a party that stands for truth and stands for fundamental principles that are conservative,” she said. “And I won’t let a former president or anybody else unravel the democracy.”

Well …

What do you think of that one?

Cheney won’t rule out running for president to stop Trump (msn.com)

Cheney lost her GOP congressional post because she voted to impeach Donald Trump after he incited the Jan. 6 insurrection. She hasn’t let up on the ex-POTUS. She calls him a threat to our democratic process.

She is correct about the danger Trump poses. The House GOP, though, is looking to populate its leadership roster with Donald Trump suck-ups. That ain’t Cheney.

Now she’s talking openly about running for POTUS?

Why, we’ll just have to stay tuned.

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Cheney vs. Stefanik? Weird, man

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I have done a little sniffing around about the individual who is likely to succeed U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney as the House Republican Conference chair.

Rep. Elise Stefanik is campaigning hard for the post among her GOP colleagues. She wants to be a leader among House Republicans. She has gotten the endorsement of the ex-POTUS, Donald Trump.

But … why?

Here’s what I have found out. Stefanik is not a mainstream or a Trump conservative. Her sole qualification for the job apparently is that she stuck up for Trump when he got himself in trouble over trying to seek political favors from a foreign government and then for inciting the insurrection.

A quick look at Stefanik’s still-scant congressional record reveals some interesting things.

Conservative political action groups rate her pro-Trump voting record at around 77 percent; Cheney’s is at about 92 percent. You want more? Let’s try these:

Stefanik voted against the Trump tax cut proposal in 2017; she voted in favor of the Equality Act that stood for greater rights for gay Americans; Stefanik opposed Trump’s decision to ban entry into the United States of people coming from certain Muslim countries; Stefanik was one of 14 Republicans to vote with all House Democrats to override Trump’s veto of a measure unwinding the latter’s declaration of a national emergency at the southern border.

Do you get where I’m going with this? She opposed Trump on several key Trump-supported initiatives. She was decidedly less conservative than Rep. Cheney.

Do you think for a nano-second that Donald Trump gives a rip about such mundane matters as, um, legislation and government policy? Hell no! All he wants is blind loyalty.

He isn’t getting it from Liz Cheney. Elise Stefanik has provided the requisite brown-nosing that the ex-POTUS demands.

A cult of personality? There you have it.

national news

GOP gone into the tank

(Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The congressional Republican caucus has gone straight into the tank. Consider a couple of notable examples.

One GOP House member, Matt Gaetz of Florida, has been accused of having sex with a girl and of taking part in an alleged sex trafficking ring. Where is the House GOP leadership on that matter? Silent, man. Nothing but crickets.

Another GOP House member, Liz Cheney of Wyoming, voted to impeach Donald Trump in January of this year after he incited the insurrection against the U.S. government. She has continued to criticize Trump. House leaders’ response to Cheney? They want to boot her out of the House GOP leadership.

Let’s see. Gaetz remains a loyal Trumpkin; Cheney stands for the Constitution. Gaetz gets a pass because he hangs with The Donald; Cheney faces punishment because she adheres to her sacred oath of office.

Fealty to Donald Trump, therefore, has become the Republican litmus test.

Astonishing.