Tag Archives: Steve Scalise

Scalise did what? Dropped out?

Occasionally these things happen under the strangest of circumstances.

Normally, I spend my evenings watching the news and seeking to stay current with policy events. This evening was different, as I was enjoying a nice dinner with a woman I had just met. So … what happens when I got home? I found out that Rep. Steve Scalise dropped out of the race for speaker of the U.S. House.

The decision merely sends the already chaotic Republican House caucus into even disarray. The MAGA wing of the GOP is now getting the kind of chaos and confusion that seemingly makes it fly.

The MAGA crowd got rid of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. They rallied behind Jim Jordan to be the next speaker. Scalise, though, emerged as the frontrunner to be the next in line. However, he didn’t have enough GOP votes to guarantee his election as speaker.

Now he’s dropping out of the contest altogether!

The MAGA minions are led by Donald Trump, who today said that Hezbollah is “bright” for considering whether to launch attacks on non-Arab conspirators. Trump also said HAMAS wouldn’t have attacked Israel had he been sitting in the Oval Office. Dude is out of his mind. He’s nuts. Crazy. Not to mention stupid as a sack of hammers.

So here we are. House Republicans still don’t have a candidate to run as speaker, giving more credence than ever that the GOP caucus — led by the MAGA morons — do not know how to govern.

Rep. Scalise is searching for forgiveness; he might find it

U.S. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise is on the hunt for forgiveness.

I hope he finds it. If he does and then accepts what happened to him as the act of a deranged individual, then he’ll likely be an even better man for it.

Scalise was gravely injured when a gunman opened fire on him and other Republican members of Congress who were practicing for a baseball game planned against Democrats.

The gunman was killed in a fire fight with capital police. Scalise, meanwhile, fought for his life. Happily, he is still recovering.

Scalise said he found additional strength while talking to the pastor of one of the predominantly African-American churches that were burned in Louisiana. He said the pastor imparted wisdom, saying that he — the pastor — had forgiven the individual who has been charged with torching  the churches out of hate.

The gunman who opened fire in Arlington, Va., in June 2017 at GOP House members also was filled with hate. According to The Hill: “I’ve never internally fully forgiven the shooter from the baseball shooting and it’s something I struggle with as a Catholic. I mean, part of my faith is forgiveness and I’m, I’m working to get there, and it was actually helpful to talk to him afterward about,” he continued. “And if we agreed to talk some more — I asked him if we could talk some more and he wants to so we’re going to do that.”

I wish Rep. Scalise well in his search for forgiveness. If he adopts it, I would consider him to be a better man than many of us.

Can this congressman promote Capitol Hill unity?

Steve Scalise is back at work.

His office is on Capitol Hill. He is a Republican member of Congress from Louisiana. Rep. Scalise also serves in a leadership position with the GOP caucus in the House of Representatives.

He has been away from the office for a while. You see, Scalise was nearly shot to death earlier this summer while practicing for a congressional baseball game along with his fellow Republican caucus teammates.

Scalise was rushed to the hospital. His condition became critical. His bullet wounds caused immense internal bleeding.

But now, thank goodness, he is recovering. He walks with crutches. He is unsteady on his feet. This past week, though, he walked onto the floor of the House to a thunderous ovation from a packed chamber of his colleagues.

And that brings me to the point of this blog post.

The tears of joy flowed across both sides of the partisan aisle. Democrats cried and cheered along with Republicans. Their friend and colleague was back. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, took the floor to proclaim her joy at Scalise’s return and credited jokingly that his “Italian heritage” — which Pelosi shares — enabled him to return to work after suffering such grievous wounds.

So, the question emerges: Was this bipartisan joyous welcome a harbinger of a potentially new era on Capitol Hill?

It might be said that such a “new era” would in fact be a return to an older time, when Ds and Rs got along after hours. They were just political adversaries, not enemies.

Scalise said on a “60 Minutes” episode broadcast tonight that he doesn’t believe Republicans and Democrats are that far apart on many key issues. He wouldn’t predict a return to a more civil atmosphere under the Capitol Dome, but he sounded mildly hopeful that his near-tragedy well might signal a return to the collegiality that’s been missing for far too long in Washington, D.C.

Can unity return?

Americans of all stripes should hail the recovery of Rep. Scalise. We all should welcome the tremendous affection demonstrated on the floor of the House when he made his dramatic return to work.

Let us hope it does signal a renewed spirit of unity.

This reaction to shooting is purely disgraceful

Just how poisonous is the political atmosphere in this country, just how toxic has it become? It has become so hideous that I am not entirely surprised to read a story that just came across my desk.

A Democrat from Nebraska has been booted from his party post for saying he is “glad” that Republican U.S. House of Representatives whip Steve Scalise was shot and wishes he were “dead.”

Hit the road, Phil Montag, who was recorded saying this about Scalise: “His whole job is to get people, convince Republicans to [expletive] kick people off [expletive] health care. I’m glad he got shot,” Montag said in the audio recording. “I wish he was [expletive] dead.”

Good grief, dude!

Montag said his comments were “taken out of context.” Really, fella?

Scalise, of course, was wounded the other day when a gunman opened fire on Republican congressmen who were practicing in Alexandria, Va., for a charity baseball game against congressional Democrats. He damn near died from his wounds, but happily is now expected to make a full recovery.

Montag reportedly told the Omaha World-Herald: “I did not call for the congressman’s death.” Umm, yeah, you did, buster. The recording has you saying it in plain English.

This is a disgraceful example of the very kind of thing that has infected the political atmosphere. This guy makes me sick.

Read the story here.

Wake up, Congress, to greater civility

Ted Cruz believes this past week’s shooting at a baseball practice that wounded several of his fellow Republicans should be a “wake up call” for members of Congress.

The Texas U.S. senator is right, of course. He almost seems to state the obvious, that the tenor and tone of current political discussion has been filled with too much poison.

Five people were hurt in Alexandria, Va., while practicing for Congress’ annual charity baseball game. The shooter was angry at Donald J. Trump and, apparently, at GOP U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, who was wounded by a rifle shot from the gunman. Scalise’s condition is improving and for that we all are grateful.

The gunman died in a shootout with police.

“We may disagree on whether the federal government should have a simple flat tax or a massively confiscatory federal income tax, but those differences should not lead to demonization, vilification and personal attacks,” Cruz said in remarks to supporters.

But that’s what we’ve been hearing. It goes back many years. It’s been a bipartisan mantra. Democrats and Republicans point at each other across the aisle on Capitol Hill and question each other’s motives for whatever it is they seek to accomplish.

Politics used to be a noble calling. That’s not the case these days. It has become a contact sport. Some suggest politics has turned into a blood sport.

The dips*** shooter in Alexandria exemplified the danger of letting our emotions get the better of us.

‘Madman’ to calm it down?

It doesn’t hurt as much as you might think to say something positive about someone who’s behaved quite repulsively for longer than I can remember.

Ted “Motor City Madman” Nugent, the fiery guitarist/rock singer known to spew hate, has decided to forgo his disgusting past.

The guy who once called Barack Obama a “subhuman mongrel” and referred to Hillary Clinton as a “worthless bitch” says the shooting this week that injured several people practicing for a congressional charity baseball game has forced him to rethink his ways.

He said he is going to eliminate the hate speech that has peppered many of his political remarks.

Nugent vows to be more respectful

This is another positive outcome from the shooting that injured GOP House whip Steve Scalise and four others. Scalise and his Republican colleagues were practicing for the game they played congressional Democrats when a gunman opened fire.

Nugent said: “At the tender age of 69, my wife has convinced me that I just can’t use those harsh terms. I cannot, and I will not.”

Perhaps the “Madman” has been part of a greater societal problem. Political adversaries have become enemies. The political venom has been spewed from both sides of the political aisle. Members of Congress — Republicans and Democrats — have spoken in the past two days of burying the raw animosity. I welcome that expressed change of heart, too.

So it is, then, that a musician with something of a political following of his own has weighed in with a vow of relative civility in the wake of a story that has dominated the headlines of late.

I hope it sticks.

There goes ‘unity’

That was a brief respite from the calls for “unity” in the wake of that terrible shooting in Alexandria, Va.

U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan and U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sat together and pledged to put bitterness aside. They sought to honor wounded colleague Steve Scalise, the GOP House whip.

Democrats and Republicans prayed together after their charity baseball game Thursday. They hugged each other. Democrats won the game and then gave the trophy to Scalise, who is recovering from his serious gunshot wound.

All is good, yes? Hardly.

Now comes the Republican in Chief, Donald J. Trump, who launched a Twitter tirade. He wonders why Hillary Clinton isn’t being investigated; he calls special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the president’s connection with Russian government officials a “witch hunt.” Indeed, he calls it the worst witch hunt in American political history.

And to think he did that while calling for “unity” in a recorded message delivered before the start of the charity baseball game.

Congressional shooting produces a glimmer of hope

It’s only a glimmer, a flicker, a slight flash of light.

It might not last past the first serious floor debate in either chamber of Congress. However, the two leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives are saying something about unity, about common good, about patriotism and love of country.

U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi today pledged to get the House to work more closely together, to set partisanship aside whenever possible. Their pledge came in the wake of that frightening shooting in Alexandria, in which House GOP whip Steve Scalise was injured critically by a gunman who wounded four others before being shot to death by Capital police officers.

A ‘kumbaya’ moment?

Dear reader, we have entered a dangerous time in American political history. The shooter reportedly was highly critical of Donald J. Trump; he also reportedly had some sort of hard feelings against Rep. Scalise, who appeared to be his primary target at that baseball practice field where Republican lawmakers were preparing for their annual charity game against Democratic colleagues.

As near as I can tell, this about the only good thing to come from this terrible event. I am praying, along with the rest of the nation, for the victims’ full recovery. Yes, the police responded with valor and gallantry; the lawmakers who rushed to Rep. Scalise’s aid also performed heroically.

I will await the outcome of Ryan and Pelosi’s pledge to work together, to put the bitterness aside, to argue civilly but maintain respect for each other’s side, their point of view … and appreciate the other’s love of country.

What a shame, though, that it took an even such as this to possibly make them reach this point.

Speaker rises to the need to calm an edgy nation

Paul Ryan has taken a lot of hits of late over some of his political missteps.

The speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, though, today delivered comments containing precisely the correct political tone in the wake of the shooting in Alexandria, Va., involving Republican members of Congress.

House GOP whip Steve Scalise was injured in the shooting. He will recover fully and the nation should be grateful for that — and for the recovery of the other individuals who were wounded.

“An attack on one is an attack on all of us,” Ryan said in a House floor speech. “We feel so deeply about the things we fight for and believe in. At times, our emotions can get the best of us,” he added.

Ryan also said, “I ask each of you to join me in resolving to come together…to lift each other up…and to show the country—show the world—that we are one House.”

The shooter is dead. The authorities are investigating what might have motivated him to apparently take aim at Scalise, who was standing at second base during a baseball practice, for crying out loud.

The political rhetoric of late has gotten extremely overheated, overblown and overstated by pols of all stripes, persuasions and philosophies. It well might be that the shooter’s actions this morning was a terrible result of that rhetoric.

Speaker Ryan has sought to calm his House colleagues. The president offered his own words of support and encouragement to the families of those who were wounded by the shooter.

Let us all calm down, take a deep breath and try to reflect on what we all have in common: the love of our country.

Mayhem pre-empts policy debate — for now

An incident involving the national pastime, a baseball game practice, has delivered us a reprieve from the partisan battles that have roiled Capitol Hill.

For the immediate future, Republicans and Democrats are speaking as members of a single political party.

Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise is injured from a gunshot wound inflicted by a shooter who opened fire on the GOP baseball practicing for a charity game scheduled for the weekend against the Democratic team; he is one of five victims wounded in this senseless act.

I don’t know about you, but I find it utterly incomprehensible that an act like this could occur in such a setting. Then again, this is 21st-century America in a time of terrible political division and rancor.

We don’t know whether politics motivated the shooter. Authorities haven’t yet established any kind of motive to what this individual did.

There is no little news to be gleaned from this event. One positive element is that Rep. Scalise and the other victims are going to make a full recovery from their wounds.

The other could be that it likely has spared us, if only for a limited time, from the angry political rhetoric that has produced such a toxic atmosphere in our nation’s capital.