Filibuster Rules Change?

Chuckles Schumer realizes he’s in a terrible position. Having just 50 Democrats in the US Senate is like having 10. They really can’t do anything without the Vice President coming along for the ride. And trust me, Schumer realizes that unless you can convince the Senate Parliamentarian that you can use the “budget reconciliation” measure to pass something with only 51 votes, you’re doomed.

Chuckles Schumer is doomed.

So, in typical Democrat style, if they can’t win, they cheat. If they can’t cheat, they change the rules. And that’s the position that Schumer finds himself in today. He can’t win when it comes to what he feels is the most important legislation he’ll deal with this year, which is his voter “rights” legislation. It’s designed to make sure no Democrat anywhere in the country ever loses another election. And it has nothing to do with the budget, so according to the filibuster rules, he needs 60 votes to get it passed. And therein lies the rub.

So, Schumer wants to get rid of the filibuster. Maybe not altogether (though he’d love that), but on this ONE item. Then he could insure that his party could always win their elections because it would make it impossible for Republicans to compete. It’s the ultimate stab. He’s got a problem or two however. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) are standing in the way. He still would need 50 votes, plus K-baby Harris to get rid of the filibuster. And he doesn’t have the votes to do that. Manchin has said that the talk has been to do a “carve out”, which is basically an exception to the rule. He’s not in favor of that either.

IF (and it’s a pretty big if) the Democrats are able to finagle the rules to get the filibuster rule changed, they’d be able to get the voting rights issue passed. And that is their ultimate goal prior to the November elections, because it’s the only way they see of keeping Congress under Democrat control. And there is another rub they aren’t seeing.

Let’s call that the Harry Reid Rule.

See, Reid is the guy that decided back when Bobo Obama was president that he was going to have to allow only 51 votes to approve confirmations of everyone except Supreme Court Justices. That meant Bobo could pack the courts. And he did. But what Reid didn’t count on was losing the Senate to Republicans and then they could add to that rule, or should I say take away from that rule. Rather than making 60 votes confirming Supreme Court nominees, they included that in the Reid Rule. Now it only takes 51 votes to confirm a Supreme Court nominee. What helped Reid out in the short term, has allowed the Supreme Court to swing to a 6-3 conservative court. And it allowed Donald Trump to appoint 261 federal judges (in several different courts). By contrast though, Obama appointed 349 federal judges in his eight years.

So, my theory is that if the Democrats are able to somehow change or suspend the rules for the filibuster for their voting rights act, it’s going to be problematic for them when the Republicans take charge again (and they will). First of all, the law will be challenged, and it will have to go to the Supreme Court eventually. It will be found unconstitutional, and voided. But second, it will allow the Republicans to make further inroads and further tear up the Senate. Did the Dems learn their lesson with Harry Reid? All they are doing is causing a short term victory that will at some point be overturned by the Supreme Court.

The best way for the Dems to move forward is to try and play fair. If you can’t do that, you lose. It’s about the only thing that makes any sense. Of course, Democrats don’t make much sense!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Why Jan 6 Is So Important To Dems

You remember one year ago today, right? Thousands of people (they say 5,000) stormed the Capitol in Washington, DC (they called it an “insurrection”), in hopes of stopping the Congress from accepting the Electoral College’s vote naming Joe Biden as president. The reason was simple. These folks felt the election had been stolen from them. Whether they were right or wrong for feeling that way (some places there was indeed a lot of evidence, others, like Arizona turned out not to be as true), they felt they needed to protest. Democrats are currently having a field day today on Capitol Hill…because they call this an attempt to overthrow the government.

That is a lie.

It wasn’t an attempt to overthrow the government. That would require weaponry, and lots of it. I didn’t see any of the masses in the Capitol carrying guns. But the Dems want to portray that because it follows Rahm Emanuel’s quote, “Never let a crisis go to waste”. If they can get people to think that the Republicans, and most especially Donald Trump had something to do in orchestrating that protest, maybe just maybe they can sway enough voters to allow them to stay in power after this year.

Joe Biden is going to speak today on this. He is going to say that Donald Trump had a responsibility that he failed to uphold. Well, I got news for “Brandon”. Joe Biden has had a responsibility for the last year that he has yet to uphold. It includes an economy in shambles, inflation going through the roof, unemployment with over nine million jobs available, a southern border as porous as Swiss cheese, a botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, where by the way, thousands of US citizens and Afghans who helped us over the past two decades are still there stranded and hiding from the Taliban. And Joe, you’re going to hold up a total train wreck of a first year against what you perceive to be a presidential responsibility to control a mob of people?

If that’s the case, then let me ask the question…where were you when they were rioting in Seattle, and Portland, and Chicago, and New York, and Los Angeles, and San Francisco? Where were you when all of the smash and grab robberies were taking place? Where were you when Chicago had over 700 murders this past year? Where were you when a Governor from your party killed thousands of senior citizens in nursing homes by exposing them to COVID? Are you calling yourself a responsible president? I’m not seeing anything.

If Donald Trump WAS responsible (and I’m not saying he was) for the protest one year ago, it pales in comparison to the total lack of responsibility that the Joe Biden administration has displayed to the world. Stumbling press conferences, falling asleep at world-wide televised events, bone-head decisions that the world shakes their head and laughs at. Are these the “responsible” actions of a good leader? Or are these just the ramblings of a doddering old fool who demonstrated too early on that he’s over his head and exemplifying the Peter Principle entirely?

I don’t expect Joe to answer this. He doesn’t. He mumbles something under his breath and turns his back to reporters who are asking legitimate questions. And these aren’t the Fox News and Newsmax folks either. These are reporters from CNN, and MSNBC, and CBS, ABC, NBC, and NPR. These are reporters that write damning articles in the New York Times, and the Washington Post. Even the liberal mainstream snowflake media has taken notice of Biden’s incompetence and is calling him out on it. So when, Mr. President, are you or Jen “Circle Back” Psaki going to address it? My guess is you’ll go find a basement somewhere to hide in.

You can stay there for all I care.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

But Can He Win?

There has been a lot of speculation on whether Donald Trump will actually try for the White House again in 2024. He says he knows the answer, but isn’t ready to divulge it to people outside his most inner circle just yet. Fair enough. But there should be a bigger question looming out there.

Can he actually win the White House again?

Quinnipiac, admittedly a very liberal polling outfit asked the question most recently in October. It had been about five months since they had polled that particular question. In May, some 65% of Republicans wanted Trump to run. In October, that number had ballooned to 78%. 94% of Democrats and a whopping 58% of independents want Trump to keep playing golf in Florida.

Now, the question still remains. If Trump were to actually run in 2024, and he’s got basically six to nine months to publicly announce, can he actually win.

Based on the numbers I just shared with you, the answer is no.

If you were to add together all of the numbers from 78% of Republicans wanting him, some 6% of Democrats going along for the ride, and 42% of independents on his side, he is going to lose. Earlier last year, there was a poll that pitted Biden against Trump. I was surprised when I saw Biden actually up 46 to 45% in that poll, well within the margin of error. It was closer than the 2020 election, and it should be based on the abysmal job Biden has done in year one of his presidency, but showing Biden actually winning? That poll came from the Wall Street Journal. But a quick check of all of the polls done in December showed that Trump would indeed win, though the margin is incredibly small against Biden. Trump has no problem against Harris.

Harvard-Harris has Trump beating Biden by 3 points, and Harris by 9. Insider Advantage did a poll just before Christmas that had Trump up 49-41% over Biden (Harris wasn’t included). That could have had something to do with miserable supply chain situations just before Christmas! Either way, it’s probably a LOT closer than most Republicans would have liked.

The thing you have to actually gauge here that the polls don’t tell you on the face is, how excited is each side to go out and vote for either Biden or Trump. My hunch is the Republicans would be a LOT more excited to vote for Trump, even if they aren’t the biggest supporter of him. And I can’t believe that with upper echelons of the Democrat party searching to see if there is someone better than Biden to run in 2024, that the base is all that excited about Sleepy Joe. When you’re consistently getting approval numbers in the mid 30’s, it’s not good news.

I think it becomes a “lesser of two evils” situation once again. Back in 2020, America knew what they were getting with Trump, and had pretty much forgotten what they could have with Biden, even though the clues were very evident. They went with the devil they didn’t know, and we’re all paying for it now. In 2024, is America ready to change back and reelect Trump, and for only the second time in history, make him a non-consecutive two term president (Grover Cleveland being the other one with Benjamin Harris sandwiched in there). The odds are probably pretty good at that. Either way, it is going to be a horse race, and I think a lot of it comes down to whether Biden is able to actually look and act presidential and stop wondering where he is all of the time. No one wants a president that needs to be reminded what day it is!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Is Harris The Next Agnew?

Anybody out there old enough to remember Spiro T. Agnew? He was Richard Nixon’s Vice President…well, he WAS until he ran into some legal issues. Apparently accepting bribes isn’t a way to be the best you can be. And in an effort to avoid going to jail for the rest of his life, Agnew had to resign as Vice President as part of his deal to avoid prison. He ended up with three years probation and a $10,000 fine.

Now the question is out there…is K-baby Harris the next Spiro Agnew? Not that she’s been out taking bribes, I don’t think she’s that smart. But could she be the very next Vice President to resign? Including Agnew, it’s only happened four times in our history. But there are rumblings in Washington that Harris may be the next one to add to that list.

Why?

Because she has been a millstone around Joe Biden’s neck. And the last thing Joe Biden needs is any sort of extra baggage to carry around. The guy is a walking/talking bimbo who needs no further embarrassment. Harris has proven herself to be a terrible choice for VP, and everyone in Washington knows it. Hell, everyone in America knows it. With 47% of the nation calling itself Democrat, her approval rating is only 28%!

So, what’s in store for the coming three years of the Biden administration? Here is the skinny so you don’t flip out when it happens. First of all, Republicans would LOVE to see Harris stay as Vice President and Biden to remain as President. That’s because they are going to be very easy to beat in 2024. But Democrats are the ones looking to make a change. And it’s a multi-step process that may or may not take place depending on how and when it takes place.

The first thing that needs to happen is that Harris needs to resign. That’s going to be harder than it sounds because she has to be the one to do it. There really isn’t anything short of impeachment to get her out of the Naval Observatory if she doesn’t want to go. But let’s play the game and say that for the good of her party, she resigns. Next, you’ve got to find a replacement. Here’s where the tricky part comes in. Democrats already have someone in mind. Someone that they could run for president in 2024 if they had to and that person wouldn’t be (at least in their eyes) a total embarrassment.

That person is Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Now, there are problems with that. If they succeed in getting rid of Harris in 2022, while Congress is still in control of the Democrats, then the plan will work. If, however, the GOP takes over both or even one house of Congress in 2023, and the Dems waited too long to get rid of Harris, there are problems. See, BOTH houses of Congress need to approve a new Vice President. The last one was Nelson Rockefeller when Gerald Ford became president. That will be a whole lot tougher if Clinton is the nominee and the Republicans control Congress. I don’t think they’ve ever forgiven her for the scandals she was involved in when she was Secretary of State, and running in 2016.

But let’s say she becomes Vice President anyway. Then in 2023, Biden comes down with health issues and resigns. Hillary becomes President, and can run for election as an incumbent. That would make the 2024 election quite possible “Trump v. Clinton – The Rematch”. But the funny thing with that is, how much Chardonnay is available in the country if Clinton should lose to Trump again? It took her five years to sober up after the last loss! Can you imagine the firestorm that would hit New York State if it happened again?

But it would be fun to watch!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Biden’s Omicron Speech: Not Very Convincing

I don’t think as I sat and listened to Joe Biden give a speech from the State Dining Room about how Omicron is taking over our lives, and he really doesn’t have any plans to stop it except to tell everybody to get vaccinated, that this was a guy in control. He kept telling the world that yes, America is leading the fight against COVID. He kept telling all Americans that he knows we don’t like vaccine mandates (which are illegal), and that all he’s trying to do is save lives. But somehow I came away thinking, “Joe, you’re not very convincing”.

When you look at the presidency of the United States, you understand that it ages people. Look at before and after pictures of every single president we’ve had. They look a lot more tired and haggard when they leave office than when they were sworn in. And yes, I get it that they were at least four and up to eight years younger back then. But that’s not what does it. It’s the stress. I’m already seeing it in Biden, and it hasn’t even been a year. And Biden is getting less and less assertive, and less and less convincing.

Let’s look at the facts. In 2020, under Donald Trump, there were 375,000 deaths attributed to COVID. In 2021 so far, there have been 435,000 deaths (with still a week to go). We’re now averaging about 1,000 deaths per day. This is with Joe Biden in charge, who chastised the way Donald Trump was running things. He’s killed off 60,000 MORE people than Trump did by doing nothing more than telling people they needed to get the vaccine that Trump brought to market in record time.

What I find to be amazing in this whole year is that the Biden administration and that joke of doctor, Anthony Fauci, seem to be totally fooled by the fact that the virus has morphed into different strains. Isn’t that what viruses do? I mean, we get a different flu shot every year because every year the strain is different, right? So, why was Biden and Fauci thinking this would be any different? They seem totally in disbelief that they could be in charge and this thing is still running more out of control today than it was when we were locked down in our houses for eight weeks.

I’ve said many times on these pages that for Biden to issue mandates on vaccinations is ludicrous and shows that the man doesn’t understand the Constitution. It’s up to the states to do that. It’s not something the federal government has jurisdiction over. If your state’s Governor decided that everyone in your state needed to be vaccinated, that’s legal. It’s not legal for Biden to tell people in Oklahoma, or Idaho that they have to be vaccinated, or that companies with 100 or more employees have to be jabbed.

I’m saying that having been fully vaccinated. Just this past week I got my booster shot. But the difference between what I’m saying and what Biden is saying is, I CHOSE to get the vaccine and the booster. Biden wanted to MAKE me do it. I don’t believe that’s right. If you are against vaccines for whatever reason, medical, religious, laziness, I don’t care. It’s your choice. And if you get sick because you didn’t get the vaccine, again, it’s personal responsibility. Don’t blame anyone if you get sick. But it IS your choice. My wife and I felt it was the thing to do. I’m not going to apologize for it, nor am I going to insist that everyone in the country get vaccinated. Neither should Biden.

You would think that someone with all of the years’ of experience as a politician in Washington DC , Joe Biden would understand the Constitution a little bit better. Instead, we’re stuck in idiot-mode.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Trump v. Biden 2.0?

I think most conservatives out there would have the same thought process that I have. If Donald Trump decides to run for the GOP nomination and gets it, and Joe Biden decides to try for a second term, and the Democrats let him (it HAS happened before where a sitting president wasn’t given the nomination!), I have always believed with Biden’s total gut job of the presidency, it would probably be a 400 Electoral Vote victory for Trump, right?

Wrong.

The Wall Street Journal just came out with a new poll that shows not only would it be a lot closer than I thought ever possible, but Trump, according to the poll, wouldn’t even win. Joe Biden would be elected to a second term on a 46-45% margin. Yes…it’s that close.

Now, it was in the margin of error, certainly, so it wasn’t what I would call an incredible story. It is, also, three years away from the election, and that’s a lifetime in politics. And a few things have to happen first in order for this scenario to become real. First, Donald Trump has to feel confident that if he ran, he’d win. He won’t risk bruising his ego again, legitimate or not, on another loss to Biden. Second, Biden has to be able to run, meaning mentally, physically, and actually being alive will all have to occur. Third, Democrats will have to believe that Biden can beat Trump. The hatred for Donald Trump among the left is so visceral that if there is any chance Trump beats Biden in 2024, my hunch is the Dems will find someone else to run.

Now, the question is why? Why in the world is it that close? Well, another question in the Wall St. Journal poll may shed a little light on it. 46% of the people surveyed said they wanted to stay with Biden’s plans for running the country. That compared to 48% that wanted Trump. So, if Trump wins the issues 48-46%, why does he lose the White House? Simple. It’s all about deportment. And Biden, as numbed and dumbed down as he is, wins in that department. He acts more presidential, even as fumbling and bumbling as he is, than Trump did.

Now, Trump has three years to try and re-brand himself. And he needs to. He has to be able to show America that he can run the programs and policies that he put in place, without the name calling and the tweets or wherever he’s going to end up in social media. He has to be more presidential and less like a New York City dock worker. If he can do that, he will be a shoo-in. If he can’t, well, you see the numbers.

I have no doubt it’s not going to end up 46-45% in favor of Biden. I’m not saying Biden wouldn’t win, and yes, I’m really surprised that Joe Biden would even get 40% in any poll. That shows the hatred toward Trump. And maybe it’s a reason the GOP needs to look elsewhere. I mean, on this past weekend, Mike Pence was up in New Hampshire feeling out the voters. I’m also not saying Pence is the guy, just saying, he’s thinking about it at this point. Anything can and usually does happen in a three year time period. It’s going to depend on what happens with COVID. If we come into 2024 and COVID is still around in any variant, Biden will be toast.

The same thing for the economy. If what I’m hearing is correct and we’re looking at 7% inflation this year, 7-10% next year, and 10-13% in 2023 with a possible recession, you can kiss Biden’s chances goodbye. The same thing goes with the supply chain mess…and the immigration mess… and the foreign policy screwups. And a lot will depend on whether or not Republicans decide that Trump is better than Biden, and the “Never Trumpers” out there come to the party. That in and of itself could be the determining factor. We’ll have to wait and see.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

But What If?…

It was one of those things that kind of hit you out of the blue. it wasn’t anything I had ever even dreamed of before. And probably like what your reaction will be when I tell you, I thought very little of the idea…but then I thought…

But what if?

What if let’s say next year, Donald Trump decides NOT to run for president in 2024. What if, instead, he decided to run for a seat in the House of Representatives? Sounds crazy, right? Well, Wayne Allyn Root interviewed Trump on his radio show not too long ago and floated the idea past him. Of course, Trump has eyes on much bigger fish than just being one of 435 people, right? but what if the GOP wins the House back by say 50 or 60 seats, and Trump is one of them, with Florida getting an additional Representative next year due to an increase in their population? And what if Trump not only were to win that seat, but say, become Speaker of the House replacing Nancy Pelosi?

Now the juices start to turn, don’t they?

Imagine Pelosi having to play minority leader in the House to Donald Trump? Would that be a fitting end to the Wicked Witch of the West’s career? And it would still give Trump the chance to go for the White House in 2024 should he want it. He would be on TV every single day as the Speaker, and he could stomp on Biden’s remaining 2 years in office. He could craft his own bills that would make Biden cringe, especially if the GOP also got the Senate. Biden would be forced to veto everything that came across his desk for two years.

Actually, Root’s argument made sense when I thought of it. Oh, it took a while for it to sink in, but the more I thought about the fun of what would happen, and that people like Ilhan Omar, AOC, Rashida Tlaib, and Cori Bush would have to kow-tow to Trump? That would be worth re-subscribing to cable just to watch CSPAN again!

Is there any negative to that scenario? Well, let’s explore one. Let’s say Trump becomes Speaker of the House, and just for grins and giggles, say Kamala quits, and Biden is removed either because of health or 25th Amendment or some such route. Trump would become President. Now, constitutional scholars. Having already served one term as president, does that mean he couldn’t run for re-election? He wouldn’t have been elected, just filling in the vacancy until 2024, right? I’m not all that sure what the constitution says about it, but it would be an interesting bent. And it’s been a long while since a former president became a Representative. You have to go back to 1831 when John Quincy Adams served in the House after he was President.

One other little trivia bit before we put this to bed. There has only been one sitting Representative that got elected President…that was James Garfield, and we all know that didn’t end all that well for him!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Another Poll Shows Biden’s Approval Tanking

Last month, it was liberal polling group, Quinnipiac University that showed that Joe Biden’s approval numbers had sunk to history lows when it reached 38%. Now, there’s another poll that agrees with that.

USA Today/Suffolk poll has come out and said that yes, Biden’s approval number for the month of October is at 38%. That makes two polling firms in the last four weeks to actually agree on Biden’s approval number at a historic low. I guess the good news for Biden is, it didn’t sink lower than that.

When you consider that between 45 and 47% of Americans consider themselves Democrats, it’s amazing that between 11 and 13% of the people that thought Biden sucked were Dems themselves. But the findings are very interesting when you look at the numbers behind the actual approval number:

46%, almost half of the people that Biden has done a worse job than what they had expected including 16% of the people that actually voted for him. And independents, who elected him, had him upside down on this question with 44% disappointed, and only 6% happy with his job.

64% of Americans (including 28% of Democrats) say they don’t want Biden to run for a second term in 2024. While that seems like it’s a non-starter for running, think again. Biden’s likely rival in the 2024 election would be Donald Trump, and 58% of Americans and 24% of Republicans don’t want Trump to run again.

If you think Joe Biden’s numbers are bad and that he should be taken from office, think again. K-baby Harris has even worse numbers than “Brandon”. She has a 28% approval rating, and 51% say that they disapprove of her job. 21% aren’t sure of anything.

While Americans are solidly behind an infrastructure bill that fixes roads, bridges, airports, rail, etc., they are not anywhere near as likely to be behind the next huge spending bill. That only has a 25% approval rating with America, regardless what Biden and Pelosi think.

When it comes to next year’s midterm elections, Republicans win the generic ballot voting by a 46%-38% over Democrats. An 8 point advantage for the GOP is the highest it’s been.

And on the “right track/wrong track question, 66% of America think America is going down the wrong track. Only 20% think we’re on the right track. By the way, that was the same view America had of the Trump administration’s world right after the January 6th Capitol insurrection.

So, it means what it says.

Biden is in deep doo-doo and so are his Congressional colleagues who have spent more time fighting themselves and less time fighting Republicans this year over one of two key issues…Biden’s infrastructure bill which took a whopping five months to pass, as well as the yet-to-be-passed spending bill, which is nothing more than the progressives’ wish list that got pared from the original $6 trillion package when it went down to $1.2 trillion. Even though Biden got the more popular of the two initiatives passed, he has a LONG way to go to get the spending bill through as Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have not signed on to the final deal yet, and there is a chance it may not even clear the House, where the bill has been pulled several times due to lack of votes.

In all, unless things change mightily for Brandon, his congressional lead, his agenda overall, and his days in the White House may be numbered!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Can Biden’s Numbers Get Any Worse?

The short answer is yes. Actually, they are worse than what’s being reported to you. The latest Quinnipiac poll that was released a couple of weeks ago showed Biden with a 38% approval rating. Now, that’s bad by anybody’s stretch of imagination. You’re not getting your way with anything you want with 38% on your side.

But it gets worse.

When you take the latest poll numbers, and dig down a little deeper you find that the “strongly disapprove” numbers were at 45%. The “strongly approve” numbers were at 20%. And therein lies one of two rubs against the Democrats. The first problem is, if you answer polling at all, and say that you’re “strongly” either for or against someone, the chances of you switching to the other side are practically nil. That means that 45% of respondents in this poll have no chance becoming even a slight fan of Biden’s over the course of the next year. And 20% will never be against him. That’s a major problem for Democrats in Congress who will most likely lose both houses come next November unless there is an historic turnabout.

If you look at Biden’s personality numbers, his “likeability” if you will, it’s the same thing. While 46% deem his personality as “favorable”, and 53% say it’s unfavorable, the “very unfavorable” come in at 40%, while the “very favorable” come in at 26%.

Now, in all fairness, when you look at the latest poll involving Donald Trump (in The Economist, a very liberal publication), HIS “very unfavorable” numbers were as bad if not worse. He was 48% “very unfavorable” and 25% “very favorable. Almost identical to Biden’s. That means if Biden runs in 2024 against Trump, most people will view it as the “lesser of two evils”. Of course, that’s if you believe the Economist poll, and I’m a little skeptical on that one!

The other thing to realize is, and we’ve covered this before, Biden is upside down big time in every single category of policy on the board. Jobs and economy, healthcare, abortion, crime, the border crisis, the shipping fiasco, Afghanistan withdrawal, COVID, and even civil rights are under water. And civil rights is a Democrat issue!

But the biggest problem Democrats have going into 2022 is the lack of enthusiasm. Even the most enthused Biden fan isn’t ready to get off the couch and go and vote. That’s because a majority of Americans now think that government is trying to do too much. They think that government has gotten too bloated, too big, and too intrusive in our lives. And over 50% now say that they are worse off today than they were just one year ago. That’s an incredible turnaround. After all, we should be coming out of COVID, right? We have some ten million jobs available out there. We have an unemployment rate over 5%, and still no one wants to go back to work. Cities like Chicago are starting to consider initiating “universal income” to every citizen (as if Illinois isn’t going bankrupt fast enough?)

People are just not enthused with the way they see the government working. And that’s both parties. Both parties have over 60% of polling respondents saying that they are not happy with Democrats or Republicans. While that should give the Dems’ a little hope for next year, it’s not going to be enough to stem the tide of what could end up being one of the biggest landslides we’ve seen in 40 years!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

EXTRA: Debt Ceiling Bingo

I appears that sometime today, Democrats and Republicans are going to reach “a compromise” on the debt ceiling extension. As you probably know (because you’re informed!), on October 18th, the government runs out of money without an increase in the amount of debt it can incur. That’s like you going to your credit card company that you already owe $50,000 to and pay interest only payments on each month, and want them to give you an unlimited credit card limit for a specified period of time. That’s what the Democrats want.

Republicans are set to cave on this. Mitch McConnell has hinted he won’t stand in the way. Democrats are asking that the debt ceiling be waived until December, 2022 (after the midterm elections). That would allow Democrats to spend whatever they want, and run the debt up as high as they want with no consequence (at least to them…for you and me that’s another story).

Some Republicans are asking that there be a limit as to how high the debt ceiling can go, and others are insisting that the Democrats can only go past the debt ceiling a certain number of times. Let’s call that like you won’t buy the Chevy or the Ford on your credit card, but you’re heading to the Bentley dealer. Same difference.

We have reached the point in our existence where we don’t really have two political parties that are bi-polar. They are more like a few feet apart, but certainly not miles apart. It’s all how they appeal to their base, and how they can keep their base from leaving them. And it’s hurting our opinion of them. Gallup has just released a poll saying that less than half of us have confidence in the people that hold or even run for public office.

I have to be honest and say that at one point, I considered a run for Congress, with no actual political experience. When I was told by the chair of the party in my county that I would have to spend the next 12 years (6 terms) running, I thought he was nuts and decided against it. Today? I wouldn’t even consider running for political office. Not that my wife would let me in the first place.

The damage has already been done by Congress and this president, hell bent on sending the debt higher and higher. And it’s not just been Democrats. Donald Trump raised the debt pre-COVID 16.8% (until March, 2020). It went up another 18% from March, 2020 to the end of his term. That sounds like a lot, but it’s not. Bobo Obama increased the debt 69.98% during his two terms in office, and George W. Bush raised it a whopping 105.08% during his eight years in the Oval.

So, you can’t sit back and blame just the Democrats. Republicans as well have been guilty of this. And it appears that both sides in the Senate are heading toward this “compromise” which the Democrats are spewing that “McConnell caved”. Yup. I would probably be inclined to agree with them. All of this with 52% of Americans saying that the federal government needs to spend less money, not more, and cut programs in light of the increase in inflation and the higher debt ceiling.

The big question is, is there anyone in DC listening to Americans?

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!