Hey, Fair Is Fair!

Democrats are in a tizzy over Kevin McCarthy’s threat to bump three of their kind from committees if the Democrats decide to put them up for those committee assignments. As we discussed earlier here, Adam Schiff (D-CA), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) have been threatened that if they were placed on committees by the Democrats, they would be booted.

And Democrats are looking for a fight on this one.

But you have to realize that fair is fair after all. Republicans, as you’ll recall, wanted to put people like Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Jim Banks (R-IN) on the January 6th Special Committee that Nancy Pelosi formed to railroad Donald Trump into a DOJ indictment. Democrats decided that wasn’t going to happen because Jordan and Banks were both overlooked in favor of Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Liz Cheyney (R-WY). Both Kinzinger and Cheyney were outspoken critics of Donald Trump who voted for impeachment both times he faced it.

So, my question is, if it was fair for Nancy Pelosi to not include Jordan and Banks on the committee, but to go with people she felt would be more conducive to the outcome she wanted, why in the world are the Dems upset if Kevin McCarthy wants to put Schiff, Swalwell, and Omar on the sidelines? Isn’t fair fair, after all?

While Pelosi’s move was made solely to give her the outcome she sought, McCarthy’s move is more of a punishment that Pelosi did that in the first place. Yes, it’s political, and yes, some may say it’s even petty. But you have to look back to see what started it all, and frankly, that was petty enough!

So, who has the right to decide who goes on the committees in the House of Representatives? Is it the Speaker? If it is, the Democrats have absolutely nothing to bitch about. They lost the House in part because of the January 6th committee, and in part because the pendulum has swung the other way. Had the Democrats not been so liberal in their ideology, and Pelosi such a tyrant in her rule as Speaker, maybe the Republicans would have been a little more forgiving in their dealings once they took over.

And yes, it is exactly what has caused the rift that we’re seeing in Washington these days. Both parties have taken things that happen way too personally. Whatever happened to the day when you could call someone on the other side the dirtiest, slimiest name in the book, and then go out and have dinner with them when the politics was over? That day is long gone. Now, there are deep battle lines drawn, and it’s not common place to work across the aisle with anyone from the other side, lest you get branded a traitor and get primaried up the road. And it happens not only in the House, but in the Senate as well.

Need proof of that? Kyrsten Sinema just got primaried by Ruben Gallego (D-AZ). He decided that if Kyrsten Sinema could switch to being an independent, then he could run as a Democrat and try and unseat her. That’s even though the two have worked together for a decade!

There has to be something that brings these two sides together or nothing is going to get done in Washington. Normally, I think that’s a good thing when there is gridlock. But lately, that hasn’t worked. The country has several issues that need several statesmen to come together and work together to solve the problems. We need comprehensive immigration reform. We need to have the southern border issue solved by people that actually can admit that there IS a problem at the southern border. We need to deal with the crime problem, and we need to deal with corruption in Washington DC. Stealing and hoarding secret and top secret documents is not something that should be taken lightly. And both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have done it. In my book, that disqualifies either of them from serving anywhere ever again, and they need to be punished.

Unless and until Washington gets it’s act together, we’re going to continue this inane circle of both sides investigating the other. And nothing else ever gets done. Politics has taken a front seat above the needs of the people. Shame on you Congress!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

McCarthy’s In…What Now?

Kevin McCarthy won his speakership finally…after four long days of campaigning, cajoling, carping, and catering to 20 House members who either wanted to make sure he did things the right way, gave them special treatment, or they just hated Kevin McCarthy. He won his coveted Speaker’s position on the 15th vote on Friday night.

Now what?

Well, it depends on who you want to listen to. If you listen to the Democrats, better known as the “Popcorn Caucus” in the marathon voting sessions, it means the Republicans will have weak leadership, split apart by a handful of people who have more of their own interests at heart than those of the country. It means that any bill that comes before the House will most likely be a long and drawn out floor fight.

If you listen to the Republicans, that’s nothing of the sort. They say that it’s all about “the sausage being made” and that “this is Democracy in action”. This was a growing process for the GOP, and as McCarthy himself said, “We’ve been in the minority, and we’ve used this experience to learn how to lead.” I’m not so sure I go along with that sentiment. I would hope that anybody that gets to the highest political body in the land would already know how to lead.

In the end, both Democrats and Republicans are right. Yes, it’s going to be a drawn out battle for Republicans to pass pretty much anything with only a four-vote majority. So yes, you’re going to see a lot of sausage being made. But the Republicans are right as well in that this IS indeed the way Democracy works…except we don’t live in a Democracy. We live in a “Democratic Republic”. If we lived in a Democracy, you and I would be voting on everything Congress wants to do. Instead, we elect people who do that voting for us. But the question still remains…

Now what?

Personally, I think McCarthy is going to have a bumpy ride. I think the “concessions” he had to make, other than promising certain members of the Freedom Caucus getting prime committee assignments, is going to be good for a conservative government. The days of the omnibus 2,000 page bills that nobody reads before they become law are over. The idea of term limits coming before Congress will be an interesting one. Looking at the fact that the GOP wants to get back to more reasonable spending, and possibly even introduce a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution isn’t a bad idea at all. And they are going to force Biden’s hand at the southern border. They’re going to rescind the 87,000 new IRS agents, which should help quell some of the spending.

Of course, very little of that is going to get through the Senate. After all, the Senate is going to have a hard time passing anything that needs 60 votes, since Democrats only have 51 seats, and the Republicans over there can basically block anything except appointments, and spending.

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that basically the only person in Congress who actually wanted to be Speaker of the House was Kevin McCarthy. Well, he got his chance. Now we have to wait and see what he does with it. He can be successful, and work across the aisle like a Tip O’Neill did back in the day. Or he can try and Pelosi his way through his own party with an iron fist and a promise of primary fights in 2024 if people don’t go along with him.

Any way you look at it, a split Congress pretty much guarantees one of two things. Either the parties have to come together, or nothing is going to get through Congress, including a budget, for the next two years. And each side will point fingers at the other side in hopes of winning the side of Congress they currently don’t control.

Either way, I think America will lay in for a lot of popcorn and hold its own “Popcorn Caucus”.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

McCarthy’s Problem

Kevin McCarthy wants to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the worst way. And that’s pretty much how it looks…the worst way possible. McCarthy backed out of the race for Speaker back in January of 2015 when it became clear he didn’t have the votes. Well, it’s eight years later, and he’s facing the same problem. He’s hoping with different results this time around.

As it stands today, the GOP has a total of 222 of the 435 seats in the House. That means the Dems have 213. A Speaker needs to get a majority of those present and voting in order to win the job. That would mean under normal circumstances, McCarthy would need 218 votes to secure his position. However, there are at least five Republicans who are in the “Anyone But McCarthy” camp. That would bring his vote total down to 217, one shy of the majority.

There are a couple of ways that McCarthy can play this. He can cajole the five or so that are against him (I’ve heard the number could be as high as 12) not to show up for the vote on Tuesday, January 3rd. Or he could ask them to show up but not vote for anybody. Voting “Present” is legal, and doesn’t count toward the total number of people voting. Or, he can throw caution to the wind, and see whatever those folks need to change their mind, and give it to them as Speaker.

It’s been 100 years since there has been a floor fight to elect a Speaker of the House. Most of the time the majority party is in line behind one person. Or at the very least, there are enough votes to elect that person Speaker on the first ballot even if some Representatives peel off and vote for a second candidate. McCarthy says he doesn’t care if it goes nine ballots in order to get the job. He’s in it to get it done.

But that comes at a cost. You’ve probably already heard that he’s going to have a hard time herding the cats that are the Republicans in the House this next term. With such a slim majority, he can’t afford to have more than four people bolt on the votes he needs unless he can sweet talk some Democrats into jumping onto his ship. That’s unlikely to happen very often. One thing is for sure still today in DC…partisanship is alive and well in Congress.

So, what’s McCarthy to do? Well, he can step down, or he can nominate someone that’s not even in Congress to be the Speaker. There’s nothing that says the Speaker of the House has to actually BE a member of Congress! You or I could get nominated, get 218 votes and take the gavel. If you really want it, let me know and I’ll do what I can to get your name in contention.

This is going to be McCarthy’s first big test to show the world what type of Speaker he’s going to be. Is he going to allow the Republicans to rule him? Or, is he going to be more “Pelosi like” and rule with an iron fist. He’s never struck me as someone that is an iron-fist type of guy. But I could be wrong. He’s always been more of a go along to get along minority leader. I can see him making a lot of deals with whomever seems to be standing in the way, hoping that enough of them bite and take him up on his offer. But that could lead to problems up the road. Is he going to have to do that with every bill that he wants passed? If so, the line is going to be very long and get longer with each passing day. If a Representative knows that they can get a sweet contract for their district just by telling McCarthy that they aren’t going to vote with him on a bill, then there had better be about 222 different contracts out there, because he’s going to need them.

We will learn a lot about the House of Representatives and the type of House they will become over the next two years on January 3rd. Personally, I think McCarthy will figure out a way to get elected Speaker at the last minute. And I truly think that he’s going to do exactly what Pelosi did when she held sway over the House, but didn’t have the Senate or the President on her side…he’s going to pass bills that Chuck Schumer won’t even bring to the floor. These are things that you and I probably won’t even hear about unless you spend your day watching CSPAN. And he will most likely play more defense than offense. I can see him blocking more bills that the Democrats want than passing bills he wants passed.

At this point, it’s anybody’s guess what happens, but it will be interesting to watch. As long as Nancy Pelosi isn’t speaker come the end of the day on Tuesday, January 3rd, I think I’ll be a lot happier! How ’bout you?

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Kicking The Can

We have reached the day the government was supposed to run out of money. Now, full disclosure, this is being written a few days early, so the House & Senate may have already reached a “continuing resolution” that allows them to kick the can down the road a bit. I’ve heard two stories here. One is that Dems (and some Republicans) just want to do a big omnibus spending bill that includes most of 2023, at least up to September 30th. The other is that Republicans only want to do a CR until January so that the House is controlled by Republicans and can squash any attempt at over-spending. It’s a way for the newly elected Republican House to put their stamp of approval on something big right away. Of course, the Dems want an omnibus bill so they get one last hurrah at the budget before giving up the house.

Both parties are wrong.

This is what infuriates me about Washington, DC these days. Both parties are focused on what makes their party look the best. Neither party is focused on what is important to the United States of America first. Frankly, I can see both argument pretty clearly, and frankly, I really don’t have a clue which is better for this country. We’ve spent our way into an inflationary mess. How could Biden have seen that one coming? He’s only got 260 years of history behind him! And how could Kevin McCarthy and the folks over in the House not want to do an omnibus bill that at the very least means there is no government shutdown, there is no need for last minute military planning because they know what their budget will be. There is concrete certainty with an omnibus budget. There is also a greater likelihood of overspending and higher inflation rates.

So, which is better for the country?

Right now, I’d say let the GOP have their way and kick the can down the road a little further. I’m not so sure a “newly independent” Kyrsten Sinema will go along with an overspending bill that Schumer and Pelosi want. And Joe Manchin has been known to go against that as well. As much as I rail against the folks in DC doing nothing but kick cans down the road, maybe this is not a bad time to do that.

When it comes to the federal government, we’ve reached a very sad point in our country’s history. It’s more important to score political points, to show the voters that your party is the best party and that’s the reason they should keep you in power, or put you in power. I find that very disturbing. No one in DC (or very few) are asking the question, “What is really best for the country?” That is, after all, why we elected them to DC in the first place, right?

This doesn’t just happen with spending bills, though usually that’s what gets the most coverage and the most attention. Everyone screams when the congress can’t come together on budget issues because it causes the government to “shut down”. Well, it never shuts down. It’s now officially too big to just shut down. But that’s what you hear about. And think about what’s been kicked down the road this lame duck session. Immigration reform that finally sounded like it was going to get a bi-partisan attempt probably isn’t going to be heard now. Thom Tillis and Kysten Sinema are going to have to wait until the next congress to bring that up again. That proposal was “officially” pronounced as dead on Wednesday.

And what about dealing with the border issue? I know that’s a part of their plan, but it’s front and center. Then you’ve got the whole crypto mess with Sam Bankman-Fried getting arrested in the Bahamas. It sounds like that one won’t hit congress until next year anyway. Then you’ve got crime, and inflation, and supply chain issues. And what do we do with Ukraine. And how do we rebuild our military since we’ve shipped a lot of military hardware over to that part of the world. And China? What in the world are we going to do with China? Tik Tok? Are we finally going to shut it down?

I mean, we haven’t even started talking about getting into the partisan battles that both sides do, and that keeps them from doing their jobs. Are we going to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, the Homeland Security Secretary? What about Merrick Garland, the Attorney General? I mean that’s not going away anytime soon. And then you’ve got the whole mess with what we’re learning about the FBI’s involvement in the 2020 election on Twitter. What’s to happen there? And of course, the big elephant in the room in partisan politics involves Biden Inc. and it’s CEO, Hunter Biden.

I say, put the friggin’ investigations on the back burner and do some of the stuff that impacts ALL Americans. Stop the invasion at the southern border. Catch those that have missed their immigration hearings, and deport them. But first, finish the wall, and hired 87,000 new border patrol agents, not IRS agents. Let’s protect ourselves first. We can worry about tax cheats later.

Next year’s congress has a lot on it’s plate already. I don’t know how a split party congress is going to react. I DO know it’s going to be interesting to watch!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Is The GOP About To Throw It All Away?

It looks like it. And it looks like the leader of the pack in this instance could be a guy from my very own state! I’m talking about a vote that’s going to take place on the House floor come January. That’s when Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca) is supposed to be elected Speaker of the House, kicking Nancy Pelosi to the curb.

But apparently, it ain’t happening.

Well, at least that’s the way it looks today. Andy Biggs (R-Az) is head of the conservative Freedom Caucus. He’s a guy that has a head made of stone in my opinion. And he’s the guy that went up against McCarthy and got his rear end handed to him in the GOP caucus for leadership. I think the vote was something like 181-31 or some landslide figure like that. So what’s that tell you?

Andy Biggs is taking a page out of another Arizona politician over in the Senate. Kirsten Sinema is doing to her party exactly what Andy Biggs is trying to do to the Republicans in the House. He’s trying to make them throw away any advantage they may have, politics be damned.

Biggs and four of his colleagues have come out and said they won’t be voting for McCarthy in January to be Speaker. I don’t know who they intend to vote for, but McCarthy is going to need those votes in order to take the mantle away from Pelosi. And so, let’s play this out.

Let’s say that the Republicans end up with 222 seats and the Democrats end up with 213. There are still I think three elections that haven’t been called, two in California (figures!), and one in Colorado, where a recount was just mandated. So, if Biggs and the boys decide to not vote for McCarthy, that would leave him 1 short of getting the necessary 218 votes needed to become Speaker. But what if they don’t vote? If you vote “Present”, it doesn’t count because the rule states that you have to be present and voting in order for it to count. If the five of them aren’t there, or vote “Present”, then they don’t count. That means there are 430 people voting (actually 429 because the Democrats just lost a Representative who died). Now the majority is 216. So if Biggs and company don’t vote, or don’t show up for the vote, their protest is noted, and McCarthy still gets to be Speaker.

But that’s not Bigg’s intention. His aim is to make sure that Kevin McCarthy does not become speaker. That can throw a whole new can of worms into the process. Because if the Democrats all vote for, say Nancy Pelosi, and just three of Biggs and his buddies vote for her, Nancy Pelosi still is speaker. Or it could by you or me. There isn’t anything that says the Speaker of the House HAS to be a member of the House! In fact, Senator Rand Paul has received a vote before. So has Colin Powell. It’s never happened that way, but it could.

The deal is this. The Republicans have a chance to thwart a lot of Joe Biden’s agenda for the next two years. They’ll certainly control the purse strings and decide to veto Biden’s spending policies. But if Biggs and his clan can take five votes away from McCarthy, who knows what will happen.

Can we label this under the category of “One More Republican Screw Up When They Have A Majority”? It seems to me that the Democrats are more in lock-step with their members than the Republicans are, even with the Whackjob Five or whatever they have now, and even with the socialists like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in the Senate. Those are just pesky flies at the picnic. What Biggs is trying to do is usurp power and that’s not a good thing. It’s an embarrassment that he’s putting his caucus’ grab for power ahead of the country, and that’s not good.

I will say this. I have personally had a run in with Andy Biggs when he was president of the Arizona State Senate. Several years ago, I was working with a group on the Convention of States, which was trying to put together a national Constitutional Convention of the States. In order to do that, you need 34 states to have their legislatures approve it. I think at the time we had like 26 or 27. I was working with the Whip of the GOP in the House (who was against it, but became a really good friend), and it passed the House here. When it moved to the Senate, because Andy Biggs didn’t understand what it was supposed to do, he never brought it up and it died. Subsequently the whole thing died and they never got 34 states to go along with it. He’s a hot head. And he continues to be. If he screws this up, I hope his district primaries the hell out of him in 2024!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

It’s Up To McCarthy

Kevin McCarthy has waited a LONG time to be Speaker of the House of Representatives. He finally gets his chance now, but he’s got a lot of work to do between now and the actual vote that takes place on the House floor in January.

McCarthy took the leadership mantle on Tuesday of this past week, beating out Arizona Representative, Andy Biggs for Speaker of the House in the GOP Caucus. The vote was 188-31. But McCarthy needs to get moving to secure the nomination and turn it into a job. He needs a plurality of votes when the whole House votes come January. And that’s going to be a tough row to hoe with the Democrats totally against him. Add up the numbers from the vote on Tuesday, and you’ll see, there were only 219 votes cast. That means McCarthy can only afford to lose one person from the GOP side.

In 2020 in the most recent election, Nancy Pelosi only beat Kevin McCarthy 216-209 to secure the seat. That means only four Democrats bolted from her. McCarthy can only afford one or two at the most.

So, what’s the problem with McCarthy? It’s simply the Freedom Caucus, which Andy Biggs chairs. These are a group of folks that a farther to the right of McCarthy, that think the GOP needs to take it to the Democrats on a number of issues. These are the guys and gals that want the House to impeach Joe Biden, investigate Hunter Biden, impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, look into the riots of 2020 and bring those that burned federal buildings to justice. They’d also love to figure out how they could punish people like Nancy Pelosi, or AOC and the rest of the Whackjob clan she’s a part of. They will most assuredly boycott anything that gets sent to the Hill by Joe Biden, or passed by a Chuck Schumer led Senate.

And where Pelosi has had her hands full dealing with the progressives and socialists of her party over the last four years, McCarthy is going to have the same problem with those who are farther to the right than he is. It’s not going to be easy, especially with a margin of victory that makes the Democrats’ current lead look like miles of open water.

It won’t be the first time someone from the Republican side has had problems either. John Boehner had his hands full to the point he was basically recalled from his post and forced to retire. Then you had Paul Ryan, which proved to be too much of a job for him, and he retreated to the safety of his family life. Let’s face it…the days of having a Speaker that sits in that chair for more than four terms like a Sam Rayburn, Henry Clay, or Tip O’Neill are long gone. The party’s are too fractured to allow that to happen.

McCarthy is going to have to learn to swim with the sharks and he doesn’t have a lot of time for a ton of lessons between now and then. Somehow I don’t Pelosi is going to be there to give him advice either. It’ll be up to the California native to figure this one out on his own. I can tell you this…other than Clay, who served as speaker in the 1820’s, the longest serving Republican in that spot was none other than…wait for it…Dennis Hastert in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Somehow, the guys in the GOP just don’t stick around too long. I doubt McCarthy will either.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

EXTRA! Adios Nancy!

I remember back when Richard Nixon lost the California Governor’s race to Pat Brown back in 1962. At his press conference, he uttered those famous words, “You won’t have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore.” Yesterday, Nancy Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives addressed her supporters. She basically said, it’s been a good ride, but I’m not going to be running for a leadership position in the next congress.

And with that, Pelosi becomes a lame duck speaker. We already knew she wasn’t going to continue to hold the gavel in the House, but she’s not even going to consider taking a leadership role for the Dems, saying (and rightfully so) that it’s time for new leadership. The move opens the door for New York Representative, Hakeem Jeffries to take the Minority Leadership post until the Dems retake the House. Then he can move up to Speaker. Steny Hoyer also said he would not seek leadership next term either. He is 83.

Now, Republicans and Democrats alike should probably be sad to see Pelosi go from the leadership team, but for markedly different reasons. Pelosi had become the “wicked witch of the House” (hence the picture above), and the House member that Republicans loved to hate. Democrats will be sad to see her go because there wasn’t anyone else in the House that could fund raise like she could. I doubt that there will be anybody that can follow in her footsteps like that.

It also calls into question whether James Clyburn of South Carolina is going to do. Clyburn is 82. Clyburn is falling into the same group that Pelosi says needs to step aside to let the next generation of leaders emerge. The question is whether he will or not.

For Pelosi, I can’t see her riding a back bench for the next two years. Wait a few months into her next term, and she’s going to call it quits for good. I think the attack on her hubby, Paul, has taken a toll on her that few see. All I can say is,

Adios Nancy!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

I’m Surprised I Haven’t Heard This From Liberals…

I will say, right from the very start, though I am hardly a fan of Paul and Nancy Pelosi, what happened to the Speaker’s husband in the dead of night was terrible. It was horrendous and I can only thank God that he apparently is going to be OK. On top of that, yes, I would agree with former Vice President Mike Pence and others who say that the attacker, should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

But there is something else I haven’t heard from the left, even as they point fingers at Republicans for “not being quick enough to weigh in on Pelosi’s attack”. You know, if this idiot that broke into the Pelosi mansion while dressed only in underwear and wielding hammers and zip ties had a gun, we’d be hearing how we need to pass gun legislation that would take guns out of the hands of people like this. There would be calls for a six month waiting period for anyone wanting to buy a gun of any sort, while they could go through your background, have you psychoanalyzed, and possibly have some sort of anal examination done just because they could do it.

Here’s what I’m concerned about.

In all of the clamoring that’s been going on this past week, no one, not one person on either the right or the left have come up with the solution to the problem.

We need to ban hammers.

Without hammers, this idiot couldn’t have broken into the Pelosi household and attacked poor Paul. He should have had to pass a background check before purchasing hammers. Or purchasing zip ties for that matter. Why in the world have we let it get so out of whack that we aren’t checking to make sure that these hammers aren’t being used for their intended purpose, and not to harm someone! Are you telling me that we can send men to the moon, we can put billionaires in space, we can explore the surface of Mars, but we have no way to make a hammer harmless to the human skull?

And why hasn’t the left even commented on this? What’s wrong with them? Don’t they realize the missed opportunity here? Are you telling me that Nancy Pelosi, who I haven’t really heard much about as she helps her husband recover, which is what she should be doing, or anyone else in power on Capitol Hill, come out with a statement about doing away or licensing hammers. Maybe we need a concealed carry permit to carry a hammer around? And while we are at it, why are we stopping there? What about knives? What about poison? What about rope (people DO get hung, but granted not much anymore)? What about lead pipes, or anything else I’m missing from the game of Clue?

No, instead, the left is content to sit on their opposition to all things firearms, and totally ignore those items that can be used to kill and maim individuals who are doing nothing wrong but sleeping in their own bed. The shame of it! Are you telling me that these people are missing the boat by such a long distance that they don’t want to protect the rest of us from these deadly situations? Somehow, I find their arguments on guns now totally dismissive and out of place. It’s not the guns that are the problem, it’s the people that have the guns. And we’re doing nothing to stop them! And if we were to give them their wish and ban all weapons that fire bullets, what then? What are we going to do when people start breaking into houses carrying hammers? Are we going to ban them too?

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Kickin’ ‘Em When You’re Down

I don’t think there are too many people out there that would bet a dollar on a “blue wave” coming on November 8th. The odds of Democrats pulling off enough surprises in races around the country, legitimate or not, to reverse what seems to be a trend that is being cast in cement is pretty clear. Republicans are getting ready to take over Congress. Not just the House, but the Senate as well. And it will appear that of the four “toss up states”, Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Nevada, all of them could be heading into the GOP’s column!

And what are those folks that are running for office on the Democrat side doing?

They are screaming that it’s all their party’s leadership fault. That’s right, Nancy Pelosi, Chuckles Schumer, and Joe Biden are getting the blame for the crappy showing in the polls. Now, to be fair, Pelosi and Schumer have done a terrible job at running Congress for the past two years. They haven’t really tackled any issue that could change the big reason Republicans are poised to take over Congress. Issues that matter most are inflation (which admittedly, the Congress can do little about other than stop spending money!), a slow economy with a ton of supply-chain issues, a porous southern border that is allowing not only illegals to get through, but also terrorists, murderers, and a lot of sketchy characters you wouldn’t invite into your house.

Tim Ryan (D-OH) was probably the first, along with the Wackjob Five to call for Pelosi and Schumer to be taken down as leaders and replaced. They are all saying that it’s time that a new generation of leadership take over. And to be honest, they’re right. Pelosi is 82 years old. Biden is 79 years old, and Schumer is the kid of the bunch at 71. That’s not boding very well for picking up the 18-30 year old vote!

Democrats big problem is that the younger people that are getting elected are a little bit too far left to lead the country into anything except a socialist revolution. Very few people that are running and are younger are what you would call a “moderate Democrat”. Most in the middle say those folks don’t exist anymore.

For the foreseeable future anyway, Biden, Schumer, and Pelosi will most likely live to see the end of the year. After that, I’m betting that Biden will cling to his post but not run for reelection; Schumer will become Minority Leader in the Senate just to be able to stay in front of the TV cameras; and Pelosi, when she sees how bad the red wave is going to be, will retire to spend more time with hubby Paul and help him rehab from his skull surgery.

Generational change is needed, not just for the Dems, but for the Republicans as well. Donald Trump is 76 years old. Mitch McConnell is 80, and Kevin McCarthy is the spring chicken at 57. What’s that saying when the youngest leader in the Republican party is only eight years away from Medicare? One shining star for the GOP is Ron DeSantis. The Florida Governor clocks in at 44 years old, and is a rising star in national politics. If you look at other “leaders” in the party, you’d have to talk about Ted Cruz (he’s 51), Marco Rubio (also 51), and as an aside, five of the six oldest members of the Senate are all Republicans! The youngest member of the upper body is Arkansas’ Tom Cotton at 37.

I think Tim Ryan may be right that it’s time for the older Democrats to step aside and usher in some younger blood. The problem with that is, they need to get people that can win state-wide elections in their states and not go too far left. Just being another AOC or Bernie Sanders, or Elizabeth Warren isn’t going to help Democrats’ matters much if at all!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

What Happens To Dems If The Lose The House?

It’s a question that not many are talking about right now, even though it seems the Republicans taking back the House of Representatives is a foregone conclusion. Fewer Democrats are willing to talk about what happens next. But hey! I’ve got time on my hands, let’s do it!

Let’s just say for grins and giggles that the Republicans do what everyone and their cousin says they are going to do and take back the House. Let’s say it’s not close. After all, Bobo Obama lost what? 60 seats after the 2010 midterms? And he was a MUCH better president than Joe Biden!

So, let’s say the GOP has a rather commanding lead in the House. That means that there will most likely be a leadership change, or at the very least a call for one among Democrats. Nancy Pelosi has hinted that this is her swan song this year. If the Dems get trounced badly in November, could she just announce that she’s going to retire to join her husband in getting DUI’s as a new hobby? It’s a possibility.

But what happens then? You’ve got two other dinosaurs in Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the current Majority Leader in the House, and Jim Clyburn (D-SC) the current Majority Whip, who are the number two and three guys in the Dems’ lineup currently. Both are in their 80’s as is Pelosi. And there is a new generation of Representative that is clamoring to have their day in the leadership position. Do all three resign their positions? Do they get voted out? And will they stay in Congress if that happens? All three seats are what would be called “safe seats”, unless they run Kermit the Frog.

Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Katherine Clark (D-MA), and Pete Aguilar (D-CA) have all been positioning themselves for years to get to one of the top spots. They would be the odds on favorites to take over the Democrats. And it would be historic in a sense as if Jeffries got to be Minority Leader or Speaker, he would be the first African American in such a role in US history.

What about others? What about an uber-progressive group, like the Wackjob Five? AOC and her band of idiots may also want a stab at leadership, but my feeling is they don’t have anywhere near the backing that Jeffries, Clark and Aguilar have. They raise a stink and love to be in front of a camera, but they really don’t have the backing of many outside their districts.

Personally, I don’t see Pelosi, Hoyer, or Clyburn hanging on if the Democrats lose control of the House. Why would they? They’ve been there forever, and don’t have anything left to prove. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they just float away.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!