Tag: Political Leadership

Do They NOT Know They Are Stupid!

That was not a rhetorical question!  Do they, the Repubs, know that they are stupid?  It is a fair question…..I mean from “death panels” to political theatrics……

This post could go on forever…..but for the sake of brevity I will focus on John Boner……oh crap!……my bad!……John Boehner, the Minority leader of the House of Representatives, he has pulled a wealth of boners in his tenure as the Repub leader….the one that stands out is his holding up the Constitution to make a point and then read the DoI…..or his saying that he is receiving more emails against health care reform and a local poll shows that 60% of his district want that reform…..but the best one is that he and his Repub colleagues keep bashing the spending of the Obama admin saying that if they are returned to power they will hold spending down….that they will once again be a party of less government…HA!….they overlook the fact that while they were doing GW’s dirty work they were the party of SPENDING…..but that they have learnbed their lesson….and will be frugal with the taxpayers money…..

I know you ask, what is wrong with that?  Nothing but is it true?

In a country that is reeling from massive unemployment….no consumerism to speak of…..and an economy that will take years to recovery….the Minority leader is showing his leadership is NO fluke…….the Politico is reporting:

The golf events this year sponsored by Boehner’s Freedom Project political action committee have stretched from April until October, from Florida to Ohio. And the minority leader doesn’t hold his events at worn-out municipal courses. The most recent outing was a $20,921.34 event at the plush Robert Trent Jones track in Gainesville, Va., an invitation-only private club that was once also home to the Professional Golfers Association’s President’s Cup.

By all public estimations, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is a pretty good golfer.

He should be, given the $82,998 his political action committee has spent on golf outings so far this year, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

He , Boehner, has spent more in the three cases than 20% of the population will make as earnings….Does it make sense to preach to the American people and then go out and spend more money that they will make this year?  It shows two things arrogance and a loss of the plight of the American people, especially those ion the district that he represents ….this will come back to bite him in the ass in his next run for office……that is if the people of his district are paying attention or do they really care?

Are not the Repubs the ones saying that Obama is out of touch with Main Street?  Go figure……

While I pick on Boehner, but he is not alone…Repubs have shown an amazing indifference to the people and the truth….

GOP Parties Like Its 2012

Can you hear it?  Listen closely!  There it is the motor of the GOP revving up for the big push in 2012….who will it be?  Who will carry the standard of conservatism into the battle for the presidency?

The GOP is thumping its chest like a sex starved chimp at the wins in New Jersey and Virginia…..they are determined to make that the quintessential (not to be confused with Quintessential Havoc an avid reader…for that I thank you)  indicator that they will take back the White House and the Congress.  And some how they lost in NewYork 23 but they see that as a win in the end…..optimism is a good thing as long as it is not fed by delusion…..

Anyway….enough chit chat….The GOP has a rising number of wannabes for 2012 and I will talk about them endless, but not now….that is for a later post….I know you will be on the edge of your seat in anticipation……

The Chicago Sun-Times has a good look at the field coming:

A year before 2012 campaigning begins in earnest, here’s a look at the moves some are making:

• Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee who resigned as governor of Alaska, is starting a national media tour to promote her book, Going Rogue: An American Life. Eager to show her conservative credentials, she recently endorsed grass-roots-backed conservative Doug Hoffman over the GOP-supported candidate in an upstate New York congressional race. Hoffman lost but Palin told conservative activists, “The cause goes on.”

• Pawlenty, a conservative who was on McCain’s vice presidential short list, decided not to run for a third term as governor. He has been building a political operation with Washington-based campaign veterans while working to raise his national profile and taking on Obama. He has tacked even further right recently, including backing Hoffman.

• Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, has kept a lower profile, but he has reappeared at key times to challenge Obama, primarily on economic policy.

• Barbour, Mississippi’s governor and former national GOP chairman, became chairman of the governors group this summer around the time he visited Iowa and New Hampshire.

• Gingrich, the former House speaker from Georgia, has been traveling the country talking up Republican rebirth. He has emerged as a critic of Obama’s health care and economic policy.

• Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, has been raising his national profile with a Fox News talk show and radio commentaries.

But these are not the only ones that are feeling out the field for a possible run for the roses…..Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has fueled speculation with a visit to Iowa. South Dakota Sen. John Thune and Indiana Rep. Mike Pence also are trying to raise their national profiles.

These are the majors, for now, and it will be interesting to see who will pop out into the lead for the nomination…..

Boehner Pulls A Boner

Daily Agitator

First, I do not know why but every time I use the word Boehner…the word Boner comes to mind……

And then there are reports or stories that make one shake their head and ask why……

In the recent past I have heard the name John Boehner being batted around as a possible speaker of the House if the GOP ever returns to power…he does get lots of face time on TV especially on FOX News, after all he is the minority leader and should be the spokesperson for the Party in the House.

Yesterday there was a “spontaneous” rally in Washington against the Health Reform Bill that is being considered…..there were the usual suspects….references to socialism, nazis, and just plain hate for the president and Pelosi……I watched some of it on TV and thought it was a “white power” protests….the GOP really needs to find someone with a different color face to be in the crowd.

I have written many times on these “spontaneous” out pouring of hate, but today I want to talk about the leader of the GOP in the House……John Boehner got up in front of the 4000 or so protesters to egg them on….he had the usual babble and then he pulled out a copy of the Constitution and said “this is my copy of the Constitution and I will read from it” (paraphrase)….

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness…….

(I will give a long pause here for contemplation)……..I realize that to be a member of a certain party you need an IQ check but this is moronic…..Boehner was holding the Constitution and reading the Declaration of Independence….you would have thought one of his fellow GOPers would have told him he was screwing up…..they did not….maybe they do not know the difference either….ever think of that?

These are the LEADERS of American governance and they do NOT even know the difference between the two documents….this whole things reminds me of something Plato said:

The penalty good men pay for not being interested in politics is to be governed by men worse than themselves.

The part that should scare the people is…. these are the people that are defending the Constitution….they say so in their oath of office….and yet they have NO IDEA what it actually says….. Do they still teach Civics in school?……

If HE, Boehner,  is the future of the GOP….then members should worry or at least run for the nearest exit….

Will Senate Miss Kennedy?

A helluva a question.  Looks pretty bleak for a voice in the Senate.  There are those that will step up to try and fill the shoe of the Liberal Lion of the Senate but so far I see none of them that are capable of carrying his briefcase, much less being an adequate Dem leader in the Senate.

There is Chris Dodd…..he could be, but he has his problems with campaign contributions from banks and a strong challenger in his next re-election bid.

How about Harry Reid…Ha Ha…this guy could put a room full of ADD suffers to sleep.  He is NOT the one.

Robert Byrd…no way he is just a banana peel away from a dirt nap

Oh, Specter…..no flippin’ way….he is too wishy washy and who knows if the cancer will return and he will be out again?

Got Baucus–way too conservative to be any kind of liberal voice, even on FOX News.

How about Schumer….nah…he is too egocentrical to be a voice of the people.

Clinton could have been the next liberal voice for the Senate but she chose State over being a voice.

The true Liberal voice of the Senate will be missed…….there does not seem to be anyone ready to step in as a leader of the liberals.  This could prove to be a bad thing for the unity of the party.  There is already disunity, to a small part, with the Yellow Dogs, oh my bad….the Blue Dogs.  But that is in the House and in the Senate we have the cowards like Baucus….or should I say..,..corporate owned instead of coward?

Only time will tell if there is someone in the shadows that has the commitment and principles to be a leader in the Senate….right now, as it stands, I see NO one.

2009 Anal-Ocity

The hits just keep coming……and RNC Chairman Steele seems to be one of the return offenders with anal statements.

This time when speaking to the RNC meeting he said:

“Like a bad diet, liberalism will kill you. It’s a drug we don’t need to be hooked on.”

Sounds like the GOP has not turned any pages to revitalize the party….they are still sowing hate and fear…..that is not a new direction.

Lead, Follow Or Get Outta The Way

I recall my days in the US Army and the rant of the drill instructors….Lead, Follow or get outta the way….when trying to create leadership within a platoon.  You know it could be applied to the GOP also.

Since the election of 2008 the GOP has been trying desperately trying to find its political footing and so far it has nothing.

It cannot LEAD!  Why?  It has NO leaders.  Look at their budget thing from last week…it was a joke…so far they have nothing to offer the American people as an alternative to the democratic agenda, with the exception of tax cuts and just saying no to everything put forth to the Congress.  It CANNOT lead…it has resurrected Reagan’s speech from 1964 and keeps harping on the tax cut mantra from the 80’s and their budget is due out on April Fool’s Day.  Sounds like it is almost a rudderless ship.

It is obvious that they have NO intention of Following…for the reasons cited above.  They just cannot bring themselves to saying yes to anything that would help the American people out of their funk.

And finally, the only thing they can do that would be at all constructive is to….GET OUTTA THE WAY…..and let the country try and heal itself from the situation that it has found itself in.  The party is NO longer revelent  it is time to move on over….to GET OUTTA THE WAY.

Are Repubs Really Leaderless?

Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Republican voters say their party has no clear leader, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Another 17% are undecided.

Just five percent (5%) view either John McCain, the GOP‘s unsuccessful 2008 presidential candidate, or new party chairman Michael Steele as the party’s leader.

Two percent (2%) see conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh in that role, and one percent (1%) name McCain’s running mate, Alaska Govenror Sarah Palin. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader John Boehner are each seen as GOP leader by less than one-half of one percent.

Democrats have no question who’s in charge. Two-thirds of the party’s voters (66%) see President Barack Obama as their leader. Nobody else reaches even the five percent (5%) level.

Rasmussen Reports found that just 11% of Republicans agreed with the statement “Rush Limbaugh is the leader of the Republican Party. He says jump, and they say how high.” This was a comment made by Brad Woodhouse, president of an advocacy group running national television ads linking Limbaugh to the Republican Party. His comment came at the same time that top White House officials were saying Limbaugh is the leader of the GOP.

Some pundits, however, wondered if the harsh nature of the quote might have diminished the apparent support for Limbaugh as party leader. In the current survey, we simply asked if Limbaugh is the leader of the Republican Party. The different wording had virtually no impact on the GOP responses: Only 10% said yes.

Operation Rushbo

The last several days has been a god send for us bloggers, both conserv and liberal, the battle royale going on for the hearts and minds of conservatives is just the stuff legends are made of…God I love this stuff!

Top Democrats believe they have struck political gold by depicting Rush Limbaugh as the new face of the Republican Party, a full-scale effort first hatched by some of the most familiar names in politics and now being guided in part from inside the White House.

The strategy took shape after Democrats included Limbaugh’s name in an October poll and learned their longtime tormentor was deeply unpopular with many Americans. Then the conservative talk-radio host emerged as an unapologetic critic of Barack Obama shortly before his inauguration, when even many Republicans were showering him with praise.

But liberals quickly realized that trying to drive a wedge between congressional Republicans and Limbaugh was unlikely to work, and their better move was to paint the GOP as beholden to the talk show host.

By Sunday morning, Emanuel elevated the strategy by bringing up the conservative talker, unprompted, on CBS’s “Face the Nation” and calling him the “the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party.”

Even Republican National Chairman Michael Steele joined in with a surprising critique of Limbaugh as a mere “entertainer,” who is “ugly” and “incendiary.”

“He took a little match we had tossed on the leaves and poured gasoline on it,” said one Democrat of Steele.

Steele was forced into calling Limbaugh to apologize Monday, an embarrassing climb-down following the RNC chairman’s criticism of the conservative talk-show host.

Democrats can barely suppress their smiles these days, overjoyed at the instant-ad imagery of Limbaugh clad in Johnny Cash-black at CPAC and, more broadly, at what they see as their success in managing to further marginalize a party already on the outs.

“I want to send Rush a bottle of vitamins,” said Begala. “We need him to stay healthy and loud and proud.”

All the attention only offers upside for the buzz-hungry Limbaugh, said Carville.

“The television cameras just can’t stay away from him,” Carville said Tuesday, a day when cable news played images of Limbaugh seemingly on a loop. “Our strategy depends on him keeping talking, and I think we’re going to succeed.”

The GOP and the RNC are just making this all too easy for the Dems….and you can bet your butt they will get all the mileage possible out of this situation.

God!  I love this stuff!

A Dysfunctional Institution

Professor, what the hell are you talking about?  Why the US Senate of course.

At one time it was called the most exclusive club in America now it is just called a comedy of errors.  These people spend more time back stabbing, back biting, partisan tap dancing and insuring that congressional gridlock is the rule of the day, than they do actually accomplishing anything.

Why do you think so many senators cannot wait to get out of there?  They jump at the chance to run of president or become a cabinet member or return home to run for governor.

What makes it such a dysfunctional family?  well to begin with the whole idea of seniority is just stupid.  Those that are best suited for the leadership are not those old farts that have been around since Christ was a corporal.  Just because someone is old and fat does not give them a corner on expertise,  just shows they play a mean political game.

Maybe the Senate should take a page from the House and find a fresh face to put out there for the public to focus on….you know someone in the same mold as Cantor…..the Senate’s front men now are old and tired and are pretty ineffective at carrying a message.