January 24, 2021

Sunday School 1/24/21

For your Sunday School today, I'm going to try and give you four classroom visits, starting with Dana Bash and her CNN State of the Union interview with That Guy from Vermont, Sen Bernie Sanders.  

On the mittens, TGFV is having a much fun as the rest of us are. He also said President Biden is off to a good start, but "what we have got to do is roll up our sleeves and fight for the agenda that working people throughout this country want." He also said they might have to use the 'reconciliation' process to pass the COVID package, and that they've "got to break through this old approach that the Senate takes years and years to do anything."

We have got a crisis right now. We can chew bubblegum and walk at the same time. The American people are hurting. And they want us to act... And we have got to reaffirm the faith of the American people... that we can respond to their pain.

Bash noted that he's criticized the Rs for using reconciliation in the past. 

... I criticized Republicans, yes, for using reconciliation to give tax breaks to billionaires, to create a situation where large profitable corporations now pay zero in federal income taxes... And if they want to criticize me for helping to feed children who are hungry or senior citizens in this country who are isolated and alone and don't have enough food, they can criticize me. 

Finally, Bash asked if the Dems will lose control in the midterms if they don't get stuff done. In a nutshell, he said yes, "that's what history shows us." 

... if we do not respond now, yes, I believe, two years from now, the Republicans will say, hey, you elected these guys, they did nothing, vote for us, and they will win.

Chris Wallace had Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) in the Fox News Sunday classroom; they started with impeachment, about which Rubio said "First, I think the trial is stupid."

Second, then I look back at the time, for example, Richard Nixon, who had clearly committed crimes and wrongdoing, and in hindsight I think we would all agree that President Ford's pardon was important for the country to be able to move forward and history held Richard Nixon quite accountable for what he did as a result. 

He noted that Trump "bears some responsibility for some of what happened," but the "stories are still being written." He just doesn't seem interested in helping write them. 

On whether the GOP is still Trump's party, Rubio mentioned the 50% of Trump supporters who felt like both parties had abandoned them. Hey, Hillary - there's finally an R who got your point! Rubio hopes the GOP can still be the party that "keeps the people who believe we're fighting for them" and can bring back people who couldn't stand Trump. Rubio thinks "that's the future of the Republican Party because, frankly, on that I think depends the future of the country." 

Down the hall in the Meet the Press classroom, Chuck Todd asked Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) how he defines President Biden's call for unity. Rounds said "it begins... by recognizing that there are different points of view about how we move forward with regard to the pandemic." He said everyone has the same goal on that, but "what's the right philosophy?" He said the second thing, when it comes to unity, is how they're going to move things in the Senate.

Are we prepared to actually take and to look at both sides and what's the best of both? Can we sit down and actually work together on issues? 

They've done it before, and maybe infrastructure would be a good thing to try doing it again,  "... find out whether or not we can actually come to a consensus that will last long-term."  I totally agree with him on that, even as I question his two different definitions of unity.  

Todd asked if Biden's 7-million vote margin gave him a mandate on the COVID bill. Rounds says the two sides are "not that far off," particularly on the vaccine stuff. The "real challenge" is if the Dems will give up some things, using the minimum wage increase as an example.

... if you're going to talk about an emergency operation, why would you then include and demand that that be a part of it? I think that's just looking for a way not to get some things done that might very well have to be in the next couple of weeks.

Rounds thinks whether Trump committed an impeachable offense or not is moot - he's no longer the president. He also said, "...for right now, I think there are other things that we'd rather be working on instead."

I know that the Biden administration would love to have more of their cabinet in place. There's a number of Republicans who also feel the same way. We should allow this president the opportunity to form his cabinet and to get that in place as quickly as possible.

Finally, Rounds thinks we need a bipartisan election investigation, noting "probably 50M Americans" have questions about it. Todd said that's because they were lied to, but Rounds said "if you allow for an investigation to actually look, you're going to find that the election was fair." We should show the American people, he said.

Let's point out that -- if there's misinformation out there, which I believe there was, then let's put that out and lay it out so the people can see it... Republicans and Democrats alike should support that... the best way to do it is to work our way through it and... show them publicly how well it was actually run.

Finally, there were fireworks in the This Week classroom. George Stephanopoulos asked Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) if he accepts that this election was not stolen. Paul didn't give a yes or no answer, instead saying "the debate over whether or not there was fraud should occur." And, then it all went downhill. George is normal font; Rand Paul is italic.

I have to stop you there. No election is perfect. But there were 86 challenges filed by President Trump and his allies in court, all were dismissed. Every state certified the results - Chris, not for - after an investigation - Not for - but - count (ph), after investigations - of evidence. They were dismissed - counts and recounts. - for (inaudible). The Department of Justice led by William Barr said there's no widespread evidence of fraud. Can’t you just say the words, this election - No. was not stolen? Well, what I would suggest is - what I would suggest is that if we want greater confidence in our elections, and 75% of Republicans agree with me, is that we do need to look at election integrity and we need to see if we can restore confidence in the elections. Well, 75% of Republicans agree with you because they were fed a big lie by President Trump and his supporters to say the election was stolen. Why can't you say - Well, I think - President Biden won a legitimate, fair election -- I think where you make a mistake in -- hey, George. George. George, where you make a mistake is that people coming from the liberal side like you, you immediately say everything's a lie instead of saying there are two sides to everything. Historically what would happen is if said that I thought that there was fraud, you would interview someone else who said there wasn’t. But now you insert yourself in the middle and say that the absolute -Well -fact is that everything that I’m saying is a lie. Well, because - (Inaudible) fact - Senator, I said what the president said was a lie because - we’re going to - Hold on a second. He said the election was stolen. This election was not stolen.

Paul said he was going to spend "the next two years going around state to state and fixing these problems" and that he "won't be cowed by liberals in the media who say, there's no evidence here and you're a liar if you talk about election fraud." Um, isn't he supposed to be spending the next two years working for the people of Kentucky? 

See you around campus. Wear your mask. Wash your hands. Keep your distance. Do your homework and stuff.

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