Wondering on Wednesday 2/24/21

Ready... Set... Wonder!

In no particular order, here's the stuff that's got me scratching my head tonight.

Neera Tanden, President Biden's choice to head the Office of Management and Budget, seems to be on a fast track to failure, as Joe Manchin (the most important Senator in the Universe, or something like that) is opposed and so are at least a few Republicans, including Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, and Rob Portman. The primary reason Tanden's nom is not looking good? She was a mean tweeter. 

One of her targets was Manchin's daughter, a pharma CEO allegedly having something to do with the exorbitant price of Epi-pens. Collins thinks that Tanden exhibits the kind of animosity that Biden has "pledged to transcend." Romney can't support someone who's sent "a thousand mean tweets." Portman says the OMB director needs to work "productively" with people on both sides of the aisle. And I wonder, why would the OMB director need to be held to a higher standard than the (former) president?

Merrick Garland, the guy who coulda woulda shoulda been a SCOTUS associate justice, looks well on his way to being confirmed as the next Attorney General of the United States; similarly, the standard for him is higher than for his predecessor, and for the former president. It cracks me up, the hypocrisy. Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a staunch Trump supporter, said that Garland met his 'sole' criteria - a promise to conduct investigations "without succumbing to political pressure." Really, Senator? When did you stumble upon your 'sole' criteria, I wonder?

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson? I just wonder about him generally. And Rep. Jim Jordan, too. They could be in the wondering every week.

US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told Congress yesterday they'll have to get used to him because he's going to be sticking around. He offered support for a plan to eliminate the need to pre-fund future health insurance costs, so that's progress. But he also suggested improving service by slowing down delivery of first-class mail, and said something about having the USPS stop using planes to move mail around the country. I wonder if he doing a CBA on a revived Pony Express? That would surely accomplish both of his goals.

At the same time, his longevity is potentially threatened by the pesky Biden administration's efforts to fill seats on the governing board. And they are not all white men, darn those inclusive Dems. I wonder if any of them have sent any mean tweets in the past? Hope not. 

And finally, watch this video of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R Mar-a-Lago) and #3 Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Purgatory) answer a question on whether 45 should appear a CPAC (the 'hug a flag like it's a porn star conference) this weekend, and wonder with me how long the Rs are going to put up with her refreshing honesty.

What are you wondering about?

In Case You Missed It (v62)

Let's dive in to the recap of last week's post, starting with Sunday School and Chuck Todd's interview with Mitt Romney. 

Among other things, Todd talked about the confusing logic with the thinking that only the presidential line on all of those ballots was rigged, but all of the down-ballot races, which saw Republican gains across the country, were not. 

Romney acknowledged the point, noting

I think you make an important point, which is a lot of Republicans, a lot of voters, voted for Republicans but did not vote for the president. And that suggests to me that conservative principles are still in the majority in our country.

He reiterated that, with a little more detail, when he said

...I think if you look at the numbers and look at the pickup that Republicans had in statehouses across the country, in Congress and holding the Senate so far, versus our loss in the presidency, you'd suggest that the presidential race was more a matter of a referendum on a person. And that when it came to policy, we did pretty well.

I agree with Mittens on that.

Moving on to last week's Extra Credit, I sat in on the panel discussion in the This Week classroom. Here are a couple of points, from Matthew Dowd, who worked on the Bush-Cheney campaign and is a commentator for ABC, and Chris Christie, former NJ gov and also a commentator for ABC. 

• Dowd, on what people were thinking: I'm tired of the chaos. I want calm. I really don't want to hear from the president every single day about every single thing. I think - a year and a half ago, somebody asked me what the slogan should be for a candidate running against Donald Trump and I said, Make America Boring Again.

• Christie, on how Rs are still sticking with Trump: I'm hoping that more Republicans more in the direction of saying, not that we don't support the president, he's been a friend of mine for 20 years, but friendship doesn't mean you're bling. Friendship means that you will listen to somebody, give them their opportunity, and if they don't come forward with the, with the proof, then it's time to move on.

More agreement with the Rs from me...

I offered a Quick Take on two groups of international observers of our election. One of them was from the Organization of American States (OAS), who spent some physical and virtual time across the country, including in battleground states. Among other things, they offered this in their preliminary report.

While the OAS Mission has not directly observed any serious irregularities that call into question the results so far, it supports the right of all contesting parties in an election, so seek redress before the competent legal authorities when they believe they have been wronged. It is critical however, that candidates act responsibly by presenting and arguing legitimate claims before the courts, not unsubstantiated or harmful speculation in the public media.

And, I agree with that as well. 

When it came to the Email of the Week post, I confess I wasn't as agreeable with a couple of the former rivals who offered post-election 'congratulatory' notes to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. For example, here's part of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's note; this came after her specific references to  what the Biden/Harris administration will bring to the White House and the country.

Warren, a capitalist, makes it boldly clear she's going to be staying in the game and pushing the Dems to not cave to lobbyists and big money.

Yes, our country is divided, but whenever they are asked, voters of both parties make it clear in overwhelming numbers that they don't want a government controlled by giant corporations and their lobbyists. In the past, steps to build unity and consensus in Washington have often meant turning over the keys to those corporations and lobbyists. We must resist this. 

The message I was looking for came via tweet, not email, from the democratic socialist in the race - That Guy from Vermont.  

And finally, the congratulatory note that I was most looking forward to? It wasn't in the form of an email, but rather in a tweet - but I'm still handing this one the coveted Email of the Week award. Not for what it says, but for what it doesn't. 

Unsurprisingly, I don't agree with TGFV on much at all. 

And then it was Friday and time for your TGIF fun and games - picking good-week and bad-week listers.  Which list would you put these folks on?

What else do we have today?  Oh -- Four Seasons Total Landscaping is selling shirts and stickers saying "Make American Rake Again" and "Lawn and Order," capitalizing on its new-found fame after hosting Rudy Giuliani's press conference the other day. Fun stuff, for sure -and good for them. No word yet on whether Rudy will make another appearance, maybe to autograph shirts to raise money for the president's legal fund. 

That's it -- your week in review. See you later for Sunday School.

Sunday School 11/8/20

For today's Sunday School, we had an interesting cast of characters to choose from. Utah's Sen. Mitt Romney was in three classrooms (I've got one of them); House Majority Whip Rep Jim Clyburn of South Carolina was scheduled for two (I've got him, too); and so was Maryland's Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. 

Others wandering around?  My Sonofa Gov Andrew Cuomo; South Dakota Gov Kristi Noem; Stacy Abrams (I've got her) and Sen. Joe Manchin of WVA (I've got him, too). 

Let's start with Clyburn and Abrams and their visits to the CNN State of the Union classroom, with Jake Tapper in the host's chair. Clyburn was asked about the little family feuding going on in the Democratic Party, specifically concerns that the progressives have made it hard for the party by forcing them further and further to the left.

Clyburn noted that he's long not been a fan of sloganeering, and pointed to a conversation he had with the late John Lewis.

John and I sat on the House floor and talked about that 'defund the police' slogan, and both of us concluded that it had the possibilities of doing to the Black Lives Matter movement and current movements across the country what "Burn, baby, burn" did to us back in 1960. We lost that movement over that slogan... and so, we saw the same thing happening here...

We need to work on what makes headway, rather than what makes headlines. 

As they say, "damn straight, Skippy."

In his chat with Stacey Abrams, whom many are crediting with delivering Georgia for Joe Biden, Tapper wondered about Dems and minorities, given that the president made "some inroads" with minority groups himself.

Abrams said, as pretty much every Tom, Dick and Harry has said since last Tuesday, "the Latino community is not a monolith." And while Latinos will be behind Biden's victories in Arizona, Nevada and even Georgia, the key is consistent engagement.

We began early on saying that this is not about black and white; this is about pulling together coalitions of people of color, of the poor, of the disadvantaged, of the marginalized, and being consistent with our engagement, not waiting for an election to meet them, and certainly not waiting until the end of an election to acknowledge their value.

We have been doing this work from the very beginning. But I also want to acknowledge the very strong work of progressive whites who've been working to help build these opportunities as well. We are not a majority-minority country yet. And that means that this is a coalition that has to be built and sustained across racial lines, across demography, across geography, because our mission should be the protection of our democracy and the action of progress for all.

I'll give her a "damn straight, Skippy" as well. 

I picked Meet the Press for my Mitt Romney interview, where Chuck Todd asked him about alleged 'rigged' voting, which the president is alleging. The question, in a nutshell, since we know it's possible that someone might have voted for Joe Biden for president but chose to vote for a Republican for Senate, does Romney think that if one vote on that ballot is 'rigged,' the others could be too.

Well, I think that's a pretty fair point... I think you make an important point, which is a lot of Republicans, a lot of voters, voted for Republicans but did not vote for the president. And that suggests to me that conservative principles are still in the majority in our country.

On that point, Todd mentioned Romney's 12-point win in Cobb County, in the Atlanta suburbs, which was the same margin Biden won by. So, while maybe there are still conservative values, is there a suburban problem for the Rs?

Romney noted that the Ds have their own problems, too. But he did make an interesting point.

...I think if you look at the numbers and look at the pickup that Republicans had in statehouses across the country, in Congress and holding the Senate so far, versus our loss in the presidency, you'd suggest that the presidential race was more a matter of a referendum on a person. And that when it came to policy, we did pretty well.

Back to the suburbs, Romney admitted the Rs have challenges, that they need to do better with young people and minorities, and that he thinks they can get the suburban women back, but "we've got some work to do."

And on whether it's still Donald Trump's Republican Party, Romney said Trump is the most powerful voice in the GOP.

He will have an enormous impact on our party going forward. I believe the great majority of people who voted for Donald Trump want to make sure his principles and his priorities are pursued. So, yeah, I mean, he's not - he's not disappearing by any means. He's the, you know, the 900-pound gorilla when it comes to the Republican Party.

A very angry 900-poung gorilla, it would seem.  

Finally, let's check in with Margaret Brennan's conversation with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin on Face the Nation. She asked him about the election being a wakeup call for senators, and what president-elect Biden's first order of business should be. 

Manchin said Biden wants to be a president for everyone, and that's exactly what he'll have to do.

Joe Biden got elected in a very, very contested primary, and all the nuances that were thrown on the Democratic Party is not who we are. He was not for any of this stuff. And I think Jim Clyburn said it best, that was an albatross around us. Basically, labeling every Democrat as a socialist or supporting socialism, that's not who we are. It's not who I am. It's not how we were raised. And it hurt a lot of good Democrats in rural America, Montana, for one. Other places around the country.

Brennan wondered about West Virginia going "ruby red" for Trump and wondered why the Dem's message break through there. It wasn't a good message he said, because the Dems had been tagged as socialists before they even had a chance to "remind people who we are."

Here is the thing, four years ago in rural America, in America in general, voted for Donald Trump because Democrats were mad, independents were mad. They thought they'd been left behind...They went from being mad to being scared in 2020. They were scared of this socialism that was thrown out there by a radical part of the so-called left that was throwing all this out, that basically scared the bejesus out of people and that hung on and hung on strongly. And it's not who we are. It is not who we are and it's not what we're about. And I have fought against that. Joe Biden has fought against that. We're not for New Green Deal. We're not for all the things that he's talked about, Medicare for all. We can't even pay for Medicare for some. We've got to take care of a lot of things.

Manchin took pains to separate Biden from the Green New Deal, when Brennan pushed on that. He said Biden's plan is all-inclusive and that we have to remain energy independent

To have the most powerful nation on earth, we can't be dependent on foreign-- on any foreigners-- foreign countries for our energy sources.

Innovation, not elimination, he believes. And he talks like Biden is on the same page with him.

Finally, Brennan wondered what the Biden administration would be able to get done, and whether the message from the election is that the Dems need to be moderate.

Manchin said he's always been moderate, and that he'd encourage his fellow Dems to "find the middle" if they can. He said they're not going to be able to govern "from the extremes or from the fringes" and, he added, 

... I've always said I'm fiscally responsible and socially compassionate. I believe most Americans are, my moderate Republican friends and the moderate Democrats. We've got to govern from that middle, that moderate middle. Joe Biden has always been there. He knows how to work across the aisle. He'll reach out first and make this Senate work and give it every chance he can... There'll be more and more crossing over wanting to work in a more moderate, moderate Senate. I really believe that.

Brennan was skeptical, and she didn't offer a "damn straight, Skippy" to Manchin. But I will. And I'll have more on the moderates vs. progressives stuff as things unfold. 

See you around campus. Keep your sense of optimism, keep your sense of joy, keep your happy feet moving - but listen to me when I tell you, keep your masks on. We're depending on you. 

We Deserve Consistency; We'll Get Hypocrisy

There was an article in Mother Jones reminding us of the positions of a number of current Republican Senators regarding an opening on the Supreme Court occurring in the last year of a president's term - a situation we face now, because of the passing of the #NotoriousRBG, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

We know the position of Mitch McConnell - the American people deserve to have their voice heard, and so the incumbent president (if that person is a Democrat, anyway) does not get to nominate someone - the incoming president does. McConnell has told us that's out the window, and the president has asked for swift confirmation of his nominee. We may know as early as Monday, it's been reported, who the nominee will be.  

And, of course, we know because of the tomfoolery of Harry Reid and other childish senators back in the day, it only takes a simple majority to confirm a lifetime appointment to the SCOTUS.  Three Republicans would need to refuse to vote at all, or to vote with the Democrats, in order to block Trump's pick. 

Right now, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski  seems to be a no, saying just yesterday before the announcement of Ginsburg's passing, that she would not vote to fill the seat before the election. And, as I write this, Maine's Susan Collins has tweeted, in part, 

Given the proximity of the presidential election, however, I do not believe that the Senate should vote on the nominee prior to the election. In fairness to the American people, who will either be re-electing the president or selecting a new one, the decision on a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court should be made by the president who is elected on November 3rd. 

We'll see if Mitt Romney or anyone else steps up to put a stop to McConnell and Trump. In the meantime, let's wander down memory lane and read the wise words spoken by these fifteen senators, all of whom, I'm sure, will let us down when push comes to shove. 

• Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO): I think we’re too close to the election. The president who is elected in November should be the one who makes this decision...We are deep in the heart of a political campaign, a divisive election, a divisive president, who has done nothing but overreached Congress time and time again. 

• Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX):With (Scalia's ) passing, the Constitution is unambiguous about what happens next. President Barack Obama has exercised his authority to nominate someone to fill the vacancy, but the Senate has an equal authority to determine whether to proceed with that nomination. I believe the American people deserve to have a voice in the selection of the next Supreme Court Justice, and the best way to ensure that happens is to have the Senate consider a nomination made by the next President...The direction of the court is now in question, and the Senate has an essential role to play. At this critical junction in our history, the American people should have the opportunity for their voice to be heard. Senate Republicans are committed to making sure that they do.

• Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) It has been 80 years since a Supreme Court vacancy was nominated and confirmed in an election year. There is a long tradition that you don’t do this in an election year...In an election year, we have a long tradition that a lame-duck president doesn't get to jam a Supreme Court nominee through on the very end. 

• Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-Trump): If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump’s term, and the primary process has started, we’ll wait to the next election. 

• Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL): The precedent's been set. It's been over 80 years now since, in the last year of the last term of a sitting president, there isn't Supreme Court nominees, 80 years. And there's a reason for that. And the reason is that the next president should have a chance to fill that void, not someone who's never going to answer to the electorate again. We're going to have an election this year. And in the election, people are going to get to choose a candidate for president. And part of that vote will be, what kind of nominee do you want, because we're going to be asked now who -- what kind of person or what kind of justice would you put on the Supreme Court? So, let the voters weigh in, in November, and then we will have an appointment. The court can function with eight justices. It does it all the time.

• Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) It makes the current presidential election all that more important as not only are the next four years in play, but an entire generation of Americans will be impacted by the balance of the court and its rulings... I will oppose this nomination as I firmly believe we must let the people decide the Supreme Court’s future.

• Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) “A lifetime appointment that could dramatically impact individual freedoms and change the direction of the court for at least a generation is too important to get bogged down in politics. The American people shouldn’t be denied a voice.

• Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) We will see what the people say this fall and our next president, regardless of party, will be making that nomination. We understand that, in November if people are unhappy with the way that we have been governing in the United States Senate, they would speak out. But from what we have heard, people are excited about the opportunity to voice their opinion through the ballot box, whether they’re Democrats, whether they’re Republicans... Let’s all talk about it and then in November we’ll have that decision. And if the decision is made that we have another Democratic president, that’s a decision we will live with.

• Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) The campaign is already under way. It is essential to the institution of the Senate and to the very health of our republic to not launch our nation into a partisan, divisive confirmation battle during the very same time the American people are casting their ballots to elect our next president. Vice President Biden (referring to Biden's 1992 remarks on a hypothetical SCOTUS opening) – and this is not something I’ve said very often – was absolutely correct. There should be no hearings. There should be no confirmation. The most pragmatic conclusion to draw is to hold the Supreme Court vacancy until the American people’s voices have been heard.

•  Sen. David Perdue (R-GA): The very balance of our nation’s highest court is in serious jeopardy. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I will do everything in my power to encourage the president and Senate leadership not to start this process until we hear from the American people. Given our global security crisis and debt crisis, the upcoming election will not only determine the direction of our country, but also serve as a referendum on the Presidency and Congress, and now the Supreme Court. President Obama's record of ruling through executive action and regulatory mandates has show he is willing to circumvent Congress and bypass the will of the people. (Note: for more information on president Trump and executive orders, check out my comments on Ivanka Trump's speech at the RNC here.)

• Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)  I strongly agree that the American people should decide the future direction of the Supreme Court by their votes for president and the majority party in the U.S. Senate.  America needs Supreme Court justices who share Justice Scalia's commitment to applying the Constitution as written and to the freedom it secures.

• Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) In the final year of a presidency, it is common for vacancies that arise on the Supreme Court to await the outcome of the next election. Given that we are already well into the presidential election process and that the Supreme Court appointment is for a lifetime, it makes sense to give the American people a more direct say in this critical decision. The next Court appointment should be made by the newly-elected president. If that new president is not a member of my party, I will take the same objective non-partisan approach to that nominee as I have always done.

• Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) In this election year, the American people will have an opportunity to have their say in the future direction of our country. For this reason, I believe the vacancy left open by Justice Antonin Scalia should not be filled until there is a new president.

• Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) There is 80 years of precedent for not nominating and confirming a new justice of the Supreme Court in the final year of a president’s term so that people can have a say in this very important decision.

• Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) I believe the best thing for the country is to trust the American people to weigh in on who should make a lifetime appointment that could reshape the Supreme Court for generations. This wouldn’t be unusual. It is common practice for the Senate to stop acting on lifetime appointments during the last year of a presidential term, and it’s been nearly 80 years since any president was permitted to immediately fill a vacancy that arose in a presidential election year.

Note that, while the bulk of the information comes from the Mother Jones article, it generously included the source of the quotes they used, and I reviewed those for additional or alternate information.

What's your best bet?  Will there be a vote before the election? Will Trump threaten anyone who dares to even hint that they might not toe the line? Will someone stand up and say they don't give a crap whether Trump endorses them or not, and vote against him? 

I think you know my thoughts on those questions -- and I'm happy to hear yours. 

OrangeVerse L: You Know the Game, Right?

Part three of the free-flowing verse from Trump's post-impeachment, post- National Prayer Breakfast victory lap.

It seems I grossly misunderestimated my ability to corral his verse and get it into two parts, and I'm not sure I'll get it done today.

Here are links to It's Always Festivus and I'm So Proud of Myself, the first two poetic masterpieces from the Stable Genius and his remarks to the nation.  You might remember in the first part, he started talking about wanting to thank certain people but ended up airing grievances. In the second part, still threatening to start naming names, he did praise Mitch McConnell, and he did slam those who swore an oath, but most of the rest of it was deadly sin-type stuff.

We're well into his remarks in this part, and finally he starts talking about people other than himself - and that got me thinking about that old childhood game.

Red Rover, Red Rover...

But we have some of

the folks that are going to be leaving

right after this, and they work hard - 

and they did work hard. 

Send Bill Cassidy on Over

Bill Cassidy, Senator.

Stand up Bill. What a guy. Great man

When I need to know about health insurance

and preexisting conditions and

individual mandates, I call Bill or Barrasso.

We get those two guys; they know

more than anybody.

Send Mike Braun on Over

A man who just became

a senator - he's a little bit like me;

we have a couple of them.

A very successful guy in business and he said

"what the hell, I'll run for the Senate" - from Indiana.

And he ran. And I saw him on television...

I said "You know this guy could win" and I got behind him.

And Mike Braun, you have done some great job.

Thank you. Tough. Tough. Thank you.

Send Chuck Grassley on Over

A man who got James Comey

to choke and he was just talking

in his regular voice. He is the

roughest man... actually an unbelievable - 

and I appreciate the letter you sent me today. I got it. 
But he's got this voice scares people. 

You know, people from Iowa 
can be very tough. 
We're doing 
very well in Iowa.

But I'll tell you 
Chuck Grassley... 
Chuck Grassley

is an incredible guy.

Send Josh Hawley on Over

And a man who - you know - he was running

against a tough, smart campaign and we 
learned how good she was, right? 

...And I went to a great place - Missouri - 
and I said "who do you have to beat her?" 

And they said "Well we have four people.
I said "let me see them. I've got to interview... - "

can you imagine?  I'm interviewing people

for the United States Senate. 

This is what I do. 
Where have I gone? 
But I love it...

The first one I met was Josh Hawley.

After about ten minutes I said

"don't show me anybody else." 

You were unbelievable. 

You were tough.

And you are something. 

Send Mitt Romney Donald Trump on Over

And then you have some

that used religion as a crutch.

They never used it before.

An article written today:

"Never heard him use it before."

But today, you know, it's one of those things.

Send Mike Lee on Over

A man who is brilliant,

...comes from a great state,

Utah, where my poll numbers 

have gone through the roof 

and one of the senators'

poll numbers, and not this one, 

went down big.

You saw that. You saw that, Mike? 

But Mike Lee is a brilliant guy. 

He's difficult... Whenever I sign bills - 

you know, we do a lot of legislation

that's - it's big and it's powerful

but it's sort of everybody 

has to approve it. 

And I see 99 to 1 - 99 to 1 - I say

"don't tell me who's the one. Is it Mike?"

And say hello to the people of Utah and tell them

"I'm sorry about Mitt Romney."

Send Jerry Nadler on Over
But we're going to,
we're going to do a job and
we're going to win a lot of seats.
We're going to win a lot of seats.
People are very angry that
Nancy Pelosi and all of these guys -
I mean - Nadler - I know him
much of my life; he's fought me
in New York for 25 years.
I always beat him.
And I had to beat him another time.
And I'll probably have to beat him again.
Because if they find
that I happen to walk across the street
and maybe go against the light or something,
"let's impeach him."
So we'll probably have to do it again
because these people have gone stone-cold
crazy but I've beaten them
all my life and I'll
beat them again
If I have to but
what they're doing is
very unfair very unfair.

There's more -- lots and lots more, which maybe we'll do, and maybe we won't because it might be very unfair, very unfair to put you through it. 

Wondering on Wednesday (v196)

Ready... Set... Wonder!

So, we heard from #IMPOTUS last night about the State of the Union - and what a production it was. 

It started out with Trump not shaking Nancy Pelosi's hand, moved to her not giving him the  traditional introduction, and then got into the heart of Trump's real or imagined accomplishments, many of which the Republicans have never been in favor of before, and really aren't in favor of today. But those things, including all that talk about women and blacks and Asians and stuff- and sucking up to the president, or course - keep them in office, so it's all good. 

At the end of it all, after some 90 or so sniff-free minutes,, there was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tearing up her copy of Trump's speech. 

People are unlikely to remember the numbers and lies and misstatements and alternative facts, and even the truths he recited, They'll be unlikely to remember the guests, including Venezuela's Juan Guaido, a Philly fourth-grader, the obligatory families of crime and terror victims, and a family reunification in the balcony? No, not *that* kind - don't be silly. It was a four-times-deployed soldier and his family. People will probably remember the centenarian Tuskegee Airman and his great-grandson. But will they remember 

• chants of "four more years" and "USA USA USA" but surprisingly, not "Lock Him Up" - I wonder if that's because there could be confusion on who 'him' was, Trump or Biden? Nope.
• Lots of women in suffragette white (ADD fact: Bowie's 'Suffragette City' was recorded on 2/4/72);  some walked out; others chose not to attend at all. Maybe, but not for more than a couple of days.
• chants of "H.R. 3" from the Dems, telling the Senate to do something with their bill on prescription drug costs instead of waiting for Trump to do one? Again, probably not, since that's just one of some 400 bills that the Senate is ignoring;
• or a Parkland parent being escorted out, and later, apologizing. I hope he gets remembered. 

People should long remember the gag-inducing presentation of the Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh, misogynist-racist-birther-rude guy extraordinaire - because that should go down in history as one of the worst moments in SOTU history, I think.

But people will definitely remember Pelosi's stunt. About that, I don't wonder a single bit.

Because every Republican running for re-election will have that video clip in their ads. The president will be showing it at his rallies, probably with unlicensed music blaring in the background. He'll mention it in his daily calls to his personal news network. 

It will be tweeted hundreds of thousands of times, in this kind of context, ludicrous as it is. 

Trump's base is in an uproar, and will continue to be, especially since he was just officially acquitted on both counts of impeachment, and because they are looking for red meat to chomp on until November. And he's got way more advocates - and money - and experience - for that kind of thing than anybody else. 

The Dems and Independents and non-affiliateds? Well, no surprise there - three camps:

• "Whoo hoo, Pelosi rocks, that was awesome!" Or
• "Well, she probably shouldn't have done it, but come on, Trump has torn up the Constitution and is a con man and just invited election interference from a foreign country and and and...", Or
• "What the actual hell was she thinking?" 

No need to wonder where I stand on that.  Or where this guy stands.

A couple of other things this week? First, you don't need to wonder if SecState Mike Pompeo watches The Simpsons. Clearly, with his hopelessly wrong tweet, sent from his personal account, the answer is no. 

Trying to clap back at Pelosi for her speech-tearing move, he thought this was a good meme. Sadly, for him at least, she tore up her speech because, as she saw in person, 

The city of Washington was built on a stagnant swamp some 200 years ago, and very little has changed. It stank then and it stinks now – only today it is the fetid stench of corruption that hangs in the air.

And finally, on the day that Utah's Senator Mitt Romney became the first person to vote in favor of convicting his own party's president in an impeachment trial, you don't have to wonder - at all - what the reaction would be from said party. 

It seems they're calling for him to be kicked out of the GOP. 

#MAGAMA

Wondering on Wednesday (v160)

And just like that, it's Wednesday again - time flies when you combine vacation with back to back holidays, I guess!

So, what are we wondering about this first Wednesday of the new year? Let's take a look.

The president decided again to abuse the trademark of Game of Thrones, putting an outdated, ridiculous poster the table at his cabinet meeting. I'm not sure how long it stayed on the table - he could have pulled it immediately after the press left the room. When he posted this on social media back in November, HBO noted they're prefer their trademark not be "misappropriated for political purposes."

So I'm wondering how a guy who IS a brand - nothing more, nothing less - would react if we all made posters that completely stole the Trump brand, mocked it up to meet our own designs, and then published them, maybe on billboards, or TV ads? Would he sit idly by? Oh wait: that would be unethical, so we wouldn't do that. Never mind.

What else is going on? A Romney family feud,  Elizabeth Warren grabs a beer, and a governor roars.

Wondering, on Wednesday (v19)

A world of wonder out there, don't you think?

A person who had a relative killed by an enemy sniper in World War II announced that he was taught that snipers were cowards. And was promptly told to shove pretty much everything up pretty much everywhere, because implying that sniping (an invading, he added) were less than noble pursuits means that he's un-American.  Going out on a limb here but I suspect anyone who lost a loved one in this manner would consider the perpetrator to be a coward, including any of the people who are so enraged about the tweet sniped around the world.

And I wonder, why is it that so many of the people who are so enraged about the exercise of free speech by the author of the tweet can't express their rage without telling him to shut the blank up and advise that "until he has gone to war" he cannot comment on anything related a movie about a soldier, or about this soldier, or about war? Ou est Charlie?

Have you figured out yet, based on the news stories coming ahead of the State of the Union (SOTU) address and since then, who's in the running for 2016?  The Dems have Hillary Clinton, of course, and Mitt Romney. And now Joe Biden is likely in as well, or at least talking like he's literally thinking about it. I don't know about you, but I'm wondering what those primary debates are going to look like?

And of course there was the SOTU itself.  President Obama talked about free community college, and a middle class economy, and taxing the rich, and trade and some other stuff.  And, oh yeah -- seems he won a couple of elections too? How long before the Republicans get over that slap in the face, I wonder?

And speaking of getting over things, how long before folks of Hispanic heritage get over the portrayal of the 'Three Amigos'  that our Sonofa Governor plopped into his 'Opportunities Agenda' speech this afternoon? Other than Cuomo himself, did anyone laugh?

The Dirty Snowpile Awards for 2013

All the big Hollywood award shows are over, Ben Affleck has shaved off his beard, and the good, bad, and ugly of fashion have been all been identified. And now, as the temperature here in Syracuse heads north of 60 degrees, it's time for the Dirty Snowpile Awards. I'm sure this year's winners will be just as proud as those from  2010 and 2011  to receive this prestigious honor.

So where do we start?  We had a lot of material to choose from, no question about that -- and we have a repeat winner or two this time around, some 'defending champions', if you will.  Here goes:

The 'Put an Idiot Bumper Sticker on your Own Forehead' Dirty Snowpile goes to John Sununu, for his engaging and idiotic appearance with Soledad O'Brien on CNN.  Sununu, who suggested O'Brien put an Obama bumper sticker on her forehead, was trying to make a point by referencing an actual document - the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) assessment on the costs of repealing the
Affordable Care Act - and pretending it said the ACA cut Medicare benefits by over $700 billion.  This was not the case, but it didn't matter to Sununu - say something loud enough and often enough and people will believe you.  Unless it's Soledad O'Brien, who actually read the CBO letter and called Sununu on the lie- er, misstatement.

The 'Groucho Marx' Dirty Snowpile goes to National Rifle Association (NRA) Executive Director Wayne LaPierre, for embodying the oft-cited Groucho quote about belonging to a club that would have him as a member. LaPierre, by his comments after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, his statements after other mass shootings that it was 'too soon' to talk about them, and his inflammatory statements since then, has done more to fan the flames of gun control advocates than the horrific shootings themselves.  The NRA would do themselves a favor if they found another mouthpiece.


The 'Talk Less, Do More' Dirty Snowpile goes to jointly to Congress and President Obama. All of them need to get to work.  Recent attempts at playing nice (Obama taking Senate Republicans to dinner, or having lunch with House Republicans) are fine but we don't need any more photo ops. We know what you all look like, we know what you think is important -- but we don't need photo opportunities, we need real opportunities.  Remember what they say: "you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need." Now's the time to try.

On a related note, the 'Who the (Heck) are You' Dirty Snowpile goes to the handful of people who still approve of Congress.  Approval rates have fluctuated a bit over the past several months, but I don't remember when it was even as high as 20%. I'm reminded of when we were kids, not excited about eating our vegetables.  Dad would tell us there were starving kids in other countries who would love to have our food, one day, my brother challenged him to name one. Can anyone name one of these 'approvers'?

And then we have the 'Wading Through Roe v. Wade' Dirty Snowpile to, well, to everyone - male or female, Democrat or Republican - who said anything about rape and abortion in the last election cycle.  We had Akin  and women's bodies 'shutting that thing down' and Mourdock with 'God's intent' and jokes about aspirin being a contraceptive and Louise Slaughter with her Nazi references -- it's all nonsense.  If people want to try and legislate abortion away, so be it -- it will be up to the courts, ultimately, to decide whether any new law are legal. In the meantime, can we please just stop letting the stupid people talk about it?


The thing about dirty snowpiles is, the dirtier they are, the longer they stick around. Sometimes it feels like that with our elected officials, doesn't it? It's a pretty good thing that you can control the budget of the agency you formed to investigate your own allegedly bad behavior, isn't it? Kind of makes it hard for that agency to do a good job, when with the stroke of a pen the funding can be cut. But that's the way it works for the Congressional Ethics Office, under the House Ethics Committee.  And speaking of ethics, say goodbye to Jesse Jackson Jr. (and his wife) who agreed to fess up to stealing money from campaign contributors. Let's give these folks the 'House (of Cards) Ethics' Dirty Snowpile; this one looks ready to tumble over any minute.

And what about the Presidential contest last year? Lots of Republicans, fighting each other, and in the end they all lost. Not because they were bad, but because of which one of them won. And so, the 47% Dirty Snowpile goes to none other than Mitt Romney. We all remember the 47% comment, right? That, and all those gifts that Obama gave to voters. Yeah, that's what it was, the 47% and those stinking gifts.

Albany has its own set of issues, apart from the fun that everyone has in Washington.  Here in New York, we have Andrew Cuomo, that Sonova Governor, who was elected fairly easily.  Now, apparently, he thinks he's the Supreme Commander of the Empire (State -- you're the Governor of the Empire State, Andrew). It doesn't, but apparently no one's told him that yet.

Cuomo earned One Man in a Room Dirty Snowpile. Cuomo blew a perfectly good opportunity to craft legitimate gun legislation; he shot it all to hell, actually, by pushing an emergency bill, and by not focusing on the things that people generally agree on. Instead, the NY SAFE Act, shoved down the throats of New Yorkers, satisfies no one.  Typos and bad law passed under cover of darkness (led by the Transparency Governor) don't make NY SAFE.  They make us look like morons.

And speaking of morons. The 'My Future's So Bright, I Have to be a Republican' Dirty Snowpile goes to State Senator Malcolm Smith, the sitting Democrat who tried to bribe his way into the Bloomberg Post as a Republican. I'm not sure whether this says more about his creativity or the foolishness of his partners in crime, so anxious to have any politician in their pocket they'd take one of any stripe.

There will be more to fall as Preet Bharara, the rising star US Attorney for the Southern District of NY, continues to investigate. And that will be a good thing for all of us who lose a little bit of faith in the system each and every year.

Sadly, I could hand out as many awards as there are dirty snowpiles here in Syracuse during an average spring. And even though temps are starting to get up there, we do still have a couple of dirty snowpiles left in town.  So, I'll do one more -- we'll have an even 10 this year.

The 'Make Mine a Single' Dirty Snowpile goes to local State Senator John DeFrancisco, for applauding himself for not double-dipping (retiring to collect a pension and continuing to collect a salary as a legislator at the same time).   While some think it's laudable that he chose not to double-dip, DeFrancisco's comments when questioned by a reporter left a few things to be desired.  He started out OK, noting that he wasn't really retired, and I agree that seems pretty simple and straightforward.  But then, he added

If I get hit by a car tomorrow and I died, it would be a $100,000 benefit, which is probably about two years pension and then my wife has nothing further. That's a real concern. 

Yeah, that's a real concern for everyone who works, Senator, including the taxpayers who support your $113,000 salary and who will be paying the $50,000 pension you've earned on your part-time job.  But we're glad you're taking care of yourself first, we really are.

And with that, the snow shovel is in the shed until next winter.

Move On: The Poetry of Barbara Bush

Former First Lady Barbara Bush, her daughter-in-law former First Lady Laura Bush, and members of other First Families spoke at a conference on the Enduring Legacies of America's First Ladies in Austin, Texas recently.  Regarding the results of the election, the Romney supporter was anything but wistful.

I'm tired now of the elections.
People spoke.
Move on,
get on with it.
I want to do other things
and
not to be ugly.

Sunday School 11/11/12

The Sunday talk shows had the fiscal cliff, the Petraeus scandal, and more. 

First, this was the best from Face the Nation (CBS). Host Bob Scheiffer, commenting on the election and money, talked first about Linda McMahon, who lost for the second time in the race for senate in Connecticut, after spending $100 million. Schieffer, again, was right on the money (pun intended): 

And what about that Las Vegas casino owner, Sheldon Adelson? How do you think he feels? He poured sixty million dollars into eight super PACs. That's a record for political contributions. But not one of his eight candidates won. But he's from Vegas. He knows it's all a roll of the dice anyway. I have never been one to tell people how to spend their money. It is their money. They can spend it as they choose and the Supreme Court says they can spend all of it on politics now, if they like. But I can remember the days when rich people gave their extra cash to charity. They actually sometimes saw some great results.

Over on NBC's Meet the Press, Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) chatted about the fiscal cliff.  Schumer talked about how the Senate got the message in 2010 on cutting revenue, bot offered this in relation to the House and revenue:

We never really get real revenues because people believe in some things like dynamic scoring, sort of a counterintuitive view that if you cut taxes you will get deficit reduction and increased government revenues. It doesn’t make sense. I call it Rumpelstiltskin, after the gnome who turned straw into gold. It’s a fairy tale. So we need the Republicans to do in 2012 what we did in 2010. We hear the mandate, continue to cut spending, but they have to hear the mandate, real revenues, not this kind of stuff like dynamic scoring that Speaker Boehner did mention.

Rumpelstiltskin?  Didn't he stomp his foot so hard he fell into an abyss? And wasn't it his right foot?  Is Schumer on to something here?

This Week (ABC) saved the best conversation for the round table discussion. During a discussion on why Mitt Romney didn't win,  George Stephanopolous asked Congressman Aaron Schock (R-IL) about young voters, the under -30 demographic which went for Obama.  In response, Schock offered this:

We have got to do a better job with young people, we've got to a better job with women, but the group that we really have to zero on I believe is the Latino community, a group that really should be voting for Republicans to the degree we take a leadership role on the issue of immigration. And I think it makes sense for Republicans to get out in front on immigration, because it's a broke government program. And who better to fix a broken government program than the Republican party. 

Right... Who better?  

It's All Over - and it's Just Beginning

The results from Florida are in, and we now 'officially' have a winner, if there was any doubt outside Fox News headquarters that President Obama has won the election.

The final tally, shows Obama winning the popular vote, 61 million and change to Romney's 58 million and change. The electoral vote count, with Florida's 29 in the Blue column, stands at 332 - 206.

In his concession speech on Tuesday, Mitt Romney offered the following:

The nation, as you know, is at a critical point. At a time like this we can't risk partisan bickering and political posturing. Our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the people's work, and we citizens also have to rise to occasion.

Pundits and historians are trying to figure out why, when as Romney indicates we need leaders to reach across the aisle, we chose to maintain the status quo in Washington -- Republicans entrenched in the House, Democrats in the Senate, and Obama in the White House.  I think it's really pretty easy to understand -- just ask Tip O'Neill:  All politics is local.

When we vote for our representatives and senators, we're voting to have them do good things for us back home, to bring money back in return for the taxes we pay. For the most part, we have a very narrow focus on our own backyards first, then the larger issues of state government and finally Washington, in ever-expanding circles around us. 

And when we're asked if we have a positive or negative view of those we have elected, we like to think that 'our' representative is doing a good job, but it's the rest of them - particularly the leadership -that are horrible.  To me this is obvious; we saw it in the ads in the race for the NY-24.  Ads run in support of Ann Marie Buerkle mentioned Nancy Pelosi, as if any one in this district gives a hoot about her.  Ads in support of Dan Maffei, who won, sometimes showed John Boehner and others in the House leadership.  Regardless of which side it was, when mentioning any of these names, it was obligatory to sneer.

Rather than worrying about why we did what we did, why people voted the way they did, we would be better serviced if we focused on something else Mitt Romney said in his farewell:

We look to job-creators of all kinds. We're counting on you to invest, to hire, to step forward, and we look to Democrats and Republicans in government at all levels to put the people before the politics.

Hear, hear.   We need people to get with the program, as Americans defined it on Tuesday, and put people before politics. I have never agreed with Mitt Romney more.

Are You Better Off?

UPDATED:  The election was called for President Obama tonight, before 11:15 PM Eastern time, which is surprising in and of itself. 

The President won the expected states, including New York, California,  and Pennsylvania, a state that the Romney campaign spent a lot of time and money on at the end. 

He also won Michigan, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts, the home states of the Romney/Ryans. He won New Hampshire. And he won Ohio, in large part because of Romney's missteps on the auto bailout.

In the end, regardless of why voters did what they did, we have a lot of work to do.

My original post:
I know my vote for President has already been counted, so to speak, as New York is solidly a blue state, based on the overwhelming number of Dems in our major cities. Because of them, we don’t have the distinction of being a ‘key state’ like Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa, or tiny New Hampshire, with its critical four electoral college votes. 

New York is so safe that I’ve only seen a handful of ads for the top contest, and I think if there hadn’t have been for Hurricane Sandy, or whatever you want to call her, we might not be seeing any Romney or Obama ads at all here in Syracuse.

All of the pundits have spoken; the polls have been taken; the editorial endorsements have come out; and now, finally, I get my say as to whether we're better off now than we were four years ago.  Here's some thinking on that:

• When Barack Obama took the oath of office in January 2009, the Dow Jones was at 8279.63.  It closed yesterday (11/5/12) at 13,112.44. 
• The first unemployment figure reported during the Obama administration was 8.3% in February 2009.  It got as high as 10%, when we were in the worst of things, and it’s now 7.9%.
• The Consumer Confidence Index was at 38. It’s now at 72.2.

When Barack Obama took office, Osama bin Laden was alive, and we had no idea when we would be bringing our troops home from two wars. 

Before March 2010, when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed, we had no idea - not a clue - about how we were going to tackle the problem of the uninsured in America, which is an embarrassment for the world's greatest democracy.

We had "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"- formalized discrimination - in the military. And we had the banking crisis, and the housing crisis, and the auto industry crisis.

And now? Listen, I don't pretend for a second that we're in a perfect world, that we got everything what we hoped for when Obama was elected.  Certainly I wish he could have done more (Simpson Bowles financial reforms, elimination of waste and redundancy in federal programs, and so on), and in some cases I wish he had done less (Solyndra). 

The unemployment rate is not great, clearly, but it's improved even without Congress taking action on the President's jobs bill, and even in the face of the loss of several hundred thousand government jobs (a cornerstone of the R's smaller government plans at the national and state level).  

I certainly wish he could have done more with Congress, even though as we all know, the Republican mantra, (spoken publicly by Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell but shared by the rest of them) was  "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."

Well, I disagree. I don't trust Mitt Romney, because I don't think he really believes in anything, other than his own success. I think he's a successful businessman - he's obviously got a lot of money  - who plays by the business rules that are geared to help ensure businesses succeed, regardless of the impact on people.  I don't believe he has any real intention of changing the rules on businesses, other than making them weaker, when in some cases - not all - they should be stronger.  I also don't want a president who has signed any pledge for any organization, including Grover Norquist's anti-tax pledge. 

I don't know what his convictions are, because they change all the time, and so I doubt he has courage regarding them.

I don't believe we should completely throw caution to the wind when it comes to the environment, climate change (regardless of how it's caused), and how we use federal lands, which belong to you and me. I get the feeling that Mitt Romney would be perfectly happy having a picnic next to an oil rig in Yellowstone Park -- but that's not my vision of America.

I do not believe half of Americans perceive themselves as victims; I don't believe in redistribution of wealth from people to corporations, and I don't believe in extreme corporate welfare any more than I believe in extreme people welfare. I do not believe that corporations are people too. I am not better off with that thinking, that I can see so far.

Rather, I happen to think that America is better than kids being entitled to 'the best education their parents can afford'; that we are better than marriage discrimination; that we are more than our employment figures. I believe that we are more than the wars we fight. I believe we're better than people having to work until they're in their 70's to collect their retirement benefits.

I happen to think that we are part of a larger global community, not only militarily but in every other way, and we need to continue to be part of that larger picture if we are to be successful, if we're to remain the beacon of hope for the rest of the world. I also think we're better than a Mitt Romney administration.

Are we better off than we were four years ago? Yes, I believe we are,  and I believe that if President Obama gets reelected, we will be better off in four years than we are today.