Tag Archives: politics

Clint Eastwood Set the Bar

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James Van Der Beek thinks the Democratic National Committee is…badly mistaken…for declining to hold debates between President Joe Biden (D) and his Party so-called competitors for Presidential nomination in the upcoming Progressive-Democratic Party primary walkthrough.

I mean, what the hell? How is this a democracy?
I cannot get over the fact that the Democratic National Committee is saying there will not be a debate to decide the nominee for president. Are you f—ing kidding me? There’s no debate?

Clint Eastwood, some years ago at the 2012 Republican Party’s National Convention, demonstrated a debate technique and with it set the bar. He debated an empty chair that represented then-President Barack Obama. Even though the Republican candidate lost the election (for wholly unrelated reasons), Eastwood’s debate was hugely effective and was just as hugely well-known around our nation, even though he spoke in the Convention’s final hour.

Now, think about that. A Presidential candidate supporter took on an empty chair that represented the competitor.

Now think about those who are decrying Biden for being so reluctant to debate his competitors.

Think further about the current crop of Republican contenders for President, including one who may or may not show up for any debates.

If we look at Biden with dismay over his reluctance to debate his contenders, what are we to think of those contenders of either party who are too chicken even to debate an empty chair representing the no-shows?

After all, Eastwood has already demonstrated the utility of the technique.

Hype that Deadline

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Even The Wall Street Journal is in on the artificial…excitement…act. Congress has just a few days to pass a bill before June 5 deadline goes the subheadline.

It’s not much of a deadline, with revenue flowing in under existing tax laws that’s more than sufficient to pay as scheduled the principal and interest on our nation’s debt, and then the scheduled payments for our soldiers and veterans, and then the scheduled payments for Social Security and Medicare along with the scheduled transfers to the States for Medicaid, and then the scheduled payments for HHS, then DoT (for good or ill), then DoEd (for good or ill), then….

You get the idea.

There are only a couple of things of note should a debt ceiling deal not be enacted by 5 June (or whatever becomes Yellen’s deadline du jour). One is that much of the Federal government would have to shut down. That amounts to a big so what.

The other is that a number of Federal government contracts with private businesses would have their payments HIAed, to the detriment of those businesses. The failure to pay on time also would strongly negatively affect our economy and to a large extent our reputation around the world.

That last is a consideration worth taking very seriously, but not at the expense of enacting a debt ceiling deal, any deal. Republicans and Conservatives in the House need to stand firm. The present deal isn’t all that, but, to coin a phrase, think of the (Progressive-Democratic Party’s) alternative.

The deal also shouldn’t be stand-alone.

Some conservatives in the House and Senate have said they would oppose the deal because it doesn’t go far enough to limit federal spending….

One way to show they’re serious about that is via the as yet undeveloped Federal budget for the next fiscal year. Beginning Thursday (assuming today’s vote is up rather than down), the House—which is to say, the Republican caucus, since they’ll get no cooperation from the Never-and-Nothing-Republican Progressive-Democratic Party caucus—needs to begin work on that next Federal budget, a budget that codifies reduced Federal spending, reduced Federal tax rates, and reformed Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid transfer payments, and have that budget passed and ready to send to the Senate the day after that body votes on the debt ceiling bill.

And then the House—the Republican caucus—needs to get to work on the dozen separate appropriations bills that are due by this fall.

There’s no need to wait on a President’s budget proposal (what President Joe Biden (D) tossed over the House’s transom this winter is not one that can be taken seriously) or to put up with Progressive-Democrat obstructionism and knee-jerk “No.”

Press ahead.

Fair, Woke Style

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A biological male, claiming to be transgender, skied as a…girl…in the California-Nevada high school girls’ skiing tournament, and won it.

But: he’s still competing as in the boys’ category for biking.

How does this work, exactly?

It’s time to enforce Title IX and bar males from competing in female sports. It’s time for each State to bar males from competing in female sports in all State and local programs, whether or not the program takes Federal dollars.

Precisely Why

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken finally agreed to let House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R, TX) and Committee Ranking Member Greg Meeks (D, NY) personally view—in a State Department facility—the dissent cable regarding President Joe Biden’s (D) decision to…withdraw…from Afghanistan and the State Department’s official response to the dissent.

What McCaul said afterward:

The dissenters were absolutely right about everything they said. And it was a warning to the administration about what was going to happen and what they needed to do. [The dissenters] deserve a medal.
Unfortunately, the administration didn’t heed all their warnings and we got what we got.

What Meeks said afterward:

There’s nothing really that we didn’t know. There was a dissent cable, there was a reply and action that was being done.
Hopefully that puts to rest this whole thing about having a subpoena and the president is hiding something or whatever it is. That should be put to rest.

Contra Meeks’ effort to sweep the whole fiasco under the rug, the existence of sharply differing views by the Chairman and Ranking Member regarding the contents of the dissent and the reply are precisely why the material, completely unredacted, should be given over the Foreign Affairs Committee and, equally unredacted, made public for us in the public to read.

We’ll decide for ourselves the importance of the material, whether Biden is hiding something or whatever it is, whether Biden and others involved should be held accountable for the disaster, and of what that accountability should consist.

Meeks doesn’t speak for us. Meeks doesn’t even speak for all of his constituents. And neither do Blinken or Biden.

Stop “Preparing”

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The ongoing tussle between House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R, KY) and FBI Director Chris Wray over the latter’s refusal to satisfy a Committee subpoena to hand over an FBI form FD-1023 needs to stop being ongoing.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer on Wednesday announced that he would soon meet with FBI Director Christopher Wray to resolve a dispute between House Republicans and the bureau over its refusal to hand over a document that detailed an alleged bribery scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national.
Comer indicated he might seek a House vote hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress….

Comer needs to stop yapping about going to hold Wray in contempt, and have the Committee vote, and then have the House vote to hold him in contempt. Wray has already refused to turn over the document; there’s nothing to be gained with more pretty pleases, no matter how forcefully uttered.

Unfortunately, Comer seems satisfied with his first grade playground taunt of “boy, oh boy, when I get you.”