Posts Tagged ‘Republicans’
September 9th, 2011 by John Feehery
It was back to school night in the Feehery Household, so I missed the President’s address to the Congress.
Bummer.
I knew the President was giving a big speech because all the roads around the Capitol were closed, complicating my effort to find parking at Back to School Night (my son’s school is about 4 blocks from the white domed building).
I can’t say I was that disappointed to miss the speech. In my Congressional career, I saw plenty of joint sessions where a President makes this or that speech. I remember when George Bush the first gave an address to Congress where he tried, in vain, to shift his attention to the fascinating things that were happening in the rest of the world to a domestic agenda back here at home. But Bush didn’t have much of the “vision” thing, and he ultimately lost. Read more...
Tags: America, Americans with Disabilities Act, Back to School Night, Barack Obama, Bill Daley, Blacks, budget deficits, Bush tax cuts, Civil Rights bill, Clean Air Act, Congressional Republicans, Dodd-Frank, George Bush, Government, high unemployment rates, Hispanics, John Boehner, medicare, Native Americans, Obamacare, Osama Bin Laden, Persian Gulf War, Politics, President Obama, President’s address to the Congress, Republicans, Sam Skinner, short-term economic stimulus, Social Security, state and local unions, Supercommittee, TARP, taxes, The Obama speech, Unemployment, White House, Women
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, Government, History, Media, Politics, Promises, Theory, Unemployment, health care, housing crisis, speeches, spending, taxes | No Comments »
September 2nd, 2011 by John Feehery
According to Wikipedia, Labor Day has traditionally been the last time it is fashionable for ladies to wear white. This weekend, it might be the time that President Obama starts waving the white flag of surrender.
Labor Day was born out of conflict. Grover Cleveland signed legislation making Labor Day a holiday in 1884 six days after the Pullman strike ended. Cleveland signed it as a peace offering to the labor movement, which was still pretty raw after the national strike where Federal troops were called in and 13 strikers were killed.
This history remains relevant today.
The Labor Department announced today that the American economy created zero jobs in August. Zero. That hasn’t happened since the end of the Second World War – September of 1945 – when people were so busy celebrating the defeat of the Japanese that they didn’t have time to create any jobs.
Some economists are saying that the dreary job numbers were caused, in part, by the debate over the debt ceiling. I find that hard to believe.
There are plenty of other reasons, including the actions of both this President and of the labor movement. Read more...
Tags: America, American Small Business League, ASBL, Barack Obama, Boeing, Catholic school, Congress, Conservatives, Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Gibson Guitar, GOP, Government, Grover Cleveland, job creation, Jobs, John Boehner, Justice Department, Labor Day, labor movement, National Labor Relations Act, National Labor Relations Board, NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, Politics, President Obama, Pullman strike, Republican-controlled House, Republicans, spending, St. Xavier University, The Labor Department, the Obama Administration, Verizon, Washington Examiner, World War II
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Laws, Politics, Promises, Religion, Theory, Unemployment, bad news | 1 Comment »
August 31st, 2011 by John Feehery
Hurricane Irene blew in to Washington over the weekend and the biggest casualty was the Martin Luther King Memorial ceremony.
It turns out that the weather was pretty nice on Sunday afternoon, and the event could have still occurred, but it is hard to predict the weather.
It’s also hard to predict the future.
Are we as a country moving forward on the whole concept of racial harmony or are we moving backward?
Congressman Andre Carson said today that certain members of the Tea Party want to see black lawmakers “hanging on a tree.”
I wonder if Alan West and Tim Scott, two of the most influential Tea Party members of Congress (who coincidentally happen to be black), want to hang their fellow Congressional Black Caucus members up a tree.
I doubt it.
Carson believes that the Tea Party is to blame for the fact that unemployment is so high in the black community.
I find that hard to believe.
I guess it is far easier to blame a bunch of white conservatives than it is to blame the nation’s first black President.
The Tea Party hasn’t really had much of an impact on the President’s policies, not yet anyway. Read more...
Tags: affirmative action, African-Americans, Al Sharpton, Alan West, America, Barack Obama, Congress, Congressman Andre Carson, Conservatives, Democrats, Economy, election, first black President, George W Bush, GOP, hurricane Irene, Martin Luther King Memorial ceremony, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn, Msnbc, Obama, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Politics, racism, raising taxes, Republicans, spending, taxes, Tea Party, Tim Scott, Washington
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, Government, History, Media, Politics, Presidential election, Religion, Theory, bad news, election, poverty, spending, taxes, terrorism | No Comments »
August 30th, 2011 by John Feehery
John Wayne is still my favorite Hollywood star.
No matter which one of his movies comes on the television screen, I will stop what I am doing and watch it.
The Quiet Man is perhaps my favorite, but Rio Grande, The Searchers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, all are very close in my estimation.
Another favorite is The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. I watched that classic western with my brother-in-law. It co-starred Jimmy Stewart as the intellectual lawyer who thought he could conquer the wild West and Lee Marvin as the evil and deadly Liberty Valance.
This is a great movie on many levels. John Wayne, of course, plays the tragic hero figure in the flick. He is the one who actually shoots Valance, but loses the girl. Stewart gets credit for killing Valance, wins the girl and ultimately becomes the successful politician who actually brings civilization to the lawless territory.
In real life, Jimmy Stewart was a hero in the Second World War. He flew multiple bombing missions against the Germans as a Captain of a B-52 squadrons, and he retired a general. John Wayne never killed anything in his life, except maybe a few bottles of tequila. Read more...
Tags: America, American history, Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, election, GOP, Government, Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Mitt Romney, Politics, Presidential election, Republicans, Rick Perry, Rio Grande, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, White House
Posted in GOP, Government, History, Hollywood, Politics, Presidential election, Theory | 2 Comments »
August 17th, 2011 by John Feehery
“I mean, printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history, is almost treacherous, or treasonous, in my opinion”.
That was Rick Perry’s comment about Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve.
Karl Rove said that the comments “went too far.” Others called them unpresidential. The current President, Mr. Obama, said it was a sign that Mr. Perry wasn’t quite ready for prime time.
From an historic standpoint, the Texas Governor’s statement was more than a little bit interesting. Perry has positioned himself as a conservative populist. A hero to social conservatives (witness the National prayer service thing he hosted). He also fancies himself to be a populist, fighting against Washington and New York banking interests.
Historically speaking, though, his fight against Bernanke’s easy money policy is a fight for New York banking interests. This was most notable in the fight in the late 19th century between interests that wanted a bimetal system that would expand the money supply by basing the currency on both silver and gold, and those who wanted to constrict the money supply by basing it purely on a gold standard. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Ben Bernanke, Conservatives, Cross of Gold speech, Democrats, Economy, election, Federal Reserve, GOP, Government, Presidential election, Republicans, Rick Perry, spending, William Jennings Bryan
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Politics, Presidential election, election | No Comments »
August 16th, 2011 by John Feehery
The first thing you notice when you walk into the Best Buy in Sarasota, Florida is how smart the employees are. Bob, a former Marine and probably retired from something else, was a tech nut who knew all about televisions and could recite chapter and verse about the differences between a plasma screen and LED television.
Bob probably didn’t envision himself working at age 65 at a Best Buy, but in Florida – as in other parts of the country – getting a job wasn’t much of an option. We didn’t talk much about his personal life, but my guess is that he saw the value of his nest egg go down and he decided that retirement was something to be put off later.
Bob’s fellow employees weren’t in his age bracket, but they seemed bright, motivated and well-educated. They probably didn’t envision spending all that time in college to end up at Best Buy, but a job is a job when the economy sucks.
Florida has been ground zero when it comes to the lousy economies. The real estate market is still in the doldrums after a terrible crash (talking about best buys, there are plenty of good deals to be had), and despite Florida’s many natural advantages, it still has a way to go before it starts feeling healthy again here. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Conservatives, Democrats, Florida, GOP, Government, Politics, real estate market, Republicans, Washington
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Politics, Theory, housing crisis | No Comments »
August 15th, 2011 by John Feehery
I caught some of Michele Bachmann’s appearances as I drove down to Florida on my family vacation. She was doing one of the Sunday talk shows after her Ames, Iowa victory, and she sounded articulate and smart enough to hold her own.
The Republican Party of Iowa has already had an outsized influence on the GOP primary process. By elevating Bachmann and the Libertarian Ron Paul over Tim Pawlenty, the Straw poll voters knocked out the former Minnesota Governor.
Tim Pawlenty made an attractive candidate on paper. He had a good record. He is a nice guy. He is plenty conservative. What he didn’t have was a compelling message. He wasn’t crazy enough to appeal to either the Bachmann or Paul supporters (or the Herman Cainers either), and he wasn’t establishment enough to attract Mitt Romney type money.
I believe and continue to believe that if he portrayed himself as a warrior for the middle class, he could have made a bigger dent in the campaign. Instead, he kind of wandered from one message to another, at one point warning the party that it was becoming too isolationist, at another, claiming that he was a reformer with results, ala George Bush. Read more...
Tags: America, Ames, Ames Straw poll, Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, election, George Bush, Governor Rick Perry, Iowa, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Obama, Politics, President Obama, Presidential election, Red Staters, republican party, Republicans, Ron Paul, Straw Poll, Tim Pawlenty, White House
Posted in GOP, Government, History, Media, Politics, Presidential election, election | No Comments »
August 11th, 2011 by John Feehery
So why are so many political reporters traipsing to Iowa this August?
Well, it must be the Ames Straw poll, a tradition like no other.
The Iowa Republican party plays host to this political beauty contest that has little actual bearing on the actual race for the White House.
Since the straw poll was first started in 1979, it has picked exactly one candidate who went on to become President, George W. Bush.
In fact, since 1980, the Iowa caucus system itself has picked exactly one candidate who went on to become President.
If that is the case, then why should we care what Iowans decide at the Ames Straw poll?
Who cares if Michele Bachmann wins? Who cares if Ron Paul comes in second?
Well, to be candid, we shouldn’t care.
Unless, of course, you are Tim Pawlenty. Pawlenty probably needs to do pretty well if we wants to raise enough money to stay in.
But Pawlenty has bigger problems than Ames, Iowa.
Right now, he doesn’t look like he will be able to compete long-term even if he was able to convincingly sweep the straw poll. Read more...
Tags: America, Democrats, Economy, election, George W Bush, GOP, Government, House Republicans, Iowa caucus, Iowa Republican party, Michele Bachmann, Politics, President, Presidential election, Republicans, Ron Paul, The Ames Straw Poll, Tim Pawlenty, Washington, White House
Posted in GOP, Government, History, Media, Politics, Presidential election, Promises, Theory, election | No Comments »
August 10th, 2011 by John Feehery
John Boehner and Mitch McConnell put some real thought into their picks for the Joint Super Committee that will decide the fate of so many spending programs and perhaps the financial health of the country.
Harry Reid? Not so much.
Boehner picked two real deal-makers in Dave Camp and Fred Upton, and a guy who learned how to drive a hard-bargain from the best hard-bargainer in the business (Phil Gramm) in Jeb Hensarling.
Neither Camp nor Upton are partisan bomb-throwers. Upton ran into some resistance from the hard right to his ascension to the Energy and Commerce Committee because he was viewed as too moderate, although Fred has been a very reliable conservative in his role as Chairman.
Upton has long experience in budget politics, having served at OMB under Reagan. He is also an expert on entitlement programs, and his appointment shows that Boehner is serious about getting serious on spending.
Camp has been very thoughtful in his new role as Chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. He said that he wasn’t going to jam the Ryan Medicare bill through the House only to see it die in the Senate, a signal to the world that Camp was no Kamikaze pilot on smashing the Republican Majority into a Senate cliff. Read more...
Tags: America, Arlen Spector, Barack Obama, Chris Van Hollen, Congress, Dave Camp, election, Energy and Commerce Committee, Fred Upton, Harry Reid, Jan Schakowsky, Jeb Hensarling, John Boehner, John Kerry, John Lewis, Joint Super Committee, Jon Kyl, Max Baucus, Michelle Bachmann, Minority Leader Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, moderate, Nancy Pelosi, Pat Toomey, Patty Murray, Phil Gramm, Politics, Presidential election, Reagan, republican party, Republicans, Rob Portman, Ryan Medicare bill, Senate Majority Leader, spending, Steny Hoyer, Steve Israel, Tea Party, Texas Senator Gramm, Ways and Means Committee, Xavier Beccera
Posted in GOP, Government, History, Politics, Promises, Theory, election | No Comments »
August 9th, 2011 by John Feehery
Barack Obama just turned 50 years old. He is still a young man (by contemporary standards). He still plays basketball regularly, he likes to golf, he enjoys spending quality time with his daughters.
I have an idea for him. He should announce that he is taking a break at the end of next year from politics. Instead of running for re-election, Mr. Obama should tell the country that he is going into private business.
He has plenty of time to run again should he discover that he still has some work he wants to finish as President.
He can always run again. He can pull a Cleveland. Grover Cleveland was the only President to win in two non-consecutive terms, although he lost to Benjamin Harrison in between. Obama can take the high road and leave while the leaving is good.
The President needs some real world experience. Imagine how much better he would do with the experience of having to meet a payroll or worry about the P&L Statement. Imagine how much more sympathetic he would be if he actually understood how his health care law would make it harder to hire people. Imagine if he actually understood that by “spreading the wealth around,” the government actually makes it harder for the economy to grow. Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, Benjamin Harrison, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, Economy, election, George Bush, Government, Grover Cleveland, Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, medicare, Obama, Politics, President Obama, Republicans, spending
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Politics, Presidential election, Promises, Theory, election, health care | 1 Comment »
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