Losing The Majority One Representative At A Time

The Washington, D.C., Republicans have turned snatching defeat from the jaws of victory into an art form. After winning a slim majority in the House of Representatives, they have ousted George Santos for crimes less serious than those committed by their Democrat colleagues, and now Keven McCarthy has decided not to finish his term, opening up another opportunity for Democrats to gain a seat. Meanwhile, the Democrats in the House of Representatives routinely lie, make anti-Semitic statements, pull fire alarms to stop votes, and sleep with Chinese spies–all with very minor consequences.

On Thursday, The Gateway Pundit posted an article about Kevin McCarthy’s decision to leave Congress.

The article includes the following statement by Matt Gaetz:

Gaetz: You’ll remember back in January, Kevin McCarthy said, “It’s not how you start; it’s how you finish,” and it appears he is indeed finished. This announcement from Speaker McCarthy coming the day after his top Lieutenant, Patrick McHenry, announced his retirement from the Congress. The key difference is that McHenry seems to be indicating a willingness to serve out the entire term that his voters elected him to. Kevin McCarthy, in turn, saying if he cannot run the place and be Speaker, then he will leave. So, there is an establishment exodus from the United States Republican Conference, and it’s my hope that we backfill these establishment, lobbyist-drawn entities with folks who are willing to fight for the America First agenda, to reduce wars, to get out of these bad trade deals, and to stop the illegal immigration that is overrunning our country.

And we have to provide a check on the Biden administration that continues to spend us into oblivion, into more debt, and to defang this weaponized government that’s been turned against our fellow Americans. Kevin McCarthy was not useful in that fight. In many ways, he inhibited it, and now he is leaving. But there is a very real math problem that we are confronted with for this departure. For all of the self-congratulatory videos that Kevin McCarthy may make, him leaving—his unwillingness to stay and vote for even the most basic of Republican priorities—may imperil our ability to get the job done. So, here’s the math: We have a four-seat majority that we were elected to. Errantly, foolishly in violation of precedent, and due process, we made the decision to expel George Santos. Now, most Republicans in the conference voted against expelling Santos but enough voted with the errant ethics committee that he is now gone. That takes four down to three. Now McCarthy is saying he’s leaving at the end of the year; takes us down to two. And then Bill Johnson, the Republican from Ohio, has indicated that he is taking the University Presidency at Youngstown State; that will leave us with a one seat majority. I Sure hope everyone eats their veggies stays healthy over the break, otherwise, this thing could tip the balance to the Democrats.

Now there has been some commentary on social media that I am to blame, that it’s my fault that Kevin McCarthy is quitting and leaving early. I don’t know anyone else who would just say, well, if I can’t run the place, I’m gonna leave. Nancy Pelosi, for all her flaws, and there are many, at least stuck around. She didn’t hurt her team by saying, well, if I can’t be the quarterback, I’m just gonna take the ball and go home. That seems to be what we’re getting from Kevin McCarthy. This is not an act of patriotism or moving on to the next fight. It is an act of abject selfishness, and it is revealing that if Kevin McCarthy can’t swing the gavel and be in charge and make the decisions, he’s not willing to be a team player. For all the criticism I’ve received about not being a team player, I’m here, I’m doing the work, I’m taking votes. And the Republican establishment might not like how I vote all the time, but I’m not facilitating a path to hand power to the Democrats. That would be more in line with what we see from the former Speaker, who is on his way out the door.

I am really having a hard time remaining a Republican. The Republican ‘leadership’ keeps showing us that they really don’t care about the American people–they have their own agenda.

Finally A Promise Is Kept

One of many reasons Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy was shown the door was broken promises. One of those promises was to release the video tapes of January 6yh that the public was not allowed to see. Finally, the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, has begun to release those video tapes. You can view them here.

On Friday, The Gateway Pundit reported:

House Speaker Mike Johnson has recently made the first batch of January 6 footage publicly accessible through the Committee on House Administration website.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that House Speaker Mike Johnson has declared his intention to release thousands of hours of surveillance footage from the January 6, 2021, events at the U.S. Capitol.

“Today, I am keeping my promise to the American people and making all the January 6th tapes available to ALL Americans.”

…“Follow the link below to view the January 6th tapes for yourself. To restore America’s trust and faith in their Government we must have transparency. This is another step towards keeping the promises I made when I was elected to be your Speaker. This website will be updated continuously with thousands of hours of footage,” Johnson wrote.

It’s time Americans got to see what actually happened on January 6th and not what the mainstream media wanted them to believe.

Confirmation Of An Earlier Article

Yesterday I posted an article that included an interview of Representative Matt Gaetz. The interview included claims that former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy had undermined the selection of a new speaker in the quest for regaining the speakership. Yesterday The Gateway Pundit posted an article with similar claims by Representative Nancy Mace. If nothing else, the two articles illustrate that the Washington swamp is deep and wide and if the American people want to take back their government, it will not be easy.

The Gateway Pundit reports:

It took several votes by House Republicans before a Speaker was chosen and agreed to by the caucus.

Now we know why. According to Matt Gaetz and Nancy Mace, McCarthy was working behind the scenes to derail any potential candidate for Speaker including Jim Jordan, arguably the most popular Republican in Congress.

The following quote is from Representative Mace:

…This thing didn’t need to last through three weeks. So the first thing that McCarthy and his allies did was prolong it and delay it and recess us and adjourn us every time they possibly could to drag this thing out and make it as painful as possible. For the eight of us who held the line and kicked McCarthy out of the speakership, that’s number one. Number two, there was a concerted and orchestrated effort at the hand of McCarthy that every time someone ascended, they got knifed in the back, including America’s favorite Republican congressman in Jim Jordan. I mean, our conference couldn’t even elect the best and favorite congressman in this country, Jim Jordan, because of what McCarthy and his allies were doing behind the scenes and orchestrating his failure.

This is another example of a Washington insider putting his own ambition ahead of the needs of America.

Some Basic Comments On The Removal Of Kevin McCarthy

Don Surber at Substack reminds us of a few reasons Kevin McCarthy is no longer Speaker of the House. When you begin to look at the history of Republican leadership in the House of Representatives, it is amazing that Kevin McCarthy lasted as long as he did. He acted as his predecessors did– he supported the Washington establishment and the uni-party. The agreement he made with his peers that got him elected was not worth the paper it was written on. If you listened to his press conference last night, you realize that either he still doesn’t get it or he lies as easily as he speaks.

Don Surber notes:

By a vote of 216-210, the House ended Kevin McCarthy’s two-faced, double-dealing speakership, as he became the first and only person booted out as Speaker of the House. A bipartisan majority decided enough was enough with McCarthy who had promised to allow congressmen to read an appropriations bill and wait 72 hours before holding a vote. He broke that promise this weekend. Matt Gaetz moved to remove him. Gaetz and 7 other Republicans joined 208 Democrats to vote McCarthy out.

This is a payback. McCarthy and his loyalists joined Democrats to pass the Democrat budget. Gaetz used Democrats to oust McCarthy. Democrats wisely go by the Benedict Arnold Rule: never trust a turncoat.

…Rank-and-file Republicans are as happy to see McCarthy leave as Taylor Swift is writing a song about the boyfriend she just dumped. Washington lifers are as sad as Travis Kelce will be when she dumps him.

The lifers are so mad that they are writing mean things about Gaetz.

The article concludes:

Gallup said, “Republicans’ 14-percentage-point lead in public preferences for keeping the country prosperous is up from a 10-point margin last year and is its widest advantage on this measure since mid-1991.”

Republicans blew that opportunity in 1991 when George H.W. Bush said, “Read my lips: no new taxes” — and then agreed to new taxes. You can put Peggy Noonan’s words in a Bush but you cannot make him Reagan.

Look for McCarthy to join Newt and Ryan at the Fox News henhouse, where he will talk a big game and do nothing.

Just as he did as speaker.

Please follow the link to read the entire article. Mr. Surber reminds us of the history of the uni-party and its unwillingness to listen to its voters. It is possible that this action might cause some Republicans to hear what their constituents are saying about the budget and the war in Ukraine.

A Promise Kept

In 2021 Marjorie Taylor Greene was removed from her committee assignments, an unprecedented step to discipline a member over past incendiary remarks. The vote was mostly along party lines. Incendiary remarks made by other Congressmen were conveniently ignored and no penalty paid. Well, what goes around comes around.

On January 10th, Townhall reported the following:

Newly minted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is making good on his promise to strip Democratic Representatives Ilhan Omar, Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell of their committee assignments. 

“Swalwell can’t get a security clearance in the private sector. I’m not going to give him a government security clearance. Schiff has lied to the American public,” McCarthy told reporters late Monday night. “We will not allow him to be on the Intel Committee either.”

The move is especially damaging for Schiff, who abused his position as House Intelligence Committee Chairman to investigate President Donald Trump over bogus “Russian collusion” during the 2016 presidential election. For years Schiff claimed evidence was “hiding in plain site” that would lead to an indictment of Trump. After years of what Trump called a witch hunt, in addition to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s lengthy and expensive investigation, the politically charged allegations never came true. 

…Meanwhile, the case to strip Swalwell of his assignments is simple: he slept with a Chinese spy. For Omar, there is plenty of evidence to suggest she committed immigration fraud by marrying and then divorcing her brother. She’s also advocated for terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas, to be treated more fairly.

There are many precedents that Nancy Pelosi set as Speaker in recent years that the Democrats are going to regret. However, the Republicans have made some positive changes to the rules that I believe are a good thing. I am concerned that the vote of no confidence in the Speaker rule will be abused by the Democrats to block legislation they don’t like.

 

Kevin McCarthy Elected Speaker Of The House

Kevin McCarthy was elected Speaker of the House on the 15th ballot. Regardless of how you may feel about this, it’s an improvement over Nancy Pelosi. Hopefully Speaker McCarthy will not embarrass the nation by tearing up a State of the Union speech.

Breitbart reported Friday night:

McCarthy received 216 votes, House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) received 212 votes, and six Republican members voted “present.”

…The roughly 20 members who had been voting against McCarthy throughout the week — many of whom are in the House Freedom Caucus — sought various structural changes to the House and other commitments from the leader, aiming to shift power away from leadership and to rank-and-file members and Freedom Caucus members specifically.

Their asks included, among many items, bringing the motion to vacate down to a one-member threshold and putting more members of the Freedom Caucus on the Rules Committee, as well as budgetary provisions and vows to bring votes on certain legislation to the floor.

The article includes the following screenshot:

With the exception of the first item, these are all good ideas. The problem with the first item is that it will be misused to halt legislation the Democrats don’t want. It should also be noted that the power of the House of Representatives will be somewhat limited by the fact that the Democrats hold the Senate and the White House. It should also be noted that the Republicans talk a really good game when they are not in power. Somehow when they are in power, things seem to change (remember the promise to repeal Obamacare).

The article at Breitbart concludes:

With McCarthy’s election, the House is expected to adjourn in the early hours of Saturday morning and then vote on a rules package as its next order of business.

Watch the vote on the rules package carefully, it will tell us everything we want to know about the future of the Republican party.

It’s Okay To Be A Security Risk If You Are A Democrat

On Friday, Breitbart posted an article about Representative Eric Swalwell, who has recently been reappointed to the House Intelligence Committee.

The article reports:

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will offer a resolution to force Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) off his Intelligence Committee assignment after having a reltionship with an alleged Chinese spy.

McCarthy said he would offer a resolution to remove Swalwell from the Intelligence Committee next week. This represents another attempt by the Minority Leader to hold Swalwell accountable after reported ties between him and Chinese national Christine Fang.

McCarthy on Friday tweeted, “Pelosi just reappointed Eric Swalwell to the Intelligence Committee. Based on the briefing she and I received together, Swalwell should not be on the panel in charge of Guarding our nation’s secrets. Next week, I will offer a resolution to remove him from the Intel Committee.

The article concludes:

McCarthy also told Fox News Channel’s Ingraham Angle, “Not only should he be removed from the Intel [Committee]. He should be removed from Congress, as well.” McCarthy asked if Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) knew about this information.

It seems to me that even if the relationship with Christine Fang was totally innocent, the relationship indicates that Representative Swalwell was not exercising good judgement in pursuing the relationship. He needs to be removed from the Committee simply on the basis of his poor judgement.

Playing Politics With National Security

It is troubling that someone on the House Intelligence Committee was in bed (literally) with a Chinese Communist Party spy. It is even more troubling that those in the House leadership on the Democrat side chose to keep that information secret.

The Conservative Treehouse posted an article yesterday about one disturbing aspect of this situation.

The article notes:

….. As noted in this interview segment Nancy Pelosi is claiming she was briefed on the Chinese spy compromise around Swalwell with McCarthy. However, simultaneously House Leader Kevin McCarthy states he found out through the media. Keep in mind McCarthy has only been part of the ‘Gang of Eight’ since Jan 2019 (he as minority leader and Pelosi taking over from Paul Ryan as House Speaker).

A Pelosi briefing prior to 2019 was in her role as Minority leader with Ryan as speaker (Nunes/Schiff as Chair/Ranking on HPSCI). Therefore either Pelosi was briefed outside the Go8 structure, or she is lying about briefing with McCarthy. While Pelosi is a notorious liar, the former explanation of a defensive briefing seems more likely.

That means U.S. intelligence officials during the Obama administration kept the Swalwell compromise secret and outside the Gang-of-Eight. Accepting that reality is further evidence the U.S. intel apparatus -writ large- was operating through the prism of politics.

This is yet another illustration of how the deep state works–they are willing to compromise national security in order to do anything that reflects negatively on one of their own.

When Common Sense Takes A Vacation

Yesterday Frontpage Magazine posted an article about a recent vote in the House of Representatives.

The article reports:

As old Joe Biden would say, Look, Fat, look, here’s the deal: I’ve been warning for years that it would sooner or later become “Islamophobic” to offer even the mildest opposition to jihad violence, and that the “Islamophobia” mongers would become increasingly open about their support for jihad terrorists, and here we are. On Thursday, 174 Democrats in the House of Representatives voted against an amendment to the Rights for Transportation Security Officers Act that would prevent the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from hiring convicted terrorists.

Yes, you read that right: if these House Democrats had gotten their way, on your next flight, you could have gotten a pat-down from a TSA agent who previously conspired to down the airplane you were planning to fly on. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) explained that the amendment “was pulled back by leadership because the socialist wing of the party did not want to have that amendment go forward on this bill. When it was offered, overwhelmingly the majority of the House would like to see the TSA not hire terrorists or those who have been convicted of sexual misconduct with minors and others. But the socialist wing of the party, that controls now the Democratic Party, said that that could not be offered.”

Are their memories so short that they do not remember an article in the Tampa Bay Times on September 19, 2019, which reported:

An American Airlines mechanic accused of sabotaging a navigation system on a flight with 150 people aboard at Miami International Airport was denied bond by a federal judge Wednesday after prosecutors suggested he may have links to a Middle East terrorist organization.

…Prosecutors also said Alani allowed the FBI to search his smart phone and agents found a “disturbing” Islamic State video in which a person was being shot in the head, and that he sent the video to someone with an Arabic message asking “Allah” to take revenge against non-Muslims. In addition, they said Alani sent $700 to someone in Iraq, where he was born and has family.

The article at Frontpage Magazine concludes:

The outcome of years of this propaganda pounded into the American people without any respite or pause, while establishment Republicans jumped on the bandwagon and echoed the same rhetoric, was inevitable: now even an agency that was established in order to protect Americans from jihad terrorists must, in the view of a majority of House Democrats, hire the very people it was created to stop in order to avoid falling into the “racism” that the miseducated hordes who vote Democrat see behind almost everything. It has been clear where all this has been tending for years. Now it is even clearer.

Will these outrageously anti-American Democrats be voted out of office in November? No, that would require a thoughtful Democratic voter base and a responsible establishment media. Unfortunately, those ships have long since sailed.

Are we willing to put Americans at risk in the name of political correctness?

One Question That Needs Answering

The Federalist posted an article yesterday about a question surrounding the latest attempt to impeach President Trump.

The article notes:

Republican lawmakers in both the Senate and House on Monday demanded answers from the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) about secret revisions to the office’s guidance on “urgent concern” whistleblower complaints. The Federalist first reported last week that between May 2018 and August 2019, the ICIG secretly eliminated its requirement that potential whistleblowers provide only first-hand evidence of alleged wrongdoing.

In their letter to Michael Atkinson, the ICIG, Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) noted that the anti-Trump complainant offered no direct, first-hand evidence of alleged wrongdoing against President Donald Trump. Instead, the complaint is littered with gossip, hearsay, and rumor. The lawmakers specifically asked the ICIG to explain when the whistleblower guidance was revised, by whom, and for what reason.

“Based on the language on [the May 24, 2018] form, it appears that the requirement for first-hand information has been an ICIG policy regardless of how a whistleblower makes an urgent concern report,” they wrote. “Curiously the urgent disclosure form that now appears on the Office of the Director of National Intelligence website has recently changed and no longer contains this explicit first-hand information requirement.”

“[T]he timing of the removal of the first-hand information requirement raises questions about potential connections to this whistleblower’s complaint,” the lawmakers continued. “This timing, along with numerous apparent leaks of classified information about the contents of this complaint, also raise questions about potential criminality in the handling of these matters.”

The letter informs the ICIG that he must provide answers to their questions about the timing and rationale of the secret changes to the whistleblower guidance by noon on Thursday, October 3. The lawmakers told the ICIG to treat the letter as a formal demand to preserve all evidence related to the changes to the internal ICIG whistleblower rules.

The timing of this change, along with the willingness to ignore Vice-president Biden’s obvious successful attempt to leverage aid to Ukraine to prevent an investigation into some questionable business dealings of his son, is questionable at best. It does appear that there are un-elected people inside our government working with elected officials and a compliant media to undo the results of an election. Those people, along with their allies, need to face consequences for their actions–they are undermining our republic.

There is also the obvious question, “Why is the Intelligence Community Inspector General, who is supposed to be investigating the intelligence community, investigating the President?” That investigation is outside of his authority. The ‘whistleblower,’ who is actually simply a leaker, is not acting within the law as it is written.

A Troubling Trend

On Thursday, Breitbart posted an article about some recent comments made by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy while he was visiting Israel with a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

The article reports:

The California Republican was also asked about the absence of any members of “The Squad” on the trip, which is the foursome of freshman Democrat members led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), which have embraced the so-called Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

“If you look at it, they did not come on the trip with their colleagues,” McCarthy said. “Secondly, if you look at the antisemitism that has been growing around the world, we haven’t seen something like this since the 1930s, and the actions that they have taken in Congress itself, whereas the Senate passed S-1. It’s the anti-BDS. It’s the stopping of the boycott, divestiture, and sanctions against Israel. That bill passed the Senate overwhelmingly. Chuck Schumer not only voted it, he cosponsored it.”

“But when it came to the House, they couldn’t pass the bill,” he continued. “They moved a resolution, and much of that was to do about this new movement of this new socialist democrat. And look at what Bernie Sanders, look at Kamala Harris, wouldn’t even go to the AIPAC meeting this year inside Washington, unheard of in the process that’s been going forward. There’s a number of Democrats that still stand with Israel, but this new socialist democrat group has a much different belief.”

Antisemitism is becoming acceptable in America because it is being taught on our college campuses. This is nothing new. In 2012, I attended a presentation about antisemitism on our college campuses (article here). After the presentation, which was attended by a small group of people, mostly Jewish, a person who I knew casually came up to me and said that her daughter (she was Jewish) was attending a well-known American university and had encountered antisemitism. The women who spoke to me made the comment that she would have been better off sending her daughter to a Christian college that supported Israel and the Jewish people. That is a truly sad comment.

Watch Out For The Bright, Shiny Object

Rightwinggranny is a little more than ten years old. I have learned a few things along the way. One of those things is that when the media is screaming headlines in unison, there is probably something going on behind the scenes that I need to be aware of. This article is an example of that.

On January 16th, Breitbart reported that New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be serving on the House Financial Services Committee. The Committee is led by Representative Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California.

Representative Ocasio-Cortez has made some remarks that indicate she may not totally understand exactly how America’s Representative Republic works, but that’s okay–she still got elected. So let’s look at who supported her election. Opensecrets.org is a website that tracks political campaign donations, The link I highlighted leads to information on the funding of Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign for the House of Representatives. There is nothing illegal here, but it is always interesting to see where a candidate gets their funding.

The campaign funding information on Representative Ocasio-Cortez shows that during her primary campaign, two-thirds of the donations came from small donors. She may not fully understand how our government works, but she did a very good job or organizing a campaign. Eighty-eight percent of the large donations to her campaign (over $200) came from outside her district. From the time she won the primary election until the end of June, she received $70,000 from out-of-state donors. How does a newcomer to politics build that kind of a political machine? Who were the people who helped her organize her campaign? I don’t have answers to those questions.

So why is it significant that Representative Ocasio-Cortez has been appointed to the House Financial Services Committee? That is the committee that oversees big banking, lending, and the financial sector. Representative Ocasio-Cortez has already expressed an interest in looking into the student loan crisis (a crisis created when the government took over student loans). It is quite possible that the committee will attempt to undo the deregulation President Trump has done that has led to the economic growth we are experiencing. Hopefully the Senate can protect our booming economy.

The other significant appointment you might not have heard about is the appointment of Representative Ilhan Omar from Minnesota to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. (You can read more about Ilhan Omar at Power Line Blog.) 

Breitbart posted an article about the appointment yesterday.

The article reports:

Omar supports the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, which has been called antisemitic because it singles out the Jewish state for isolation and ignores the Palestinian side.

…House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) issued a statement in which he reminded Pelosi that she said Congress “must” oppose BDS, and that Schumer had called BDS “anti-Semitism.”

“I would love to know what changed, because Democratic leaders just promoted a pro-BDS Democrat to a key committee that deals with the State of Israel.”

McCarthy continued: “Anti-Semitism has no place in Congress and certainly not on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.”

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) blasted Pelosi for appointing Omar to the committee, saying she had a “documented history of making anti-Semitic and anti-Israel remarks.”

He added: “House Democrats have now just endorsed that ideology.”

This appointment may simply be a reflection of the ongoing battle between Nancy Pelosi and President Trump as to who is going to lead the country. However, both of these appointments represent a very severe left turn on the part of the Democrats in the House of Representatives. It remains to be seen if Americans will support this extreme left turn.

The House Of Representatives Leadership Does Not Represent Me

Freedomworks posted an article today illustrating how Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are trying to silence conservative voices. It is time we had new leadership in both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate. The people currently serving represent themselves and not the rest of us.

The article reports:

Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is at it again.

He is using a House procedure to try and pass major legislation in a way that minimizes debate and prevents conservative amendments from being introduced and debated. Last month the majority leader did this to authorize $1 billion in taxpayer dollars for a global food security bill. FreedomWorks drew attention to the bill on our blog.

Today, Majority Leader McCarthy has scheduled H.R. 5077, the Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal year 2017, for a vote in the House under the same expedited procedure, called suspension of the rules. This procedure is customarily reserved for non-controversial legislation. This bill is anything but non-controversial. It is scheduled for only 40 minutes of debate, as opposed to an hour of debate, which is the norm for bills considered under a rule. Amendments cannot be offered, and the bill can be voice-voted, allowing members to avoid being put on the record with a recorded vote.

H.R. 5077 proposes to spend $521 million of taxpayer and borrowed money over a 5-year period. That is just on the unclassified portion of the legislation. According to the committee report on the bill, the goal of the bill is to “authorize the intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the United States Government for fiscal year 2017. These activities enhance the national security of the United States, support and assist the armed forces of the United States, and support the President in the execution of the foreign policy of the United States.” Majority Leader McCarthy shouldn’t bring up such an important bill in a manner that prevents conservative and liberty movement amendments.

The article points out that there needs to be an opportunity for Representatives to make amendments that will protect the U.S. Constitution, as many of the entities funded in this bill have overstepped their boundaries in the past. It is quite possible that if the bill were allowed to be amended, it might be improved. Unfortunately, that may be exactly what Leader McCarthy wants to avoid.

The article concludes:

The majority leader should be running the floor in a way that allows significant bills to be fully debated with opportunities for members of the House to work their will through an amendment process. The intelligence bill should have come up as a regular rule bill, not under an expedited procedure that keeps member input to a minimum. The House, members, and the intelligence bill deserve better.

It is time for a change of leadership in Congress. We need Congressmen who will represent the interests of the American people–not people who represent only their own interests.

We Fired The Manager, What Happens Next?

The Daily Caller posted an article today about the resignation of John Boehner and the speculation as to who will replace him.

There is a statement in the article that I really like:

In sports, if a team isn’t doing well, you fire the manager. You do this because you have to do something, and it sends a message. The fact that you can rarely blame all a team’s struggles on the manager hardly matters (which is why the Nats should fire their manager and the general manager — for giving him that sticking bullpen).

Sometimes change, in and of itself, can shake things up. Sometimes winning is as much about chemistry as it is about substance. If you like a guy personally, you’ll give him more leeway. If a guy wronged you in the past, you’ll be skeptical of him forever. Who cares if he’s no more conservative than the last guy?

As a New York Jets football fan, I can relate to that statement. However, it may be really accurate in the battle to replace John Boehner.

The odds-on favorite to be the new Speaker of the House is Kevin McCarthy, who represents a district in California. Representative McCarthy is well-spoken, handles the media well, and seems pleasant enough in dealing with the media, but he is not a conservative. The Conservative Review gives him a Liberty Score of 45 percent (hardly a passing grade). The Liberty Score® grades members of Congress on the top 50 votes over the past six years.

The Daily Signal posted an article yesterday about the possibility of Representative McCarthy as Speaker.

The article states:

If the torch is passed on to McCarthy, he will face challenges with lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum. The Wall Street Journal said, that if elected, McCarthy “would inherit a series of messy legislative problems that could require him to risk alienating colleagues before he even acclimates to the new job.”

A member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, spoke on “Fox News Sunday” about a possible McCarthy speakership.

Mulvaney said McCarthy is a “ground-up” type of leader. But that “the important question is, will things change? Will they change for the better or will we simply replace Mr. Boehner with somebody else who will do the same thing.”

Obviously, time will tell if Representative McCarthy will be any better for conservative causes than John Boehner. However, from what I have seen, Representative McCarthy will be more accessible to conservative news outlets and has a style that works better in communicating with people of all political stripes. I want to see conservative causes advanced, but I am hopeful that in the process conservatives will be able to soften our image with the American public. I firmly believe that conservative ideas are better for America, I also firmly believe that the liberal media has so totally demonized conservatives that our ideas are not being heard. I had an interesting experience at a recent high school reunion when someone who evidently had a very negative opinion of conservatives talked to me for a while and was amazed to find out that I was actually a rational person. Representative McCarthy is a very personable politician, and I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt before reaching a conclusion about his conservatism. Admittedly, his rating from the Conservative Review is horrible, but I think we have to go back to the “Buckley Rule.” The Buckley Rule (invented by William F. Buckley) is to support the most viable conservative candidate.

 

At Least Some Of The Republicans Are Listening

The defeat of Eric Cantor this week in a primary election in Virginia sent shock waves through the Republican leadership. It should have. The message was clear. Listen to your constituents or be voted out of office. However, the Washington establishment has forgotten how to listen.

The Hill posted an article today announcing that Representative Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho) was running to replace the defeated Representative Eric Cantor (R-Va.) as House Majority Leader. The establishment Republican candidate is Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), currently the majority whip.

The article reports:

Labrador received support for his late-breaking bid Friday from a fellow conservative stalwart. Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.).

In his endorsement, Amash said he could think of “no one more qualified to be our next leader” than Labrador. He also took aim at GOP leadership, arguing that Cantor’s stunning loss should be a lesson in caution for anyone eager to simply move McCarthy up the ladder.

“Washington Republicans can bury what happened last Tuesday with piles of excuses. But if they view Tuesday as an anomaly, they do so at their own peril,” he said. “We can’t respond to a stunning loss by giving a pat on the back and promotion to the same team. It’s time for someone new, someone conservative.”

Amash has repeatedly split with party leaders on a host of legislative issues, and is currently facing a primary challenger who has been boosted by business groups seeking to oust him.

This will be a test for the Republican party. The Tea Party (and the conservative movement) are not dead. Republicans and many Democrats are tired of Washington spying on them, intruding into their lives, and passing legislation that lowers their standard of living. The guilt falls on elements of both parties.

If you are tired of the non-listening establishment that has been running Washington lately, call your Republican house member and let him know that the promotion of the ‘next in line’ is not a good idea. It’s time for new people and new ideas.

 

The Children Are Throwing Tantrums Again

The Des Moines Register posted an article today about the Iowa House Democrats who have left the Capitol to protest two gun bills the Republicans are bringing up. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has accused the Republicans of not giving enough notice so that Democrats could amend the bills.

I’m not even going to go into the details of this–I just want to show you the two bills as reported in the article:

House Joint Resolution 2009: Iowa Right to Keep and Bear Arms State Constitutional Amendment

This resolution would begin a process to amend Iowa’s constitution to include a “right to keep and bear arms.” The proposed amendment echoes the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, saying “The right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

To pass, the resolution must be approved by both the House and the Senate in two consecutive general assemblies before voters would weigh in on the issue.  It means that the earliest a vote could occur would be 2013, should the legislature act this year and next.

House File 2215: Reasonable force/Stand your ground

The bill would rewrites the law on “reasonable force” so that a person may use force — including deadly force — against someone who they believe threatens to kill or cause serious injury, or who is committing a violent felony.  The bill specifically says that a person is presumed to be justified in using deadly force if the person reasonably believes that deadly force is necessary to avoid injury or risk to his or her life.

Iowa’s current law allows potential victims to use deadly force against a perceived threat only if an alternative course of action also entails “a risk to life or safety.”

The first bill does nothing except echo the Second Amendment. What is the problem? The second bill simply allows a person to defend himself. Again, what is the problem? What amendments are needed?

Somewhere along the line, we have lost the concept of having the right to defend ourselves and our property. I don’t think that violence is always the solution, but I do think we have lost the distinction between right and wrong in our victim mentality society. If someone murders someone, the murderer is often painted as a victim of some evil in society–poverty, bullying, disturbed childhood, etc. Parents are told not to spank their children and parental authority is undermined in our schools. If we are to survive as a society, we need to relearn the concept of good and evil and learn to deal with evil when it rears its ugly head!

Enhanced by Zemanta