Tag: Republican Primaries

Trump Offers Dr. Ben Carson the Secretary of HUD Position. Why He Would Be a Good One…

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

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I would like people to recognize in looking at my story that the person who has the most to do with what happens to you is you. It’s not the environment, it’s not the other people who were there trying to help you or trying to stop you. It’s what you decide to do and how much effort you put behind it.  – Dr. Ben Carson

Foxnews.com  reports that

Former Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson is close to accepting the position of secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet, a GOP source with knowledge of the offer told Fox News late Tuesday.

The source said Carson would consider Trump’s offer over the Thanksgiving holiday before making a final decision.

On Tuesday, Carson told Fox News’ “Your World with Neil Cavuto” that the HUD position was “one of the offers [from Trump] that is on the table.”

“Our inner cities are in terrible shape,” Carson said. “And they definitely need some real attention. There have been so many promises made over the last several decades and nothing has been done, so it certainly is something that has been a long-term interest of mine.”

Minutes after Carson left a meeting with Trump at Trump Tower Tuesday, the billionaire mogul tweeted: “I am seriously considering Dr. Ben Carson as the head of HUD. I’ve gotten to know him well—he’s a greatly talented person who loves people!”

On Sunday, Carson told “Fox Report Weekend” he was open to accepting a spot on Trump’s White House team.

“Basically, I’ve said my preference is to be outside and to act as an adviser, but if after going through the process they all conclude it would be much better to have me in the Cabinet, I would have to give that very serious consideration,” Carson said.

The walk-back followed Carson friend and business manager Armstrong Williams’ comments to The Hill on Nov. 15, during which he said Carson “feels he has no government experience, he’s never run a federal agency. The last thing he would want to do was take a position that could cripple the presidency.”

Later that day, Carson tried in a Facebook post to tamp down the embarrassing statement, noting his decision not to seek a Cabinet post “has nothing to do with the complexity of the job as is being reported by some news outlets.”

It’s previously been reported that Carson could be considered for a variety of department secretary jobs, including Education, Health and Human Services and Veterans Affairs.

The HUD position is at first blush a surprising fit for Carson. However, Carson has previously shown an interest in the department. In June 2015, Carson criticized HUD for “overreach” for forcing the city of Dubuque, Iowa to weigh housing voucher applications from Chicago the same as it did applications from Dubuque residents.

“This is just an example of what happens when we allow the government to infiltrate every part of our lives,” said Carson, then a Republican presidential primary contender and an adversary of Trump. “This is what you see in communist countries, where they have so many regulations encircling every aspect of your life that if you don’t agree with them, all they have to do is pull the noose.”

Carson also wrote an opinion piece for The Washington Times in July 2015 on HUD’s policies to “desegregate” housing.

“There are reasonable ways to use housing policy to enhance the opportunities available to lower-income citizens,” Carson wrote, “but based on the history of failed socialist experiments in this country, entrusting the government to get it right can prove downright dangerous.”

This Great American would make a wonderful Director of Housing and Urban Development.

For those of you who have been living under a rock, like those guys in the old Geico Commercial, and who don’t know who Dr. Ben Carson is or his achievements, please allow me to present a brief biography, courtesy of achievement.org…

Benjamin Carson was born in Detroit, Michigan. His mother Sonya had dropped out of school in the third grade, and married when she was only 13. When Benjamin Carson was only eight, his parents divorced, and Mrs. Carson was left to raise Benjamin and his older brother Curtis on her own. She worked at two, sometimes three, jobs at a time to provide for her boys.Benjamin and his brother fell farther and farther behind in school. In fifth grade, Carson was at the bottom of his class. His classmates called him “dummy” and he developed a violent, uncontrollable temper.

When Mrs. Carson saw Benjamin’s failing grades, she determined to turn her sons’ lives around. She sharply limited the boys’ television watching and refused to let them outside to play until they had finished their homework each day. She required them to read two library books a week and to give her written reports on their reading even though, with her own poor education, she could barely read what they had written.

Within a few weeks, Carson astonished his classmates by identifying rock samples his teacher had brought to class. He recognized them from one of the books he had read. “It was at that moment that I realized I wasn’t stupid,” he recalled later. Carson continued to amaze his classmates with his newfound knowledge and within a year he was at the top of his class.

The hunger for knowledge had taken hold of him, and he began to read voraciously on all subjects. He determined to become a physician, and he learned to control the violent temper that still threatened his future. After graduating with honors from his high school, he attended Yale University, where he earned a degree in Psychology.From Yale, he went to the Medical School of the University of Michigan, where his interest shifted from psychiatry to neurosurgery. His excellent hand-eye coordination and three-dimensional reasoning skills made him a superior surgeon. After medical school he became a neurosurgery resident at the world-famous Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. At age 32, he became the hospital’s Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery, a position he would hold for the next 29 years.

In 1987, Carson made medical history with an operation to separate a pair of Siamese twins. The Binder twins were born joined at the back of the head. Operations to separate twins joined in this way had always failed, resulting in the death of one or both of the infants. Carson agreed to undertake the operation. A 70-member surgical team, led by Dr. Carson, worked for 22 hours. At the end, the twins were successfully separated and can now survive independently.Carson’s other surgical innovations have included the first intra-uterine procedure to relieve pressure on the brain of a hydrocephalic fetal twin, and a hemispherectomy, in which an infant suffering from uncontrollable seizures has half of its brain removed. This stops the seizures, and the remaining half of the brain actually compensates for the missing hemisphere.

In addition to his medical practice, Dr. Carson has long been in constant demand as a public speaker, and devotes much of his time to meeting with groups of young people. In 2008, President George W. Bush awarded Dr. Carson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

…Dr. Carson opposed passage of the federal Affordable Care Act of 2010, often called the ACA or Obamacare. After retiring from his position as Director of Pediatric Neursurgery at Hopkins in 2012, Carson began to speak more frequently on other public issues and emerged as a vocal critic of the Obama administration. In the news media and political circles, he attracted considerable attention as a possible candidate for public office. In May 2015, he ended several months of speculation by announcing his intention to seek the Republican Party’s nomination for President of the United States. 

Dr. Carson would eventually drop out of the race, throwing his support behind the eventual Republican Nominee, Donald J. Trump, doing everything in his power to help him become the next President of the United States of America.

Ever since Donald J. Trump won the Presidency on November 8th, Liberal Political Pundits, both paid and unpaid, have expressed their concern all over the Internet, including the Social Media, that the President-elect’s Cabinet would not be “diverse” enough.

For example, last Friday on Fox and Friends, self-appointed expert on everything, Geraldo Rivera remarked,

“I hope Trump’s cabinet is full of diversity and not just cranky old white guys.”

Would someone please tell  ol’ “Gerry Rivers” to turn his cell phone off of “camera”, put his shirt back on (please) and pay attention.

Just like every other lie that the Liberal Main Stream Media and its thousands of unpaid minions have been spreading all over television, Internet, and what’s left of the Print Media. their accusations that Donald J. Trump is a RAAACIIIST have just had the kitchen light of reality turned on them, dispelling them as light does the darkness, hopefully sending the accusers back out of sight like the cockroaches they are.

For as Dr. Carson himself once said,

We need to understand that we are not each others’ enemies in this country. And it is only the political class that derives its power by creating friction. It is only the media that derives its importance by creating friction… that uses every little thing to create this chasm between people. This is not who we are. 

Indeed.

To close, here is Dr. Carson telling you exactly who we are via a short American History Lesson…

…two hundred years ago this Nation was involved in a war, the war of 1812. The British, who are now our good friends thought that we were young whippersnappers. It was time for us to become a colony again. They were winning that war and marching up the Eastern Seaboard, destroying city after city, destroying Washington D.C., burned down the White House. Next stop Baltimore. As they came into the Chesapeake Bay, there were armadas of war ships as far as the eye could see. It was looking grim. Fort. McHenry standing right there. General Armisted, who was in charge of Fort. McHenry, had a large American flag commissioned to fly in front of the Fort. The Admiral in charge of the British Fleet was offended, said take that flag down. You have until dusk to take that Flag down. If you don’t take it down, we will reduce you to ashes.There was a young amateur poet on board by the name of Francis Scott Key, sent by President Madison to try to obtain the release of an American physician who was being held captive. He overheard the British plans. They were not going to let him off the ship. He mourned. As dusk approached he mourned for his fledgling young Nation, and as the sun fell, the bombardment started. Bombs bursting in air. Missiles, so much debris He strained, trying to see, was the flag still there? Couldn’t see a thing. All night long it continued. At the crack of dawn he ran out to the banister He looked straining his eyes all he could only see dust and debris.

Then there was a clearing and he beheld the most beautiful sight he had ever seen – the torn and tattered Stars and Stripes still waving. And many historians say that was the turning point in the war of 1812. We went on to win that war and to retain our freedom and if you had gone onto the grounds of Fort. McHenry that day, you would have seen at the base of that flag, the bodies of soldiers who took turns. Propping up that flag, they would not let that flag go down because they believed in what that flag symbolized. And what did it symbolize? One Nation, under God, [applause] indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. God Bless.

And, may God Bless you, sir.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

Election 2016: Of National Polls, “Principled” Conservatives, and Making a Choice (A KJ Sunday Morning Analysis)

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics, UncategorizedLeave a comment

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With less than one month to go before Americans choose our next President, national polls are tightening, even after Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party, and all of their Liberal Minions in the Old and New Media have done all they could think of to damage the Republican Candidate, American Entrepreneur, Billionaire, and Citizen Statesman, Donald J. Trump.

According to The Washington Post,

With three weeks until Election Day, Hillary Clinton holds a four-point lead over Donald Trump in the race for the White House, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, with the Republican nominee hobbled by persistent perceptions that he is not qualified to be president.

The poll was conducted during one of the most tumultuous periods of Trump’s candidacy, after the release of a video in which he spoke about taking sexual advantage of women and during a time when numerous women have accused him of sexual misconduct.

Nearly 7 in 10 respondents believe Trump probably made unwanted sexual advances, and a majority say his apology for boasts about forcing himself on women on a hot-mic videotape was insincere. Nonetheless, the controversy appeared to have had only a minimal impact on his overall support.

Overall, Clinton leads Trump by 47-43 percent among likely voters, a slight edge given the survey’s four-percentage-point error margin. Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson has the support of 5 percent, and Green Party nominee Jill Stein is at 2 percent. Among registered voters, the poll shows a similar four-point margin, with Clinton at 44, Trump at 40, Johnson at 6 and Stein at 3. In a two-way matchup, Clinton leads Trump by 50-46 percent among likely voters and by 50-44 percent among registered voters.

The current findings show only slight changes from the last Post-ABC survey, which was taken on the eve of the first presidential debate. At that time, Clinton held an insignificant two-point edge over Trump among likely voters. The findings are somewhat better for Trump than other polls taken since the video, but if Clinton were to maintain such an advantage until Election Day, that could translate into a sizable electoral college majority.

Supporters of both candidates are locked in, with 88 percent of Trump supporters and 89 percent of Clinton backers saying they will “definitely” support their current preference.

The survey also underscored the hardening of the lines between those supporting Trump and those who are not. One question in particular highlighted this divide. Asked whether it was appropriate for Trump to say that, if he were in charge of law enforcement in this country, his opponent would be in jail for her use of a private email server, about 4 in 10 likely voters said yes, compared with 57 percent who said no. More than 7 in 10 Republicans and more than 8 in 10 Trump supporters called the language appropriate.

Always pay attention to the fine print, boys and girls …

This Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted by telephone October 10-13, 2016, among a random national sample of 1,152 adults, including landline and cell phone respondents. Overall results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points; the error margin is 3.5 points among the sample of 920 registered voters and four points among the sample of 740 likely voters. Sampling, data collection and tabulation by Abt-SRBI of New York.

Notice that the breakdown of the political parties of those registered voters involved in the survey is purposefully left out.

If, as has been demonstrated in the past with a detailed sampling of other national polls, this poll is heavily weighted with Democrats, then Trump is quite possibly ahead, despite what Liberals and their minions in the Main Stream Media want us to believe.

However, Trump still needs all Americans with a conscience on board, in order to secure a victory on November 8 and to defeat a candidate who will most surely continue Barack Hussein Obama’s Presidency, which has taken this nations straight to the edge of a bottomless abyss.

According to some people, you are not truly a Christian or a “Principled Conservative”, if you are willing to support and vote for Donald J. Trump, the Republican Presidential Candidate.

However, I beg to differ, and I stand with the Reverend Franklin Graham on this issue.

In  a  Facebook Post, written during the Republican Primaries, Rev. Graham wrote:

Trump Madness—It’s “trumping” everything in the news, even March Madness. Do you believe protesters blocking the road to his rally to stop people from getting there today? There are those who passionately support him and others who are adamantly against him. He’s a political phenomenon like our country hasn’t seen before. I don’t think America has ever had a presidential candidate opposed by both establishments, Republican and Democratic, as well as the sitting president. I just hope that as a result of this unforgettable campaign season, politicians on all sides will get the message loud and clear that Americans are tired of the status quo and the corruption that has gripped Washington. Join me in praying for the 2016 elections and for the future of this nation.

That being said, Rev. Graham, in a previous interview, done with CBN, stated that  “a left movement within the evangelical community that are telling people, ‘If so-and-so wins or this person wins don’t vote.’ ” Rev. Graham went on to add, “I’m just saying, I don’t care who wins and who’s out there, you have to vote.”

If Hillary Clinton wins the presidency, how does that prove your Christianity or prove you to be a person of principle? All it proves is that you stood by and let the country go to hell in a hand-basket.

I do not believe that Jesus would be a part of the Social Justice Movement, which is so popular among Liberal Churches, today. His was and is a soul-saving movement. One that still brings hundreds of thousand of people to individual salvation on this terrestrial ball every day. A movement that, in fact, was embraced by the founders of this cherished land.

Now is not the time to be pressing Christian Americans to make a “collective” choice to not support Trump, to move as “a Body”, if you will.

That being said, allow me to also state that I believe that American Evangelicals must excise their Spiritual Gift of Discernment in choosing between Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton for the job of President.

When Mitt Romney was the Republican Candidate for President in 2012, a lot of Americans stayed home, rather than vote for Romney.

That may have helped those individuals feel better about themselves, but it also helped to bring them and their fellow citizens four more years of economic suffering under the Presidency of Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm).

Just as a Christian’s Salvation is not manifested as a Collective Experience, but a Personal one, so is a Christian American’s Voting Rights a Personal Experience.

I had somebody tell me during the Primaries, that they would “pray for me” to make the “right” choice, in the upcoming Presidential Election.

While the prayers of others are always appreciated, that hit me as if it was “The Church Lady” saying,

Well, bless your heart.

That’s an old Southern insult, in case you didn’t know.

My support of Donald  J. Trump, through the articles that I write, is my individual choice, made through a detailed study of facts and with a heart-felt reverence toward this Sacred Land and the One who brought our Forefathers here.

Can you vote for Donald J. Trump and still be a Christian?

Certainly you can.

Your Salvation is not determined by your vote…but, by God’s Grace.

And…

As Christians we are instructed to individually listen to that “Still Small Voice” inside us.

While Christians, in church and outside of it, represent the corporate Body of Christ, according to scripture, we each possess the Spiritual Gifts of Free Will and Discernment.

These gifts are used by each of us on a daily basis, including aiding in our decision to support a Presidential Candidate in the Election of 2016.

Unlike Liberals and Marxists (but, I may be repeating myself), we do not vote as a collective, nor should we.

There are no Saints who will be running as for the President of the United States of America, on either side. Just men and a woman…a very mean and evil woman.

And, America’s Christian Churches are not a Shrine for Saints. They are a Hospital for Sinners.

I’m just sayin’.

Each of us must decide for ourselves, whom we will vote for.

Since the “Shot Heard ‘Round The World” was fired on that fateful morning of April 19, 1775, this country has been built by Christian Americans making individual choices.

While we can not know what the actual future of America under either candidate would bring,  what is known , is that there was only one Perfect Man.

What is also known, is that there are only two legitimate choices for President in this election. And, staying home or voting stupidly is what got us Barack Hussein Obama.

America cannot afford to elect Hillary Clinton. God does not call upon us to destroy the very nation which he created through the hard work and sacrifice of Christian men and women.

There is a great difference between being “principled” and being hurt, angry, and hardheaded because your favorite political candidate did not win the Republican Primary Election.

Just as mistakes are made in our local churches by believing that the wishes of man are the Will of God, the choice you make to not vote or to vote stupidly is your choice alone, made through God’s Gift of Free Will.

As I said earlier in this post, our Individual Salvation is not determined by whom we vote for…but, by God’s Grace.

However, the much-needed Reclamation of America most certainly will be.

And, that is why this Christian American Conservative is voting for Donald J. Trump.

“A Charge to Keep I Have.”

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

i

What is Causing the “Cruz Collapse”?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

image It appears that the Campaign of Senator Ted Cruz, who is seeking the Republican Nomination as their Presidential Candidate, is in the rapid state of descent which parachuters refer to as “free-fall”

Nationalreview.com reports that

Down in the polls and with zero margin for error heading into Tuesday’s crucial Indiana primary, Ted Cruz could be forgiven for seeing a silver lining in his apparent strength with unbound Republican delegates. Until Donald Trump’s romp through the Northeast last Tuesday abruptly changed the subject, the political world was captivated — and Trump supporters were infuriated — by the Cruz campaign’s successful effort to elect large blocs of friendly delegates at a series of state-party conventions.

“But friendly delegates are as subject to shifts in the race’s momentum as anyone else, and Cruz’s strength with some of these crucial first-ballot convention voters may be overstated — particularly in North Dakota, where his campaign declared victory after filling 18 of 25 unbound delegate slots with its chosen candidates at the April 3 convention. Those delegates are vital to Cruz’s quest to deny his rival the 1,237 delegates he’ll need on the first ballot in Cleveland. But as they’ve watched Cruz struggle to tread water in a primary increasingly dominated by Trump, many of them, wary of a bitter convention battle that could rend the party at its seams, are rethinking their commitment to the Texas senator.

I think [last Tuesday’s vote] spooked a lot of people,” says Jim Poolman, a North Dakota delegate who had previously committed to a first-ballot convention vote for Cruz. “But I want to be clear, I think the will of the people does mean something, as well,” he says. “Donald Trump has gotten a lot of support across the country, and just [last Tuesday], winning five [states] is one heckuva showing.” Poolman now says he will opt to see how the remaining primaries play out, and is “not necessarily” a first-ballot vote for Cruz. He’s not alone. Of the ten North Dakota delegates on the Cruz slate reached by National Review, five express serious reservations about backing the Texas senator on that crucial first ballot. “I have to admit I’ve been vacillating,” says David Hogue, a state senator and Cruz-approved delegate who insists he’s “firmly uncommitted.”

Hogue’s senate colleague Dick Dever is also getting cold feet. “What I have said is I’m leaning towards Cruz, but I’m not committed to anybody,” he says. “And after [Tuesday’s vote], I think Trump has the momentum going forward.” Dever was impressed by the way Trump broke fifty percent in all five of last Tuesday’s primaries, after relying on pluralities to propel him to victory in previous contests. And he finds it just as telling that Cruz lost to John Kasich in all but one of those contests. “I think that was a real shift,” he says.

With Trump on a winning streak that’s seen his popularity and electoral success continue to grow past the long-assumed “ceiling” of 35 to 40 percent of the Republican electorate, many North Dakota delegates who privately support Cruz are rethinking the wisdom of challenging the real-estate mogul’s commanding lead on the convention floor. Rick Becker, a former North Dakota gubernatorial candidate who is still loyal to Cruz, says one delegate who he believes would like to support Cruz is nevertheless warning peers about the damage they could do to the party’s November prospects by angering the millions of voters who support Trump.

In a related story…

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist poll finds Mr. Trump ahead by 15 points among likely Republican primary voters in Indiana, pointing to a victory that would significantly boost the businessman’s chances of clinching the Republican presidential nomination before the party’s convention in Cleveland.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, his chief rival, continued to voice confidence that he could keep Mr. Trump from getting the 1,237 delegates needed to claim the nomination either before the convention or on the first ballot. But Mr. Cruz needs Indiana’s primary to be a pivot point.

What has caused the spectacular collapse of the campaign of Senator Ted Cruz?

I recently wrote that

In the case of Senator Ted Cruz, his image of not being just another politician, was tarnished by the actions of those working for him, in regards to the political shenanigans that were being played against Donald J. Trump.

Also, instead of trying to reach out to other parts of the voting base, as Trump is done, Cruz instead reached out to fellow politicians, seeking their support.

However, upon reflection, I believe there is even more to the story of the collapse of the Cruz Campaign.

As I have documented before, the success of Donald J. Trump and his Campaign, is one of a visceral and palpable anger, that is presently held by Americans for Professional Politicians.

I believe that this anger has not only been caused by the blatant self-serving interests of those we have elected to serve us in Washington, DC, but also by
the realization by average Americans that our country is under attack by enemies, both foreign and domestic.

Average Americans, like you and me, love our country.

We are tired of being told by the present Administration and their Liberal Minions in the Main Stream Media, that America is “just another country”, when we have been raised to believe, by those who exemplified it, in American Exceptionalism.

Our ancestors, relatives, and friends have died in the defense of our nation and our Traditional American Values.

And, our love and respect for those who have gone before us, simply will not allow us to stand idly by, and watch the continued degradation and purposeful destruction of a nation that was built through their sacrifices.

Modern American Liberals call this attitude “Nationalism” and/or “Jingoism”.

Those of us here in America’s Heartland, simply call it “being an American.”

The bold and brash nature of Trump and his “Political Correctness be d*mned” way of speaking, continues to strike a resonant chord in the hearts of average Americans, who, quite simply, are fed up with being told that we’re wrong for believing in these Traditional American Values.

What the Liberals do not seem to understand, is the more that they send paid protesters out to stop Trump from speaking, the more average Americans will support him, because, despite all of their best efforts to turn America into a Democratic Socialist Nation , we remain the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

If this was any other time in the history of presidential elections, Senator Ted Cruz would probably be faring better.

Unfortunately for Senator Cruz, at this point, with the American people solidly behind him, as evidenced by the Overflow crowds that the Main Stream amedia has been very careful not to document, Trump appears to be unstoppable.

Sir Isaac Newton once stated that

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

Professional Politicians, by ignoring the wishes of average Americans, and acting in their own self-interests, have brought this whole phenomenon upon themselves.

In other words, the “Trump Train” is an “equal and opposite reaction”.

To paraphrase the classic cartoon character, Popeye the Sailor Man…

We’ve had all we can stands. We can’t stands no more.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Trump Wins MI, MS, and Hawaii. Why? “I’m a Unifier.” No Brag. Just Fact?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

Fliped-Off-600-LALast night, American Entrepreneur and Businessman, Donald J. Trump, won 3 out of the 4 Republican Primaries by securing victories in Michigan, Mississippi, and Hawaii. Senator Ted Cruz won in Idaho, with John Kasich and Marco Rubio being shut out.

Per usual, Trump was exuberant following his victories.

Realclearpolitics.com reports that

At a press conference held after his victories in the Michigan and Mississippi Republican presidential primaries, Donald Trump called on the Republican party to come together and unify behind him.

“Given your statement to Major [Garrett] about how easy it would be to beat Hillary Clinton do you agree you’re going to need to get mainstream Republican politicians, the establishment as it has been labeled behind you? And if so, what do you say to them tonight, given so many are pouring their money in to trying to beat you?” FOX News’ Campaign Carl Cameron asked Trump.

“I say let’s come together folks,” Trump said Tuesday night. “We’re going to win. I say let’s come together. Carl, the answer is not 100 percent but largely I would say yes. Some people you are just not going to get along with. It’s okay.”

“I am a unifier,” Trump said in Jupiter, Florida tonight. “I unify. You look at all of the things I built all over the world. I’m a unifier. I get along with people. I have great relationships. I even start getting along with you, right? Campaign Carl. But, no, I get along with people. And I really say this, Carl, I think it’s time to unify.”

CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS: Given your statement to Major [Garrett] about how easy it would be to beat Hillary Clinton do you agree you’re going to need to get mainstream Republican politicians, the establishment as it has been labeled behind you? And if so, what do you say to them tonight, given so many are pouring their money in to trying to beat you?

DONALD TRUMP: I say let’s come together folks. We’re going to win. I say let’s come together. Carl, the answer is not 100 percent but largely I would say yes. Some people you are just not going to get along with. It’s okay.

But largely I would like to do that and believe it or not, I am a unifier. I unify. You look at all of the things I built all over the world. I’m a unifier. I get along with people. I have great relations. I even start getting along with you, right? Campaign Carl. But, no, I get along with people. And I really say this, Carl, I think it’s time to unify.

We have something special going on in the Republican party. And, unfortunately, the people in the party, they call them the elites or they call them whatever they call them. But those are the people that don’t respect it yet. We have millions and millions of people, I’ve discussed it before. We have millions and millions of people coming up and voting, largely for me.

It’s a record. It has never happened before. In 100 years what is happening now to the Republican party has never happened before.

Now, before you dismiss Trump’s claim to be a unifier, look at what he is accomplishing and how it is happening.

  1. In order to be an effective President, you have to build a Coalition. The most effective President in my lifetime did.

On July 27. 2012. John Heubush, Executive Director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, wrote the following op ed for The Daily Caller about the succerss of Ronald Reagan’s Presidency:

…How in the world did Reagan do it? Experience.

Matching wits with Jack Warner (of Warner Brothers) as head of the actors’ union and Jesse Unruh (speaker of the California State Assembly) as governor taught Reagan to come to the bargaining table prepared. “I’d learned while negotiating union contracts,” Reagan wrote, “that you seldom get everything you ask for.” (Years later, the press asked him about negotiating with Gorbachev. “It was easier than dealing with Jack Warner,” Reagan shot back.)

Although the Democrats were in a tough position after the Carter years, their big trump card was that nothing would get done unless Reagan won over a substantial number of them in the House. It’s no wonder that O’Neill was so full of braggadocio.

Somehow Reagan had to build a coalition.

The strategy to get the Economic Recovery Act passed by a conflicted Congress had two major parts.

First, Reagan would use his tremendous skills as a communicator by making repeated televised appeals to Congress and the American people. “Every time he spoke,” Reagan Chief of Staff Jim Baker recalled, “the needle moved.”

Second, the Legislative Strategy Group led by Baker and Ed Meese “did the grunt work” of inviting Democrats to the White House, while the president worked the phones. “I spent a lot of time in the spring and early summer of 1981 on the telephone and in meetings trying to build a coalition to get the nation’s recovery under way,” Reagan wrote. At the time, he even noted in his diary, “These Dems are with us on the budget and it’s interesting to hear some who’ve been here ten years or more say that it is their first time to ever be in the Oval Office. We really seem to be putting a coalition together.

2.  In order to become President of the United States, you must garner more votes than the other party’s candidate. This cannot be done simply by relying on the votes of your own poltical party.You must have ‘crossover votes”.

Back on August 15, 1984, Mark Green, in an article written for the New York Times, titled, “Reagan, The Liberal Democrat”, wrote the following…

…If Ronald Reagan holds to this path, he may soon end up back among the Americans for Democratic Action, which he fled and renounced in the 1950’s.

Not surprisingly, ideological fellow-travelers such as the commentators William F. Buckley Jr. and Pat Buchanan have expressed dismay over their champion’s apostasy. Mr. Buchanan worries that by flirting with the idea of a summit meeting, the President ”is playing with the national security of the U.S.”

Mr. Reagan’s election-year liberalism appears designed to win over those political independents and weak Democrats who might otherwise recall him as the man who has opposed all but one of the major civil rights laws and nuclear arms control pacts of the past two decades.

Will it work? Only if these constituencies believe his reversals to be principled and permanent – and that seems unlikely. To conclude now that Ronald Reagan has suddenly become pro-environment, pro-arms control, pro-food stamps and pro-regulation is to believe that a sow’s ear can become a silk purse merely by declaring itself so.

Besides, swing voters faced this fall with the equivalent of two Democratic tickets may just as well decide to vote for the real McCoy rather than the imitation brand.

Sound familiar?

Every day, on Political Websites and Facebook Political Pages, Conservatives and Liberals, alike, are arguing from dust to dawn, whether Trump can actually win the presidency.

One of the oft-repeated arguments that they present is a modern version of the final argument that Mark Green made in his article:

Why should Liberals vote for Trump, when they can vote for Clinton or Sanders?

The answer to that is as obvious as Kim Kardashian’s brunette roots (if you actually noticed them in the two “nekkid [that is when you are sans clothes and you’re up to something] selfies” that she just released).

The Democrat Candidates STINK ON ICE.

Would you vote for them?

The indisputable fact of the matter is that, in “Open” Primaries, Trump is doing even better than he is in those primaries in which only Republicans can vote.

Trump is building a Coalition.

Americans are fed up with the Washingtonian Status Quo.

We are tired of professional politicians empty promises and their failure to properly address the issues facing America, in any way, except a self-serving one.

While I would never equate Trump with Ronaldus Magnus, they do have this much in common: Like Reagan, Trump is unabashedly America and an advocate for American Exceptionalism.

Trump speaks of “possibilities” and is offering a view from outside of the Washington Beltway.

The reason Trump is winning so many votes, including those of Democrats?

He is offering the possibility of a brand new “Morning in America”.

And. voters are desperate to wake up from this Long National Nightmare.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

 

 

Allergic to “Bold Colors”, Vichy Republicans Investigating Viability of “Independent Candidate”, If Trump Wins Nomination.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

High-Ground-600-LAHeading toward the conglomeration of State Primaries, known as “Super Tuesday”, it has become evident that the possible inevitability of “rank amateur”, successful businessman and entrepreneur, Donald J. Trump’s, victory in the Republican Primaries, is beginning to manifest itself in acts of desperation…on BOTH sides of the Political Aisle.

Politico.com reports that

Conservative donors have engaged a major GOP consulting firm in Florida to research the feasibility of mounting a late, independent run for president amid growing fears that Donald Trump could win the Republican nomination.

A memo prepared for the group zeroes in on ballot access as a looming obstacle for any independent candidate, along with actually identifying a viable, widely known contender and coalescing financial support for that person. The two states with the earliest deadlines for independent candidates, Texas and North Carolina, also have some of the highest hurdles for independents to get on the ballot, according to the research.

“All this research has to happen before March 16, when inevitably Trump is the nominee, so that we have a plan in place,” a source familiar with the discussions said. March 16 is the day after the GOP primary in Florida, a winner-take-all contest that Marco Rubio supporters have identified as a must-win to stop Trump’s early momentum.

“It’s critical some serious attention is given to this,” the source said.

The document, stamped “confidential,” was authored by staff at Data Targeting, a Republican firm based in Gainesville, Fla. The memo notes that “it is possible to mount an independent candidacy but [it] will require immediate action on the part of this core of key funding and strategic players.”

Data Targeting did not respond to a request for comment on the memo.

The research points to Texas and North Carolina as early tests for running an independent, conservative candidate against Trump and the Democratic nominee. The candidate would need to gather over 79,900 valid petition signatures in Texas by May 9 and over 89,000 in North Carolina by June 9.

Only two other states have thresholds that high, and gathering petitions can be an expensive and time-consuming process. What’s more, the Texas signatures would have to come entirely from voters who did not vote in this year’s Democratic and Republican primaries.

But “with 38 electoral votes in play in Texas and North Carolina’s true swing state status, failing to qualify in either or both states would render any independent candidate non-viable,” the report’s authors wrote. “This is logistically possible but will require immediate action.”

By July 15, the independent candidate would need more than 460,000 voter signatures to make the ballot in 11 states. Assuming an April 1 start date, the campaign would have to gather 4,345 valid signatures per day to maintain a steady pace.

Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t the Republicans supposed to be the opposition party?

Just like this slavish mainstream media believe that President Barack Hussein Obama walks upon the water, the Establishment or “Vichy” Republicans, must idolize or at least respect the Democratic Party because they seem Hell-bent on copying them in their actions, words, and deeds.

Just look at their track record over Obama’s tenure n the Oval Office.

As we say in Dixie, they ain’t done squat.

And now, like a bunch of Democrats, they expect us to forget their lack of intestinal fortitude, while in office, and elect those who are just like them to the Presidency in November 2016.

Oh, we  remember them all right. But, not in the way they want us to. We do not remember them as leaders. Oh, no. Rather, Americans, here in the Heartland, remember them with all of the fondness that the French Resistance remembered the Nazi collaborators, or Vichy French, after World War II.

What slays me is the fact that the Establishment Republicans seem to be quite content, in their moderately left-leaning stupor, to be totally oblivious and tone deaf of their Base, average hard working middle-class Americans like you and me.

You know, the people who actually put them into office.

They keep on making bad choices.

They have pushed for maintaining the Washingtonian Status Quo because they erroneously believe that new citizens, provided through amnesty, will vote for them instead of the Democratic Party, who are ready to be their own personal Santa Claus and buy their votes with free admission to the Welfare State.

Spineless Vichy Republicans have been a barrier to Republican victory for as long as I can remember. Like Quakers, Establishment Republicans seem to believe that passive resistance and reaching out to their sworn enemies as “friends”, is the way to defeat those who oppose you.

It has been especially bad during Obama’s reign, as the House and Senate Republican Leadership apparently cherished their friendship with the Democrats more than they did the wishes of the folks back home. Yes, they talked a good game, but so did Jon Lovitz in those “Liar Sketches” during the old days of Saturday Night Live, back when they were actually funny.

Yeah,  my wife Morgan Fairchild. Yeah, that’s it. That’s the ticket!

In 1975, Ronald Wilson Reagan gave a speech which sums up our present situation and average Americans’ visceral disdain for the Professional Politicians, who value the Washingtonian Status Quo, above US.

Americans are hungry to feel once again a sense of mission and greatness.

I don ‘t know about you, but I am impatient with those Republicans who after the last election rushed into print saying, “We must broaden the base of our party” — when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.

It was a feeling that there was not a sufficient difference now between the parties that kept a majority of the voters away from the polls. When have we ever advocated a closed-door policy? Who has ever been barred from participating?

Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?

Let us show that we stand for fiscal integrity and sound money and above all for an end to deficit spending, with ultimate retirement of the national debt.

Let us also include a permanent limit on the percentage of the people’s earnings government can take without their consent.

Let our banner proclaim a genuine tax reform that will begin by simplifying the income tax so that workers can compute their obligation without having to employ legal help.

And let it provide indexing — adjusting the brackets to the cost of living — so that an increase in salary merely to keep pace with inflation does not move the taxpayer into a surtax bracket. Failure to provide this means an increase in government’s share and would make the worker worse off than he was before he got the raise.

Let our banner proclaim our belief in a free market as the greatest provider for the people. Let us also call for an end to the nit-picking, the harassment and over-regulation of business and industry which restricts expansion and our ability to compete in world markets.

Let us explore ways to ward off socialism, not by increasing government’s coercive power, but by increasing participation by the people in the ownership of our industrial machine.

Our banner must recognize the responsibility of government to protect the law-abiding, holding those who commit misdeeds personally accountable.

And we must make it plain to international adventurers that our love of peace stops short of “peace at any price.”

We will maintain whatever level of strength is necessary to preserve our free way of life.

A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers.

I do not believe I have proposed anything that is contrary to what has been considered Republican principle. It is at the same time the very basis of conservatism. It is time to reassert that principle and raise it to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way.

I believe that the Republican Party is stuck in a cycle in which their desire to protect their own hindquarters and cushy “jobs” have lead to a self-imposed isolation from the very American Citizens who were responsible for their having those cushy “jobs” in the first place.

I believe that average Americans, like you and me, have the power to relieve them of the burden of such a stressful job, and send others to Washington, who will listen to their “bosses”.

And, no “Independent Candidate”, pushing their “Go-Along-to-Get Along” Political Philosophy, known as the “Washingtonian Status Quo”, will win the White House.

Ask “Jeb!”

Just as Ronaldus Magnus said those 41 years ago, it is time to “let them go their way”.

Until He Comes, 

KJ

 

With Time Winding Down on the Game Clock, and Jeb! out of the Game, the Desperate Republican Elite, Call an Audible, and Bankroll Rubio

On By kingsjesterIn Politics8 Comments

High-Ground-600-LAThe failure of  “Third Generation Professional Political Legacy” Jeb! Bush and the unabashed success of American Entrepreneur Donald J. Trump in the Republican Primaries, has forced the Establishment (Vichy) Republicans to “throw a lateral pass” and to bankroll Senator Marco Rubio, who , by default, has now become, “Their Guy”.

Sean Sullivan, writing for The Washington Post, filed the following report…

LAS VEGAS — Mainstream Republican donors and elected officials flocked to Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) on Monday amid a growing sense that he is the last best chance to prevent Donald Trump from running away with the ­Republican presidential nomination.

But Rubio’s path remains narrow and perilous. He has yet to win a state, and a raft of major March 1 contests known as ­“Super Tuesday” offers few obvious chances for him to do so. And if Trump keeps racking up wins, it will become more difficult to blunt his progress.

Increasingly, there is a recognition among Republican elites that if Trump is not slowed by the middle of March, it may be too late to prevent him from winning the nomination.

“The window is closing, and we need to move now,” said Bobbie Kilberg, a major Republican donor who lined up behind Rubio after former Florida governor Jeb Bush ended his campaign Saturday.

Fielding questions from reporters here Monday morning, Rubio didn’t predict any imminent victories.

“We look forward to continuing to add delegates to our count, and as we get into the winner-take-all states, I think we’re going to be in a very strong position,” he said, referring to primary contests that begin March 15.

Bush’s departure from the race has provided Rubio with a much-needed injection of establishment money and structural support. Those who sided with Bush or were reluctant to cross him now feel free to back Rubio.

Throughout Monday, a string of former Bush backers from across the country gravitated to the senator from Florida, including former Republican presidential nominee Robert J. Dole and Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah). In South Florida, Republican Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mario Diaz-Balart and Carlos Curbelo and former congressman Lincoln ­Diaz-Balart — all of whom had backed Bush — announced their support.

Rubio also picked up backers who previously stood on the sidelines, such as former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).

On the donor side, in addition to Kilberg, former ambassador Francis Rooney, who gave more than $2 million to a pro-Bush super PAC through his holding company, is now with Rubio. So is financial industry executive Muneer Satter, who also made big donations to support Bush.

Phil Rosen, a New York lawyer who is a major Republican fundraiser, said he has spent the past two days on the phone with former Bush donors who are eager to join the Rubio effort.

Sen. Marco Rubio delivers his speech to a crowd at the conclusion of the South Carolina Republican primary on Saturday night. (Alex Holt/For The Washington Post)
“They have a lot of disappointment about Jeb, but they are ready to put full steam ahead for Marco,” said Rosen, who said he has gotten commitments from 15 top Bush bundlers.

“I am going to continue to reach out to literally every person that was on the Bush campaign,” he said.

Rosen said he has not encountered any residual bitterness from the campaign clashes between the two men.

In a new ad released Monday that will run in Super Tuesday states, a super PAC supporting Rubio casts Trump as “erratic” and “unreliable.” It says Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), another top rival, is “calculated” and “underhanded.”

Rubio campaigned in Nevada on Monday in advance of the state’s Tuesday caucuses, which seem to favor Trump but are small and unpredictable. At his campaign stops, Rubio talked up his personal ties to the state, where he lived as a child.

On March 1, Rubio’s most pressing goal will be to eclipse the threshold required — as high as 20 percent of the vote in some states — to qualify for delegates in the states holding contests that day, most of which are seen as friendlier to Trump or Cruz.

Beyond that, Rubio is looking to the delegate-rich states of Florida and Ohio on March 15, which will award delegates on a winner-take-all basis. Rubio’s backers concede that a loss in his home state to Trump would likely be a fatal blow.

As the pace picks up, Rubio has adopted a broader message, sounding general-election notes in recent days as he has tried to bolster his central argument: that he is the most electable candidate left in the GOP field.

“Americans are the descendants of people that came here, whether it was two centuries ago or two years ago, because they refused to live in a society that told them that they could not be who they wanted to be,” Rubio said in Franklin, Tenn., on Sunday before his largest crowd of the campaign. “America is the descendants of slaves who overcame that horrifying institution to claim their stake to the American Dream.”

In a North Las Vegas hotel ballroom Sunday night, Rubio recalled recently being asked about the GOP’s minority outreach issues and responding with a story about the ethnically diverse group of South Carolina leaders who backed him.

“I said, ‘Well, just this afternoon, I was onstage receiving the endorsement of an Indian American governor from South Carolina, who has endorsed a Cuban American from Florida. And I was standing next to the African American Republican senator from South Carolina. That sounds pretty minority to me,’ ” he said.

Rubio was introduced Sunday and Monday by Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), a former Bush backer. Heller told the crowd in North Las Vegas that the race is a “two-man show” between Rubio and Trump and repeated himself in Reno on Monday. He pointedly left out Cruz, who won the Iowa caucuses and who finished close behind Rubio in South Carolina.

At a rally in Minden, which was held outside on a sunny and temperate afternoon, Heller joked, “I heard that Trump kicked El Niño out of the country.”

Rubio will campaign Tuesday in Minnesota and Michigan, which vote on March 1 and March 8, respectively. There, he will continue his strategy of focusing on major metropolitan areas and suburbs.

A threat to Rubio, particularly in the Midwest, is Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a centrist who finished second in New Hampshire and is signaling that he has no intention of leaving the race. Kasich will campaign in Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana this week.

In the South, Cruz — who was bruised by his third-place showing in South Carolina — remains a major obstacle to Rubio. The Texan has staked his campaign heavily on a collection of Southern states voting on March 1.

And then there is Trump, who is ahead in polling and seemingly poised to compete everywhere. Rubio aides are confident that Trump has a lower ceiling of support than their candidate. But the front-runner is fresh off decisive wins in New Hampshire and South Carolina and campaigning hard in Nevada.

At a Sunday rally for Rubio in Little Rock, Seth Flynt, 28 of Sherwood, Ark., held up an “Anyone but Trump” sign.

Flynt embodied the challenge Rubio faces in trimming down the field to a one-on-one showdown with Trump. He explained that Rubio was not his first or even second choice. His pick: retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who is still in the race despite poor showings in the early states.

Okay…so now, Senator Marco Rubio is the New “Establishment Guy”.

Gosh, who could have seen that coming? **cough**  **Everybody who has been paying attention.** **cough**

The problem is, Rubio is still in Third Place, engaged in a “Bi-lingual Battle” with Senator Ted Cruz.

On his program yesterday, the Godfather of Conservative Talk Radio, Rush Limbaugh, addressed the main reason why the “Rank Amateur”, Donald J. Trump is presently beating the “Professional Politicians” like a rented mule…

But, what is one of the things you have to do to succeed in politics? (interruption) Well, yeah, you have to win, but you have to draw flies. You have to draw people. You have to make a connection with people. You have to go out there and you have to do whatever it takes, because that’s how you win. Yeah, you have to win. Yeah, you have to raise money. But you do all that by connecting with people. You have to create an army of supporters. Now, here’s Trump — a quote/unquote “political neophyte,” never done it before.In the words of the establishment, he’s inexperienced, doesn’t know what he’s doing. “We’re the pros.” The establishment cannot draw flies. The Republican establishment candidates cannot draw a crowd. They cannot connect with the voters. They have blown it. So just how…? For people who think that Trump is somehow doing all this on a whim and things are aligning and it’s just coincidental that it’s working, Pat’s point is that there’s much more than coincidence going on here.

And it looks like Trump has a better understanding of what has to be done to draw a crowd and to hold the crowd and to expand the crowd than the political professionals, the people that devoted their lives to it. And make no mistake: That ticks ’em off. Oh, do not misunderstand. Here you have this cadre of political professionals at all levels. You got professional analysts. You got professional strategists. You got professional consultants. You have professional advisors.

You have professional lobbyists. You have professional suck-ups. You have professional yes-men. You have professional everything. You’re inside the Beltway and you’ve got the best, the creme de la creme. And here comes a guy, a reality TV host carnival barker, and he’s running rings around you on your field. He’s running rings around you in your business. It makes total sense that they would be flabbergasted, that they would be discombobulated, that they would be all out of sorts and not understanding what’s hit them.

Because there’s an arrogance sometimes that attaches itself to years and years and years of unchallenged dominance or superiority. And it’s clear that the professional political class is making a mess of things.

Americans have watched in disgust as a United States President intentionally harmed our country, while he and his fellow travelers, Professional Progressive Politicians on both sides of the aisle, thumbed their noses at the wishes of the overwhelming majority of American Citizens…the people who elected them to their cushy jobs in the first place: THEIR BOSSES.

Average Americans yearned for Common Sense Leadership.

A LEADER WHO WOULD RECOGNIZE THEIR ANGER AND FRUSTRATION AND REPRESENT THEM…NOT THEMSELVES.

A Leader who would stand up for average Americans.

Americans wanted someone who thought and spoke like this man:

I don’t believe the people I’ve met in almost every State of this Union are ready to consign this, the last island of freedom, to the dust bin of history, along with the bones of dead civilizations of the past. Call it mysticism, if you will, but I believe God had a divine purpose in placing this land between the two great oceans to be found by those who had a special love of freedom and the courage to leave the countries of their birth. From our forefathers to our modern-day immigrants, we’ve come from every corner of the earth, from every race and every ethnic background, and we’ve become a new breed in the world. We’re Americans and we have a rendezvous with destiny. We spread across this land, building farms and towns and cities, and we did it without any federal land planning program or urban renewal.

Indeed, we gave birth to an entirely new concept in man’s relation to man. We created government as our servant, beholden to us and possessing no powers except those voluntarily granted to it by us. Now a self-anointed elite in our nation’s capital would have us believe we are incapable of guiding our own destiny. They practice government by mystery, telling us it’s too complex for our understanding. Believing this, they assume we might panic if we were to be told the truth about our problems.

Why should we become frightened? No people who have ever lived on this earth have fought harder, paid a higher price for freedom, or done more to advance the dignity of man than the living Americans the Americans living in this land today. There isn’t any problem we can’t solve if government will give us the facts. Tell us what needs to be done. Then, get out of the way and let us have at it.

That was Ronald Wilson Reagan, the greatest American President in my lifetime, a man who brought us together, instead of pitting us against each other….a man who stood up to tyranny, instead of embracing it…A LEADER…NOT A FOLLOWER.

He became the President of the United States by communicating directly with the American People, in straight-forward language, that we could understand.

While Trump is not Ronald Reagan, he, too, has identified the Political Reality, known as the Washingtonian Status Quo, which has been holding average Americans, here in the Heartland, hostage, for far too many years.

Now, the good ol’ boys in the Northeast Republicans’ Club, or Vichy Republicans, as I like to call them, after the failure of Jeb!, have finally begun to realize that the majority of Americans out here in the Heartland are fed up with the greed and machinations of self-serving Professional Politicians., and are scrambling to maintain their Positions of Power.

And, it is nobody’s fault but their own.

You see, boys and girls, they forgot, a long time ago, that they are not “THE BOSS”…WE ARE.

And, to paraphrase “The Donald”,

THEY’RE FIRED!

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Cryin’ John Boehner to Go Sobbing Into the Sunset. That’s a Good Start.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

thLKOAET0PYesterday, Cryin’ John Boehner, the Vichy (Moderate) Republican who assumed the mantle of Speaker of the House of Representatives, after the Conservative-powered Political Tsunami, known as the Mid-term Elections of 2010, announced his resignation yesterday, effective at the end of October.

Hallelujah. And don’t let the screen door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya, O Spine of Jello.

Here is some information you may not have known about the Speaker of the House, courtesy of sourcewatch.org, from a blog I wrote in March of 2013…

In 1981 Boehner served on the board of trustees of Union Township, Butler County, Ohio. In 1984, he served as president of the township board of trustees.

Boehner served as a Ohio state representative from 1985 to 1990. In 1990, when U.S. Rep. Donald “Buz” Lukens (R-Ohio) was caught in a sex scandal involving a minor, Boehner challenged Lukens in the Republican primary and defeated the incumbent, while also upsetting the district’s former representative, Tom Kindness, who Boehner declared had abandoned his district to become a lobbyist. Boehner went on to victory in the 1990 general election and began serving in the U.S. House of Representatives the 102nd Congress.

He was a member of the Gang of Seven, a group of seven freshmen Republicans who assailed the Democratic leadership with accusations of corruption and arrogance over the misuse of the House Bank. According to a 1992 San Francisco Chronicle article the Gang “set the match to the bank scandal that has now engulfed the House, blackened its leadership and sparked a ‘spontaneous political combustion’ that many analysts say will fuel a record turnover in Congress.” (San Francisco Chronicle, 3/30/02)

Boehner told the Cleveland Plain Dealer: “I came as a reformer. But when people in charge don’t want to reform – the only way…is revolution.” (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 2/15/93)

The banking scandal involved 355 members, Democrats and Republicans, writing 8,331 overdrafts to the bank. The Gang pounced on the issue and forced the Democrats into a corner and eventually led to the tidal wave Republican Revolution of 1994.

Boehner came to Congress as one of the most pro-business, anti-government members in 1990. He advocated a flat tax and abolition of whole government agencies including the Department of Education and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Boehner quickly rose to the fourth highest position in the Republican leadership – Republican Conference Chairman – after chairing Newt Gingrich’s 1994 run for the Minority Leader post.

Boehner was on of the principal architects of the Contract With America. He also championed the 1996 Freedom to Farm Act.

When Newt Gingrich resigned his post as Speaker in the wake of the GOPs loss of seats in the 1998 election Boehner’s leadership post was challenged by J.C. Watts, the only black Republican congressman. Boehner lost to Watts 121-93.

In 2001 Boehner was named the Chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee where he would oversee numerous agencies that he planned on abolishing in the early 1990s. Boehner worked diligently to pass [[President Bush]]’s No Child Left Behind Act, reaching across the aisle as a conference committee chairman to work with Democrat George Miller (D).

Boehner has also been a strong supporter of school vouchers for private and religious schools and helped to push through the school voucher program for the District of Columbia.

Boehner has repeatedly tried to get a pension reform bill, favored by business leaders, passed by Congress. It has passed the House multiple times, but has consistently failed in the Senate.

Boehner was elected House Majority Leader on February 2, 2006, following Tom DeLay’s departure because of a criminal indictment.

There was brief controversy on the first ballot for Majority Leader. The first count showed more votes cast than Republicans present at the Conference meeting.[22] However, this turned out to be due to a misunderstanding on whether or not Congressman Luis Fortune was allowed to vote on leadership.

Boehner campaigned as a reform candidate who could help the House Republicans cleanse and recover from the political damage caused by charges of ethics violations, corruption and money laundering leveled against prominent conservatives such as DeLay and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, in spite of his own ties to Abramoff.

He bested fellow candidates Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri and Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona, even though he was considered an underdog candidate to House Majority Whip Blunt. It was the most contested election among House Republicans since 1998. Boehner received 122 votes compared to 109 by Blunt in a run-off vote. Rep. Shadegg dropped out of the race after a loss in the first round of voting and his supporters backed Boehner.

Blunt kept his previous position as Majority Whip, the No. 3 leadership position in the House. Boehner has a strong pro-business reputation but the social conservatives in the GOP are questioning his commitment to their values. According to the Washington Post “From illegal immigration to sanctions on China to an overhaul of the pension system, Boehner, as chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, took ardently pro-business positions that were contrary to those of many in his party. Religious conservatives — examining his voting record — see him as a policymaker driven by small-government economic concerns, not theirs….. [He opposes] a tough illegal immigration bill that passed in December [2005] with overwhelming Republican support over Boehner’s opposition. One provision in the bill would mandate that every business verify the legality of every employee through the federal terrorism watch list and a database of Social Security numbers. For the bill’s authors, the measure is central to choking off illegal immigrants’ employment opportunities. To business groups and Boehner, it is unworkable.” Feb 12, 2006

Boehner has since backtracked on his reform platform, stalling on lobbying and ethics reform proposals put forward by Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-CA). Boehner stated on “Fox New Sunday” that Congress may be overreacting to the current lobbying scandal and voiced his opposition to a proposed congressional travel ban and a ban of earmark projects. The Washington Post writes that Boehner’s ascension to the Majority Leader post “make[s] it less likely that the more far-reaching proposals to restructure lobbying will become law.”  Boehner called the travel ban proposal “childish” in another interview.

Boehner is one of the top recipients of private travel, ranking 7th out of 638 members and former members at American Radio Works Power Trips. His trip totals cost $157,603.85.

So, why is Boehner vacating his cushy, phone-baloney job?

Perhaps he hears footsteps behind him, leading to the embarrassment of being fired.

Foxnews.com reports that

Most Republicans feel betrayed by their party — and show their displeasure by supporting outsiders over establishment candidates in the GOP presidential race. 

Real-estate mogul Donald Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson are the favorites in the Republican race in the latest Fox News national poll on the 2016 election.  Neither has held elected office before and yet the two of them — together with businesswoman Carly Fiorina — capture the support of more than half of GOP primary voters.

On the Democratic side, support for Vice President Joe Biden — who is still considering a run — has almost doubled since August.  But make no mistake: Hillary Clinton remains the frontrunner. 

Trump stays on top with 26 percent among GOP primary voters, followed by Carson at 18 percent.  Fiorina and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio are next, tied at 9 percent.  All four have gained ground. After the August Fox News debate, Trump had 25 percent, while Carson had 12 percent, Fiorina 5 percent and Rubio 4 percent. 

Trump holds his leader status even though he was once again rated in the poll as having done the worst job in the debate. Fiorina, Rubio and Carson receive positive marks for their performances.

The appeal of outsiders comes from significant dissatisfaction with the party establishment:  62 percent of Republican primary voters feel “betrayed” by politicians in their party, and another 66 percent say the recent Republican majorities in Washington have failed to do all they could to block or reverse President Obama’s agenda.  For comparison, 40 percent of Democratic primary voters feel betrayed by their party.  

Frustration with party leaders has been a recurring theme for one sitting GOP senator in the race, Ted Cruz of Texas, who is next in the poll at eight percent.  He was at 10 percent in August. 

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush garners seven percent, a new low for him in the Fox News poll.  He had 15 percent support as recently as early August. 

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is up a couple of ticks to five percent and Ohio Gov. John Kasich gets four percent.  Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee receives three percent and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul two percent.  All other candidates receive one percent or less. 

The favorites among white evangelical Christians voting in the Republican primary are Trump (29 percent), Carson (21 percent) and Cruz (12 percent).

The top picks among self-described “very” conservatives voting in the GOP primary are Carson (23 percent), Trump (22 percent), Cruz (13 percent) and Rubio (11 percent).

Straight talk is part of Trump’s outsider appeal — but does he go too far?  Not for GOP primary voters: 65 percent of them say Trump just tells it like it is, compared to 30 percent who think he is “too mean and blunt” to be president.  Trump’s style may be a liability in the general election, though. Overall, 49 percent of voters find him too mean and blunt, while 44 percent say we need his directness. 

Moderate Republicans have been a barrier to Republican victory for as long as I can remember. Like Quakers, Establishment Republicans seem to believe that passive resistance and reaching out to their sworn enemies, friends, is the way to defeat those who oppose you.

It has been especially bad since Boehner gained the Speakership in January of 2011, as the House and Senate Republican Leadership apparently cherish their friendship with the Democrats more than they do the wishes of the folks back home. Yes, they talk a good game, but so did Jon Lovitz in those “Liar Sketches” during the old days of Saturday Night Live, back when that show was actually funny.

Yeah,  my wife Morgan Fairchild. Yeah, that’s it. That’s the ticket!

In 1975, Ronald Wilson Reagan gave a speech which sums up our present situation and how we need to handle the Republican Party leadership, quite well.

Americans are hungry to feel once again a sense of mission and greatness.

I don ‘t know about you, but I am impatient with those Republicans who after the last election rushed into print saying, “We must broaden the base of our party” — when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.

It was a feeling that there was not a sufficient difference now between the parties that kept a majority of the voters away from the polls. When have we ever advocated a closed-door policy? Who has ever been barred from participating?

Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?

Let us show that we stand for fiscal integrity and sound money and above all for an end to deficit spending, with ultimate retirement of the national debt.

Let us also include a permanent limit on the percentage of the people’s earnings government can take without their consent.

Let our banner proclaim a genuine tax reform that will begin by simplifying the income tax so that workers can compute their obligation without having to employ legal help.

And let it provide indexing — adjusting the brackets to the cost of living — so that an increase in salary merely to keep pace with inflation does not move the taxpayer into a surtax bracket. Failure to provide this means an increase in government’s share and would make the worker worse off than he was before he got the raise.

Let our banner proclaim our belief in a free market as the greatest provider for the people. Let us also call for an end to the nit-picking, the harassment and over-regulation of business and industry which restricts expansion and our ability to compete in world markets.

Let us explore ways to ward off socialism, not by increasing government’s coercive power, but by increasing participation by the people in the ownership of our industrial machine.

Our banner must recognize the responsibility of government to protect the law-abiding, holding those who commit misdeeds personally accountable.

And we must make it plain to international adventurers that our love of peace stops short of “peace at any price.”

We will maintain whatever level of strength is necessary to preserve our free way of life.

A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers.

I do not believe I have proposed anything that is contrary to what has been considered Republican principle. It is at the same time the very basis of conservatism. It is time to reassert that principle and raise it to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way.

I believe that the Republican Party is stuck in a cycle in which their desire to protect their own hindquarters and cushy “jobs” have lead to a self-imposed isolation from the very American Citizens who were responsible for their having those cushy “jobs” in the first place.

I believe that average Americans, like you and me, have the power to relieve them of the burden of such a stressful job, and send others to Washington, who will listen to their “bosses”.

Just as Ronaldus Magnus said those 39 years ago, it is time to “let them go their way”.

Cryin’ John Boehner’s “resignation” is a good start.

It’s time for Mitch “The Turtle” McConnell to pack his bags, as well.

Until He Comes, 

KJ