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The Biggest Losers?
Calls for unity among our bribed, corrupt, political class have indeed got them together. This insider love fest fails to address any of our underlying issues and potentially wastes the last chance in our lifetime for conservative legislation.
- Every member of the GOP needs to scream at the camera every day that this Russia garbage and the witch hunt need to stop. We are witnessing a potential coup and it will end very poorly for the conspirators as well as those who just watched. The American political class has never been so despised in modern times and if the GOP fails to prevent the coup or actively takes part I shudder to think what comes next.
- The GOP needs to ram home as much legislation as possible as fast as possible. The clock is ticking. They will never have another opportunity like this.
The GOP need to quit being scared little girls about the media. Their pocketbooks are not more important than their duty to our country.- Ryan and McConnell need to be men and if they can’t be we might as well make them use the ladies bathroom. They are now rich because of their time in DC and have gone soft. Their test is now and they either grow a pair or they don’t. Nobody gives a darn about their faux unity in this polarized country.
- We won this election and they either step up and lead or they need to be swept away like mice for they are certainly not men. Many of their insider friends want them to stand down as the coup happens. If they cannot lead this country then they surely are the biggest losers.
I agree with that but feel they should continually push back on those questioners “to which FACT, are you referring? I will not respond to innuendo, anonymous sources, WHO broke WHAT law WHEN? If you can’t tell me, I’ll continue with my answer/thoughts on…”
The plan is to let him hang himself. It may wind up that way. The country needs help from ALL our leaders.
I don’t know if you are on your meds or off them but you have been spot on lately. Keep up the good work J.
Our bizarre executive branch has done more than our self-serving legislative one IMO. I am hoping our legislative branch steps up now. Right now. I didn’t write this post to discuss president nacho libre but the professionals we should count on to also lead!
Finasteride and Celebrex. Cocktail of the gods.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!!!!
They need to start jamming legislation through.
If anything , the Democrats would use a situation similar to the shooting to advance every item on their agenda.
Do you see whee this gets tricky?
We, meaning Republicans who sought to purge conservatism from the party, won. And now the conservatives, who are not We and are in the process of being purged, need to step up and do conservative stuff that their constituents hate and will punish them for. And the problem is them?
Maybe the problem is the people who want conservatism and join in voting against it.
No one. We’re too divided on the right.
Sadly, I believe this.
We’ve got some really good young Senators, perhaps the best in our history. Replacing leadership in the Senate will give something beside liberal media for the House to worry about. But even then the White House has to learn to lead. Congress cannot govern, they can pass legislation if given the right framework and vision, one simple enough for the President to sell directly to the people.
I disagree. Conservatives and conservative libertarians, some evangelicals, some moderates, and yes some populists won the election.
The problem is not the American people and I understand this is tricky. The problem is our leaders and yes I mean our president too.
The partially disenfranchised conservatives have their last chance in long time, maybe ever, to pass legislation. I’m sure you’re sorry Marco isn’t president. I’m sorry Rand Paul isn’t president. It doesn’t matter what we want. What we got, we got.
We need to function and the dems are stopping it with a chimera, the media and some punk lawyers.
Overheard on the flagship podcast this afternoon: If only we had the State Houses, the House, Senate, White House and Judicial. Ahh, to dream.
Well if Ryan and McConnell don’t step up now then maybe VP and P should campaign for newer leadership ASAP. I’ll pick Tom Cotton , you can choose the house person.
Agree.
No that is not a problem because it did not happen.
Republicans from the Freedom Caucus to the Tuesday Group have been telling me that they would repeal Obamacare, that they stood for the rule of law, that they would change the tax system and if not reduce spending at the very least bring the budget process back to regular order. Given the power to do many things on all these issues and a President that would sign their legislation they have done nothing.
I voted for the only Presidential Nominee , who could win, that would sign any Republican/Conservative legislation. I did not vote against Conservatism. I voted against the Liberal/Progressive Hillary Clinton. Neither Ronald Reagan nor Calvin Coolidge were on my ballet.
I voted for Congress people who promised these goals. If what we are getting out of Congress right now is an example of “conservatism” then in the future I will willingly vote against it.
I know I’ve said it before, but the problem is they are managers…credentialed managers. They don’t have an ounce of leadership in them. And I suspect they ARE managing somewhat well…only to their agenda, not ours…and that does involve a certain amount of failure theater just to keep up in the game. For now, at least.
Cotton, Sasse, Lee and Cruz Paul are in a league of their own. Cotton or Sasse are brilliant natural leaders; whoever becomes leader however probably won’t be President in a decade or so that’s the down side. One of them gets thrown into the volcano. Nobody in the House can lead, Ryan is as good as we’ll get. They must be told by the White House what to do in fairly specific terms. Ryan can do that but can President Trump?
Specific and Trump aren’t exactly cohabitating well but I get your point.
I love those Harry Potter movies.
Apologies to Mr. Pacino.
I suspect you’ve put your finger square on the problem, here. My take is that Ryan is a well-respected policy wonk, but a strong leader he is not.
McConnell is a purely political animal. He’ll be as conservative or otherwise as he thinks he needs to be to appease both the lobbyists and his constituents to the maximum extent possible (lobbyists getting the steak and constituents getting the sizzle).
I’m off to go camping and fish and shoot sling shots and shoot pellet rifles and eat awesome food and get drunk and howl at the moon. You all have a good weekend.
I appreciate all the diverging view points being aired here and have done my best to be civil, appreciating your efforts as well. Our country may not do better but it seems we are here despite the rifts.
Now one last nasty comment on Mona’s thread and I’m out. I kid, I kid.
You are far more kind to Mr. McConnell than I would be…I couldn’t have typed those two sentences without more than a few outbursts of four letter words.
We keep talking about “leadership”, a word, and applying it to people who’s positions, their professional field, actively discourages anything that breaks the status quo. Change is horrifying to this system, as its annualized spending growth only ratchets in one direction, permanently, so anything that even remotely hints at slowing that down (leave alone reverse) is met with abject horror and the Van Gogh scream face.
Why? Because it imperils re-election. And they’ll all say, every one of them, that they need to come back to continue the work they’ve started, etc, and we can’t let Joe Schmo de la Taco get my seat, because he’s a bad Democrat (but a nice fella), and, well…
20 trillion in debt. 100 trillion in unfunded liabilities. An idiot for president the last 8 years, who stomped on the stupid accelerator to get us closer to cracking wide open like an unlucky crab smashed against Maine granite during high tide.
We have allowed this system to thrive, to grow, to metastasize. We’re actually looking for people who are products of this system to change, to be effective, to do the right thing.
I’m beginning to think we’re all dreaming of a future that cannot be – a future where we righted the ship, and ourselves, before becoming seagull chum.
Concur.
This is the thing that drives me insane.
Trump and his supporters explicitly ran against conservatism. They were and are very clear. The people have spoken and are speaking.
How long will we march in their number before we catch on to this?
The game is the game. Whoever plays the game best wins.
Denying the existence of the game isn’t a good first step.
This is the reason why it really doesn’t matter whether the GOP leadership consists of Paul Ryan or John Boehner, Mitch McConnell or Bill Frist or Trent Lott.
Donald Trump said very clearly during the 2016 campaign, it’s called the Republican party, not the conservative party.
Conservatives are to the Republican party what parsley is to a steak dinner. We conservatives think that conservatism is popular.
It’s not. Ask your 80 year old Republican relative if he/she would like to see Social Security and Medicare reformed so that it doesn’t bankrupt the United States.
He/she will probably respond,
Remember when Donald Trump praised single payer health care in the 1st Republican presidential debate in 2015 ?
Any conservative who criticized Trump was accusing of practicing checkbox conservatism.
Now Trump is president he says that the health care bill that he encouraged the Republicans in the House to pass is mean.
This is not a situation that will result in the passage of conservative legislation.