Gorsuch, The Dems & the Perversion of the Loyal Opposition
The View from the Middle
Throughout our history, it has been the role of the minority party to defend its values and insure that the majority party didn’t run roughshod over them and, in effect, their constituencies. This is actually an important part of a democracy and something our founders anticipated would keep our republic from drifting too far in either direction, which they considered dangerous. Today’s Democrat Party has perverted the role of the “loyal opposition” however and turned into the “paranoid obstructionists”.
First, let’s take a look at the Democrats treatment of the Trump cabinet vs. the Republican Party’s treatment of Obama’s, which I’m sure they found to be just as distasteful. President Obama had over half of his cabinet (8 members) confirmed on the day of his inauguration. Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates was a holdover and didn’t require a confirmation hearing. Obama also had 12 of his 15 cabinet members confirmed within two weeks of his inauguration.
President Trump had only two members of his cabinet available to him the day after his inauguration, and only four in the first two weeks. In fact, the confirmation process for Trump’s cabinet has been the slowest in modern history, and is still not complete. There is a point at which the minority party stops performing the role of the loyal opposition and becomes an impediment to the new President and actually performs a disservice to the American people. They, the American people, want the government to work, and in this situation the Democrats have been thwarting that possibility.
And for the last couple of days I have watched Democrats rationalizing their “no” votes against Neil Gorsuch to the point of being ridiculous. Abraham Lincoln once said, “If you look for the bad in people, expecting to find it, you surely will.” The Dems have been so focused on finding anything bad to say about Gorsuch that they have completely ignored his qualifications. He graduated from Columbia, Harvard Law School and Oxford. He’s a pretty smart guy! He has been an Appellate Court judge for almost 10 years and has only been overturned by the Supreme Court one time. He knows what he’s doing. And he has the highest rating from the American Bar Association. That’s a lot to ignore along with the thousands of rulings he has made that conflict with the portrait that Democrats are trying to paint of him.
But, you say, this is just what the Republicans did to Obama, right? NO. Sonia Sotomayer was approved with 68 votes in the Senate with nine Republicans joining the Democrats and Independents voting in favor of her appointment (Ted Kennedy was not able to vote). Elana Kagan was approved with a 63 to 37 vote with five Republicans breaking ranks to get her approved. Without Republican support, neither Sotomayor nor Kagan could have gotten by the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold.
OK you say, Republicans were able to play the loyal opposition role in these cases while still allowing the process to move forward, but they were total obstructionists when it came to Merrick Garland. Actually, no again. I’ve written an article that supported giving Garland a hearing, but I at least understand the Republican argument on the subject.
And no one argued it better than Joe Biden back in 1992 when he insisted that George H. W. Bush should not even make a nomination for the Supreme Court in a Presidential election season. He suggested that if an opening occurred while a new President is being elected, the privilege / responsibility of selecting that new justice should be saved for the new President. Scalia died in February of 2016, and waiting for the new President caused the court to operate with eight justices for over a year. If I were king, I would have granted a vote on Garland, but I do at least understand Joe Biden’s argument. Biden may now regret making his bold declaration and he may even try to suggest he didn’t mean it, but unfortunately, the video speaks for itself.
The Gorsuch confirmation process gives Democrats the opportunity to put the country ahead of their selfish, partisan interests, but as I watch the tortured, slanted questions from that side, I fear that Democrats will force Republicans to invoke the nuclear option to get this eminently qualified candidate approved. They should follow the example of Republicans in the cases of Sotomayor and Kagan and place Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court.
A friend of mine made a suggestion that actually makes total sense to me, but which I’m unsure will ever happen. He proposed that Democrats should help confirm Gorsuch with a bi-partisan 60+ vote total, and Trump could reward that cooperation by promising to nominate Merrick Garland for the next vacancy. Since Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 84 and Justice Kennedy will turn 81 in July, there is likelihood that Donald Trump will appoint at least one more Justice. These two moves, one by Democrats and one by President Trump would go a long way to unite the country. In the old “swamp” this would never happen, but with the unconventional Donald Trump, might this “deal” be a possibility?
Final note – my wife and editor in chief agrees with all of this article, except for the last paragraph. Isn’t this a great country where we can disagree and still be friends?
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Dershowitz on Trump Travel Ban
Alan Dershowitz on Trump Travel Ban
The View from the Middle
Alan Dershowitz, Harvard law school professor, constitutional scholar and defender of civil liberties is hardly my “go to” guy when it comes to conservative principles, but I have to admit that I like what he has been saying lately. He actually supported President Trump’s original executive order, which temporarily restricted travel from seven countries due to poor vetting procedures in those countries.
His point on Trump’s first order was that the President has broad rights to limit immigration from any country when he perceives a risk to our national security. In addition, Dershowitz suggested that the judges involved couldn’t use statements made in the heat of a campaign as proof of some kind of motive for the order. Presidents are allowed to change their minds, right? Obama changed his mind on traditional marriage. So did Hillary. Actually there is a long and rich history of opinion shifting in politics on both sides of the aisle.
But what Alan Dershowitz said this morning was not only brilliant, but also stated so simply as for any and every American to understand. He said that these judges were ruling in a way that would make this order perfectly legal, if it were issued by Barack Obama, but illegal if issued by Donald Trump.
Think about the implications. This would allow judges to consider perceived (not actual) motives for Presidential action and then ruling against these perceived motives whenever they liked. I don’t know if these judges are getting off on some power trip when they think they can scuttle the plans of the President, or if they are just advancing some ideological agenda. Either way, that’s not their job, and I predict a reversal in the 4th Circuit or the Supreme Court if it has to go that far. I’m betting that serious judges will understand the implications of Alan Dershowitz’s logic.
The View from the Middle
Alan Dershowitz, Harvard law school professor, constitutional scholar and defender of civil liberties is hardly my “go to” guy when it comes to conservative principles, but I have to admit that I like what he has been saying lately. He actually supported President Trump’s original executive order, which temporarily restricted travel from seven countries due to poor vetting procedures in those countries.
His point on Trump’s first order was that the President has broad rights to limit immigration from any country when he perceives a risk to our national security. In addition, Dershowitz suggested that the judges involved couldn’t use statements made in the heat of a campaign as proof of some kind of motive for the order. Presidents are allowed to change their minds, right? Obama changed his mind on traditional marriage. So did Hillary. Actually there is a long and rich history of opinion shifting in politics on both sides of the aisle.
But what Alan Dershowitz said this morning was not only brilliant, but also stated so simply as for any and every American to understand. He said that these judges were ruling in a way that would make this order perfectly legal, if it were issued by Barack Obama, but illegal if issued by Donald Trump.
Think about the implications. This would allow judges to consider perceived (not actual) motives for Presidential action and then ruling against these perceived motives whenever they liked. I don’t know if these judges are getting off on some power trip when they think they can scuttle the plans of the President, or if they are just advancing some ideological agenda. Either way, that’s not their job, and I predict a reversal in the 4th Circuit or the Supreme Court if it has to go that far. I’m betting that serious judges will understand the implications of Alan Dershowitz’s logic.
Thursday, March 9, 2017
Trump is Learning Fast
Trump’s Learning Curve
The View from the Middle
I have to admit that I feel sorry for the average Democrat out there. Eight years ago they were wallowing in self-confidence and influence in Washington. They had a massive majority in the House, a filibuster proof majority in the Senate and a wildly liberal President in the White House. Then they got cocky and decided to ignore the other party. They told Republicans that elections had consequences and that they needed to get in the back seat of their legislative Prius, while Democrats passed Obamacare without a single Republican vote in either House. Then, they found that cocky, self-righteous condescension had consequences too.
Today they have lost the Senate and things look even more desperate in 2018. They’ve also lost the House of Representatives and the White House. Now they are left with Hillary’s strategy of “Resist and Persist”. Why do they say, “resist”? Because it sounds better than “lie, cheat, obstruct, hold our breath and throw tantrums”. And then, along came the Russians.
Let’s be honest. If the Russians were behind the hacking of techno wiz John Podesta’s computer (his password was “password”, Really?), they weren’t doing it to get Donald Trump elected President. NO ONE thought Trump was going to win. Not the media, not Hillary, not even Trump and certainly not the Russians. The Russians, if they were behind the leaks, were trying to weaken the person they thought was going to be the next President of the United States, Hillary Clinton.
But then Trump won and Democrats had to come up with some way to destroy his Presidency, even if Americans had to suffer while they did it. So, they decided to use the Russian connection to do it. There was and still is no evidence that there is any connection between the Trump campaign and the Russians, but that wouldn’t stop the Democrats and their lame stream media underlings. Accusations are enough for them, and then they could demand Congressional hearings or a special counsel, which would keep the story in the news for years and go nowhere. Great Plan, right?
The Dem’s only mistake is that they must have said, “Simon says”, because Trump copied their move last Saturday with his own, “Obama’s wire tapping me” story. He figured out their game! He didn’t have any proof, but the Dems had taught him that he didn’t need any. A bold accusation is enough. And then to put the icing on his accusation cake, Trump suggested that Congress should look into it. That would put this story on a slow boat to nowhere. And the Democrats will have a hard time accusing Trump of having no proof because virtually every Russian connection story has included the disclaimer that THEY have no actual evidence of any wrongdoing. Trump is learning fast.
I don’t believe that either story is true, but I must admit that there is a higher probability that someone in the Obama administration surveilled someone on the Trump team than there is of anyone in the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians. Americans as a whole are sick of this accusation BS and would just like these jackasses in Washington to work together for their benefit. Fat chance of that happening, unless Trump moves “term limits” up in his political agenda. I would love to hear the rationalizations from Congress as to why anyone needs to be in Congress for 30, 40 or even 50 years. That kind of tenure leads only to corruption of the kind we are witnessing right now. A pox on both of their houses!! And vote for anyone in favor of term limits.
The View from the Middle
I have to admit that I feel sorry for the average Democrat out there. Eight years ago they were wallowing in self-confidence and influence in Washington. They had a massive majority in the House, a filibuster proof majority in the Senate and a wildly liberal President in the White House. Then they got cocky and decided to ignore the other party. They told Republicans that elections had consequences and that they needed to get in the back seat of their legislative Prius, while Democrats passed Obamacare without a single Republican vote in either House. Then, they found that cocky, self-righteous condescension had consequences too.
Today they have lost the Senate and things look even more desperate in 2018. They’ve also lost the House of Representatives and the White House. Now they are left with Hillary’s strategy of “Resist and Persist”. Why do they say, “resist”? Because it sounds better than “lie, cheat, obstruct, hold our breath and throw tantrums”. And then, along came the Russians.
Let’s be honest. If the Russians were behind the hacking of techno wiz John Podesta’s computer (his password was “password”, Really?), they weren’t doing it to get Donald Trump elected President. NO ONE thought Trump was going to win. Not the media, not Hillary, not even Trump and certainly not the Russians. The Russians, if they were behind the leaks, were trying to weaken the person they thought was going to be the next President of the United States, Hillary Clinton.
But then Trump won and Democrats had to come up with some way to destroy his Presidency, even if Americans had to suffer while they did it. So, they decided to use the Russian connection to do it. There was and still is no evidence that there is any connection between the Trump campaign and the Russians, but that wouldn’t stop the Democrats and their lame stream media underlings. Accusations are enough for them, and then they could demand Congressional hearings or a special counsel, which would keep the story in the news for years and go nowhere. Great Plan, right?
The Dem’s only mistake is that they must have said, “Simon says”, because Trump copied their move last Saturday with his own, “Obama’s wire tapping me” story. He figured out their game! He didn’t have any proof, but the Dems had taught him that he didn’t need any. A bold accusation is enough. And then to put the icing on his accusation cake, Trump suggested that Congress should look into it. That would put this story on a slow boat to nowhere. And the Democrats will have a hard time accusing Trump of having no proof because virtually every Russian connection story has included the disclaimer that THEY have no actual evidence of any wrongdoing. Trump is learning fast.
I don’t believe that either story is true, but I must admit that there is a higher probability that someone in the Obama administration surveilled someone on the Trump team than there is of anyone in the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians. Americans as a whole are sick of this accusation BS and would just like these jackasses in Washington to work together for their benefit. Fat chance of that happening, unless Trump moves “term limits” up in his political agenda. I would love to hear the rationalizations from Congress as to why anyone needs to be in Congress for 30, 40 or even 50 years. That kind of tenure leads only to corruption of the kind we are witnessing right now. A pox on both of their houses!! And vote for anyone in favor of term limits.
Friday, March 3, 2017
The Russians are Coming
The Russians Are Coming
The View from the Middle
Thank God for our stalwart and unbiased mainstream media. They have just uncovered more frightening proof that the Trump campaign was in cahoots with the slimiest of Russian operatives. So slimy, in fact, that they would send chills down the spine of one of my personal heroes, 007, James Bond.
It was revealed today that Attorney General Jeff Sessions attended a cocktail party in Washington D.C. where he brazenly ordered a Black Russian nightcap. The mainstream media was quick to decipher this act for what it was. This was a clear signal that Jeff Sessions is both a racist and a traitor. Thank God they caught this.
Later in the day they discovered that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had actually read both Crime and Punishment AND War and Peace. Some may mistake Mr. Tillerson’s action as the simple act of an eclectic speed reader, but thank God for the media who exposed this for what it was; an obvious outreach to the Russian FSB (the new name for the KGB). I have to admit that I would have missed this one. Thanks, MSM.
And the piece de resistance was just released. You may not have even heard of it, but the lamestream (I mean mainstream) media partnered with the largest Beatles Fan Club in America to discover that if you play Donald Trump’s inaugural speech backwards and at slow speed, you can clearly hear Trump saying, “I love Russia more than America”. They are pretty sure they also heard, “Paul is dead”. Wow, this is real investigative reporting.
Thank God for their diligence and the fact that they have also saved us from wasting our time on the really unimportant stories. For example, the United States sold 20% of our uranium mining assets to the Russians while millions of dollars flowed into the Clinton Foundation from the Chairman of Uranium One (the company sold to the Russians). How could there possibly be a connection? Thanks for flushing that story down the lamestream media toilet for us.
Then there was Bill Clinton’s half million-dollar payoff for making a speech to Renaissance Capital, a Russian investment bank that was promoting the sale of Uranium One stock to Kremlin controlled Rosatom. There couldn’t be a connection to the fact that his wife was Secretary of State, could there? Almost all of his big payoffs did just happen to occur while she was in that role, but come on, that’s just a coincident, right? Thanks for steering us clear of that potential rabbit trail.
And finally, there was President Obama’s open mic moment when he whispered to then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, “I’ll have more flexibility after my election.” Everyone knows he was talking about the yoga classes he was planning on taking with Hillary after his election. What else could he be talking about during his missile defense discussion at Seoul? Thanks, lamestream.
Let’s be perfectly honest. Jeff Sessions is an honorable guy who was asked a tortured, finely defined question by Al Franken and answered it honestly. He shouldn’t even have had to recuse himself from the investigation on the Trump campaign’s connection with Moscow. Most of all because there is no connection despite the Democrats’ and lamestream media’s desperate attempts to create one. But Jeff Sessions did the honorable thing and recused himself. We have enough dishonorable, pathological liars in Washington to investigate before we go after one of the good guys!
The View from the Middle
Thank God for our stalwart and unbiased mainstream media. They have just uncovered more frightening proof that the Trump campaign was in cahoots with the slimiest of Russian operatives. So slimy, in fact, that they would send chills down the spine of one of my personal heroes, 007, James Bond.
It was revealed today that Attorney General Jeff Sessions attended a cocktail party in Washington D.C. where he brazenly ordered a Black Russian nightcap. The mainstream media was quick to decipher this act for what it was. This was a clear signal that Jeff Sessions is both a racist and a traitor. Thank God they caught this.
Later in the day they discovered that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had actually read both Crime and Punishment AND War and Peace. Some may mistake Mr. Tillerson’s action as the simple act of an eclectic speed reader, but thank God for the media who exposed this for what it was; an obvious outreach to the Russian FSB (the new name for the KGB). I have to admit that I would have missed this one. Thanks, MSM.
And the piece de resistance was just released. You may not have even heard of it, but the lamestream (I mean mainstream) media partnered with the largest Beatles Fan Club in America to discover that if you play Donald Trump’s inaugural speech backwards and at slow speed, you can clearly hear Trump saying, “I love Russia more than America”. They are pretty sure they also heard, “Paul is dead”. Wow, this is real investigative reporting.
Thank God for their diligence and the fact that they have also saved us from wasting our time on the really unimportant stories. For example, the United States sold 20% of our uranium mining assets to the Russians while millions of dollars flowed into the Clinton Foundation from the Chairman of Uranium One (the company sold to the Russians). How could there possibly be a connection? Thanks for flushing that story down the lamestream media toilet for us.
Then there was Bill Clinton’s half million-dollar payoff for making a speech to Renaissance Capital, a Russian investment bank that was promoting the sale of Uranium One stock to Kremlin controlled Rosatom. There couldn’t be a connection to the fact that his wife was Secretary of State, could there? Almost all of his big payoffs did just happen to occur while she was in that role, but come on, that’s just a coincident, right? Thanks for steering us clear of that potential rabbit trail.
And finally, there was President Obama’s open mic moment when he whispered to then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, “I’ll have more flexibility after my election.” Everyone knows he was talking about the yoga classes he was planning on taking with Hillary after his election. What else could he be talking about during his missile defense discussion at Seoul? Thanks, lamestream.
Let’s be perfectly honest. Jeff Sessions is an honorable guy who was asked a tortured, finely defined question by Al Franken and answered it honestly. He shouldn’t even have had to recuse himself from the investigation on the Trump campaign’s connection with Moscow. Most of all because there is no connection despite the Democrats’ and lamestream media’s desperate attempts to create one. But Jeff Sessions did the honorable thing and recused himself. We have enough dishonorable, pathological liars in Washington to investigate before we go after one of the good guys!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)