Pelosi’s Pathetic, & Completely Unnecessary Lie
The View from the Middle
I should have written this immediately after the recent State of the Union speech, but I assumed at least one of the brilliant talking heads in our esteemed fourth estate would have picked up on it. Unfortunately, they did not. So, let me remind you of the tangled web that Nancy Pelosi wove.
First, to explain why she seemed to be paying no attention whatsoever to the President’s speech she claimed that she was a speed reader and was racing through the text and was totally informed as to what he was going to say long before he finished. This could also be a lie designed to give her a realistic, even noble explanation for her rude behavior intended to distract people’s attention from the speech. Who knows.
But this was followed by her shock that the President had decided to honor Rush Limbaugh with the Medal of Freedom. She couldn’t help herself, however, and decided to add another level of fabrication to the story. She said, “We all thought that he was going to give the Medal of Freedom to John Lewis” who has also recently been diagnosed with cancer. “We” does include her, right?
But wait a minute! I thought she was a speed reader and had already read the President’s speech in its entirety long before Melania Trump hung the award around Rush’s neck. If that was true, she wouldn’t have thought the award was going to John Lewis as she suggested later. She would have already known the award was going to Limbaugh. Either her speed reading or her shock that Rush received the award had to be a lie.
I only bring this up to demonstrate that these people, our members of Congress, have gotten so used to lying that they do it even when it is totally unnecessary. Obviously, when anyone in Congress accuses anyone else of being a liar, it is clearly like the proverbial "pot calling the kettle black".
There is one more little twist to this web of deception. She said that it was disgusting that Trump would make the presentation of the Medal of Freedom “in the people’s house”. He should have done it at the Whitehouse. But when she thought it was John Lewis receiving the award, she didn’t have the same reservation.
Nancy’s actions that night were pathetic, but it is the needless, gratuitous and unwarranted deception that disappoints me most. If we can’t trust them to tell the truth about something as simple as this how can we trust them with really important matters.
Monday, February 24, 2020
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Prayer Breakfast Proves We Need Prayer
Prayer Breakfast Proves We Need Prayer
The View from the Middle
As you might guess, because of the article I wrote just a few days ago, I found myself praying for our President and our country before the Prayer Breakfast this morning. I was praying that the President would use this opportunity to forgive his enemies, turn the other cheek and chart a course for civility, cooperation and progress for our country for the next few months at least. He, unfortunately, did not choose to do so.
Anger and hatred are mighty forces in the world and powerful tools of Satan to divide us, separate us from God and destroy any chance of peace and joy in our lives. I understand that the President and his family have been hounded and even persecuted since before he took office. I certainly don’t condone that, but we as Christians are asked to forgive our persecutors and reflect God’s mercy, love and wisdom to everyone.
The President opened his comments by taking shots and Mitt Romney and Nancy Pelosi. Now, I disagree with Mitt’s vote to convict the President on one of the two articles of impeachment, but it should be easy for the President to simply focus on the 250 members of both Houses of Congress that voted in support of him, included three Democrat members of the House.
He then took a shot at Speaker Pelosi. Remember that Nancy claimed that she didn’t hate the President and, in fact, was praying for him. I must admit, I’m human, and I doubted that Nancy was actually praying for Donald Trump and judging by her actions, I suspected that she really has hate in her heart for the President. We need to be praying for her also. But the President went out of his way to say that he didn’t like people who say that they are praying for someone when they actually aren’t.
With Ms. Pelosi sitting just a few seats to his left at the dais, the President had two choices. First, he could have just swept that memory from his mind and focused on his message about the persecution of people of all faiths around the world and the importance of religious liberty. OR, he could have actually reached out to Nancy and forgiven her without even mentioning her comments. He chose to do neither.
Finally, he talked about how Christians reflect the love of God, but had to toss in the idea that he, or even we as Christians, hate some people. Hate? At a Prayer Breakfast? He is obviously a new Christian and is struggling with some of the foundational principles of our faith. I was very disappointed with the tone of his speech and the opportunity lost to heal our divided country and move us all forward. He had a chance to give a great witness to his faith and forgive and forget, but he did not.
I encourage anyone who reads this post to pray for Donald Trump and for our nation. Pray also for Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler. There is still time to forgive and move on, but Satan is a crafty, formidable and relentless force. I pray that our entire country will recognize his effort to destroy our “one nation under God” and reject the temptation towards hatred and anger.
The View from the Middle
As you might guess, because of the article I wrote just a few days ago, I found myself praying for our President and our country before the Prayer Breakfast this morning. I was praying that the President would use this opportunity to forgive his enemies, turn the other cheek and chart a course for civility, cooperation and progress for our country for the next few months at least. He, unfortunately, did not choose to do so.
Anger and hatred are mighty forces in the world and powerful tools of Satan to divide us, separate us from God and destroy any chance of peace and joy in our lives. I understand that the President and his family have been hounded and even persecuted since before he took office. I certainly don’t condone that, but we as Christians are asked to forgive our persecutors and reflect God’s mercy, love and wisdom to everyone.
The President opened his comments by taking shots and Mitt Romney and Nancy Pelosi. Now, I disagree with Mitt’s vote to convict the President on one of the two articles of impeachment, but it should be easy for the President to simply focus on the 250 members of both Houses of Congress that voted in support of him, included three Democrat members of the House.
He then took a shot at Speaker Pelosi. Remember that Nancy claimed that she didn’t hate the President and, in fact, was praying for him. I must admit, I’m human, and I doubted that Nancy was actually praying for Donald Trump and judging by her actions, I suspected that she really has hate in her heart for the President. We need to be praying for her also. But the President went out of his way to say that he didn’t like people who say that they are praying for someone when they actually aren’t.
With Ms. Pelosi sitting just a few seats to his left at the dais, the President had two choices. First, he could have just swept that memory from his mind and focused on his message about the persecution of people of all faiths around the world and the importance of religious liberty. OR, he could have actually reached out to Nancy and forgiven her without even mentioning her comments. He chose to do neither.
Finally, he talked about how Christians reflect the love of God, but had to toss in the idea that he, or even we as Christians, hate some people. Hate? At a Prayer Breakfast? He is obviously a new Christian and is struggling with some of the foundational principles of our faith. I was very disappointed with the tone of his speech and the opportunity lost to heal our divided country and move us all forward. He had a chance to give a great witness to his faith and forgive and forget, but he did not.
I encourage anyone who reads this post to pray for Donald Trump and for our nation. Pray also for Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler. There is still time to forgive and move on, but Satan is a crafty, formidable and relentless force. I pray that our entire country will recognize his effort to destroy our “one nation under God” and reject the temptation towards hatred and anger.
Monday, February 3, 2020
The Rest of the Story
The Rest of the Story
The View from the Middle
Donald Trump is the only President where the opposition party was proposing his impeachment before he was even elected. It seems clear at this point that the Democrats’ effort to reverse the 2016 election has failed, and as Paul Harvey would have famously said, we are all waiting for “The rest of the story”.
To be fair, I don’t believe that the call to President Zelensky was perfect. A true politician, which Trump is not, would have just suggested investigating Burisma, the energy company that Hunter Biden worked for, and not mentioned the Bidens by name. That minor faux pas, however, is hardly grounds for overturning the will of 60+ million American voters. It is absolutely amazing to me that the Party that was so concerned that Donald Trump would not accept the results of the 2016 election has not and will not accept those results once Trump won. This is, however, consistent with the Democrat strategy of accusing everyone else of doing exactly what they are doing.
I also agree with Alan Dershowitz, the Democrat constitutional scholar who admittedly did not vote for Trump. At worst, Trump had mixed motives for investigating the Bidens. He was, I believe, trying to root out corruption in Ukraine before we gave them hundreds of millions of dollars of financial aid, which is not only his prerogative, but his duty as a duly elected President of the United States. Was there a side benefit that he was seeking to hurt a potential political rival? I don’t know, and neither do the Democrats, although they will try to convince you that they can read Donald Trump’s mind with absolute accuracy.
The one thing on which I can agree with Democrats is that there will be consequences to everyone’s actions come this fall. The Democrats will certainly attack the vulnerable Senators who voted against hearing new witnesses in the Senate hearing. On the Republican side, Martha McSally is probably the most vulnerable since she was appointed to her seat just about a year ago and she spoke out adamantly against new witnesses. Susan Collins of Maine will be in for a fight also, but she voted for witnesses so she can at least use that in her campaign. On the Democrat side, Doug Jones is a dead man in Alabama. I predict that he will vote to acquit President Trump, but this will not be enough to save him if his opponent is not a registered sex offender or convicted drug trafficker. This is Jeff Sessions’ old seat and has been a reliable Republican position for many years. My prediction is that the Senate will remain in Republican hands.
The House is the real wild card. Here, the “consequences” will fall on the Democrats. The impeachment process in the House was totally biased and partisan. In fact, the only bi-partisan aspect of the House impeachment process was in its rejection of the impeachment effort. Every Republican voted against both articles of impeachment and four Democrats voted with them on one or both articles or voted “present”. We even had one Democrat change parties as a result of the Pelosi’s impeachment effort, Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey. This was all after Nancy Pelosi said that any impeachment effort had to be overwhelming and bi-partisan. It was neither, and I believe Democrats in the House will pay a price. The rigged, partisan process in the House will rally Trump supporters and I predict they will lose seats. Will it be enough to give Republicans the majority? I don’t know, but Trump will be working hard to see that it will.
Those predictions are part of what I believe the future will hold for us, but here is the real “Rest of the Story”. I can only hope that President Trump will offer an olive branch or two to Democrats in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday. It is sad that Democrats wouldn’t allow this vote to occur before his speech, which would have been a nice gesture, but I’m hoping that the President can look past this and paint a path of cooperation for the next year. This could come in the form of talking about infrastructure improvements for the country, or immigration reform or even improved healthcare. I must admit that if I don’t see the President reach across the aisle on Tuesday, I will be disappointed.
For Democrats, they must simply grasp the olive branch and promise to focus on “The People’s” business for the rest of the year and give up on their obsession on investigations. If both of these things happen, it will actually enhance the positions of both parties in the fall and will, for certain, benefit the American people. I can only hope that the “Rest of the Story” come Tuesday night is a truce between the Democrat and Republican parties and détente amongst our citizens.
The View from the Middle
Donald Trump is the only President where the opposition party was proposing his impeachment before he was even elected. It seems clear at this point that the Democrats’ effort to reverse the 2016 election has failed, and as Paul Harvey would have famously said, we are all waiting for “The rest of the story”.
To be fair, I don’t believe that the call to President Zelensky was perfect. A true politician, which Trump is not, would have just suggested investigating Burisma, the energy company that Hunter Biden worked for, and not mentioned the Bidens by name. That minor faux pas, however, is hardly grounds for overturning the will of 60+ million American voters. It is absolutely amazing to me that the Party that was so concerned that Donald Trump would not accept the results of the 2016 election has not and will not accept those results once Trump won. This is, however, consistent with the Democrat strategy of accusing everyone else of doing exactly what they are doing.
I also agree with Alan Dershowitz, the Democrat constitutional scholar who admittedly did not vote for Trump. At worst, Trump had mixed motives for investigating the Bidens. He was, I believe, trying to root out corruption in Ukraine before we gave them hundreds of millions of dollars of financial aid, which is not only his prerogative, but his duty as a duly elected President of the United States. Was there a side benefit that he was seeking to hurt a potential political rival? I don’t know, and neither do the Democrats, although they will try to convince you that they can read Donald Trump’s mind with absolute accuracy.
The one thing on which I can agree with Democrats is that there will be consequences to everyone’s actions come this fall. The Democrats will certainly attack the vulnerable Senators who voted against hearing new witnesses in the Senate hearing. On the Republican side, Martha McSally is probably the most vulnerable since she was appointed to her seat just about a year ago and she spoke out adamantly against new witnesses. Susan Collins of Maine will be in for a fight also, but she voted for witnesses so she can at least use that in her campaign. On the Democrat side, Doug Jones is a dead man in Alabama. I predict that he will vote to acquit President Trump, but this will not be enough to save him if his opponent is not a registered sex offender or convicted drug trafficker. This is Jeff Sessions’ old seat and has been a reliable Republican position for many years. My prediction is that the Senate will remain in Republican hands.
The House is the real wild card. Here, the “consequences” will fall on the Democrats. The impeachment process in the House was totally biased and partisan. In fact, the only bi-partisan aspect of the House impeachment process was in its rejection of the impeachment effort. Every Republican voted against both articles of impeachment and four Democrats voted with them on one or both articles or voted “present”. We even had one Democrat change parties as a result of the Pelosi’s impeachment effort, Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey. This was all after Nancy Pelosi said that any impeachment effort had to be overwhelming and bi-partisan. It was neither, and I believe Democrats in the House will pay a price. The rigged, partisan process in the House will rally Trump supporters and I predict they will lose seats. Will it be enough to give Republicans the majority? I don’t know, but Trump will be working hard to see that it will.
Those predictions are part of what I believe the future will hold for us, but here is the real “Rest of the Story”. I can only hope that President Trump will offer an olive branch or two to Democrats in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday. It is sad that Democrats wouldn’t allow this vote to occur before his speech, which would have been a nice gesture, but I’m hoping that the President can look past this and paint a path of cooperation for the next year. This could come in the form of talking about infrastructure improvements for the country, or immigration reform or even improved healthcare. I must admit that if I don’t see the President reach across the aisle on Tuesday, I will be disappointed.
For Democrats, they must simply grasp the olive branch and promise to focus on “The People’s” business for the rest of the year and give up on their obsession on investigations. If both of these things happen, it will actually enhance the positions of both parties in the fall and will, for certain, benefit the American people. I can only hope that the “Rest of the Story” come Tuesday night is a truce between the Democrat and Republican parties and détente amongst our citizens.
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