The sound heard around the Hill: “I am not the one”?

MoonHowler

 

Are the congressional Republicans imploding?  What’s going on?  Have the hardliners killed the GOP?

Something needs to give.   Do what I call “normal Republicans” even have a chance?  The GOP leadership appears to be in chaos.

This year is definitely bizarre world in terms of politics.  Trump and Carson still have the lead.  They are absolutely not leaders, in my book.

What will happen tomorrow?  I will sort of miss Rep. McCarthy.  There was something endearing about him.

Quote of the day:  Anthony Weiner said “These guys are the straws that are stirring the drink in the Republican party.”  [meaning the 40 rebels]

Does McCarthy gaffe make him “untrustable” to Republicans?

MoonHowler


Realclearpolitics.com:

Democrats have seized on House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s comments tying Hillary Clinton’s declining poll numbers to the Benghazi investigation as evidence that the congressional panel’s examination is a veiled political attack on the Democratic candidate for president.

McCarthy, widely viewed as the frontrunner to succeed retiring Speaker John Boehner when House leadership elections are held Oct. 8, said in an interview Tuesday on Fox News that Clinton was “untrustable” in a large part because of the committee’s work.

“Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s untrustable,” McCarthy said in reference to Clinton’s role in events surrounding the 2012 terrorist attack. “No one would have known any of what happened had we not fought and made that happen.”

Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon blasted the remark as “a damning display of honesty.”
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Government shut down–who is the perceived villain?

MoonHowler

pollingreport.com:

“Is your opinion of Planned Parenthood favorable, unfavorable or haven’t you heard enough about it?”
 
    Favorable Unfavorable Haven’t
heard enough		 Refused  
    % % % %  
 

8/20-25/15

 43 38 17 1  

“Do you support or oppose cutting off federal government funding to Planned Parenthood?”
 
    Support Oppose Unsure/
No answer		    
    % % %    
 

ALL

 41 51 9    
 

Republicans

 66 25 9    
 

Democrats

 13 80 7    
 

Independents

 47 44 9    

“Would you support or oppose shutting down the government over differences about federal government funding to Planned Parenthood?”

 

 

“Who would you blame more for a government shutdown: the Republicans in Congress, or Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress?”
 
    Republicans Obama and
Democrats		 Both
equally (vol.)		 Unsure/
No answer		  
    % % % %  
 

8/20-25/15

 41 33 17 9  

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Does Boehner’s resignation signal permanent disorder for the GOP?

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

When Republicans scored their big victory in the midterm elections of 2010, they looked like a party on the rise after a devastating pair of losses in 2006 and 2008. Instead, they have become a party in almost permanent disorder, torn by warring factions and near-constant tensions between their establishment leadership and a tea party-infused grass roots.

Now, in the wake of GOP House Speaker John A. Boehner’s stunning announcement Friday that he will step down from his post and resign his seat in Congress at the end of October, the question again arises: Can a party so driven by anger, a party divided over confrontation vs. compromise, actually govern in Washington?

Boehner’s decision to quit, and the suddenness with which the news broke, provided one more piece of evidence of how badly strained the Republican coalition is. His inability to corral his unruly members was legendary and, seemingly, never-ending, a series of “Perils of Pauline” moments that brought temporary truces but never fully resolved the debate about the kind of party Republicans want.
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GOP candidates need to be wary of the CSA flag issue

MoonHowler

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Washingtonpost.com:

If there’s one subject on which you just can’t win as a Republican politician these days, it seems to be the Confederate flag.

After the racially motivated Charleston shootings this week and a Supreme Court case regarding the flag, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) is facing pressure to take down the flag, which is still flying high at a Confederate War memorial on state house grounds. She hasn’t heeded the calls, and her staff says it’s up to the general assembly. Her fellow South Carolinian and GOP presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham, meanwhile, defended the flag flying in his home state by telling CNN on Friday that it is “part of who we are.”

and…

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Manassas City: Parrish joins the anti-reproductive rights crew

MoonHowler

Insidenova.com:

Against a backdrop of election-year politics, the Manassas City Council moved this week to enact new hurdles for hospitals, outpatient surgery centers and women’s health clinics that want to expand or open new facilities within the city limits.

Residents on both sides of the abortion debate packed the Manassas City Hall chambers April 27 to watch the council update its 69-year-old zoning ordinance to include new rules for “medical care facilities,” which will likely require special use permits to locate anywhere in the city.

Introducing the measure, Mayor Harry J. “Hal” Parrish II sought to frame the issue as “reasonable land-use regulations” intended to allow the council to consider things like parking lot size, hours of operation and access for emergency vehicles before approving the permits, which are also subject to public hearings.

Parrish, who is the GOP nominee in the hotly contested race to replace retiring Sen. Charles J. Colgan, cast the tie-breaking vote on the issue, joining fellow Republicans Marc Aveni, Vice Mayor Jonathan Way and Councilman Ian Lovejoy in supporting the changes.

Republican Council Members Mark Wolfe and Sheryl Bass joined the panel’s only Democrat, Ken Elston, in opposing the measure. A second reading and vote on the zoning ordinance is scheduled for May 11.

All three of the Democrats competing in the upcoming June 9 primary to run against Parrish in November – Del. Michael Futrell, 2nd, Atif Qarni and Jeremy McPike — were present for the vote and quick to criticize Parrish’s decision.

“He’s created this façade that he’s moderate and he really isn’t,” Qarni said. “And this vote is just an example of that.”

Hal Parrish needs to understand that he just lost himself a lot of votes in the 29th Senate District.  He needs to understand that he aided and abetted people who are pushing their own religious agenda down the throats of others.  Parrish needs to understand that his gentlemanly ways that have made people like him will not sweet talk voters out of making him pay at the ballot box.   I cannot vote for him now.

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April 25: Citizens beware! Hostile take-over!

MoonHowler

hostile

If anyone out there in Prince William County  land really believes that the fire-house primary scheduled for April 25 is an accident, I have a bridge for sale.  Life isn’t that random.  The harbingers of hostile-grab have been out there for months.  The plans have been in the process of being laid for  several years.  We have been warned time and time again.  I am just not sure who was really listening.  Some of us were.

Even if no one was listening, we should have all sat up and taken notice when a GOP candidate was eliminated from his primary because he filed his paperwork late.   Now what is the likelihood of 2 different late filings disqualifying people within the same two months in the same county?  I am just not buying it.  Essence of rat comes wafting in once again.

Look no further than the Gainesville Cartel.  Let’s face it, the contenders for supervisor wouldn’t have a ghost of a chance in a general primary.  The Gainesville Cartel has been recruiting and building its contenders over the past year or so.  It starts with tearing down others and building up little-known people into something they are not.   Recruitment has been heavy handed at times.  The tearing down and destroying has been going on for quite some time.  Just follow the internet ink.

The ultimate goal is to party-bust and rid the local party of all Republicans who might be not only too moderate but also might not be under the influence as those who would see themselves as king makers.  Yes, there is some definite royal ego involved in all this political chicanery.

It’s very safe to say that voters will not be getting an independent thinker if any of the supervisor contenders are elected on April 25.  The puppetmaster will be ever-present, not far behind the candidate contenders, speaking in their ear.  Should the contenders win the fire house primary, it will almost surely end up a sweep for Democrats.  That’s just what happens when those with tea-party mentality try to take over a county.  Prince William would become a former image of itself, with  even more drastically reduced services and a leaner educational system.

I can hear the Democrats doing the heavy breathing thing, smacking their lips and salivating over the thoughts of their win.  If the supervisor-contenders pull this off, and they very well might, because of the nature of fire house primaries, then they will face a general election where all bets are off.  The Democrats  see the shady business going on with the bat-snot crazy side of the local GOP and are sitting back chuckling, waiting for the fall-out to settle.  They won’t even have to soften the  Republicans up after the hostile take over.  The local GOP will have already handled that end of things.   This election is ripe for the picking by lucky Democrats.

Meanwhile, I understand that concerned citizens have contacted the DOJ over election ….errrr…irregularities.  They should.  Something is rotten in Prince William County.

 

PWC Incumbents denied a primary

MoonHowler

Insidenova.com:

The Prince William County Board of Elections, which recently switched to Democratic control, has denied a request to allow several local Republicans – including Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart and Sheriff Glen Hill – to defend their seats in the June 9 primary.

In an emergency meeting Wednesday, the three-member board met to consider whether Stewart, Hill and supervisors Maureen Caddigan, Potomac; Pete Candland, Gainesville; and Marty Nohe, Coles, could defend their seats in the state-run primary — even though the local GOP committee missed a Feb. 24 deadline to make that request to the Virginia State Board of Elections.

The three-member board, which switched from Republican to Democratic control March 1, denied the request in a 2-to-1 party line vote.

This might not sound like a big deal if you are one of the folks who isn’t part of the party faithful, but I can assure you, it is.

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Netanyahu: Should he be speaking before Congress?

MoonHowler

2015-03-02-ShouldNetanyahu

Too late now.  Netanyahu is scheduled to speak before Congress at 11 a.m. today.  Many Democrats will not be in attendance.  President Obama will not meet with the Israeli prime minister while he is here.

Many Americans feel he broke protocol by accepting an invitation from Congress to speak.  In fact, many Israelis want him to cancel also.  The chart above gives the break down.

At the heart of the matter is talks with Iran.  Netanyahu doesn’t like our stance.  Perhaps there are two sides.  Who knows.  The issue has gotten all tangled up in American politics and probably in  Israeli politics also.  Israel has elections in 2 weeks. Could this visit have any bearing on those elections?

 

Palin considers the presidency…again

MoonHowler

What is all this babbling about?  Yes, Palin has said she is interested in running for president.  How scary.  She is still just as ignorant as always.

Rightwingwatch.org:

“It’s going to take more than a village to beat Hillary,” she said. “We the people, we realize that this is war, it is war for the solvency, the sovereignty of the United States of America.” Palin said that Republicans need to prepare for attacks from the liberal media, which seeks to “crucify” conservatives, warning that liberals use Saul Alinsky-inspired political tactics, such as charges of “racism” and “sexism.” Republicans should reject these “Orwellian” and “disgusting charges from the left,” Palin said, before calling on conservatives to label liberals as the real racists and sexists: “Reverse them, for it is they who point a finger not realizing that they have triple that amount of fingers pointing right back at them revealing that they are the ones who really discriminate and divide on color and class and sex. We call them out. We don’t let them get away with it.”

Does Sarah Palin actually have ideas or is she just going to spend the entire time calling out the “theys” of the world?  With Palin and Huckabee, we are sure to get a good side-show this election cycle.  Poor Jeb Bush.  Poor Mitt Romney.  Those guys are going to take a back seat to the sideshow of Republican clowns.  Will Donald Trump throw his hat in the ring also?  He is always good for a few laughs.

Get your tickets now.  This years Republican run is surely good for a few laughs.  I have great expectations, in fact.  Both Huckabee and Palin need to go ask for their day jobs back at Faux News.  Jon Stewart was right!

 

New state GOP chairman elected

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

RICHMOND — The newly elected chairman of the Virginia Republican Party on Saturday promised to stick to GOP principles of fiscal responsibility and individual liberty.

John Whitbeck, a 38-year-old lawyer from Loudoun County, ran on a platform of healing a fissure within the party and expanding its reach through a renewed focus on fundraising.

To underscore the point, he also announced former Texas governor Rick Perry will give the keynote address Feb. 24 at a fundraising dinner.

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Anti-abortion bill includes tax hike on small businesses

MoonHowler

Huffingtonpost,com:

WASHINGTON — After a botched effort to pass legislation imposing a 20-week ban on abortions, House Republicans are moving forward Thursday with what’s being dubbed a less controversial bill that codifies a ban on federal funding for abortions.

The bill would do a number of things — including block federal funds for abortion for women who are in the military, who live in Washington, D.C., and who are poor — but one aspect of the legislation that hasn’t received much attention is the fact that it would raise taxes on the vast majority of small businesses.

The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act would deny small businesses a tax credit they currently receive through what’s known as the SHOP exchange, a part of the Affordable Care Act, if they include abortion care in their health plans. Roughly 87 percent of private plans include abortion services as part of comprehensive coverage, meaning the bulk of small businesses would be hit with a tax hike if the bill were to become law.

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FitzSimmonds resigns, or does he?

MoonHowler

 

Local GOP stalwart Bob FitzSimmonds resigned his post as state party treasurer in light of controversial comments he made about Muslims and members of other faiths on Facebook, or has he?  As of today, he is still on the job.  Did he really resign or was he just kidding?

The Republican State Central Committee met over the weekend and took no action to replace him.  Many party leaders have called for him to step down, including Prince William GOP chairman  William Card.  Mr. FitzSimmonds ‘antiquated ideas on the roles of people other than Christians in the United States hinder Republican efforts to increase the size of their tent or reach out beyond the current demographics of their party.  Failure to succeed in that task could mean the demise of the Republican party, and of a viable two party system in the United States. 

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Rep. Amash shows how graceless and rude he can be

MoonHowler

Justin Amash ripped into his opponent after a win.  Will this behavior be tolerated in Congress?  Is there ever an excuse for rudeness?  Supposedly Amash’s base is millennial and they like telling it like it is in politics.  I sure hope that is not the case.  I am used to the civility of the old Senate.

I would never vote for anyone who acted this rude, even if I hated his opponent.  His mother should get hold of him and take a switch to his backside.

Maureen Dowd: New Republican torches?

MoonHowler

Maureen Dowd, columnist for the New York Times, whether you agree with her or not, is probably one of the most talented opinion writers in America today. She had the following to say in her April 8, 2014 column entitled “Jeb in the Vortex:”  (nytimes.com)

Some of those close to Jeb say he’s serious about running and bringing back a civil tone to Republican politics. Others say he needs to act as though he’s running to keep his speaking fees high and options open. Rush Limbaugh thinks Jeb’s “act of love” comment was a gambit to tick off the Tea Party and “get the conservative backlash to him out of the way.”

Jeb thinks Republicans have lost their way. He may soon learn that a lot of conservatives think they have found their way — and it’s not the joyful, loving, government-can-be-a-force-for-good way. It’s the mean, cruel, gut-the-government way.

When this crowd thinks of a Thousand Points of Light, they’re thinking of torches as they march toward the Capitol.

Is Jeb right and have Republicans lost their way?  It appears that many have done exactly that.   The Republicans of yore were kinder, gentler and didn’t carry torches and pitchforks, as a rule.