Orrin Hatch: Will talk to the women when they “grow up”

MoonHowler

 

Washingtonpost.com:

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) raised the ire of protesters on Thursday after telling a group of mostly women who confronted him in one of the Senate buildings that he would talk to them when they “grow up.”

Video of the incident ricocheted around social media Thursday night, the latest in a string of confrontations reflecting the heated emotions coursing through the Capitol amid the fight over Brett M. Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.

In the video, a group of protesters confronts Hatch, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has been front and center in the confirmation process, as he gets into an elevator in the Hart building. The video starts mid-confrontation, with the voice of a woman asking Hatch over a wall of staffers why he isn’t “brave enough” to talk to her and her group. Hatch waves his hand in midair.

“Don’t you wave your hand at me,” the woman says.

Hatch looks at her and says, “When you grow up, I’ll be glad to” talk to you. The comment incenses some of the protesters.

“How dare you talk to women that way?” one says.

Hatch waves at the group from the elevator as they continue yelling at him.

Kathy Beynette, the protester whose voice is the one predominantly heard in the video, said in an interview that she was deeply offended by Hatch’s remarks.

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Trump attacks Senator Gillibrand in sexually suggestive tweet

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

President Trump attacked Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in a sexually suggestive tweet Tuesday morning that implied Gillibrand would do just about anything for money, prompting a swift and immediate backlash.

“Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Charles E. Schumer and someone who would come to my office ‘begging’ for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump,” the president wrote. “Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!”

Gillibrand’s response:

“You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office.

Gillibrand hit the nail on the head.  That any sitting president would demean the office of the presidency by suggesting that a senator “would do anything for them”  (campaign contributions) simply makes him unfit for the office that he serves.

Trump needs to resign before he is removed from office.

Meanwhile, Kathy Kay weighed in:

Katty Kay, an anchor for BCC World News America, also took to social media to respond to the president’s missive against Gillibrand, casting it in tweets as “clearly sexual” and “demeaning to women.”

“What is so maddening about the Gillibrand tweet is that women can be smart, work hard, become Senator and STILL get sexual c**p thrown at us,” she wrote. “Enough.”

 

A growing list of women are filing complaint against Trump’s past alleged sexual misbehavior.  Additionally, Gillibrand  joined Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in calling for Trump’s resignation.

Where will this all end?  Trump’s behavior is despicable.

 

McConnell refuses to hold hearings on Garland nomination

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

Mitch McConnell is not budging.

No matter how much pressure President Obama and Democrats try to apply, McConnell’s allies say the Senate majority leader will never agree to hold hearings on the nomination of Merrick Garland, a federal appeals court judge, to succeed Antonin Scalia as a Supreme Court justice.

Even Republicans who disagree with him think that McConnell (R-Ky.) will not retreat from that defiant stance. “I don’t see the majority leader changing his mind on this issue. He believes strongly that this should be a decision made by the next president,” said Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), one of two Republicans to call for hearings on Garland.

Since Scalia’s death, and McConnell’s pronouncement hours later, Democrats have been stunned by the senator’s determined position not to consider any nominee — and his flat-out refusal to extend the traditional courtesy of meeting with the nominee.

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Gillespie airs “pro-Redskin” political ad during Cowboys-Redskins game

MoonHowler

Hail to the Redskins! Hail Vic-tor-y! Congratulations to the Washington Redskins over their sudden death in overtime win last night. Moving on…

Pretty slick move, Ed Gillespie, pretty slick! That ad was effective and well-timed. All’s fair in love and politics.

The fact that this issue has gotten to be a national issue is fairly ridiculous, in my opinion. Should this bill ever pass, when will the PC issue creep over into all names, icons and monikers? Will local schools have to change their names? Will they have to chose new mascots to something namby pamby and lacking fight? I can see Stonewall Jackson high school and fire department having to rename themselves now if some sort of bill on PC steroids gets passed.

Congress has enough to do without getting into what a private franchise calls itself.  Congress can’t do its own job right. Now it wants to tell someone else how to deal?

Mark Warner is correct to keep his mouth shut. He doesn’t need to voice an opinion. I hope he is abstains  from voting  on this issue. Warner is a businessman at heart. I think the consumers/fans  and advertisers will ultimately decide the Redskins name issue. That is really where the decision should rest.

Senate triggers “Nuclear Option”

MoonHowler


———————————————————————————————————————-

Washingtonpost.com:
The partisan battles that have paralyzed Washington in recent years took a historic turn Thursday, as Senate Democrats eliminated filibusters for most presidential nominations, severely curtailing the political leverage of the Republican minority in the Senate and assuring an escalation of partisan warfare.

Saying that “enough is enough,” President Obama welcomed the end of what he called the abuse of the Senate’s advise and consent function, which he said had turned into “a reckless and relentless tool” to grind the gears of government to a halt.

While “neither party has been blameless for these tactics,” Obama said in a statement to reporters at the White House, “today’s pattern of obstruction . . . just isn’t normal; it’s not what our founders envisioned.” He cited filibusters against executive branch appointments and judicial nominees on grounds that he said were based simply on opposition to “the policies that the American people voted for in the last election.”

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Turn off the lights? Seriously, is this the best they can do?

MoonHowler

lights

Huffingtonpost.com:

The Senate is scheduled Thursday to debate an energy efficiency bill that includes measures to improve building codes and promote more energy efficiency in the federal government.

While some Republicans are seeking an amendment to the bill that would force a debate on delaying the implementation of health care reform, some less controversial amendments include this one from Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).

Coburn’s proposed amendment (via Politico) would amend the bill by changing a line that calls for “providing information to employees of the Federal agency on the importance of turning off the lights” at the end of the day to “requiring employees” to turn off the lights before they go home.

There are some safety issues here that need to be taken into consideration.  Additionally, how about directives from the heads of agencies being used instead of passing a bill that must become a law?  Government offices are all over.  Not all are in the position to turn out the lights when the workers leave.  Some people work in to the night.  Should  we have late workers walking through dark corridors?

This proposed law seems like a simple answer for a complex problem.  It seems that agency heads  should be given a directive for an energy assessment and where possible possible, direct employees to shut off lights.  Once again, the Senate is guilty of over-reaching.

Cuccinelli called out over climate change on the US Senate floor

MoonHowler
Senator Sheldon whitehouse
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse

Washingtonpost.com:

RICHMOND — U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse frequently takes to the  Senate floor to warn against climate change, having done so, by his count, at least two dozen times in the past year. So perhaps it was only a matter of time before the Rhode Island Democrat got around to calling out Virginia’s most prominent global-warming skeptic by name.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II, the presumptive Republican nominee for governor, got a backhanded shout-out in a Whitehouse floor speech last week for his unsuccessful legal battle against a University of Virginia climate scientist.

The battle went something like this:

“In 2010, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli used his powers of office to harass former University of Virginia climatologist Michael Mann and 39 other climate scientists and staff,” Whitehouse said in a speech Thursday, which was posted on YouTube. “As a U-Va. grad, I am proud that the university fought back against this political attack on science and on academic freedom.”

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Mitch McConnell refers to Hillary as a Golden Girl

MoonHowler

I can’t resist.  It takes one to know one.  Mitch McConnell was born in 1942.  Hillary was born in 1947.  So someone please tell me why he is cracking on Hillary?  Why is he cracking on Biden?  Biden is about 3/4 of a year younger than McConnell.

The bottom line is, he can say what he wants about men.  When he starts the ageist stuff with a woman, he is treading on thin ice.  It’s always been that way.  No wonder women don’t vote for Republicans.

McConnell should have known better.  The Kentucky Democrats are demanding an apology.  That seems a bit extreme.  Poor Mitch.  He thought he was being funny.

What else is happening at C-PAC?  I just didn’t have the energy to wade through it all.

Kaine/Allen Debate

MoonHowler

Every once in a while you get to hear some real substance. I actually enjoyed this one. There was a little finger pointing but overall, I learned something about each candidate.

The debate is an hour but worth a listen if you have the time.
Did you hear a specific issue to address?

Tim Kaine tried to address the sequester.  So did George Allen.  That is certainly something people in our area need to address.  Kaine was challenged to give a plan.  He did.

 

Secret Service: But everyone’s doing it, Ma!

MoonHowler

Politico.com:

Four Secret Service employees who lost their jobs in the fallout from a prostitution scandal in Colombia plan to challenge their dismissals, arguing they’ve become scapegoats for an agency under fire.

The employees plan to fight their dismissals by arguing that their behavior was not unusual for the Secret Service, The Washington Post reported Tuesday night. Their challenge emerges just ahead of a Senate committee hearing Wednesday where the agency’s director, Mark Sullivan, is set to speak publicly for the first time since the scandal erupted more than a month ago.

The Secret Service has said that its employees had a clear understanding that it was not appropriate for them to bring women back to their hotel rooms while on assignment and off duty, but current and former employees told the Post that such behavior was tolerated “under an unwritten code that allows what happens on the road to stay there.”

So where is the personal responsibility?  “We’ve always been allowed to do it!”  and  “But Ma, everyone else is doing it!”  somehow just isn’t going to cut it this time.  I would hope that this excuse wouldn’t save anyone’s job. 

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The Tea Party: Is it a political party or isn’t it?

MoonHowler

From the Daily Press:

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jaime Radtke and roughly 30 of her Tea Party supporters stood outside the Capitol on Wednesday to protest Radtke’s exclusion from a debate featuring former Govs. Tim Kaine and George Allen.

Democrat Kaine and Republican Allen were the only two candidates for the Senate seat being vacated by Jim Webb to meet the qualifications laid out by event organizers, the Associated Press and the Virginia Capitol Correspondents Association. To get an invite candidates must have averaged at least 15 percent in published polls and raised at least 20 percent of the amount of money raised by their party’s front runner.

In addition to Radtke, this left out Tim Donner, E.W. Jackson and David McCormick who are running for the GOP nomination, and Julien Modica and Courtney Lynch on the Democratic side.

Radtke consistently complained that limiting the debate to the two big-name former governors was a circumventing of the primary process and an attempt by the “mainstream media” to pick the Republican and Democratic nominees.

I am still trying to figure out if the Tea Party is a political party or not.  If not, what are they?  Is it just a descriptor? Right now, it seems like the old Republican Party has a push me/pull me relationship with people espousing TP state of mind.  On the one hand, the R’s seem to want to use them in their mix and on the other hand, they seem to feel that undo influence and pressure is coming from that wing of the party. 

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A little Senate non-binding resolution–Shared Sacrifice?

MoonHowler

  A BILL

To express the sense of the Senate on shared sacrifice in resolving the budget deficit.

 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

 

Section  1:  SENSE OF THE SENATE ON SHARED SACRIFICE. 

    (a) Findings- Congress makes the following findings:

 

  •  
      (1) The Wall Street Journal reports that median pay for chief financial officers of S&P 500 companies increased 19 percent to $2,900,000 last year.

 

  •  
      (2) Over the past 10 years, the median family income has declined by more than $2,500.

 

  •  
      (3) Twenty percent of all income earned in the United States is earned by the top 1 percent of individuals.

 

  •  
      (4) Over the past quarter century, four-fifths of the income gains accrued to the top 1 percent of individuals.

 

    (b) Sense of the Senate- It is the sense of the Senate that any agreement to reduce the budget deficit should require that those earning $1,000,000 or more per year make a more meaningful contribution to the deficit reduction effort.

Yea 51  Nay 49

Harry Reid needed 60 votes to pass this resolution.  He didn’t have it.  What he did get was 49 Republicans saying no to  millionaires having any sense of responsibility towards making a more meaningful contribution to help reduce the budget deficit.  Who is to say what ‘meaningful contribution’ means.  It could mean each of them paying $100 more a year towards budget reduction.  The wording was vague.  Yet all 49 of the Republican Senators voted NO. 

The vote speaks volumes and will continue to speak volumes for many years.  Republicans need to rethink their protection of the very rich.   

Corey Stewart Still Flirts with Upcoming Senate Seat

MoonHowler

It seems that Corey Stewart is still attempting to flirt with running for the U. S. Senate, according to the Richmond Times Dispatch. In an interview, Corey boasts that people either love him or hate him:

“I’ve been a very controversial figure, and people either love me or hate me,” said Stewart, 42.

The moment of blithe self-awareness followed a ceremonial announcement of his bid for re-election as at-large chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. Elected countywide, the position answers to more than 400,000 constituents.

But with political ambition to spare, Stewart, an affable international trade attorney and spirited conservative, has designs on higher office — a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Corey still doesn’t get it.  No one I have ever talked to hates Corey.  They dislike his style of governance–that fly by the seat of your pants way of saying one thing to one person and the opposite to the next person.  Corey has a reputation for breaking his word.  He signs pledges he does not keep when a better deal comes along, such as his sell out on the Avendale property.  His total disregard for previous pledges to guard the Rural Crescent was highlighted on this blog.   Most people who know Corey say he is affable and fun to be with.   Many who know him simply don’t trust him, having been screwed over in the past.

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Tim Kaine to run for Senate

MoonHowler

The long wait is over. Every since Senator Jim Webb announced he would not be running for re-election, Virginia and the rest of the nation have speculated on who would run to replace him on the Democratic ticket.  Today former  Virginia Governor  Tim Kaine announced his candidacy.

According to myfoxDC.com:

Kaine, who won election as governor in 2005, was among the first elected officials to back Obama’s primary bid. Obama named him the DNC post and has nudged Kaine toward a run. Last week, he said Kaine was “not just a leader for Virginia; he’s a leader for America.”

…Republican George Allen, who lost the Senate seat to Webb in 2006 and was governor from 1994 to 1998, announced his candidacy earlier this year.

There are others considering the lofty run for Senate, including tea party person Jaime Radtke.  Corey Stewart and Bob Marshall also are considering the run.   All have been trying to get name recognition.  Stewart has been trumpeting an anti immigration stance and Marshall continues his anti-reproductive rights campaign. 

Tim Kaine is the son-in-law of former Governor Linwood Holton (R) who was governor from 1970-1974.  He was the first Republican governor in Virginia since Reconstruction. 

Let the wars begin!  Run Corey Run [evil grin]  😈

 

Republican Pac wants its money back over Scott Brown

MoonHowler

The Washington Times:

 

 

The National Republican Trust spent nearly $100,000 last year to help Scott Brown win the U.S. Senate seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, but now the conservative political group wishes it had that money back to help kick Mr. Brown out of office.

Saying the Republican senator is no different from a Democrat, the head of the group is calling for Mr. Brown to donate to charity or disgorge campaign money equal to how much the trust spent supporting him during the 2010 campaign.

The trust’s executive director, Scott Wheeler, said supporters knew Mr. Brown wasn’t going to be a die-hard conservative when they supported him early and often in his run against Martha Coakley, the Democratic state attorney general and once heavy favorite to succeed Mr. Kennedy

This was very predictable.  I have always liked this guy.  If I like him, probably the National Republican Trust wouldn’t.  From what I can tell, his great sin is voting for START.  Surely this can’t be it.  Why else is he not liked?

Just out of curiosity, How much to these politicians pledge to do what their voters want?  What ever happened to voting what a person thinks is right?  This ownership thing is a bit much…both parties.