The intimidations!

It is interesting to note that current Republican party chairman Reince Priebus has decided that two projects by two separate media outlets should not be allowed on the air. Both CNN and NBC Entertainment have decided to do pieces on one Hillary Clinton and Priebus has warned them that doing so will disqualify them from participation in the 2016 Republican primary debates. We remember those debates very well. In one of them Texas governor Rick Perry could not remember his third point when trying to make a point. Yesterday, down in Louisiana, this same Perry thought that he was speaking in Florida and had to be corrected by a member of the audience about where he was. We remember back in our youth when certain leads of certain rock groups had the city that they were in pasted on their guitars so that they would not deflate the audience by yelling out “Hello New Orleans!� when they were really in Cleveland.

It is really hard not to know that you are not in New Orleans but that is what Perry did yesterday when he thought that he was in Florida.

We bring all of this to your attention because not being asked to partner with the Republican party in its debate process in 2016 might not be the worst possible thing that could happen to a media outlet. The Republicans had better than eighteen debates in 2012 and they were among the best items of comedy television that we have seen for a very long time. Michele Bachmann was especially entertaining and the black dude who used to run the pizza outfit wasn’t too bad either. He was the one who told us that his plans included a nine/nine/nine approach that would have reduced the federal income tax on top earners to nine percent while imposing a national sales tax of nine percent on everyone, and especially on the poor who could have not afforded it at all. Of course the Republicans would have us believe that there is no such thing as the poor, only a group of lazy and shiftless individuals who only need the boost of getting kicked off of things like food stamps to get their butts in gear and find that multitude of good jobs out there! The poor might be able to work in the fast food industry if the protests to increase their wages come true, but, then, the Republicans oppose all of that including continuing things like a prevailing wage or even a minimum wage.

No one can predict what is going to happen over two years from now but the really frightening thing is that we will have an open seat for the presidency of the United States and there is always the opportunity that one of these clowns such as Herman Cain, or Michelle Bachmann, or even Rick Perry might actually get into office and then both NBC and CNN might have to cover their antics over the four or even possibly eight years after that. They make someone like New Jersey governor Chris Christy look absolutely good to us but then we realize that he is a Republican too and that is a generally scary proposition all the way around.

How Reince Priebus got to keep his job after the debacle of the last election is a real puzzle to us. We suppose that perhaps no one else of consequence really wanted the job or that Priebus is so plugged in with the crazies that run the republican party these days that no matter what the outcome, his job is secure. It reminds us of so many CEO’s who get a raise whether they do well or do not do well. If things go well, they get a bonus because of it. If things go badly, they get a bonus because of all of the hard decisions that they had to make.

We are reminded of our frequent comments over the last few years that the Republican party is nothing more than a cult or a collection of cults and no matter what the cult does, the leadership stays on. The only way that we can see real change coming to the Republican party is if they suffer some sort of massive electoral debacle that goes from the national level on down to the state and local participants that might finally wake them up to the fact that the road that they are traveling might have led over a cliff. The real fear is that the Republicans might take the entire nation over that precipice with them before they come to their senses. Certain elements of the Republican party are currently discussing whether to shut down the government at the end of the current fiscal year on September thirtieth over their hatred of president Obama and Obamacare. They have now voted forty times in the Republican controlled house of representatives to defund Obamacare and one conservative Republican congressman was questioned quite extensively at a local town hall meeting held in his district if he would support this current crusade. Those doing the explicit questioning were not happy when he stated that he would not support a shut down. But, in reality, that is just what Republican want to do over the long haul. Outside of a robust national defense, they really want no government left at all. It is also interesting to note that the Republican members of the house are carrying out a robust messaging campaign with their constituents where they are stating that the problems with the government and the nation are really all the fault of Obama and the Democrats. This is a campaign that comes directly from the top, is carefully messaged and crafted, and is how the Republicans are spending their august recess time.

There are those who are questioning as we write this whether there is really anyone in charge of the Republican party today or if it really is still even one party. Speaker of the House John Boehner seems more concerned about trying to keep his speakership than he is about doing any actual leading. On one of the recent Sunday morning talk shows he made the comment that Republicans should be more concerned about the number of laws that they could repeal than they should be concerned about passing any actual new ones. Things like immigration reform must pass the rule in the house that a majority of the majority of Republican must agree to them before they will be brought to the house floor for a vote. This is despite the fact that there are two hundred democrats ready to vote for all of them and that only about twenty or so Republican are needed to pass some needed legislation. This majority of the majority idea comes from previous Republican speaker Dennis Hastert from my state of Illinois who was probably one of the least intelligent members to ever sit in the speakers chair in the whole history of the chambers existence.

This writers real fear is that something might happen to Hillary Clinton’s health that prevents her from running for president in 2016. Barring that, the nation should have good leadership for another four to eight years that might keep a check and a reign on the nuts who are the Republican party today. But even at that, nothing is going to get done if the American electorate does not wise up and kick these Republicans to the curb and into the wastebasket of history where they so richly deserve to reside. It would appear that the Republicans in the house have gerrymandered themselves into a more or less permanent majority at least until the 2020 census has been taken.

IOVHO,

Regards,

Joe