Somehow, Still Naive

On February 27, The Hill reports

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) offered a resolution that would have directed the House to request 10 years of Trump’s tax returns, have the House Ways and Means Committee review them in a closed session and then vote to send the information in the returns to the full House.

Every Republican voted against the measure, save Walter Jones of North Carolina and Mark Sanford of South Carolina, who voted "present."  House Minority Leader Pelosi thereupon responded

 “Our security and our democracy have been endangered by Russia’s clear influence on the Trump Administration. The American people deserve the truth about Russia’s personal, political and financial grip on President Trump.  If there’s nothing there, then what are Republicans afraid of?"

Putting party over country is nothing new for congressional Republicans. The Affordable Care Act, similar to the health care reform first proposed by the Heritage Foundation and enacted by Governor Romney in Massachusetts, garnered zero (0) GOP votes in the House of Representatives and the Senate.   In the following seven years of the Obama presidency, congressional Republicans voted over 60 times to gut Obamacare.

Now that the GOP is in complete control of two branches of the American government and aim to overturn the Affordable Care Act, Speaker Ryan has led the chant heard around the Capital: Obamacare is in a "death spiral," a phrase he dishonestly used three times in an interview yesterday afternoon with CNN's Jake Tapper.

It's not in any death spiral but thanks to Republicans, it may soon be.   Moments after taking office, President issued an executive order recommending government departments "waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation of provisions" of the Affordable Care Act.

Rumor has it that Vice President Joe Biden was present at both the creation of the Affordable Care Act and efforts by the Obama Administration to preserve and protect it against a Republican Party striving to return more Americans to the vagaries of insurance companies and others.

He was there in body and spirit, but his memory is short. The Huffington Post notes

Former Vice President Joe Biden has received three separate awards for his bipartisanship and civility in the past year, — one each from the Bipartisan Policy Center, the University of Notre Dame and Allegheny College. 

It’s not that he doesn’t appreciate the accolades. He just finds them a bit odd. 

“I thought that’s what we’re supposed to be,” Biden said during a speech Wednesday at Research!America’s 21st annual Advocacy Awards.

“The idea that Notre Dame would say, ‘Joe Biden and John Boehner, they actually get along so we should give them an award?’” Biden continued, referring to the Republican former House speaker. “There’s something really wrong with what we’ve allowed to have happen here.” 

There is no "we," Joe.  The President who in his inaugural address two months ago declared "When America is united, America is totally unstoppable" on Wednesday held a rally in which he

railed against a judge's order blocking his immigration restrictions on Wednesday, saying the ruling made America "look weak" — and drew chants from supporters of "lock her up!" when he attacked his defeated rival.

Campaigning in Tennessee more than four months after winning the presidency, Trump continued to attack Hillary Clinton. While reading a legal code that the president said backed his authority to enact the travel ban, Trump interrupted himself to say that "fortunately" the former secretary of state was not in the White House.

"The law and Constitution give the president the power to suspend immigration when he deems - or she, or she. Fortunately, it will not be Hillary," he said.

The set-up had its desired effect as

Chants of "Lock her up!" reverberated through the auditorium at the mention of Clinton. Trump walked from the podium and surveyed the crowd as they continued to chant — something that became a hallmark of his campaign






When ex-President Obama gives an adoring crowd the "thumbs-up" signal as it yells "Lock him (Trump) up" former Vice President Biden can plausibly denounce "what we've allowed to happen here."  Not before.






Share |