Budget Talk

When Speaker McCarthy wishes to speak to President Biden it is because
he is weak in his House and caucus. He is weak because he has sold the
House to the Radical Right (whether directed by Putin or Trump) to get
the Speakership. Today, House Republicans are sinking in their own swamp
of Santos, Marjorie Taylor-Green, and all the other disgusting nonsense
they produce. President Biden should set aside his sensitivities about
the documents found at his home and just deal with policy for America
with no concern for his own political position. Right now it's a huge
fight and more moderate people must win.

If you recall the 1993-1996 time-frame it was one where Pres. Clinton
got a great first budget and it led the way to a balanced budget. This
huge victory was opposed solidly by the Republicans who voted
unanimously against it until they won in 1994 and the House Speakership
went to Newt Gingrich. It all seemed great for the Democrats until
Gingrich revealed his revolutionary spirit. At first, he cooperated with
Clinton (as McCarthy is set to do) and that secured himself some
authority and identity in the political world. He also got Pres. Clinton
to sign off on NAFTA which was a huge political win for the Republicans
who wanted those policies, but also wanted Democrats to take the blame
if anything went wrong. The public hated NAFTA, and the Clintons.
Gingrich and House Republicans sanctimoniously impeached Pres. Clinton
to put him under the thumb of the Republicans and to give the
Republicans a shot at taking the presidency in 2000. They succeeded
brilliantly and yet the Crazies weren't satisfied -- they kicked out
Gingrich. Clearly, when Clinton was feeling exposed to criticism he was
pushed to a defensive action to protect himself. It failed spectacularly
and the Republicans learned.

Today the Crazies have important positions on House committees and they
would do huge harm to America and especially to Democrats given half a
chance. This budget fight is the first thing to come up, so this is
their battleground. And do not be fooled, they don't care as much about
the policy as in fighting Democrats to make their voters happy and to
score political points. The way they would do that is a replay of the
Gingrich techniques. Talk, work together, pass blame to Democrats, and
then impeach the president over nothing but hot air. They feel certain
that if the economy suffers and Pres. Biden is politically weak that
they can win the presidency in 2024, perhaps even with Donald Trump.
Already for the mid-terms we've seen how the media can talk the economy
down to hurt Democrats. No doubt they will continue to tear it down in
the coming months. That's another reason they don't want a strong budget
which would help the economy and the Democrats in the next elections.

One way to oppose this is to refuse to talk to terrorists, first and
foremost. Second, the Senate should produce a bi-partisan budget which
suits Democrats and aims for financial soundness. It doesn't have to be
extreme, just Obama-esque (let's say). When the House Republicans send
their legislation to the Senate, amend it to replace it entirely with
the Senate version and hand it back to the House. This will require them
to show their Crazy colors even more or fold if some of the Republicans
side with Democrats on the legislation. Where that may lead is anybody's
guess, but the alternative has been tried and it only helps Republicans,
not America.

Don't be afraid in the face of personal challenges. Think of the
well-being of the nation and the Democratic Party.

House Fight with Radicals

Imagine the Democrats needed the votes of a handful of radical Leftists
to get the House Speakership. What would the other more centrist
Democrats do if to get those votes the candidate had to offer Liberals
like AOC the right to "vacate the Chair" and call for a new House
Speaker vote any time they liked? What if the candidate had to give up a
handful of really key powers which didn't fit with the ideas centrist
Dems preferred? How would those more centrist Democrats respond? Would
they go along to get along? Would they go along with anything just to
get the Speakership for that candidate?

And now imagine the House Republican responses to AOC and the other
"radical Liberals" and the process of picking the House Speaker based on
such backroom deals. Would they criticize Democrats for not even giving
their caucus information about which deals were being made and what the
caucus would be giving up to win the Speakership for that one candidate?

You betcha. Republicans would screech and whine and scream at the top of
their lungs.

Now, recall that the Democrats this time were 100% united without ANYONE
having to give up concessions, while the Republicans all but gave Donald
Trump the Speakership by using the radicals as his proxies. At least the
radical Democrats would be House members in their own right. The radical
Republicans take their orders directly from Donald Trump via cell phone
calls to the House floor.

The involvement of foreign or corporate money and Donald Trump and his
radical ideas has truly twisted the Republican Party into a New York
City pretzel, no mustard.

Confusion, Chaos, Complications, and Politics

I see a lot of confusion, chaos, complications, and political
machinations occurring recently. The difficulty of the GOP to find a
Speaker of the House, the fall of Elon's Twitter and Tesla, the Ukraine
war, the short-lived PMship of Liz Truss, the recent weird statements by
France President Macron, these things all indicate the world is a tizzy
with uncertainty about where things are headed.


This is tied to Vladimir Putin and will last while he desperately breaks
his piggy banks to get money for his war and while he shakes up his
puppets here and there to get money from them rather than sending them
money.


How will things sort out? I'd guess the future will be decided against
Vladimir Putin because he's evil, but evil people have survived in the
past, so it's really hard to be certain.