The recent departure of Senator DeMint left a 2- year vacancy that has to be filled by the governor of South Carolina until the people of that state elects a replacement in 2014. It's a legitimate topic of discussion but South Carolina is a very conservative state, so it shouldn't be a surprise when republican Governor Nikki Haley appoints someone who shares the same views as Senator DeMint. She could appoint herself to that position and it would be considered an astute move on her part.
This morning Joe Scarborough said that Tim Scott, an African American legislator from South Carolina, would be an ideal choice because it would fill in the race void the GOP has. It's hard to believe that we are in the 21st century but some are still espousing 20th century views. Joe was so proud of his statement that he seemed to expect that Representative Emanuel Cleaver and liberal columnist for the Washington Post Eugene Washington would agree with him just because they happened to be black. Representative Cleaver told him that Tim Scott held the same views as Senator DeMint but he was a nice man who didn't engage in the crazy talk as the former senator did. It's about policies, votes, and perceptions; not optics. For example, some operative from the Democratic Party dropped a hint that San Antonio mayor, Julian Castro, might run with Hillary Clinton in 2016. That was just a political ploy to muddy the waters for the pundits who think that the GOP having Marco Rubio in a leadership role will sway the Hispanic vote. The Democratic Party can't take minorities for granted but their policies are more suited for that constituency and you won't hear the harsh rhetoric coming from their party representatives.
I shook my head in amazement when John Boehner chose his committee leadership team and could not find one qualified woman or minority to fill any of those posts. They lost the female vote by 11 points but chose to use the same seniority system as always. Media pressure forced the speaker to appoint Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI) to lead the House Administration Committee but she was more qualified to head the more important Homeland Security Committee. The GOP should learn from the business world; seek diversity..... not window dressing.
Towards the end of the program (Morning Joe) this morning, Joe Scarborough said that the GOP should be the worker party instead of the boss party. That's all well and good but he didn't say anything negative about Michigan's republican Governor Rick Snyder cramming through right- to- work legislation yesterday. One of these days Joe Scarborough might come to realize, the middle class is not about low capital gains and dividends rates but is more about mortgage interest deductions, and child and education credits. The country no longer wants to repeal Obamacare (49% against, and 32% for repeal) so it's time to enact legislation to make it stronger, more affordable and accessible. The rich will do just fine with the higher rates and the business CEOs just told the administration that they're fine with higher taxes but they needed certainty and a willingness to reduce the deficit and the debt.
8 comments:
Excellent! I think you have summed it up nicely.
Thanks EA
Once the GOP gets it all figured out, they need educate their followers like Allen Novosad of Edna, Texas. He seems to think compromise is to agree with all of the republican proposals.
They chose to ignore all the polls which clearly state that more people by 53-34% agree with Obama than they do with the GOP.
He mentions Simpson – Bowles as an ideal proposal, even though Paul Ryan voted against it and it lets the Bush tax cuts expire.
He doesn’t know Social Security is still alive for the next 25 years and it could be strengthen outside any budget deals.
Democrats should let the GOP have what they will consider a moral victory..The GOP thinks raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 is a monumental victory but in reality it doesn’t save the government that much money…In fact it will cost the taxpayers because the uninsured will not get preventative treatment or use the expensive ER.
They like to emphasize that Obama does not have a mandate but they can’t deny that he has leverage because of the hole the GOP has put themselves in.
I took an eye-opening trip to San Antonio yesterday….I can see that US 87 needs a serious upgrade. As I turned left at the McDonalds in Cuero, I started to see several big oil field trucks making their way to HWY. 87…I can’t image what’s it’s like during the week; there’s not a lot of room on that narrow bridge.
For your readers to check out--http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/opinion/sunday/dowd-a-lost-civilization.html?smid=fb-share
As to the traffic--183 to Gonzales is just dreadful, too! Glad you made it back in one piece!
Speaking of whack jobs (were we?), I caught Newtie on ABC this morning as part of George's roundtable. He is not cutting his party any slack and all but endorsed Hillary Clinton! I know it was just posturing, and he hopes we all forget in a couple of years what he said today, but it was good nonetheless.
Obama has leverage. He just lets things expire and watch everyone blame the Republicans.
Those that need SS at an earlier age will not accept the change and that is a lot of people.
And, if you keep people on jobs longert in life, it doesn't open up jobs for the HS and college graduates. Where it might help in one area, it hurts in another, so they have to decide which is more important. Businesses will not like having to keep older workers (cannot discriminate agaisnt age) and have to hire more workers to compensate.
Newt was on Meet the Press where Lawrence O'Donnell took him to school about raising taxes on the rich costing jobs...You see,Newt said that when Clinton raised taxes and 22 million jobs later...lol
It's Medicare that the GOP wants to raise the age limit.
How bout them Boys....:-)
Aren't those eligible for SS, eligible for Medicare? Is that what they want to change? Those 2 things should go hand-in-hand.
I guess I better go brush up on the "facts". Seems like I'm kind of behind. ;)
You can start taking SS at age 62 like I did.
It's a 5% per eligibility year penalty...I took a 15% penalty and never regretted it.
Medicare will go bankrupt in a few years if we don't reform it but SS still has a 25 year life span and only takes a few tweaks...In fact if we lifted the caps (like Medicare) on SS the problem would be solved for another 75 years.
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