Category: Republicans

Michigan House boots Gamrat and Courser resigns

Remember these two dunderheads? Well, he quit and she got the boot:

Lansing — The Michigan House of Representatives ousted state Rep. Cindy Gamrat from office just after 4 a.m. Friday for misconduct involving her extramarital affair with Rep. Todd Courser — one hour after Courser abruptly resigned.At 4:13 a.m., the House voted 91-12 to expel Gamrat from office after the Plainwell Republican made a final plea on the floor for a censure. Gamrat’s ouster makes her just the fourth lawmaker to be expelled from the Legislature”Resigning would have been a whole lot easier, I’ll tell you that,” Gamrat said. “But sometimes the easy roads aren’t the best roads to take.”

Source: House expels Gamrat; Courser resigns before vote

What gets me, like Ed over at HotAir.com, I am amazed it took so many votes. Either way, I’m glad they’re gone.

Others (via Memeorandum): Talking Points Memo, MLive.com, NPR, Raw Story, Political Wire, Detroit Free Press and Associated Press

A good analysis on the Kentucky clerk issue by Bob Barr

Bob Barr, who I voted for in 2008, gives a very good analysis of the situation with the Kentucky Clerk.

Basically, Bob says, “Be Careful what you wish for“:

Imagine waking up to the news that a Quaker county sheriff is denying concealed carry permits to citizens because of his religious objection to violence; or, a Muslim DMV supervisor in Dearborn, Michigan has ordered his staff to refuse to issue driver’s licenses to women out of a religious objection to women behind the wheel. These are among the realities that await should we make Kim Davis, the embattled County Clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky, an archetype for “religious freedom” in America.

In 1802, Thomas Jefferson replied to a letter from the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut in which he outlined a concept for the First Amendment’s application as it relates to religion. According to Jefferson, the Amendment creates a “wall of separation between Church & State,” to which “the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions.” While Jefferson’s concept of a wall separating the Church and State has been used in a modern context by the Left to justify its radical purge of any and all religious artifacts from the public sector — particularly those of Christianity – Jefferson rather was simply warning about the power of government, compelled by a dominant sect of religion, to corrupt and oppress religious liberty of allworshipers.

As an elected government official and public employee, Davis took an oath to uphold the law, and cannot properly use her power as an elected official to deny marriage licenses to couples found by the Supreme Court of the United States to be entitled to receive those licenses. This is not a question of whether or not we agree with that Supreme Court ruling; it most definitely is a question of whether we are – as Chief Justice John Marshall noted in his seminal, 1803 opinion in Marbury v. Madison – a “nation of laws, not of men.

[…]

The virulent reaction of the Left to this controversy, and laws such as Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, leaves little doubt about the Left’s “respect” for religious freedom, and highlight the need protect it from further erosion. Yet, as the Davis controversy also illustrates, protecting religious freedom is not as black and white as the media and the political rhetoric make it out to be. It requires a far more thoughtful approach to articulating its fundamental importance in our society than rushing to make every perceived injustice the focal point of such a debate.

Using the wrong examples to make our case for religious freedom only further ingrains the disrespect for religious freedom and the rule of law so desperately needed in the public and the private sectors; and encourages use of the “Wall-of-Separation” phrase as a bludgeon against religion, rather than a protector of it.

It is regrettable that Kim Davis was jailed, and as former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s lawless “gay marriage” protest shows, clearly the Left does not hold itself to the same standards as it does with Davis. However, what is happening to Davis is not about the sincerity of her religious beliefs, or even the morality of gay marriage. Placing her on a pedestal will likely come back to haunt her supporters.

And perhaps those who find a government for which they work so morally repugnant as does Kim Davis, would better serve the public they have sworn to serve, from outside rather than inside.

He is absolutely correct about that; we are a constitutional Republic, not a Christian Theocracy. Kim Davis took an oath to uphold the law and if she cannot do that, as a result of her religious convictions, then she should resign. This is why I have avoided writing about this case, because she and her supporters are making a religious argument over a secular issue. What she is actually doing is violating the First Amendment and she should be charged for doing so.

The sick part is that, naturally, the Republican Party will sing in unison in support for this so-called “Christian Zealot” and screw our chances for a victory in 2016. 🙁

 

AllahPundit makes a very good point about Donald Trump

Hate to say it, but he is very much correct:

One more thing: In the unlikely event that Trump does sweep to the presidency, I think some historians will begin reconsidering what the Reagan revolution was really about. Was it a conservative revolt against the Great Society, Nixonian welfare-state management, and Carter-era exhaustion with liberalism, or was it more a response to the sense of national renewal that Reagan projected, above and beyond ideology? Reagan, unlike Trump, was a true conservative and wanted to limit government accordingly, but they both stood for American power in different ways. Maybe it was that sense of power, of overhauling a failed governing class, that drew Republicans and centrist Democrats to Reagan first and foremost, with Reagan’s conservatism more of an experiment voters were happy to go along with so long as the economy was booming and the Soviets were back on their heels. If you look at Reagan that way, with ideology a component of his appeal but not the catalytic component, you can sort of see a line between him and Trump

Source: Hugh Hewitt to Trump: Will you resist the authoritarian impulse as president? « Hot Air

He’s right about that; and too, Reagan was the great communicator. Reagan also was a very kind-hearted person and would win you over with his charm. He was a statesman, and of the greatest generation and era ever, one that has sadly passed into the annals of history.

Now, Donald Trump? He is a totally different horse of a total different color and breed. Basically, he’s a bare knuckles, tell it like it is, shoot from the hip, tough guy New Yorker, with a really, really, good education and business savvy. Because of this, he tends to be very, very very, blunt. This works in the business world, where such things are seen as powerful, groundbreaking and decisive; but in the political world, especially in the Conservative political world, he has those people running around with their hair on fire, losing their minds! Mainly because today, political correctness and a slight amount of couth are the standard these days. Donald Trump has none of this; and the grassroots love it to death! The GOP establishment? Not so much.

By the way, the establishment hated Reagan too; but they had to accept him. Especially after the “I’m paying for this microphone!” incident. Funny that “AllahPundit” seems to have forgotten that one and the fact that basically the Fundamentalist and Evangelical Christian world basically was what propelled Reagan into the White House. But, he’s an idiot atheist, so one should expect that.

MICHIGAN NEWS UPDATE: State Rep. Todd Courser says he was being setup

Remember the scandal that I reported about here in Michigan, involving State Rep. Todd Courser?

Well, there is more news about that. The story via The Detroit News:

State Rep. Todd Courser claimed Monday he distributed a story accusing himself of paying a male prostitute for sex to “expose” individuals trying to blackmail him into resigning office over a relationship with Rep. Cindy Gamrat.

In his first response to The Detroit News’ story Friday exposing Courser’s role in the email, Courser claimed his former aides Ben Graham, Keith Allard and Joshua Cline were behind the anonymous text messages he received, threatening to expose his relationship with Gamrat, a fellow Republican from Plainwell.

“The email in question was really put in motion to disrupt, disrupt the blackmailer and to give me some clues as to what their ability was as far as surveillance over my life and the threats they were making,” Courser said in an audio recording released early Monday morning.

[….]

Courser accuses Graham, 25, of being part of the blackmail plot. In May, Graham refused to send the email for Courser. Weeks later, Courser gave Graham a 6 percent pay raise, state records show. On July 7, Courser fired Graham without explanation.

“The blackmailer’s still operating, goading me,” Courser said on the audio recording. “So I’m not sure how big the ring still is, but they’re still out there and still anonymous.”

Courser accused Graham, Allard and Cline of being “ill-suited” for legislative work and claimed they “bugged and then wiretapped” the combined House office he and Gamrat ran — an unusual arrangement at the Capitol — at the behest of Speaker Kevin Cotter.

“There’s obvious malice and hostility and anger about being let go, and they’re bonded together with that and moved to extract their revenge in the way that they did,” Courser said.

Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, said Monday Courser’s claims of a House-led bugging operation of he and Gamrat’s office are “just ludicrous.”

“He’s really displayed a long and consistent pattern of that type of paranoia,” Cotter told The News. “There are no black helicopters here; no drones circling the House Office Building.”

Ike, for his part, is denying all involvement:

Lansing — State Rep. Todd Courser told an aide that he had a longtime friend and business associate send Republicans an email falsely claiming the lawmaker was caught having sex with a male prostitute, audio recordings show.

The email, which Courser first ordered a staff member to send out, was sent as part of a scheme to conceal the lawmaker’s relationship with Rep. Cindy Gamrat.

But Immanuel “Ike” Eickholdt, the man Courser says sent it, denied any involvement in distribution of the email in an interview with The Detroit News. Rank-and-file Republicans received the message May 20 and May 21 from an anonymous sender.

Former Courser and Gamrat aides confirmed to The News that the “Ike” mentioned by Courser during two recorded meetings is Eickholdt, who ran in a Democratic primary last year against Courser’s eventual general election opponent, Margaret Guerrero DeLuca.

[…]

In a telephone interview, Eickholdt acknowledged being a “friend and business associate” of Courser’s for a decade, but denied sending the email or having any knowledge of it.

“I did not send an email thing out,” Eickholdt told The News. “Whatever nonsense they’ve got going on, I don’t deal with that kind of stuff anymore.”

Either way, State House officials are not buying the story and are working to get to the bottom of what really happened:

State House officials have seized computers and paper records from the offices of Reps. Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat as part of an investigation into whether they used taxpayer resources to conceal their relationship, Speaker Kevin Cotter said Monday.

“All of the evidence is protected,” Cotter told The Detroit News. “Nothing can be deleted. We have the servers. We have all of these things. So there’s nothing that’s at risk of being lost at this point.”

Employees in the House Business Office began taking possession of documents, laptop computers and servers containing Courser and Gamrat’s state email accounts on Friday and continued over the weekend, Cotter said.

Cotter ordered an investigation into Courser and Gamrat just hours afterThe Detroit News first revealed Friday that Courser sought the help of a House employee to distribute a fictitious email alleging he had a homosexual affair in order to make allegations of an affair with Gamrat look tame by comparison.

Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, said the House’s computer servers preserved all electronic records in Courser’s and Gamrat’s systems.

“If either of the representatives, or anyone for that matter, had gone immediately with this story and tried to delete things, that information was not lost,” Cotter told The News. “We have a system in place whereby if even a user deletes an email, that those are still retained. So nothing was at risk of loss.”

It should be very interesting to see how all of that plays out, for his part, Rep. Todd Courser says he is not going anywhere:

Courser, a tea party conservative who has battled Republican leaders since being elected to office last year, said in the recording he would not resign as representative of the 82nd District in Lapeer County.

“I could have resigned, this is really the option that anonymous texter wanted, and doing so quietly,” Courser said. “I simply would have been submitting to the authority of the establishment machine and doing so to protect myself and protect my family.

“… I felt that in of itself really allowed them to win and continue to do this in the way that they do in finding the screw and the thing that they can turn and turning it,” Courser added.

Courser said remaining in office is “absolutely essential” to advance the cause of smaller government.

“I feel it is absolutely, absolutely essential to have these clandestine operations to control public officials exposed,” Courser said. “So I refuse to leave quietly and have decided to that these efforts really need to come out.”

What a freakin’ dope. 🙄

My thoughts on the Fox debate

Here are my thoughts on the Fox News debate tonight.

Please keep in mind that I am dictating this using voice to speech on my telephone. So, if the punctuation is bad or the wording sounds a little odd that is why.

Number 1: Donald Trump bombed, horribly. He came off as an arrogant a-hole. He attacked Meghan Kelly; he came off as a misogynist, aggressive  a-hole, who respected no one else on that stage except for himself.

That might play well with his hardcore supporters and it might play well with his business friends in New York City and around the world, but it will not play well with middle America and it will not play well with women voters at all.

Number 2: Jeb Bush look like a freaking nerd. He looked like the smart intelligent geeky kid at debate club. He supports common core although he claims he doesn’t, he just wants higher standards. But, he did not look presidential he looked like he was nervous and a bit out of his element on the debate stage. I predict that he will not fare well in the primary.

Number 3: The rest of them did rather well. I think the sparring of Chris Christie and Rand Paul paints a drastic difference between the libertarian wing and the national security/antiterrorism wing of the Republican Party. The voters in the primaries, will have to choose which side of that divide that they want to vote for. It should be interesting.

Number 4: Mike Huckabee looks like a Southern Baptist preacher talking about politics. Although I did admire his defense of Social Security. I did not however, appreciate Chris Christie’s comments about Social Security. It sounds to me like he wants to gut it and possibly stop it. He needs to be a bit more clear about that.

Number 5: The only candidate that really stood out to me during the 5 o’clock debate was Carly Florina. I very much appreciated her smart answers to the questions that she was presented especially the ones about Iran. She very much held her own, being a woman and I think that was admirable. She would really make a good vice president and probably a president after the second term of whoever wins but she runs with.

So there you have it,my impressions of the first debate of the Republicans in 2015. I’m hoping that after the first primary this field gets narrowed down. Right now there is much too many people and much of their messages are interchangeable, except for some finite details. hopefully the ones who vote in the primaries will select the best candidate.

One thing I will say as an independent conservative who’s not beholden to any particular party as a rule. I keep hearing these candidates saying that America is going down, America is in terrible shape, America is not a good place now; and all that I feel that is bad messaging myself personally.

I feel that what they should be saying is America still the greatest nation on earth. It just has poor leadership at the moment and we need to change that.

Yes, America has problems. Yes, America has leaders now we were out of touch with the rest of the world and with the people of America obviously. But to say that America is going down to me strikes me as being anti- American.

America now is still the greatest place on earth to live. just ask all the Mexican immigrants who are coming across the border illegally. Obviously, we’re doing something right or they wouldn’t be pouring into this country.

I think that needs to be addressed in the upcoming debates. It’s bad messaging and it gives swing voters like my mom,  the impression that the Republicans believe because we have a black president who is a Democrat that that makes America a bad place and that’s not a good message to be putting out to the rest of America are not necessarily Republicans.

Just my opinion and I will come yours here.

UPDATE: As I figured he would, Donald Trump is whining like a little bitch that he was picked on by Meghan Kelly.

If he can’t handle Meghan Kelly, how the hell is he going to handle the problems that he is going to meet in the White House?

The man is not entitled to be treated any differently than anybody else. I don’t give a darn how much money he has!

So, as far as I’m concerned; Donald Trump is no longer a serious candidate in my eyes and I am sure I’m not the only person that feels that way.

Update #2: Now a big story on Memeorandum.

Is the DNC trying to stifle the Democratic debates?

It sure seems that way.

The neocon Weekly Standard writes:

Bill Hyers, a senior strategist in the Martin O’Malley presidential campaign, is calling the new Democratic debate schedule “less democratic.”

“By inserting themselves into the debate process, the DNC has ironically made it less democratic. The schedule they have proposed does not give voters—nationally, and especially in early states—ample opportunity to hear from the Democratic candidates for President. If anything, it seems geared toward limiting debate and facilitating a coronation, not promoting a robust debate and primary process,” Hyers writes.

“Rather than giving the appearance of rigging the process and cutting off debate, the DNC should take themselves out of the process. They should let individual and truly independent news, political, and community organizations create their own debates and allow the Democratic candidates for President to participate. There is a long, proud tradition of voters in early states like Iowa and New Hampshire getting to hear early and often from candidates for President—the DNC schedule kills that tradition, and we shouldn’t stand for it.”

The Democrats have only six debates scheduled.

There is a reason for this; and I have to explain this one a bit. There are two factions in the Democratic Party, as in the Republican Party. There is the grassroots left, which is made of the normal people, who actually vote and are involved with progressive politics on the ground and the other faction —- the establishment or corporate left.

Hillary Clinton is the establishment candidate, she is seen as the electable one for the Democratic Party. She has money, funding and name recognition. Needless to say, the Party will be totally behind her.  For the record, Barack Obama was seen as a grassroots candidate, when he was running. However, as time went on, it was very clear to many on the left; that he was just another establishment type.

Bernie Sanders however, is a grassroots progressive, he is not a part of the corporate left or establishment left.  Bernie Sanders has tapped into the grassroots left, who feel that the Democratic Party establishment has sold them out. Donald Trump is doing the same very thing in the Republican Party with the conservative grassroots.

Martin O’Malley has a point and a very good one. However, if you think that the Democratic Party is going to stand by and risk loosing an election to some no-name candidate or some grassroots candidate, you are very highly mistaken. The Democrats have much to lose in the election. They already know that they are going to take hits in some red states; so, they are going to do everything they can to put forward the best candidate for the general election. The Democrats learned their lessons from 1968 and they are not about to implode again like they did then.

Bernie Sanders will not make it to the general election, I can assure you of that. The gatekeepers in that party will see to that; you watch and see. Neither will Donald Trump, as the GOP has too much to lose; they screwed it up last time, they will not do it again.

 

Mixed feelings about Donald Trump’s comments about John McCain

First what “The Don” said: (via Youtube)

https://youtu.be/Jz0Vgpr8sWg

Now, the reactions:

Montel Williams:

Jazz Shaw at HotAir:

I will not pretend to know what’s been up with Donald Trump from the beginning of this road show he’s currently on. Perhaps he truly wanted to be President. Perhaps it was all part of his ongoing circus. Only the man himself can know which when he looks in the mirror each day. But this is one gigantic bridge too far. Whether he said that out of ignorance, a desire to cause a stir or – and I pray this isn’t true – because he really feels that way, I am done with him. Completely and absolutely done. Anyone who can allow those words to pass their lips is not fit to command our armed forces and is either too stupid, too oblivious or just too unamerican to serve as President of these United States.

Speaking only as one veteran who survived absolutely nothing compared to Senator McCain, I will close with a simple message. Goodbye, Mr. Trump. Your little show has been entertaining to say the least and, in your own way, you spurred some aspects of the national debate which needed a boost. But the sooner you exit the stage the better. You shall have no vote from me in any election, primary or general.

Now Trump is trying to save face, Via Fox News insider:

Okay, here is how I feel about all of that. As smart of a man as Donald Trump is; he should know, that in politics, the third rail is to insult members and former members of United States Military. It simply does not fly, especially in the Republican Party and in Conservative circles.

Now, as for John McCain? I happen to agree with Donald Trump’s comments about his performance in the Senate and as a Republican and a Conservative. It is true, he did lose the 2008 election, because of his picking of Sarah Palin. My own Mother was willing to vote for him; but because he picked that stupid Alaskan hick Fem-Nazi; she decided against it.

The problem here is this; Donald Trump in his attempt to poke John McCain on his senate record and his record on his handling of veteran affairs, Donald Trump ended up besmirching John McCain’s military honor and service. In Conservative and especially in Republican politics; that is a fatal move and I think Donald Trump either needs to really make a serious apology or leave the race or run as an independent.

Update: Even Joe Cannon at Cannonfire, who I have had issues with in the past; he even says that Trump was out of line. Joe Cannon is also a vet as well.

Update #2: Rupert Murdoch chimes in: (via NewsMax)

Neoconservative Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert busted for lying to the FBI

One down, many, many more to go… Neocons that is. Hopefully they get the rest of them.

The video: (Via the AP, which has all sort of updates to this story.)

(video removed, it was an autoplay video and there was no code to change to prevent the autoplay for starting, so I removed it)

The story:

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has indicted former House Speaker Dennis Hastert on reporting evasion charges and lying to the FBI as part of an effort to conceal paying off the victim of “prior bad acts.”In an indictment handed down in the District Court of Northern Illinois, the Department of Justice and IRS charged Hastert, 73, with illegally transferring funds in an effort to avoid detection by the IRS, a scheme known as “structuring.”In the indictment, Hastert is accused of agreeing to pay one individual $3.5 million.Although the indictment does not specify the “bad acts,” sources said they could be from before Hastert, who is now a lobbyist in Washington, entered politics in 1980. The indictment does, however, claim that Hastert agreed to make the payments “[d]uring … 2010 meetings and subsequent discussions.” In at least one of those meetings, according to the indictment, Hastert and the individual “discussed past misconduct by [Hastert against the individual] that had occurred years earlier.”According to the indictment, the FBI began, in 2013, investigating cash withdrawals allegedly made by Hastert “as possible structuring of currency transactions to evade the reporting requirements.”When the FBI interviewed Hastert on Dec. 8, 2014, he was asked whether the purpose of the withdrawals was related to his lack of trust in the banking system, which he confirmed. According to the indictment, Hastert said, “Yeah … I kept the cash. That’s what I’m doing.” The indictment counters that Hastert “then well knew, this statement was false,” because he had agreed to provide the individual with $3.5 million “to compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct against” the person.

Source: Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert Indicted On Federal Charges – BuzzFeed News

Could not have happened to a better guy. This was one of Bush 43’s cronies in the House. He basically allowed the Republicans to spend like drunken sailors under Bush’s term. That was until the Democrats tossed him and the neocons out. Furthermore, this turkey basically was responsible for giving Bush a blank check for Iraq; and it is believed that he was larging responsible for pressuring the House into approving Bush authorization for war.

For this, he deserves what he gets. May he spend the rest of his miserable life in prison.

Update: This has become a major story. here are all the blogs writing about it, via Memeorandum:  The Moderate Voice, U.S. News, The Huffington Post, Scared Monkeys,Mashable, The Federalist, Politico, DownWithTyranny!, Associated Press, Towleroad News #gay, Outside the Beltway, The Week, Mediaite, White House Dossier, Hot Air,Rush Limbaugh, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, The Intercept, PoliticusUSA,CANNONFIRE, CNN, The National Memo, Shakesville, NBC News, Daily Kos, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Washington Post, Balloon Juice, Box Turtle Bulletin, Taylor Marsh, NPR,Clayton Cramer, BuzzFeed and Chicago Tribune, Mediaite, Boing Boing, The Daily Banter, The Bob and Chez Show,The Atlantic, Washington Post and Patterico’s Pontifications,  NOLA River, Mother Jones, CNN, Daily Kos, Bloomberg View and NPR, Bloomberg Business, Politico, Wheaton College Home, The Hill,Washington Monthly, Los Angeles Times, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, The Week, Box Turtle Bulletin, OpenSecrets.org, Scared Monkeys, Daily Mail, The National Memo, PoliticusUSA, CANNONFIRE, Liberaland, Daily Kos,Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit and Outside the Beltway,  ABC News,  The Last Refuge, U.S. News, Firedoglake, Washington Monthly and Politico, The Huffington Post, TVNewser and Associated Press, Washington Post, The Huffington Post, NBC News, Talking Points Memo, msnbc.com and RT, Washington Post, New York Times and Booman Tribune, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos and Reuters, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, ThinkProgress andChicago

Neoconservative Fox News Channel actively working to keep Rand Paul out of their coverage

Well, it seems that Neoconservative Fox News Channel is actively working with the elitists in the GOP to cut Rand Paul out of their election coverage. First you have this idiot clueless blonde dago bashing Rand Paul for daring to call out the neoconservatives on ISIS and now; this:

The Story

Once again, Fox News forgot to include Sen. Rand Paul in their coverage of a new 2016 presidential poll, even though the senator outperformed other candidates mentioned and the survey cited made Paul a significant part of their original headline.Quinnipiac released a poll today featuring the headline “Five Leaders In 2016 Republican White House Race, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Rubio, Paul Are Only Republicans Even Close To Clinton.” Yet in Fox News’ coverage, Paul apparently didn’t register enough to justify being shown on the broadcast of the poll.

Source: Fox News continues to blackout Rand Paul in their poll coverage | Rare

Check the graphics:

Fox News:

 

MSNBC’s Morning Joe:

..

If you think that Bill Kristol and John Podhoretz are not behind that, you are crazy. Why? Because they are these sort of people:

They are cyst on the ass of politics; and they should be ran out of the Republican Party and out of politics and as far as I am concerned, out of Country on a rail. 😡

 

What happened to CEO Don Gillispie?

I received an e-mail from someone linking to the story below. It sounds like an interesting one. Please, go check out:  Divine America: When Using Your Powers for Good, Expect Government Delays