Tag Archive: Congress

President Joe Biden neutralizes Republicans at State of the Union

President Joe Biden

President Joe Biden once again rose to the occasion and gave an extremely effective State of the Union speech last night. But what was so successful, and perhaps unexpected, is the way Biden took apart the Republicans. The President did this in a deft, almost surgical way, alternating between touting his impressive accomplishments, pushing his Democratic agenda (something we have advocated here since Day One), and co-opting pro-American ideas that the Republicans falsely try to claim that they promote. Essentially, Biden set a trap for the GOP.

Most reviews and many posts and comments about last night’s State of the Union speech seem to focus on the ugly outbursts from a small number of House Republicans in the audience. That’s just what those attention-seekers want. Instead, a good exercise is to avoid the videos of President Biden’s speech (too late if you already watched it last night, of course), and read the transcript in the second link above. What you get is an impressive picture of patriotism, an appeal to unity, and some good sharp contrasts with the Republicans. Here are some memorable lines and passages from the speech, which paint a clear picture of what President Biden accomplished:

What President Biden and Democrats need to say on the debt ceiling

Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer, Jan. 2019

Once again, with a Democratic president in the White House, Republicans are playing a dangerous game of chicken with America’s debt ceiling. The GOP did this under President Barack Obama in 2011 as well. This article from the Brookings Institution lays out some of the possible scary consequences of a U.S. debt default, including:

–A deep recession
–A big drop in the stock market
–Higher interest rates
–Failure to pay Social Security and Medicare recipients
–Failure to pay our U.S. Treasury obligations

The pain of such a failure likely would be felt by every American family, and America’s place as the go-to safe harbor for foreign investment and the go-to currency (and thus, our influence in the world) could be jeopardized. Once again, therefore, Republicans correctly need to be blamed for this crisis of their making. But to get there, and solve the crisis, there is something that President Joe Biden and leading Democrats should be saying:

Democratic Congressional candidate flips the script on Republican opponent

A most unusual TV campaign ad is airing in Florida, by Democratic State Senator and Congressional candidate Annette Taddeo. Here is the ad (which can also be accessed at the previous link):

Taddeo’s ad, which attacks her Republican opponent María Salazar, the incumbent Representative in Florida’s 27th Congressional District in the Miami area, is unusual in a number of ways, and may be quite effective as a result:

Democrats’ midterm election “Freedom” theme takes hold

Democrats in array this time

When one thinks of a political party marching in lockstep, using the same campaign phrase, the Democratic Party usually does not come to mind. However, that’s just what’s happening as the 2022 midterm elections approach. As we indicated in July, the Democrats, starting with President Joe Biden, began saying that “Freedom is on the ballot” in the upcoming elections:

In what could not be a coincidence, President Biden was joined at the same time with the same language by Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell:

Those two concurrent tweets were enough to identify a theme here, but now President Biden and Rep. Swalwell have been joined by more Democrats expressing the “Freedom” message for the midterms:

Dr. Oz Senate campaign implosion reaches comical levels

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. and U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman

The 2022 Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race between television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz on the Republican side and Democratic Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman is capturing tons of national media attention, but not for the reasons Dr. Oz would prefer. The  Oz campaign has been especially tone-deaf, making one mistake after another, and Fetterman and his campaign have been quick to capitalize on each one.

Essentially, the Oz-Fetterman race has turned into a Culture War, to the great disadvantage of Dr. Oz. Usually, it’s the Republicans who try to run on Culture War issues, whether it’s abortion, attacking LGBTQ people and their rights, book banning, guns, etc., mostly as a distraction, because Republicans are extremely unpopular on economic and other issues of importance to most Americans. In Pennsylvania, however, Fetterman has turned the tables on Republicans regarding cultural issues.

President Biden to celebrate Inflation Reduction Act in road show

President Joe Biden, about to take his show on the road

Bloomberg News reported yesterday that President Joe Biden will hold a celebration event for the Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”) on September 6 at the White House, followed by a tour across the country to tout the IRA’s benefits. Here is the tweet from Bloomberg White House reporter Jenny Leonard showing the memo from White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain which outlines the plans for the IRA celebration:

The U.S. Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act on August 7. The U.S. House passed it last Friday. In both cases, the IRA received no Republican votes. Vice President Kamala Harris had to cast the tie-breaking 51st vote for the IRA in the Senate. President Biden is expected to sign the IRA later today.

Growing Twitter army touts Biden, Democratic accomplishments

Twitter activism is a click away

It’s no secret that Democratic Party has been slow to come up with a unifying theme for the 2022 midterm elections. We recently suggested that President Joe Biden, Congressman Eric Swalwell and others may have hit upon the unofficial theme “Freedom is on the Ballot” in November. That’s pretty good, and it should be spread far and wide. But the other part that is needed, especially when defending the last two years of Democrats in control of the White House and the U.S. House (control of the Senate is more tenuous with a 50-50 tie), is a strong recital of the Democrats’ record of accomplishments during this time.

Here’s where Twitter comes in. President Biden in particular has been very good about touting his administration’s achievements. For example, Biden is correctly taking credit for actions (such as releasing millions of barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve) that have led to a summer of falling gasoline prices:

Likewise, Biden White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain likes to get in on the action:

But in addition to these government officials, there is a growing army of citizens on Twitter who are spreading good news about President Biden’s and the Democrats’ accomplishments far and wide. Some of the prominent accounts in this Twitter army, including their Twitter page description and sample tweets, are:

Law enforcement failure in Uvalde shooting demonstrates need for Assault Weapons Ban

Protest by Teens for Gun Reform

Last Sunday, the Texas House of Representatives released an Investigative Committee Interim Report indicating that 376 law enforcement officers arrived at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX to confront an active shooter on May 24, 2022, but none of them acted to rescue the students and teachers. As a result, 19 children and two teachers were killed. The report in particular faults a lack of leadership and command, especially by school district police chief Pedro “Pete” Arredondo, who claimed to be in charge on the scene but did not act or order his officers to try to take down the gunman. Arredondo has since resigned.

The failure of so many officers in Uvalde to confront the shooter and try to save the children and teachers belies the Republicans’ frequently used “good guy with a gun” talking point, or the Republican idea that teachers should be armed in the classroom, as demonstrated by this sampling of tweets on the subject:

https://twitter.com/richardhine/status/1549039660596228096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

With midterm elections coming up fast, do Democrats finally have a theme?

“Freedom” is just potatoes to Republicans

The 2022 midterm elections are just 124 days away, and the results will likely make or break Joe Biden‘s presidency and the Democratic Party’s agenda. All seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as approximately one-third of U.S. Senate seats, are up for grabs. If the Republicans gain a majority in either house of Congress, at minimum, the Biden/Democratic agenda will be stymied as they won’t be able to pass any meaningful legislation. Additionally, either house under Republican control will bog the government down in senseless hearings involving laptops and other shiny object distractions, in order for the GOP to try to score political points. Moreover, many state and local offices are up for election, which could determine how crucial matters ranging from abortion to elections themselves are handled. Suffice it to say that, if any Democrats claim “this is one of the most important elections of your lifetime,” they are not exaggerating.

Republicans, predictably, are bashing President Biden and Democrats over inflation and gasoline prices as their 2022 election theme. Fair enough, as the party out of power generally attacks on any economic front that it can, even though in this case, Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine, as well as leftover COVID-based supply chain problems, both of which can be laid at the feet of Donald Trump, are largely to blame. Indeed, inflation is a problem worldwide, and the United States is on the lower side of gasoline prices around the world.

Therefore, it would be really helpful if the Democratic Party would express a unifying and galvanizing theme for the upcoming elections, to counter the Republicans and drive all-important voter turnout. This has worked in the past, e.g., House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi‘s healthcare message for the 2018 midterms, which led to a Democratic takeover of the U.S. House, catapulting Pelosi to House Speaker.

As it turns out, President Biden and Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell of California, among others, seem to be leading the way with a theme that can succeed for the Democrats in this year’s elections. That theme can be seen in recent tweets from Biden and Rep. Swalwell:

Stunned silence on Fox “News” after January 6 hearing: will they ditch Trump?

Will GOP jettison a damaged Donald Trump?

Day 6 of the hearings yesterday by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol consisted of one bombshell after another. The Committee’s witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, the top aide to former Donald Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, came to the hearing with stunning revelations to share. Among Hutchinson’s revelations:

–When Trump learned in December 2020 that the Department of Justice had not found evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election that would nullify Joe Biden‘s victory (i.e., Trump’s “Big Lie”), Trump became so angry that he threw his porcelain plate full of lunch at the White House dining room wall, leaving ketchup dripping down the wall. On other occasions, an angry Trump either threw dishes or “flipp[ed] the table cloth to let all the contents of the table go onto the floor and likely break or go everywhere.”

–Trump and other top administration officials knew about the risk of violence on January 6 days beforehand, but did nothing to stop it.

–Indeed, on January 6, Trump was upset that the Ellipse in front of the White House, where he was to speak, was not full enough for a flattering photo op. Trump was told the reason was that many of the rioters were armed with AR-15 rifles and other weapons and did not want to go through the metal detectors and have such weapons confiscated, instead choosing to march directly to the Capitol with their weapons. Upon hearing this, Trump wanted to have the metal detectors taken away and to let the armed insurrectionists onto the Ellipse, saying “they’re not here to hurt me.”

–When told that the rioters were chanting “Hang Mike Pence” and that Trump should take action to try to quell the violence (such as telling the protesters to leave the Capitol), Trump refused, saying “Mike deserves it” (for not stopping the Congressional count of Electoral Votes as Trump wished) and that the rioters were “not doing anything wrong.”

–Trump attacked his own Secret Service detail leader and tried to grab the steering wheel of the Presidential limousine when told he would not be taken to the Capitol after speaking on January 6.

When Tuesday’s hearing ended, this was the reaction by the panel at Fox “News”: