This is what I do at 6am on Sunday Morning! Yikes, right? Welcome to Sunday Morning Coffee my weekly look at some of the political stories you may have seen or some you might have missed. All laced with my commentary. Why? Now, THAT is a good question. Maybe by the end of this I'll have that figured out. In the meantime...grab a cup.
Boone County Democrats
Yesterday morning there was a parade in Boone, Iowa for the Annual Pufferbilly Days Festival. I was not there but I did watch a brief video posted on their Facebook Page. I counted nine Democratic entries...nine in Boone, Iowa. We are 58 days away from Election Day and it is beginning to feel like 2008 again. Not that we have a dynamic contender like Barack Obama in the race...but we do have engagement. Momentum has been building for months and organizers have been hard at work getting people signed up for the voting process. And, it shows.
Congratulations Boone County for showing the way!
Speaking of President Obama
Silence is not, in this case, golden. We have wondered where and when Obama would start to speak out and last week it finally happened. In a speech in Illinois he said he had been trying, as has been the precedent, to stay out of politics and allow his successor to govern. But, now, he too has called on Americans to become better than what we have seen coming out of the White House. He asked that we reclaim our sense of goodness and dignity and turn back the meanness that has become standard fare from the current president. We truly are better than that... (Photo - Urbandale 2012)
Oh, The White House
Who do you believe? "45" says things at the palace are going really, really well. And, if it were not for his enemies, like the media, men, women, Democrats, the clergy, Bob Woodward, Canada, Europe, China...everything would be just ducky. Oh, wait. It seems "somebody" in the White House is also working against "45". So, who is the mole? Who did write that piece published by the New York Times? Or was it "fake news" designed to cast our
attention away from something else? The times we are living in are extraordinary. (Cartoon - Tim Lloyd)
Meanwhile it looks like the hand-picked conservative judge nominated for a life-time appointment to the Supreme Court has some problems. We have now learned, thanks to leaked emails from Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), (Who, by the way, will headline the Iowa Democrats Fall Gala on October 6th) that Judge Brett Kavanaugh has issues when it comes to minorities and that he, in fact, lied to Congress when he was confirmed as a federal judge.
That is not all. The Democrats know they don't have enough votes to defeat Kavanaugh but if they can swing Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) on the issue of treatment of Native Americans and abortion as well as Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) the nomination is dead. The Democrats know that and they have been working it...hard. Now we watch to see if it has worked.
Cory Booker
Just a quick follow up. Here is what Sen. Booker said after he was threatened by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) the number two leader of that chamber, "A senior senator who is in leadership, I think he's the number two in leadership has, in effect, called for my expulsion from the United States Senate and and again I just say, 'Bring it.' If he wants to go through that process I fully accept responsibility for what I have done, and again I'm new in this place. This senator has been around a long time. He's in leadership. I think he was just like a lot of bullies are, a lot of talk and no action. And so let's see what he does. I'm willing to accept responsibility for my actions, but I don't know what, I don't know what that senior senator will do."
Read that again: "Bring it...I think he was just like a lot of bullies are, a lot of talk and no action." Yikes! (Photo - AP)
Booker knows that he can not "play nice" with this crowd and he is willing to buck the system. Democrats are looking to not "play nice" but want a fighter. How do we know? Just look at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rather than Joe Crowley. Andrew Gillum rather than Gwen Graham. Ayanna Pressley instead of Michael Capuano. They want someone who will take the fight to Republicans -- and to "45" in particular. Someone who will stand toe-to-toe with "45" and tell him, to his face, why he deserves to be impeached. Someone not afraid and meek.
Bring it.
Iowa and November
Which brings us to the governors race here in Iowa. In every interview, at every stump speech Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA) brings up the fact that U.S. News and World Report said that Iowa is the number one state in the nation in which to live. She hammers that home at every opportunity. Yet she ignores the fact that 37% of Iowans can't afford the basic costs of living. In 2016 that number was 31%. She ignores the fact that we have more job postings then we do people. She supports giving less funding for public education which has caused teachers to abandon their jobs in search for better pay. She supports giving already wealthy corporations more and more tax incentives even in the face of reduced services. She applauds a broken Medicaid system and shovels more money to private for-profit insurance managers.
Meanwhile where is the fight from Fred Hubbell? I dunno. We've got 58 days to call out the failures of this governor and her lackey legislature. It's clear that playing nice ain't gonna get the job done. We "played nice" in 2016 and we all know what that got us.
Partly Personal
Yesterday I got to watch my grand-daughter Jovie play softball. It was early in the morning, we were all wearing jackets and she...rocked as catcher and batter. She had several base hits, drove in a couple of runs. Two games and it was cool. Her reward was a taco. She didn't ask for much...right?
Watched the Iowa/Iowa State game yesterday. Yikes...what a show. Kirk and the gang didn't make it easy but we'll take the win. So much for the vaunted Iowa State offence. Didn't show yesterday. But what a defensive game. If you love low scoring this was a treat. In the end the Hawks won 13 - 3 and advance 2 - 0.
Tonight at sundown begins Rosh Hashanah the Jewish New Year. No fireworks, no champagne, no party hats...just prayer that the year 5779 is sweet. I'll be off to Mason City and Adas Israel later today. If you are celebrating...l'shana tova... Happy New Year and thanks for reading.
Concerning Reynolds ...When you look at the Financial Stability aspect of this "#1 Rating", you find that Iowa ranks a respectable 14th in Long Term stability, primarily because our pensions are funded well. HOWEVER .... Short Term Fiscal Stability is a miserable 34th, due to the Repub led depletion and disappearance of our Budget and Emergency Surpluses of almost $1 Billion since 2014! This has resulted in budget slashing even during the same fiscal year.... Repubs are responsible for utter financial chaos in our schools and other state institutions .................... see https://www.usnews.com/.../best.../rankings/fiscal-stability
Posted by: George Ensley | 09/09/2018 at 11:20 AM
I think Cory Booker deserves Not only a second look but several looks. “Bring it” sounded good given the circumstances.
Posted by: Peter | 09/12/2018 at 12:56 PM