FIRST & Final Thoughts On the Week That Was…
FIRST Who will it be?
Kevin McCarthy? Jason Chaffetz? Daniel Webster? Paul Ryan? Newt Gingrich? Unfortunately, Fred the baker from the Dunkin’ Donuts commercials has passed away and is not available.
The Speaker of the House merry-go-round continues this week as House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the presumed successor to the gavel, decided to drop out of contention on Thursday, minutes before the House Republican conference was to nominate him for speaker.
Was his decision based on the fact that he was not going to be able to get the necessary 218 votes to replace John Boehner? His appeal to the House Freedom Caucus, the bloc of 40 or so strong conservatives, was all for naught when they put their support behind Rep. Daniel Webster of Florida.
Perhaps the Benghazi Select Committee comments that he made on Hannity last week? He acknowledged during his drop out announcement that those remarks certainly didn’t help his cause which drew ire from both the left and right sides of the aisle.
(As a side note…we are certainly not apologists for Rep. McCarthy but we think the comments he made about Hillary’s low poll numbers concerning the House’s Benghazi investigation are much to do about nothing and think Republicans and conservatives are overreacting).
Or was it an affair with House colleague Renee Ellmers that ultimately doomed him? Both have denied the rumors of a tryst but some inside the beltway say it was an “open secret” between the two establishment Republicans.
Regardless, after a tumultuous two weeks since Speaker John Boehner announced his resignation, effective at the end of this month, the chaos to find his replacement continues.
The establishment is so worried that they have called Mitt Romney to the rescue, as the 2012 Republican nominee phoned his former presidential running mate Paul Ryan on Friday and urged him to run for the speakership, though insiders say that Ryan isn’t interested in the job.
Count us among those who absolutely do not want to see Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House. When the very far left liberal and amnesty advocate Rep. Luis Gutierrez endorses your bid for speaker, conservatives know everything they need to know about how far removed Rep. Ryan is from the grassroots movement.
In fact, we do not believe that the Wisconsin congressman should even be in the U.S. House anymore as he is on our 2016 U.S. House Target List.
As our analysis points out, many in and outside of the D.C. beltway looked upon Paul Ryan as the de facto young conservative leader who would inspire generations of conservatives with bold ideas, especially concerning budgetary matters.
But ever since becoming the 2012 Vice Presidential nominee, he has quickly either showed his true moderate colors or been corrupted by the establishment, or both.
Case in point, he worked with the very liberal senator Patty Murray on the 2013 budget deal that upset veterans and military personnel, raised taxes, and lifted spending caps. Also, in recent years, he has supported student loan and farm subsidies.
Paul Ryan as the Speaker of the House would continue the awful legacy of John Boehner who helped usher in the biggest expansion of our government in history. He is a member of the political ruling class in Washington and can’t be trusted.
We can do better. Louie Gohmert, and Trey Gowdy are among several candidates that would certainly be great choices. Heck, even the return of Newt Gingrich would be acceptable. According to a Breitbart report, the former speaker says he would accept the job if he had 218 votes.
The current names that are being tossed around, publicly or privately, are just more of the same and part of the problem.
We the people need to pressure each and every one of our representatives into voting for a solid constitutional conservative as the next Speaker of the House.
Too much is at stake for our republic to elect another establishment speaker who will continue to push through President Obama’s progressive agenda.
More guns, less crime?? Really?
Indeed.
John R. Lott, an American economist, political commentator, and one of America’s renowned gun rights advocates, makes this case in his book More Guns, Less Crime.
With all the unfortunate shootings that have occurred over the past several years, Mr. Lott’s book, written several years ago, is worth a read.
His research, over a 29 year period, concludes that when states pass “shall issue” concealed carry gun laws, crime rates fall.
Mr. Lott is a leading expert on the location of gun shootings. Virtually all mass public shootings, he says, occur in gun-free zones which prevent or make it difficult for innocent people from protecting themselves as well as those who carry guns legally and responsibly from having an opportunity to stop the attack or vastly limit the possible loss of life that occurs in these heinous acts of terror.
Instead of the typical knee-jerk reaction of calling for gun control or removing all guns, ignorant politicians and those in the media should look elsewhere when trying to lay the blame for these mass shooting tragedies at the feet of the millions and millions of law-abiding gun owners in America who revere the U.S. Constitution and its 2nd Amendment.
Final We end this week with a salute to Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal who once again dared to speak out when others might have remained silent.
After another tragic mass shooting in Roseburg, Oregon last week, the 2016 hopeful wrote on his blog about how our society fills the culture with garbage and then complains when we “reap the result” of that same garbage. One might not agree with every word he wrote, but leaders speak boldly when others stay silent.
It is shameful that Gov. Jindal’s campaign has not taken off and, quite likely, it probably won’t.
The man is a solid conservative who we feel deserves a better presidential campaign fate.
