by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Nearly six full years into the Obama administration, and a big segment of the Republican Party still cannot accept the fact that a Democrat is President - or, more to the point - that a black Democrat is President. The loony fringe of the Republican party, aka the tea-baggers, are fanatical in their hatred of Obama, and they are devout enough in their voting habits to keep what should be the more sane elements of the party spouting nonsense also.
These people, the wild-eyed, hate-fueled baggers and bigots, believe in guns and the Bible and little else. Science is fake, if the earth is getting warmer - it's God's will and not man's doing, slavery was a good thing for the slaves and the economy, women should be subservient to their men, and non-Christian religions aren't really religions - but breeding grounds for terrorists.
They also believe, reverently, that anything President Obama supports or endorses is wrong or a threat to their freedom. They have beaten this notion into their legislators and sent the message forth that every bill supported by the President is to be ignored or defeated. Their House of Representatives has the shameful honor of being the biggest "do-nothing" Congress in the history of the Republic.
The tea-baggers and their lackies in all levels of government hate the President to the point that they take actions which are not in their best interest just to thwart his agenda. They are bitter over Obamacare, although there probably isn't a tea-bagger in America who doesn't have relatives or friends benefiting from that program. Many states are also declining to expand their Medicaid programs, currently at no cost to the states, because it is an Obama initiative. People are dying every day because they can't get access to health care, and the Bible-thumping zealots own those deaths because they cannot bring themselves to do anything that smacks of supporting the President.
They are obstructing with a skill and determination that would make a World Cup goalie proud.
They are also beginning to re-examine the once-powerful political institution of dirty tricks. State legislators in Virginia have made the news twice in the past couple of weeks after pulling shenanigans that might have made Richard Nixon blush. (Okay, bad example. Nixon had no shame.) The legislators recently affected the balance of power in the Democratic controlled state senate by offering a better job to a Democratic state senator - if he would resign his seat in the senate - and also offering a judgeship to his daughter. Their goal was to keep that legislative body from being able to endorse Governor McAuliffe's plan for Medicaid expansion.
Governor McAuliffe announced that he would cause the expansion of Medicaid to happen with or without the legislature's blessing.
Then, on Father's Day, while the governor's office was closed (and locked) and the legislature was even shut down, the Speaker of the Virginia House ordered the Capitol police to break into the governor's office and deliver the voluminous state budget - which they did. The purpose of that maneuver was to shorten the number of days that the governor would have to read the budget mess (he was mandated by law to act within seven days of delivery), and to thwart Medicaid expansion through various provisions embedded in the budget.
Poor Governor McAuliffe must have burned the midnight oil reading the state budget because he was able to ferret out the nonsense and use a line-item veto to eliminate the troublesome passages before the deadline.
Whatever happened to the good old days when people who won elections got to govern? Even as despicable as Bush and Cheney were, nobody questioned their right to perform the duties of their offices. President Obama has had to fight the irrational hatred by the tea-baggers since day one of his presidency - and he has done it in a stand-up manner. He has suffered almost constant abuse and name-calling that no President before him has ever had to endure. He has been labeled a socialist, a Muslim, a Kenyan - and sometimes worse - yet he stands tall and governs.
The President is a wonderful family man who takes great pride in his beautiful and intelligent wife and daughters. There are no family scandals for the negative press to dwell on.
And President Obama is our legitimate leader. He was born in the United States of America, has been elected twice - both times by greater margins than his Republican predecessor, and has had a relatively scandal-free six years in office. The President has set a calm tone while putting the country on a steady course that allows the economy to strengthen so that more of our citizens can share in America's bounty.
President Obama has the mantle of leadership, one that was legitimately awarded to him by the citizens of this nation. The Republican Party has obstinacy, trickery, and delusions of grandeur. The divide is stark - and shameful.
President Obama is the nation's leader - and I am proud to support him!
Citizen Journalist
Nearly six full years into the Obama administration, and a big segment of the Republican Party still cannot accept the fact that a Democrat is President - or, more to the point - that a black Democrat is President. The loony fringe of the Republican party, aka the tea-baggers, are fanatical in their hatred of Obama, and they are devout enough in their voting habits to keep what should be the more sane elements of the party spouting nonsense also.
These people, the wild-eyed, hate-fueled baggers and bigots, believe in guns and the Bible and little else. Science is fake, if the earth is getting warmer - it's God's will and not man's doing, slavery was a good thing for the slaves and the economy, women should be subservient to their men, and non-Christian religions aren't really religions - but breeding grounds for terrorists.
They also believe, reverently, that anything President Obama supports or endorses is wrong or a threat to their freedom. They have beaten this notion into their legislators and sent the message forth that every bill supported by the President is to be ignored or defeated. Their House of Representatives has the shameful honor of being the biggest "do-nothing" Congress in the history of the Republic.
The tea-baggers and their lackies in all levels of government hate the President to the point that they take actions which are not in their best interest just to thwart his agenda. They are bitter over Obamacare, although there probably isn't a tea-bagger in America who doesn't have relatives or friends benefiting from that program. Many states are also declining to expand their Medicaid programs, currently at no cost to the states, because it is an Obama initiative. People are dying every day because they can't get access to health care, and the Bible-thumping zealots own those deaths because they cannot bring themselves to do anything that smacks of supporting the President.
They are obstructing with a skill and determination that would make a World Cup goalie proud.
They are also beginning to re-examine the once-powerful political institution of dirty tricks. State legislators in Virginia have made the news twice in the past couple of weeks after pulling shenanigans that might have made Richard Nixon blush. (Okay, bad example. Nixon had no shame.) The legislators recently affected the balance of power in the Democratic controlled state senate by offering a better job to a Democratic state senator - if he would resign his seat in the senate - and also offering a judgeship to his daughter. Their goal was to keep that legislative body from being able to endorse Governor McAuliffe's plan for Medicaid expansion.
Governor McAuliffe announced that he would cause the expansion of Medicaid to happen with or without the legislature's blessing.
Then, on Father's Day, while the governor's office was closed (and locked) and the legislature was even shut down, the Speaker of the Virginia House ordered the Capitol police to break into the governor's office and deliver the voluminous state budget - which they did. The purpose of that maneuver was to shorten the number of days that the governor would have to read the budget mess (he was mandated by law to act within seven days of delivery), and to thwart Medicaid expansion through various provisions embedded in the budget.
Poor Governor McAuliffe must have burned the midnight oil reading the state budget because he was able to ferret out the nonsense and use a line-item veto to eliminate the troublesome passages before the deadline.
Whatever happened to the good old days when people who won elections got to govern? Even as despicable as Bush and Cheney were, nobody questioned their right to perform the duties of their offices. President Obama has had to fight the irrational hatred by the tea-baggers since day one of his presidency - and he has done it in a stand-up manner. He has suffered almost constant abuse and name-calling that no President before him has ever had to endure. He has been labeled a socialist, a Muslim, a Kenyan - and sometimes worse - yet he stands tall and governs.
The President is a wonderful family man who takes great pride in his beautiful and intelligent wife and daughters. There are no family scandals for the negative press to dwell on.
And President Obama is our legitimate leader. He was born in the United States of America, has been elected twice - both times by greater margins than his Republican predecessor, and has had a relatively scandal-free six years in office. The President has set a calm tone while putting the country on a steady course that allows the economy to strengthen so that more of our citizens can share in America's bounty.
President Obama has the mantle of leadership, one that was legitimately awarded to him by the citizens of this nation. The Republican Party has obstinacy, trickery, and delusions of grandeur. The divide is stark - and shameful.
President Obama is the nation's leader - and I am proud to support him!
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