Outgoing Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Bob Goodlatte is my Congressman. I even know him, having had civil almost friendly relations. He has been in office for 26 years. But his career exemplifies the degeneration of the Republican Party from a Lincoln-derived progressive force in US politics to the racist and reactionary disaster that it has become with Donald Trump as president. The quick story on this is that he was once an aide to a predecessor, M. Caldwell Butler, a “Mountain Valley Republican” who voted to impeach Richard Nixon as a member of the House Judiciary Committee back in 1974, the committee that Goodlatte has come to chair. In contrast to his former boss, Goodlatte, who entered office as a supposed “moderate,” if not a full-blown Lincoln-derived Mountain Valley Republican, he has suppressed investigations of Trump and done much worse.
While he has supported a long list of corporate special interests, probably the ultimate sign of how low he and his party have fallen is his final act as Judiciary Committee Chair, reported in today’s Washington Post. He single handedly blocked a bill that was unanimously passed by the Senate to protect Native American women from violent attacks. His reason for this was totally obscure and ridiculous, a trivial concern that the bill favored certain agencies over others in making complaints about such violence. The bill was originated by outgoing Dem Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of ND, but apparently it will be reintroduced by Lisa Murkowski of AK next year, and hopefully it will pass. Indeed, I really do not know why Goodlatte is going out on this. What makes this all the more appalling is that our Congressional district contains the largest Native Indian tribe in Virginia, the Monocans, who have had a long history of being ignored and discriminated against.
Mike Bishop was forced out of 8th District Michigan because:
– He chose to ignore half of the 8th District’s constituents in townhall type meetings. Yes, the heat would have been great; however, he would have earned the respect of his opposition. he out right lied in a Delta Sky Magazine article on his meeting with constituents.
– He voted against the ACA along with other House Republicans and then was captured in a picture shaking Trump’s hand after the vote. Elissa Slotkin whose mother was uninsured made this a major point of her campaign to unseat Bishop. For whatever reason, her family had to upfront pay ($10,000) for her mother’s care t the hospital for cancer. Bishop’s cavalier attitude towards healthcare angered Slotkin. Slotkin is a moderate who believes she could cross the aisle in bipartisanship. I would rather see her propose bills and lose than waste time trying to convince Repub Reps. to join her. Obama spent way to much time trying to do the same.
– He was out of touch with his constituents in favor of Trump and assinine behavior. People do have limits in spite of politics.
Michigan finally has the number of representatibes in the House in sync with how it votes in national elections. With a little bit of care, Slotkin may be able to keep her seat for more than one term.
Good riddance to bad coffee
Ok!
It all comes down to the donors and fear of being primaried. Gerrymandered districts do not help but at the end of the day old white people, particularly uneducated white men, will die and we will be able to put the GOP on the trash heap of history. Unfortunately, I will be dead then too, but at least my grandsons may be able to live in a country where politicians try to serve the public rather than their own interests.
I take great offense of calling today’s Republican Party the party of Lincoln.
They have not been such since the Civil Rights Act was passed, and their electoral strategy since then is clear proof of that. When they saw what Wallace did in 68 with “”Stand Up For America”, they ran with it.
And “Make America Great Again” is just the normal process that started in 68 and morphed through the decades. More fair to call today’s GOP “The Party of Wallace”.
Trump’s primary win over his opponents was simply for the same reason that Wallace lost a Governor’s race:
” Wallace was once a sensible politician who generally was seen as fair-minded by black leaders in Alabama. But he lost the gubernatorial election after being tarred by John Patterson as too friendly to black people. Wallace subsequently vowed to never be “out-niggered” again and thus began his long dark march into history.
You know, I tried to talk about good roads and good schools and all these things that have been part of my career, and nobody listened. And then I began talking about niggers, and they stomped the floor.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/10/on-race-hustling/263210/
Bush, Rubio, Cruz, etc., got outniggered.