Oy! To the pollsters. Polls show majorities think President Biden is too old to seek reelection. He is. And/but he is going to be the candidate and his opponent is likely to be former President Donald Trump. Trump? Biden? People who think Biden’s too old will certainly vote for him over Trump. Thus, these early polls, as always, mean zilch, nada, zip. Speaking of his age, he does have a vice president, Kamala Harris, who has been getting great experience because Biden has kept her closely involved. Trust me, we can do far worse than Vice President Harris.
Oy! To Republican House members. Well, at least the Freedom Caucus, that small minority that seems to be in control of Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Picture a group of people standing a circle with guns in their hands, shooting at their kneecaps. That’s the Republican caucus when it comes to the budget. Just days remain before the government runs out of money (that would be Sept. 30) which means federal employees out of work and other essential services stopped cold, hurting the taxpayers they were elected to represent. Over what? The government does spend too much but this isn’t the way to cut it back. Plus the spending that created the huge deficits were run up by both parties over the years.
Yo! To AG Garland. Attorney General Merrick Garland took on Republicans in the House the other day in a hearing that they focused on alleged Department of Justice bias against conservatives and other matters. Garland is a former judge and who would be on the Supreme Court now if not for the team of former President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Garland showed his emotions (anger) just once when he was attacked for his department allegedly being anti-Catholic. The GOP hit a sensitive and understandable nerve because Garland lost family in the Holocaust. “The idea that someone with my family background would discriminate against any religion is so outrageous, so absurd,” Garland said. (I used to attend hearings with my then-boss Commerce Secretary Mac Baldrige. After one hearing, during which he took arrows from Democrats over an issue I can’t remember, I asked how he could sit there, take it and be so calm. He told me, “It’s politics. They attack me, get quoted and that’s all they want from a hearing.” Some things never change. That hearing was over 40 years ago. The only difference is now the politicians count the clicks and “likes”)
Oy! To Cong. Paul Gosar (R-Gonzo) for his comments about soon-to-be former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. Among other things, Gosar said, in a tax-dollar paid newsletter that, “In a better society, quislings like the strange sodomy-promoting General Milley would be hung.” Gosar, who reportedly sought a presidential pardon (though he hasn’t been charged to this day) for promoting former President Trump’s lies about a rigged 2020 election, also promised to launch an investigation into “the effort to attempt a coup between traitor Gen. Mark Milley and [then-House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi.” That’s based on, well, nothing. He also was the first House member to be censured in a decade in 2021 after he tweeted an anime clip of himself murdering Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
Oy! To the insults to couture. This is an Oy! shared by twice-indicted Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez’ (NJ) wife and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The Committee tries not to pick on what are really such trivial matters and cheap shots…but…Mrs. Menendez, who also has been indicted in the bribery indictment with her husband; well, while voting for this Oy! The Committee chose not to include the details of such a cheap shot but if you’ve seen the pictures of her as the media have reported the story, you’ll understand. Schumer gets it for changing the Senate floor dress code to, well, anything anyone wants to wear. The Committee unanimously aid that dress codes never appealed to its members but the decorum of the U.S. Senate does. This partly to accommodate Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.) who likes to wear shorts and a hoodie.
So far, no Oys! about former President Trump but the committee felt awkward not including him…so…
Oy! To former President Trump for turning against just about everyone who worked in senior jobs in his Administration for his appointments to people in senior jobs in his administration. Trump has said he likes a person to look like the job (think his first secretary of state, Rex Tillerman). The Committee decided that even a narcissist like Trump must have never looked in the mirror.