The McLaughlin Group: January 22, 1993

Source:The McLaughlin Group, perhaps no further explanation needed here. I sure hope so.

"This episode of The McLaughlin Group (which is incomplete, by the way) originally aired on Friday, January 22, 1993 -- two days after Bill Clinton was inaugurated President.  Panelists are Fred Barnes, Eleanor Clift, Chris Matthews (filling in for Jack Germond) and Mort Kondrake." 

From My Vintage Video

As far as Bill Clinton's 1993, inaugural, I think there are great reasons why William Jefferson Clinton gets compared with John Fitzgerald Kennedy: tall, handsome, youthful looking, very funny, optimistic, etc, but there's an even better reason than that. 

If you watch and listen to President Clinton's speech here, he's not promising the world to everyone and telling them that it's not going to cost anyone anything, expect for perhaps maybe the wealthy. He talks about the challenges that the country is facing and then talks about how the country can address them and how we'll be better off in the long run together. Instead of we can solve all our problems right now with this program, that program, and another program, and it's not going to cost anyone anything, expect for perhaps the wealthy. 

Another reason why WJC gets compared with each other has to do with rhetoric. 

In JFK's 1961 inaugural, he says: "Ask not what you can do for your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." 

In 1993, WJC says: "There's nothing wrong with America, that can't be fixed with what's right with America." And then he gets into things like if you commit yourself to public service and the country, you can go to college for free. He was talking about empowering Americans, especially young Americans, who are struggling and need a break to get started in America and make it in America on their own. 

As far as Bill Clinton's early struggles early on and not just his first two years, but first month, if you think about it: imagine waking up and finding yourself on another planet for the first time in your life and having no idea even where you are, expect that you know that you are in charge of this huge organization known as the executive branch of the United States Government. That's what the Clinton Administration looked like in early 1993. 

The Clinton White House looked like Amateur Days At The White House, seeming to have no idea where they were and what they were supposed to be doing. And it cost them, as well as the Democratic Party in those first two years, especially 1993. 1994, expect for the Congressional elections where the Democratic Party lost both the House and Senate, was much better for them politically and operationally, with real accomplishments under their belt, including 2 popular Supreme Court justices at that point.

You can also see this post on WordPress.

My Vintage Video: The McLaughlin, February 24, 1989

This post was originally posted at The New Democrat on WordPress

John Tower, was a Republican Senator from Texas, elected in I believe 1960 and served four terms in the Senate. The first Republican elected statewide in Texas, in I don’t know, a hundred years or whatever. And was a very popular Republican in the Republican Party and very conservative as well. With a deep knowledge of foreign policy and national security issues while he was in Congress. But he wasn’t very popular with his colleagues in Congress in either party, especially in the Senate. And when President Bush nominates him in 1989 to be his Secretary of Defense and nothing bad had broken for him after that, Tower probably gets confirmed as Secretary of Defense even in a 55-45 Democratic Senate that year. Because he was very knowledgable about national security. But then a story breaks about his alcoholism and that he was a recovering alcoholic. And Senate Democrats didn’t need much more than that to vote him down.

My Vintage Video: The McLaughlin Group 10/03/03: No WMD in Iraq

This post was originally posted at The New Democrat on WordPress

Eleanor Clift, nailed it early on in this show when she said the War in Iraq was over soled and the evidence going in never justified for the War in Iraq. She makes this seven months after the War in Iraq was launched in March, 2003. Remember, the original justification for the War in Iraq was to eliminate weapons of mass destruction from Iraq and get them out of the Saddam Hussein Regime. And then they don’t find them. The reason and evidence for the War in Iraq was never there.

Neoconservatives in and out of the Bush Administration blew this story and war from day one and they haven’t gotten any better. And why the Republican Party is struggling so much at the presidential level and even within their own party. With Conservatives, “saying America shouldn’t try to police the world and that we should even be fiscally conservative with the defense budget and not run up our debt and deficits with the military budget.’ To Neoconservatives still saying, “that we should spend whatever takes to police the world. Because no one else will and debts and deficits don’t matter to begin with.”

As far as the Joe Wilson story. I just wish this was as big as a story in 2003-04, as it was in 2005-06 and John Kerry beats President Bush by winning both Ohio and Florida. Had this story broke in 2001 or 02 and then continued to grow instead of late 2003, I think President Bush would’ve been in huge trouble going into the fall of 2004. In a lot of way George W. Bush is one of the luckiest politicians who has ever lived. Because even with all the obvious mistakes he and his administration made in their eight years, the Democratic Party for the most part was never in strong enough position to take advantage of them. In his first term, but in his second term they came together and went to work politically on the Bush Administration and scored a lot of points.

The McLaughlin Group: Video: Martin O'Malley vs. Hillary Clinton

This post was originally posted at The New Democrat on WordPress

As far as Martin O’Malley beating Hillary Clinton next year, no one is expecting him to do that. But plenty of upsets have happened inside of the Democratic Party during presidential years in the past. And all the Democratic nominees coming out of nowhere were all serious intelligent candidates, who were successful in their current and previous jobs. Who were great politicians and communicators, who very likable and spoke very well to the Democratic base. Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. All current or former President’s of the United States. Martin O’Malley is just as good as a politician as Jimmy Carter at least and perhaps Barack Obama.

As far as the NCAA. Why should just student athletes not be able to earn money while at college either though their field or outside of their field? Why should athletes suffer, while law students, medical students and everyone else are not only allowed to work their way through college, but earn money while at college. And a lot of these athletes come from lower-middle class to low-income families. Where their parents can’t afford to pay for their cost of living and send them money while they’re at college. They don’t have to worry about their schooling, but they have to be able to pay their other bills while their at school.

As far as Carly Fiorina, she is less accomplished than Mitt Romney as a politician. Which is sort of the death knell for a potential serious presidential candidate. Had she defeated Senator Barbara Boxer in 2010, then maybe she would be a serious candidate right now. Because she could say that she’s one statewide in one of the bluest states in the country. And now has foreign policy experience on the Foreign Relations Committee or Armed Services Committee. She has business experience and was a successful business executive and everything else. But that didn’t happen and now she looks like someone who is just trying to get any big job and get her name in the public eye.

The McLaughlin Group: Video: The Best and Worst of 2014

This post was originally posted at The New Democrat on WordPress

I hate to say this as someone who voted for Barack Obama twice, but he is definitely the loser of 2014 at least as far as American politicians. In October, 2013 thanks to House Republicans shutting down government over the Affordable Care Act House Democrats actually looked like they had a shot at winning back the House in 2014 and perhaps picking up thirty seats and holding the U.S. Senate. But then ObamaCare, the start of the ObamaCare website is bungled and completely screwed up by the Obama Administration. And it is downhill for Democrats especially in Congress for the rest of 2013 and all of 2014.

I think the winner of 2014 is then Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who faced a tough reelection for his own seat and wins that going way. And presides over his party picking up nine seats in the Senate and making him Leader of the Senate in this Congress. And even though Speaker John Boehner outranks Leader McConnell in the Constitution, McConnell is the most important Republican in Congress right now. Because he has a good grasp over his own caucus, doesn’t have to worry about his job and knows how to govern, unlike John Boehner. Which means working with Senate Democrats, the Obama Administration and the House Republican Leadership.

The what I would call the enough award would go to Al Sharpton and the rest of the MSNBC talk lineup except for the Morning Joe. Which is a good show and Andrea Mitchell. The rest of that network is like being at a Democratic Socialist USA meeting and hearing about how bad America is and how much we suck and everything else with not a lot of evidence to back any of that up. They could all move to Canada tomorrow and get their own shows and no one in America would miss them. But even social democratic Canadians may want to revoke their green cards and kick them out.

The McLaughlin Group: U.S. Senate Elections on Election Night

Source: The McLaughlin Group- John McLaughlin-

Source:The McLaughlin Group

Just to sort of follow-up on what I was talking about yesterday and the U.S. Senate elections. Senate Republicans should win back the Senate on Tuesday, probably six or seven seats. Or maybe they only win five, but somehow Larry Pressler who is an Independent in North Dakota, wins that Senate election and decides to caucus with Republicans. Giving Senate Republicans a 50-48 and 2 majority. Or similar scenario but Independent Senator Angus King decides to caucus with the Republicans instead of the Democrats.

But as The McLaughlin Group pointed out which is why I'm leaving some hope for Senate Democrats, there are still a couple of critical factors that could save the Senate for Democrats. Michelle Nunn wins the Senate seat in Georgia, Gregg Orman wins in Kansas. Mary Landrieu doesn't win Louisiana, but Representative Bill Cassidy doesn't win a majority, forcing the election into a December runoff. Kay Hagan holds the steady lead she's had for over a year over Tom Tillis in North Carolina and the same thing with Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire over Scott Brown.

Under the reasonable scenarios I just put out, Senate Democrats could lose every other seat that is in play for Republican pickups and still retain the Senate with a 50-50 plus Vice President Joe Biden majority. Keep in mind, only Mary Landrieu is either down barley or tied with her opponent. And she is a great campaigner and has a great campaign machine and Democrats have a great get out the vote operation. And Senator Landrieu has already won a runoff back in 2002 in a big Republican year where Democrats lost the Senate that gave Republicans a united Congress.

Under any other election year and scenario with an unpopular President in Barack Obama that I voted twice for and don't regret those votes or would change for anything, we should not only be talking about Republicans winning the Senate, but are they going to win 8 or 10 seats. Not 5-7 and giving Democrats life in the Senate. Along with House Republicans picking up twenty or more seats and padding their majority. That is not happening because of the unpopularity of the Republican Party with their candidates and that they have weak incumbents as well.

The McLaughlin Group: Russia/Ukraine, Military Cuts & Arizona Gay Discrimination Bill

Source: The McLaughlin Group-

Source:The McLaughlin Group

I think the panel is correct when they say President Vladimir Putin's real goal for the Russian Federation is to return it to a superpower, or at least a world power, again, at least on the scale of the People's Republic of China, and have Russia grow its military and economy to the same levels as those of the Chinese. But I hope the panel is correct when they say Russia has no intention of invading and occupying Ukraine but is perhaps more interested in simply ending the violence there.

As far as the military cuts go, there is nothing radical here, just an understanding of the reality that we no longer occupy Afghanistan and Iraq and are no longer in a position where we need to police the world. Nor can we afford to do that, especially with our alliances in Europe and now in the Middle East as well. This is not about weakening American power, but paying for the power that we need in an affordable way and cutting back in areas we no longer need to be involved in.

As far as the Arizona gay discrimination bill goes, because that is exactly what it is, which is legally to deny people service simply because they are gay and move us back to the 1960s, when Americans could be denied service because of their race or color. Even if Governor Jan Brewer vetoed the bill for economic reasons, she still did the right thing, and, as we learned today, the Arizona Legislature has no intention of bringing up another gay discrimination bill this session.

The McLaughlin Group: The State of The Union, Economic Mobility, Syria, Liberal vs Progressive

Source: The McLaughlin Group - John McLaughlin 

Source:The McLaughlin Group 

As far as the State of the Union. If I’m President Obama or he could hear my advice for him, I would say use this speech to kickoff the 2014 Campaign to Save Congressional Democrats. Keeping the Senate majority and keeping the House Democratic Caucus at about where it is right now.

“And this is how we are going to do that by making 2014 all about the economy and the liberal democratic vision to move the country forward economically.” If he’s successful in doing that, he could take sixty percent of the country with him who tend to like Democrats more on these issues than Republicans.

Economic mobility is about making 2014 about the economy. Again the liberal democratic vision.

1. Extend Unemployment Insurance so people struggling so hard just to go back to work at least have some income while they are doing that. And what we are also going to do is expand job training for these unemployed workers, but also for low-income low-skilled workers. So they can get the skills they need to either go back to work at a good job, or get an even better job from what low-income low-skilled workers are doing right now.

2. Create going to create a ten-dollar an hour minimum wage to make work pay more than not working. And so these workers can purchase more which will help drive consumer spending and economic growth.

3. Going to create a National Infrastructure System and actually add to that. With a national public/private corporation or National Infrastructure Bank with the simple task of prioritizing infrastructure projects that either have to be rebuilt or built. That would reward contracts to private construction companies to do the work and bring in private investors to pay for the projects.

What President Obama could say to Congress that is the Republican House that isn’t really interested in doing anything that may need Democratic support to pass. And a Democratic Senate that has a Republican minority that is only interested in winning back the Senate. “I’m offering my hand and if you want to be my partner in helping to put Americans back to work and jumpstart the economy. You can either work with me on this, or I’m going to do as much as this by myself as I can. In case you try to stonewall me with the Republican House not doing anything. Or Senate Republicans trying to block anything that the Senate Leader Harry Reid brings to the floor to address these issues.”

As far as Syria the United States lost whatever opportunity it had a year ago or two years ago to knock out the Assad Regime. And at least give the Syrian Opposition a fighting chance to not only defend themselves, but to try to do the job themselves. And now as a result we are at a point where we are trying to prevent the worst from happening with Bashar Al-Assad still as President of Syria. And both sides already know this.

Liberal vs. Progressive or even Social Democrat (as I prefer to call so-called modern Progressives) Is really about the two Democratic economic visions coming from the Left. Liberals want to empower Americans who need it to be able to create their own freedom for themselves. Which is why President Obama is going to focus so much on education, job training and infrastructure. Today’s so-called Progressives are essentially saying that, “the wealthy have too much and what we really need to do is take a lot of money from them so the Federal Government has enough money to take care of everyone else.”

The McLaughlin Group: National Security Surveillance and Hillary Clinton 2016

Source: The McLaughlin Group-

Source:The McLaughlin Group

I covered this last night, but President Obama essentially gave the speech that he had to give. And I believe the speech that he wanted to that he and his administration are aware of the concerns that Americans have over their privacy at it relates to the surveillance reports that the NSA and other agencies cover. But that he and his National Security Council are going forward in doing what they believe they need to do to protect the country and will try to find a way that better protects our privacy.

Benghazi, is only big news to Republicans and others who do not like Hillary Clinton. And she’ll find Democrats and I’m one of them who do not like her that much as a presidential candidate. Because she’s too safe, too centrist, not liberal enough for me and a lot of other Democrats. And other reasons I’ll spare you for now, but the only real threat she has to not being elected President of the United States in about three years other than not running for president, still a possibility comes from her center-left in the Democratic Party. Real Liberal Democrats who want to move in a clear direction.

One thing I agree with Bob Gates on is that Richard Nixon is our strangest president in at least modern times let’s say since TV has been with us since the late 1940s. But like a lot of other president’s he’s someone who looks better as history moves along because of his success’s in foreign policy and even making energy independence and putting Welfare reform and broader health care reform on the national agenda even though he failed get to major legislation passed in those areas.

Here’s an example of bad Bipartisanship. What is going on in Congress right now with Iran. For the first time in thirty-five years America has a chance to get a real diplomatic agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran over their nuclear weapons program. With a chance later on of reaching an agreement that may lead to both countries opening up a dialog. That could lead to the countries back to diplomatic relations with each other and officially talking to each other again. Having a formal relationship with each other that would include international trade. And Congressional Democrats and Republicans for political reasons and what they are trying to do with new sanctions. Would end that possibility.

The McLaughlin Group: Chris Christie Jammed Up in New Jersey

Source: The McLaughlin Group-

Source:The McLaughlin Group

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie taking the, "I was in the dark about this defense." In the dark about the New Jersey traffic jam story, or in the dark about his own administration. Remember, Governor Christie likes to come off as a strong leader who doesn’t take let’s say, junk from anyone. The person head of this scandal also happens to his Deputy Chief of Staff. So we are talking about someone pretty close to the chief executive of New Jersey and the Governor not knowing what she was up to.

As far as the Robert Gates book. This man was President Obama’s Secretary of Defense for over two years and if he really believed that President Obama was a weak leader and remember Bob Gates is a career civil servant who has spent most of his career working for the National Security Council and if he really believed President Obama was making national security decisions for political reasons, the man would’ve stepped down well before he did.

As far as Unemployment Insurance if that if not extended which I believe it will be and even the Republican House at the end will agree to do it. And the question is just really how it will be done. We’ll see millions of Americans with absolutely no income with more people being evicted or being foreclosed. Because they can’t keep up with their payments and then what, a lot of people literally on the street with nowhere to go.