A Short History of Current Democrat Leaders

I've been pretty hard on Republicans this week, because it's difficult to watch a set of political principles that are both correct and supported by the American people become the basis for amateurish tactical choices in the name of those principles. ~~~~~ But, lest we forget, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama were repudiated just four months ago by the American people, who sent 54 Republicans to the Senate, ousting Reid from his Senate Majority Leader position. So, when Reid said yesterday that with the DHS budget mess, Republicans have proven they cannot govern - we have to laugh. Harry Reid is the Majority Leader who silenced the Senate GOP by changing Senate Rules. He was losing so he changed the rules at the equivalent of baseball's Seventh Inning Stretch. Current Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could have done the same thing this week -- change Senate Rules so that the Senate's GOP majority could bring to the floor the DHS budget bill as passed by the House, that is, with the riders eliminating Obama's illegal immigrant amnesty executive orders, thereby forcing Democrats representing American voters in districts not happy with the President's orders to put up or shut up. Was Mitch McConnell being wise and honorable -- or was he Don Quixote, playing by gentlemen's rules with a group of marauding cutthroats. The answer lies as much in the future as in the past of the Democratic Party's leaders. ~~~~~ ITEM 1. President Obama has since 11 September 2012 refused to permit CIA and State Deparrment personnel who were actually on the ground in Benghazi and know what happened to testify before Congress. Fear that potential Justice Department investigations will be compromised, or fear that the Brnghazi coverup will finally see daylight? ITEM 2. The IRS harassed conservative activist groups for more than a year before the 2012 presidential election. And even though Lois Lerner, the head of the guilty FBI unit was held in contempt of Congress more than a year ago for refusing to testify, Obama's Attorney General Holder has refused to proceed against Lerner, who recently received a retirement package including $125,000 pay for the period in which she has been in contempt of Congress. ITEM 3. For Hillary Clinton, the more money she garners, the more problems she has. Mrs. Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential front-runner, is undergoing a firestorm of criticism for her finances - including her six-figure speaking fees and her foundation's fundraising practices. Some experts, both Republican and Democrat, are convinced that Clinton's cash could be a major issue in her White House bid, if she finally chooses to run. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation broke an agreement it made with the White House by taking a $500,000 contribution from the Algerian government while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. The agreement was designed to prevent foreign governments from indirectly currying favor with the State Department through Clinton. A Democratic operative told Business Insider the story created "a line of attack that should keep Hillaryland up at night. Accepting foreign donations is a huge conflict of interests and the decision to reverse the ban is mind-boggling," the Democrat said. But, the Algerian donation is a tiny part the $2 billion reportedly raised by the Clinton foundation over the years. A significant amount of that money is from foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia, which has widespread human-rights abuses, and Qatar, which has a history of  supporting the Al Qaida affiliate, Hamas. And, Clinton foundation foreign donors aren't the only aspect of Hillary's finances creating negative headlines. Despite widespread criticism of her paid speeches - as much as $300,000 per event - Clinton has continued giving them. The organizations she speaks to have included esoteric groups like the New York regional chapter of the American Camp Association, as well as public universities like the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. UNLV students petitioned to try to make Hillary refund her speaking fee, but she refused. Another Democrat who spoke to Business Insider said Clinton's decision to keep taking lucrative speaking fees and foreign donations was "baffling" in light of the problems it could cause for her brand. He said : "You can kind of massage policy things, but these are just avoidable mistakes, and in many ways it's far more damaging than if she wasn't pure on trade, or healthcare, or some other issue - so, it's baffling," the operative said. Robert Gibbs, a former Obama spokesman, has also described the foreign donations as an obstacle for her presidential ambitions. Sunday on "Meet the Press," Gibbs said the foreign donations to Clinton's foundation had an appearance that was "awkward at best," and he alluded to the steady drumbeat of bad press relating to her finances. "I think they're going to have to do something in the very short term to deal with this in a way that puts it off the table," Gibbs added. "I think there are a lot of people that have watched the sort of slow roll of the Hillary Clinton campaign, really dating back to last year with a book tour that some wondered what she was doing....There has been a slow roll of concerning headlines for a long time." ~~~~~ Dear readers, these Hillary Clinton comments were all made by Drmocrats. But here is one from a Republican strategist : "It's a form of arrogance that they think that they can continue doing it and not be held accountable for it and not get called out for it. It's not like they didn't know that she was going to be running or that this was a possibility." So -- the question is rather simple. Does America prefer honorable political leaders who occasionally joust at windmills in their defense of Americans and the Constitution - or marauding cutthroats who value money and winning more than they value America. Answer that question and you have decided how you'll vote on 2016 -- Hillary and her geeedy quest for money that would make her a President indebted to the Saudis and Algeria and many other foreign powers, or a Republican who cares about and wants to serve America.