Ashleigh Banfield: Clueless Like CNN

CNN's morning host Ashleigh Banfield when interviewing Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary during the Clinton Administration on October 1 concerning the government shutdown showed her lack of knowledge concerning the subject matter.  She asked Reich if the democrats would act the same way against the republicans in the future as the republicans were doing now with the shutdown over the Affordable Care Act .  Reich replied that the republican's demands were so unprecedented he did not know.  (A very good answer to a silly question)

Ashleigh was around during the George W. Bush administration and should have remembered the republicans controlled both houses of congress during most of Bush's eight years in office.  She remembers also that the Bush administration turned Clinton's balanced budgets and surplusses into deficit spending in Bush's very first fiscal year and every year he served.  That Bush asked congress to raise the debt ceiling on many occasions and congress did so without any restrictions like the republicans are demanding now on President Obama.  The republican controlled congress did not get any demands from the democrats nor did the democratic party try to blackmail Bush with a government shutdown.  So Ashleigh knew very well democrats have a record of keeping the government open no matter who is President. 

The question was Ashleigh's way of interjecting a non issue to the subject matter and trying to plant the seed in her viewers mind that both parties act the same.  The democratic view of the need to keep the federal government open and running with out any strings attached is well documented by their actions and has worked better for the country and its people.  The sad record of the republican party is clear since this is the third time they have shut the government down.  I guess that slipped Ashleigh mind.

They plan to obstruct as long as there is a democratic President in the White House becuse they themselves have no record of accomplishments for the country or its people. 


This commentary written by John Lucia.

The Stupid Party And Their Stupid Clowns

Make no mistake there is no difference between the Tea Party  republicans and the republican party in general serving in the U.S. Congress.  Their shutdown of the federal government has proven that beyond a doubt.  The whole republican party has fell in line and has voted to not have a stand alone clean bill to extend the debt ceiling.

On September 30 MSNBC's The Last Word show had as their guest Mr. Bruce Bartlett, a former economic adviser in the administration of President George W. Bush.  Mr. Bartlett correctly described the Tea Party as clowns who care nothing about what the halls of Congress really strand for.  That took character and courage on his part to say that being a republican himself.  But it is obvious Mr. Bartlett is one republican who puts the country before party, especially when that party is run by clowns.

The shutdown is an extension of the republican party's vow to do nothing to help President Obama move the country and its people forward from the second great republican depression.  They vowed to make him a one term President and when that failed they adopted their current position.  Their unAmerican ideology and the lack of respect for democracy tell the real story of their cowardly acts.

Louisiana's republican representatives in congress chose to be clowns also and voted with the republican block to shutdown the government.  The republican party can not break away from precedent.  They shut down the federal government twice before during the Clinton administration.  Maybe the clowns could find their niche under the big tent.


This commentary written by John Lucia