A Day After Walking With Striking Auto Workers, The President's Campaign Releases an Ad Attacking Trumps Labor Record

A day after showing solidarity with striking United Auto Workers in Michigan, the Biden/Harris Campaign released an ad, titled "Delivers" which attacked Donald Trump's Labor Record when he occupied the Oval Office.

The ad, which comes on the day the now found liable for business fraud Ex-President is appearing before autoworkers rather than face the music sharing the stage with his fellow Republican Presidential Contenders.

In the ad, the Biden/Harris Campaign reminds the viewers of Trump's hypocrisy towards labor and how his policies and neglect led to tax cuts for the same Auto CEOs making millions while their employees' wages have been largely stagnant as domestic manufacturing jobs and plants were shuttered.

The ad then pivots to the policies promoted by the Biden/Harris Administration and how the President has "stood up for workers" and delivered on legislation that has resulted in increased wages, created good-paying jobs, and the return of manufacturing jobs in Michigan. 

The ad mocks Trump and his failures to bring infrastructure legislation at the end by saying:

"Joe Biden just doesn't talk. He delivers."

Commenting on the ad in a campaign press release, spokesperson Kevin Munoz stated:

“More empty promises in Michigan or anywhere else can’t erase Donald Trump’s egregious failures and broken promises to America’s workers. He can’t hide his anti-labor, anti-jobs record from the countless American workers he’s let down. This election will be a choice between President Biden’s real advocacy for working Americans and a rerun of billionaire Donald Trump’s broken promises to the middle class.” 

Maybe the next ad the Campaign will do is the Four Time Indicted Mr. Trump speaking out against Electric Vehicles or saying that whales becoming crazy from windmill farms.

This stuff is not made up. 

If voters want to see a real President who is pro-labor, then watch Mr. Biden showing his support for autoworkers on the picket line on September 26, 2023. 

Autoworkers should receive the pay raise they are demanding and they deserve a sound transition to the growing electric vehicle and battery market. 

The Mad King Wants to Shut Down the Government and Execute General Milley While His Apostates in The House Want to GUT Title One Education Programs

This is going to be a telling week for the American Public. 

Like they really need more evidence of the contrasting governing visions offered by both major political parties. 

The Biden/Harris Administration and the Democrats want to chart a course for the country that protects political and civil freedoms along with meaningful investments that move the country forward and lift people up. 

The former Party of Lincoln, led by the four-time indicted, twice impeached, twice popular vote loser, twice David Duke endorsed, and found liable for sexual assault Mad King wants to burn the government down by shutting down operations starting on October 1 if they do not get draconian spending cuts in programs that help people like the beneficial Title One mechanism for public education (full disclosure: I am an Instructional Assistant at a Title One School.)

On his "Truth Social" platform, the person who encouraged the Domestic Insurrection against the Nation's Capitol on January 6, 2021, posted:

“The Republicans lost big on Debt Ceiling, got NOTHING, and now are worried that they will be BLAMED for the Budget Shutdown. Wrong!!! Whoever is President will be blamed. UNLESS YOU GET EVERYTHING, SHUT IT DOWN! Close the Border, stop the Weaponization of ‘Justice,’ and End Election Interference..."

A group of House Republican Apostates, those that did not support the debt ceiling deal earlier this year, are very willing to oblige their Mad King leader and allow the government to shut down unless their spending cut demands are met, including an eighty percent ($14.7 billion) cut in Title One Education Programs.

This Tyranny of the Minority Group is only able to exert disproportionate power because spineless Trump and MAGA enabler Kevin McCarthy, unlike (can not believe this is being written) Republican Senate Leadership who is honoring the debt ceiling deal parameters made earlier this year, is apparently more concerned about keeping his increasingly figurehead Speakership rather than working a deal with Democrats on funding the government.

Commenting on the Mad King's call for shutting down the government, the Biden/Harris Campaign released a statement, relaying:

“Let’s be clear what is happening here: Trump is directing MAGA House Republicans to either slash funding for food safety, education, law enforcement, housing, and more, or completely shut down the government — which could delay cancer research, force federal law enforcement and troops to work without pay, and kneecap essential services hardworking Americans rely on every day. All because the former president believes this helps him politically. House Republicans are gleefully letting Donald Trump function as their chief political strategist at the expense of American families. Trump’s behavior is shameful, but unsurprising from someone who has demonstrated he couldn’t care less about the American people.”

The White House also released data on how the shutdown could jeopardize nutritional programs for seven million Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) across the country. 

In Arizona 139, 765 people would be affected. 

The shutdown would also hurt rural communities, disaster relief programs, and aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia. 

In an email to the Democratic National Committee, Senior White House Communications Assistant Brianna Stonick wrote:

"Extreme House Republicans need to stop playing political games with peoples’ lives, keep the government open, and address other urgent needs for the American people."

The Mad King Wants to Execute General Milley

If all else does not convince everyone that Donald Trump is not worthy of a return trip to the Oval Office, his call to execute soon-to-be retired Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley for not blindly following his lead in the events after the November 2020 elections regarding China and perhaps January 6, 2021, should leave no doubt as to his unsuitability for office. 

Last week, the Mad King wrote on his Truth Social Site

“If the Fake News reporting is correct, [Milley] was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States. This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been death!”

Arizona House Representative Paul "My family won't vote for me" Gosar echoed Trump in a newsletter, calling for Milley's head by writing:

"In a better society, quislings like the strange sodomy-promoting General Milley would be hung. He had one boss: President Trump, and instead, he was secretly meeting with Pelosi and coordinating with her to hurt Trump. That is, when he wasn’t also secretly coordinating and sharing intelligence with the Chinese military. How this traitor remains in office is a question we need answered."

The country does not need The Mad King, Donald Trump, spineless Kevin McCarthy, and unhinged figures like Paul Gosar in powerful positions. 

Why early polls show the Presidential race a toss-up, no matter how unreliable so far out from November 2024, is a mystery. 

On their worst days, President Biden, Vice President Harris, and the other Democratic leaders are far preferable to the current Republican vintage. 

Why is close to half the country still not getting that. 

That may be the true madness. 

People have to wake up and see what is at stake. 

The future of the American Dream and Ideal will be on the ballot in 2024. 

The People need to realize that before it is too late. 

Brooks and Capehart from September 22, 2023

 

Editorial Cartoons for the Week

 

The Lincoln Project Frames What is at Stake in 2024 with Contrasting Ads on Biden and Trump

The Lincoln Project has unveiled four new ads in the last week that, in case there are still people on the fence, frame what is at stake in the 2024 Presidential Election. 

The Project released two new ads, called "Fact Checking" and "Trump's Instincts" based on clips from Kristen Welker's first interview with Donald Trump as moderator on Meet the Press.

While Welkers' interviewing prowess and ability to consistently counter Mr. Trump's outlandish assertions came under scrutiny by Non-NBC sources and fact-checkers, the Lincoln Project was able to depict how the 45th occupant of the Oval Office did the journalist's job for her by, (surprise surprise) not being able to tell the truth and confessing his responsibility on perpetuating the Big Lie of the 2020 Presidential Election that caused the Domestic Terrorist Attack by MAGA supporters on January 6, 2021. 

Contrast these ads with the two the Project produced last week on the Presidency of Joe Biden. 

Called "America Story" and "Strong," the ads show how President Biden's life and career helped prepare him for the Presidency and the achievements in his time at the helm of the nation. These achievements include:

• Starting to rebuild American Infrastructure. 
• Americans at full employment levels.
• Standing up for Democracy and nations threatened and attacked by autocracies. 

For voters in 2024, the choice should be clear. 

While Mr. Biden has always been a perennial walking gaffe machine, his record of accomplishment in most domestic legislative areas, defense of personal freedoms and Democracy at home and abroad, and his presentation of common decency should be more than enough to convince voters that his vision for the nation is the continuing course the country and the people should choose in 2024 over the failed policies and persona of the twice impeached, twice David Duke endorsed, and four-time indicted Liar in Chief and modern day Mad King/Mussolini wanna be. 

The Biden/Harris Administration Launches The American Climate Corps

Photo from Who, What, and Why

Following the tradition of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps, John F. Kennedy's Peace Corps, and Bill Clinton's Americorp, the Biden/Harris Administration, through Executive Action, launched the creation of the American Climate Corps On Wednesday, September 20, 2023.

Originally a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act that was pulled during negotiations, this Corps, when fully instituted, may, according to the White House Press Office:

"...Put more than 20,000 young people on career pathways in the growing fields of clean energy, conservation and climate resilience."

Interested individuals may click here to find out more information about joining the American Climate Corps. 

According to the White House Press Office, this program "builds on nearly $500 million of Biden-Harris Administration investments to expand pathways into good-paying union jobs by prioritizing Registered Apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeship programs, including in clean energy and other climate-focused careers."

At an event in California earlier this year, President Joe Biden said of the potential of Climate Corps:

“When I think of climate, I think of jobs. When I think of climate, I think of innovation. When I think of climate, I think of turning peril into progress,”

Designed to be a partnership between the federal government and state/local private and public entities, the Corps will work to achieve the following goals.

• Train young people in clean energy, conservation, and climate resilience-related skills.
• Use existing federal departments, organizations, and resources to coordinate the program through Americorp where the new Climate Corps will be a "hub" where members can pay some of their post-secondary expenses after serving. 

Arizona is one of five new states (Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Utah are the others) along with California, Colorado. Maine, Michigan, and Washington, that will be forming state-based climate corps. 

Phoenix Vice Mayor and Congressional District Three House Candidate Yassamin Ansari, a clean energy and sustainability advocate, with a record of combatting climate change at the city level, signaled her support for the American Climate Corps by posting:

https://twitter.com/yassaminansari/status/1704525416697110889?s=20

The Vice Mayor, as the below post attests, has a history of promoting youth involvement in combatting climate change since she was a Senior Environmental Policy Advisor at the United Nations. 

https://twitter.com/yassaminansari/status/1704981752119427480

History has shown that programs designed to challenge the youth to serve the larger community like the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Peace Corps, and Americorps have largely been successful. 

If history is indeed a guide, the American Climate Corps can as well. 

Brooks and Capehart from September 15, 2023

 

Editorial Cartoons for the Week

 

Knock Yourselves Out House Maga Republicans

From CNN

One definition of insanity is committing the same act again and again even though there was no positive benefit to the action.

MAGA House Republicans want to force the Democrats (and even some Senate Republicans) to agree to their draconian spending cut proposals (including repealing many of the clean energy provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act) or they will shut the government down. 

If readers think they have heard this tune before, that is because Republicans sang this song in 1995-96, 2013, and 2018-19. 

In the 21 day 1995-96 shutdown, Gingrich Republicans along with enabling Senators led by Bob Dole tried to shove their budget priorities down Bill Clinton's throat.

In the end, most of Clinton's budget priorities prevailed, fiscal surpluses resulted, and the President cruised to a comfortable reelection victory over the wrong side of history Mr. Dole. 

In 2013, Republicans, led in part by Ted Cruz, tried to strongarm the Obama/Biden Administration into agreeing to defund the Affordable Care Act, killing it before its implementation could be finalized. This 16 day shutdown led to the surival of the health care law that serves millions well today. 

In 2018 and 19, Donald Trump, the great dealmaker, and his cronies in Congress shut down the Government over funding for the border wall. After a 35 day standoff that bridged two different Congressional delegations, a deal was struck that did not include funding for the wall Trump wanted.

In each case, Republicans, the "party of fiscal responsibilty" put the financial stabilty of the country and the American People in jeopardy with their trickle down and screw everthing not defense spending or tax cuts for the rich. 

In each case, Democratic Presidents and Congressional Members prevailed. 

Republicans, if they were not so fixated on banning books and distorting history education, would do well to learn from the factual past and not repeat the failed political strategies that only made them look cruel, reactionary, unappealing, and inept. 

The same advice could also be given to House Speaker (and top Trump Cogressional enabler) Kevin Spineless McCarthy, who, in a move to appease the MAGA Republicans who are threatening to oust him, agreed to launch an impeachment probe of President Biden for unproven allegations of aiding his son in an influence peddling scheme. 

One would think that if the MAGA Republicans and the Special Counsel assigned to the Hunter Biden case had any proof of wrong doing by President Biden, it would have leaked by now in the five years since the Trump Justice Department intially launched an investigation into the matter.

Readers should remember that Republicans are no strangers to baseless impeachment proceedings. They tried to remove Bill Clinton after revealtions he covered up an extramartial affair. In the end, he left office with higher approval ratings than when he went in. 

So if Republicans want to repeat the insane strategies that earned them nothing but condemnation and the elevation in popularity of the Presidents they were seeking to pummel, they should knock themselves out and go ahead. 

Those that do not lose in 2024 for that and their extreme positions on reproductive freedom and voter suppression will be attendees at the Biden/Harris Inaugural in 2025. 

Jim Messina is Right: Democrats Need to Stop "Bedwetting" Over One Poll 14 Months Before the Presidential Election

Photo from blic

This has happened before. 

Democrats were pessimistic about Bill Clinton's reelection prospects after the 1994 midterms. 

He left office in 2001 more popular, thanks to his economic policies (budget surpluses, record employment, the CHIPS Act for Child Healthcare) and opposition to Republican ones than when he was first elected, even after getting impeached on flimsy grounds. 

In 2012, Democrats (especially younger more progressive ones) pondered if Barack Obama (the President who signed the Affordable Health Care Act,) with a national unemployment rate between seven and nine percent, could get reelected after a similar midterm debacle. 

He also left after two terms in office. 

Some of the sentiments from the left on Clinton and Obama were reinforced by frustration with their center-left policy orientation in their terms in office. 

That these two Presidents probably could not have achieved more with the Congressional Configurations of their time apparently did not factor into many of these voters' perspectives. 

Fast forward to today and we have Democrats, despite President Biden instituting policies more progressive than his two Democratic Predecessors, falling over themselves in a panic with one CNN poll that shows the 2024 Presidential race in a virtual tie between Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump. 

Jim Messina, an Obama operative has called this Democratic reaction, historically programmed in part to Reagan and Bush victories and the Hilary Clinton 2016 loss, "bedwetting."

It could also be called being "whiners" and "crapping their pants."

While it is better to be forewarned and forearmed with as much information as possible on the campaign trail leading up to the election, Democratic voters should be mindful of a few facts before stressing out. 

First, this poll may have been more tilted to the conservative political sphere. Please read CNN's description of who was polled below:

"The CNN Poll was conducted by SSRS from August 25-31 among a random national sample of 1,503 adults drawn from a probability-based panel, including 1,259 registered voters and 391 Democratic and Democratic-leaning independent voters. The survey included an oversample to reach a total of 898 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents; this group has been weighted to its proper size within the population. Surveys were either conducted online or by telephone with a live interviewer. Results among the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 points; among registered voters, the margin of sampling error is 3.6 points, and it is 6.0 for Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters."

Another factor to consider is reality. 

Messina prepared a 22-slide PowerPoint presentation outlining how the Biden/Harris Campaign and other Democrats should position themselves in the 14 months leading to the 2024 election. 

Among the key points:

• The need to highlight the condition of the country now (record employment, COVID under control, inflation and crime falling) and compare it to when it was when the Biden/Harris Administration took over from the Trump/Pence one (the Coronavirus Pandemic raging, many people out of work and at home, Democracy under attack.)
• The need to promote all of the legislation (some of it bipartisan) like the Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS Act, the American Rescue Plan, and the Inflation Reduction Act has moved the country forward, lifted people up, and charted a course for a cleaner energy future. It would also be fun to point out that Republicans who voted against these laws are now touting them. 
• The necessity to remind voters that Democrats and the Biden/Harris Administration are the ones fighting for Democracy and Reproductive Freedom. That is not happening at all on the Republican side. 
• Remember that polling trends among the public are trending Democratic. 60 percent of Americans think their economic condition is good or excellent and only 33 percent think a recession is likely. Two-thirds think a woman's right to choose should be enshrined in their state's constitution. 
• To note that the Misery Index (Inflation plus Unemployment) is currently lower than during the Reagan. Clinton, and Obama Administrations at this point in their reelection campaigns. 
• Most importantly, to drive home the fact that the Republicans have tethered themselves to twice impeached, found liable for sexual assault, four times indicted Donald Trump and most Presidential contenders who want to be like him or espouse the same reactionary policies (banning books, distorting history education, taking away your right to vote and a woman's right to choose) that most Americans find abhorrent. 

So while it is right to be concerned about the 2024 elections and no one should take anything for granted (how many Hilary voters stayed home because they thought her election was a fait accompli), Democrats need to take a deep breath, organize, and prepare for what will be a close race that will be decided in the same battleground states as 2020 (Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Virginia.)

Voters should also be comforted by this thought expressed by some pundits I have heard on CNN and MSNBC. Will the millions of voters who switched from Trump to Biden in 2020 be inclined to vote for Trump and Republicans again in 2022 after seeing

• What he did on January 6, 2021.
• He was indicted four times and found liable for sexual assault. 
• He and other Republicans have worked to suppress the vote since 2020 and take away other freedoms like a woman's right to choose. 

Think about it. 

Brooks and Capehart from September 10, 2023

 

Editorial Cartoons for the Week

 

Happy Labor Day Everyone

 

Editorial Cartoons for the Week