Tag Archives: Speaker John Boehner

For What Its Worth on Immigration

BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com

“Compromise,” as others have said before, “is not a four-letter word.” In a January 2014 column in The New York Times, Tom Friedman quoted former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson as having said: “If you can’t learn to compromise on issues without compromising yourself, you should not be in Congress, be in business or get married.”

Note: Sen. Simpson did not warn against being a columnist, being a radio host, or being a panelist on a cable TV program.
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Immigration From Tribulation to Triumph?

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON

“Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian.”

There is as much truth as humor in those words from my friend and former colleague Bob Orben, a brilliant political speechwriter and comedy script craftsman (sometimes they are one and the same, but I digress).

The point is that Americans have been both immigrants and native population. Many of us are the progeny of immigrants. But despite our heritage, we still struggle with immigration, both legal and illegal, how we feel about it and what we should do or not do to integrate new arrivals into a burgeoning and diversifying American society.

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Fiscal Cliff Tragedy/Comedy Part II

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON

“Do you ever get the feeling that the whole world is a tuxedo and you are a pair of brown shoes?”

That was comedian George Gobel’s quip after he was upstaged during  a 1969 Johnny Carson Show by the unscheduled appearances of Dean Martin and Bob Hope.

Forty years later the whole country is a tuxedo and Washington is a pair of brown shoes–out of step, out of fashion, out of vogue and out of touch with the realities of governing the country. Continue reading →

Get Off PA System, Just Fly the Plane

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON

You want a plan to create jobs? Here’s a good one:

1.    Simplify the tax code, reduce capital gains, corporate and dividend taxes, and improve the climate for American businesses overseas.
2.    Open up domestic exploration of oil, encourage use of natural gas and clean coal technology, increase use of biofuels, and increase supplies from our friends, like Canada.
3.    Repeal burdensome regulations spawned by Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley laws, repeal and replace Obamacare, and repeal regulations that inhibit economic growth, particularly those recently promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National labor Relations Board.
4.    Improve our relations with Asian economies and finally ratify pending agreements with South Korea, Panama and Columbia.
5.    Enact patent reform, reform the Federal Drug Administration and privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
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Debt Ceiling Debacle: Message There

 

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON

My neighbor looked across the dining room table. “I would vote for anyone on either side…if they had solutions,” he said. “I feel helpless.  What can we do?”

His wife had a suggestion: “If we voted them all out would that help?” 

“You just did that a year ago,” I said.  “You can’t just keep voting them out and voting them back in again.” 

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Who Won? Boehner

BY RICH GALEN

Reprinted from mullings.com

Last week it was all “Boehner Embarrassed,” “Boehner Loses Control,” “Boehner Speakership in Peril,” and so on.

That was last week. So … what was. Yesterday was a new week, a new vote, a new deal and the House adopted the bill to raise the debt limit and cut just shy of a trillion dollars in spending by a vote of 269-161.

174 Republicans voted for the bill; 66 voted against. Democrats split 95-95. Three Democrats didn’t vote.

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