But let's start with Obama and, wait for it, Eric Holder, picking up the pieces of their shattered reputations with an honest, workable policy that benefits everyone. Holder today announced that the Federal government will stop giving mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug users, which could free up to 40% of all federal prisons as a result. He also suggested paroling prisoners who are dying and/or elderly who were not convicted of a violent crime, thus not having the state pay for health care for sicker people, a brilliant move. This is something that is done around the world and with great success, so better late than never here.
This is a common sense policy that should have been done decades ago, but I'll take the win when I can get it. This is a step in the right direction and something the Obama administration needs desperately after a solid week of missteps. You read it here that nothing was going to happen this week and this whole terror alert was a combination of Benghazi fears, misdirection away from the NSA scandal, and plain old stupidity. The enemy did get a clear picture as to what our response was world wide for a suspected attack so way to go there guys. Contrary to the conspiracy minded out there, terrorists exist and want us dead. Luckily they're more like the Keystone Cops than Blofeld.
Speaking of conspiracies, there is a new one saying Bush killed John John and has come up with "facts" to support their theory. My favorite factoid is the one that says they got weather reports from the night and that the fog that blinded him didn't exist. At the time, I lived less than one mile from the airport John John took off from and the fog that night was some of the worst I have ever seen. Experienced pilots I knew from the area said it was suicide to take off that night. John John died due to his stupidity, nothing more, nothing less. I was there.
The Republicans might as well be standing in that fog for all the good it is going to do them. The Tea Party has vowed to put up candidates against many Republican incumbents, a fact that is making the democrats dance and sing. It is exactly these kind if extremist candidates that win the primaries and then get crushed in the state elections. Apparently, they are pissed that the GOP is compromising so much with Obama which makes me wonder what dimension they are living in. These are the people that watch Fox News and treat it like the Bible: everything in it is true. McConnell and others are vulnerable, including John Boehner and Eric Cantor both of whom may face Tea Party candidates in the primaries this year.
The unintended effect is that it is forcing some right wingers to move to the center and, as a result, compromise on some issues like immigration and even the budget are possible now. Paul Ryan's Budget plan, which used to receive so much hoopla, has been abandoned by some in the House who want to keep their job. Polls suggest that people are leaving the Republican party in droves due to their extremist views, with the decline by the elderly voting for the right the biggest surprise.
The GOP has moved too far to the right and are now struggling to survive. I said way back when that if the Tea Party takes over the party, which it has, the right is doomed. Their views are too far gone for the majority of America and the democrats stand to win as a result. 2014 is looking rougher and rougher for the GOP and there is little time to fix it. If the right wants to win, get some new ideas on what you plan to do for the future and stop trying to fix the past. Until you do, you'll continue to lose election after election until you wind up on the duct heap of history.
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