Socialist Ankle-Biter-in-Chief

Democrat politician, Jerrold L. "Jerry" Nadler, has been the U.S. Representative (currently in New York's 10th district) since 1992 –14 terms, so far. Before that, he was in the New York State Assembly from 1977 to 1992. Now that the Democrats have achieved a majority in the House, Nadler’s seniority gives him the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee which has jurisdiction over matters relating to the administration of justice in federal courts, administrative bodies, and law enforcement agencies. A powerful position.

The New York Post: Jerry Nadler’s agenda: ankle-biting Trump. “We will be holding people accountable,” Nadler is warning as his moment in the national spotlight finally arrives. And there’s no mistaking that moving to impeach President Trump tops his list. With people like Jerry Nadler leading the charge, don’t expect them to play it smart, either.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: The Pathetic Partnership of Jerry Nadler and Iran. “When it came time to protect the United States, America’s Arab allies and the State of Israel against the threat posed by Iran, Rep. Jerold Nadler chose party loyalty over the national interest.”

Nadler said that protecting the Mueller investigation is his top "oversight" priority and gun control is one of his top legislative priorities.  

Nadler said Trump's recent temporary appointment of Matthew Whitaker as Acting Attorney General is not legal because the Senate has not given its advice and consent. "But I'll go further -- his appointment is simply part of an attack on the investigation by Robert Mueller, the special counsel. It's part of a pattern of interference by the president and part of a pattern of obstruction.” Ask him how that is and you’ll not get an answer.

As part of the pro-abortion lobby, he is already plotting to impeach Justice Kavanaugh before his seat on the Supreme Court is warm. Nadler was overheard on an Amtrak train to D.C. talking about investigating Kavanaugh and accusing him of perjury.

Nadler is a long-time member of the Democratic Socialists of America [DSA]. It is the largest socialist organization in the United States and the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International. The DSA attained new visibility with the election of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also  in New York. Indoctrination in academia, along with the supporting programming of the so-called Mainstream Media, are having a leftist effect on millennials. History of the world is not taught much anymore, so this generation does not have knowledge of the disastrous effect of socialist experiments.            A Harvard University survey found that 51 percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 no longer say they support capitalism. 

Socialism has never been successful in any country.  The Soviet Union was a huge failure and who wants to live in North Korea, Cuba, or Venezuela?  As Charles W. Calomiris of the Manhattan Institute wrote recently.  “Socialism is a false promise, an ideological opium that repressive elites use to retain and expand power. Capitalism, in contrast, is seen as the force that has lifted over a billion people out of poverty worldwide since 1990.” See Socialism: The Opiate of the Corrupt and Ignorant .

How does Nadler’s embrace of socialism influence his voting record which affects all the rest of us? Let’s ask the National Taxpayers Union.  NTU reports that Nadler’s score is significantly below average and qualifies for a grade of "F." This failing grade places the member in the "Big Spender" category.  Socialists believe that governments should make decisions on how citizens’ money is spent.

The bigger the government the more inefficiency and waste, right? Let’s go to another non-partisan rating service, Citizens Against Government Waste CAGW, for how they rate Nadler on that measure. He gets a “D: Hostile to Taxpayers.” 

Socialists don’t like free-market businesses, but The Club for Growth knows that a free market economy produces prosperity and generates taxes for government operations. The Club rates Nadler’s lifetime score at 4% of a 100% --at the bottom of congressional support of the economy. 

Heritage Action is the policy advocacy affiliate of the conservative Heritage Foundation, a polar-opposite of a socialist organization. As expected, it rates Nadler 8% of 100%.

Sufficient to say that Nadler’s long tenure has not been beneficial to our country and a clear drag on the economy and fedgov spending resulting in a huge national debt. See the http://www.usdebtclock.org/  it has much useful information that socialists ignore at our peril.

Too bad for the country but Nadler is not alone in the new Congress – there are about 70 socialist members who will be heading major committees including two recent Posters , Adam Schiff and Maxine Waters.  Folks, we need term limits on Congress now more than ever!  See U.S. Term Limits new weekly podcasts for what is being done on that issue:  No Uncertain Terms

                

Mad Max a/k/a Max The Mouth

Much of this poster was written in 2009 with some updating including the current hateful rants against the Trump administration.

6/27/2018  Andrew West: Representative Maxine Waters, a public servant by title only, has now called for mob harassment of conservatives, which is to say:  Maxine told her followers to attack his followers.  It was incitement through and through, for which the left has mostly played dumb about.  Mad Max is about to have nowhere to hide, however, as an official grievance has been filed by one of the nation’s leading congressional watchdog groups. …. Judicial Watch, the conservative watchdog group, sent a letter to the House Office of Congressional Ethics Monday, calling for an ethics investigation into Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) to determine if she violated House ethics rules by encouraging violence against Trump administration officials.

 Rep. Waters has a long-time reputation as the most corrupt person in Congress. She’s been investigated multiple times for ethics violations; using her position in Congress to secure business dealings for her family (The Los Angeles Times).  In fact, her family made over $1 million in eight years by doing business with companies that she had helped with her legislation.

Waters’ politics consist of hardly any more than the typical inner-city race-baiting peppered with reckless pork barrel spending. Throughout her time in Congress, she’s been known for little else besides her constant ethics investigations. The reason she’s come into the limelight at all over the last months is that of her cartoonish attacks on President Trump. Waters literally says she “will fight every day until [Trump] is impeached” (The Washington Examiner)

When we captioned this blog “the worst of a bad lot” we had Maxine Waters in mind. Even the most corrupt long-tenured pols –she’s been in congress for 28 years + 14 years in the State Assembly— have done something that could be considered good for the country. At her own website, we found that she has labored diligently against mandatory sentencing laws. Well, the rapists, muggers, and repeat crooks liked that one. 

The former football player, Jim Brown, praised her as a “Mother Theresa of Watts” for these efforts. Remember how she defended the Watts rioters, looters, and arsonists when she remarked on national television: "Riot is the voice of the unheard." National Review said she was trying to shift the blame for the riots from the rioters to everybody and everything else and in the process was giving tacit permission to riot again. Waters ferociously attacked the U.S. Government as being responsible for "the economic, social, cultural and political factors” that caused the L.A. riots of 1992. She expressed sympathy for gangs and rioters involved and what she still calls a revolution. She disagreed with LA Mayor Tom Bradley's characterization of the 1992 rioters as "hoodlums and thugs."

She did join a coalition in 1994 against violent and sexually explicit song lyrics and came out against so-called "gangsta rap" –that was a good thing. But wait, she did not blame the actual rappers for the filthy, hateful and sometimes murderous obscenities and vulgarities. No, she pointed the finger of blame at industry executives for not exercising more control over their recording artists and said it was "…foolhardy to single out rap artists as instigators of violence among young people." We tried. (We don’t think the execs are blameless, either.)

Born in 1938, Waters was one of thirteen children living in a St. Louis housing project where her mother struggled to raise her children; no father is mentioned. After graduating from high school, she married and had two children. In 1960 the family moved to Los Angeles, where Waters worked at a few menial jobs before getting involved in the Head Start program in Watts. In the late 1980s she entered California State University to study sociology. By the time she earned her degree, she was divorced and raising her children alone. Water's background is frequently cited to explain why she fights so passionately for affirmative action programs. She had no successful experience in the free market economy having grown up on welfare, gone to school on affirmative action programs and then getting involved in mostly race-based politics.

She is currently married to Sidney Williams, a former football player and automobile salesman, who she got President Clinton to name Ambassador to the Bahamas. Her husband is a stockholder and former director of OneUnited Bank and the bank's executives were major contributors to her campaigns. In September 2008, she arranged meetings between U.S. Treasury officials and OneUnited Bank, to arrange for the bank to get federal cash. It had been heavily invested in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and its capital was "all but wiped out" after FedGov took them over. The bank got $12 million in TARP money because of her intervention. 

Maxine Waters got her start in politics as the chief deputy to Los Angeles city councilman David Cunningham. She was actively involved in the campaigns of Senator Alan Cranston and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. She entered the California State Assembly in 1976. Republican Cathie Wright who served with Waters for fourteen years on the California Assembly, discussed Maxine Waters' accusations of racism: “The problem I have with her are her accusations that we were racists, but she wasn't. She always assumed that everything you said was because you were white and she was black...Whenever Republicans disagreed with her, she said we took the position because we were racists.”

In the 1980s she wrote the Forward in a book charging that a “secret team” of military and CIA officers had launched the cocaine trade and created the Medellin cartel.  She vigorously promoted the book and when it was proved bogus she never apologized or expressed any regret. 

Waters was instrumental in the formation of the National Political Congress of Black Women in 1984. In 1996, she was elected to chair the Congressional Black Caucus. She called for an investigation of the CIA for being involved in a plan to distribute drugs to African Americans in Los Angeles in the early 1980s. That, plus her propensity to play the race card reflected poorly on her and the Democratic Party’s ability at that time to wield real influence in Washington. After being named co-chairman of Clinton's national campaign, she called President George H. W. Bush a "racist" in a speech at the National Press Club. She found nothing wrong with President Clinton’s taking advantage of the intern and then lying about it under oath.

A fan of Castro and especially of Che Guevara, Waters visited Cuba often to see her friend, domestic terrorist Joanne Chesimard (aka Assata Shakur plus over 20 other aliases according to the FBI). In 1977, Chesimard was found guilty of first-degree murder of a police officer she shot execution style, among several other convictions including armed robbery. She was sentenced to life in prison 1977 and then in November 1979, Chesimard escaped and lived underground before being located in Cuba in 1984. Rep.Waters has used her position to oppose extradition going so far as to write Castro that Shakur (she’s an aunt of a rapper of that name) was fleeing “political persecution.” The FBI has a $1,000,000 reward for her capture.

In 1999, Waters led a delegation of six Congressional Black Caucus members on a fact-finding mission to take a leading role in introducing legislation to change current U.S. policies toward Cuba. She advanced no advocacy for the many black political prisoners in Castro’s jails. The next year, when Castro visited Harlem’s Riverside Church, Waters joined a throng of American leftists yelling “Viva Fidel!” Castro said he knew would “find my best friends” on that visit.

In May 2008, Waters told Shell Oil President John Hofmeister at the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing that if he did not “guarantee” reduced gasoline prices in exchange for Congress “allowing” the oil industry to drill where it wished, she would favor nationalizing American petroleum companies. She stated: "Guess what this liberal will be all about, this liberal will be all about socializing... taking over and the government running all of your companies." Rep. Waters clearly favors statism as she understands it, and this is just one example.

Among her other distinctions, Citizens Against Government Waste named her the June 2009 Porker of the Month due to her intention to obtain an earmark for the Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center. Her non-partisan National Taxpayers Union score is the lowest possible, as one would expect.

She opposed the Iraq War saying that the money could be used for affirmative action programs. She supported Jesse Jackson’s campaigns for president. It goes on… With Maxine Waters, it is all about race, welfare and socialism; nothing about the economy, freedom or opportunity.

Without term limits, there is little chance to replace the entrenched incumbent no matter how bigoted, anti-American, pro-socialist and corrupt because of the advantages of office including the big bucks from special interests that benefit from her votes.

Illustration by Mort Kuff

Adam Bennett Schiff served one term in the California State legislature and is now in his 9^th term in the U.S. Congress currently representing California's 28th congressional district. He’s the Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee. He’s busy trying to defend the Democrats purchase and use of the dirty Steele Dossier and its use by Hillary campaign to slander her opponent and to unmask Trump campaign staff before the FISA Court.

An amusing side issue is Schiff’s attempt to get nude pictures of President Trump to embarrass and discredit him –exactly what the Hillary campaign was doing with the fake salacious Steele Dossier.  So, Schiff gets a call that he thinks is from Andriy Parubiy, the chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament claiming to have compromising information on President Donald Trump, including pictures 

and  recordings.  Except it was a prank phone call from two Russian comedians known as Vadum and Lexus claiming to have recordings that would reveal Russian President Vladimir Putin was blackmailing Trump with photographs of him and a model named Olga Buzova in a compromising position. Listen to the conversation here.  

Trey Gowdy, the Republican Chairman of the House Oversight Committee and a member of the Intelligence Committee has called out Rep. Schiff for his many misrepresentations and outright lies –a quick Google search documents his history of being untruthful.  

adam schiff lies           Trump Eviscerates Adam Schiff Over Lies and Leaks

http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2017/03/lies-leaks-and-leftists-carter-page.html

Trey Gowdy Destroys Adam Schiff For Lying      Roger Stone lists Schiff’s many lies      

Benghazi Liar Schiff Now Lies about Uranium One           Adam Schiff is a liar

THE BENGHAZI LIARS Are Back: Susan Rice And Adam Schiff

https://longroom.com/discussion/876149/adam-schiff-lies-again-in-other-news-water-is-wet       Adam Schiff unhinged   -- See more videos of adam schiff lies

I could fill several pages with links to Rep. Schiff’s lies –they’re well established for years. But I want you to listen to one more link for the seriousness of all of this for the future of our Republic. Here’s an interesting interview on the current subject that our poster boy lies about: Rep. Nunes by Maria Bartiromo  and this one you’ll find interesting and informative:

Nunes: 'No Official Intelligence' Was Used to Launch FBI's Trump-Russia Probe

Rep. Schiff is, indeed, one of the “worst of a bad lot.” Term limit proponents call our poster boy absolute proof for the necessity to term limit the U.S. Congress before they bring the nation to the point of no return. 

 OK, if Schiff were to have been term-limited out of congress, no doubt he’d still be lying in public on the Democrat media. But he wouldn’t be continuing to vote like this:

    The non-partisan National Taxpayers Union shows how he has voted to grow the national debt and unfunded liabilities that will strap our children and grandchildren and limit their freedom to succeed and prosper. NTU grades Schiff with a failing F and places him in Big Spender category.

   Another reliable rating service, Citizens Against Government Waste, is nonpartisan, nonprofit and dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.  CCAGW rates members on a 0-100 percent scale. It rates at Schiff 5% and the designation Hostile to Taxpayers.

   The Club for Growth rates on votes affecting the economy. It rewards free-market champions and exposes big-government, tax-and-spend politicians. Schiff gets a lifetime score of 8% indicating that he votes 92% of the time to raise taxes, increase harmful regulations, and grow our already massive government.

   As expected, the Conservative Review scores him at a lowly 12% and the liberal Americans for Democratic Action calls Schiff their ADA Hero.

 

Fifteen still in Congress for at least 37 years, so far!

The longest serving members of the U.S. Congress –both Democrats and Republicans—prove by their voting records that the longer they’re in there, the further from the people they drift.  I flinch when I see the reference to “serving” because it implies that they serve the people by honoring the rule of law and keeping their oaths of office. A study of their records shows that, by far, most of them tend to serve themselves, --first, by making getting reelected Job One. Many have become very rich in office. Harry Truman said, “You can’t get rich in politics unless you’re a crook.”

They’re not all bad guys. But most have long since offered innovative ideas or examined long-outdated programs and damn few have tried to limit spending. Hence, our $20 trillion --and growing! -- national debt. This criticism applies to the hundreds who have been in Congress for too many years in addition to these old boys.

National Taxpayers Union (NTU) is the non-partisan Voice of America's Taxpayers. NTU mobilizes elected officials and the general public on behalf of tax relief and reform, lower and less wasteful spending, individual liberty, and free enterprise. It rates individual members of Congress by their voting records. We’ll use their ratings to some extent help understand each of those referenced here.  

  The late Sen. Robert Byrd (D- WV), a former Ku Klux Klan leader, holds the record in the Senate at 57.5 years, he retired in 2010. Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) beat that record –he was At The Trough since 1955! –a total of 59 years!

--Connect to the links indicated by the blue letters for details on the members for whom we have produced posters. –

Those still in Congress with exceptionally long tenure are:

In office for 53 years is Rep. John Conyers NTU: Big Spender (D-MI) currently in the news for sexual harassment.  He’ll not be running again in 2008.

Sen. Thad Cochran NTU:C (R-MS) has been in Congress for 45 years as has Rep. Don Young NTU: B-  (R-AK)

Sen. Patrick Leahy NTU:F Big Spender  (D-VT) and Sen. Chuck Grassley NTU:B (R-IA) are at 43 years and counting.  Grassley doesn’t have the worst overall record, but he has insured his reelections by becoming the “Godfather of the Corn Ethanol Lobby” by pandering to farmers with the costly law mandating the addition of ethanol to gasoline. 

Rep. Ed Markey NTU: D Poor (D-MA) and Sen. Orin Hatch  NTU: C (R-UT) 41 years and still spending like mad. All but one of the career pols mentioned here have contributed more than their share to grow the national debt.

The exception in this 37+-years group that proves the rule is our one  NTU: A  Taxpayers’ Friend, James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-WI)  who has served 39 years, so far. Also, still in there at 39 years and counting is Sen. Richard Shelby NTU: C+ (R-AL). 

Several are still in there after 37 years in Congress:  Of these, all Democrats, are rated “F” by NTU, Big Spenders, all. They are Sen. Ron. Wyden (D-OR), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD). 

 Rep. Harold “Hal” Rogers NTU: B (R-KY), Sen. Pat Roberts  NTU: B  (R-KS), and Rep. Chris Smith NTU: C+ (R-NJ)  are all at about 37 years, so far. 

We’ve highlighted 15 of the top 110 who are still at the trough for more than 36 years as of this date and we’ll feature more of them in future posters. Interestingly, only nine of the entire 110 were defeated in a general election.  Yet, some people wonder why we need term limits.  On average, 95% of incumbents are reelected because of the advantages of incumbency with its name recognition and the massive amounts of money that lobbyists bestow on their “honest politicians.”  BTW, they define their honest pols as those who, once bought, stay bought.  

Most begin their “service” with good intentions and reasonable-sounding promises of spending restraint but the longer they’re in there the more they accede to their political party leadership and their supporting lobbyists’ demands for special interest favors and government spending on their behalf.

For the list of the 110 of those with the longest tenure in Congress, go here. You’ll find more interesting historical data on them.

As you would expect, all the Republicans are more taxpayer-friendly than the Democrats but, except for Sensenbrenner, they, too, have room for improvement. 

Request of my readers:  please send me the names of congress-critters you’d like to see profiled here as a poster child.  You’re welcome to write the piece which I’ll work over with you for publication.  -Thanks, -Geo.

For Sale: Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)

For Sale: Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)

Following is a letter from U.S. Term Limits.



In 1986, 32-year-old lawyer Bob Menendez was elected Mayor of Union City, New Jersey.

In 1988, he was elected to the state legislature.

In 1992, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 2006, he was elected to the U.S. Senate.

Now, after 31 years of raking in dough as a politician, Menendez is on trial for corruption.

Prosecutors allege that Menendez took bribes from Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist, in exchange for special favors. Among the gifts Melgen gave Menendez were all-expense-paid Caribbean vacations via private jet and $700,000 in campaign cash. Menendez became such a frequent traveler on Melgen’s jet that the Doctor began directing his pilots to stock Evian water, the Senator’s beverage of choice.

Of course, Melgen didn’t lavish Menendez with gifts out of the kindness of his heart. He did it to obtain special access and favors that no ordinary person can get. In exchange for bribes, Menendez provided Melgen with:

• influence over immigration so foreign women could visit Melgen in the U.S.
• pressure on the State Department to honor an exclusive contract with a company owned by Melgen
• pressure on Medicare to end a $9 million dispute in which Melgen, the country’s top recipient of Medicare funds, was suspected of overbilling

This is a classic case of a career politician, unsatisfied with his $174,000 annual salary, trying to live the lifestyles of the rich and famous on taxpayer dime.

What’s more remarkable is that Menendez is no isolated case. The senator who held the seat immediately before him, Jon Corzine, was eventually sued by the federal government for running a financial firm that stole nearly $1 billion of its own customers’ assets.

And before Corzine’s scandal, New Jersey Senator Robert Torricelli took bribes including a plasma TV, suits, ties, watches and art statues in exchange for providing favors to his own megadonor.

Remember, these guys all refer to themselves as public servants. But the deeper one digs into Washington’s swamp, the more it becomes clear they are only serving themselves.

According to the Census Bureau, America’s four wealthiest counties are all suburbs of Washington, D.C. While cities like Flint, MI and Johnstown, PA are bleeding jobs, wealth and population, the trough of Washington has grown to its biggest levels yet. Elected officials face more temptation than ever before to put their power up for sale and join the ranks of the elite.

Are you sick and tired of seeing people go to Washington with good intentions but leave in handcuffs?

We must keep up this fight for congressional term limits. By restoring humility to public office, term limits can and will reduce corruption. Join the movement today.

Phil Blumel, President
U.S. Term Limits

44 YEARS IN POLITICS --Never Had a Real Job

---

Our last update in 2012 was to show how Sen. Schumer voted on the Resolution to limit the terms of congress. It is telling that the senators who voted against term limits have been in the Senate the longest and those in there for less than half the time voted for limiting terms. The longer people are in Congress, the more money and power they get, the more they lose touch with the voters who elected them. Of course, Schumer voted AGAINST the reform.

All Democrats but Joe Manchin of WV and 24 RINOs voted AGAINST the reform even though they know full well that a super-majority of their constituents favor limiting the terms of congress.

Charles Ellis Schumer was elected to the New York State Assembly at age 23 in 1974, then was elected to the House of Representatives in 1981 followed by the U.S. Senate from 1998 to date. Again, as our other Poster Children, he never had a real job in the productive economy. He has a law degree from Harvard followed by 44 years in elective office making laws for others to live under. This why we oppose unlimited terms for career politicians –they make decisions we all have to live with yet they have no experience in areas of their lawmaking. No wonder most of their laws end up causing more problems than they solve. No wonder we as a nation have a debt of $20 trillion when our representatives spend with abandon on anything which directly helps certain of their supporters at the expense of taxpayers. Most of our Posters have little concept of money, for like Schumer, they have never earned any and certainly never had to budget as ordinary citizens do. Borrowing from future generations doesn’t bother them –it is all about making certain supporters happy at the expense of current and future taxpayers, thus insuring reelection.

Schumer is a party-line guy all the way –never missing a chance to help expand the size and scope of the federal government at any cost. Citizens Against Government Waste rates congress on their votes for or against taxpayers and Schumer is always near bottom so he is rated "Hostile" to taxpayers. Schumer joined CAGW's Hall of Shame as he was voted 2016 Porker of the Year for leading in the effort to create (supposedly) "debt free" college.    

The National Taxpayers Union puts Schumer, at 5%, in the Big Spender category. Both CAGW and NTU are non-partisan congressional watch dogs. The same is true for The Club for Growth Scorecard a comprehensive examination of each lawmaker’s record on pro-growth policies. Again, Schumer is at the very bottom with 4% lifetime --favors FedGov controls over free markets.

Sen. Schumer was on the Banking and Finance committees. Guess where the bulk of his large contributions come from? His generous earmarks generated enormous contributions.  Even the NY Times reported that he was one of the first to promote a Wall Street bailout and accused Schumer of "backing measures now blamed for the financial crisis.... Schumer took steps to protect (financial) industry players from Government oversight and tougher rules..."  At one meeting, he told a group of 20 or so finance industry execs, “We are going to be effective, moderate advocates for sound economic policies, good responsible stewards you can trust.” The message clearly resonated as executives at firms represented at the breakfast sent in well over $100,000 in campaign donations.

He knows how to raise money using the power of his office. The Times article concluded with this sentence: “He is serving the parochial interest of a very small group of financial people, bankers, investment bankers, fund managers, private equity firms, rather than serving the general public,” said John C. Bogle, the founder and former chairman of the Vanguard Group, the giant mutual fund house. “It has hurt the American investor first and the average American taxpayer.” 

A great site to learn how Schumer voted on all of the issues is OnTheIssues --he voted the party line and in favor of his lobbyist-supporters and for every liberal-left group.

Now, as Minority Leader in the Senate he seems to think his job is to thwart the newly-elected President Trump on every issue.  One of Trump's leading issues is to stop illegal immigration --something Schumer was for in 2015 but in 2017 it brought (fake) tears to his eyes in opposing Trump's Executive order.

His opposition to Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch is "dead wrong" as even CNN admits. Danny Cevallos, CNN Legal Analyst: "Schumer argued that Gorsuch is biased toward the powerful in his rulings. However, Gorsuch is a true judge who makes decisions on the basis of the law and not politics,"

With just this sampling of self-serving use of power accumulated over a lifetime, Sen. Schumer's responsibility for so much of our country's debt and obstruction of markets is indefensible.  In any business run by inexperienced managers with no concept of profit and loss, no cost/benefit considerations and no concern for the future would go bankrupt. Schumer is one of many career pols directly responsible for the financial condition of the country today. See the other Posters and you will be convinced that we desperately need term limits on Congress. Please go to www.termlimits.org and sign on to limit terms of congress.

Angry Maverick

Today, McCain joined Democrats slamming President Trump for pardoning 85 year-old Sheriff Arpaio. I submit that McCain had countless pardons to get where he is today. 

Succeeding Barry Goldwater in the Senate in 1987 was our poster boy John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936).  Before that, McCain had already spent a couple of terms in the House of Representatives, putting his Congressional tenure at 34 years. His current term ends in 2023. Before that he spent 23 years in the U.S. Navy following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, both of whom were admirals.  

His life was far from exemplary with much drinking, carousing and womanizing. He was at the bottom of his class at the naval academy.  A couple months before his plane was shot down in Vietnam and his subsequent capture and imprisonment, his naval experience included a series of accidents including a serious one that killed many sailors aboard the USS Forrestal in 1967. Some blamed McCain’s cocky maneuver of doing a “wet start” of his plane but some believe that because of McCain’s admiral father, the incident was buried. (A pardon?)

Here’s his bio in a TV documentary:  https://www.biography.com/people/john-mccain-9542249  Some of the following text adapted from that bio.       

The purpose here is to reflect on his political career as an example of the need for term limits on Congress.

McCain's introduction to politics came in 1976, when he was assigned as the Navy's liaison to the U.S. Senate. In 1981, after marrying his second wife, McCain retired from the Navy and moved to Phoenix, AZ. While working for his father-in-law's beer distribution business, he began establishing political connections.

He was first elected to political office on November 2, 1982, easily winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives based on his being a POW.  McCain was a loyal supporter of the Reagan administration and found his place among conservative politicians.

After the retirement of Goldwater in 1986, McCain won election to the U.S. Senate. From 1987 to 1989, he underwent a federal investigation as a member of the "Keating Five," a group of senators who were accused of improperly intervening with federal regulators on behalf of Charles H. Keating, Jr., a bank chairman whose Lincoln Savings & Loan Association eventually became one of the biggest S&L disasters of the late 1980s. He was cleared of charges, although investigators found that he had exercised "poor judgment" by meeting with the regulators.

He weathered the scandal and easily won re-election to the Senate five more times. His reputation as a "maverick politician" with a quick temper only increased, as his views became more liberal.

In 1999, he unsuccessfully ran against Gov. George W. Bush for the Republican presidential nomination and then partially supported President Bush while often differing on issues including torture, pork barrel spending, illegal immigration, a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and global warming. He also defended the Vietnam War record of Bush's opponent, Sen. John Kerry, which Kerry lied about during the campaign. Why? McCain as POW in Viet Nam.

He ran again in 2008 when he and his running mate, Sarah Palin, were defeated by Barack Obama. At the Republican National Convention in 2012, McCain showed his support for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.

During the historic 2016 race he got into a dust-up with Donald Trump, one of his opponents for the nomination. In response to McCain's criticism that Trump "fired up the crazies" in the Republican party, Trump mocked McCain's military service on the campaign trail.  “He was a war hero because he was captured," Trump said. "I like people who weren’t captured.”  Some think that McCain could not get over that insult and it may have influenced his vote on Obamacare repeal. 

July 14, 2017, as McCain underwent a procedure to remove a blood clot from above his left eye doctors found a brain tumor (Glioblastoma). After a short recovery period and consulting with his doctors, he decided to return to the Senate for the crucial vote to repeal Obamacare.

Like most of his Republican colleagues, McCain promised to repeal Obamacare, yet he was one of seven Republican Senators who voted against a full repeal and when the final effort came to vote on the so-called “skinny repeal” three senators voted against even that. Nominal Republicans Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) weren’t a big surprise but McCain, who had just run in 2016 again solemnly promising constituents he would vote to repeal, shocked all when he dramatically stood up and turned his thumb down.

Ted Cruz called that vote a betrayal of the millions suffering under Obamacare. His vote was, indeed, the ultimate betrayal of his constituents, the country and his president.  He lied. Was it to hurt the president he never forgave for the POW insult?

The longer McCain was in the Senate the further he got from his conservative beginnings where Goldwater left off. In recent years the conservative scorecard Heritage Action shows only 49% for spending, regulating and even for drafting women –see recent bills he voted for/against here. 

Other ratings show the decline from core American values over time: The Club for Growth current rating 71% compared with 83% lifetime; National taxpayers Union gives him a B after many As since 1993; Citizens Against Government Waste still rates McCain highly.

So, not the worst Republican Senator over time on economic issues but all is overshadowed by his disastrous vote to save Obamacare – a vote that guarantees further chaos in the 15% of the economy that is health care.  Not to mention its negative ripple effect throughout the entire economy.  And it was a vote to cripple the Trump administration on many levels. 

Had he been replaced by a term limit on congress, his early exemplary record of protecting taxpayers would have been his legacy. And our country would be back on its way to a freer medical system.