More than Kavanaugh, this is for November

The Democrats insist that the confirmation proceedings surrounding Brett Kavanaugh are not a trial. They could not be more wrong. But it’s not a trial of Brett Kavanaugh. This is the trial of the Republican Party writ large. That’s why I went against the grain of many of those on my side of this issue to call for an FBI investigation even before Sen. Jeff Flake did. This is seen as capitulation by many. In actuality it’s a necessary step toward justice.

By noon on the day of the infamous dueling testimony of Dr. Christine Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh it was clear Kavanaugh’s nomination had taken a torpedo under the water line. To simply ignore Dr. Ford’s testimony or hope its impact would subside was folly. Her testimony was compelling. That’s not to say that the events as she described them were believable, but she, herself, was. How can that be? How can someone be lying and simultaneously believable? There are multiple explanations.

Some believe that something traumatic happened to Dr. Ford. Could it be something really did happen? If so, how could she so vividly remember the details of the layout of the inside of the house yet have no idea where the house was? I haven’t given up on the theory of false memory syndrome. We may never know. The inconsistencies of her testimony, however, did not erase the doubt about Brett Kavanaugh in many people’s minds.

Kavanaugh’s testimony was equally compelling. The left attacked him for being so forceful, but if you had been accused of the atrocious crimes he was accused of you would lash out too. Kavanaugh’s testimony may have tilted public opinion back toward him, but it did not undo the damage that had been done that morning by Dr. Ford’s testimony. So why is public opinion so important? Because this is not just about another seat on the Supreme Court. This is about November. And that’s why Republicans should not only have welcomed an FBI investigation, they should have insisted on one.

You lawyers know testimonial damage when you see it. Kavanaugh took a direct hit, and thus so did the Republican Party. When such damage is done you don’t simply clean up the debris and move on, you have to repair the damage.

What will an FBI investigation accomplish? If you’re a Republican you hope it accomplishes two things. First, it must corroborate what the Senate Judiciary Committee already uncovered. That being that Dr. Ford has one memory of the night in question, the witnesses she identified have an entirely different account. In other words, it’s not he said/she said, it’s she said/they said. The second thing the Republicans hope to accomplish is to get the FBI’s seal of approval stamped on the facts as we know them. Peter Strzok notwithstanding, the majority of Americans still have a tremendous amount of faith in the FBI.

The Democrats already are learning this can blow up in their faces. A recent poll in Missouri shows half the voters are now less likely to re-elect Democrat Claire McCaskill because of her opposition to Judge Kavanaugh. Her GOP opponent has slipped ahead by two points. In Tennessee, senate candidate Phil Bredesen is afraid to take a side. This is not quite going as the Democrats had envisioned.

If Republicans allow Lindsey Graham to make a point-by-point presentation of the FBI’s findings to the Senate just prior to the vote then this thing’s over. If several Democrats end up voting in favor of Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation then so, perhaps, is November.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

The nasty side of Barack Obama

This is unprecedented.  Since the 1970s the government has shut down something like 17 times but I’ve never known a president to close the ocean.  That’s exactly what President Obama did in a vindictive move to make the partial government shutdown hurt.  Over 1,100 square miles of the Florida Bay was placed off-limits to fishermen and the Coast Guard was sent to enforce the closure.  Just how much it cost to utilize national resources in this way is anybody’s guess.  One thing we do know.  It doesn’t cost a dime to leave the ocean – and the people who fish in it – alone.

But that’s not something that comes natural to a meddling liberal like Obama.  As you’ll recall, he also closed open-air monuments in Washington, DC that required no park supervision.  Again, it cost much more to close them than to leave them open.  Obama even had the park service close off scenic overlooks so tourists couldn’t stop and gaze at Mt. Rushmore.  Yeah, he closed overlooks; carved out slithers of asphalt that cost nothing to keep open.

Then there was the case of the elderly couple living on Lake Mead in Nevada.  The couple was thrown out of their home because even though they own the home itself they lease the property from the federal

government.  Chances are they’ve never seen anyone from the government on their property until now.  They were given just 24 hours to vacate.  What possible excuse could Obama have for that other than trying to inflict pain and blame it on the Republicans?

Apparently, that’s exactly what he’s doing.  While he was kicking people off the ocean and out of their homes he set up a website for people to share their shutdown heartaches.  He was compiling them and sharing them on the Internet.

This is probably the most childish thing I’ve ever seen any politician do and I’ve seen politicians do some childish things.  But it’s worse than just childish.  It’s downright mean-spirited and vicious.

Oh, and he allowed furloughed federal workers just 15 minutes to check their e-mail so they could read that he was working with Congress to solve the impasse.  What does it cost to let furloughed federal workers check their e-mail as often as they please?  Nothing!

If this is any indication of the debt ceiling negotiations we’re in for a rough ride.  Not raising the debt ceiling is being portrayed by Obama and the Democrats as economic Armageddon.  Of course, these are the same folks who cried wolf over the sequester and the government shutdown.  Starting to look like they lie a lot.

The fact of the matter is we have plenty of money to make the debt payment.  About 7 cents of every dollar goes to service the debt.  Money is continuously flowing into the treasury and we have plenty to pay our bills.  What not raising the debt ceiling means is we can’t go into more debt, which is a good thing.

We’re looking at about a $700 billion deficit this year.  Our national debt is around $17 trillion.  The American people have had enough.  In a recent Fox News poll 58 percent of the people were against raising the debt ceiling while only 37 percent were in favor of it.  To show you which party is the party of big spending, 78 percent of Republicans are against raising the debt ceiling while 57 percent of Democrats are in favor of it.

That’s exactly where the problem is.  Not only can we no longer afford more debt it appears we can no longer afford more Democrats.   

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

Republicans just don't seem to learn

It’s amazing just how little the Republican hierarchy has learned from the last presidential election.  RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and a group of project co-chairs completed what they called the “most comprehensive post-election review” ever.  The “election autopsy” made it crystal clear exactly why the Republicans lost and it had very little to do with their findings.

The group determined that they needed to reach out to minorities, gays and women.  That’s code for pandering.  They determined that the party would back “comprehensive immigration reform.”  That’s code for amnesty.  In other words, Reince Priebus and the people he’s surrounded himself with are convinced that in order to win presidential elections you have to become Democrat Light.

Priebus and the other RINOs who now seem to be controlling the party are utterly clueless as to what happened to them in the last two presidential cycles.  First of all, it cannot be ignored that 2008 was an anomaly as far as elections go.  The Democrats nominated a charismatic man who was in position to become the first black president of the United States.  This catharsis was long overdue in many people’s minds and substance was the least of their worries.  They wanted to purge the country of the sins of racism and Obama’s message of hope and change seemed the logical way to do that.

The Republicans fielded an honorable but weak candidate who had no chance of stopping history.  Not to mention that the economy was disintegrating before our eyes and the incumbent party almost always gets blamed whether it’s justified or not.

The defeat in 2008 was understandable and predictable but 2012 was another matter altogether.  Despite what the polls were showing, many people – me included – thought there was no way we would re-elect a disaster of a president.  We underestimated the vacuousness of the American electorate but the Republicans are to blame for not giving the people a clear choice.  The proper rebuttal to the policies of the prior four years should have been someone who understood and could articulate basic conservative principles.

The lesson learned should have been that you don’t try to beat the Democrats at their own game.  But that’s exactly what Reince Priebus and his minions at the RNC intend to do.  They plan to “assume the room” at every campaign stop, tailoring their message to whomever they happen to be addressing.  This is exactly what the Democrats do.  It leads to victory, you may argue.  Indeed it does but it also lends itself to lousy leadership.  When you’ve promised everything to everybody you spend your entire time – and the taxpayers’ money – trying to fulfill those promises.

The blueprint for another Republican presidential victory was laid out recently during the Rand Paul senate filibuster.  Senator Paul articulated for 13 hours what was wrong with America and, more importantly, what was right.  He redirected our attention to the founding fathers and their vision of what makes a great nation.  At the core is liberty.  One cannot enjoy liberty and a smothering nanny state simultaneously.  To paraphrase Ben Franklin, those who trade liberty for security deserve neither.  This country was built on rugged individualism, not collectivism.  What made this country great were the entrepreneurs and risk-takers and dreamers.  We still celebrate the greatness of achievement and America still offers achievement’s best hope.

That’s the message the Republicans should be advancing and if gays, minorities and anyone else answers that call then they should be welcomed but you don’t change the message to pander to the masses.

The Republicans’ instructions for elections seem to be lose, Reince, repeat.