The estimable Anne Applebaum, scholar, author and journalist, had the perfect social media post after the US House of Representatives passed a massive foreign aid package over the objections of fascists, who want America to side with Russia, Hamas, China and a bevy of other enemies of freedom.
Give credit where credit is due. I read a piece that Johnson was invited to the Oval Office by President Biden, where he received an intelligence briefing by the CIA Director on the dire military situation facing Ukraine and also the barbaric terror being inflicted on ordinary Ukrainians by Russia. It opened his eyes.
We must remain vigilant because none of what happened changes anything with the Putin Wing of the Republican Party.
MJ may have finally seen the light (6 months late) but Hakeem Jeffries behind the scenes totally facilitated the passage of this legislation. Without his support, consensus building and leadership, MJ and aid to Ukraine both would have been toast. Credit where credit is due.
Ok. He did the right thing, thank you. So did Pence. They did their jobs. I don’t trust either one of them. I admit I am a skeptic. We shall see over the next weeks and months.
Should the Democrats save him if MTG tries to remove him? I believe yes. Not because I think he is worthy necessarily, but MTG & her crew need to be shut down.
Yes, he did. It was a great surprise to me, I thought his background would surely cause him to go down with the ship, but he didn't. Now, we have Green to worry about. Some day, hopefully soon, her district will come to their senses and vote her out in favor of someone who will really do the work to get something done.
It may be simpler than that. If I remember my American history correctly, after the Communists took over continental China, there was a constant refrain from U?.S. Republicans: "Truman lost China". Whatever else we think about Mike Johnson, he realizes the last thing the GOP needs, especially in an election year, are Democratic campaign commercials saying "the Republicans lost the Ukraine and "bent the knee" to Vladimir Putin".
Bravo to Mike Johnson! I love it when facts and evidence make a difference.
A few passages from the NYT:
I really do believe the intel,” Mr. Johnson said. “I think that Vladimir Putin would continue to march through Europe if he were allowed. I think he might go to the Baltics next. I think he might have a showdown with Poland or one of our NATO allies.”
Mr. McCaul, who repeatedly huddled with Mr. Johnson and the chairmen of the other congressional national security committees in a secure room of the Capitol where lawmakers can review classified material, described Mr. Johnson’s journey as “transformational.”
“All of a sudden, he’s realizing that the world depends on this,” Mr. McCaul said. “This is not some little political game on the floor.”
Agreed! Johnson defied the “Peter Principle”; he had risen above the level of his incompetence, yet defied all expectations to actually do the job. In other words, we are all pleasantly surprised.
And also the reason democrats will come to his rescue when the “tin-foil” hat caucus comes for him.
Why we wouldn’t do the same for McCarthy? Because McCarthy was a duplicitous scoundrel who neither his party, nor democrats believed in; at all….:)
Yes, but it seems more of an accident or miscalculation by the MAGA right that installed him than anything else. I am reminded of Justices Brennan, Warren and Souter who when they were nominated were also thought to be hacks for the clubhouse politicians who selected them. They turned into monumental principled justices. But for everyone of them there’s a Thomas, Alito ready to fulfill the bidding of their patrons.
We set the bar so low that we are "wowed" by Mike J doing what should have been done six months ago. The damage Ukraine suffered in these past six months cannot be overstated. I guess "better late than never" is appropriate.
Hopefully we will not see a fawning piece by George Will about Mike Johnson.
This has not been a good thing. Will praised Nikki Haley as Presidential material, who a week later was afraid to use the word slavery for fear of angering the MAGAs. Will also praised Tim Scott as Presidential material, who a week later got up on TV and told Trump “I love you.”
Jake broe on utube said it was trump who caved and gave the ok for Johnson to push the aid package. T rump was tired of being asked why he didn’t support the aid package for Ukraine so let’s not applaud Johnson for his courage he’s still trumps puppet. The new plan is for Johnson to withhold certification of votes in some swing states after Biden wins to throw the election into the house where it’s 26 agenda republicans bs 23 democrats so trump would be appointed president. I see the only way to stop this is to pressure the republicans who are not running for reelection to resign before term is over and switch to a democratic house. Get the story out to forestall their
I read somewhere that some official Baptist group asked Johnson to help Ukraine and pointed out to him that Russians were targeting evangelical churches in Ukraine. That may have also played a role. Whatever the reasons, he gracefully rose to the occasion in the end, and we are so grateful he did.
Sorry Steve, but if you give this election-denying, hard-core fundamentalist Christian Mike Johnson a chance, he'll gladly burn down Democracy worshipping at the right hand of his Orange unholy Father.
How soon we forget what a dangerous, deslusional, deeply Trump-supporting, wannabe-demagogue Mike Johnson really is. Only four months ago he said this:
"And the Lord began to wake me up through this three-week process we were in, in the middle of the night, and to speak to me. And [I began] to write things down, plans and procedures and ideas on how we could pull the conference together. I assumed the Lord was going to choose a new Moses. And “Oh, thank you, Lord: You’re going to allow me to be Aaron to Moses.”
Gee...If Johnson is Aaron, I wonder who Moses might be in that equation.
So let's quit congratulating and lifting up people for doing the obviously right thing and continue seeing these "annointed ones" for who they really are.
Anne Applebaum’s lofty post at the same time can be seen as a backhanded compliment, it took six months and who knows how many deaths and other losses to pass this aid package..
What is laudable is doing the right thing out of the gate..
Give credit where credit is due. I read a piece that Johnson was invited to the Oval Office by President Biden, where he received an intelligence briefing by the CIA Director on the dire military situation facing Ukraine and also the barbaric terror being inflicted on ordinary Ukrainians by Russia. It opened his eyes.
We must remain vigilant because none of what happened changes anything with the Putin Wing of the Republican Party.
MJ may have finally seen the light (6 months late) but Hakeem Jeffries behind the scenes totally facilitated the passage of this legislation. Without his support, consensus building and leadership, MJ and aid to Ukraine both would have been toast. Credit where credit is due.
Ok. He did the right thing, thank you. So did Pence. They did their jobs. I don’t trust either one of them. I admit I am a skeptic. We shall see over the next weeks and months.
Should the Democrats save him if MTG tries to remove him? I believe yes. Not because I think he is worthy necessarily, but MTG & her crew need to be shut down.
Should all be interesting.
Yes, he did. It was a great surprise to me, I thought his background would surely cause him to go down with the ship, but he didn't. Now, we have Green to worry about. Some day, hopefully soon, her district will come to their senses and vote her out in favor of someone who will really do the work to get something done.
It may be simpler than that. If I remember my American history correctly, after the Communists took over continental China, there was a constant refrain from U?.S. Republicans: "Truman lost China". Whatever else we think about Mike Johnson, he realizes the last thing the GOP needs, especially in an election year, are Democratic campaign commercials saying "the Republicans lost the Ukraine and "bent the knee" to Vladimir Putin".
Bravo to Mike Johnson! I love it when facts and evidence make a difference.
A few passages from the NYT:
I really do believe the intel,” Mr. Johnson said. “I think that Vladimir Putin would continue to march through Europe if he were allowed. I think he might go to the Baltics next. I think he might have a showdown with Poland or one of our NATO allies.”
Mr. McCaul, who repeatedly huddled with Mr. Johnson and the chairmen of the other congressional national security committees in a secure room of the Capitol where lawmakers can review classified material, described Mr. Johnson’s journey as “transformational.”
“All of a sudden, he’s realizing that the world depends on this,” Mr. McCaul said. “This is not some little political game on the floor.”
Mike waited too long to do what was obvious. No courage. Praise to brave Ukrainian soldiers and prayers for those who died waiting for Mike. Shame.
Agreed! Johnson defied the “Peter Principle”; he had risen above the level of his incompetence, yet defied all expectations to actually do the job. In other words, we are all pleasantly surprised.
And also the reason democrats will come to his rescue when the “tin-foil” hat caucus comes for him.
Why we wouldn’t do the same for McCarthy? Because McCarthy was a duplicitous scoundrel who neither his party, nor democrats believed in; at all….:)
Yes, but it seems more of an accident or miscalculation by the MAGA right that installed him than anything else. I am reminded of Justices Brennan, Warren and Souter who when they were nominated were also thought to be hacks for the clubhouse politicians who selected them. They turned into monumental principled justices. But for everyone of them there’s a Thomas, Alito ready to fulfill the bidding of their patrons.
We set the bar so low that we are "wowed" by Mike J doing what should have been done six months ago. The damage Ukraine suffered in these past six months cannot be overstated. I guess "better late than never" is appropriate.
Hopefully we will not see a fawning piece by George Will about Mike Johnson.
This has not been a good thing. Will praised Nikki Haley as Presidential material, who a week later was afraid to use the word slavery for fear of angering the MAGAs. Will also praised Tim Scott as Presidential material, who a week later got up on TV and told Trump “I love you.”
Such are the kisses from George F. Will.
We all should remember . . .sometimes people surprise you! Hoping for better decisions in our near and far future.
Jake broe on utube said it was trump who caved and gave the ok for Johnson to push the aid package. T rump was tired of being asked why he didn’t support the aid package for Ukraine so let’s not applaud Johnson for his courage he’s still trumps puppet. The new plan is for Johnson to withhold certification of votes in some swing states after Biden wins to throw the election into the house where it’s 26 agenda republicans bs 23 democrats so trump would be appointed president. I see the only way to stop this is to pressure the republicans who are not running for reelection to resign before term is over and switch to a democratic house. Get the story out to forestall their
I read somewhere that some official Baptist group asked Johnson to help Ukraine and pointed out to him that Russians were targeting evangelical churches in Ukraine. That may have also played a role. Whatever the reasons, he gracefully rose to the occasion in the end, and we are so grateful he did.
Sorry Steve, but if you give this election-denying, hard-core fundamentalist Christian Mike Johnson a chance, he'll gladly burn down Democracy worshipping at the right hand of his Orange unholy Father.
How soon we forget what a dangerous, deslusional, deeply Trump-supporting, wannabe-demagogue Mike Johnson really is. Only four months ago he said this:
"And the Lord began to wake me up through this three-week process we were in, in the middle of the night, and to speak to me. And [I began] to write things down, plans and procedures and ideas on how we could pull the conference together. I assumed the Lord was going to choose a new Moses. And “Oh, thank you, Lord: You’re going to allow me to be Aaron to Moses.”
Gee...If Johnson is Aaron, I wonder who Moses might be in that equation.
So let's quit congratulating and lifting up people for doing the obviously right thing and continue seeing these "annointed ones" for who they really are.
Anne Applebaum’s lofty post at the same time can be seen as a backhanded compliment, it took six months and who knows how many deaths and other losses to pass this aid package..
What is laudable is doing the right thing out of the gate..