Here are my observations and opinions on selected news of the day.
SENATORS STUCK ON STUPID – While watching Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday, I was dumbfounded by the foolish and downright stupid questions asked of him.
I was reminded of Retired Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honore’s retort to a reporter who inquired into the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina … “don’t get stuck on stupid.”
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) snarkily said, “I’m afraid the Trump administration is being taken for a ride,” referring to the lack of movement on the part of North Korea’s Kim Jung Un, as if the denuclearization should now be visible and verifiable by now.
Pompeo raised the ire of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) when he told the Senator, “I understand the game you’re playing.” Through a series of questions, the Senator attempted to pressure Pompeo into discussing what was discussed in the private session between President Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Menendez asked Pompeo if he had spoken to the interpreter and stated that he wants the president’s interpreter to testify as to what was said during the private session, an unprecedented request that will not be honored.
Pompeo courteously didn’t respond to Menendez’s declaration that the committee must know what’s going on with Russia because “we are responsible for making policy.” No, Senator, the president makes policy in coordination with his cabinet.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CN) read Pompeo the riot act on Russian meddling during the 2016 election and accused the president of doing nothing to stop similar activities in 2018 and 2020, but when Pompeo began his list of steps being taken, he was cut off.
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), chairman, embarrassingly opened the meeting by assailing President Trump for failure to disclose agreements reached with Putin, undermining NATO and doling out aid to U.S. farmers.
“You come before a group of Senators today who are filled with serious doubts about this White House and its conduct of American foreign policy,” Corker addressed Pompeo at the opening of the hearing, suggesting that “the White House is waking up every morning making it up as they go.”
How’s that for support from your own party? Thank goodness, Corker is on his way out.
A HISTORY LESSON for those Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:
“What I’m not interested in doing is posing or pursuing some notion of ‘American leadership’ or ‘American winning.’” – President Obama in Turkey, 11/28/15
KARL ROVE, who is perhaps one of the most knowledgeable political experts in the country, with his finger on every district, calls Larry Sabato’s 50-50 chance that the Dems will gain the majority in the House sobering. My disbelief stated here on July 24, 2018, brought an e-mail from a friend who said that he doesn’t have my confidence.
“TRUMP’S DEAL WITH THE EU is Democrat Nightmare,” read the headline over Roger L. Simon’s piece in PJ Media. With the anti-Trump boo birds of the media predicting doom and gloom over the president’s tariff threats, somebody needs to remind Acosta, Mathews and Tapper that the economy will continue to impress voters.
CHARLES PAYNE of the Fox Business Network predicted that the GDP would reach 5 percent Friday, but added that he plans to take credit even if it just hits 4.9 percent.
THE MEDIA IS FRETTING over the action the White House took this week against CNN reporter Katlan Collins, who repeatedly shouted out a question (three times) after the media was asked to leave the Oval Office. She was not permitted to attend the follow-on Rose Garden press conference. As a member of the media pool, she was brought in for remarks made during his meeting with EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
For some time, I have thought that the media pool should be instructed to limit their questions to the subject of the meeting. In addition, they should be cautioned that shouting out questions in the Oval Office is not respectful and will no longer be tolerated.
May God bless the United States of America.
