Commentary

It has been said that politics makes for strange bedfellows, but except for last month’s tribute to the late Sen. Bob Dole, we haven’t seen much collegiality in Washington.

The one-year anniversary of the January 6, 2021 breaching of the Capitol could have been a unifying event, but Pelosi & Company had other ideas, stemming from her formation of select committee to investigate the protest, and designed to paint Republicans as white supremacists out to dismantle our democracy going into the midterms.

“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” – Rahm Emanuel

Don’t be fooled by the Speaker’s selection of RINO Liz Cheney to serve on the committee. Remember how she rejected the membership of Representative’s Jim Jordan and Jim Banks, both supporters of former President Trump.

And that greeting of former Vice President Dick Cheney by the Speaker was just part of the morning’s theatrics.  No Republicans were present for the commemoration, nor the over-the-top candlelight vigil that night.

One by one, two-faced Democrats who used to refer to Dick Cheney as “Bush’s brain,” lined up to thank him for his presence, which was basically to support his errant daughter.

I’m reminded of the manner in which senators refer to “my good friend from…” when speaking of a colleague on the floor of the Senate.  It isn’t really sincere. They just want the Senate to be viewed as a civilized group.  Seriously, was Harry Reid anyone’s “good friend?”

Pelosi held a moment of silence for “fallen heroes” of January 6, including those who died of natural causes and suicide after the event.  Included was Bill Evans, who was killed, not by a Trump supporter, but by a black nationalist and Nation of Islam supporter who rammed a Capitol barricade.  Of course, the shooting of Ashli Babbitt was not mentioned. That would have had meaning, the proper thing to do.

No strange bedfellows there or on the horizon.  Strange bedfellows come together in a common purpose.

Meanwhile, from flyover country, Jenna Stocker, the managing editor of Thinking Minnesota, comments that while “The powerful hold probing investigations and organize hearings, the powerless sit with their unanswered prayers at loved ones’ funerals and watch their businesses get boarded up again.

“The real threat to democracy is an elite class who has shown us they value their pain, their inconvenience, and their lives more than ours.  How can they ask us to care about one riotous day last January when every day in cities across America, the lives of the most vulnerable are in danger, their livelihoods threatened?”

Heather Mac Donald, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, gets it. “For the sheer destructive force, (the Capitol riot) pales in comparison with the street anarchy that began in May 2020 and continued relentlessly in the form of shootings, savage beatings and robberies, carjackings, and looting.

“Physical damage at the Capitol was minimal, especially compared with the infernos that burned businesses (and police precincts) to the ground and destroyed thousands of livelihoods.  Members of Congress were in no real danger; Mike Pence was not going to be lynched.”

Finally … The significance of the January 6, 2021 riot should neither be dismissed nor exaggerated. 

While Democrats and the media continue to wallow in hyperbole over the event, with their fictionalized claim that it was choreographed by white supremacists, Republicans must stand strong in the face of eleven months of leftist playbook tactics.

A side note …

By now you have no doubt heard leftist pundits gush over President Biden’s speech. “Best of his presidency” … and more.  I gave you my thoughts in my last blog.

Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, who knows what makes a good speech, having written a few for President Reagan, was not impressed.

I nearly missed reading Noonan’s remarks as the headline on her column  indicated it was about Covid-19.  And, too, regular readers of my blog know I have grown tired of her East Coast elitist opinions.

But she had a hand in Reagan’s powerful speech given at the 40th anniversary of D-Day at Pointe du Hoc … “These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc.  These are the men who took the cliffs.  These are the heroes,” he said, as 60 of the “boys,” now men, sat before him.  She’s a wordsmith.

Critical of Biden’s speech, she said, “Wisdom, and a kind of high modesty that doesn’t seek to win the moment, was what was needed,” while noting we heard instead “a great public damning, asserted in the most heightened language.”

“There was too much wanting to win the moment in politics,” she said, “It never adds up and doesn’t help you win the war,” suggesting that “A little sweetness can elicit a lot of guilt,” which she feels Republicans must acknowledge.

Her criticism of Biden’s speech, and last month’s column suggesting that Kamala Harris “needs to get serious,” comes at a time when the pair need media friends. Although Noonan didn’t mention her support of Biden back in 2020, when the choice was between Biden and Trump, clearly, she was in Biden’s camp.

Now, more than ever … may God continue to bless the United States of America.