Republican 2018 campaign ads to focus heavily on Hillary Clinton. I'm sorry, what?

And get this, they are STILL running against me.

Courtesy of the AP:

Almost 18 months have passed since Hillary Clinton lost the presidency. She holds no position of power in government. And she is not expected to run for office again. 

Yet Clinton is starring in the Republican Party’s 2018 midterm strategy. 

With control of Congress up for grabs this fall, the GOP’s most powerful players are preparing to spend big on plans to feature Clinton as a central villain in attack ads against vulnerable Democrats nationwide. The strategy, which already has popped up in races in Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Dakota, illustrates the resilience and political potency of Republican voters’ antipathy for Clinton. As difficult as it’s been for Democrats to move past the Clinton era, it may be even harder for Republicans. 

“STOP HILLARY. STOP PELOSI. STOP LAMB,” read pamphlets circulated during the special election in Pennsylvania earlier this year. 

That’s just a taste of what’s to come as the November elections grow closer, say those who control the GOP’s strategy in the first midterm elections of Donald Trump’s presidency. 

“I promise you that you’ll continue to see it — Hillary Clinton starring in our paid media. She’s a very powerful motivator,” said Corry Bliss, who leads the Congressional Leadership Fund, a Republican super political action committee ready to spend tens of millions of dollars to shape House races this fall. “It’s about what she represents. What she represents, just like what Nancy Pelosi represents, is out-of-touch far-left liberal positions.”

Don't you just love the smell of desperation in the morning?

I mean come on!

The GOP are still leaning on the vilification of Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi to drive their voters to the polls?

And keep in mind that the reason is not because they are incompetent or a danger to the country, the reason is because they were TOO DAMN GOOD AT THEIR JOBS!

That is what terrifies conservative voters, competent Democratic leadership. 

And to prevent that they were even willing to send a twice divorced, habitually lying, reality show TV clown to the White House.

Well my advice to these desperate morons is to go for it.

You campaign against liberal competence, because I am sure you can guess what WE will be campaigning against.

That's right. Now let's see whose voters are more motivated to show up at the polls.

As the midterms approach Republicans retreat from all things Obamacare.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Republicans are retreating from calls to repeal ObamaCare ahead of this year’s midterm elections. 

Less than a year after the GOP gave up on its legislative effort to repeal the law, Democrats are going on offense on this issue, attacking Republicans for their votes as they hope to retake the House majority.

ObamaCare’s favorability in polls has improved since the repeal push last year, with more now favoring the law than not. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll in March found that 50 percent of the public favors the law, while 43 percent holds an unfavorable view. 

GOP strategist Ford O’Connell said the political winds have shifted on the issue, turning ObamaCare into a subject Democrats want to tout and many Republicans want to duck. 

“I don’t think it’s seen as a winning issue,” he said. “It’s also an issue that tends to fire up the Democratic base more so than the Republican base.”

I KNEW this was going to happen eventually.

Now the Democrats can run on improving Obamacare so that it better serves their constituents, while the Republicans have to pretend that they never even heard of the Affordable Care Act.

Sadly for the GOP their past votes are just the kind of ammunition that can be used to blow their campaigns out of the water.

I think this, plus the changing debate on guns, added to the GOP's ties to Donald Trump, signal HUGE victories for the Democrats moving forward.

Donald Trump does not need your stinking White House Correspondent's Dinner, he will be holding a poorly attended Right Wing rally instead. So there!

Aw, the ignorant, the racist, the frighteningly pale, or as I call them, my base.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

US President Donald Trump will lead a political rally during this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, his campaign team has announced, opting to hold the event in the small town of Washington, Michigan. 

It is the second consecutive year Trump will be snubbing the annual dinner, amid his sustained attacks on much of the news media, and also the second time he has chosen instead to rally in a key battleground state he won in his 2016 election after speaking last year in Pennsylvania. 

His campaign chief operating officer Michael Glassner made it clear that choosing Washington, a town of some 25,000 people on the outskirts of auto manufacturing hub Detroit, was no coincidence. 

“While the fake news media will be celebrating themselves with the denizens of Washington society in the swamp that evening, President Trump will be in a completely different Washington, celebrating our national economic revival with patriotic Americans,” he said in a statement released to the media. 

Aww, does little Donnie not want to get his fee fees hurt by a girl in front of millions of Americans?

It should be noted that presidents have been attending this thing since way back in the 1940's even though they knew they would be the butt of many of the jokes.

Ronald Reagan only missed one because he had been shot the month before.

But Trump is such a fucking baby that he cannot stand to have anybody make fun of him, as we saw for ourselves during the 2011 WHCD.

I think this year Trump is especially worried about being made fun of by a girl.

Which is truly pathetic especially after Michelle Wolf double dog dared him to show up.

Michelle Wolf dare @realDonaldTrump to attend the White House Correspondents' Dinner.https://t.co/pV9WTRIbzz

— Gryphen 2009 (@Gryphen2009) April 17, 2018

Only a true pantywaist would turn tail and run from that.

This almost got lost in all of the recent news lately, but yet another Republican is jumping ship.

After discussions with my family & careful reflection, I have decided to leave Congress in the coming weeks. Serving the people of #PA15 has been a tremendous responsibility & the privilege of a lifetime. pic.twitter.com/p8mik6s8ix

— Rep. Charlie Dent (@RepCharlieDent) April 17, 2018

Charlie Dent was actually one of the least odious Republicans, I think they called him a moderate or something like that.

Which I think in conservative circles means he was not one who masturbated with his gun while staring at a picture of Ronald Reagan. 

However he was a Republican so he has gotta go.

And now there is one more opportunity for Dems to pick up yet another House seat.

Looking good for 2018 my friends. 

A former GOP donor is using his tax cut money to fund Democrats.

Seth Klarman

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

A major GOP donor is jumping ship and now he’s contributing to Democratic candidates in hopes of flipping the House of Representatives and/or the Senate in this year’s midterm elections. 

Seth Klarman, the billionaire CEO of the Baupost Group who the Economist once dubbed “The Oracle of Boston,” called out Republicans for failing to keep President Donald Trump in check. 

“The Republicans in Congress have failed to hold the president accountable and have abandoned their historic beliefs and values,” Klarman told the Boston Globe. “For the good of the country, the Democrats must take back one or both houses of Congress.” 

Klarman, an independent who donated more than $7 million to GOP candidates during the presidency of Barack Obama, has now cut checks to Democrats in 56 House races and 22 Senate elections, the newspaper reported. 

“I received a tax cut I neither need nor want. I’m choosing to invest it to fight the administration’s flawed policies and to elect Democrats to the Senate and House of Representatives,” Klarman said. 

Klarman also donated $2 million to nonprofits backing core Democratic issues, including gun control and the environment, the Globe reported.

Boy Donald Trump really IS good at fundraising.

Just look how much he is raising for the Democrats.

When people talk about Donald Trump's legacy, I am hoping that his number one achievement will be the total destruction of the Republican party as we know it today.

Devin Nunes' challengers are using his obstruction of Russian investigations against him in their campaigns.

Courtesy of USA Today:  

Rep. Devin Nunes' handling of the Russia investigation as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee has become a major campaign issue as he seeks a ninth term in Congress. 

Both the California Republican and his Democratic challenger, Fresno County Deputy District Attorney Andrew Janz, are using Nunes' high-profile role in the bitterly partisan Russia inquiry to appeal for campaign cash throughout the nation.

 Janz said he has raised more than $1 million in the first quarter of 2018 in part because donors were upset by the now famous "Nunes memo" — which accused the FBI and Department of Justice of abusing their surveillance power to target a Trump campaign aide with ties to Russia. 

Democrats have denounced the memo as a blatant attempt by President Trump and House Republicans to discredit special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin and possible obstruction of justice by the president. 

"Traditionally, the prosecution of crimes has been a non-partisan activity, so I'm really disappointed to see my opponent and the Trump White House attacking federal law enforcement agencies and officials," said Janz, who has worked with FBI agents as a prosecutor. "It really undermines our criminal justice system, which is a cornerstone of our democracy."

That's very smart. I see Nunes' obstructionism as his main weakness. 

And I am going to be watching this race very closely because Devin Nunes is at the top of my list of motherfuckers that gots to go.

Robert Reich asks "Is Donald Trump the Worst President in American History?" Is this a trick question?

Courtesy of Common Dreams:  

When he threatens to loosen federal libel laws so he can sue news organizations that are critical of him and revoke licenses of networks critical of him, he isn’t just bullying the media. He’s threatening the constitutionally guaranteed freedom and integrity of the press. 

When he equated Neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members with counter-demonstrators in Charlottesville, Virginia, by blaming “both sides” for the violence, he wasn’t being neutral. He was condoning white supremacists, thereby undermining the constitution’s guarantee of equal rights. 

When he pardoned Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, for a criminal contempt conviction, he wasn’t just signaling it’s okay for the police to engage in violations of civil rights. He was also subverting the rule of law by impairing the judiciary’s power to force public officials to abide by court decisions. 

When he criticized NFL players for kneeling during the national anthem, he wasn’t just demanding they demonstrate their patriotism. He was disrespecting their – and, indirectly, everyone’s – freedom of speech. 

When he berates the intelligence agencies and the federal bureau of investigation, he isn’t just questioning their competence. He’s suggesting they’re engaged in a giant conspiracy to remove him from office – potentially inviting his most ardent supporters to engage in a new civil war. 

When he boasts that he made up information in a meeting with the prime minister of Canada, he isn’t just undermining his own credibility. He’s undermining the credibility of the united states in the eyes of the world. 

Donald Trump is degrading the core institutions and values of our democracy. 

Spoiler alert: So that answer appears to be "YES!"

Which means we are likely living through the worst presidency this country has ever endured. 

There are lessons which need to be learned here, and steps that should be taken to prevent something like this from happening again.

However I do not know exactly how those changes to our democratic process would be implemented, or even what they would look like.

All I know is that if we do not figure something out, our democracy will not be stolen from us by outside forces, but rather we will run it off a cliff all on our own.

New NBC poll shows that Democrats have a 10 point lead going into 2018, while Donald Trump's numbers have ticked up four points. Wait, what?

Courtesy of NBC News:  

Democrats enjoy a 10-point advantage over Republicans in congressional preference for the 2018 midterm elections, even as President Donald Trump's job approval rating has ticked up, the latest national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds. 

Fifty percent of registered voters say they prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress, while 40 percent want a GOP-controlled one. 

That double-digit lead — typically a sign of strong Democratic performance for the upcoming election — is up from the party's 6-point edge in January's NBC/WSJ poll, which was 49 percent to 43 percent, though the change is within the poll's margin of error.

That falls in line with other polling that shows the Democrats with a substantial lead going into the 2018 election.

But then there is this: 

Meanwhile, the NBC/WSJ polls finds that Trump's approval rating stands at 43 percent among all Americans — up four points from January. 

Fifty-three percent of adults say they disapprove of the president’s job, down from 57 percent two months ago. 

The improvement for Trump comes from Republican respondents (who went from 78 percent approve in January to 84 percent this month), white men (52 percent to 59 percent) and independents (33 percent to 45 percent).

Man am I embarrassed to be a white man some days.

I am trying to work it out in my head exactly what Trump has done in the last month or so that could have improved his image even by four points.

Could it be his blatant attacks on our Justice Department?

The constant turnover in his White House?

Or was it the fact that he has definitely been outed as banging a porn star right after his wife gave birth to his last child, and his attempts to keep her quiet?

Yeah, I simply don't get it.

But who cares? Because once we get enough Democrats into office we can shut his ass down hard!

California Democratic party declines to endorse Senator Dianne Feinstein in her reelection bid.

Courtesy of Politico: 

In a sharp rebuke to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democratic Party has declined to endorse the state’s own senior senator in her bid for reelection. 

Riven by conflict between progressive and more moderate forces at the state party’s annual convention here, delegates favored Feinstein’s progressive rival, state Senate leader Kevin de León, over Feinstein by a vote of 54 percent to 37 percent, according to results announced Sunday. 

Neither candidate reached the 60 percent threshold required to receive the party endorsement for 2018. But the snubbing of Feinstein led de León to claim a victory for his struggling campaign. 

“The outcome of today’s endorsement vote is an astounding rejection of politics as usual, and it boosts our campaign’s momentum as we all stand shoulder-to-shoulder against a complacent status quo,” de León said in a prepared statement. “California Democrats are hungry for new leadership that will fight for California values from the front lines, not equivocate on the sidelines.”

I'm a little concerned about this.

Dianne Feinstein has been in the Senate since 1992.

Yes she is part of the "establishment" but she is also a known quantity with a lot of support in her state.That means if she were to run for reelection, especially while riding the "blue wave," there is an almost certain victory.

If this Kevin de Leon guy, who may be an excellent candidate, wins the primary there is an increased possibility that something heretofore unknown in his background may be discovered and then he could be vulnerable in the general.

The saying "As California goes, so goes America" could bite us in the ass if we start seeing other safe seats suddenly challenged by more ideologically "pure" liberals who cannot win the general election.

Remember that is what has been happening with the conservatives, and they are losing seats right and left.

Look I want strong progressives in as many seats as possible, but I am also a pragmatist, and I know that if we start applying these purity tests to our sitting members of Congress and the Senate, we might purify ourselves right back to an overwhelming Republican majority in both houses.

Early voting in Texas sees large turnout for Democrats.

Courtesy of AP: 

Democrats in Texas are early voting in large numbers ahead of the first primary elections before the 2018 midterms, stoking party optimism that backlash to President Donald Trump won’t escape the biggest conservative state in the country. 

More Democrats have cast ballots than Republicans since early voting began this week in Texas, according to state election figures released Thursday, and turnout among Democrats is up 46 percent over the last midterm elections in 2014. For Republicans, meanwhile, turnout is basically flat. 

Trump won Texas by 9 points in 2016 and so dominant are Republicans that they haven’t lost a statewide race since 1994. Political strategists cautioned against reading too much into early turnout totals and said a relatively dull slate of GOP statewide primary races isn’t energizing Republican voters like four years ago. 

But the numbers still encouraged Democrats whose best hopes in Texas for 2018 are flipping a few congressional seats as Republicans defend their majorities in the House and Senate. GOP U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is also up for re-election but is a heavy favorite to win another term. 

“It definitely says there was a large number of Democrats who couldn’t wait to get out and vote,” said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University.

Democrats are killing it in the special elections around the country, so the idea that Texas is out of reach for Dems is not exactly a given.

Personally I would LOVE to see that mealy mouthed little POS Ted Cruz go down in flames.

Easily one of the most despicable individuals on the planet.

And he is behind in fundraising.

Ted Cruz warns that the Republicans are in deep trouble in 2018.

Oh God, we are so screwed.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

Traveling the state for GOP events this weekend, Cruz portrayed an uncertain midterm environment that could go down as disastrous for Republicans if they don’t work to counteract Democratic energy throughout the country. Cruz has spent previous election cycles airing similar warnings against GOP complacency in ruby-red Texas, but this time it hits much closer to home for him — he is facing a well-funded re-election challenge from U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso. 

Addressing the Fort Bend County GOP on Friday night, Cruz warned of an “incredible volatility in politics right now,” calling Democrats “stark-raving nuts” in their opposition to Trump. He pointed to Trump’s recent State of the Union address and Democrats’ reluctance to applaud, saying the scene “underscores the political risk in November.” 

“Let me tell you right now: The left is going to show up,” Cruz said, delivering the keynote address at the party’s Lincoln Reagan Dinner. “They will crawl over broken glass in November to vote.” Cruz is feeling the heat in his own bid for a second term. O’Rourke, who has sworn off money from political action committees, outraised 

Cruz in the last three months of 2017, $2.4 million to $1.9 million. It was the second quarter in which O’Rourke’s haul was bigger than that of Cruz, who still maintains a healthy cash-on-hand advantage.

I think Ted Cruz is confusing "stark raving nuts" with  "demonstrably patriotic" in our opposition of Putin's puppet.

Remember that Ted Cruz was carried to his victory by Tea Party anger at an imagined assault on our democracy, and yet he is surprised by the Left's very appropriate response to a very real assault on our democracy?

Methinks that somebody needs to step outside of the Fox News and right wing talk radio bubble.

Largest number of scientists in modern history are running for office in 2018.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

More than 60 researchers and technologists are running for federal office in 2018 as part of a historic wave of candidates with science backgrounds launching campaigns. 

At least 200 candidates with previous careers in science, technology, engineering and math announced bids for some of the nation’s roughly 7,000 state legislature seats as of Jan. 31, according to data that 314 Action, a political action committee, shared exclusively with HuffPost. 

The group, which launched in 2014 to help scientists run for office, said it is talking with 500 more people and is pressing about half of them to run. An additional 200 such candidates are running for school boards. 

“The sheer number is really astonishing,” 314 Action founder Shaughnessy Naughton told HuffPost. “We’ve never seen anything like this.”

There is currently only one scientist in Congress, imagine what having even a dozen more could do to change how Congress deals with anti-abortion legislation, bills on climate change, and even military spending.

Intelligent discourse on those subjects could not only change how money is being spent, but also how the public comes to view them in their every day lives.

More smart people running the government.

That simply cannot be a bad thing.

The California prosecutor who is running against Devon Nunes in 2018, has a new campaign ad out using his ridiculous "secret memo" against him.

With your help I'm going to beat Devin Nunes in November. Unless Mueller gets to him first. #removenunes pic.twitter.com/RL1h2S8Wxf

— Andrew Janz (@JanzforCongress) February 2, 2018

Courtesy of Mother Jones:  

The California Republican, who chairs the House intelligence committee, released a controversial memo on Friday alleging that the FBI abused its surveillance powers as the bureau investigated the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia. In the weeks leading up to the release, Trump’s Department of Justice warned that making the memo public would be “extraordinarily reckless.” The FBI, now under the leadership of Trump appointee Christopher Wray, said it had “grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.” Nunes’ hometown newspaper blasted his behavior in an editorial, referring to the congressman as “Trump’s stooge.” And Democrats on the intel. committee claimed the memo deliberately distorted classified information in an effort to discredit the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. (It took my colleague David Corn all of a few minutes Friday to find the first error in the memo.) 

And now Andrew Janz, a prosecutor who is running for the Democratic nomination to challenge Nunes in November, is turning the memo into a campaign issue. On Thursday, Janz released a brutal new ad targeting Nunes’ involvement in the matter.

The memo also helped Janz in another way.

Some news: Devin Nunes’ Democratic opponent, @JanzforCongress, raised over $100,000 today alone with news of the memo release, per a senior campaign aide.

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) February 2, 2018

I think that Nunes is in real trouble here, and that his credibility is essentially in shreds right now.

Even his own home town newspaper slammed Nunes for doing Trump's "dirty work" concerning the Russian investigations.

Personally I would not be at all surprised if Nunes turned out to be yet another Republican who suddenly decides to make a career change.

Trey "Benghazi" Gowdy calls it quits. Update!

Courtesy of NBC News:  

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., who has been at the forefront of investigations into both Hillary Clinton and alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, said Wednesday he would not run for re-election, adding his name to a growing list of Republican lawmakers stepping aside. 

In a lengthy statement, Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, said he would be leaving politics for good to return to a career in the justice system. 

"There is a time to come and a time to go. This is the right time, for me, to leave politics and return to the justice system," wrote Gowdy, who was first elected in 2010. 

"I will not be filing for re-election to Congress nor seeking any other political or elected office; instead I will be returning to the justice system," he added. "Whatever skills I may have are better utilized in a courtroom than in Congress, and I enjoy our justice system more than our political system."

Yeah, well if that skill set is supposed to include the ability to differentiate between fact and fiction, then I think Gowdy is poorly qualified to practice law in any capacity.

This decision seems to have been quite recent as Gowdy's team just sent out a fundraising email for his 2018 campaign. Kind of makes you wonder what happened, doesn't it?

Trey Gowdy, along with Darrell Issa, were among the idiots that promoted exaggerated misinformation about the Benghazi attack, and then used that to attack both President Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Trey Gowdy has not an ethical bone in his body and should be treated as a pariah from this day forward.

Of course I guess he could go back to playing he banjo.

As for Democratic hopes moving forward, well as the great Freddie Mercury used to sing:

"Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust, yeah
Hey, I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust"

Update: The Daily show weighs in.

In honor of his retirement, it's The Trey Gowdy Hairstyle Guide! Our personal fave is #8, "The Benghazi Blowout." What's yours? pic.twitter.com/4LaY2EuVJF

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) January 31, 2018

One of the strangest heads of hair in Congress.

The Koch brothers are planning to throw massive amounts of money at the 2018 midterms.

Courtesy of Axios:

The Koch network will spend 60% more on the 2018 cycle than it did on the 2016 presidential election, the largest midterm investment it's ever had, Tim Phillips of Americans for Prosperity told reporters Saturday. This includes up to $20 million on “communicating the benefits of tax reform," along with other policy and politics efforts. The network spent about $250 million on policy and politics in the 2016 cycle.

I would REALLY like to say this won't work because Americans are too smart to be manipulated by money and advertising, but we all now know, without a shadow of a doubt, that that is simply not true. 

This most certainly WILL have an effect, so it is up to all of us to focus on strong grassroots organizing and a huge get out the vote campaign.

Right now these elections are ours to lose.

Let's not give these assholes the satisfaction.

"I am woman hear me roar." And also watch me run for office.

Courtesy of NBC News:  

Now, a new flood of women — many of them Democrats who watched the election of Donald Trump with horror and disbelief — are raising their hands to run for office in 2018, signaling a potential reprise of a “Year of the Woman” that could make 1992’s election of two dozen new women to the U.S. House pale in comparison. 

They’re on track to break almost every record on the books. As of last week, 325 women were non-incumbent candidates for the United States House, along with 72 female members seeking reelection, according to data compiled by Walsh’s organization. Thirty-eight women not currently serving in the United States Senate are aiming for the upper chamber, along with 12 incumbents running again. And 75 women have set their sights on the nation’s governorships — plus four female incumbents fighting to keep their seats. 

In 2016, a high water mark for female candidates overall, there were 167 female major party nominees for the United States House and 16 for the Senate — well fewer than half the number of candidates vying for one of those spots now.

This is part of what is really terrifying the Republicans right now, and also shaking the foundations of the patriarchal hierarchy in this country.

The election of Donald Trump may have felt like a victory for the anti-feminists and misogynists, but what it has really done is to energize a blue wave of women who are determined to wash away the stench of the Trump agenda, and lift this nation up to reach its highest aspirations.

Personally I can hardly wait.

Let's make this the final word for the day.

Courtesy of CBS News: 

A Senate attempt to move forward with a short-term spending bill vote failed Friday night, sending the government into a shutdown on the one-year anniversary of President Trump's inauguration.

Tomorrow's Trump tweets should be epic. 

Barack Obama is returning to the world of politics, and that should scare the crap out of Republicans.

Hold on America, I'm coming.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:

If President Donald Trump and the Republican Party were already worried about defending their majorities in the House and Senate come November, they will now have another major factor to contend with: Barack Obama.

The former president enjoyed a busy year since leaving the White House but has largely stayed under the radar. Now Obama is reportedly planning to return to the political stage in 2018, setting the stage for a prominent role in the lead up to the crucial midterm elections. 

Close associates to the 44th president predict a politically active year, including campaign stops and other displays of public support. Obama will "continue to be politically active in 2018, with more endorsements and more campaigning," his spokeswoman Katie Hill told The Chicago Tribune. 

The former President's popularity has only grown since he left office, and with the current Democratic surge already underway, his presence on the campaign trail can only make that larger and more devastating for the Republican majority.

Personally I am excited to watch candidates endorsed by Barack Obama, slaughter candidates backed by Donald Trump.

And then watching Trump's angry reactions on Twitter would be extremely satisfying.

Speaking of our greatest president ever, this is how he handled his wife's birthday yesterday.

You're not only my wife and the mother of my children, you're my best friend. I love your strength, your grace, and your determination. And I love you more each day. Happy Birthday, @MichelleObama

A post shared by Barack Obama (@barackobama) on Jan 17, 2018 at 12:52pm PST

 God I miss these two.

Republicans becoming increasingly worried about the "blue wave" predicted in the 2018 midterm elections.

Courtesy of New York Magazine:  

Republicans are growing more and more alarmed about the prospect of losing the House of Representatives in November, which would break the party’s stranglehold on unified power in Washington. (Senate control is more of a longshot for Democrats, but if the ball bounces the right way, it’s within grasp as well.)

A senior Republican on Capitol Hill told ABC News, “If the election were held today, the House would be gone. Fortunately, the election is not today.” 

These concerns have made their way to President Trump. The Washington Post reported on Sunday that “the concern has grown so acute that Trump received what one congressional aide described as a ‘sobering’ slide presentation about the difficult midterm landscape at Camp David last weekend, leading the president to pledge a robust schedule of fundraising and campaign travel in the coming months.” 

The problem with Trump’s plan is that, much as he may deny it, he is a primary, if not the primary, reason for the Republicans’ plight. The president’s approval rating continues to hover in the high 30s, a dismal number considering the country’s humming economy. And, as is his wont, Trump keeps making a spectacle out of himself and his party, as he did this week with his “shithole” comment and a series of other missteps you probably don’t even remember a few days after the fact.

I REALLY hope that Trump shows up all over the country to "help" GOP candidates, as that will insure Democratic victories in places that the Dems are struggling.  

I almost hesitate to share this information becasue I do not want the Democrats to become complacent.

Remember predictions of victory only come true if we actually show up to vote.

Democrats are notorious for skipping the midterms, but this year we need to show up by the truckloads, because if we take back both the House and the Senate, we essentially render Trump powerless.

And even if he gets impeached and replaced by Mike Pence, the destructive GOP agenda will still grind to a halt.

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher's Democratic challenger is essentially calling him Russian agent.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

California Democratic House hopeful Harley Rouda is taking the accusations of Russia collusion to his potential opponent, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), in a new ad that frames the congressman as part of a joint effort with President Trump to side with Russia. 

The new digital spot, shared first with The Hill, criticizes Rohrabacher for his ties to Russia. The New York Times reported last year that the FBI warned Rohrabacher, considered one of the most Russia-friendly lawmakers in Congress, that Russian intelligence had been trying to turn him and had even given him a code name. 

"America, let’s show Trump and Rohrabacher it's time for a leader who represents us, not Russia," the ad's narrator says.

Man I love the hell out of this!

Rohrabacher has been Putin's puppet for years now, and it is high time that he is called out for it publicly. 

Rohrabacher claims that his constituents do not care about his Russian connections, but I think that with enough of these ads that will definitely change.

I also think this might be a winning strategy for a number of Democrats moving forward.

If their opponents do not have direct ties to Russia, then they can be called out for supporting the agenda of the Kremlin's agent in the White House.