"It is wise to direct your anger towards problems, not people. To focus your energies on answers, not excuses." William Arthur Ward
January 21, 2017
By: Linda Case Gibbons
Trite as the phrase may be, there is a new sheriff in town, and it looks like it's going to be nothing but "High Noon" for him from now on.
President Trump has the Left gunning for him, parsing his words, mocking his family, and unleashing protests and violence in the streets the day of his Inauguration.
It's a hell of a welcome to Washington.
But it's what happens when big change occurs. There's resistance.
And why not? Everything is changing.
No more lolly-gagging in Congress. No more pushback-tweeting about the merits of Climate Change from employees at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Political correctnesss? Done. Easy workloads? Gone.
The Energizer Bunny in the Oval Office is accomplishing in days what the former president and both political parties told us couldn't be done.
Those days are over, but both the Left and some on the Right are having a tough time accepting it. CBS anchor Scott Pelley chokes up every time he has to say "President Trump."
But during the past few weeks there has been something else going on in Washington. It has all the pathos, drama, suspense and vitriol of a Netflix movie. But it's real life. It's the Senate Confirmation Hearings for Trump's Cabinet picks.
They're fascinating. Something like watching a train wreck.
There's former comedian Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), snippy to each candidate and not at all in a mood to make jokes;
And Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), being pure, lovable Crazy Bernie.
When Health and Human Services nominee, orthopedic surgeon Rep. Tom Price (D-Ga.) dared to say that, as a doctor, in his opinion, America was a compassionate country, Bernie flipped out.
"No! We're not a compassionate society!" Bernie sputtered. "In terms of our relationship to poor and working people, our record is worse than virtually any other country on earth...So I don't think, compared to other countries, we are particularly compassionate!"
But Bernie had nothing to say when Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) responded, pointing out that those who extol the virtues of socialism never mention the consistent failure of that system, as exemplified in countries like Venezuela, a prosperous country whose people are starving in the streets today.
Senators Patty Murray (D-Washington) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) were just plain ugly, if you know what I mean, while interrogating the attractive and dignified Betsy Devos, the nominee for Education Secretary. And they were nonplussed when Devos stated that she, like the president, would take only one dollar as salary if confirmed.
But it was seeing Sen. Tim Kaine shower Devos with snarky, rapid-fire questions without letting her answer, that brought tears to one's eyes, realizing how close we came to having this angry, nasty man as our vice president.
Yes, the Democratic senators were annoying, but poor lambs, they had just suffered a crushing loss, a blanket rejection of the former president, their candidate and their message. So they did the only thing a Democrat could do: Slow walk the Trump confirmation process.
It was interesting, although not for the ones being grilled. And it was ironic.
The senators asking the questions had only to meet low-bar, Constitutional qualifications to hold their seats: Be 30 years of age, a U.S. citizen, and a resident of their state. Yet these senators felt that they could be dismissive and insulting in their questions to the accomplished candidates before them.
But there was another guy besides Rand Paul in the crowd who refused to take the sideshow lying down. Tim Cotton, senator from Arkansas.
Cotton approached Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on the Senate floor, where a blistering exchange took place between the two men. It was about a promise Schumer broke.
Schumer told Republicans he would allow Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kansas) to be confirmed on Inauguration Day.
But he didn't.
The "promise" he made, Schumer explained, was only in regard to himself, and that he couldn't speak for his whole caucus. And he added that Cotton should have known the Senate had never previously confirmed a CIA director on Inauguration Day. That did sound like Democratic reasoning.
He added that if Cotton had been around eight years earlier, he'd know that Republicans didn't extend that courtesy to incoming President Barack Obama.
Oh, boy.
"Eight years ago," Cotton snapped, "I was getting my ass shot at in Afghanistan. So don't talk to me about where I was eight years ago."
Controversial? Sure. The new order of the day? Absolutely. And you can expect more of the same plain talk from this administration.
There is a new sheriff in town, and he has a great posse to watch his back.
Hold the line, America.