BloggeRhythms

Without much of great importance occurring in the news this morning, this entry was planned to be a refresher on Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals published in 1971 by Random House.

According to Wikipedia the rules were originally intended to be employed by “a structured organization with a clearly defined goal that could take direct action against a common enemy.” 

While the 13 “rules” were drawn from Mr. Alinsky’s personal experience as a community organizer, they've also been applied by national political figures. “The book was disseminated by the Tea Party conservative group FreedomWorks during Dick Armey's tenure as chairman. Hillary Clinton wrote her college thesis on Saul Alinsky's book, Rules for Radicals, and Barack Obama taught a course at the University of Chicago on how to organize communities using Saul Alinsky tactics.”

In addition to Clinton and Obama mentioned above, it now seems that Democrats in the House of Representatives are following along the same lines wherein just yesterday they apparently applied three of Alinsky’s 13 tactics.  

5. "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon."
8 "Keep the pressure on."
13. "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."

In that regard, Allan Smith, Alex Moe, Kasie Hunt and Leigh Ann Caldwell @nbcnews.com/politics headlined an article "House votes to condemn Trump 'racist comments,' with only four Republicans backing the measure." 
 
“The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed a resolution on Tuesday night condemning President Donald Trump for his "racist comments" about four Democratic congresswomen of color.

“The resolution passed largely along party lines — 235 Democrats joined by only four Republican supported the measure — following hours of back-and-forth and gamesmanship between Republicans and Democrats, which included a GOP objection to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's remarks about Trump and whether she would be allowed to keep speaking on the floor.”

Pelosi said: "Every single member of this institution, Democratic and Republican, should join us in condemning the president's racist tweets. To do anything less would be a shocking rejection of our values and a shameful abdication of our oath of office to protect the American people. I urge a unanimous vote." 

Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., “asked Pelosi whether she would like to "rephrase her comment." House members are barred from making disparaging remarks about the president on the House floor, but the resolution was aimed at criticizing the president for comments directed at four congresswomen, who he said should "go back" where "they came" from.

“The proceedings were put on hold for over an hour as Collins' request was considered."

A short time later, “House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland took the chair and announced that Pelosi's comments had been found "not in order." He then called a vote on whether the comments should be stricken from the record, and Democrats prevailed on a party-line vote, allowing Pelosi's remarks to stand after an almost two-hour delay.”

One of the four assenting Republicans, Congressman Will Hurd of Texas, used the opportunity to tweet: “There is no room in America for racism, sexism, antisemitism, xenophobia and hate. I voted to condemn the President's tweets today but I hope that Speaker Pelosi also considers holding members of her own party accountable to the same degree to which she holds the President,"

Another representative, Justin Amash of Michigan, had announced his departure from the Republican Party earlier this month, also voted for the resolution.

Getting to the true crux of the matter, however, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. “said in a news conference Tuesday morning that he did not believe Trump's tweets were racist.” 

"I believe this is about ideology, this is about socialism versus freedom," McCarthy said, adding that the four congresswomen "talked more about impeachment than anything else" at a news conference Monday where they responded to the president.

"This is more from their base. It's about politics, and it's unfortunate," he said. "We should get back to the business of America."

And then we get to the real truth of what the POTUS actually said in his tweets

Trump tweeted Sunday that, instead of criticizing his government, the four congresswomen should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came." Nowhere did he mention racism, sexism, antisemitism, xenophobia or hate.

Then on Tuesday morning, Trump further tweeted that the four congresswomen "have been spewing some of the most vile, hateful, and disgusting things ever said by a politician in the House or Senate" and asked why the House wasn't "voting to rebuke the filthy and hate laced things they have said?"

Later, at a Cabinet meeting in the White House, the POTUS was asked where he thought the congresswomen should go. "It's up to them," he said. "Go wherever they want, or they can stay, but they should love our country. They shouldn't hate our country."

Asked Monday whether he was concerned that his comments were being called racist, the president said, "It doesn't concern me, because many people agree with me."

While the POTUS’s conclusion is very likely correct, the Democrat opposition keeps its pressure on despite having nothing more than politically motivated attempts to employ the POTUS’s own words against him regardless of accuracy of the context. 

Bringing us back to Saul Alinsky’s rules, this time referring to #7: “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag." Which certainly seems to be the case for Democrats who have no real platform to offer voters except spending virtually all of their time finding fault with the POTUS as he keeps turning the nation around for the better.

That’s it for today folks.

Adios