Biden Rewards Iran, Unity vs. Reconciliation, Cheney's False Choice, Pence's Plans

Gary Bauer

by Gary Bauer: Biden Rewards Iran
Well, that didn't take long. Barely two weeks into office and President Joe Biden is already rewarding Iran.

In a major foreign policy address yesterday, Biden announced that he was ending military support for the campaign against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are backed by the Iranian regime. Iran is turning the Houthis into Yemen's equivalent of Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"This war has to end," Biden declared. Sure, that would be nice. But tell it to the ayatollah, who is using Yemen as a launching pad for attacks against Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, many observers noted a glaring omission in Biden's remarks yesterday. He never mentioned Israel once. Not when discussing the conflict in the Middle East or when he listed the "leaders of many of our closest friends" and allies he had spoken to recently.

According to various reports, Biden has yet to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and yesterday's omission was a deliberate message that Israel is once again getting the cold shoulder as yet another Democrat administration reorients our foreign policy away from Israel and toward Iran.

Unity vs. Reconciliation
There's a lot of talk in Washington lately about unity and reconciliation. And while they may have similar meanings for most people, in Washington it's the exact opposite.

President Biden's fake unity rhetoric is being exposed by the Senate Democrats use of the budget reconciliation process to ram through a massive $1.9 trillion spending bill on a purely partisan basis. That process kicked off last night in the Senate with a series of votes that showed who the real extremists are.

As we have reported, there are school districts in big cities like Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., where teachers are being vaccinated and still refusing to return to their classrooms.

Last night, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) offered an amendment denying additional "emergency" funds to any school district that refuses to reopen. Why give extra money to schools if they are closed?

That commonsense amendment failed on a 50 to 50 vote. All Democrats, including so-called "moderates" like Joe Manchin (WV) and Krysten Sinema (AZ), voted against the amendment and effectively voted to give extra funding to teachers who are refusing to teach your children in class.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) offered an amendment declaring that no federal tax money should go to any city that refuses to cooperate with federal law enforcement in apprehending illegal immigrants. So, if a city decides to be a sanctuary for criminal aliens, it shouldn't expect the federal government to subsidize illegal activity.

That amendment also failed 50 to 50. For all the complaints of Republican weakness, at least every Republican voted for these two commonsense ideas and every Democrat voted against them.

Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) offered an amendment to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving the stimulus checks that we're sending to the American people. Just eight Democrats felt compelled to vote with Republicans to ensure that illegal immigrants did not get emergency cash payments from U.S. taxpayers in the name of the coronavirus pandemic.

There were many other important and revealing votes, too many to list here. But amendments to prevent a ban on fracking and to ensure construction of the Keystone XL pipeline also passed, with a handful of Democrat votes.

Sounds like good news, right?

Unfortunately, those two energy related amendments and the Young amendment to block stimulus payments to illegal aliens were later repealed in a vote engineered by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer with Vice President Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.

That means every Democrat who initially supported these commonsense bipartisan measures had to reverse themselves in order to toe the liberal line on climate change and open borders.

Cheney's False Choice
As you may know, Rep. Liz Cheney survived a vote to remove her from her leadership position in the House Republican Caucus. National Review has an excerpt of the speech she reportedly delivered to the GOP caucus justifying her vote to impeach President Trump. Here's some of what she said:

"We cannot become the party of QAnon, we cannot become the party of Holocaust denial, we cannot become the party of white supremacy."

How she managed to deliver Nancy Pelosi's talking points and still maintained her leadership position is beyond me.

Cheney has apparently internalized the false narrative of the left. How many times was her own father demonized by the left as a bigot, a white supremacist, a warmonger and who knows what else? Of all people, she should be leading the fight against the left's false charges, not surrendering to them.

By suggesting that she had to vote to impeach Trump to prove she is not a member of "the party of white supremacy" is breathtaking. And if Republicans thought they were putting this episode behind them, they were sorely mistaken.

Her words will be parroted endlessly by the left in the days ahead to smear all conservatives. I can already imagine the ads, "Even Liz Cheney says Republicans are the party of Holocaust denial and white supremacy."

Surely Ms. Cheney understands that the only danger of Holocaust denial becoming mainstream is in the Democrat Party. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib have repeatedly said anti-Semitic things and promoted materials from Holocaust deniers, and they are still on all of their committees.

The last Democrat president sent billions of dollars to "Holocaust Denial Central" in Tehran. The current Democrat president can't wait to do it again.

By the way, who's America's biggest anti-Semite and Holocaust denier? That would be Louis Farrakhan. Maybe Cheney should go lecture the Congressional Black Caucus and ask them to join her in combatting Holocaust denial since several of their members met with Farrakhan and posed for pictures with him.

Remember the "progressive" Women's March? It had to fire three board members over charges of anti-Semitism, including radical Islamist Linda Sarsour. Then it tried to replace them with another rabid anti-Israel activist! And various "gay pride" events have banned Jewish groups. (Here and here.)

Did Liz Cheney ever attend a Trump rally? The president's biggest applause lines often occurred when Trump outlined his economic plans to help ensure minority communities shared in the American Dream.

President Trump pushed criminal justice reform to ensure that minorities were not unfairly sentenced. Donald Trump received significantly more minority votes than Mitt Romney or John McCain, and he won more black votes than George W. Bush.

But now Liz Cheney has embraced the left's narrative, and agrees with Democrats that the GOP is in danger of becoming a party of Holocaust deniers.

It's the same disgusting tactic that so many frauds like Pierre Delecto, aka Mitt Romney, have used over the years, constantly trying to distance themselves, constantly trying to prove that they "aren't like those other conservatives."

And she's in the leadership?

Pence's Plans
Former Vice President Mike Pence announced his reentry into public life yesterday. Pence will be joining the Heritage Foundation as a distinguished visiting fellow. Kay C. James, president of Heritage, said that Pence's activism and leadership will be "an adrenaline shot for the entire conservative movement."

Pence will also be hosting a podcast with Young America's Foundation (YAF). This is a great fit for the former vice president, who was once a radio talk show host. And there's some history here: YAF sponsored daily radio commentaries in the 1970s by Ronald Reagan.

And like President Trump, Pence is laying the groundwork to help elect Republican majorities to the House and Senate in 2022.
--------------------------
Gary Bauer (@GaryLBauer)  is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

---

Tags: Gary Bauer, Biden Rewards Iran, Unity vs. Reconciliation, Cheney's False Choice, Pence's Plans To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!