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2016 Election Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 21, 2016 154 Comments
I just sent this in for Morning Insurrection. (If you don't subscribe, you should here.) "TRUMP SPEECH - It was very good. Controlled, focused, full of 'red meat' for people left behind in the economy. And it was controlled. Did I say controlled? Of course, I'm writing this as the speech is nearing the end, and he hasn't hit Twitter yet. But in the moment, it's possible to believe that he has a message that may resonate." https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/status/756336349146382336 Some highlights:

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 20, 2016 19 Comments
The media has decided that the alleged Melania Trump plagiarism story is the greatest thing that's ever happened in American politics. So as long as we're on the subject, let's look back at the last time plagiarism was alleged in a presidential election. It was 2008, and a young Senator from Illinois was fighting Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination. Obama had been caught lifting lines from his ideological twin, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Clinton called him out for it during a debate.

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 19, 2016 21 Comments
Due to a tremendous need for security at the Republican convention this week, policemen from all over the country came to Cleveland to work the event. An arrangement was made to house many of these police at Case Western University, but students complained that they wouldn't feel safe with all those cops on campus. So the school cancelled all activity for the week. Campus Reform reported last week:
Cleveland students protest 'mere presence' of cops on campus for RNC Students at a Cleveland, Ohio college are petitioning to halt the billeting of riot police officers on campus during the Republican National Convention (RNC) next week.

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 16, 2016 10 Comments
Now that Trump has named Mike Pence as his VP, all eyes are turning to the Democrats to see who Hillary Clinton will choose as her running mate. A recent meeting has people wondering about one particular Senator. The Hill reports:
Clinton meets with Warren amid VP speculation Hillary Clinton met with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Friday amid a string of conversations with advisers aimed at closing in on a running mate, according to multiple reports. They met at Clinton's home in Washington, D.C., NBC's Monica Alba reported. The meeting reportedly lasted about an hour.

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 16, 2016 42 Comments
It took less than 24 hours for liberals in media to begin attacking Indiana Governor Mike Pence. Just days ago, many of these folks never would have bothered writing anything about Pence but now that he's on the ticket with Trump, they're in a rush to define him. Here are some choice examples. Think Progress invented a new term for the Governor:
Mike Pence, Cigarette Truther Over his political career Gov. Mike Pence (R-IN) has consistently carried the tobacco industry’s water, denying the dangers of cigarettes, opposing government regulation, and slashing smoking cessation efforts. In return, they rewarded him with more than $100,000 in campaign donations.

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 14, 2016 37 Comments
Have you noticed that many of Trump's critics accuse him of things he hasn't done yet but which other people have actually done already? The latest example comes from the presumptive Democratic nominee who warns President Trump could use the IRS to target his enemies. Imagine that. Allahpundit of Hot Air notes the irony:
Hillary: Can you imagine electing a vindictive man who might … send the IRS after his critics? You know what? I can imagine it. Pretty vividly, actually. Right down to the names of the “hypothetical” IRS officers involved.

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 09, 2016 3 Comments
The Green Party's Jill Stein has a great idea for Bernie Sanders. She wants him to take her place as the presidential candidate for the party. Sanders isn't likely to take her up on the offer, but it sure is fun to think about. The Guardian reported:
Green party's Jill Stein invites Bernie Sanders to take over ticket Bernie Sanders has been invited to continue his underdog bid for the White House by the Green party’s probable presidential candidate, who has offered to step aside to let him run.

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 09, 2016 33 Comments
Following the horrific violence and murder of police officers in Dallas this week, conservative talk host Rush Limbaugh made a disturbingly plausible prediction on his show. Rush suggested that Dallas might just be the beginning of something and that the next targets could be the Republican National Convention and the Democratic Convention after that. The Washington Free Beacon reported:
After Dallas, Rush Limbaugh Predicts Republican and Democratic Conventions Will Be Attacked Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh predicted Friday that both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions later this month will be the next targets of an attack after the police killings Thursday night in Dallas.

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 06, 2016 8 Comments
Bernie Sanders supporters have been clinging to a hope that if the FBI recommended indictment for Hillary Clinton, there was a chance the Democratic Party would dump her and nominate Bernie instead. That hope ended this week. Now that the FBI has let her off the hook, nothing will stop her nomination. Many Bernie supporters are disgusted and who could blame them? CNN reports:
Sanders supporters melt down over FBI's Clinton decision It's not only Donald Trump and Republicans expressing their indignation at the FBI's decision not to recommend charges against Hillary Clinton over her handling of classified materials on a private email server.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on June 26, 2016 32 Comments
Between the dust-up over Mia B. Love (R-UT) using taxpayer money ($1,160) to attend the White House Correspondence Dinner and her somewhat high unfavorables, Love is facing a tough reelection bid this November and trails her Democrat opponent Doug Owens 51-45. Recognizing that she has work to do in order to keep her seat, Love  has decided to skip the Republican National Convention. The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

Rep. Mia Love has decided to skip the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, giving up her delegate slot to focus on her re-election bid and to go on a congressional trip to Israel.

She saw no benefit in attending the gathering where Donald Trump is expected to claim the party's presidential nomination.

"I don't see any upsides to it," Love said Friday. "I don't see how this benefits the state."

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 26, 2016 8 Comments
After a long and bitter primary battle, Bernie Sanders is finally saying he'll vote for Hillary Clinton, an admission that's got to sting his most ardent supporters. Like Elizabeth Warren, Sanders will now throw his support behind the official candidate of Wall Street and big banks. Unlike Warren, he's not endorsing Hillary just yet. NPR reports:
Bernie Sanders Says He'll Vote For Clinton (Still No Endorsement, Though) Bernie Sanders said he'll vote for Hillary Clinton in November — but more than two weeks after she became the presumptive Democratic nominee, Sanders remains in the race.

Posted by New Neo on June 22, 2016 61 Comments
It's not that Trump has never criticized Hillary Clinton before. But a speech Trump gave today focused on those criticisms. I've been expecting that to happen, because realistically speaking it's his best and perhaps only chance---to ramp up the already-existent dislike and disapproval of Clinton (and the Clintons as a duo), and to make people vote for him as a reaction to her. To me, the most powerful part of the speech---and a theme Trump should hammer home, because this is the sort of thing that could change the minds of people who are not already predisposed to vote for him, women and the LGBT community---was this:
I only want to admit people who share our values and love our people. Hillary Clinton wants to bring in people who believe women should be enslaved and gays put to death.

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 21, 2016 31 Comments
A 19 year old man was arrested at a Trump rally in Las Vegas over the weekend when he tried to grab a gun from a police officer. The man, now identified as Michael Sandford, is originally from the UK and has admitted to authorities that his intention was to kill Donald Trump. The Daily Mail reports:
Protester, 20, grabbed a policeman's firearm at Las Vegas rally and said he wanted to KILL Donald Trump, after driving from California and learning how to shoot on a gun range the day before A British man arrested at a Donald Trump rally in Las Vegas told authorities he tried to grab an officer's gun so he could kill the billionaire Republican presidential candidate. Anti-Trump protester Michael Steven Sandford, 19, who appeared in court on Monday, even went to a gun range on Friday so he could learn how to shoot.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on June 19, 2016 12 Comments
Last month, I wrote about Harry Reid's statement that he is "fairly certain" the Democrats will retake the Senate this year, and as I noted, it is a very real possibility given a number of factors.  The Democrats need win only five seats to retake the Senate (four if Hillary wins the WH), the Republicans are defending 24 seats to the Democrats' 10, and many of the states in play—Florida, Wisconsin, Illinois, New Hampshire—went to Obama in both 2008 and 2012. As we consider and discuss the importance of the Supreme Court and who will be nominating the next Justice who will replace Justice Scalia—and potentially two (or more) others—during his or her term, it may be a good idea to think about the Senate races across the country and to do what we can to ensure that the Senate is not lost to Democrats. No matter who wins the general and nominates the next Justice/s, the Senate is still the body that confirms a presidential nomination to the Court.  A Democrat-controlled Senate, I think we can all agree, would be a disaster on many levels, but particularly so in light of the upcoming Supreme Court nominee/s.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on June 19, 2016 30 Comments
Hillary Clinton: the patriotic choice for president? That seems the implication of Chuck Todd's challenge to Paul Ryan in an interview aired on today's Meet The Press. When Ryan told Todd that as Speaker of the House, he was supporting Trump, Todd retorted: "you just made a case though for party over country." How absurd! As Ryan rightly went on to explain to Todd, "No I didn't! I know Hillary Clinton won't agree with anything we want to do. She'll put a bad judge on the Supreme Court. She won't agree with any of the conservative reforms we're trying to do." But in the mind of Chuck Todd and others in the MSM, supporting the Dem candidate isn't merely preferable, it's the only decent, American thing to do!

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on June 17, 2016 33 Comments
In 1964, Republican Barry Goldwater suffered a devastating landslide loss to LBJ. Aside from his home state of Arizona, Goldwater carried only five other states, all in the Deep South. Goldwater amassed only 52 electoral votes, to Johnson's 486. But even that paltry performance will look "extremely successful" compared to the thrashing that is in store for Donald Trump in November -- if you believe Joe Scarborough. On today's Morning Joe, after reviewing Trump's disapproval numbers with various demographics, Scarborough said "Barry Goldwater is going to look like an extremely successful candidate." Interestingly, Nick Confessore of the New York Times disagreed, arguing that the American electorate is so polarized that LBJ-like landslides are impossible today, and that the candidate of either party has a guaranteed base of 48%.

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 12, 2016 13 Comments
Ask any Democrat how they feel about Trump's proposed border wall and you'll be met with outrage. According to most liberals, such a concept is racist, xenophobic and utterly unnecessary. Building a wall doesn't solve anything . . . unless it's used to protect delegates and other high ranking officials in the Democratic Party. NBC News in Philadelphia reports:
Wells Fargo Center, Xfinity Live! to Be Inside DNC Security Perimeter Security at the Sports Complex during the Democratic National Convention next month will include “no-scale fencing” to enclose the Wells Fargo Center and Xfinity Live!, the Secret Service special agent in charge said in an interview Thursday.
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