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2016 Election Tag

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 28, 2015 18 Comments
Now that former Senator Rick Santorum has dived into the presidential pool, I thought I would check the status of a candidate who is already in -- Carly Fiorina. Early in her candidacy, Professor Jacobson noted she was "rocking it" by taking the fight to Hillary Clinton. She continues to show the rest of the field how to target the elusive Democratic candidate. For example, Clinton has been less than responsive when it comes to addressing the American press. In contrast, Fiorina held a press conference...directly outside a Clinton event.
First the former Hewlett Packard chief executive popped up outside the Marriott hotel where Clinton was just about to kick off a campaign event, offering to take questions from the press since Clinton so often won't. Forty-five minutes later and six blocks down the road, there Fiorina was again, bragging to the South Carolina House Republican caucus about what she'd just done as they chewed on grilled chicken at a Hilton hotel luncheon. "I've answered probably 420-plus questions on the record about everything, from, 'Is a hot dog a sandwich?' -- I flubbed that one, I will tell you -- to what I would do about ISIS and everything in between," Fiorina said. "And Hillary Clinton has answered maybe 15 questions."

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 20, 2015 9 Comments
The American people are learning that Hillary Clinton doesn't like to answer questions and a new ad from American Crossroads focuses like a laser on the issue:
New American Crossroads Ad Calls Out Hillary Clinton for Dodging Tough Questions WASHINGTON – Today, American Crossroads released a new web ad calling out Hillary Clinton for continuing to dodge tough questions and provide non-answers to the few inquiries to which she has been forced to respond. “Despite being a candidate for president, Hillary Clinton is determined to dodge important questions about her positions and provide non-answers to inquiries about her ethical troubles,” said Ian Prior, Communications Director for American Crossroads. “Whether the issue is trade, the Keystone Pipeline, or the influence of foreign donors, Americans deserve better than transparent spin and crickets from Hillary Clinton.”
Watch the ad: As long as we're on Hillary ads, there's another one I'd like to share with you.

Posted by Amy Miller on May 12, 2015 8 Comments
It's only May, and things are already getting weird on the campaign trail. Yesterday, "Justin," a tracker from the progressive oppo research group American Bridge, showed up at a Rand Paul campaign event, worked his way inside, and started filming. One of Paul's staffers noticed, and in a bizarre turn of events, decided that the best way to deal with the incursion was to...lick the camera lens? Dave Weigel at Bloomberg has the back story:
The staffer is David Chesley, Paul's New Hampshire political director. He joined the team officially when Paul's campaign began, but before that, it had been up to him to march up to the tracker and inform the people checking in reporters that, no, this guy was not to be allowed in. On Monday, Chesley made that clear to the tracker, who headed outside with a gaggle of reporters attempting to grab a moment with Paul. When the senator showed up, delayed by a meeting, the gaggle stuck to him liked chewed gum, and the tracker was able to make it into the mid-sized room where TV cameras would be filming Paul. After that: The licking.
Here. Get it over with:

Posted by Amy Miller on May 07, 2015 10 Comments
Campaign work is filthy business sometimes. Manipulating the media cycle is a full time job---especially if your boss is a corrupt career politician who may or may not have made deals with foreign governments in exchange for speaking fees. Hillary Clinton's staff did a bang up job pivoting away from that whole "corrupt career politician" thing this week by flogging Clinton's newfound enthusiasm for immigration policies that are even more radical than the ones President Obama has backed. Meet the Press host Chuck Todd pointed out today how Clinton's team used controversy to distract the public from controversy---and succeeded. Watch here:

Posted by Amy Miller on May 05, 2015 15 Comments
"Cinco de Mayo," a holiday currently being celebrated on patios all across North America, marks the date the Mexican military defeated the French in the 1862 Battle of Puebla. For American politicians, the day presents an opportunity to test out budding Latino outreach programs. Well, at least one politician. Jeb Bush is taking advantage of the day to flex his impressive Spanish language muscles and close ties to the Latino community via a new video pushed out on Facebook and YouTube. The video, pushed out by Bush's Right to Rise PAC, features some the same stripped-down, message-centric style that we've seen politicians like Marco Rubio use in the past. Check it out:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 04, 2015 26 Comments
Hillary is Superwoman to Democrats. But SuperWoman has a public perception problem to those who remember her before her repackaging. The shadow government Email Server, deletion of records, and Clinton Foundation payolla, bring back the memories for us, but are new to the younger electorate. That younger electorate needs to know the real Hillary. Which is why Republicans need to establish who Hillary Clinton is before the media machine and new Clinton War Room can start going after Republican candidates with vigor. For Republicans, Job One: Teach millennials about the real Hillary America Rising PAC has produced another excellent video that helps to define Hillary - Unethical:
SECRETARY HILLARY CLINTON: “I am very proud to be the President-Elect’s nominee for Secretary of State” ANNOUNCER: “When Clinton was named Secretary of State, the White House asked the [Clinton] Foundation to shut the door on most foreign contributions to avoid any questions of ethics.

Posted by Jay Caruso on April 30, 2015 6 Comments
Peter Schweizer's "Clinton Cash" has the Democratic Party---and Hillary Clinton's campaign team---really nervous. The book has shone a spotlight on Hillary's time as Secretary of State, and on the connection between deals presented to the state department by foreign interests (government and business) and donations made to the Clinton Foundation. Schweizer has said several times his role as an author was to establish a pattern of behavior by Bill and Hillary Clinton as it related to donations made to the Clinton Foundation, and paid speaking gigs for Bill that often topped $500,000 apiece. Critics however, have lashed out at Schweizer and his book, claiming it is nothing but a political hack job due to the lack of a "smoking gun." There is no evidence of any quid pro quo, so therefore, the book is just partisan mudslinging. Schweizer is quick to point out that he is an author, not a prosecutor, and his job was merely to report on what he believed was a pattern of behavior. He said it is up to those with subpoena power to look into the issue further and determine if there was any criminal behavior. That being said, the "smoking gun" argument doesn't really pass the sniff test, because there are plenty of politicians who have been indicted and/or convicted of crimes without the presence of a "smoking gun." Here are just a few:

Posted by Amy Miller on April 27, 2015 9 Comments
When it comes to the Obama administration, George W. Bush doesn't want to talk about it. Correction: he doesn't normally want to talk about it. Since Bush left office, he has kept remarkably (and some say refreshingly) quiet about politics, policy, and the wrecking ball that is Team Obama. It's a testament to his class, and throws into sharp relief the grasping desperation of the "But BUSH" crowd. At a recent meeting with donors at the Republican Jewish Coalition, however, Bush let fly some long-held criticisms of Obama's policy toward Iran, the war against ISIS, and Vladimir Putin.
The former president...at first remarked that the idea of re-entering the political arena was something he didn’t want to do. He then proceeded to explain why Obama, in his view, was placing the U.S. in "retreat" around the world. He also said Obama was misreading Iran’s intentions while relaxing sanctions on Tehran too easily. According to the attendee's transcription, Bush noted that Iran has a new president, Hassan Rouhani. “He's smooth," Bush said. "And you’ve got to ask yourself, is there a new policy or did they just change the spokesman?”

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 22, 2015 16 Comments
Is the 2016 GOP field to RINO-y for you? Hillary too full of hogwash and O'Malley too boring? Are you looking for a candidate who graduated from the School of Hard Knocks? Then Waka Flocka Flame might just be the candidate you're looking for... or not. Juaquin James Malphurs or Waka Flocka, is a rapper from Atlanta. He also announced his presidential candidacy Monday (which was not so coincidentally 4/20). According to Rolling Stone:
Two years ago, Waka Flocka Flame made a promise. "I'm dead ass running for president in 2016," the Atlanta rapper tweeted. The date was November 6th, 2012. Today, he's keeping his word. In a high-level meeting with Rolling Stone today, on April 20th, 2015, Waka declared his candidacy for the next President of the United States, with DJ Whoo Kid as his running mate.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 12, 2015 23 Comments
Hillary is supposed to announce her presidential run at 3 p.m. Eastern today. In the run up, the notorious Clinton smear machine already is lashing out at critics. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, a progressive, made a reasonable statement that he wanted to hear more about her vision before he formally endorsed her: The response for Democratic operative Hillary Rosen (who famously disparaged Ann Romney), was a not too thinly veiled threat. Meanwhile, Hillary critics are being smeared as sexist by Democratic operatives at Think Progress and Media Matters:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 06, 2015 27 Comments
When discussing Hillary Clinton's email and server scandal, I dismissed arguments that the scandal in and of itself would sink Hillary's impending campaign. There are far too many powerful people invested in Hillary for President to let mere paranoid and obsessive control coupled with destruction of evidence stop Hillary. In fact, to Hillary's core supporters, paranoid and obsessive control coupled with destruction of evidence is a feature, not a bug. Rather, I argued that the damage from Emailgate (or is it Servergate or Deletegate?) was in shaping Hillary's image for voters who never knew the Hillary older voters know:
While it’s way too early to assess the overall damage to Hillary Incorporated from the email, now document destruction, scandal, is does appear to be hurting Team Billary in ways that are hard to change: Public perception of a politician. While Billary is dreadfully tiresome and transparently faux in its lack of transparency, to much of the electorate Billary is simply a nice old lady with a grandchild. Well, she does have a grandchild, but that’s about where the nice ends. And that unhappy end product of a secretive, controlling, fear-mongering, basically incompetent presidential candidate is coming into public view and that view may be hard to change.
And there seems to be dramatic movement in that direction, as Hillary's favorability numbers have been dropping steadily.

Posted by Jay Caruso on April 02, 2015 17 Comments
The 2016 election is a little over 18 months away which can be a lifetime in the world of politics. It is assumed by most people Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee. Martin O'Malley may have something to say about that but as it stands at this point, Hillary is the runaway choice to secure the nomination. As for her potential opponents, the GOP field is still being fleshed out with only Ted Cruz making it official. Two other GOP Senators,  Marco Rubio and Rand Paul are expected to announce their candidacies within the next two weeks. Even though it is early, Hillary cannot be too pleased about some recent polling data that shows her numbers falling:
Hillary Clinton's lead over her would-be GOP foes has slipped in three critical swing states as the growing controversy over her email use has dominated coverage of the likely Democratic presidential candidate. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush scrapes past Clinton with a three-point lead, still within the margin of error, in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup in Florida, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday. Clinton had a one-point edge in the Florida dead heat Quinnipiac reported in early February. The last two months have also erased Clinton's previously double-digit lead over every other potential GOP contender for the presidency in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Posted by Amy Miller on March 06, 2015 57 Comments
Hillary's midnight tweet may have earned some headlines that spared her from awkward questions about her e-mail habits, but judging by the way this story has simply refused to die, I think we can be sure that it won't be going away any time soon. Under fire, the State Department has agreed to release Clinton's e-mails, but officials are now saying that the process could take months:
Clinton tried to cool the brewing firestorm late on Wednesday, saying she wanted the State Department to release the emails quickly. But a senior State Department official told Reuters on Thursday the task would take time. "The review is likely to take several months given the sheer volume of the document set," the official said. At the same time, the department is investigating whether Clinton violated policies intended to protect sensitive information when she conducted all of her official business through a personal account while serving as secretary from 2009 to 2013, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing a senior department official.
It's a convenient (but in all likelihood realistic) timeline, which will give Team Hillary plenty of time to whip out some mirrors and a smoke machine; but if we play our cards right, we have more than enough ammunition to keep the story rolling. We know that she used servers in her own home---and that it's unclear whether or not those servers were approved, or if anyone even checked to see that their use was legal. We also know that both independent groups like Judicial Watch, and the United States Congress, are ready to take this crap sandwich through official channels to see what's inside. We also know that it's gotten to the point where top Dems are pushing the "who gives a shit" line (literally) to the liberal faithful in an attempt to do damage control:

Posted by Amy Miller on March 05, 2015 3 Comments
A new Quinnipiac national poll shows that Republican and Republican-leaning voters may not be as committed to Bush partie trois as many conservative talking heads fear. The poll, conducted from February 26 to March 2, shows that registered voters nationwide who also tend to vote Republican are taking a long look at what a Scott Walker presidency would look like. Walker's 18% get in the poll beats fellow probable candidate Jeb Bush by 2%. Christie and Huckabee come in next at 8% each, with the rest of the field skidding in in the single digits. Here's the breakdown: Q presidential poll mar 2015 These results contrast sharply with the results of the recent CPAC straw poll, which saw Rand Paul winning handily over the rest of his colleagues; however, the straw poll---which was taken by around 3000 activists---also showed a surge in Walker's numbers, so the two sets of data may not be that far apart in terms of an overall trend amongst voters.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on March 04, 2015 59 Comments
The last time we checked in with the "Duke University Porn Star" Belle Knox, she was complaining about how the disclosure of her new-found adult film career was hurting her sex life. Knox seems to be making a second career out of complaining. She is a featured speaker for Liberty Fest NYC this October, on the high cost of education that she says drove her to her current job.
Belle Knox (Miriam Weeks) made headlines when it was revealed that she is a Duke University student paying for tuition by doing porn. Belle has used her new found fame to have an honest discussion with Americans about the state of college tuition & the federal government’s wasteful spending.
I would have more respect for Knox if she put her expensive education on hold and perhaps learned a trade that would provide her the income necessary to get the degree she wants. I would feel exactly the same way if Knox were male, though it seems the porn industry is one in which women earn substantially more than men. Perhaps the current administration could focus on this particular wage gap?

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 01, 2015 8 Comments
Ever since the Benghazi attack that killed an American ambassador and three other Americans, Hillary supporting liberals have been calling the incident a non-issue but facts are stubborn things. They'll undoubtedly give the same white wash to the fact that the Clinton Foundation has accepted donations from foreign governments. Yet even MSNBC's Chris Matthews has acknowledged that these issues are serious. Video via the Washington Free Beacon:
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