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2016 Republican Primary Tag

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on September 17, 2015 31 Comments
Those tuned in to Wednesday night's GOP debate hosted by CNN and Salem Media (though mostly CNN) were left wondering what happened to Scott Walker. To be fair, it's a difficult, if not impossible task providing equal airtime to eleven people in any given debate setting. CNN chose to lead with questions about what other contenders thought of Donald Trump. Time that should have been used testing candidates on policy knowledge and prodding their hypothetical handling of various scenarios, was spent goading them into attacking either Trump or one another. A report released by the Media Research Center prior to Wednesday's debate provides an explanation for CNN's unusual line of questioning: CNN loves them some Trump. The MRC analyzed CNN's coverage of the Republican presidential primary and found that 78% of that total coverage was spent on Donald Trump. 7-8-%.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 17, 2015 97 Comments
Carly Fiorina almost unanimously has been declared the winner of last night's CNN debate. It's worth revisiting some of her highlights. I don't normally use campaign material for posts, but this grouping of videos circulated by CARLY for America, the SuperPAC supporting her, saved me a ton of work since I was going to put together a compilation anyway! I've chosen just the few that were of interest to me, not the entire set. (Hint to campaigns -- make our lives easier!) Carly introduces herself to America Excerpt: "We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation." Full transcript here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVMbqc8EKyg

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 16, 2015 49 Comments
It was a night when Ted Cruz referred to this A.F. Branco cartoon (though he referred to the Hamas guy as the Ayatollah -- but the intend was right). https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/status/644313310201049088 This was the moment of the night. I don't know if anything can stop The Donald, but he was humuliated by Fiorina's response, which surely was planned at some level but made good use of Trump's preceding harangue of Jeb Bush: Fiorina was on fire all night. The clear "Winner." Scott Walker started strong, but then didn't get any questions for what seemed like forever. He managed to insert himself into the coverage by jumping in even when not asked a question. I don't know if he did enough to reverse his slide. Or at least enough to keep his campaign alive.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on September 16, 2015 8 Comments
Howdy and thanks so much for joining us tonight! This is the first of two debate posts this evening. First of all, cable or no cable, you can watch the debate if you have an internet connection. CNN is streaming both debates for free, but it will only work if you are in the United States:
If you don't have cable, you'll still be able to watch CNN's Republican primary debate on Wednesday night, because the network is live streaming it for free on the web. The livestream will be front and center on CNN.com between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET. It'll also be available through the news organization's apps and the CNNgo web site.
In tonight's early debate, we have:
  • Bobby Jindal
  • Rick Santorum
  • Lindsey Graham
  • George Pataki.

Watch real time debate reaction:

To providing a wide array of real time reactions, we've included a few different Twitter feeds for your entertainment. You'll find those beneath.

Join the conversation:

But here's the fun part. We want to hear from YOU. Questions, observations, thoughts, ideas? Share them in the comments section beneath. Amy and I will address them directly on the blog. Please keep them civil, appropriate, and debate-focused. We can't promise we will get to every single one, but we will do our best. Are you ready? Let the games begin! Post-debate UPDATE by WAJ: Here are my tweets and retweets of the night and take on the "result": https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/status/644297638247055360

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 15, 2015 189 Comments
We are now beginning to see the first signs of an air war against Donald Trump. The Club for Growth just released this ad: Will it work? It did against Newt in 2011-2012. The airwaves in Iowa and Florida were flooded with ads like this one, which is clearly cut from the same cloth as the anti-Trump ad:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on September 15, 2015 2 Comments
Even in the big, bad world of politics football gets some love. Or at least it does from Senator Rubio. The good Senator from Florida took some time away from the political inquisition to toss around a football and answer America's most pressing questions. Super Bowl pick? And what about his Super Bowl pick percentage? What made him more nervous, his first presidential debate or first college football game? What Senator would make the best NFL player? Far from an armchair quarter back, Rubio played on a football scholarship to Tarkio College. He also routinely flew back to Florida to coach his son's youth team.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on September 14, 2015 72 Comments
Ah, presidential election cycles. Nary does one pass without first unleashing drama, betrayal, scandal, and intrigue into the political arena. A Rolling Stone article published last Wednesday quoted a not-so-kind Donald Trump. Chronicling the campaign life of the mega-millionaire, the article captured what were reportedly disparaging remarks about fellow presidential contender, Carly Fiorina:
When the anchor throws to Carly Fiorina for her reaction to Trump's momentum, Trump's expression sours in schoolboy disgust as the camera bores in on Fiorina. "Look at that face!" he cries. "Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!" The laughter grows halting and faint behind him. "I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not s'posedta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?"
When the article went live, Cable News seized the opportunity to capitalize on a candidate cat fight, and "look at that face!" then found its way to the far corners of the internet. Wednesday evening, Fox News' Megyn Kelly asked Fiorina what she thought Trump meant when he said, "look at that face!" To which Fiorina responded, "You know, honestly Megyn, I'm not gonna spend a whole cycle wondering what Donald Trump means. But maybe, just maybe, I'm getting under his skin a little bit, because I am climbing in the polls." With the dumpster fire ablaze, Trump told Fox New's Greta Van Susteren Thursday that he was an entertainer.

Posted by Amy Miller on September 14, 2015 8 Comments
Today, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will take the stage at a Las Vegas town hall and unveil his national labor reform plan. On Thursday, Walker teased the plan during a speech at Eureka College, saying, "...on Day One, I will stop the government from taking money out of the paychecks of federal employees for political union dues. I've won those battles in Wisconsin and believe me, I won't back down from the battles in Washington." The Walker campaign has done a lot of legwork in the lead-up to today, which tells me that they're banking on this presentation as a vehicle to breathe life back into what many believe is a faltering campaign infrastructure. During an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper this weekend, Walker ran offense as Tapper grilled him on dropping poll numbers and criticism from right-leaning outlets about how his campaign is handling the pressure of the election cycle. Walker's labor reform plan is bold, and detailed. He proposes eliminating the National Labor Relations Board, eliminating federal unions, and requiring new levels of transparency and accountability for all unions. He also backs national right to work laws, and policies that would protect whistleblowers and employees who choose not to join a union. On the taxpayer end, Walker proposes rolling back wage controls (for a savings of $13 billion over ten years,) and ending union control over federal highway contracts (for a savings of 12-18 percent per project.) In an exclusive op-ed at HotAir, Walker touts the plan as a way of protecting workers, while loosening the unions' stranglehold on government:

Posted by Mike LaChance on September 14, 2015 60 Comments
Governor Scott Walker was interviewed by CNN's Jake Tapper yesterday. The segment began with Walker's dropping poll numbers in Iowa but went on to cover a wide range of topics. Early on, Tapper refers to a column from National Review which charges the Walker campaign with being too lax in response to questions on big issues. That article can be read here. Later, Tapper brings up an op-ed Walker wrote for Hot Air about Obama's weak leadership in the face of violence against police officers. You can read that here. Jake Tapper is widely considered one of the most objective journalists in the mainstream media but as you watch the video below, you'll find him full of leftist talking points. The Koch brothers come up more than once, Walker is forced to defend himself as a career politician as if Hillary and Sanders aren't. Tapper also questions Walker about women's rights, Planned Parenthood, the Syrian refugees and more.

Posted by Amy Miller on September 12, 2015 40 Comments
On Friday night, Donald Trump joined the "Tonight Show's" Jimmy Fallon for a little late night...reflecting...on what it means to be The Donald. Literally. Reflecting. Trump interviewed a "mirror image" of himself as played by Jimmy Fallon---who did a decent job at the impersonation. Watch:

Posted by Amy Miller on September 11, 2015 45 Comments
During an address to the Eagle Forum in St. Louis this afternoon, former Texas Governor Rick Perry announced that he is suspending his presidential campaign. From ABC News:
“We have a tremendous field – the best in a generation – so I step aside knowing our party is in good hands, and as long as we listen to the grassroots, the cause of conservatism will be too.” "That is why today I am suspending my campaign for the presidency of the United States," he said, adding that he has "no regrets" about his run. He also took what appeared to be a veiled swipe at GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. "Demeaning people of Hispanic heritage is not just ignorant, it betrays the example of Christ," he said. In recent weeks, Perry has been particularly vocal in his criticism of the real estate mogul. Perry, who launched his campaign on June 4, has been polling in the low single digits throughout his campaign - most recently at 1 percent in the crucial first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa. He was slated to debate for the second time in the lower-tier debate on CNN next week.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 11, 2015 35 Comments
Scott Walker has fallen dramatically in the polls, undone for now by the Trump phenomenon. Numerous pundits, including me, wonder if he can get back up again. Surveying the Republican field, based solely on current polling, Scott Walker should not even be on Hillary's radar. But he is. And she just lashed out at him more viciously than she has any other candidate. Politico reports:
Making her 2015 debut in Scott Walker’s home state of Wisconsin, Hillary Clinton on Thursday unleashed her harshest and most extended diatribe yet against a Republican rival not named Donald Trump, accusing the governor of being a tool of the billionaire Koch brothers. “It seems to me, just observing him, that Governor Walker thinks because he busts unions, starves universities, guts public education, demeans women, scapegoats teachers, nurses, and firefighters, he is some kind of tough guy on a motorcycle, a real leader,” Clinton said to a packed audience at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “Well, that is not leadership folks. Leadership means fighting for the people you represent."

Posted by Amy Miller on September 11, 2015 14 Comments
CNN has released the lineup for next week's Republican presidential debates. The main stage will play host to:
  • Donald Trump
  • Ben Carson
  • Jeb Bush
  • Scott Walker
  • Carly Fiorina
  • John Kasich
  • Chris Christie
  • Ted Cruz
  • Marco Rubio
  • Mike Huckabee
  • Rand Paul
Meanwhile, the early debate field has been narrowed down to 5 players:
  • Rick Perry
  • Bobby Jindal
  • Lindsey Graham
  • George Pataki
  • Rick Santorum

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on September 09, 2015 29 Comments
Scott Walker is no stranger to political challengers or an adversarial press. But what does it do to Walker's national political aspirations when a homegrown reporter who once signed a petition to recall the Governor, happens to be covering his presidential bid for a nationally circulated paper? Tuesday, Media Trackers reported Gannett reporter Madeleine Behr, political writer for USA Today, signed a petition to recall Walker in 2011. Gannett media company knows Behr signed a recall petition because she disclosed as much during the interview process.
A Gannett reporter who writes for both the Appleton Post-Crescent and USA Today covering local and Wisconsin politics, including Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential bid, signed a petition in 2011 to recall Walker from office. Madeleine Behr is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Madison, and she wrote for a number of publications before joining Gannett earlier this year.

Posted by Mike LaChance on September 09, 2015 6 Comments
New Jersey governor and 2016 Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie appeared on the FOX and Friends program yesterday and stated plainly that Obama deserves some blame for recent violence against police. Nick Gass reported at Politico:
Christie blames Obama for attacks on cops Recent violence against law enforcement is President Barack Obama's problem, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Tuesday, blasting the president for failing to lead and uphold the rule of law. "This is the president's problem, because he has not allowed law and order to be the rule of the day in the United States. Lawlessness has been the rule of the day," Christie said in an interview on "Fox and Friends" after the hosts recounted recent killings of police officers in Illinois and Texas, and another shooting in Nevada over the weekend. "And now the president says little or nothing about these police officers that are being hunted."
You can watch the video below.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on September 08, 2015 6 Comments
On "Fox and Friends" Monday morning, Fiorina spoke about numerous issues including Hillary Clinton, defunding Planned Parenthood, the refugee crisis, and her birthday. Fiorina also suggested Donald Trump, "throw a little more heat at Hillary." "Going after Donald Trump hasn't really gone well for other candidates who a lot of people aren't really talking about that much about anymore. Is that a smart line of attack to go after The Donald?" asked a Fox News host.
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