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2016 Republican Primary Tag

Posted by Amy Miller on August 20, 2015 26 Comments
Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the Republican primary candidate causing the most excitement---at least when it comes to media coverage and outspoken grassroots support---is Donald Trump. Love him or hate him, Trump has found his niche in the voter base, and he's playing out his position by going consistently on the offensive against candidates who would prefer to turn focus on their budding policy initiatives for health care or education. While campaigning in New Hampshire this week, Trump took full aim at fellow contender Jeb Bush, who constitutes the prime example of a candidate we'd expect to pivot away from rhetorical attacks. Trump played off of this significant difference in tactics and personality, and the results were devastating.

Posted by Mike LaChance on August 20, 2015 15 Comments
Rand Paul is dealing with some tricky rules as he tries to run for president and hold on to his senate seat at the same time. Chris Moody of CNN reports:
Rand Paul's tough choice Rand Paul has a choice: Spend nearly half a million dollars to keep his increasingly longshot presidential ambitions alive in his home state or leave the Senate. For now, he's choosing to pony up. Paul's political future rests partially in the hands of nearly 350 Republican officials in Kentucky, who will decide Saturday whether to approve a costly plan that would allow him to run in Kentucky for president and the U.S. Senate simultaneously—and possibly salvage his chances of staying in electoral politics after 2016. The proposal, which acts as a work-around of a state law that forbids candidates in Kentucky from running for two federal offices at the same time, would establish a presidential caucus in early March in addition to the state primary scheduled two months later.

Posted by New Neo on August 19, 2015 26 Comments
We all know that Hillary Clinton is the first female frontrunner candidate of a major party. That is, she's long been the frontrunner, and remains the frontrunner, although who knows how long that will continue. I believe that the only thing that can stop Clinton is an indictment, or the entry of Elizabeth Warren into the race. That's how shallow the Democratic bench is and how much the public (especially Democrats) seems to thirst for another "first," as they did with Obama. The first woman president is the next logical step for them, and Hillary seems (or seemed until recently) to fit the bill. That's one of the reasons Carly Fiorina is an especially good foil for her. I don't doubt, however, that if Carly were to rise in the polls and become a strong possibility for first female president, the attacks on her as "not a real woman" would become the drumbeat of the opposition.

Posted by Mike LaChance on August 19, 2015 31 Comments
In the race for the 2016 Republican nomination, John Kasich is being taken seriously because he's been a popular governor for Ohio, and because...well...Ohio. As you may recall, his biggest applause lines in the first GOP debate were for his stance on caring for the mentally ill and for citing God's unconditional love on the question of gay marriage. Kasich seems to be running on compassionate conservatism 2.0, but don't take my word for it. NBC News reports:
John Kasich Pitches Compassion at Iowa State Fair Ohio Gov. John Kasich sought to portray himself as compassionate conservative and touted his gains in the polls in New Hampshire when he visited the Iowa State Fair on Tuesday. His soapbox speech, which had to be moved indoors because of rain, contained little of the red meat typically doled out when Republican presidential candidates address Iowa crowds. Instead, his speech hit on topics ranging from aid to Africa, treating Alzheimer's disease and expanding Medicaid in Ohio.

Posted by Amy Miller on August 19, 2015 22 Comments
If you've been craving red meat health care policy from the Republican candidates, hopefuls Scott Walker and Marco Rubio have something they'd like you to take a look at. This week both candidates introduced voters to their plans to repeal and replace Barack Obama's controversial health care reforms with policies they claim will roll back government intervention while still protecting Americans from the effects of another health care overhaul. Rubio's plan is anchored by three primary components:
  • "Advanceable, refundable tax credits"---according to Rubio, he envisions these credits increasing in value, and would also include relief for employers who provide insurance.
  • Regulatory reform---Rubio wants to enable purchases across state lines, expand and encourage the use of HSAs, and implement protections for people with preexisting conditions.
  • Medicare and Medicaid reform---Rubio plans to implement a block-grant system for Medicaid funding, and craft policies that will transition future Medicare recipients into a system based on choice and free market competition.
Rubio announced this plan in an editorial for Politico:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on August 18, 2015 13 Comments
Josh Groban joined Jimmy Kimmel Live Tuesday night. As part of a sketch, a piano-playing Groban sang tweets written by Donald Trump. The tweets are in fact, real. "Josh Groban's The Best Tweets of Kanye West was the number one album of 2011. And now, his highly anticipated follow up, The Best Tweets of Donald Trump. "Donald Trump's tweets will make you laugh, will make you cry, but mostly will make you cry," said Groban.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on August 18, 2015 21 Comments
At the RedState gathering, I had an opportunity to sit down with Republican Presidential contender and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Rather than focus on policy, I decided to talk to Governor Walker about his bitter battle with the Wisconsin unions and how those encounters affected him personally. "Those are the sorts of battles, maybe not as high profile as it was then, but essentially that the president goes through all the time," said Walker.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on August 17, 2015 49 Comments
Speaking on the soap box at the Iowa State Fair Monday morning, Governor Scott Walker was welcomed by an all too familiar crowd -- union hecklers. Rather than ignoring the front row rabble-rousers, Governor Walker confronted them directly. "I am not intimidated by you, sir, or anyone else out there. I will fight for the American people over, and over, and over, again. You want someone who's tested? I'm right here. You can see it. This is what happened in Wisconsin. We will not back down. We will do what is necessary to defend the American people going forward," said Walker.

Posted by New Neo on August 16, 2015 87 Comments
Donald Trump's immigration plan is certainly guaranteed to get him even more attention than before. It's a wish list for the most anti-illegal-immigrant wing of the electorate, although it also features some workable and laudable proposals that are not unique to Trump. Reading the text of Trump's document reminds me somewhat of Barack Obama in campaign mode. Not the content, of course---that is very different from Obama's---but the process: I will do this, I will do that, while ignoring whether what he suggests is workable, how much it would cost, and how Trump would probably have to don the mantle of dictator to accomplish some of it:
The problem with Trump’s wall is that it is infeasible; the geography of the border simply does not allow for one unbroken wall. Nor would it be effective. Even if you could erect this barrier around, say, Florida, walls can be surmounted, tunneled under, and circumvented in other ways. Policing the border requires police; human capital that comes at taxpayer expense. Mexico will not be paying their salaries, but Trump has a plan for that, too: confiscate all remittances from illegal immigrants working in America and hike the fees on all Mexican tourism and work visas. Erecting the structures necessary to identify much less confiscate illegal wages would prove daunting. Even if it was legal and could survive court challenges, a dubious prospect, this is a policy that would require a dramatic expansion of government’s ability to intrude on the lives of American citizens – a principle to which conservatives were once constitutionally opposed...

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 16, 2015 12 Comments
California's economy is in no danger of catching fire, but its scenic beauty is. Meanwhile, Governor Jerry Brown has been busy signing bills into laws, demonstrating an intriguing set of executive priorities. First, he bans the word "alien" from the state's labor code.
Sacramento has its own Censor-in-Chief. Gov. Jerry Brown just signed a bill making the word “alien” ironically illegal. Brown signed SB 432 by Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, to remove the term “alien” from the California labor code to describe foreign-born workers. “Mendoza said removing the term ‘alien’ was an important step toward modernizing California law because it is now commonly considered a derogatory term with very negative connotations,” the AP/CBS reported. “The only vote against the bill came in the State Assembly, from Assemblyman Matthew Harper, R-Huntington Beach (Orange County), who told the San Francisco Chronicle that the bill was ‘just a way for legislators to get their names in the paper….[t]he negative connotations come from the fact that people are breaking the law. Changing the word won’t change the fact that folks are here illegally.” Breitbart reported.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on August 16, 2015 134 Comments
George Will has written a thought-provoking piece over at WaPo in which he argues that the GOP should purge itself of Trump and Trump's supporters. Will explains:
When, however, Trump decided that his next acquisition would be not another casino but the Republican presidential nomination, he tactically and quickly underwent many conversions of convenience (concerning abortion, health care, funding Democrats, etc.). His makeover demonstrates that he is a counterfeit Republican and no conservative.

He is an affront to anyone devoted to the project William F. Buckley began six decades ago with the founding in 1955 of the National Review — making conservatism intellectually respectable and politically palatable. Buckley’s legacy is being betrayed by invertebrate conservatives now saying that although Trump “goes too far,” he has “tapped into something,” and therefore . . . .

Therefore what? This stance — if a semi-grovel can be dignified as a stance — is a recipe for deserved disaster. Remember, Henry Wallace and Strom Thurmond “tapped into” things.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on August 14, 2015 7 Comments
It's been quite the news week. To cap it off and end on a cute note, might we suggest a condensed Republican presidential debate reenacted by children? Wig-clad kiddos adorned in oversized American flag pins reenact the first Fox News prime time debate and it's hilarious. Not to mention, alarming close to reality.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 14, 2015 73 Comments
Megyn Kelly has not only been a rising star, she is at the top of the Fox News food chain, with the possible exception of Bill O'Reilly. We explored her success -- and anti-Fox News Media Matters' frustration -- in Megyn Kelly’s success must be driving Media Matters crazy-er. Kelly had some uncomfortable on-air back and forth with Donald Trump during the first debate, particularly on the issue of how Trump treats women: That was followed by a multi-day lambasting of Kelly by Trump post-debate, including the infamous (and disputed) "blood coming out of her eyes, or wherever" comment, resulting in Trump being uninvited from the RedState annaual gathering:

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on August 14, 2015 47 Comments
Dr. Ben Carson came into the public eye with his 2013 Prayer Breakfast speech at the White House.  Conservatives, myself included, were thrilled to see a prominent physician speak out for life and against many Obama policies . . . with Obama squirming in his chair only a few feet away. We love someone who is brave enough to stand for their principles and unafraid to take on the powers that be (as witnessed by the strong conservative support we are currently seeing for Trump). Dr. Carson was, many conservatives thought and still think, just what the doctor ordered. There was a hiccup along the way, however, when Dr. Carson made his remarks that the Second Amendment should only being applied to some people, depending on where they live. Populated areas, he felt, were not the place for legal gun ownership. He later clarified these remarks and asserted that he is "extremely pro–Second Amendment, no question about it,” and the issue kind of faded away. Now, Dr. Carson is facing another controversy stemming from Dr. Jen Gunter's blog post stating that he "once did research on 17-week aborted fetal tissue." It seems that Dr. Carson was one of several authors listed on a paper, published in Human Pathology in 1992, detailing his and others' study of adult and fetal tissue.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on August 13, 2015 26 Comments
The Ted Cruz campaign is holding its own in terms of polls and campaign fundraising; indeed, according to reports, the Cruz campaign raked in $1 million within the first 100 hours following last Thursday's debate.  His #CruzCountry bus tour is also creating a lot of buzz on Twitter, with enthusiastic supporters tweeting that they've just met the "next president." Watch: Winning the presidency is clearly Cruz's goal, and he seems to be playing a long game.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 12, 2015 37 Comments
Scott Walker was at or near the top of just about all polling until the Fox News debate. Now he's dropped in the rankings as Donald Trump has maintained his margin in most polls, though there's some evidence of weakening. Walker is now second or third in Iowa, where he consistently led, and is back in the middle of the pack nationally. Nate Silver notes:
Scott Walker: This one surprised me a little, but the polling is clear. Walker is the only candidate who lost ground in every single post-debate poll. In Iowa, where Walker had been leading, just 5 percent of voters said his performance was the most impressive of all the candidates. Walker’s debate night was bad enough that he has lost his edge in Iowa to Trump.
Perhaps I was wrong when I commented after the debate:
Scott Walker: A very workmanlike performance. Weaved his way around questions to answer the questions he wanted to answer, refocusing on Hillary when he could. Often had time left because he answered so succinctly. Not sure this will light his campaign on fire, but in playing the long game, he didn’t hurt himself.
That workmanlike debate performance let a huge debate audience, and intense media focus, get away. While we and our readers are very familiar with Walker, most people are not.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on August 11, 2015 33 Comments
Late Monday evening, National Journal reported Rick Perry was no longer paying campaign staff in South Carolina. Naturally, the report raised speculation that Governor Perry's presidential campaign might be the first to run out of fuel. Later, several news outlets reported that Perry's entire campaign staff had been relegated to volunteer status and given the go-ahead to seek other employment. While Perry's campaign isn't rolling in dough, the Super PACs supporting the Governor's presidential bid certainly aren't broke. They're also not flush with cash. National Journal explained Tuesday:
But while his official campaign has been reduced to a volunteer operation, a trio of independent pro-Perry super PACs remain well-heeled, making it less likely Perry will be forced to exit the race entirely. "Oh God, yes, full steam ahead," said Austin Barbour, a senior adviser to Perry's super PACs. "Because we raised $16.8 million." The remarkable imbalance between the cash-strapped campaign and the flush super PAC will likely test the limits, already being pushed by other underfunded candidates, of how much responsibility can be pushed off onto unlimited-money outside groups. "We raised as much money as possible so that we would have the ability to spend it in whatever way we needed to spend it," Barbour said, "whether it was traditional super PAC ways on paid media or whatever other ways we need."

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on August 11, 2015 17 Comments
Tasked with digging into the security of Hillary's home brewed email server, the FBI investigation into presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is expanding it's reach. A local CBS News affiliate reports the Denver based Platte River Networks received a visit from the FBI last week regarding former Secretary Clinton's email. Platte River Networks handled the Clinton's email accounts though there's been no public explanation as to what that entailed.
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