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2016 Republican Primary Tag

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 26, 2015 14 Comments
Rand Paul inhabits a unique position in the Republican Party. While he's conservative on some issues, his Libertarian views on others put him at odds with the establishment. His recent filibuster on the Patriot Act is a prime example. Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard voiced his thoughts on the issue in an appearance on ABC News Sunday. I'm not sure this is a fair line of attack. Evan McMurry of Mediaite has the story:
Kristol: Liberal Democrats Had Rand Paul’s Policies Before He Did A This Week panel noted that Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) #standswithRand (sigh) over the NSA’s bulk collection of communications data and criminal justice reform, causing Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol to call for a point of clarification. “That’s not fair to Keith,” Kristol said. “Rand stands with Keith. Seriously. They had these positions first. Rand Paul has decided that he wants to be a liberal Democrat, undercut necessary intelligence collection and weaken law enforcement services, and Rand Paul thinks that’s going to sell in the Republican primary.
Here's the video:

Posted by Amy Miller on May 18, 2015 20 Comments
I can't be the only one who has absolutely had it with campaign theatre---especially when it pops up during media interviews with presidential candidates. Yesterday on Fox News Sunday, anchor Chris Wallace went full tilt-a-whirl on presidential hopeful Marco Rubio over some alleged "flip-flopping" on George W. Bush's decision to enter Iraq back in 2003. The issue itself is obviously fair game, but Wallace took things a step further by pressing the Senator on his answers to two separate-yet-equally-important questions: Was the war in Iraq a mistake? And, if you had known that there were no WMDs, would you have been in favor of the Iraqi invasion? Except Wallace presented them as the same question. It didn't go well. Watch: (Real Clear Politics has the full transcript of this segment, which you can read here.) ...what the hell did I just watch?

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 15, 2015 20 Comments
Sen. Paul made headlines a few weeks ago when he lobbed the abortion gotcha questions back into the Democrat's court. This week, Paul released a video detailing his pro-life stance. On Facebook, Sen. Paul's official campaign account included the following statement:
I strongly believe in the sanctity of life and that an abortion takes the life of an innocent human being. As a physician, one of the first things we learn is to ‘do no harm.’ Since the Roe v. Wade decision, over 50 million children have been killed in abortion procedures. This is a tragedy. We cannot have liberty if we do not first protect life. As President, I will champion an agenda that supports and defends all human life, no matter how defenseless.
"Can a country founded on God-given rights continue to thrive without understanding that life is a precious gift from our Creator?" asks Paul. A bit theatric, but well done nonetheless:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 15, 2015 14 Comments
After spending months building a solid support base in straw poll states and assembling a rock star-laden team, Governor Perry has finally set a date. An email from his wife, Anita Perry, said the Perry's would be making a "special announcement" in Dallas on June 4th:
America is facing a time of testing, and it's clear that we need principled leadership and an optimistic vision to see us through after eight years of the Obama Administration. Rick and I have been talking a lot about what the future holds for our great country, and the role our family can play in creating an America of unlimited opportunity for our children and grandchildren. We are so excited to share our decision with you, and hope you will join us on June 4th in Dallas for a major announcement! In case you missed it, you can find more details here. Rick and I look forward to seeing you in Dallas on June 4th! Thanks for all you do, Anita Perry
The announcement was also sent via the former First Lady of Texas' Twitter account:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 11, 2015 22 Comments
Yesterday, a video released by Digitas Daily featured a condensed version of Bloomberg host Mark Halperin conducting a super creepy interview with Sen. Ted Cruz. In a series of bizarre questions, Halperin grilled Sen. Cruz on his Cubaness. The interview was so bad, the left-wing group Think Progress condemned it as, "the most racist interview of a 2016 candidate." Think Progress came to the same conclusion as many on the right: Halperin seemed determined to get Cruz on the record about the minutia of his Hispanic heritage. Facing the wrath of the Internet, Mark Halperin released an apology today:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 10, 2015 29 Comments
Thanks to Mark Halperin, we can all rest easy knowing that Presidential hopeful Ted Cruz, is in fact, authentically Cuban. In a bizarre interrogation line of questioning on Bloomberg's 'With All Due Respect', host Mark Halperin grilled Sen. Cruz on his Cubaness. Questions began with, "when you filled out your application to Princeton, to Harvard Law school, did you list yourself as an Hispanic?" Then moved to cuisine, "do you have a favorite Cuban food, Cuban dish?" Cruz tried to answer but was interrupted by Halperin demanding to know his favorite Cuban dish. And it didn't stop there. Halperin continued his interrogation until making a final demand -- that Sen. Cruz welcome Sen. Sanders to the presidential race, with the requirement that he do so, "on Espanol," whatever that means.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on May 10, 2015 16 Comments
Lindsey Graham is soon to join the GOP primary field that so far (officially) consists of Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, and Mike Huckabee.  According to Fox News,
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham plans to announce his presidential campaign on June 1, GOP sources tell Fox News. Graham, a three-term senator from South Carolina, is known as a foreign policy hawk in Congress. Though he is considered a long shot -- and ranks near the bottom in recent polls of declared and potential Republican presidential candidates -- Graham could help drive the debate on national security among a GOP field that includes candidates who sharply question policies ranging from drone strikes to NSA surveillance.
While it's true that Graham's views on national security are more palatable to the conservative base than (say) Rand Paul's, there are areas that may not be reconcilable.  Graham is trying to establish himself not as the squishy "RINO" (Republican in Name Only) but as the "realist" in the field who will work in bipartisan fashion to accomplish his agenda.  It seems reasonable, in that case, to recall some of his bipartisan efforts in recent years: Remember the "Year of Immigration Reform"?  That was 2013, in case you missed it.  The Gang of Eight is often evoked in discussion of Marco Rubio's amnesty flip-flop, but it's worth remembering that Rubio was not the only Republican member.  Lindsey Graham was right there, effectively leading the GOP side:   "We're going to be aggressive in marketing the bill. This is an all hands on deck approach."

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on May 10, 2015 24 Comments
Jeb Bush's super PAC expects to raise $100 million by the end of this month.  According to Politico:
Jeb Bush is putting in motion an ambitious plan to develop a super PAC that would be unprecedented in its size and scope — a blueprint growing in scale and intensity as he nears the formal launch of his presidential campaign. The group, called Right to Rise, is said to be on track for raising an historic $100 million by the end of May, and its budget is expected to dwarf that of Bush’s official campaign many times over. In interviews, more than half a dozen sources familiar with the Right to Rise plans described a juggernaut that was rapidly taking shape — from its likely headquarters in Los Angeles, 2,700 miles from the Miami office where Bush was basing his campaign, to a new fundraising push aimed at expanding its ballooning coffers.
It turns out that his delay in announcing his candidacy is likely tied to campaign finance laws:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 07, 2015 8 Comments
RickPAC served up its latest offering this morning. Filmed in the beautiful Granite State, Governor Perry is shares the message of American exceptionalism. "This is an incredibly resilient country. We've gone through a civil war, we've gone through two world wars, we've gone through a Great Depression, we made it through Jimmy Carter," Perry says speaking to a group. "We are a blessed country and it makes me proud, but there is something wrong." Perry has yet to announce candidacy and hasn't given a timeframe for when he plans to do so.

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 06, 2015 33 Comments
Remember when any criticism of a black man running for president was indisputable proof of racism? MSNBC doesn't. Progressives have forgotten everything that happened since the 2008 election and they think we have too. It's already obvious that Dr. Ben Carson, a renowned pediatric neurosurgeon, is not going to get the respect the left gave to America's most successful community organizer. Ken Shepherd of News Busters:
MSNBC Pundit Suggests Ben Carson an Affirmative-Action Case Who Drank the GOP's 'Kool-Aid' According to MSNBC pundit Michelle Bernard -- best known at NewsBusters perhaps because of her insistence that there is a "war on black boys" in America -- savaged newly-announced GOP presidential aspirant Dr. Ben Carson tonight by alleging his success is all owed to "affirmative action." She also suggested that he's a disgrace to his enslaved ancestors and to the black community in Baltimore, where he's lived throughout his career as an acclaimed neurosurgeon...
MICHELLE BERNARD: It is absolutely horrifying. You take one look at him and you say to yourself, well, your ancestors didn't come here on their free will, so how is the Affordable Care Act in any way comparable to slavery? Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina have the same problem. People are going to say, who is the real Ben Carson? The person who probably went to Yale and University of Michigan for medical school because of affirmative action and because of social problems and didn't end up like many of the black men that we see in prison today in Baltimore, where he came from, because of these same social problems.
Here's the video: You don't have to be a brain surgeon to know why Democrats will never be fair to Dr. Carson.

Posted by Amy Miller on May 06, 2015 14 Comments
In politics, there's no such thing as a tiny mistake. Even the silliest moments become "gaffes" at the behest of overeager journalists looking to "break" the Next Big Scandal©. There's no avoiding it; what matters is how you deal with it. Carly Fiorina knows how to deal with it. When Fiorina took the plunge into the 2016 presidential pool, her team discovered that somewhere down the line, whoever was in charge of these things had neglected to buy CarlyFiorina.org. What's worse, the person who had managed to secure the domain is currently using it to lambast Fiorina's tenure at HP:
“Carly Fiorina failed to register this domain. So I'm using it to tell you how many people she laid off at Hewlett-Packard,” the page reads, followed by 30,000 sad-face emotions that it says represents one person that lost their job. The Hill later reported that an employee at the Service Employees International Union, which regularly donates to the Democratic Party, created the website. He told The Hill that he made the site entirely on his own time with his own resources late last year and that it had nothing to do with his employer.
During her recent appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Meyers brought it up---and was promptly taken to school. Watch:

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 11 Comments
Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina and Mike Huckabee all will be announcing that they are running for President. Carson made his announcement Sunday, perhaps with a slip of the tongue. His official announcement is today via YouTube. Fiorina also announced this morning on Good Morning America:

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 02, 2015 9 Comments
Carly Fiorina visited New Hampshire this week and according to WMUR News, she received a warm reception:
Fiorina moves closer to possible presidential announcement MANCHESTER, N.H. —Republican Carly Fiorina is reportedly set to officially enter the presidential race, and she's crediting New Hampshire with helping her make the call. The announcement could come as soon as Monday, and the former Hewlett-Packard CEO has spent a lot of time in the Granite State. Despite growing criticism from Democrats about her record as an executive, she appears to be gaining some traction. After almost a week of drawing increasingly large crowds in New Hampshire, Fiorina appears poised to make her candidacy official, though she won't confirm it yet. "New Hampshire has helped a lot because I have gotten a huge amount of encouragement," Fiorina said. Although she has never held elected office, Fiorina has been set up as a counterpoint to another female presidential candidate, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 01, 2015 38 Comments
It seems that attacks on Scott Walker seem to boomerang and simply add to his political persona of being a regular guy. Did you hear the one about how Scott Walker never graduated college? #Fail. The latest attack on Walker is that he has "up to" $50,000 in credit card debt to -- wait for it -- Sears.   We don't know exactly how much because financial disclosures only are made in broad ranges, so it could be as little as $10,000. Regardless, it's SEARS! The Daily News does the hit on Walker, from the angle of it proving he's not really a fiscal conservative:
"Owe, no! 2016 hopeful Scott Walker has tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt, owing money to a list of banks and stores including Sears and Barclays, a new report alleges."
Hello, it's SEARS! The Daily Beast actually puts it in proper context, Scott Walker Is Just Like You! In Debt:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 01, 2015 1 Comment
Wednesday we shared the heartwarming story of how Governor Perry and Marcus Luttrell forged a relationship that transcends politics. It's easily one of my favorite stories as of late. Gov. Perry’s relationship with Luttrell is one markedly different from the overplayed politician parades soldier for political expediency schtick. Following the Taliban ambush in Afghanistan, Luttrell found himself struggling to recover from substantial physical, mental, and emotional trauma. That's when Luttrell reached out to Governor Perry. Their relationship blossomed into a story of love, sacrifice, redemption, and hope. WARNING: You might want to grab the tissues before clicking the 'play' button.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 29, 2015 14 Comments
Monday evening, Governor Perry introduced Navy SEAL of 'Lone Survivor' fame at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library's Perspectives on Leadership Forum. There, they discussed their unique bond. "These are extraordinary people that step forward and serve their country," Perry said of military service personnel. "Tonight you are going to hear from one who simply understood that he owed a debt. A debt to the individuals who had come before him. In the form of William Barrett Travis at the Alamo, his father before him, my dad, all of those men and women who have stepped forward to keep this country free. We are incredibly blessed... we are in the presence of some extraordinary beings. And none more so than the one you'll hear from tonight. Just a regular, common, country boy who found himself in extraordinary circumstances." Gov. Perry's relationship with Luttrell is one markedly different from the overplayed politician parades soldier for political expediency schtick. In 2007, two years after he survived a Taliban onslaught in Afghanistan, a distressed Luttrell showed up at the Texas Governor's mansion and asked to speak with Rick Perry.
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