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Hillary Clinton Tag

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 07, 2016 20 Comments
There is an old adage that bad things come in threes. Today, there are three omens showing that Hillary Clinton's campaign may be floundering worse than previously imagined. We have covered two of those signs already: Donors wanting to Draft Vice President Joe Biden for the party's nomination and Gloria Steinem indicating women who vote for Senator Bernie Sanders are actually after men. Unexpectedly, that last bit is not playing too terribly well among progressive women.

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 06, 2016 19 Comments
As the child of two very public figures, Chelsea Clinton has enjoyed a certain amount of respect from the political media but now she's acting as a surrogate for her mother's campaign. That changes things, as Professor Jacobson noted in a recent post. A new column from Jack Shafer of Politico echoes that sentiment:
Time for Chelsea Clinton's Easy Ride to End When precisely did Chelsea Clinton complete her transition from a White House kid whom journalists agreed to treat as off-limits to a public figure deserving of the full scrutiny of the press corps?

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 05, 2016 16 Comments
Thursday, The Des Moines Register's Editorial Board called for an audit of Iowa's Democratic Caucus results.
...too many questions have been raised. Too many accounts have arisen of inconsistent counts, untrained and overwhelmed volunteers, confused voters, cramped precinct locations, a lack of voter registration forms and other problems. Too many of us, including members of the Register editorial board who were observing caucuses, saw opportunities for error amid Monday night’s chaos.
Hillary Clinton was declared the winner with a minuscule two-tenths of 1% victory over Bernie Sanders and some incredibly lucky coin tossing. Because Iowa's Democratic Party chair has refused to audit the caucus results. Bernie Sanders' campaign is doing their part to recount the ballots. Friday, Ben Jacobs of The Guardian reports that the Iowa Democratic Party changed the altered a precinct's caucus results, giving a Sanders delegate to Clinton.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 04, 2016 16 Comments
Welcome to our live coverage of tonight's Democratic presidential debate. The debate begins at 9:00 PM ET on MSNBC and will be moderated by NBC's Chuck Todd and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. With Martin O'Malley out of the race, the Democratic presidential primary is officially a showdown. Just saying'...

How to watch the debate:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 04, 2016 11 Comments
Something is rotten in Iowa and it's the results of Monday night's Democratic Caucus. Hillary won by the skin of her teeth and with the help of some incredible luck in a half-dozen coin tosses. Thursday, the editorial board of the Des Moines Register called for an audit of Monday night's Democratic Caucus results. It's worth noting the DMR's endorsed Hillary Clinton as their Democratic candidate of choice. "Something smells in the Democratic Party," they wrote.
Once again the world is laughing at Iowa. Late-night comedians and social media mavens are having a field day with jokes about missing caucusgoers and coin flips. That’s fine. We can take ribbing over our quirky process. But what we can’t stomach is even the whiff of impropriety or error.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 04, 2016 22 Comments
The more things change, the more they stay the same. At the Democratic Town Hall on CNN last night, a Hillary supporter asked Hillary about right-wing attacks on her, and Anderson Cooper followed up with a question whether she still believes there is a vast right wing conspiracy against her. Hillary's response will surprise no one (emphasis added):
COOPER: I want you to meet Sean Burke (ph). He's a Democrat from Derry, says he is a supporter of yours. Sean (ph)? CLINTON: Hi, Sean (ph). QUESTION: Hey. Once you become the nominee and got elected, how are you going to defend yourself against right-wing attacks? CLINTON: Well, Sean (ph), I had a lot of practice. (LAUGHTER) (APPLAUSE)

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 04, 2016 15 Comments
Cybersecurity is going to be a challenging problem for the next president and every one thereafter but maybe Hillary Clinton isn't the best person to bring this up as a campaign issue. Alyssa Canobbio of the Washington Free Beacon:
Clinton Calls Cybersecurity ‘One of the Most Important Challenges’ for the Next President At the end of a get out the vote campaign event in New Hampshire on Wednesday, Hillary Clinton was asked about her plans for protecting cyber security. “It is one of the most important challenges the next president is going to face,” Clinton said.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 01, 2016 19 Comments
Judicial Watch obtained records that could implicate State Department officials in Hillary Clinton's ongoing email scandal. According to those records, State Department officials planned to provide Clinton with a non-DOS computer.
Judicial Watch announced today that it recently received records from the Department of State disclosing plans by senior State Department officials to set up a “stand-alone PC” so that Clinton could check her emails in an office “across the hall” through a separate, non-State Department computer network system. Referencing the special Clinton computer system, Under Secretary for Management Patrick F. Kennedy, writes Clinton Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills, “The stand-alone separate network PC is a great idea.” The emails are from January 23-24, 2009, a few days after Clinton was sworn in as Secretary of State. The new emails were obtained by Judicial Watch in response a court order in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit for State Department records about Hillary Clinton’s separate email system (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-00689)).

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 01, 2016 63 Comments
Logically, Donald Trump should be the worst candidate against the Hillary machine. He has a colorful history that would be an oppo-researcher's dream.  Like taking candy from a baby. And his negatives are in the stratosphere. Gallup just released a survey showing that Trump's negatives not only are high, they are of a historic nature:
At this point (two-week average through Jan. 27), 33% of Americans view Trump favorably and 60% unfavorably. It's that 60% unfavorable figure that I can focus on here. Hillary Clinton currently has a 52% unfavorable rating among all Americans, while Jeb Bush is at 45%, Chris Christie 38%, Ted Cruz 37%, Marco Rubio 33%, Bernie Sanders 31% and Ben Carson 30%. Trump's 60% is clearly well above all of these. Putting his favorable and unfavorable ratings together yields a net favorable of -27 for Trump, far above the -10 for Clinton and for Bush, the next lowest among the major candidates.... Looking across all of these candidates' unfavorable ratings outside of election years yields this conclusion: Only one of them, George W. Bush, ever had an unfavorable rating of 60% or higher. For Bush, his unpopularity crested in his final lame-duck year in office, with an unfavorable rating that hit 66% in April 2008.
In the RCP average Trump trails Hillary by 2.7% in a head-to-head match up, while Rubio is up 2.5% and Cruz is up 1.3%. Yet, it seems that notwithstanding the Dem spin that they fear Rubio the most, the Clinton War Room is preparing for Trump, and is confounded. Politico reports, How Clinton is plotting to go after Trump:

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 01, 2016 12 Comments
Back at the first Democrat debate, Bernie famously said people were sick of hearing about Hillary's "damn emails" but now he's acknowledging that it's a serious issue. When CNN's Jake Tapper asked about it, Bernie also insisted that he's not politicizing the issue. David Rutz of the Washington Free Beacon:
Sanders on Clinton Emails: ‘I Think This Is a Very Serious Issue’ Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) said he considered Hillary Clinton’s private email server investigation to be “a very serious issue” Sunday on CNN, while also adding there was a legal process taking place that he did not want to politicize. At the conclusion of their interview, State of the Union host Jake Tapper reminded Sanders of his famous remarks at the first Democratic debate in October, when he told Clinton the American people were “sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.”

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on January 31, 2016 10 Comments
With her poll numbers cratering, Hillary Clinton and her team have evidently caved to the reality that the thin debate schedule designed to hide her from the public eye and let her coast to the Democrat nomination is actually, as Kemberlee noted earlier this month, hurting her and her campaign. As a result, the Clinton team and the Sanders team have agreed to four more debates this campaign season, a decision the DNC still has to approve (and likely will). Politico reports:
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders’ campaigns have agreed in principle to attend four more debates, starting with a proposed New Hampshire event next week, a Clinton campaign aide confirmed Saturday.

Posted by Mike LaChance on January 30, 2016 5 Comments
Now that the Iowa caucus is getting close, things are starting to heat up between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. In an interview with Lester Holt yesterday, Hillary took a few shots at Sanders. Via NBC News:
Ahead of Iowa, Clinton Says She 'Can Actually Produce Results' Hillary Clinton, locked in a dead heat with Bernie Sanders three days before the Iowa caucuses, betrayed little sign of nerves in an interview with NBC News Friday, saying she relished the scrutiny that a close fight will bring her rival. Clinton also accused Sanders of "trying to go negative" with ads accusing Wall Street of trying to buy off politicians — spots that didn't name Clinton, but aired after she left Iowa Wednesday to raise money at a Philadelphia investment firm.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 29, 2016 27 Comments
It's Friday night. So the State Department just released a new batch of Hillary emails. Because weekend. There are 22 emails, however that will not be released:
The State Department has concluded there is "top secret" material in Hillary Clinton's email correspondence from the time she was secretary of state, indicating that some of her emails will never be released, even in heavily redacted form, because they are too sensitive for the public to view. State Department spokesman John Kirby said the material crosses seven email chains, amounting to 37 pages worth of material.
Hillary wants the 22 Top Secret emails released to the public:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 29, 2016 14 Comments
This is good. Really good. So good that Mother Jones magazine calls it an Unhinged Rant: Mother Jones conveniently provides a list of Carly Fiorina's points:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 29, 2016 56 Comments
The political interference by the White House in the investigation of Hillary Clinton just took a big step up. Previously, in a 60 Minutes interview in October 2015, Obama pretty much signaled Justice to lay off Hillary (emphasis added):
Steve Kroft: Did you know about Hillary Clinton’s use of private email server– President Barack Obama: No. Steve Kroft: –while she was Secretary of State? President Barack Obama: No. Steve Kroft: Do you think it posed a national security problem? President Barack Obama: I don’t think it posed a national security problem. I think that it was a mistake that she has acknowledged and– you know, as a general proposition, when we’re in these offices, we have to be more sensitive and stay as far away from the line as possible when it comes to how we handle information, how we handle our own personal data. And, you know, she made a mistake. She has acknowledged it. I do think that the way it’s been ginned-up is in part because of– in part– because of politics. And I think she’d be the first to acknowledge that maybe she could have handled the original decision better and the disclosures more quickly. But–

Posted by Mike LaChance on January 29, 2016 18 Comments
Bernie Sanders has done plenty of favors for Hillary in this election cycle but instead of having his good will returned, he's coming up against the Clinton smear machine. A rumor is circulating that Sanders supporters are planning to win the Iowa caucus by flooding it with college students from out of state. The rumor is nothing more than a delivery system for the smear which would give Clinton supporters an opportunity to taint a Sanders win in the state. Chuck Ross reported at The Daily Caller:
Sanders Is Furious At David Brock, Hillary’s Loyal Servant And Spin Master Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders ripped into David Brock, the head of the pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC, Correct the Record, after being asked about rumors on Thursday that his campaign was planning to bus out-of-state students into Iowa to take part in Monday’s caucuses.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on January 29, 2016 4 Comments
In the wake of the news that Bernie Sanders' "free stuff for everyone" proposals will cost taxpayers $19.6 trillion in new taxes, Nancy Pelosi is distancing Democrats from his massive tax increases. The Hill reports:
Democrats are not on board with the tax hikes Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has proposed to pay for his single-payer healthcare proposal, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday. "We're not running on any platform of raising taxes," Pelosi said during a press briefing to launch the Democrats' yearly issues conference in Baltimore, Md. "We do want to have a fairer tax system, and … we hope that we can do that this year."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 27, 2016 20 Comments
Hillary has an honesty perception problem, and everyone knows it. That problem surfaced at the CNN Democratic Town Hall the other night, when a young man in the audience questioned Hillary about it: Hey, remember when speaking truth to power was a supposedly liberal ideal? Not in 2016 America. To Joan Walsh, well-known liberal writer and agitator formerly for Salon now for The Nation, the young man's question was pretty impertinent. Particularly since he's male and white. And young. (Admirably, Walsh does disclose that her own daughter works for Clinton.) In an ode to Hillary, Walsh writes, Why I’m Supporting Hillary Clinton, With Joy and Without Apologies (italics in original):
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