Topic: Slappy Statist Candidates for US President 2016 - page 10. (Read 17970 times)

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Officially, O’Malley is still merely considering a bid. But his travel schedule suggests otherwise. Last weekend, he was in South Carolina; this weekend he’s headed to New Hampshire. He has also scheduled trips to Iowa this month and next.


If O’Malley does formally enter the race, he’ll be a heavy underdog, of course. Still, he’ll find some encouragement from Clinton’s ongoing troubles. On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that she maintained her own home-brew server for the private e-mail address that she has been revealed to have used for work correspondence as Secretary of State, rather than relying on an outside service, such as Google or Yahoo. “Operating her own server would have afforded Clinton additional legal opportunities to block government or private subpoenas in criminal, administrative or civil cases because her lawyers could object in court before being forced to turn over any emails,” the A.P. story said.
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Have people forgotten how bad his brother was?
The amount of money he is raising is staggering.

Awash in cash, Bush asks donors not to give more than $1 million – for now


More...http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/awash-in-cash-bush-asks-donors-to-limit-gifts-to-1-million--for-now/2015/03/04/0b8d3fc6-c1c8-11e4-9271-610273846239_story.html

Good move, way to win over working class people, Jebby boy.

Dr. Ben Carson, who recently formed an exploratory committee for a potential run for president, finds himself in a new controversy on the issue of gay marriage.

Debating with CNN Chris Cuomo on New Day, Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, said the fact that straight men have sex with other men while in prison proves being gay is a choice.

Cuomo asked if Carson thought being gay was a choice, to which he replied, “Absolutely.”

Carson said, “A lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight and when they come out they’re gay. So, did something happen while they were in there? Ask yourself that question.”

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But while one could ascribe victory to the Florida republican in this latest scrimish, the real victor of this spat between the so-called "left" and "right" is the firm that stand to benefit no matter who wins: Goldman Sachs.

Why? Because both Bush and Clinton are desperate to be courted by the bank that made bloodsucking molluscs infamous, and to have the opportunity to return the favor in spades once either of the two moves to occupy the oval office.

As Politico reports in the "Goldman Sachs Primary", one can "forget the Democratic and Republican primaries: The two biggest names in the 2016 presidential race are competing directly against each other in an elite forum, the halls of Goldman Sachs."

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She and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, have both raised huge sums from Goldman and all across Wall Street for their campaigns and charitable foundation. But Blankfein has also made warm comments about some in the Republican field including Bush. Blankfein has indicated he would be fine with either a Bush or Clinton presidency.

An unusual request has gone out to wealthy donors writing large checks to support former Florida governor Jeb Bush: Please don’t give more than $1 million right away.

The requested limit, confirmed by multiple people familiar with the amount, may mark the first time that a presidential hopeful has sought to hold off supporters from contributing too much money.

The move reflects concerns among Bush advisers that accepting massive sums from a handful of uber-rich supporters could fuel a perception that the former governor is in their debt. The effort is also driven by a desire to build as broad a pool of donors as possible among wealthier contributors.

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But while one could ascribe victory to the Florida republican in this latest scrimish, the real victor of this spat between the so-called "left" and "right" is the firm that stand to benefit no matter who wins: Goldman Sachs.

Why? Because both Bush and Clinton are desperate to be courted by the bank that made bloodsucking molluscs infamous, and to have the opportunity to return the favor in spades once either of the two moves to occupy the oval office.

As Politico reports in the "Goldman Sachs Primary", one can "forget the Democratic and Republican primaries: The two biggest names in the 2016 presidential race are competing directly against each other in an elite forum, the halls of Goldman Sachs."

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She and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, have both raised huge sums from Goldman and all across Wall Street for their campaigns and charitable foundation. But Blankfein has also made warm comments about some in the Republican field including Bush. Blankfein has indicated he would be fine with either a Bush or Clinton presidency.
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Over the past few days at CPAC, Sean Hannity has asked various prospective Republican presidential candidates to list their “top five agenda items.” Former governor Jeb Bush’s list did not include repealing Obamacare.

Bush’s list included (1) undoing President Obama’s lawless executive actions, (2) regulatory reform, (3) tax reform, (4) encouraging economic growth, and (5) sending “a signal to the rest of the world that we’re going to be their partner for peace and security.” But it did not include repealing Obamacare or signing a conservative alternative to Obamacare into law.

Neither Governor Scott Walker nor Senator Marco Rubio listed repealing Obamacare as a stand-alone agenda item, but both did list it as a subcomponent of their first agenda item. Walker’s first agenda item was “growth,” which he said could be brought about through (in the order he listed them) tax reform, repealing Obamacare, and a pro-energy policy. Similarly, Rubio’s first agenda item was a “healthy economy,” which he said could be brought about through (again, in the order he listed them) tax reform, regulatory reform, repealing and replacing Obamacare, a pro-energy policy, and a balanced budget. (Walker listed only two other agenda items: devolving power to the states, and showing clarity and determination in our foreign policy. Rubio also listed only two others: giving “people the skills they need for the 21st century,” and ensuring a strong military.)

Laura Ingraham provided some snark for the second day of the CPAC conference in Maryland Friday morning.

Noting that Jeb Bush, the establishment Republican candidate, would be talking to the conservative gathering later in the day, she suggested that he could help the GOP with its persistent problem drawing women voters.

“I think Jeb could really explode the gender gap. And let me tell you how…I think women could actually turn out in droves. I mean, what woman doesn’t like a man who gives her a blank check at Tiffany’s?”

Ouch. The radio host and Fox News guest host was referring to the expensive tastes of Jeb’s wife, Columba, who apparently has a thing for bling.

In 1999 Columba Bush caused an embarrassing incident for her husband when she was caught trying to bring in about $19,000 of clothing and jewelry she’d bought on a Paris trip without declaring it at customs. Her excuse was that she didn’t want Jeb to know how much she’d spent.

But as embarrassing as that was, less than a year later, “she took out a loan to buy $42,311.70 worth of jewelry on a single day, according to records filed with the state of Florida,” the Washington Post reported.

Ingraham then sarcastically suggested that the presidential nomination process could be skipped altogether, and Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton could run on the same ticket.

“Go through the list of things they agree on: Common Core, amnesty, giving Obama fast-track trade authority — lot of new trade deals with China — the surveillance culture. So I’m designing the bumper sticker. ‘CLUSH 2016, What difference does it make?’”

Jeb to Booing CPAC Activists: ‘I’m Marking You Down As Neutral’

CPAC activists booed Jeb Bush when Sean Hannity broached the subject of immigration in a Q&A with the former Florida governor, but Bush stood by his perceived conservative heresies on the issue, winning applause as he argued that Americans shouldn’t feel deprived of jobs by incoming immigrants. “For those who made an ‘oo’ sound — is that what it was? — I’m marking you down as neutral and I want to be your second choice,” Bush said, grinning. Asked if he still supports providing drivers licenses and in-state tuition prices to illegal immigrants, Bush initially demurred. When Hannity circled back to those past stances, he stood by the policies — neither of which passed into law when he was in office — and noted that a conservative state legislature and governor signed an in-state tuition bill into Florida law just this year.

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William Temple, a member of the Golden Isle Tea Party, told The Washington Times that the party’s doesn’t need another Bush in office and said that the party should listen to the grassroots activists that helped fuel their gains in the 2014 election.

“A lot of peoples were not going to come here because they heard Jeb Bush was speaking,” Mr. Temple said, before laying out his plan at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

“We are going to get up in mass, and we are going to walk out on him,” the 64-year-old said. “We are not going to interrupt anyone’s speech, but we are all going to exercise our right to the bathroom at the same time.”
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The standard liberal narrative about how uncaring, racist and evil conservatives are usually begins with the welfare queen.

That would be the supposedly apocryphal tale of a Cadillac-driving women on welfare who was fraudulently collecting multiple government benefits. It was said to be the ultimate dog whistle.

Never mind that the story turned out to be substantially true, though some liberals had a hard time coming to terms with it. (Consider this NPR headline about “the truth behind the lies.”)

One liberal who understood why this story resonated with the American people more than hand-wringing about dog whistles: Bill Clinton. That’s why he campaigned on “ending welfare as we know it” by making it “a second chance, not a way of life.”
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That’s why the latest example of the Clintons’ extensive corporate ties, The Wall Street Journal’s report on the family foundation pocketing money from big companies that did business with Hillary Clinton’s State Department, is such a bombshell.

Sixty companies that lobbied the State Department between 2009 and 2013, while Hillary was secretary of state, donated more than $26 million to the Clinton Foundation over that time period. At least 44 of the 60 participated in $3.2 billion worth of philanthropy projects by the Clinton Global Initiative, while at least 15 were part of Clinton-created public-private partnerships.

It’s not clear that any of this was illegal and it’s possible that some of this supported worthwhile projects. But it illustrates the nexus between crony capitalism and modern American liberalism as we know it.

This isn’t something unique to Bill and Hillary Clinton. Under Barack Obama, government-run health care has become a boon to big health insurers and pharmaceutical companies, who are rallying to save Obamacare from the Supreme Court.

Rubio tried to con the Tea Party.

He comes off to me just as very untrustworthy.

Phyllis Schlafly has long argued that the American conservative movement’s purpose is to influence, not echo, the Republican Party.

And still going strong at age 90, Mrs. Schlafly wants to influence the GOP anew by warning against letting the party’s “kingmakers” — the Wall Street elite and political consultant class — turn the 2016 presidential nomination contest into a coronation of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Mincing no words, Mrs. Schlafly makes her case in a 2015 update to her landmark book from a half-century ago titled “A Choice Not an Echo,” which, in 1964, became the motto of Barry Goldwater’s grass-roots movement.

In her update, Mrs. Schlafly — founder of the Eagle Forum — argues that her party too often picks losers as candidates because of a stranglehold by the political consultant-big business-Wall Street crowd, which she argues makes a bundle from championing moderates over conservatives.

She warns that may be happening again in 2016 in the persona of Jeb Bush.

She notes “closed-door events have been held for Republican megadonors to select who will get the big money that went last time to Mitt Romney” and that the mainstream media already are cheering on Mr. Bush.

As evidence, she cites a New York Times article about how “Jeb Bush is so smart, so intellectual and so well-read. We were told that he is a ‘top-drawer intellect’ and a voracious reader who maintains 25 books on his Kindle — books such as George Gilder’s ‘Knowledge and Power.’”

Mrs. Schlafly urges grass-roots conservatives to rise up and resist a coronation of Mr. Bush.

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But as he attempted that balance, Bush's forceful outlook aligned him closely with his brother at the same time the likely 2016 Republican presidential candidate has surrounded himself with architects of his brother's policies, including former deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

The address sidestepped the deeply unpopular Iraq war begun by the second Bush president. Yet during a question-and-answer period the former Florida governor conceded "there were mistakes in Iraq, for sure," citing bad intelligence about weapons of mass destruction and insufficient security after the fall of Saddam Hussein. He quickly credited his brother for the troop surge, deeming it a "heroic act of courage."

"Weakness invites war," Bush said before a crowd of nearly 900 at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. "Strength encourages peace."

Though Obama has angered his liberal base with drone strikes and other uses of force, Republicans cast him as too cautious and not strong enough with Iran and Russia, and in other hot spots. Bush on Wednesday stepped firmly into that camp....
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Is Hillary Rodham Clinton a McDonald’s Big Mac or a Chipotle burrito bowl? A can of Bud or a bottle of Blue Moon? JCPenney or J. Crew?

As she readies her second presidential campaign, Clinton has recruited consumer marketing specialists onto her team of trusted political advisers. Their job is to help imagine Hillary 5.0 — the rebranding of a first lady turned senator turned failed presidential candidate turned secretary of state turned likely 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.

Clinton and her image-makers are sketching ways to refresh the well-established brand for tomorrow’s marketplace. In their mission to present voters with a winning picture of the likely candidate, no detail is too big or too small — from her economic opportunity agenda to the design of the “H” in her future campaign logo.

“It’s exactly the same as selling an iPhone or a soft drink or a cereal,” said Peter Sealey, a longtime corporate marketing strategist. “She needs to use everything a brand has: a dominant color, a logo, a symbol. . . . The symbol of a Mercedes is a three-pointed star. The symbol of Coca-Cola is the contour bottle. The symbol of McDonald’s is the golden arches. What is Clinton’s symbol?”

Clinton’s challenge is unique. Unlike potential Republican challengers of relatively middling fame who are introducing themselves to a national audience for the first time, Clinton is almost universally recognized. Love her or loathe her, potential voters know who she is after more than two decades in public life.

There's a strain of thought in politics these days -- prominent among Democrats but shared by even some Republicans -- that it's going to be very hard to beat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Maybe.  Clinton does have many strengths including a long and deep resume and a knack for fundraising. (Not to mention the demographic and electoral college edges that any Democratic nominee will likely carry.)

But, her ascendance to the presidency is anything but a sure thing. There's lots of reasons for that but one of the big ones is that her time spent as Secretary of State for Obama will make it difficult for her to present herself as something new and different to voters almost certainly in the market for something, well, new and different.

A question asked by Quinnipiac University polls in Iowa, Colorado and Virginia this week illustrates that challenge. Asked "Would you like to see the next President generally; continue with Barack Obama's policies or change direction from Barack Obama's policies", just 34 percent of Iowans and Coloradans said they want the next president to move forward on Obama policies while just three in ten (31 percent) of Virginians said the same.

He is balding and frankly – even his supporters would concede – a little bit boring. So how has Scott Walker, the governor of the Midwestern state of Wisconsin, suddenly pulled into the front rank of Republican candidates for president?
With neither an instantly recognisable name – like Jeb Bush – nor a balloon-sized ego that craves media attention – like Chris Christie – Mr Walker reached near-parity with Mr Bush in the polls this week in the electorally pacesetting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
In an era where politics has become increasingly intertwined with celebrity, Mr Walker, the 47-year-old son of a bookkeeper and a Baptist minister, has ploughed a very different furrow, earning his stripes in the bare-knuckled world of state-level politics, far away from a detached and deadlocked Washington.
While rivals like Ted Cruz, the Texas senator and Tea Party darling, were grandstanding around the capital shutting down the Federal government, Mr Walker's pitch is that he was workin' in Wisconsin, bashing the unions, balancing budgets and slashing nearly $2 billion-worth (£1.3 billion) of taxes.