Conservative Blogger
Saturday, May 14, 2016
Obama hosts Nordic leaders, celebrities at White House state dinner
WASHINGTON – Famous people and people just famous-for-Washington scored coveted invitations to Friday night's White House state dinner honoring the leaders of Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Denmark and Norway.
Will Ferrell, who famously parodied past President George W. Bush on "Saturday Night Live," and Bellamy Young, first lady on the TV show "Scandal," made the cut, as did recently retired late-night host David Letterman, "Girls" actress Allison Williams and actor-comedian Aziz Ansari.
Ferrell's wife, Viveca Paulin, was born in Sweden, he told reporters as he arrived for what he said was his first White House dinner.
"I hope we don't do anything wrong," Ferrell said.
Other guests with Nordic ties were Marcus Samuelsson, the Sweden-raised chef who was a guest chef for the President Barack Obama's first state dinner seven years ago, and Joel Kinnaman, a Swedish-American actor who played a politician in "House of Cards."
The Nordic party was a twist for the White House — state dinners typically celebrate a single head of state. But Friday's affair capped a multilateral U.S.-Nordic summit, a gathering Obama used to laud the Nordic states as model global citizens on climate change, security, humanitarian efforts and economic equality.
Hours later, Obama used the dinner to rib the leaders about their countries all-too-perfect reputation.
As he toasted the leaders on the South Lawn, Obama promised the night wouldn't deliver any entertainment as crazy as the popular Norwegian television program "National Firewood Night." And he mocked their internal fights over which country is happiest or which is the true hometown of Santa Claus.
"These are fierce debates that take place," Obama said, before raising his glass to toast President Sauli Niinisto of Finland and Prime Ministers Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson of Iceland; Lars Loekke Rasmussen of Denmark; Stefan Lofven of Sweden; and Erna Solberg of Norway.
In his toast, Loekke Rasmussen dished it back. He noted the region's many gifts to the U.S. — including Scarlett Johansson, whose father is Danish, and Uma Thurman, whose mother is Swedish. Norway, he said, can claim GOP strategist Karl Rove. The joke was a hit in a room largely filled with Democrats.
On a more serious note, Obama added his own gratitude for the strong cultural influences the five nations have had in the U.S., in particular the Danish pastor N.F.S. Grundtvig, whose education philosophy inspired Tennessee's Highlander Folk School, where several prominent civil rights leaders trained.
Grundtvig's work "ended up having a ripple effect on the civil rights movement," Obama said, adding he "might not be standing here" were it not for his teachings.
The White House used the dinner to laud Nordic cuisine, design and even climate.
Instead of sitting around circular tables, the guests dined at wooden farm tables set with white china, beveled crystal candlesticks and soaring ice vases with white field flowers. The sleek white chairs had a clear Ikea vibe. The dinner was held in a tent with a transparent ceiling, giving guests a view of the sky that cleared just in time for the event.
The White House said the decor was meant to evoke the "cycle of northern lights and shadows."
The meal had nods to the modern simplicity of Nordic cuisine, with American twists. Appetizers included salt-cured fish — but Florida tuna, instead of whitefish. The waffles were to be served with chicken. The main course: braised beef short ribs from Nebraska, with creamy dumplings.
Dessert was an homage to the fishing industry in the form of a blue, glowing, edible fishing boat, displayed with elderberry custard pie, raspberry kringle and gooseberry cookies.
Michelle Obama didn't keep up the theme with her choice of gown. She wore a blush-colored, off-the-shoulder dress by Naeem Khan, an Indian-American designer and a first lady favorite.
Pop singer Demi Lovato provided the after-dinner entertainment, belting out her songs "Stone Cold" and "Confident."
The guest list included a large contingent from the media, including Fox News' Bret Baier, ABC's David Muir and NBC's Al Roker and Lester Holt. Cosmetics giant Bobbi Brown, NCAA president Mark Emmert, fashion designer Rick Owens and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf also made the list.
The White House often uses state dinners as an opportunity for political outreach. But in Obama's final months in office there is, perhaps, a sign of that effort winding down. Several Democratic lawmakers were on the guest list, but no Republicans.
Break from Convention: Trump hints at bringing showman's flair to Cleveland
The man who hosted the Miss USA beauty pageants, who starred in two hit reality shows – and who once clotheslined WWE’s Vince McMahon and then shaved his head on WrestleMania – is now in charge of a national political convention.
This oughta’ be interesting.
“I think it will be a spectacular convention,” Donald Trump predicted on Fox News.
Just what the billionaire businessman and former reality show star has in mind is the big question. But the fact that the Republican Party’s presumptive standard-bearer made his name not only in real estate but in show business portends a convention that probably will be like no other.
In the interview Wednesday with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, Trump made clear he’s already thinking about the entertainment. Sure, Mitt Romney had Clint Eastwood talking to a chair – but Trump, who has openly panned the 2012 convention, is thinking bigger.
"I mean you hear a lot of speeches and people end up falling asleep after the 19thspeech. We have some great country and western people who want to come in and some entertainers that want to come in – I have to keep this as a surprise,” he told Fox News.
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But as the party’s nominee, he also has to produce a party platform that Republicans can rally behind, as well as cast a vice presidential pick who might be able to tackle some of the inevitable battles with Congress should Trump win.
And he’ll need to keep the delegates and the public interested along the way.
So the task will fall on Trump to tap into what sets him apart from virtually every modern presidential candidate: his showman’s flair. To bring to the convention what he’s been bringing to packed-house rallies for much of the primary season – an energy and excitement that will enthuse the base, and translate into enthusiasm through November.
In a nod to Trump’s expertise at this sort of thing, top Trump adviser Paul Manafort earlier this week described bluntly the campaign for the presidency as the “ultimate reality show.”
“He is a television star and is connected to America. … We will be talking to America not just about Donald, but the Republican Party. We will put it in ways that hopefully will be entertaining, but also informative,” Manafort said on MSNBC’s “Hardball.”
Of course, the risk for Trump and the party will be the possibility of turning the convention into a spectacle -- and not the good kind. The city of Cleveland already is bracing for protests outside the convention hall, and organizers could still be dealing with divisions inside the party come convention week. Several party figures already are vowing to steer clear of the convention, not wanting to be associated with that scene.
Trump, though, has leveled pointed criticism at the 2012 convention stagecraft, indicating he wants this one to be memorable.
“The site has been chosen and the arena is fine, but I’d want to have — you know, the last Republican convention was extraordinarily boring,” Trump told the New York Times. Trump said his team will “make it interesting and informative, but also smart and different.”
Senior adviser Barry Bennett floated other ideas for making this convention different.
“There certainly is a train of thought that perhaps Mr. Trump speaks every night from a different city across America highlighting a different problem he intends to solve,” Bennett said on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.”
“We can go to the worst school in America. We can go to a closed down factory. We can tell the American people that we understand their problems, that we feel their pain and here is the solution, the conservative Republican solution. Television is a huge, huge part of the convention, but it is not the only part,” added Bennett.
While the planning for the convention began in Cleveland more than a year ago, it was on the night of the Indiana primary -- which Trump won, knocking his last rivals out of the race -- that things kicked into gear.
Republican National Convention spokesman Dave O’Neil said the Trump campaign called the night of the Indiana primary to begin talks. Senior adviser Manafort was leading a team to Cleveland this week for the first face-to-face discussions.
“There is always the common refrain that conventions are boring, but this year that really changed because of the enthusiasm on the Republican side,” he said.
Though there were some rumors of convention events being moved to FirstEnergy Stadium, the home of the Cleveland Browns, from Quicken Loans Arena, O’Neil put any rumblings to rest saying Quicken Loans Arena remains the convention site.
But that does not mean Trump may not opt to follow the precedent set by Barack Obama in 2008 by choosing another venue for his acceptance speech.
The Obama campaign constructed a huge stage with Greek pillars in Denver’s then-Invesco Field at Mile High, which holds 76,000 compared with the convention site at the 21,000-seat Pepsi Center.
Another factor Trump will have to navigate is the divisions in the GOP, something he was trying to address Thursday in a visit to Washington for meetings with party leaders.
Iowa Rep. Steve King, who will be in Cleveland as a Ted Cruz delegate, said he will be “watching [the platform debate] ... to see if there is an effort to change the rules” or the platform. He said he's worried the Trump camp might try to “move the Republican platform to the left.”
The vice presidential announcement, though, is certain to be the big event. And that’s at least one area where Trump may be hewing to tradition. He signaled this week he’d wait until the convention to name his running mate.
David Woodard, political science professor at Clemson University, said his VP pick will be his most important message to the base for how he plans to run his campaign.
“Let’s face it, the convention will partly answer the question of what he intends to do with the old Republican Party,” he said.
DNC Chairwoman Schultz claims Clinton ‘not the target’ of FBI probe
Even in the face of the FBI boss scoffing at Hillary Clinton’s description of the “investigation” into her email practices as a “security inquiry,” the head of the Democratic Party is now insisting the front-running Democratic presidential candidate isn’t even a focus of the probe.
“Secretary Clinton isn’t even a target of this inquiry, investigation, whatever ‘I’ word you want to use,” Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz told Fox News on Friday.
Asked to back up her statement, Schultz said she’s “repeatedly been told that” – though she did not say who might have told her.
But the claim that Clinton is not the focus would be appear to be challenged by recent developments in the case.
Senior aides to Hillary Clinton, including Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, have been interviewed by FBI agents in recent weeks.
Bryan Pagliano, the Clinton aide who installed the personal server used while she was secretary of state, has received a grant of immunity.
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“We’re conducting an investigation. … That’s what we do,” Comey told Fox News.
Schultz was asked by Fox News whether she was hearing different information from the FBI that would lead her to claim Clinton is not the focus.
“My understanding is that Secretary Clinton is not the target of this investigation. ... I am only repeating what my understanding is,” she said.
Top administration officials have said they are not on a timeline for finishing the probe. Comey, speaking with reporters on Wednesday, said he prefers doing the investigation “well” over promptly and said he’s not “tethered” to a schedule.
Meanwhile, Clinton has voiced confidence that no wrongdoing will be found.
Appearing on CBS News’ Face the Nation, Clinton downplayed the FBI criminal probe, saying it was simply a “security inquiry” and “there was never any material marked classified that was sent or received -- by me.”
“I look forward to this being wrapped up,” she said.
The FBI probe is proceeding as Clinton also tries to wrap up the Democratic presidential nomination. Though she leads by hundreds of delegates, she has not yet clinched the nomination and rival Bernie Sanders is vowing to take the fight to the convention – he fueled his own underdog bid with a primary win Tuesday in West Virginia.
Asked Friday about internal party calls for Sanders to drop out as well as concerns that his bid is preventing Clinton from being able to pivot to a general election battle against Donald Trump, Schultz brushed off the concerns.
“We are able to walk and chew gum at the same time,” she said.
Schultz, meanwhile, has made similar definitive statements before about the nature of the FBI investigation, telling “Fox News Sunday” last month that the idea Clinton could face any legal troubles over her private email server is “ludicrous.”
“How do you know that?” host Chris Wallace asked.
“I’m simply confident that – as the investigation continues, that Hillary Clinton has made it clear, and there are scores of individuals who are associated with the federal government that have indicated that – it’s clear that she conducted herself completely legally,” she said.
McCain in toughest Senate fight of his life
Eight years after he was the Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain appears headed toward his toughest re-election fight yet, in no small part because of presumptive GOP presidential standard-bearer Donald Trump.
Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, the Democratic Senate candidate who is neck-and-neck with McCain in polls, has relentlessly gone after McCain for the senator’s support – no matter how tepid – of Trump.
McCain has hardly shown enthusiasm for Trump, only saying he would support the party’s nominee (while planning to skip the GOP convention in Cleveland). And he’s privately warned that Trump could hurt his own bid. Politico reported on audio from a fundraiser where McCain is heard saying, “If Donald Trump is at the top of the ticket, here in Arizona, with over 30 percent of the vote being the Hispanic vote, no doubt that this may be the race of my life.”
But Kirkpatrick’s campaign is hammering any connection it can between McCain and Trump, settling for nothing short of denunciation by the sitting senator.
“John McCain’s supporting Donald Trump despite declaring Trump ‘dangerous’ and characterizing Trump's supporters as ‘crazies,’” Kirkpatrick campaign spokesman D.B. Mitchell told FoxNews.com. “It's clear McCain's 'straight talk' days are over.”
McCain’s campaign, meanwhile, has blasted Kirkpatrick as “siding with the liberal establishment.”
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But for McCain, Trump’s impact is even being felt in the Republican primary.
One of his opponents, Alex Meluskey, a businessman and talk radio host, cited an internal campaign poll showing most respondents would be more likely to vote for a businessman who never ran for office over a career politician – and claimed the “Trump phenomenon” would be good for him.
“Any time you have an outsider businessman, that absolutely favors us,” Meluskey told FoxNews.com.
McCain also is facing opposition from Kelli Ward, a doctor who resigned her state Senate seat last year to run full time for the U.S. Senate. She is touting a resounding GOP straw poll victory over McCain earlier this month at the Arizona Republican State Convention and is pushing a campaign theme of “bold, fresh and fearless,” to contrast McCain’s status as a longtime Washington insider.
The Republican primary is Aug. 30, just one day after McCain turns 80.
But it’s the expected November race that’s causing headaches for the senator this year. During his five decisive Senate victories, the relatively moderate McCain has rarely had a real challenge in the general election.
“He usually has more concern in the state over who his primary challenger will be," Barbara Norrander, a political science professor at the University of Arizona, told FoxNews.com. “Democrats have had a hard time recruiting someone viable to oppose him.”
This year could be different. A Merrill Poll in March found McCain leading Kirkpatrick by just one point, while a Behavior Research Center poll in April showed the two tied at 42-42 percent.
Kirkpatrick, a former Arizona state legislator, was first elected to the House in 2008. She was voted out of office during the Republican wave of 2010, then ran again and won in 2012 – and withstood another Republican wave in 2014 to keep her seat.
McCain has more than $5.5 million cash on hand, according to the Federal Election Commission. That overwhelms every other opponent, as Kirkpatrick has $1.3 million, Ward has $210,792 and Meluskey has $163,764, according to FEC reports as of March 31.
The McCain campaign is going after Kirkpatrick for her support of ObamaCare, and says Arizonans are facing a 21 percent increase in health insurance deductibles, while 59,000 Arizonans lost their insurance when the state’s co-op was removed from the federal marketplace.
“Even as independent analysts predict a dramatic rise in health care costs and more insurers contemplate exiting a crumbling marketplace, Congresswoman Kirkpatrick offers no solutions for the people of Arizona,” McCain campaign spokeswoman Lorna Romero said in a statement. “Instead, she is siding with the liberal establishment and ducking questions about President Obama’s failed health care law.”
On the issue McCain fears could be troublesome because of Trump, he and Kirkpatrick both agree on a pathway to citizenship for some 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States, but clash on the so-called Dream Act. Further, Kirkpatrick doesn’t necessarily have an automatic advantage with Hispanic voters.
The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce endorsed McCain in April. Last year, the liberal group Emily’s List, backing Kirkpatrick, criticized another Latino coalition endorsing McCain as a “taco shop,” and said McCain put on a “sombrero to pander.” The Arizona Republic editorial board denounced the Emily’s List stereotypes.
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