Aligning Against Donald? Bush to meet with Trump rivals, as Fiorina backs Cruz

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, after ending his campaign last month, is returning to the 2016 fray to meet with the remaining not-Trump candidates in his home state on Thursday – potentially the first step in an effort to power-broker a consensus alternative to take on the Republican front-runner.  
It’s unclear whether Bush plans to endorse anyone before Florida holds its all-important primary on Tuesday. But the former candidates sense a quickly closing window to pick their horse as Donald Trump racks up ever-more wins and delegates.
Another former candidate, ex-HP CEO Carly Fiorina, announced her endorsement earlier Wednesday for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz during a surprise appearance in Miami.
Fiorina, who dropped out of the 2016 race in February, called Cruz a “leader and a reformer” and urged voters to rally around Cruz as the candidate who can challenge Trump.
“Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are two sides of the same coin. They’re not going to reform the system. They are the system,” she said.
Sources confirmed to Fox News that Bush plans to meet Thursday with Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich while the candidates are in Florida for a GOP debate Thursday night. He has no plans to meet with Trump.

Ted Cruz Political Endorsements | InsideGov

Asked about the meeting, which was first reported by The New York Times, Kasich told reporters he doesn’t know Bush’s plans and whether he intends to endorse.
“I like Jeb. I’ve known him a long time. And I don’t try to pre-guess what’s going to happen in a meeting,” Kasich said, adding: “Of course I’d like his endorsement. I’d like everybody’s endorsement.”
The movement by former GOP candidates comes after Cruz walked away from Tuesday’s primary contests with just one win, in Idaho, compared with Trump’s three. The billionaire businessman won in Mississippi, Michigan and Hawaii, building his already substantial delegate lead over the field.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, another former presidential candidate, already has announced his support for Trump, taking to the campaign trail to stump with him.
But Fiorina railed against Trump during her pep talk for Cruz on Wednesday. And it’s hard to imagine Bush would even contemplate backing Trump’s outsider bid.
While Bush was in the race, Trump was relentless in his criticism of Bush’s family, his “low energy” and the big-money super PACs supporting him – which could explain why Bush does not have plans to meet with Trump in Florida on Thursday.
In her remarks in support of Cruz, Fiorina argued Wednesday he’s the only GOP candidate who can beat primary front-runner Trump or Clinton.
Fiorina said the argument that Cruz has made too many enemies on Capitol Hill only proves he is taking on the “Washington cartel.”
“You have a very important job on Tuesday,” said Fiorina, referring to Florida’s primary, where Cruz is running behind Trump. “It’s time to take the party back. It’s time to take our government back. It’s time to take the country back. So it’s time to unite behind the only one who can, Ted Cruz.”
Florida Sen. Rubio, who has only won two contests to date, has vowed to come from behind to win his home state next week, though he, too, trails in the polls.

Trump says GOP opposition to him 'taking advantage of our country'

Trump: I was a member of the establishment, saw it was wrong

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump pushed back Wednesday night against what appears to be a growing move among the party establishment — including a few of his former rivals — to at least slow down his march to the convention with enough delegates in hand to claim the nomination.
Speaking with Sean Hannity on a special Fox News town hall, Trump accused GOP lawmakers opposed to his campaign of "taking advantage of our country".
The billionaire businessman called his campaign a movement "of competence and common sense and low taxes and [secure] borders and it would be so foolish to give it away."
Trump was referring to a conference held by the conservative American Enterprise Institute at Sea Island off the coast of Georgia over the weekend, where one of the topics reportedly was stopping Trump from securing the Republican nomination.
The conference reportedly was attended by Senate Majority Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan and other key Republican congressmen.
"I know all these people," Trump told Hannity. "These are people that are taking advantage of our country. They don’t want to have strong borders. They want stuff flowing across the borders. They don’t want to have taxation when countries treat us unfairly because they benefit from that."
"Politicians will do what’s right for the people that gave them the money," Trump added later, "not what's right for the country."

RCP Poll Average for Republican Presidential Nomination | InsideGov

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio told Fox News that he would not drop out of the Republican presidential race before next week's Florida primary, saying "we're gonna fight this thing through Tuesday ... and we're going to go on."
Rubio denied multiple reports that he had discussed the possibility of dropping out before the winner-take-all contest.
Speaking with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, Rubio said: "I have never discussed dropping out with anyone on my team, or anyone on the planet Earth ... I'm the only one who can beat Donald Trump in Florida.”
A Fox News poll released Wednesday showed Rubio trailing Trump by 23 percentage points among likely Republican voters in Florida.
"I honestly don’t believe Donald Trump will be the nominee," Rubio said. "I continue to believe it's going to be me, and it's got to start here in Florida."
Rubio also dismissed the possibility that he would form a so-called "unity" Republican ticket with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Trump's closest challenger in the delegate race, calling it " the kind of drama that makes it interesting in TV to speculate about."
"At some point we're all going to team up," Rubio said in reference to the non-Trump candidates. "We're all going to be on the same team, I hope.”
Cruz told Kelly that Rubio and Kasich were "good, honorable people, but neither of them has a path to the nomination."
"Head-to-head, not only do I beat Donald Trump," Cruz said, "but I defeat him resoundingly."
Cruz also walked back his earlier opposition to a possible convention fight between himself and Trump if neither man reaches the required 1,237 delegates during the primaries.
"Look, [Ronald] Reagan and [President Gerald] Ford battled it out at a contested convention [in 1976]," Cruz said. "That's what conventions are for." However, Cruz restated his opposition to a so-called brokered convention, calling it "a fever dream of the D.C. establishment" and warning of "an open revolt" among Republican voters if it came to pass.
Cruz later turned his rhetorical fire against Trump and Rubio over immigration reform and the so-called "Gang of Eight" bill in 2013.
"When Marco Rubio stood with Barack Obama and [Sen.] Chuck Schumer and [then-Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid ... I stood with millions of Americans," Cruz told Kelly. "Not only was Donald Trump nowhere to be found, he was funding the Gang of Eight. He gave $50,000 to five of its members."
Cruz also accused Rubio of lowering the tone of the campaign, saying, "I have no views whatsoever on any part of Donald Trump’s anatomy", an apparent reference to Rubio jabbing Trump's "small hands" at a Virginia campaign stop.
For his part, Rubio told Megyn Kelly that he regretted the remark, saying "my kids were embarrassed by it, my wife didn’t like it, I don’t think it reflects [well]; that’s not who I am."
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has staked his campaign's future on victory in next Tuesday's Ohio primary, told Fox News' Greta van Susteren that he would "probably not" pick up enough delegates in other contests to overtake Trump, but noted that voters had only "picked about half the delegates [so far] this year ... anything is possible."
A Fox News poll released Wednesday showed Kasich leading Trump by five percentage points among likely Republican voters in the Buckeye State.
"We're going to win Ohio," Kasich told van Susteren. "That's not even a question for me. It's about what we do after that and all the places we have to go. But we're not taking it for granted."
Trump has 458 delegates to Cruz's 359 following Tuesday's contests, in which Trump won the Mississippi and Michigan primaries as well as the Hawaii caucus. Cruz also picked up a win in the Idaho primary. Rubio is a distant third with 151 delegates, while Kasich has 54.

Romney Mormon Cartoon

Hey, Republicans, stop hating on Trump voters

Will Republicans please stop insulting Trump voters? Just stop. I know that many hate Trump, but his voters too?
Mitt Romney derides Trump voters as “suckers.”  Others have sneered that Trump has an army of “low information voters” who have been “duped,” and that “these people” shouldn’t be able to decide on the fate of a Grand Old Party.  Trump’s voters, the political class screams, have “hijacked the Republican Party.”
Another conservative commentator complained the other day that many of these voters have never even voted before and they “are not even Republicans.”  Huh?   
Isn’t it a good thing that Trump is steering millions of new voters away from the Democrats and attracting them to the GOP?  I thought we were told Republicans lost in 2012 because so many conservatives stayed home.  Here they are.
The GOP’s mighty establishment wing – the people who get rich off the game of politics -- pretend that theirs is the party of the working class, of blue collar virtue, and hard work, but now that the workers they supposedly represent are in revolt, apparently the problem is the voters not the party.  This is insanity.
This is like the executives at Coca Cola blaming the stupid public for not liking “New Coke.”  What kind of a company blames its customers when things go wrong?  Inside Washington, there are no term limits on stupidity.
Former House Republican majority leader Tom DeLay advised on Fox this past Friday that Republicans should do all they can to stop Trump from getting a majority (though he will likely have a plurality) and then at the convention,  throw Trump and his troublemaking voters under the bus and pick someone who got millions of fewer votes than Trump did.  Delay’s point is that the party and its delegates, not the voters, should choose who the nominee is.  He seemed to be saying: it’s our club and we make the rules.  (Funny, Republicans just a few weeks ago were guffawing that Democrats had rigged their primary process.)
The rules of the party apparently say that Delay is right.  So the master plan is to let the elites decide what’s best for us.
Gee.  I thought that’s what liberals do!
I’m no Trump enthusiast by any means – and I agree with some of what he says and believe that he is flat out wrong about the benefits of trade and immigration – which are substantial.  Trump is often offensive and unpredictable.
But the Trump haters ought to get out and attend a Trump rally.
You will meet truck drivers, and soccer moms, and veterans, and taxicab drivers, and immigrants, and construction workers, and young people, and not a lot of Wall Streeters or political consultants.  They are patriotic. They are seething in anger at both parties.
We've had eight years of a mostly failed Republican president followed by eight years of a failed Democrat in the White House.
Over this whole period many of these voters haven't seen a pay increase and many have seen their incomes fall -- while GOP political consultants rake in millions for losing.
The fact that four of the wealthiest counties in America are inside or near the Washington Beltway says everything voters need to know about how they are being bled dry by government.
Whenever I say anything nice about Trump I get scowls and lectures from my conservative friends in Washington that Trump voters don’t believe in the principles of the Republican Party.
Wait. The Republicans in Congress just passed a budget that spends tens of billions more than when Democrats ran Congress. The GOP budget increases the deficit. I thought that key principles of the GOP were less government, balanced budgets and fiscal responsibility.
The Republicans have only themselves to blame for this working class revolt.  These are voters who are horrified by what Obama has done to our country and they put their faith in Republicans to fix things – and they didn’t.  Worse, they haven’t even try.

And now the Republican brain trust is hatching a plan to effectively disenfranchise the Trump voters altogether.   I hope I’m wrong, but when the GOP loses again with this strategy, and Hillary Clinton is being sworn into office, the party leaders will scratch their heads and ask: “Gee, where did all those Trump voters go?”

Iran test-fires 2 long-range missiles possibly capable of hitting Israel

Obama's Mess.

TEHRAN, Iran –  Iran reportedly test-fired two ballistic missiles Wednesday with the phrase "Israel must be wiped out" written in Hebrew on them, a show of force by the Islamic Republic as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited Israel.

Such phrases have been emblazoned on missiles fired before by Iran, but this test comes as the country recently signed a nuclear deal with world powers, including America, and conducted another test the day before. Hard-liners in Iran's military have fired rockets and missiles despite U.S. objections since the deal, as well as shown underground missile bases on state television.

There was no immediate reaction from Jerusalem, where Biden was scheduled to speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who strongly opposed the nuclear deal.

The semiofficial Fars news agency offered pictures Wednesday it said were of the Qadr H missiles being fired. It said they were fired in Iran's eastern Alborz mountain range to hit a target some 870 miles away off Iran's coast into the Sea of Oman.
The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which patrols that region, declined to comment on the test.

Fars quoted Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard's aerospace division, saying the test was aimed at showing Israel that Iran could hit it.

"The 1,240-mile range of our missiles is to confront the Zionist regime," Hajizadeh said. "Israel is surrounded by Islamic countries and it will not last long in a war. It will collapse even before being hit by these missiles."

Israel's Foreign Ministry declined to immediately comment. Iran has threatened to destroy Israel in the past. Israel, which is believed to have the only nuclear weapons arsenal in the Mideast, repeatedly has threatened to take military action against Iran's nuclear facilities.

Hajizadeh stressed Iran would not fire the missiles in anger or start a war with Israel.

"We will not be the ones who start a war, but we will not be taken by surprise, so we put our facilities somewhere that our enemies cannot destroy them so that we could continue long war," he said.

The firing of the Qadr H missiles comes after a U.S. State Department spokesman on Tuesday criticized another missile launch that day, saying America planned to bring it before the United Nations Security Council.

A nuclear deal between Iran and world powers including the U.S. is now underway, negotiated by the administration of moderate President Hassan Rouhani. In the time since the deal, however, hard-liners in Iran's military have made several shows of strength.

In October, Iran successfully test-fired a new guided long-range ballistic surface-to-surface missile. It was the first such test since Iran and world powers reached a landmark nuclear deal last summer.

U.N. experts said the launch used ballistic missile technology banned under a Security Council resolution. In January, the U.S. imposed new sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the ballistic missile program.

Iran also has fired rockets near U.S. warships and flown an unarmed drone over an American aircraft carrier in recent months.

In January, Iran seized 10 U.S. sailors in the Gulf when their two riverine command boats headed from Kuwait to Bahrain ended up in Iranian territorial waters after the crews "misnavigated," the U.S. military said. The sailors were taken to a small port facility on Farsi Island, held for about 15 hours and released after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke several times with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Donald Trump triumphs in Michigan and Mississippi. Onward, reality show junkies

Donald Trump has absorbed more attacks in the last two weeks from his opponents, their super PACs and the Republican establishment than any candidate I've seen in my five decades around presidential politics.
The "shock and awe" attack of unfriendly fire seems to have had minimum impact on his candidacy as he won two big victories Tuesday night in Mississippi and Michigan. Big Don is still standing and the establishment favorite, little Marco got routed -- finishing out of money in both contests.
Ted Cruz, who came in second in both races in Michigan and Mississippi and won Idaho, keeps fighting to remain relevant. He is having a tough time reaching beyond the evangelical base which he splits with Trump. But the finals of this election cycle could come down to Trump versus Cruz.
John Kasich came in a distant second to Trump in his neighboring state which may bode poorly for his showdown next week in Ohio, the state he governs.
Rubio is on death watch and life support and can't survive if he doesn't win his home state of Florida. Tuesday night's poor showing is not going to encourage the money guys to bet more on him and he faces a real uphill battle to beat Trump in the billionaire’s adopted state of Florida.
Trump’s battle cry "I love Florida and they love me!" will be tested in seven days in the first of the winner take all states. There will be no more second place finishes or silver medals. Win or lose is now the rule of the game.
We have now seen the travelogue of the Trump properties and golf courses, suffered through a full display of all his products from vodka to steaks and the men's accessories made in China.
Tuesday’s night’s Trump victory speech/press conference was like a lengthy sales pitch on Home Shopping Network.
I've never before seen a press conference in which the press is hollering "Stop, please stop! No mas, no mas!" No more questions, please!!”
Donald's hour long tirade and rambling speech was his revenge for the assault on him by the billionaires and their political consultants who have puffed and puffed but can't blow Donald's house down.
Onward, reality show junkies. This show is a long way from being over!
Maybe the only thing that can slow the Donald down is "House of Cards" Frank Underwood. Of course his presidency is in trouble, too. But this reality show is stranger than fiction!
There’s a debate coming Thursday, America!  And another big week coming…
Stay tuned!

Sanders upsets Clinton in Michigan; Trump notches three more wins

Bernie Sanders pulled off a shocking upset in Michigan's Democratic primary Tuesday night, beating Hillary Clinton in a race that most polls had him trailing by double digits and eclipsing the front runner's earlier win in Mississippi.
Republican front-runner Donald Trump, meanwhile, regained any momentum lost last weekend against challenger Ted Cruz, sweeping to convincing victories in Michigan and Mississippi while sending a message to the Republican establishment to jump on board — or get out of the way.
Cruz was projected to pick up a win in the Idaho GOP primary, while Trump was projected to easily win the Hawaii Republican caucus.
But Trump's earlier victories were more valuable in terms of delegates. And Tuesday's results may also seal the fate of Marco Rubio, who appeared once again to finish the night failing to gain any delegates.
Cruz appeared to have beaten John Kasich for second place in Michigan by approximately 8,000 votes. Kasich is counting on a win in his home state of Ohio next week to salvage his campaign.
On the Democratic side, Clinton easily won Mississippi’s primary earlier Tuesday, thanks in part to her overwhelming support from black voters, and likely will pick up more delegates in Tuesday’s contests than Sanders.
But the Vermont senator’s surprising Michigan win could give him a bounce as he and the rest of the candidates charge into the vital March 15 primaries in Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina.
Michigan is the ninth and largest state that Sanders has won so far in the Democratic presidential campaign. All 15 pre-election polls in Michigan this year showed Clinton leading Sanders by double digits.
Sanders chief strategist John Weaver blasted out a memo touting the Michigan performance, saying the state “provides a springboard into the races on March 15, the day the race will officially reset."
For his part, Trump is looking to March 15 to sideline the rest of the GOP field for good – something he tried to start doing Tuesday night. At a press conference at his golf club in Juniper, Fla., he said of his remaining rivals, “They’re pretty much all gone.”
Michigan was the biggest prize of the four states that voted Tuesday.
On the Republican side in Mississippi, Trump defeated Cruz by 47 percent to 36 percent of the vote, with Kasich a distant third at 9 percent and Rubio garnering just 5 percent of the vote.
Trump celebrated his wins at a lengthy press conference Tuesday night, teasing the “special interests” and others that ran ads against him.
“It shows you how brilliant the public is, because they knew they were lies,” Trump said.
He started his victory talk with a subdued and conciliatory tone, appearing to take the first steps to patch up any differences with the party brass. He noted House Speaker Paul Ryan recently called him.
“He could not have been nicer,” Trump said.
But he soon slipped into his standard fare, making cracks about his remaining rivals. He took a shot at Cruz, noting the Texas senator positions himself as the only candidate who can beat him, “but he never beats me.”
Both Trump and Clinton had a mixed performance this past weekend where they effectively split the delegate field with their top rivals.
The stakes on Tuesday arguably were higher for Trump, whose delegate lead over Cruz shrunk on Saturday as they each won two contests. Cruz has been pushing to consolidate conservative support on the heels of those races, arguing Trump is not the candidate he claims to be.
“He is pretending to be an outsider,” Cruz told Fox News.
But Trump used his wins Tuesday to downplay the chances for his remaining rivals, as he and the rest of the field look ahead to next week’s vital winner-take-all contests in Ohio and Florida.
“I think we’re going to do really well in Florida,” he said. “It’s my second home.”

Presidential Primaries to Date and Upcoming Contests | InsideGov

Kasich, who campaigned in Michigan Tuesday, told Fox News he was focusing on the Midwestern states – and repeated his vow to win Ohio.
Rubio, too, is looking for a comeback win in his home state next week, all the while battling calls from his rivals to drop out. But Trump leads in the Florida polls, and Rubio endured another disappointing night in Tuesday's contests.
Looking ahead, Rubio rallied a home-state crowd Tuesday evening, saying: “I believe with all my heart that the winner of the Florida primary next Tuesday will be the nominee of the Republican Party. ... And I need your help. I need your vote.”
Clinton, meanwhile, is still trying to regain her footing as Sanders has demonstrated his grassroots support in several recent contests. Over the weekend, he claimed three victories to Clinton’s one.
Thanks in part, though, to so-called “superdelegates” – party leaders and officials free to support whomever they want – Clinton maintains a huge delegate lead over Sanders. She had 1,221 to Sanders’ 571, as of early Wednesday morning.
Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri stressed Tuesday that their campaign’s strategy focuses on winning delegates, and told Fox News they’ll pick up more delegates than Sanders from Tuesday’s contests regardless of the Michigan results.
On the GOP side, Trump leads Cruz in the delegate count 446 to 347, with Rubio trailing at 151 and Kasich at 54, as of early Wednesday morning.

Clinton Server Setup Cartoon

Senators again request State Department staffer testify about Clinton server setup

Senate lawmakers are renewing their request to question the State Department staffer who helped set up Hillary Clinton's private email server following revelations that he has been granted immunity by the Justice Department, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press on Monday.

Republican senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin have asked Bryan Pagliano to appear before them to discuss the server and to provide documents and communications about Clinton's personal email account.

Pagliano last year invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in declining to answer questions from the lawmakers about the server and email setup.

But in their letter to Pagliano, the senators argue that the immunity grant from the Justice Department -- which is investigating the potential mishandling of sensitive information on the server -- means that the "Fifth Amendment privilege is no longer applicable."

"Because the Department of Justice has granted you immunity from prosecution in this situation, there is no longer reasonable cause for you to believe that discussing these matters with the relevant oversight committees could result in your prosecution," wrote Grassley and Johnson, who respectively serve as chairmen of the Senate committees on the judiciary and homeland security and governmental affairs.

The letter is dated March 3, the day after news broke about Pagliano's immunity offer.

The senators have also asked Pagliano and the Justice Department for copies of the immunity agreement, and they told Pagliano that he holds "unique information about this matter that is otherwise unavailable."

Mark MacDougall, a lawyer for Pagliano, declined to comment to the AP on Monday evening.

Clinton and her campaign have said that they are pleased that Pagliano was cooperating.

Israel's Netanyahu cancels US visit, catching White House off guard

Obama SUCKS.

The Obama administration said Monday that it was "surprised" to learn that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had canceled a planned visit to Washington later this month, and denied an Israeli media report that claimed the White House was unable to arrange a meeting between President Obama and Netanyahu. 
Netanyahu's visit had been planned to coincide with the American-Israel Political Affairs Committee's annual conference. The White House said Israel had proposed for the two leaders to meet on either March 17 or 18 and the U.S. had offered to meet on March 18.
"We were surprised to first learn via media reports that the Prime Minister, rather than accept our invitation, opted to cancel his visit," National Security Council spokesman Ned Price told reporters Monday. "Reports that we were not able to accommodate the Prime Minister's schedule are false."
A report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz cited sources close to Netanyahu who claimed "no appropriate time" could be found to hold the meeting.
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office said Tuesday that Israel's ambassador to the U.S. informed the White House last week there was a "good chance" Netanyahu would not make the trip.
An Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly, told the Associated Press Netanyahu wanted to avoid meetings with presidential candidates.
The unusually pointed pushback from the White House was the latest signal of ongoing tensions between the U.S. and its closest Mideast ally, which have never fully recovered since Obama incensed Netanyahu's government by pursuing and then enacting a nuclear deal with Iran. The flare-up comes just days before Vice President Joe Biden is set to meet with Netanyahu during a visit to Jerusalem.
This isn't the first time Obama had been caught off guard by Netanyahu's travel plans. Last year, the White House accused Netanyahu of a breach of longstanding diplomatic protocol when he announced plans to speak to a joint session of Congress without consulting or notifying the president. Netanyahu used that speech to implore U.S. lawmakers to reject the Iran nuclear deal, which Israel sees as emboldening its archenemy.