Presumptuous Politics

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Hollande's 'Islamist terrorism' omitted from White House vid; 'technical issue' blamed

French President Francois Hollande’s comments this week in Washington about Islamic terrorism -- a term President Obama won’t use -- were omitted from an official White House video.
Holland made the comments at an international summit in Washington on nuclear security that also focused largely on global terrorism.
“We are also making sure that between Europe and the United States there can be a very high level coordination. But we’re also well aware that the roots of terrorism, Islamist terrorism, is in Syria and in Iraq. We therefore have to act both in Syria and in Iraq, and this is what we’re doing within the framework of the coalition. …” Hollande said following a meeting at the summit between his and Obama’s top officials.
However, an audio gap occurs in the original White House video where the French-to-English translator would have said: “Islamist terrorism, is in Syria and in Iraq. We therefore have to act both in Syria and in Iraq, and this is what we’re doing within the framework of the coalition.”

The gap was reported first by the Media Research Center, a conservative-leaning government watchdog group.
Republicans and others have been highly critical of Obama, and Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, for not saying the words “Islamic terrorism” when talking about the Islamic State terror group, which has claimed responsibility for the recent, deadly bombing attacks in Paris and Brussels.
“For seven years, President Obama, and Hillary Clinton and this administration have been sound bound up by political correctness that they have refused to acknowledge what is it is we are fighting, refused to even name it,” GOP presidential candidate Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told FoxNew on Sunday.
“After every one of these attacks, the president does a national TV conference where he refuses to say the words ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ Instead he lectures Americans on Islamophobia. Well, enough is enough.”
The White House told several news outlets on Friday the audio gap was the result of a "technical issue" not an attempt to scrub or censor Hollande’s comments and that an updated video with the complete audio was posted on WhiteHouse.gov soon after the problem was recognized.

Recent ISIS Attacks and ISIS-inspired Attacks in Europe | FindTheData.org

Officials also said the official transcript posted on the website always included the dropped sentences.
Obama has said that he will not use the words “radical Islamic terrorists” because they legitimize the efforts of the Islamic State, to which he refers to as ISIS.

Clinton, Sanders camps squabble over NY debate, latest in now contentious primary

The Clinton campaign has met rival Sen. Bernie Sanders’ challenge to debate him in New York ahead on the state’s April 19 primary, but the final negotiations have resulted in the kind of acrimony the has pervaded their primary contest in recent days.
The Clinton campaign said Saturday that the Sanders team rejected three days offered this week: Monday night, the evening of April 14 or on ABC’s April 15 “Good Morning America” show.
“The Sanders campaign needs to stop using the New York primary as a playground for political games and negative attacks against Hillary Clinton,” said Clinton National Press Secretary Brian Fallon.
He said the Monday date was apparently rejected because the Sanders campaign wanted the debate after Tuesday’s Milwaukee primary and that the April 14 and 15 offers still stand.
Clinton has a huge delegate lead over Sanders in the race to win the Democratic nomination in July. However, Sanders is on roll, having recently upset Clinton in the Michigan primary and taken five of the last six state contests. And polls show he’s in a tight race with Clinton in Wisconsin.
A loss in delegate-rich Wisconsin or New York would be a major setback for Clinton, particularly in New York, her adopted home state for which she was a U.S. senator. Sanders was born in Brooklyn.
“We are very pleased that Secretary Clinton finally has accepted our request for a debate,” Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said in response to the offers. “Unfortunately, the dates and venues she has proposed don’t make a whole lot of sense.”
Briggs the Monday night idea is “ludicrous,” considering the NCAA men’s basketball finals are being played at that time and Syracuse could be one of the teams.

He left open the possibility of compromise by saying, “We hope we can reach agreement in the near future.”
However, the episode capped an especially scrappy week for the campaigns.
Clinton snapped at a Greenpeace protester. She linked Sanders and Tea party Republicans. And she bristled with anger when nearly two dozen Sanders supporters marched out of an event near her home outside New York City, shouting "if she wins, we lose."
"They don't want to listen to anyone else," she shot back. "We actually have to do something. Not just complain about what is happening."
After a year of campaigning, months of debates and 35 primary elections, Sanders is finally getting under Clinton's skin in the Democratic presidential race.
Clinton has spent weeks largely ignoring Sanders and trying to focus on Republican front-runner Donald Trump. Now, after several primary losses and with a tough fight in New York on the horizon, Clinton is showing flashes of frustration with the Vermont senator — irritation that could undermine her efforts to unite the party around her candidacy.
According to Democrats close to Hillary and former President Bill Clinton, both are frustrated by Sanders' ability to cast himself as above politics-as-usual even while firing off what they consider to be misleading attacks. The Clintons are even more annoyed that Sanders' approach seems to be rallying — and keeping — young voters by his side.
While Hillary Clinton's team contends her lock on the nomination as "nearly insurmountable," the campaign frequently grumbles that Sanders hasn't faced the same level of scrutiny as the former secretary of state, New York senator and first lady. Her aides complain about Sanders' rhetoric, claiming he's broken his pledge to avoid character attacks by going after her paid speeches and ties to Wall Street, and they point to scenes of Sanders supporters booing Clinton's name at his rallies.
Actress Rosario Dawson's 15-minute speech at a New York City rally on Thursday, in which she rallied the crowd by crying "shame on you, Hillary" and noted that Clinton could soon face an FBI interview over the email controversy while at the State Department, underscored the growing tensions between the campaigns.
Clinton hopes that big victories in New York and five Northeastern states a week later will allow her to wrap up the nomination by the end of the month.
But aides acknowledge that Sanders, who's raised $109 million this year and has pledged to take his campaign to the party convention in July, is unlikely to feel significant political or financial pressure to drop out of the race, even if it becomes clear he cannot win the nomination.
Clinton stayed in the 2008 contest against Barack Obama until the bitter end, though her initial advantage with superdelegates, who later flipped to the Illinois senator, gave her a stronger case for the nomination.
Unlike eight years ago, when California Sen. Dianne Feinstein brought Clinton and Obama together for a meeting, few Democrats are in position to broker peace between Clinton and Sanders. For most of his political career, Sanders identified as an independent — not a Democrat — leaving him with far weaker ties to party powerbrokers.
According to an Associated Press analysis, Sanders must win 67 percent of the remaining delegates and uncommitted superdelegates — party leaders and officials who can support any candidate — through June to be able to clinch the Democratic nomination. So far he's only winning 37 percent.
Joel Benenson, Clinton's chief strategist, said: "We're going to get to a point at the end of April where there just isn't enough real estate for him to overcome the lead that we've built."
Still, any kind of truce is probably weeks, if not months, away.
For now, Sanders is costing Clinton significant time, money and political capital. His victories in recent Western caucuses underscored her weaknesses among younger and white working-class voters, important elements of the Democratic coalition. He's favored in the Wisconsin primary Tuesday.
Sanders is drawing sizable crowds in New York, attracting 18,500 to rally in the South Bronx on Thursday. A victory in that state, which Clinton represented for two terms in the Senate, would deal a significant psychological blow to her campaign, rattling Democrats already worried about her high national disapproval ratings.
Clinton is more reliant on traditional fundraising than is Sanders, who's raised the bulk of his money online. Even as she prepares for New York's primary, she has scheduled fundraisers before then in Denver, Virginia, Miami and Los Angeles — at the home of actor George Clooney.
She needs to continue raising primary dollars because June contests in California and New Jersey will be expensive. Sanders faces fewer financial anxieties.
Sanders adviser Tad Devine said the senator was not encouraging his supporters to disrupt Clinton's events and was focused on his own message. But he also said the campaign would respond when Clinton mischaracterizes Sanders' records and positions.
Her attacks, he said, only help Sanders.
"When your attacks against your opponent feed the biggest weakness that you have, you are undermining yourself," said Devine.

Cruz turns to GOP convention rule to keep Kasich from nabbing nomination

Sen. Ted Cruz is making the case that GOP presidential rival John Kasich and his pesky campaign cannot win the party nomination unless he has top showings in eight states -- an argument that could help Cruz in the upcoming Wisconsin primary and the GOP White House race.
Cruz in recent interviews has repeatedly cited a Republican National Committee rule that states candidates can be nominated only if they've won the total delegate majority in eight or more states, as reported first by The Washington Post.
The Texas senator is trailing front-runner Donald Trump by 273 delegates with about half of the country’s caucus-primary contests remaining.
However, Cruz now leads Trump in the Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary, according to most polls. But Kasich, the governor of Ohio who is running a distant third in the GOP White House, could win enough votes to decide the primary and the entire nominating process.
Kasich has won only one contest, his home-state of Ohio, and he has finished in second-place or tied for second in five others.
Trump has 736 pledged delegates, followed by Cruz with 463, then Kasich with 143 -- with 1,237 needed to secure the nomination.
The RNC wrote the rule in 2012 after then-Texas Rep. Ron Paul had nearly enough wins to at least complicate the nomination process for clear front-runner Mitt Romney.
Kasich is now considered the only remaining candidate that the Republican establishment could try to nominate in a contested convention.
Trump and Cruz have in part made their campaigns an indictment of insider Washington and are being called un-electable in a general-election race against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
Cruz on Wednesday told conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt: "It was the Washington establishment that put this rule in place. So now when the Washington establishment candidates are losing, they want to change the rules to try to parachute in some candidate who hasn't earned the votes of the people. That is nothing short of crazy."

RCP Poll Average for Republican Presidential Nomination | InsideGov

Hewitt was following up on Cruz’s comments on a CNN “Town Hall” in which he said Kasich being on the ballot was “against the rules” and “If no one has 1,237 (delegates), you have to have won at least eight states."
Karl Rove, a senior Bush White House adviser, said Thursday on Hewitt’s show that Cruz has “misinterpreted” the so-called 40b rule.
Rove acknowledge the rule was indeed written just before the 2012 convention to keep Paul, who has just roughly 5 percent of the vote, from getting a “full blown” nomination process.
He said the rule states candidates must have that majority of delegates to have an official nominating speech and seconding speeches. However, they can receive votes on the first ballot from the “pledged” delegates they won in caucuses and primaries.
Republican officials and others have also reportedly said new rules could be written before this year’s convention in July.

Trump, Cruz take different paths Saturday but stay on the attack

Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz took different approaches Saturday toward winning the GOP president nomination but stuck with the personal attacks in an effort to discredit each other’s campaign.

“Such deception and such lying,” the front-running Trump said about Cruz, at a rally in Racine, Wis., after one of the worst weeks of his campaign.
The Texas senator was, meanwhile, taking a quick detour from Wisconsin to make an appearance at North Dakota's Republican convention, where presidential delegates are being picked.
Convention-goers are scheduled to select 25 of their 28 national delegates on Sunday. North Dakota isn't holding a primary or caucus in the 2016 Republican race.
Still, before leaving Wisconsin, which holds its primary Tuesday, Cruz said Friday that making Trump the GOP nominee would be a “train wreck.”
Trump and Cruz are in a close race in Wisconsin, with Ohio Gov. John Kasich running third, according to most polls.
Trump and Kasich sent supporters to North Dakota on their behalf to make the case that they should be backed by the state’s delegates at the Cleveland convention in July.
Cruz earned an ovation in North Dakota when he said the state has become "a powerful energy haven" and that he would keep the federal government "the heck out of the way."
The outcome in Wisconsin could help determine whether Trump can seize the Republican nomination without a fight at the party's convention this summer.
Trump says his wife, Melania, is going to be joining him Monday at campaign events.
In Racine, Trump began the afternoon by defended a series of controversial comments in recent days on NATO, abortion and his remark that Japan and South Korea should perhaps be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.
"This politics is a tough business because you can say things one way and the press will criticize you horribly,” he said. “You say it another way and the press will criticize you horribly."
Among his biggest missteps have been Trump's recent comments on abortion, which have managed to unite both abortion rights activists and opponents in their criticism.
During a taping of "Face the Nation" on Friday, Trump said he believed that, when it comes to abortion: "The laws are set. And I think we have to leave it that way." His spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, quickly issued a clarification that Trump meant that laws won't change until he's president and appoints judges who can interpret them differently.
It was the second time in days that he'd stepped in hot water over the issue. On Wednesday, he'd said women should be punished for getting abortions if they're ever banned -- a position the notoriously unapologetic campaign quickly reversed.
Trump told the audience on Saturday that his words had been repeatedly taken out of context, and complained that he was being held to a different standard than his rivals. He called his comments on "Face the Nation" "perfect" and "so good."
"They took words out that I said," Trump told the rally, implying CBS had edited his answer about keeping abortion laws as they are. But the video made clear there was no editing in the exchange about abortion and his response was given in full.
"It's a tough question," he added of abortion. "You know, 50 percent of the people hate you. Fifty percent of the people love you, very simple."
Trump's comments raised concerns in the Republican Party about whether his unpopularity with women as measured in preference polling would make him unelectable in a general election match-up against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
In an apparent effort to address that concern, Trump is bringing his wife on the campaign trail. His daughter Ivanka, who just had a baby, will also be returning to campaign with him in another week or so, he said.
Trump responded at length to criticism from both of his rivals as well as from President Obama over his call to consider allowing South Korea and Japan to acquire nuclear weapons -- a position the president said betrayed an ignorance of foreign policy and the world.
"Now I didn't say anything about letting Japan nuke," Trump said. "But I did say, perhaps if we can't do the right deal, we'll have to let them take care of themselves."
Trump said, "if that means they'll have to someday get nuclear weapons, in all fairness folks, I know the way life works, eventually they're going to probably want to do it anyway." And he later claimed that his much-panned assertion that NATO was irrelevant was suddenly being embraced by people who had "studied the organization for 30 years."
Trump said he was popular in some areas of Wisconsin but "in certain areas, the city areas, I'm not doing well. And I'm not doing well because nobody knows my message."
He said people were given misinformation, and partly blamed "crazy talk show hosts" including Charlie Sykes, with whom he had a contentious radio interview.
But Trump said he's hoping he'll be able to win some of those skeptics over as he campaigns across the Wisconsin -- and went so far to predict, in an afternoon rally in Wausau, that he would win the state.

Saturday, April 2, 2016

State Dept Cartoon

State Dept suspends review into 'top secret' Clinton emails

Anyone Surprised by this??

The State Department has suspended its internal review into whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or her top aides mishandled emails containing information now deemed `top secret."
Spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said Friday the department had paused the review to avoid interfering with an ongoing FBI investigation into Clinton's use of a private server while she was America's top diplomat. She said the decision was made after the department sought the FBI's advice on how to proceed with the review and received word that it should follow its standard practice. Trudeau said the department's standard practice is to place internal reviews "on hold while there is an ongoing law enforcement investigation underway."
An FBI spokesman did not immediately respond to request for comment.
"Of course, we do not want our internal review to complicate or impede the progress of their ongoing law enforcement investigation," Trudeau told reporters. "Therefore, the State Department at this time is not moving forward with our internal review." Trudeau said the department would "reassess next steps" in the internal review process once the FBI completes its probe.
The department began the internal review in January when it announced that it had classified 22 emails that Clinton sent or received as "top secret" and would not be releasing them. None of the emails was marked classified at the time it was sent.
One aspect of the internal review, which was being conducted by the bureaus of Diplomatic Security and Intelligence and Research, was to investigate whether any of the information in the emails was classified at the time of transmission. If and when it is completed, the review could result in counseling, warnings or other action against employees if it finds the information was mishandled.

Pro-Clinton group files DOJ report alleging Trump-Carson appointment deal

WASHINGTON -- A pro-Clinton watchdog group has filed a complaint with the Justice Department alleging that Donald Trump may have promised former candidate Ben Carson a job in the administration in exchange for his endorsement last month.
The American Democracy Legal Fund, a “political accountability” group launched by David Brock, the conservative-turned-liberal operative known in political circles as a Clinton “hit man,” filed the complaint in a letter to DOJ on March 29, according to a POLITICO report.
It was one of several complaints filed by the group this week. According to reports, Brock’s watchdogs filed no less than three complaints with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders over contributions and political action committee (PAC) activities.
The letter involving Trump asks Raymond Hulser, of the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, to investigate a possible violation of the federal statute that prohibits any candidate from promising --willfully or otherwise -- a future government position in exchange for campaign support.
Punishment for breaking this law could mean up to two years in prison.
“Dr. Carson’s comments indicate that Mr. Trump used the promise of a role in his administration to secure Dr. Carson’s support for his presidential campaign,” Brad Woodhouse, head of the American Democracy Legal Fund, in the letter.
According to POLITICO, the complaint focuses on an interview Carson, who dropped out of the race on March 4, gave to Newsmax TV on March 14, three days after he publicly gave his endorsement to Trump.
“Carson was vague about what he and Trump had discussed the day before the endorsement,” wrote reporter Nick Gass, but said Trump “would surround himself with very good people.”
Carson has repeatedly denied that there was any quid pro quo. “That’s just not true,” he told Brianna Golodrya of Yahoo News on March 16.
It is the second complaint the group has filed against Trump, the first being with the FEC, alleging that the candidate did not disclose that he reportedly paid actors to appear at his campaign kick-off rally. Brock’s group also filed a complaint against Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H. this week.

Trump now says abortion laws should not be changed

WASHINGTON – Donald Trump now says abortion laws should not be changed.

It's a pendulum swing for the Republican presidential contender on an issue that's caused him grief since he said earlier in the week there should be "some form of punishment" for women who get abortions if the procedure is outlawed.
He backed off that remark under fierce criticism, saying if abortion were no longer legal, abortionists should be penalized for performing the procedure — not the women who have it.
Now he's shifted anew, in a "Face The Nation" interview being broadcast Sunday.
In an excerpt broadcast Friday on "CBS Evening News," Trump said about abortion: "The laws are set. And I think we have to leave it that way."
He declined several times to say whether he thinks abortion is murder. "I have my opinions on it, but I'd rather not comment on it," he said. Asked if he disagrees with those who consider the procedure to be murder, he said, "No, I don't disagree with it."
His spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, said Trump meant that abortion laws won't change until he's president. "Then he will change the law through his judicial appointments and allow the states to protect the unborn," she said. That's not a distinction he made in the interview.
The abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America responded partly tongue-in-cheek to Trump's comment that abortion laws should be left alone. "Donald Trump has seen the light," the group said in a statement, quickly adding, "April Fools."
The group's president, Ilyse Hogue, said Trump's grasp of abortion policy has been "all over the place this week" but added, "We know that misogyny would rule in a Trump White House and that never bodes well for reproductive health care or advancing women's equality."
Trump, the Republican front-runner, has hit a rough patch in his campaign as he heads into the Wisconsin primary Tuesday. His campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, has been charged with simple battery, accused of grabbing a reporter's arm. He faced a backlash for comments about rival Ted Cruz's wife and managed to displease both sides in the abortion debate with his now-retracted comment that women who get abortions should be punished.
"I think I've had many bad weeks and I've had many good weeks," he said in the interview Friday. "I don't see this as the worst week in my campaign."

Palin calls on Republicans to unify behind Trump candidacy at GOP dinner

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin went to bat for Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump at the Milwaukee County GOP dinner Friday night.
Palin called on Republicans to unify behind Trump’s candidacy. She said he’s the only candidate who understands that “common sense is an endangered species in Washington.” She also touted Trump as the only candidate who has created private-sector jobs, saying “He builds big things.”
"Donald Trump is the only one who really understands this reality. He's the only one who creates private sector jobs, balances budgets and builds things, he builds big things," she said.
Trump didn’t attend the dinner.
Palin also attacked the other Republican candidates on their immigration policies at the dinner. She accused Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich of “seducing (illegal immigrants) with gift baskets.”
There were also some chuckles in the crowd when Palin said Trump is the only one who "talks rationally" about foreign policy and national security.
Cruz received high praise at the dinner from Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. He endorsed Cruz Monday and called the senator a “rock star” before Cruz took the stage. Walker is also planning to join Cruz on the campaign trail in Wisconsin Sunday.
Cruz noted that Walker is one of five former Republican presidential candidates who are now backing his campaign. The others are Rick Perry, Carly Fiorina, Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham.
"That is the very real manifestation of the unity we need across this country," he said. "If we are divided, we will lose the primary and hand the general election to Hillary Clinton."
Cruz said nominating Trump would be a "train wreck."
"That's actually not fair to train wrecks," Cruz said. "Nominating Donald Trump elects Hillary Clinton."
In his speech at the same event, Kasich cast himself as an independent-minded Republican, saying he understands the frustration felt by Trump backers.
"The Republican Party has been my vehicle and not my master," Kasich said. "I've never wanted to be a professional politician — in fact, I don't even like politics."
Kasich, whose only primary victory has come in his home state of Ohio, is hoping to survive the primary season and win the nomination at the GOP convention in Cleveland in July.
"We are going to have a contested convention," said former four-term Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson when he introduced Kasich, noting that Abraham Lincoln won the nomination 156 years ago going into the convention as the underdog.
The anti-Trump forces have been working to stop the billionaire businessman in Wisconsin, a state that will help determine whether he can emerge from the primaries with enough delegates to avoid a contested convention. Wisconsin awards 18 delegates to the statewide winner, and divides 24 delegates among the winner in each eight congressional districts.
If Cruz sweeps all the delegates in Wisconsin, Trump will need to win 57 percent of the remaining delegates in other states to collect the 1,237 he needs to clinch the nomination. So far, he has won 48 percent of all delegates awarded.
In the latest Fox Business Poll, Cruz holds a 10-point lead over Trump in Wisconsin.