Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Emails show Clinton camp scrambling over 2015 threat of Biden run

Newly revealed emails detail how Hillary Clinton's allies scrambled last year to head off a brewing presidential bid from Vice President Biden -- showing just how close he came to running and the role an ex-Biden aide played in the "demise" of that idea.
Biden was well-known to have considered challenging Clinton, the eventual Democratic presidential nominee, to be the party’s standard-bearer before taking himself out of the running a year ago.
However, the hacked emails of Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta that have been released by WikiLeaks pull back the curtain on how seriously Biden was planning for a campaign – and how seriously Clinton’s staffers took that threat.
BIDEN WISHES HE COULD TAKE TRUMP 'BEHIND THE GYM'
The first mention of a Biden run in the Podesta emails came on June 11, when former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary Eleni Kounalakis told Podesta that a wealthy Bay Area broker “swears Biden is running. He said he took him on Air Force Two, and he’s getting emails.”
Podesta then referenced the recent death of Biden's 46-year-old son Beau, who had cancer.
“Some speculation that Biden will run because of Beau’s loss,” Podesta wrote back. “I think that would be a little crazy and sad but you never know. I like him and grieve for him and hope he doesn’t do it for his sake.”
The Biden speculation jumped into high gear for Team Clinton after Maureen Dowd wrote an Aug. 1 column for The New York Times in which she said Beau, before he died, had pushed his dad to run for president. The column angered many in the Podesta-Clinton orbit, though it didn’t immediately seem to change the calculus.
“I think he’ll hang back unless she explodes and that won’t happen just because your friends at the [New York Times] wish it so,” Podesta wrote to CNBC’s John Harwood the same day the Dowd column came out.
But by mid-month, President of the Center for American Progress Neera Tanden emailed Podesta with news that a hedge fund manager reported “that Biden (or his people – unclear to me who) are calling asking for support. Not doing a hard sell.” Podesta indicated he had heard the development, as well.
Just days later, on Aug. 23, Podesta advised New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio about how to answer potential Biden questions, adding a pro-Clinton spin: “Great guy, serious, grieve with him on the loss of his son, he has to make up his own mind whether to run, no big clamor out there for additional candidates.” Podesta on Aug. 24 told an inquiring Harwood that he now was “not sure” if Biden was leaning toward running.
Biden’s campaign appeared to be gearing up by the end of the month, when, on Aug. 28, a former White House staffer informed Podesta that Democratic consultants out West were being calling by Biden’s Chief of Staff, Steve Ricchetti, asking them to be regional coordinators or consultants for a campaign.
On Sept. 2, Podesta emailed Tanden: “Heard he is now telling union Presidents he is running.”
At that point, Clinton aides seemed to go from information-gathering to a more pro-active approach.
Podesta told Clinton in a Sept. 21 email that he had lunch with President Obama and discussed Biden. He didn’t reveal via email “the color of the conversation,” preferring to speak on the phone. But he did tell Clinton the news was “Nothing that can’t wait.”
Podesta next moved to shoring up those already likely to support Clinton. He spoke to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and told top Clinton aide Huma Abedin on Sept. 23 that Garcetti “won’t commit until Biden is definitive. Probable outcome is he stays neutral followed closely by he endorses Biden.”
Podesta went directly to Clinton regarding ex-UBS CEO Robert Wolf.
“Most importantly, Biden is courting him hard,” Podesta wrote. “He has told Biden he is with you, but Biden has pushed him to reconsider if he gets in or at least stay open to that possibility. Because Robert is known as an Obama confidante, he would probably be seen as a bellwether of Obama’s preference and there is no question that Biden would market it that way if he were to defect. He’s not just one more Obama fundraiser. I think he believes you would be the better President so I think he’s solid, but not rock solid.”
Wolf emailed Podesta 10 days later providing him with an agenda for a meeting the two were scheduled to have. Item 3 is “VP Biden update.”
On Oct. 12 Podesta forwarded an email from a Chicago “super-volunteer” with updates on the area to a group that included Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook. Podesta noted Chicago is “probably a place Biden will try to play so we should pay some attention.”
It’s unclear what happened next, but, just three days later, the Biden threat appeared vanquished. Ron Klain, a former Biden chief of staff who is now an operative for the Clinton campaign, emailed Podesta with a cryptic note of thanks.
“It’s been a little hard for me to play such a role in the Biden demise – and I am definitely dead to them -- but I’m glad to be on Team HRC, and glad that she had a great debate last night,” Klain wrote.
Six days later, on Oct. 21, Biden, with Obama by his side, gave a news conference from the White House declaring he wouldn’t run.
Clinton, in a statement, said: “I am confident that history isn’t finished with Joe Biden.”

Numbers game: Trump battles media and polling establishment in insisting he can still win

Kurtz: Trump vs the 'phony polls'

Donald Trump, who loved to tout the polls when he was winning, is now accusing the media of pushing “phony polls.”
But even some of his own people aren’t backing him up.
Trump says he’s winning this election, even though most public polls show him losing nationally and in many of the key battleground states. The coverage is all about how big Hillary Clinton’s margin of victory will be and how she’s now turning her attention to helping Democratic congressional candidates. “Victory in Sight,” said a New York Times headline.
Here’s why it matters. Trump is right that if the country believes the race is essentially decided, some deflated Republican voters may stay home. (Of course, some Democrats may also stay home if an ultra-confident Clinton camp acts like this thing is in the bag.)
But for Trump’s allegations to be true, the surveys by New York Times/CBS, Wall Street Journal/NBC, Washington Post/ABC, Politico/Morning Consult, Fox News, CNN, Quinnipiac and others would have to be distorted.
There are three polls—L.A. Times, Rasmussen and IBD—that have given Trump a national lead of 1 to 3 points in recent days, or a virtual tie. So they would have to be right and the other surveys wrong.
All this plays into Trump’s broader argument about a crooked system. “When the people who control the political power in our society can rig investigations like [Clinton’s] investigation was rigged, can rig polls -- you see these phony polls -- and rig the media, they can wield absolute power over your life, your economy and your country and benefit big time by it,” he said the other day in Florida.
But his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, has acknowledged her candidate is “behind” in the polls. Ed Rollins, head of a Trump Super PAC and a Fox News contributor, said yesterday that “if the election were today, he’d lose and lose big time…They know it.”
The Electoral College projections are more damaging for Trump. Fox’s map gives Clinton 307 electoral votes, more than the 270 she needs to win.
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball gives Clinton 352 votes.
Nate Silver’s 538 gives Clinton 338.9 votes (I love the specificity).
And each new survey generates a new round of stories. Just yesterday, the New York Times said its poll had Trump trailing by 7 in North Carolina, without which it’s extremely difficult for him to win the White House. Another headline said, “Could Clinton Win Texas? Democrats Say Maybe.” (It’s still highly unlikely.)
“Florida Spirals Away from Trump,” says a Politico story, with Clinton leading there in 10 of the last 11 public polls.
Now some caveats are in order. Individual polls can be off. Democrats can be oversampled. Fewer people have land lines or want to spend time talking to pollsters. Trailing candidates can surge.
And outside events can intervene. The news that ObamaCare premiums will rise an average of 25 percent, and that consumers are being left with fewer insurance options, gives a strong argument to Trump and other critics of the federal program.
Are such issues enough to change the dynamic of what is now a two-week campaign, with the conventions and debates behind us? It’s an uphill climb for Trump.
And by the way, many trailing candidates in both parties, in an effort to fire up their base, question the polls or declare that the only poll that counts is on Election Day (a little less true in this age of early voting).
The difference is that Trump is saying the majority of polls aren’t just wrong but deliberately off base.
And he has a receptive audience. In a Reuters survey, almost 70 percent of Republicans said a Hillary win would be the result of rigged voting or voter fraud. In an ABC poll, 84 percent of Trump supporters say the same. (That is, if these polls can be believed.)
Whether Trump is trying to shake up the race or give himself a post-defeat rationale, he’s made the media’s polling—usually taken for granted as a rough barometer of public sentiment—a major issue in the home stretch.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz.

Trump cuts off fundraising events for Republican Party

Trump frustrated by lack of support from GOP establishment?

Donald Trump's campaign has ended fundraising events meant to support the Republican Party's get-out-the-vote efforts in next month's elections.
Aides to the Republican nominee told Fox News that Trump Victory, the joint fundraising committee for the GOP and the campaign, held its most recent fundraiser on Oct. 19 and no more such events were scheduled.
The move, which was first reported by The Washington Post, cuts off a key money source for Republicans hoping to keep hold of both houses of Congress.
"We’ve kind of wound down," Trump national finance chairman Steven Mnuchin told the Post. "But the online fundraising continues to be strong."
By contrast, the Post reported that Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign has scheduled 41 fundraising events between now and Nov. 4. The former secretary of state was scheduled to make her last personal fundraising appearance Tuesday in Miami.
Mnuchin told the paper that the real estate mogul was focusing on making his final pitch to the voters at a campaign events rather than raising money in the final two weeks of the race.
"We have minimized his fundraising schedule over the last month to emphasize his focus on political [events]," Mnuchin said of the candidate. "Unlike Hillary, who has been fundraising and not out and about, he has constantly been out and about."
According to the Post, the Republican National Committee had collected $40 million through Trump Victory as of Sept. 30.
RNC spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said the organization "[continues] to fundraise for the entire GOP ticket."
Meanwhile, Politico reported Tuesday that the Senate Leadership Fund, a Super PAC with ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was putting $25 million into seven Senate races deemed crucial in determining the balance of power on Capitol hill.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Hillary like Nixon Cartoons

Republicans pounce on Obamacare after White House announcement

The unravelling of Obamacare

Republicans blasted the White House on Monday after President Barack Obama’s administration announced that premiums for his signature health care law will rise sharply next year and many consumers would be down to just one insurer.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, while campaigning in Tampa, Fla., emphatically declared Obamacare “over.”
Trump added that his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, "wants to double down and make it more expensive and it's not gonna work. ... Our country can't afford it, you can't afford it." He promised his own plan would deliver "great health care at a fraction of the cost."
Trump’s running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence echoed his partner’s words, saying on Twitter “Higher premiums, less competition & fewer choices lie ahead for Obamacare. Hillary Clinton wants more of the same.”
Before taxpayer-provided subsidies, premiums for a midlevel benchmark plan will increase an average of 25 percent across the 39 states served by the federally run online market, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services. Some states will see much bigger jumps, others less.
Moreover, about 1 in 5 consumers will only have plans from a single insurer to pick from, after major national carriers such as UnitedHealth Group, Humana and Aetna scaled back their roles.
"Consumers will be faced this year with not only big premium increases but also with a declining number of insurers participating, and that will lead to a tumultuous open enrollment period," said Larry Levitt, who tracks the health care law for the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., accused Democrats of only wanting to double-down on Obamacare instead of fix it and vowed that Republicans would “replace it with real, patient-centered solutions that fit your needs and your budget.”
“The president recently compared Obamacare to a Samsung Galaxy Note 7, and he's right: this disastrous law is blowing up. But at least you can return the phone,” Ryan added.
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., urged the White House to admit that the health care law wasn’t working.
"We’ve reached this point because Obamacare is built on the lie that Washington’s bureaucrats are smart enough to plan health care for millions of Americans. At every turn—whether it’s CO-OPs collapsing, premiums skyrocketing, or big insurers bailing—the American people have paid the price. More spin won’t solve this—it’s time for the White House to admit that this law isn’t working."
HHS essentially confirmed state-by-state reports that have been coming in for months. Window shopping for plans and premiums is already available through HealthCare.gov.
Administration officials are stressing that subsidies provided under the law, which are designed to rise alongside premiums, will insulate most customers from sticker shock. They add that consumers who are willing to switch to cheaper plans will still be able to find bargains.

More on this...

"Headline rates are generally rising faster than in previous years," acknowledged HHS spokesman Kevin Griffis. But he added that for most consumers, "headline rates are not what they pay."
The vast majority of the more than 10 million customers who purchase through HealthCare.gov and its state-run counterparts do receive generous financial assistance. "Enrollment is concentrated among very low-income individuals who receive significant government subsidies to reduce premiums and cost-sharing," said Caroline Pearson of the consulting firm Avalere Health
But an estimated 5 million to 7 million people are either not eligible for the income-based assistance, or they buy individual policies outside of the health law's markets, where the subsidies are not available. The administration is urging the latter group to check out HealthCare.gov. The spike in premiums generally does not affect the employer-provided plans that cover most workers and their families.
Overall, it's shaping up to be the most difficult sign-up season since HealthCare.gov launched in 2013 and the computer system froze up.
Enrollment has been lower than initially projected, and insurers say patients turned out to be sicker than expected. Moreover, a complex internal system to help stabilize premiums has not worked as hoped for.

Early voting suggests tight race in key states despite Clinton camp boast

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is touting some “eye-popping” advantages in early voting, in an apparent effort to energize Democratic voters, but preliminary figures suggest the race remains tighter than her aides acknowledge.
The preliminary numbers appear to show Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, with an edge in several of the roughly 10 battleground states that will decide the 2016 White House race.
“We're seeing eye-popping vote-by-mail application numbers,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said on “Fox News Sunday.”
In Arizona and North Carolina, for example, more registered Democrats than Republicans have indeed cast early ballots.
But such numbers are open to interpretation, including how many Democrats in those two states voted for Clinton.
Meanwhile, early data shows Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump with potential advantages of his own in battleground states Florida, Ohio and elsewhere.
Only some of the 37 states that allow early voting make public the number of registered Democrats and Republicans who requested early ballots and voted early, so final numbers won’t be known until Election Day.
Still, the Clinton campaign seemed bolstered in recent days by mail-in balloting in battleground Florida, where in-person voting started Monday in a majority of counties.
Early Florida numbers showed about an equal number of Democrats and Republicans had requested a record 3.1 million early ballots, compared with 2008 when Republicans led 49-to-32 percent and President Obama still won the state.
However, registered Republicans now have a slight lead -- 1.8 percentage points -- in the nearly 1 million ballots received by Friday.
Trump, on a swing through Florida on Monday, made another push for supporters to cast their votes now.
“You got to get out there. Who’s voted already?” Trump asked a cheering crowd in St. Augustine. “If you’re not feeling well on Nov. 8, we don’t want to take a chance.”
Clinton said in battleground North Carolina on Sunday: “From now until Nov. 5, you can vote early. It’s a big deal. You get to vote today, right after this event.”
Mook also pointed out Sunday that in Nevada, officials saw a “record turnout” in Democratic stronghold Clark County, which includes Las Vegas.
However, Trump has throughout the campaign appeared to have the support of some potential crossover voters, including Latino immigrants who back his tough message on illegal immigration.
A recent CNN/ORC poll, for example, found 33 percent of registered Latino voters in Nevada support Trump, compared to 54 percent for Clinton.
The Clinton campaign declined Monday to provide details on the states to which Mook and vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine referred Sunday.
Kaine told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the campaign “like(s) the early voting activity and the absentee-ballot requests coming in.”
Kendra Stewart, College of Charleston political science professor, said Monday that Kaine and Mook are “doing exactly what they should be doing by trying to use this as an opportunity to create enthusiasm within the party in the hopes of a bandwagon effect.”
However, she cautioned about the effort perhaps “leaving some Democratic voters less motivated to vote if they feel like their candidate doesn’t really need them” and giving the Trump campaign the opportunity to use the underdog strategy to try to rally supporters to get out and vote.
Elliott Fullmer, a Randolph-Macon College political science professor, suggested either camp could play up select early-vote trends.
“I don’t think it would be a surprise for a campaign to think any positive momentum would play well,” Fullmer said Monday. “And the more they can discuss an advantage in early voting, they will.”
According to the University of Florida’s U.S. Elections Project, roughly 6 million Americans have already cast early votes, which do not include absentee ballots.
More than 46 million people are expected to vote before Election Day -- or as much as 40 percent of all votes cast.
The District of Columbia also allows early voting. Included in the 37 states that allow early voting are Colorado, Oregon and Washington, which have only mail-in balloting.
Clinton holds a 6 percentage point lead over Trump in national polls, according to the RealClearPolitcs average.
Clinton -- who has been the frontrunner for the entire race -- also has leads in battlegrounds states New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Trump leads in battlegrounds Georgia, Iowa, Missouri and Ohio.
Though neither Georgia nor Ohio break down early balloting by party affiliation, Trump appears to have an advantage in both states.
In Ohio, such requests are down 10 percent among black voters, who in recent decades have tended to vote for Democrats. And requests among Ohio’s increasing white population, a voting bloc in which Trump appears to do well, is up 3 percentage points, to 91 percent.
In Georgia, ballot requests and returns among black voters trail 2012 levels.

Republicans banking on carefully built House firewall

A map of an average congressional district would be - if one could channel the Founders’ intention - a fairly straightforward geometrical thing. But politics has distorted the geometry of modern congressional districts in a big way.
"Goofy kicking Donald Duck," is how one observer described a map of Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district - just one of several gerrymandered districts that Republicans are pinning their hopes on as a firewall against a Democratic run on November 8.
Having lost the White House and Congress in 2008, Republicans undertook a complex plan to win control of state legislatures around the country in the 2010 mid-terms. The first step was redrawing congressional districts.
Christopher Jankowski, a GOP strategist and former Executive Director of "Red Map," was one of the architects of the plan.
"The GOP has a built-in advantage from 2010 that continues to pay dividends and that advantage is going to prevent the House from flipping, certainly this year," he told Fox News.
In 37 of the 50 states, it is the legislature's role to draw congressional districts based upon population shifts recorded by the once-in-a-decade census. In those states, the party that controls the legislature can shape congressional districts in whatever way it sees fit, no matter how geometrically or geographically challenged they may appear.
North Carolina's 12th District is another case in point. That state's Republican-controlled legislature redrew the 12th into an amorphous shape that straddles and roughly parallels Interstate 85. The district is not much wider than the highway itself in some areas. One critic quipped, "You could drive down I-85 with both doors open and kill everybody in the 12th District."
But the bizarre shape effectively consolidated a big chunk of the state’s minority population into one district - ensuring minority representation in Congress, but also helping white, conservative GOP candidates in adjacent districts to win races by big margins - virtually guaranteeing their re-election through several cycles.
In Michigan’s 7th District, GOP redistricting sealed Democrat Mark Schauer's fate as a one-term congressman. "They drew a seat they expected to win and sort of took me out of the picture, just like they did with dozens, literally dozens of people just like me around the Congress," he told Fox News.
Schauer didn’t get mad over his loss, but he got even. He is now heavily involved with a super PAC, Advantage 2020, which is helping Democrats try to retake control of state legislatures before the 2020 census. Schauer has plenty of company.
In a swing through the West last week, President Obama told a Las Vegas crowd, "We gotta have more Democratic members of Congress in the House of Representatives."
To that end, the President is working with former Attorney General Eric Holder to develop the National Democratic Redistricting Committee to do what Republicans did in 2010 - take back the House and the statehouses and to preserve what they hope to win.

Top adviser on Clinton Wall Street speeches: 'It's pretty bad'

A veteran and trusted Hillary Clinton adviser ripped the Democratic presidential nominee after seeing transcripts of post-State Department speeches Clinton gave discussing Wall Street, ObamaCare and Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to emails released by WikiLeaks.
Mandy Grunwald, an adviser to Clinton’s current White House bid, offered a particularly frank assessment on Jan. 23 after seeing the text of three speeches given to Goldman Sachs in 2013.
“It’s pretty bad,” Grunwald wrote to a cadre of top Clinton aides. “She is critical to some extent of what led to the crash but the more memorable stuff is totally accomodationist.”
Grunwald cited Clinton saying the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory legislation was enacted because “people needed to do something for political reasons” and claiming “I’m not interested in pointing fingers.”
Grunwald has been in the Clinton orbit since 1992 when she was director of advertising for Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign. Grunwald remained a close adviser to Hillary after that election and later worked as head of campaign media relations on her failed 2008 presidential bid.
The email, uncovered in Monday’s WikiLeaks dump of emails hacked from Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta, came as Clinton was battling populist and uber-liberal challenger Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a fierce critic of Wall Street. Grunwald may have also been especially sensitive to the language Clinton used since Grunwald worked on Elizabeth Warren’s successful Senate campaign in Massachusetts. Warren and Sanders arguably are the most vocal Wall Street critics on Capitol Hill.
EMAILS SHOW CLINTON PRAISED PUTIN DURING SPEECHES
During the primary campaign, Sanders repeatedly called for Clinton to release her post-State Department speeches. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has echoed that demand, though Clinton repeatedly has refused to do so.
Portions of the speeches, however, eventually were disclosed in a lengthy document citing remarks that could prove harmful to Clinton’s campaign. That file was contained in WikiLeaks releases.
But Grunwald's criticisms stretched beyond Clinton’s financial sector comments.
“There are also some very tepid comments about Obamacare,” she wrote. “And a ton of foreign policy stuff, including some naïve sounding comments about Putin – that could cause a whole separate set of issues – but [aide] Jake [Sullivan] should review all that.”
Clinton has been particularly critical throughout the general election of Trump’s praise of Putin and views on Russia. But the Goldman Sachs speeches show that Clinton could also be cordial with the former KGB operative.
“I would love it if we could continue to build a more positive relationship with Russia,” Clinton said during a June 4, 2013 speech at Goldman Sachs’ IBD Ceo Annual Conference.
During the same speech she said: “We would very much like to have a positive relationship with Russia and we would like to see Putin be less defensive toward a relationship with the United States so that we could work together on some issues.”

Monday, October 24, 2016

Idiot Democrat Voter Cartoons

Michael Moore: Any Trump supporter like 'a legal terrorist'

Democrat supporting Trump reacts to Gettysburg speech

Michael Moore saw Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” and he raised her a “legal terrorist.”
The controversy-seeking filmmaker used the phrase during a Rolling Stone interview published Friday to describe “any” supporters of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Moore’s metaphor came on the heels of Democrat presidential nominee Clinton saying some Trump supporters fit in a “basket of deplorables,” a comment for which she later apologized.
“[Voters] can go in there and, even though you're not necessarily in favor of Trump and you don't like him that much and you know he's a little crazy, you also know he's going to blow up the system,” Moore said when asked about the turn of phrase. “The system that took your job and house away from you. You get to get back at the system now and blow it up and this is the only day you can do it legally.”
Though Moore was a prominent backer of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders during the Democrat primary, it didn’t take him long to switch allegiance to Clinton, the Democrat presidential nominee. Moore’s new film, “Michael Moore in Trumpland,” is less an excoriation of Trump than a love song for Clinton, as the director tells it.

A Message from McDonald’s Hispanic

¿Quieres que tu hijo pueda ir a la universidad?

McDonald’s y RHMC®/HACER® están ofreciendo 5 becas ...

“I wrote a chapter in my very first book 20 years ago called ‘My Forbidden Love for Hillary,’” Moore said. “There's nothing to come around on. I was for Hillary before Hillary was for Hillary.”
CRITICS: MICHAEL MOORE'S 'TRUMPLAND' ALL ABOUT HILLARY
As if “legal terrorist” wasn’t a provocative-enough description, Moore also compared Trump to a child molester.
“You have to protect the population from him like you do with a pedophile,” Moore said. “A pedophile doesn’t need to be in prison; they’re sick. They have to be separated from us so they don’t hurt children. But you have to treat it that way.”

Clinton ally aided campaign of FBI official's wife

How the McAuliffe probe could spell trouble for the Clintons

The political organization of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, an influential Democrat with longstanding ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton, gave nearly $500,000 to the election campaign of the wife of an official at the Federal Bureau of Investigation who later helped oversee the investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s email use.
Campaign finance records show Mr. McAuliffe’s political-action committee donated $467,500 to the 2015 state Senate campaign of Dr. Jill McCabe, who is married to Andrew McCabe, now the deputy director of the FBI.
The Virginia Democratic Party, over which Mr. McAuliffe exerts considerable control, donated an additional $207,788 worth of support to Dr. McCabe’s campaign in the form of mailers, according to the records. That adds up to slightly more than $675,000 to her candidacy from entities either directly under Mr. McAuliffe’s control or strongly influenced by him. The figure represents more than a third of all the campaign funds Dr. McCabe raised in the effort.
Mr. McAuliffe and other state party leaders recruited Dr. McCabe to run, according to party officials. She lost the election to incumbent Republican Dick Black.

Related stories..

A spokesman for the governor said he “supported Jill McCabe because he believed she would be a good state senator. This is a customary practice for Virginia governors… Any insinuation that his support was tied to anything other than his desire to elect candidates who would help pass his agenda is ridiculous.”
Among political candidates that year, Dr. McCabe was the third-largest recipient of funds from Common Good VA, the governor’s PAC, according to campaign finance records. Dan Gecker received $781,500 from the PAC and $214,456 from the state party for a campaign that raised $2.9 million, according to records; and Jeremy McPike received $803,500 from the PAC and $535,162 from the state party, raising more $3.8 million that year for his candidacy.
The governor could recall only one meeting with Mr. McCabe—when he and other state Democrats met with the couple on March 7, 2015, to urge Dr. McCabe to run, according to the spokesman.
The FBI said in a statement that during his wife’s campaign Mr. McCabe “played no role, attended no events, and did not participate in fundraising or support of any kind. Months after the completion of her campaign, then-Associate Deputy Director McCabe was promoted to Deputy, where, in that position, he assumed for the first time, an oversight role in the investigation into Secretary Clinton’s emails.”

Clinton camp denies looking to Senate races, red states to cap foregone victory

The Clinton campaign on Sunday denied assertions that it thinks the White House race is now a lock and has moved toward trying for a blowout victory over Republican rival Donald Trump while attempting to take control of the Senate.

“We’re not taking anything for granted,” campaign manager Robby Mook told “Fox News Sunday,” repeating a familiar line from Clinton aides and surrogates.
Mook made the comment one day after Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, devoted a big chunk of her speech in Pittsburgh to touting Katie McGinty, the Democrat challenger for a Senate seat in Pennsylvania, and trying to connect the GOP incumbent, Sen. Pat Toomey, to Trump.
“If he doesn’t have the courage to stand up to Donald Trump, are you sure he’ll be able to stand up for you?” Clinton asked the crowd.
When asked about the speech afterward, Clinton told reporters, “As we’re traveling in these last 17 days, we’re going to be emphasizing the importance of electing Democrats down the ballot.”
Mook on Sunday acknowledged the campaign was indeed making late forays into traditionally Republican-leaning states such as Arizona, Indiana and Missouri -- where polls show the presidential race has tightened and Democratic Senate candidates are in position to upset an incumbent GOP senator.
He said the campaign has put resources into Arizona-- or at least shifted them from places like Florida -- because of Trump’s “divisive rhetoric,” including the “shameful things” he’s said about Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain, who is seeking a sixth term.
“Every campaign wants to win by the biggest margin possible,” Mook said, dismissing the suggestion that the campaign wants a mandate victory on Nov. 8 to cement Clinton’s position of authority with voters. "So that would be great. But we’re not running away with this. This race is going to be competitive up until the end.”
Earlier on "Fox News Sunday," Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway also said the race is not over and that three new polls show Clinton’s averaged 6-percentage point lead being cut in recent days.
“We’re not giving up,” said Conway, vowing more TV ad spending in the finals 16 days, amid Clinton failing to break the key, 50-percent threshold in the handful of battleground states that will decide the race.
Democratic vice-presidential nominee Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine gave a response similar to Mook’s when asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” about the campaign perhaps now being focused on so-called “down ballot” races and whether he thinks the White House race is over.
“Neither Hillary nor I do,” he said. “And if you look at our schedules, you'll see we don't take anything for granted. It's been a season of surprises. … We’re not taking anything for granted.”
Still, Kaine and Mook acknowledged being encouraged by the early-voting numbers, includes those for mail-in ballots, which Mook called “eye-popping.”
As of Saturday, more than 5.3 million early votes had been cast, far ahead of the pace at this time in 2012.
Balloting is underway in 34 out of 37 early-voting states, both in person and by mail.
The Clinton optimism appears based on the number of registered Democrats vs. registered Republicans who have voted early.
More than 46 million people are expected to vote before Election Day -- or as much as 40 percent of all votes cast.

Clinton, Trump camps concede nothing in final weeks, as Obamas join campaign trail for closing arguments

Robby Mook on new Wikileaks revelations

The Clinton and Trump campaigns on Sunday agreed -- at least publicly -- on one issue, that their 2016 presidential contest remains close with 16 days before Election Day, as Clinton goes to a deep, star-studded bench for closing arguments.
“We're not giving up. We know we can win this,” Donald Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told “Fox News Sunday,” though she also acknowledged the majority of polls showing Democratic rival Hillary Clinton leading.
"We are behind," Conway said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” at about the same time an ABC News tracking poll showed Clinton leading by 12 percentage points.
The Clinton campaign insisted Sunday that the race remains very close and that it has not shifted focus to competing in traditionally Republican-leaning states to rout Trump and help fellow Democrats win the Senate.
“Secretary Clinton at the beginning of the campaign said she wanted to help all Democrats, up and down the ballot,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told “Fox News Sunday.” “This is not over yet. Battleground states are called battleground states for a reason.”
Still, Clinton stumped hard the previous day in battleground Pennsylvania for the Democratic challenger in the state’s U.S Senate race and amid early indications that registered Democrats are outnumbering registered Republicans in early voting.
And on Sunday, Clinton was in North Carolina, touting fellow Democrat Deborah Ross, who is in a tight race with the incumbent Republican Sen. Richard Burr.
“Unlike her opponent, Deborah has never been afraid to stand up to Donald Trump," Clinton said at a rally in Raleigh.
The former secretary of state will get help on the campaign trail this week from President Obama, who is also trying to help fellow Democrats retake control of the Senate.
They need to win five seats from Republicans in roughly 10 competitive races.
Obama will hold a rally Sunday in tightly contested Nevada before headlining party fundraisers in California.
Obama's recent itinerary has focused on competitive White House states that also have close Senate races. In Nevada, the president is trying to help his party retain the seat of the chamber’s top Democrat, Sen. Harry Reid, who is retiring.
The president is scheduled to speak at a rally in the Las Vegas area for Clinton and Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto, a former state attorney general whose opponent is GOP Rep. Joe Heck.
He’ll then travels to San Diego to speak at an event for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which leads the party’s efforts to elect and reelect Democrats to the House.
Polls indicate that the presidential and Senate races in Nevada are extremely tight. Reid's seat is considered the only one Republicans could reasonably flip to their side this election.
First lady Michelle Obama will join Clinton later this week on the campaign trail -- at a rally Thursday in battleground North Carolina.
Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon, in announcing the first lady and Clinton’s first joint campaign appearance, called Obama an "absolute rock star" on the trail.
Democratic vice-presidential nominee Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, like Mook, said Sunday that the campaign is “taking nothing for granted,” despite good poll and early-voting numbers.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, will hold a rally late Sunday in Naples, Florida.
As of Saturday, more than 5.3 million early votes had been cast, far ahead of the pace at this time in 2012.
Balloting is underway in 34 out of 37 early-voting states, both in person and by mail.
More than 46 million people are expected to vote before Election Day -- or as much as 40 percent of all votes cast.
Kaine on Sunday also shrugged off the possibility of being embarrassed by leaked emails, amid WikiLeaks saying on Twitter that the group has a "surprise" in store for him.
The group, which has been posting stolen emails from Clinton campaign manager John Podesta, posted the Kaine taunts on Thursday and again on Sunday.
Kaine has questioned the authenticity of WikiLeaks' releases and said the emails were hacked as part of an effort by the Russian government to influence the presidential campaign.
On Sunday, he also raised concerns about an AT&T-Time Warner merger, like Trump did on Saturday.
“I share those concerns and questions,” Kaine said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
He also said that “pro-competition and less concentration” are “generally helpful,” but that details about the estimated $85 billion deal are still emerging.
Conway also told “Fox News Sunday” that the campaign is “just starting to increase some of our investments on the air,” despite Clinton leading in several battleground states.
Conway argued each are within several points and that Clinton has failed to cross the key 50-percent threshold in any of them while outspending the Trump campaign by millions.
Clinton -- who has been the frontrunner for the entire race against Trump, the unpredictable first-time candidate -- leads in such battlegrounds states as Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Trump leads in Georgia Iowa, Missouri and Ohio.

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Clinton Foundation & Open Border Cartoons

The mainstream media freaks out over Trump (and ignores Hillary)

If you believe the pundits, Donald Trump is going to wage a one-man revolution if he loses the 2016 presidential election.
That was the media’s big takeaway from the third and final presidential debate in Las Vegas between Trump and Hillary Clinton.
At issue was a question posed by moderator Chris Wallace regarding whether Trump would accept the election results.
"I will tell you at the time," Trump replied. "I'll keep you in suspense. OK?"
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The mainstream media went apoplectic.
They want you to believe that Trump is going to gallop down 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on a white stallion leading a battalion of Minute Men armed with muskets and waving the Gadsden flag.
The MSM is advancing this outrageous narrative to avoid covering legitimate scandals – like the James O’Keefe videos exposing DNC thuggery and the WikiLeaks emails that reveal media collusion with the Clinton campaign.
Hillary Clinton and her minions have attacked Catholics, Evangelicals, Republicans, Rednecks and Southern beauty queens as a bunch of irredeemable deplorable bigots.
Her outright contempt for everyday Americans and our values should disqualify her from being the next leader of the free world.
I have no doubt a Clinton presidency would soil the U.S. Constitution much like that DNC tour bus did on the streets of Lawrenceville, Georgia.
So here are my top 10 takeaways:
1. Mr. Trump needs to stay focused on the issues. The American people don’t care about the alleged sex scandal and I doubt they care about his remarks on whether he will concede the election if he loses.
Voters do care about jobs, securing the border, protecting the Second Amendment and preventing radical leftists from commandeering the Supreme Court. The American people do not care about phony crises and scandals manufactured by Hillary Clinton’s fanboys in the Mainstream Media.
2. Unborn lives matter. Christians who are still undecided about voting should reflect on Clinton’s and Trump’s comments regarding late-term, partial birth abortions. “If you go with what Hillary is saying, in the ninth month, you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of a baby,” Trump said.
Clinton did not deny the charge. Instead, she called it “scare rhetoric.”
3. Hillary's basket of dirty tricks. Thanks to the fine undercover work of James O’Keefe we know that the Democrats were allegedly involved in a dirty tricks campaign. They disrupted Trump campaign events – leaving innocent Americans bloodied and battered. WikiLeaks revealed that her campaign’s goal was to portray Republicans as bigots and extremists. Mrs. Clinton and the Democrats must be held accountable.
4. Add gun-toting toddlers to Hillary’s "basket of deplorables." Mrs. Clinton offered a bizarre theory for why she wants to crack down on the Second Amendment. “Dozens of toddlers injure themselves, even kill people with guns, because, not everyone who has loaded guns in their homes takes appropriate precautions,” she said.
5. Liberals accused me of being sexist. A motley crew of leftists slammed me on social media last night for calling the Democratic nominee “Miss Hillary.” Upon deep personal reflection, I’d like to offer a public apology to Mrs. Bill Clinton.
6. Chris Wallace was the winner of last night’s debate. My colleague at Fox News delivered a fair and balanced debate to the nation. He kept the candidates and the crowd on point. It was a tremendous job.
How refreshing to have a moderator instead of someone auditioning to be Hillary Clinton’s press secretary.
Well done, Mr. Wallace!
7. The Case of the hanging chad. The mainstream media are once again is predicting Trump’s demise – they are furious over his refusal to say whether he will concede the election if he loses.
CNN called it a death blow. One well-known pundit said it was political suicide. Mrs. Clinton said she was horrified.
I wonder if she was horrified when Al Gore challenged the 2000 presidential election. The MSM seems to have come down with a sudden case of amnesia.
8. It depends on what "open borders" means. Clinton was asked to explain a quote from a speech divulged by WikiLeaks on her dream for “open borders.”
She dodged the question. But I’ll be glad to answer for her.
She wants to sacrifice American sovereignty. Under President Hillary Clinton – our nation will be overrun by illegals as well as Islamic radicals disguised as refugees.
9. Mrs. Clinton should consider purchasing a lovely American flag pin. It’s a must-have, patriotic fashion accessory – especially for presidential candidates. And it goes well with anything – including pantsuits.
10. Let’s keep things in perspective. No matter what happens on Election Day, remember that God is still in control – so let not your heart be troubled, America.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. His latest book is "God Less America: Real Stories From the Front Lines of the Attack on Traditional Values." Follow Todd on Twitter @ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook.

Clinton campaigns for downballot Democrats in campaign's final days

PITTSBURGH – Hillary Clinton is expanding her focus in the final days of the presidential race, seeking to help down-ballot congressional candidates.
In Pittsburgh on Saturday, Clinton assailed incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, saying he had failed to "stand up" to Donald Trump in the face of his comments about Mexican immigrants and a Muslim-American military family. She also noted that Trump had "said terrible things about women" and "spread the lie that our first black president wasn't born in America."
"If he doesn't have the courage to stand up to Donald Trump after all of this, then can you be sure that he will stand up for you when it counts?" Clinton said of Toomey.
Toomey is locked in a tight race with Democratic challenger Katie McGinty. Clinton called McGinty "exactly the kind of senator that Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania needs."
The attacks on Toomey were a new effort from the presidential nominee, who has largely focused her fire on Trump. Clinton did note that some Republicans have had the "grits and the guts" to push back against Trump.
Toomey spokesman Ted Kwong said the Clinton comments show how McGinty would not be an independent voice in the Senate.
"Today is just further proof that hyper-partisan, ethically challenged Katie McGinty will be a rubber stamp for everything Hillary Clinton wants to do in Washington," he said. "Pat Toomey has been, and will continue to be, an independent leader in the Senate on issues ranging from gun safety to ending Wall Street bailouts."
Clinton told reporters on her plane in Pittsburgh that she does plan to focus more on helping other Democrats. The move shows her growing confidence in her own race and her hope that Democrats recapture the Senate.

WikiLeaks: Clinton aides scramble to address alleged mistress nicknamed 'Energizer Bunny'

Hillary and Bill Clinton’s top aides scrambled in 2014 to respond to a new book detailing Bill Clinton’s relationship with a New York suburban socialite nicknamed “The Energizer Bunny”.
According to leaked emails released Saturday by Wikileaks, the Clintons’ inner circle was roiled by the forthcoming release of the book “The First Family In Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal The Hidden Lives Of Presidents” by Clinton antagonist Edward Klein. The book alleged that Bill Clinton had a “blonde, buxom mistress” named Julie McMahon, whom the Secret Service reportedly nicknamed “The Energizer Bunny.”
McMahon was a neighbor of the Clintons in their adopted town of Chappaqua in New York’s exclusive Westchester County.
Hillary’s close confidant Cheryl Mills sent a Daily Mail article about the book to Hillary campaign chair and former Bill chief of staff John Podesta.
“Well, they sure managed to get every name into one story. I guess you got to give them credit for that,” Podesta joked back, carbon-copying top Bill aide Tina Fluornoy.