Rahm Emanuel says Democrats' hard left turn could reelect Trump

Rahm is right.
The Democrats are in a leftward lurch that could ruin their chances of retaking the White House.
Rahm Emanuel, now stepping down after two terms as mayor of Chicago, knows something about winning elections. He was a key White House operative for Bill Clinton and chief of staff for Barack Obama.
It was Rahm, as chairman of the Democratic campaign committee, who engineered the party's takeover of the House in 2006 — and is known for his hardball brand of politics, with all the subtlety of his frequent F-bombs.
If Mayor Emanuel believes the Democrats are in danger of self-destructing, as he argues in a piece for the Atlantic, his party might want to pay attention.
I've been arguing that the Democrats, who regained control of the House in November mainly on the strength of more moderate candidates, are increasingly being defined by their most extreme members.
Just look at the last few weeks, and the stances embraced by some of its presidential contenders and younger members: Slavery reparations. Green New Deal. Medicare for All. Free college tuition. A 70 percent tax rate on income over $10 million. Break up Amazon, Facebook and Google.
Is that how they win back Trump Democrats in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin?
Add to that various self-inflicted wounds, such as delaying and then watering down a resolution to denounce Rep. Ilhan Omar after her latest anti-Semitic comments, and you've got a party with a problem. (President Trump went way overboard in saying the Democrats have become "an anti-Jewish party" and telling donors that "the Democrats hate Jewish people," given that perhaps three-quarters of Jews vote Democratic. But he was seizing on an opening.)
At the South by Southwest conference, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez offered the standard left-wing critique of capitalism by saying that "we're reckoning with the consequences of putting profit above everything else in society." But she added that "to me capitalism is irredeemable," the kind of sound bite that goes viral, given the enormous media attention she attracts.
And on "Morning Joe" the other day, 2020 contender John Hickenlooper, the former Colorado governor, repeatedly refused to call himself a capitalist. When did that become a dirty Democratic word?
In the Atlantic, Emanuel says Trump could win over swing voters by constantly branding the Democrats as socialists.
"The last thing we should do is serve him slow pitches over the plate that allow him to define us on his terms. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Democrats have been doing since he went before Congress in early February. It’s almost as if we've been duped into reading from his ready-made script.
"Earth to Democrats: Republicans are telling you something when they gleefully schedule votes on proposals like the Green New Deal, Medicare for all, and a 70 percent marginal tax rate. When they're more eager to vote on the Democratic agenda than we are, we should take a step back and ask ourselves whether we're inadvertently letting the political battle play out on their turf rather than our own. If Trump's only hope for winning a second term turns on his ability to paint us as socialists, we shouldn't play to type."
He's not pulling punches.
While saying the party shouldn't abandon its core priorities, Rahm says Democrats and independents are so desperate to win that they'll support a candidate who doesn't agree with them on everything, as long as that person is seen as able to win.
"So the ideological debates often shroud what voters really want — a nominee capable of standing steady and strong as Trump tries to bully his way into an Election Night victory. The president's low approval ratings suggest that, if he wins a second term, Democrats will have no one to blame but ourselves."
What began as a broadside from the right has now gone decidedly mainstream as the stumbles continue. The argument even made the front page of Sunday's New York Times:
"The sharp left turn in the Democratic Party and the rise of progressive presidential candidates are unnerving moderate Democrats who increasingly fear that the party could fritter away its chances of beating President Trump in 2020 by careening over a liberal cliff."
The challenge for Pelosi is to rein in her more lefty members who are sharply changing the public face of the party. But she can't control the Bernie-style presidential candidates who seem to believe that a hard left turn is the way to win the nomination.
Fox News Chastises Pirro
Jeanine Pirro, the Fox weekend host who is friendly with President Trump, has drawn a strong rebuke from the network.
She took on Omar, one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, in remarks that crossed a line.
Judge Jeanine said Saturday night that Omar is "Sharia-compliant" and engages in "Sharia-adherence behavior." Why? Because the freshman Democrat wears a hijab.
She asked: "Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to Sharia law, which is antithetical to the U.S. Constitution?"
In a statement, Fox News said: "We strongly condemn Jeanine Pirro's comments about Rep. Ilhan Omar. They do not reflect those of the network and we have addressed the matter with her directly."
I've been critical of Omar for making anti-Semitic comments about money, then apologizing, then making more remarks about pro-Israel advocates having "dual loyalty" — an old anti-Semitic canard that is one of the worst things you can say about Americans.
But the congresswoman should be able to wear whatever she wants in accordance with her religious beliefs. That shouldn't result in her loyalty to the Constitution being questioned. And the comments were in Pirro's scripted opening remarks, not something uttered off the cuff.
Omar thanked Fox for the statement, tweeting: "No one's commitment to our constitution should be questioned because of their faith or country of birth."
Pirro, a former prosecutor, is not backing off, however. In a statement Sunday, she said, "I did not call Rep. Omar un-American. My intention was to ask a question and start a debate, but of course because one is Muslim does not mean you don't support the Constitution." She invited Omar to appear on her show.
As the Hollywood Reporter noted, Pirro's slam drew criticism from a staffer for "Special Report with Bret Baier." Associate producer Hufsa Kamal tweeted: "@JudgeJeanine can you stop spreading this false narrative that somehow Muslims hate America or women who wear a hijab aren't American enough? You have Muslims working at the same network you do, including myself. K thx."
Pirro hosts an opinion show, but her comments were out of bounds.

2020 Dem contenders Harris, Sanders, Gillibrand face #MeToo backlash

Several Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls -- including Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and now Kirsten Gillibrand -- are defending their self-professed commitment to the ideals of the #MeToo movement against a series of accusations they recently mismanaged sexual-misconduct claims against their subordinates.
As the three prominent senators each have sought to draw a sharp contrast with President Trump, who has faced his own misconduct allegations, the claims highlighted vulnerabilities that could become major liabilities not only in a heated Democrat Party primary, but also in the general election.
Back in 2017, Gillibrand and others ramped up the pressure for then-Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., to resign amid sexual misconduct allegations. He ultimately stepped down.
Gillibrand, who has been described by GQ Magazine as "the face of the MeToo movement," said at the time that Franken's alleged conduct had "shocked and disappointed her" and that he should "step aside" because "enough is enough." But, it emerged on Monday that last summer, an aide in her mid-20’s who was working in Gillibrand’s Senate office also apparently decided that enough was enough, as she resigned in protest over the office’s handling of her sexual-harassment complaint against a senior male adviser to Gillibrand.
“I have offered my resignation because of how poorly the investigation and post-investigation was handled,” the woman, who resigned less than three weeks after reporting the purported harassment, wrote to Gillibrand in a letter obtained by Politico. Gillibrand, responding to the allegations on Monday, said an appropriate investigation was launched -- and her office later said the male staffer had been fired after other unreported, "deeply disturbing" comments surfaced.
The woman was granted anonymity because of fears of retaliation.
Gillibrand faced immediate friendly fire after calling for Franken's resignation -- in 2018, liberal billionaire megadonor George Soros argued that Gillibrand turned on Franken to "improve her chances" in the 2020 presidential race -- and some of those hard feelings among her fellow progressives have not subsided.
For Sanders, the Vermont Independent who caucuses with Democrats, looming resentment from establishment progressives also has posed a major challenge. A January report in The New York Times outlining what one former Sanders delegate called an "entire wave of rotten sexual harassment that seemingly was never dealt with" during his 2016 presidential run seemed only to bolster on-the-record claims from Democrats that Sanders was too impersonal and arrogant to lead the party.
Asked by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper earlier this year whether he was unaware of the sexual harassment allegations, Sanders replied: "Uh, yes. I was a little bit busy running around the country, trying to make the case." He then appeared to smile.
The next week, after reports surfaced that a top aide was accused of sexually assaulting a female subordinate during Sanders' campaign, he issued a strong apology and a vow to change.

Bernie Sanders kicking off his 2020 presidential campaign earlier this month in Brooklyn, N.Y. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)

"To the women in that campaign who were harassed or mistreated I apologize," Sanders said in a statement. "Our standards and safeguards were inadequate."
Allegations of sexism also briefly surfaced contemporaneously during Sanders’ 2016 bid, as some of his young, white male supporters -- known as "Bernie Bros" -- attacked Hillary Clinton and her followers online, contributing to a hostile atmosphere between the campaigns. In her book, the election retrospective "What Happened," Clinton slammed Sanders for using “innuendo and impugning my character” such that she suffered “lasting damage" into the general election, although Clinton did not accuse Sanders of orchestrating the gender-based attacks.
The back-and-forth has continued into 2019. Late last month, after former members of Clinton's team leaked details concerning Sanders' expensive travel on behalf of the Clinton campaign after she secured the Democratic nomination, Sanders 2016 campaign spokesman Michael Briggs returned fire. "You can see why she’s one of the most disliked politicians in America," Briggs said, referring to Clinton. "She’s not nice. Her people are not nice." Briggs went on to call Clinton and her team among the "biggest a--holes in American politics."
But, although Gillibrand and Sanders have made public overtures to the alleged victims who worked for them, California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris acknowledged earlier this month that she still had not spoken to a woman who sued her former top adviser for sexual harassment, leading to a $400,000 settlement.
A spokeswoman for Harris insisted last December the team was “unaware” of the harassment allegations while Harris was California’s attorney general, but the agency that she oversaw, California's Department of Justice, reportedly was informed about the complaint three months before she exited in early 2017.
The lawsuit, filed by Danielle Hartley, accused Larry Wallace of demeaning her based on her gender while she worked for him as his assistant. Hartley said Wallace placed his computer printer under his desk and often asked her to crawl under and refill it with paper as he sat and watched, sometimes with other men in the room.
"In this specific case, I have not talked to the victim," Harris told Univision. "That case is being handled by the Attorney General's Office and I've left it up to that office to handle the case as they've seen fit, which included a settlement."
In an uncomfortable twist, Harris' autobiography, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” which was released in January, praised Wallace's "leadership" in orchestrating a bias training program. Wallace, the former director of the Division of Law Enforcement in California, resigned last December.
Republicans, meanwhile, have previewed a possible line of attack against Harris on the episode as primary season approaches.
“No one is buying Kamala Harris’s claim she didn’t know her top aide of 14 yrs was accused of sexual harassment, resulting in a $400K settlement,” GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel tweeted.
Fox News' Paul Steinhauser, Louis Casiano and Lukas Mikelionis contributed to this report.

America Tomorrow Hijab Cartoons

Andrew McCabe Cartoons

Sen. John Kennedy: Andrew McCabe Should Hang His Head in Shame

Andrew McCabe

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 12:05 PM PT — Sunday, March 10, 2019

Senator John Kennedy takes aim at disgraced Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, accusing him of harming the Bureau’s reputation.
During an interview on Sunday, Kennedy said McCabe should “hang his head in shame.”

.@SenJohnKennedy says former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and others at the FBI acted on their political beliefs and for that, they “should hang their head in shame…and put their head in a bag.” pic.twitter.com/2JRvEO5C4p

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) March 10, 2019

Kennedy also accused him of politicizing the agency during the 2016 election.
He added agents are entitled to their opinions, but claimed McCabe crossed a line by acting on his political beliefs.
Kennedy continued to say McCabe is lucky he wasn’t prosecuted for perjury and misleading the FBI.

 

Pete Buttigieg slams Pence for work with Trump, asks how he ‘became a cheerleader for the porn star presidency’

Pete Buttigieg is the 37 -year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind.

Pete Buttigieg, the little-known 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind., said in an interview Sunday that Vice President Mike Pence has in effect become a "cheerleader for the porn star presidency" and questioned aloud when the former Indiana governor "stopped believing in scripture" and started to believe in Trump.

The "porn star" reference is an apparent shot at Trump’s alleged extra-marital affair with the former porn star Stormy Daniels, which the president has denied. Buttigieg told CNN’s Jake Tapper in Austin that Pence's "interpretation" of scripture is different from his.

"My understanding of scripture is that it's about protecting the stranger and the prisoner and the poor person and that idea," he said. "That's what I get in the gospel when I'm at church and his has a lot more to do with sexuality ... and a certain view of rectitude."
Buttigieg, who is in the second tier of Democratic candidates for president, is a Rhodes scholar who was first elected mayor of his hometown in 2011 at age 29, making him the youngest mayor of a U.S. city with at least 100,000 residents. A lieutenant in the Navy Reserve, he served a tour in Afghanistan in 2014.
Buttigieg raised his national profile with an unsuccessful 2017 run for Democratic National Committee chairman, saying the party needed a new start. He withdrew from the race before a vote when it became clear he didn’t have the support to win.
Amid his campaign for a second term, Buttigieg came out as gay in a column in the local newspaper. He went on to win re-election with 80 percent of the vote. In 2018, three years to the day after the column ran, he married his husband, middle school teacher Chasten Glezman.
The Associated Press contributed to this report

NYC mayor seen flapping to R. Kelly’s ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ amid child abuse claims

Mayor de Blasio got himself into a real Space Jam on Sunday when he was caught on video flapping his arms to a version of R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” while visiting a church in South Carolina.

An 18-second video shows de Blasio standing on the left side of the chapel as a female choir member belts out the refrain of the late 1990s mega-hit by the since-disgraced R&B superstar, who is facing sexual abuse charges tied to four underage victims.

The mayor moves his arms from front to back, then holds them out by his side and waves them up and down before clasping his hands.
“I wonder if the @NYCMayor realizes who sings this song,” tweeted NY1 reporter Courtney Gross, who captured the video.

VideoThe clip shows a sizeable number of women churchgoers remaining seated, despite the encouragement of their pastor, whose gestures appear to urge the congregation to stand up and join in. Kelly was indicted last month in Chicago on 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse against four underage victims between 1998 and 2010.In an email, de Blasio spokesman Eric Phillips insisted: “The Mayor wasn’t the church’s DJ and he certainly can’t be expected to recognize every R. Kelly track.”

“I Believe I Can Fly” was featured in the 1996 move “Space Jam,” which starred Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny in a combined live action/animated comic adventure at the peak of the legendary Chicago Bull’s playing career.
The movie grossed more than $250 million in global ticket sales, and “I Believe I Can Fly” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s “Hot R&B/Hip-Hop” chart and No. 2 on the “Hot 100.”
Aside from the linkage of the once revered song to the Kelly sex scandal de Blasio’s arm flapping also evoked imagery from critics who’ve likened the 6-foot-5 pol to various avian characters.
During the mayor’s 2017 re-election campaign, challenger Bo Dietl repeatedly derided him as “Big Bird,” while a 2015 profile in The Atlantic magazine said his “hooded eyes and dour countenance” was reminiscent of “Sam the Eagle, the Muppets’ harrumphing, censorious patriot.”

Omar's comments threaten to divide district's Somali, Jewish residents: reports

Last week, Thomas Friedman, the columnist for the New York Times penned a column about his obvious connection to Rep. Ilhan Omar, the newly elected firebrand from Minnesota’s Fifth District—a Democratic stronghold.
Friedman was raised there. He called the district a "crazy mix of Minnesota Jews (we called ourselves "the Frozen Chosen”)" that welcomed Somali refugees like the 37-year-old "a half-century later" and elected her to Congress.
The Washington Post reported that Somali refugees started to arrive in the state back in 1993 and, despite their cultural differences, these groups came together to work for the common good. But recent comments by Omar has reportedly strained the relationship in the community.
Omar Jamal, a Somali community activist, told the Post that he has been in touch with Jewish leaders after Omar's comments viewed by some as anti-Semitic. He supported her campaign but called her recent comments, "wrong, period," according to the report.
"This is up to Ilhan Omar," he said. "She has really spoken in a very dangerous way, and it’s going to be up to her to reach out to people and fix this."
The paper reported that one Jewish leader showed Omar a picture of a cousin who was killed in WWII and said that is why questioning dual loyalty is offensive.
Avi S. Olitzky, a senior rabbi in St. Louis Park, which is in the Fifth District, told The Star-Tribune that Omar’s comments have been a clear attack on the Jewish community.
Omar has apologized for her comments and has support from her Democratic colleagues. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi raised eyebrows on Friday when she said the congresswoman “doesn’t understand” that some of the words she uses are "fraught with meaning."
Omar – who filled the House seat that was held by Keith Ellison -- also took aim at former President Obama in an interview with Politico on Friday, saying his message of “hope” and “change” was a “mirage.”
"Recalling the ‘caging of kids’ at the U.S.-Mexico border and the ‘droning of countries around the world’ on Obama’s watch," Omar charged that Obama "operated within the same fundamentally broken framework as his Republican successor,” the piece read.
“We can’t be only upset with Trump… His policies are bad, but many of the people who came before him also had really bad policies," Omar reportedly said. "They just were more polished than he was."
Omar’s rhetoric has been embraced by some. Her proponents see her attack on AIPAC as bold. Amber Harris, a constituent, told the Star-Tribune that the attacks against Omar are unfair and “obscene.”
“She’s trying to change the Democratic Party to what I think it should be,” she said.
Friedman, for his part, pointed out in his column that he has a lot in common with Omar, but said his dislike of Aipac is based on that fact that it has “let itself become the slavish, unthinking tool of Netanyahu, who opposes a two-state solution, I believe Aipac works against Israel’s long-term interests.”
He wrote that evidence that he's seen suggests that Omar's dislike for Aipac is based on a dislike for Israel.
"Ilhan Omar represents, among other neighborhoods, a significant and liberal Jewish community — my hometown," he wrote. “I can tell you that a vast majority of Jews there would be proud if their congresswoman used her links to American Jews and Muslims to be a bridge builder for peace in the Middle East and America, not just another Aipac/Israel basher. She is young and very new to the national spotlight. Friends of mine back home tell me her humanistic instincts are impressive and authentic. I don’t know if it’s her or her advisers, but she’s gotten herself into a bad place — a huge missed leadership opportunity.