Carly Cartoon

Fiorina slams Clinton, calls Trump a 'Christmas present' for Dems

Republican presidential candidate Carly Florina slammed rival Hillary Clinton on Sunday, saying the Democratic front-runner has “gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong.”
Fiorina, who appeared on "Fox News Sunday," also took a shot at GOP candidate Donald Trump.
“Donald Trump is a big Christmas gift wrapped up under the tree” for the Clinton campaign.
“She desperately hopes she runs against Donald Trump,” Fiorina said. “I, however, am the lump of coal in Mrs. Clinton’s stocking and she desperately hopes she does not run against me.”
“She can beat Donald Trump,” Fiorina said. “Donald Trump cannot beat Hillary Clinton. I think it’s very clear.”
Fiorina, once a breakout star of the GOP who fought her way from the low-polling undercard debates to the primetime stage, has been having trouble in the past few weeks maintaining her momentum.
During last week's fifth Republican debate, Fiorina came under fire after she said she would bring back the “warrior class” to fight the Islamic State and claimed several high-ranking generals had left the military because they didn’t agree with President Obama’s political policies. 
Gen. Jack Keane, a Fox News contributor and one of the generals she said quit, actually retired before Obama took office. Fiorina also said Gens. David Petraeus and Stanley McChrystal resigned because they disagreed with the administration; but, in fact, Petreaus’ retirement came following revelations he shared classified information with his alleged mistress and biographer while McChrystal called it quits after he was quoted criticizing Obama in a “Rolling Stone” article.
Fiorina was also pressed by host Chris Wallace about a digital ad paid for by a super PAC supporting Fiorina that links her to Margaret “Iron Lady” Thatcher, the first female prime minister of Britain.
“Mrs. Fiorina, respectfully, isn’t that a little over the top?” the anchor asked.
“Many people have commented on the comparison and I’m flattered by it, frankly,” she said. “Margaret Thatcher was a great leader for her nation at a pivotal and perilous time.”
When asked by Wallace about her stagnant poll numbers, Fiorina said she was “happy” with her position and that she is where she wants to be. 
She quipped, “People make up their minds late, and if the polls at this stage and in earlier states were true we would have had President Howard Dean, President Rudy Giuliani, and by the way, we would have already had President Hillary Clinton.”

Top Democrat says Obama too slow in fight against ISIS

A top Democrat on Sunday criticized the pace of the Obama administration’s war against the Islamic State, saying the U.S. needs to “change the dynamic on the ground.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a top Democrat who has been critical of the administration’s policy, said he supports creating a no-fly or buffer zone -- “something that can end the refugee flows, something that can give space and time to train up forces to take on ISIS.”
President Obama has rejected implementing a no-fly zone near Syria, arguing that it would draw the U.S. into the regional conflict even more.
“I do think the administration ought to re-examine the idea of establishing safe zones,” Schiff reiterated on “Fox News Sunday.” “I think they ought to put that front and center in the U.N. negotiation, because I do think it has the potential of really changing the battlefield conditions and they have been stalemated for too long.”
Schiff also defended Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton’s comments Saturday night that the U.S. is “where we need to be” in the fight against ISIS.
“Well, this was in the context of do we go after [Syrian President Bashar] Assad or do we go after ISIS; can we do both? And her answer was basically we need to do both, and now for the first time we have a political process at the United Nations that ought to bring an end to both,” he said.
During the interview, Schiff said he supported a policy that would use social media as part of a visa screening process.
“If someone is brought in for an interview, for example, and is asked about their views on things, but as posted things that are completely contrary to the interview, frankly, I have much more faith in what they posted than what they say in the course of an interview,” he said.

Paul slams Congress over trillion-dollar spending bill he claims no one read

A fired-up Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday he voted against the massive $1.1 trillion spending bill because not only was it rushed through Congress -- but no one had a chance to read it.
“It was over a trillion dollars, it was all lumped together, 2,242 pages, nobody read it, so frankly my biggest complaint is that I have no idea what kind of things they stuck in that bill in the middle of the night,” Paul, R-Ky., said on “The Cats Roundtable,” a New York-based radio talk show.
“I voted against it because I won’t vote for these enormous bills that no one has a chance to read,” the GOP White House hopeful said.
On Friday, President Obama signed the legislation into law. The final version pairs two gigantic bills: a $1.14 trillion government spending measure that will fund every Cabinet agency through September 2016, as well as a $680 billion tax package which extends dozens of breaks and making some permanent.
Republicans and Democrats joined to approve the spending bill on a resounding 316-113 vote in the House, a day after passing the tax bill. The unexpectedly large margin was a victory for new House Speaker Paul Ryan, who saw a majority of his GOP lawmakers back the legislation.
Not long after, the Senate voted 65-33 to send the entire package to Obama's desk.
Paul said Sunday passing such large spending measures without thorough examination is “part of the reason why government is broke.”
He said the blame fell on every lawmaker’s shoulder.
“Once again this came not at the behest of just the Democrats,” he said on AM-970. “It came at the behest of right-wing Republicans who want military spending and left-wing Democrats who want welfare spending, and that’s the first little secret.”
Paul also called out specific spending habits of both parties.
“You have people on the right who want unlimited military spending and then you’ve got people on the left who want unlimited welfare spending and the dirty little secret in Washington is that they come together… there’s an unholy alliance and in that unholy alliance everybody gets money and the taxpayer gets stuck with the bill,” he said.
If he were president, Paul said he would keep “government so small you can barely see it.”
Ryan on Sunday dismissed criticism of the $1.1 trillion spending bill that passed Friday, saying that Republican leaders fought hard for compromise.
“Let me first say, this is a divided government and in divided government you don’t get everything you want,” Ryan said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We advanced our priorities and principles. Not every one of them, but many of them. And then we’re going to pick up next year where we left off and keep going for more.”
Ryan, who acknowledged that both Democrats and Republicans employ divisive political tactics, said the cycle could be broken by “offering a vision, by offering solutions and focusing on what they do to make people’s lives better. And to appeal to what unified us as a country, as a people.”
Ryan also criticized GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s controversial proposal for a short-term ban on Muslim immigration and said he trusted Republican voters “to pick a nominee that can take us all the way to win the White House so we can fix this country.”

Rubio calls out Trump on Putin, takes on Cruz, immigration

White House hopeful Sen. Marco Rubio pushed back Sunday on Donald Trump saying the GOP frontrunner shouldn’t be flaunting praise he gets from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“He’s jailed and murdered journalists, political opponents,” Rubio said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Rubio said that while the U.S. has to “deal with (Putin)” from a “geopolitical, realistic level,” the Russian president “is not someone who is going to go down in history as a great leader.”
Last week, many Republican candidates spoke out against Trump after he embraced Putin as a world leader he would get along with and respected.  Putin praised Trump during his annual address calling him “bright and talented.”
“He’s running his country and at least he’s a leader, unlike what we have in this country,” Trump said during a telephone interview Friday on MSNBC.
Rubio also spoke out Sunday against Republican rival Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.  
Rubio and Cruz have been locked in a heated debate over their immigration records in Congress. Cruz accused Rubio of supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants while Rubio said Cruz hasn’t been truthful about his past support for legalization.
Rubio also called out other inconsistences with Cruz’s past including his position on a free-trade agreement.
"We have some differences on some issues. And we should discuss those, like national security, for example. But when you run by telling everybody you're the only purist in the field, you're the only one that's always consistent conservative, well, I think then your record is going to have a light shown on it,” Rubio said.

Hillary Benghazi Cartoon

New England Police Union Endorses Trump

On Capitol Hill, every word, action seems an opportunity for timely 'Star Wars' reference

Cruz

 

There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?
The seventh episode of the “Star Wars” saga is now playing in theatres. But the latest installment of Star Wars-themed political hooks and dialogue on seemingly premiered weeks ago on Capitol Hill.
Search your feelings. You know it to be true. The keyboards of congressional communications directors and wordsmiths cough up “Star Wars” references like General Grievous hacks up lungs. It’s surely liberating for these flaks who feel most Capitol Hill verbiage is practically frozen in carbonite.
Writing press releases for lawmakers insistent on sounding au courant (or perhaps, au Coruscant) ain’t like dusting crops, farm boy. You’ve got to get the meme of the moment.
Don’t believe me? 
I find your lack of faith disturbing.
To wit:
The Force is strong with GOP presidential aspirant Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. So much so that Cruz’s campaign set up a contest to award supporters tickets to see “The Force Awakens.”
Cruz’s backers score points in the “Star Wars” ticket lottery if they get involved in campaign activities and events.
Cruz has seemingly deployed “Star Wars” references since the Battle of Yavin. Back in 2013, Cruz seized the Senate floor for 21 hours to rail against ObamaCare.
“We need a rebellion against oppression,” Cruz argued at the time. “I will confess that the phrase of rebellion against oppression conjured up to me the Rebel Alliance fighting against the Empire. The Empire being the Washington, D.C., establishment.
Indeed, immediately upon hearing that phrase, I wondered if at some point we would see a tall gentleman in a mechanical breathing apparatus come forward and say in a deep voice, “(Sen.) Mike Lee (R-Utah), I am your father.’”
Naturally, Cruz suggested that the “Empire will strike back,” and added that the Rebel Alliance “will prevail.”
It’s unclear whether Cruz then headed to the Senate parking lot to preside over a ceremonial corpse burning of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.
Perhaps a bigger question is which Force Ghost appeared as an apparition in the background: Sebastian Shaw or Hayden Christensen?
So long as Cruz keeps the Ewoks out of this.
The U.S. Senate is a natural forum for “Star Wars” banter. The entire series is laced with political references. In “The Phantom Menace,” Senator Palpatine chastised the Galactic Senate.
“The Republic is not what it once was. The Senate is full of greedy, squabbling delegates. There is no interest in the common good. There is no civility. Only politics.”
This sounds familiar. Wonder if they used the nuclear option to change the filibuster precedent in the Galactic Senate, too?
You thought the Trans-Pacific Partnership was complicated? Try parsing the opening crawl of Episode I. It declares that “the taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute” and that “the congress of the Republic endlessly debates this alarming chain of events.”
Last week, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., took to the Senate floor (in this galaxy) to assail government waste. Flake titled his report “The Farce Awakens.” The senator spoke in front of a chart featuring pigs wielding lightsabers.
It’s unclear how hogs figured out how to use Kyber crystals. 
Flake then compared construction delays and cost overruns on the second Death Star to typical Washington waste.
He says those issues aren’t limited to a “galaxy, far, far away.” The senator cited a NASA initiative to engineer a cloud city on Venus to the Cloud City of Bespin, in, as Flake calls it “The Emperor Strikes Back.”
Flake also lambasted the Pentagon for trying to develop a robot greeter.
“These are not the droids the government is looking for,” he opines.
To hear Flake tell it, government waste should wind up in the trash compactor on the Death Star.
“I hope this gives Congress something to ‘Chewie’ on,” Flake deadpans.
Flake isn’t the only one making the rhetorical jump to hyperspace.
Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, recently introduced the YODA, the “You Own Devices Act.” Farenthold contends the “Internet of Things” and proprietary software could challenge the concept of  owning property.
Guess Farenthold never bargained with the Jawas.
As a part his Senate campaign, Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., blasted out a fundraising appeal sprinkled with more “Star Wars” references than alien creatures imbibing at the Mos Eisley Cantina.
“Dear Padawan,” begins Grayson’s missive. “’Tis I, Rep. Jedi Master Alan Grayson. Here’s an update on our Senate race. We’re going to win, because we’re focused, and as Qui-Gon Jinn told us, your focus determines your reality. Or as Yoda put it, ‘Do. Or do not. There is no try.’”
Grayson proceeds to quote Han Solo, Admiral Ackbar, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padme, Princess Leia and Ahsoka Tano in the fundraising request.
It’s unclear whether Grayson’s political opponents may respond by trying to convince voters he carries “the death sentence on 12 systems.”
Even House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., chimed in on “Star Wars” at the recent bust dedication of former Vice President Dick Cheney at the Capitol.
“When the vice president had his critics just going off the deep end, as they often do, he asked Lynne, his wife, ‘Does it bug you when people refer to me as Darth Vader?’ And she said, ‘No. It humanizes you,’ ” Ryan said.
Ryan followed this up Friday with a news release reiterating his opposition to congressional earmarks.
Earmarking is a former Capitol Hill practice that loaded up spending bills with specific money allocations for various projects. This often prompted lawmakers to support the legislation.
The speaker’s office alluded to the earmark phenomenon as residing “A long time ago in a Congress far, far away … .”
“Star Wars” devotees all know that Han shot first. But on Capitol Hill, it was the late-Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., who fired the first “Star Wars” verbal volley more than 30 years ago.
In the early 1980s, President Reagan pushed for the construction of the Strategic Defense Initiative, or SDI.
The system would protect the United States from Soviet attacks by intercepting missiles with rockets.
Reagan had just designated the Soviet Union the “evil empire” in a speech. Kennedy then decried SDI as science fiction, referring to Reagan’s ideas as “reckless Star Wars schemes.”
The “Star Wars” moniker stuck. Support for SDI dissipated on Capitol Hill faster than spooked Sand People riding Banthas.
Since then, lawmakers have rarely missed a chance to indulge in “Star Wars” digressions, regardless of political issue or topic.
On Friday morning, the Senate was poised to take its final vote of the year to approve the massive $1.1 trillion omnibus spending package. Seconds before the roll call, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., took to the floor to encourage her colleagues to vote aye.
“Let’s vote for it and may the Force be with us,” implored Mikulski.
It must have been. Senators adopted the measure 65-33.