Bill Clinton ramps up attacks on Sanders as NH primary nears

Bill Clinton has transformed from grandfatherly statesman to attack dog in a matter of days, aggressively going after Bernie Sanders on the campaign trail as the Vermont senator poses a rising threat to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton's bid.
“When you’re making a revolution, you can’t be too careful about the facts,” Clinton said at a Milford, N.H., event Sunday, a swipe at Sanders’ call for political upheaval.
He followed up Monday at an event at Manchester Community College,  accusing Sanders of demonizing anyone who disagrees with him.
“We can’t get in a place where we’re so mad that we demonize anyone who is against us, where we can’t have an honest discussion about health care, where anyone who is on the other side is part of a mystical ‘establishment,’” Clinton said.
The tone marks an abrupt change from how the former president has conducted himself on the stump so far. Until this past weekend, his remarks largely were limited to talking about his wife’s biography, punctuated by tales of their dating life and how she has made everything she touches better.
But with New Hampshire's primary just days away and Sanders holding a strong lead, the former president's role has changed.
At Sunday’s event, Clinton painted Sanders as a foolhardy candidate whose proposals aren’t paid for and whose supporters include misogynists.
“People who have gone online to defend Hillary and explain why they supported her, have been subject to attacks that are literally too profane often, not to mention sexist, to repeat,” Clinton said.
Sanders has since disavowed such attacks against Clinton, saying “it's disgusting.”
On health care, Clinton accused Sanders of not having a plan that was properly accounted for.
“The New Hampshire I campaigned in really cared that you knew what you were doing, and how it was paid for,” Clinton said.
“For 20 years, Hillary’s opponent had a different plan, which he called single payer but it’s really 51 payer as states have to pay 14 percent of it,” Clinton said, before accusing Sanders of dropping the plan within 48 hours after he was questioned about it.
“Is [that] good for America? I don’t think so.” Clinton said.
Bill’s barbs have allowed the former secretary of state to take a softer stance against Sanders, telling supporters in Manchester that “Senator Sanders and I share a lot of the same goals,” before saying the difference between the two is the ability to get things done.
“I haven’t just talked, I haven’t just given speeches, I’ve passed legislation,” she said.
The former president’s latest barbs have echoes of 2008, when Clinton acted as attack dog against then-Sen. Barack Obama. Criticizing Obama’s claims on his Iraq war stance, Clinton called it the “biggest fairy tale” -- a put-down that was interpreted as a broad-brush slam on Obama’s quest to become the country’s first black president.
Later in South Carolina, Clinton got the name “hatchet man” for his attacks on Obama.

Republican governors make possible last stand in NH primary as voting begins

Residents of three small New Hampshire towns cast their ballots in the Granite State's first-in-the-nation presidential primary just after midnight Tuesday, kicking off what could be a make-or-break day for several Republican campaigns. 
With votes in from residents of Dixville Notch, Millsfield and Hart's Landing, the GOP race was a three-way tie. Businessman Donald Trump, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz each had nine votes. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie followed with three votes, while Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Florida governor Jeb Bush each had two. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former HP CEO Carly Fiorina each garnered one vote.
On the Democratic side, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders led former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by 17 votes to nine.
In a statistical oddity, the candidate who receives a plurality of the Republican vote in Dixville Notch (population: 12) has been the GOP nominee in every election cycle since 1968. This year, Kasich won the town's vote, 3-2, over Trump.
With Trump leading by double digits in most New Hampshire polls, the big question entering the primary was whether the relentless attacks against Rubio during and after Saturday night’s Republican debate would be enough bring the surging freshman Florida senator back to the pack in the race for second place.
The three top current and former governors in the GOP race – Christie, Bush and Kasich -- were shut out of the top spots in last week's Iowa Caucuses and are now fighting to mount a comeback in New Hampshire.
Christie, for his part, has been unrelenting in questioning Rubio’s readiness and authenticity. At Saturday’s debate, he slammed the senator for repeatedly reciting anti-Obama “talking points”. He repeated the criticism Monday night in an appearance on Fox News' "The Kelly File".
"You can't repeat the same thing over and over again," Christie said. "[Is Rubio] going to do that sitting across from [Russian President] Vladimir Putin? There's no substance there."
"He's a nice guy, he has talent," Christie continued," [But] he's too young, too inexperienced and he has served not one day in a position of management in his entire life."
Rubio, though, has dug in and continued to repeat his criticism of President Obama that drew Christie’s scorn.
"People said, 'Oh, you said the same thing three or four times.' I'm going to say it again," Rubio said Monday in Londonderry.
“As far as that message, I hope they keep running it. And I'm going to keep saying it because it's true," Rubio said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” "Barack Obama … said he wanted to change the country. He's doing it in a way that is robbing us of everything that is special.”
Speaking on Fox News, Bush said he’s also going to continue taking on front-runner Trump, as he did during Saturday’s debate.
“He’s not a conservative; he doesn’t have the temperament to be president and whenever I have the chance to describe what I think about him, I’m gonna do it,” Bush said Monday
Bush hammered Trump on Saturday for his broad support of eminent domain – and Trump's past attempt to use it to take a woman’s property for a project in Atlantic City. During that dispute, Trump tried to “shush” Bush, but was booed by the audience.
Bush pointed to that exchange in questioning how Trump would do in a general election race.
“You think he’s gonna shush Hillary Clinton?” Bush said. “He would lose.”
Trump saved his harshest attacks Monday for Bush as well as Cruz, who bested him in Iowa. When an audience member at a rally in Manchester shouted out an insult directed at Cruz — a vulgar term for "coward" — Trump repeated the term and jokingly reprimanded the woman.
Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler responded via email, saying, "Let's not forget who whipped who in Iowa."
"Jeb is having some kind of a breakdown, I think," Trump told CNN Monday, calling Bush, the son and brother of presidents, a spoiled child and an embarrassment to his family. "I think it's a very sad situation that's taking place."
Kasich, meanwhile, has taken a less confrontational approach in the race, casting himself as a uniting force and touting his economic record as governor. The Ohio governor has seemingly pinned his hopes on New Hampshire and said Sunday he’s going in strong – while stressing he also has substantial resources on the ground in states like South Carolina and Nevada.
Kasich also criticized Jeb Bush over an online video that criticized Kasich for expanding Medicare and what the Bush campaign called his "liberal record" in Ohio compared to Bush's two terms as Florida governor.
"I'm really disappointed in Jeb," Kasich told "The Kelly File". "It's, look, I mean, he's taken the very low road to the highest office in the land, and he's been negative all along, but that's okay."
Carson and Fiorina also are looking to do better than they did in Iowa, but have struggled to even break into the middle tier in Granite State polling.

A little Bit of the Lighter Side of Life / Broncos D dominates Panthers in 24-10 Super Bowl 50 win

Peyton Manning gave himself a chance to have Super ending to his career, and Von Miller and the Denver defense made the plays to secure the title for the Broncos.

Manning and Panthers quarterback Cam Newton were harassed all game Sunday, and the Broncos made enough big plays for the 24-10 victory, Manning's 200th and perhaps his last before retirement.

He wasn't the star -- game MVP Miller seemingly was everywhere on every Carolina play -- but Manning really hasn't been the headliner in this injury-shortened season.

Emulating his Broncos boss, John Elway, the 39-year-old Manning can ride off with the Lombardi Trophy after leading Denver to its third NFL title, first since 1999 -- when Elway was the quarterback.

"I'll take some time to reflect," Manning said when asked if Super Bowl 50 is the end. "I got a couple priorities first. I'm going to go kiss my wife and my kids. ... I'm going to drink a lot of Budweiser tonight. Take care of those things first."

Denver's suffocating defense kept Newton jittery all day. Despite wearing gold shoes before the golden Super Bowl, Newton couldn't finish off a dynamic season in which he was the league's MVP. Miller twice stripped him, once for a touchdown, the second time setting up a clinching TD. Denver's top-ranked defense, the one that ran roughshod over Tom Brady in the AFC championship, simply wouldn't let Newton get comfortable.

"It's every one of these guys who go me to this," Miller said.

Newton was sacked six times -- receiver Ted Ginn Jr., went down once on an aborted trick play -- and if Miller wasn't torturing him, DeMarcus Ware was. Ware had two of the seven sacks, the most ever by one team in the Super Bowl.

Carolina's potent offense that led the league with 500 points was held to its fewest points of the year, and Denver set an ignominious mark with 194 yards gained, the fewest for a Super Bowl winner.

So what: The Broncos (15-4) are champions and Manning is the first quarterback to win Super Bowls with two franchises, Indianapolis in 2007 was the other.

Manning finished 13 for 23 for 141 yards against a strong Carolina (17-2) defense that just couldn't match Miller and company.

"This game was much like this season has been, testing our toughness, our resiliency, our unselfishness," he said. "It's only fitting that it turned out that way."

"I feel very, very grateful. ... Obviously, it's very special to cap it off with a Super Bowl championship."

Denver's defense stole Carolina's act. The Panthers led the league with 39 takeaways and were a plus-20 in turnovers. On the Super Bowl stage, though, Assistant Coach of the Year Wade Phillips got his first ring because his unit was impenetrable.

It was a far cry from two years ago, when the Broncos were routed by Seattle 43-8.

Carolina has made a habit of sprinting out of the gate in the playoffs. This time, it was Denver that got the quick start.

Manning opened the game with an 18-yard completion to Owen Daniels, later hit Andre Caldwell for 22, and C.J. Anderson had a 13-yard run. When the Panthers held, Brandon McManus kicked a 34-yard field goal.

The Panthers went nowhere on their first series, then their defense forced a three-and-out. It was the first of seven such aborted drives for both sides in the first half.

Carolina's Ron Rivera, the Coach of the Year, lost a challenge on a pass to Jerricho Cotchery , and it was a key decision because two plays later, Miller burst through and didn't even go for the sack. He reached directly for the ball, stripping it from Newton. It rolled to the goal line, where Malik Jackson pounced on it for a 10-0 lead.

Miller dabbed in the end zone in front of legions of orange-clad Broncos fans after Denver's first defensive touchdown in a Super Bowl.

Miller spied on Newton at times, and Newton noticed. But Newton escaped him for runs of 11 and 12 yards -- Miller's hard tackle out of bounds bothered several Panthers -- and a 19-yard pass to Greg Olsen on a misdirection play kept alive Carolina's first scoring drive.

Jonathan Stewart, back from hurting his right foot earlier, dived in from the 1 to make it 10-7.

But sloppiness -- and strong defense -- marked the rest of the game.

The first half ended 13-7 after McManus made a 33-yarder that followed the longest punt return in Super Bowl history. It was a strange runback, too.

Brad Nortman's kick from his 12 was barely deflected, and the ball fluttered to Jordan Norwood. One Panther bumped Norwood, but he didn't call for a fair catch, then took off to his right. Escorted by a bevy of blockers, he appeared headed for a touchdown until DE Mario Addison chased him down at the Carolina 14, a 61-yard jaunt.

Denver also forced the first fumble of the season by All-Pro fullback Mike Tolbert.

But the Broncos also had a giveaway when Manning was picked by DE Kony Ealy on a zone blitz deep in Panthers territory. And the lead was only six at halftime.

The margin stayed there when Graham Gano hit the right upright on a 44-yard field goal attempt to open the second half. Then his counterpart, McManus, made his 10th in as many postseason tries for a 16-7 margin. The kicker was rescuing Denver's inept short-yardage offense, just as he did in a playoff win over Pittsburgh when he made five field goals.

Gano made up for his miss with a 39-yarder to make it a one-score game with 10:21 remaining. The 50th Super Bowl came down to the last quarter -- and as it had all day, Denver's defense dominated.

Hillary's dilemma: A nuanced liberal who can't get liberals excited

Hillary Clinton is in a box that she can’t seem to get out of.
She wants to come off as being as progressive as Bernie Sanders, but with more realistic goals. She wants to tap the liberal enthusiasm that has more than eight in 10 younger voters flocking to her older opponent, but keeps reminding everyone that idealism only goes so far and she’s the adult in the room. She rebels at the idea that she’s part of the establishment, but runs an ad showing pictures of herself on the public stage going back decades.
And then there’s the $675,000 from Goldman Sachs. Clinton keeps insisting that she’s tough on Wall Street and that she can’t be bought, but can’t say what is obvious, that she took a chance to make some easy money.
The result is a message that’s as muddled as the Iowa caucus results. Which, by the way, Clinton deserves credit for winning, but edging Sanders by three-tenths of a percentage point isn’t exactly a thrill. And she’s pretty openly running to lose less badly here in New Hampshire, hoping that the press will credit her with a respectful finish.
Clinton brought passion to the MSNBC debate, but she might have gone at Sanders a bit too hard, accusing him of “artful smears,” among other things. He was disciplined and didn’t take the bait, though he is noticeably uncomfortable discussing foreign policy.
And everywhere Hillary goes, the email scandal follows her like a dark cloud—even as she assured Chuck Todd that she’s 100 percent confident it won’t cause her candidacy to implode.
Perhaps her worst moment at the New Hampshire debate was when she was fending off Sanders’ accusation of being an establishment figure—by clumsily saying that was impossible because she’d be the first female president. It was an inopportune time to play the gender card. Clinton is a former first lady, former senator and former member of President Obama’s Cabinet. Of course she’s part of the establishment. (Sanders shot back by saying anyone with a Super PAC that collects $15 million from Wall Street fits that definition.)
Clinton is steeped in the issues, but in an echo of 2008, she has trouble connecting on an emotional level. Sanders, by contrast, can just rail about the millionaires and billionaires. Clinton offers nuanced policies that would move beyond Obama’s record without venturing into the far reaches of Bernie land.
And nuance isn’t selling well this year.
Bernie is talking about a political revolution. Hillary is talking about an evolution. Which ignites the grass roots more?
As the Washington Post noted, when Chuck Todd asked Clinton which of her proposals would be Job One, she gave a 293-word answer: “I’m for a lot of things. If
I’m so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward.”
In newspaper terms, she’s all B-matter, no headline.
Hillary Clinton is still the presumptive Democratic nominee. But Bernie Sanders is tugging her to the left in a way that won’t be helpful in a general election.
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. 

After strong debate, Christie, Bush resume attack on Rubio

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie roared into Sunday after a fierce debate performance hours earlier in which he slowed rising, fellow GOP presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio, with the New Hampshire primary ahead.
“He’s a good guy, but he’s just not ready to be president,” Christie told “Fox News Sunday,” after attacking Rubio for his inexperience in running government. “I felt justified because I’ve been saying this for a long time.”
Christie is one of three GOP candidates with governor experience competing with Rubio for the so-called “Republican establishment” vote and trying to stay alive in the race, with insurgents Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz also in the top tier.
“I am tested and prepared and ready,” said Christie, arguing that Barack Obama becoming president as a one-term senator, like Rubio, has been a disaster for the country.
“We don’t need another on-the-job training,” he said. “I’m glad the American people saw (Rubio’s debate performance) before they made another mistake.”
In response to Christie’s attacks at the ABC debate Saturday night in New Hampshire, Rubio, R-Fla., stumbled and repeated himself several times about Obama’s running the country.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who like Christie is banking on a good showing in independent-minded New Hampshire, dismissed the notion that he’s competing with Christie and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for the establishment vote, despite having a career that includes 18 years in Congress.
 “I am not an establishment candidate,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” “And I’m not an anti-establishment candidate.”
He cited his individual efforts to reform welfare and the Pentagon and repeated that his 2016 platform includes a “path to legalization” for illegal immigrants in the country, while also calling for the completion of a wall along the southern U.S. border.
He also dismissed the notion that New Hampshire is do-or-die for his campaign.
“All I have to do is finish well,” he said. “I have the best ground game.”
Bush, who like Rubio is from Florida, and was considered a mentor to the senator, on Sunday continued his efforts to move ahead of Rubio.
“The simple fact is, I’m a leader,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” “Marco Rubio is a gifted speaker. But we’re competing for president of the United States, not the back bench of the Senate.”
Trump was hit hard by Bush in the debate for his support of eminent domain, with Bush pointing out that Trump tried to take property for an "elderly woman" in Atlantic City for a casino parking lot.
"Shush," Trump said to Bush as he tried to respond to the attack.
Trump said several times Sunday that he thought he won the debate.
He also told Fox News that he has a “good team” in New Hampshire and called last week’s Iowa Caucuses, in which he lost to Cruz, “complicated.”
The billionaire businessman also suggested he would like to challenge Democratic presidential candidate Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the general election.
Trump suggested that Sanders, a self-described Democratic socialist, is perhaps a “Communist.”

Rubio defends repeated Obama criticism in debate, vows to 'keep saying it'

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on Sunday touted his debate performance, amid criticism about “scripted” responses and him needing to repeat his opposition to President Obama to defend a sustained attack by GOP presidential rival Chris Christie.
Christie, the governor of New Jersey, argued during the Saturday night debate that Rubio would be like Obama if elected -- a freshman senator leading the country with essentially no experience running a government.
Rubio said several times during the attack that Obama indeed “knows exactly what he's doing," which is trying to make the country “like the rest of the world.”
On Sunday, Rubio defended his response.
“I would pay them to keep running that clip because that's what I believe passionately,” he said on ABC's "This Week." “It's one of the reasons why I'm not running for re-election to the Senate and I'm running for president."
In the debate exchange, Rubio also said that Christie could barely pull himself off the campaign trail to return to New Jersey to deal with last month’s blizzard.
“They had to shame you into going back,” Rubio said. “You stayed there for 36 hours. And then he left and came back to campaign. Those are the facts.”
Christie, a former federal prosecutor, accused Rubio of distorting the facts about his governorship, including some about the state’s financial problems.
“That's what Washington, D.C., does -- the drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech. That is exactly what his advisers gave him,” said Christie, who repeated a version of that response several times as Rubio continued.
Rubio is now in the top tier of GOP White House candidates with billionaire businessman Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
His recent rise has resulted in efforts by those in the GOP field, including Christie, to slow his momentum. As a Republican governor leading a Democratic-leaning state, Christie hopes to appeal to independent-minded New Hampshire voters in the state primary Tuesday to keep his campaign alive. He accused Rubio of scripted responses in the days leading up to the debate, too.
Rubio also argued Sunday, as proof his debate remarks resonated with supporters, that his campaign raised more money in the first hour of the debate than in any other debate.
“As far as that message, I hope they keep running it. And I'm going to keep saying because it's true," he said. "Barack Obama … said he wanted to change the country. He's doing it in a way that is robbing us of everything that is special.”

President Hillary Cartoon

Presidential politics: It's still the economy, stupid

Opinion Only.

For more than a quarter of a century, I’ve made a living offering people financial advice and helping them manage their money. It’s a great and rewarding job … or at least it used to be. 
Recently, something has changed. My clients are wealthy people – the one-percenters who’ve been raked over the coals for the last seven years – and for the first time I can remember, they’re feeling very pessimistic about the future. On a business level, they feel beaten down by onerous and overbearing rules and regulations. And on a personal level, they feel demonized for the “crime” of being successful.
Somebody, please tell me … When did getting rich become a bad thing? Our nation was built on a “can-do” attitude, and the people who “could do and did” – people named Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Gates, Jobs, Zuckerberg – got rich doing it. In America, you could always do more than just dream of being rich. If you had a great idea and worked hard to make it a reality, the sky was the limit.
But I’m not seeing much of that these days. Many of my clients, people who used to make bold investments, are running scared. They’ve turned skittish, and it’s not because they’ve grown old. It’s because entrepreneurs have to be eternally and sometimes irrationally optimistic, and now they’re looking out at the horizon and seeing nothing but danger of every conceivable kind: financial, legal, physical, etc. They used to come to me and say, “Let’s make some money.” Now they say, “Let’s not lose any.”
Prosperity has left the building. Survivability has taken the stage.
We’ve entered a period of trickle-down negativity, and it’s trickling down from the very top. The one-percenters used to be immune to bad times, as if they were surrounded by a force field. But now that has changed. Now my clients come to me and say they don’t like how things are going in the world, and all they want to do is set up a portfolio for survival. And this is frightening, because I used to think pessimism wasn’t in their DNA.
Now, maybe you feel this doesn’t concern you. Or maybe you’re even enjoying a prolonged moment of schadenfreude because, after all, we’re talking about rich people. But if that’s what you’re feeling, consider this: These are the people who create jobs. These could well be the people who pay your salary, or who will hire your sons and daughters. If the reward for getting rich through invention and hard work is that you’ll become a pariah, then what’s the point of even trying?
To my mind, there’s still hope. This is an election year, and one thing we know for certain is that someone new – maybe a Democrat, maybe a Republican, maybe even an Independent – will be living in the White House a year from now.
Whomever that person is, he or she had better have a handle on our economy, as well as a plan to get it back on track.
This will require more than lip service, more than boasting that the first order of business will be to repeal ObamaCare or provide Medicare for everyone. The next president will have to have a comprehensive plan to turn things around, to carry out Donald Trump’s slogan and make America great again.
But that means we have to stop all this yammering about building walls, fighting terrorists and unveiling emails. Here’s a slogan worth remembering: It’s the economy, stupid!
I have a front-row view of what is happening to the one-percenters, and what I see is a group that has been the country’s punching bag for seven years. Now they’ve lost their long-distance vision. They’re not looking five years out … or three or two or even six months.
They’re not looking to grow; they’re looking to survive. And that’s bad not only for them, but for all of us – because that negativity trickles down into their businesses and their investments.
What they want and need is a candidate with a “can-do” attitude, someone who seeks to effect sweeping change, someone who knows that when you’re riding a dead horse, it’s time to dismount. They want a candidate who understands the problem and has very specific plans to remedy it. Someone who will reduce the burden on business, which includes taxes and unnecessary regulations. Someone who understands that it’s OK to be wealthy and that it’s OK to compete and win, because nothing in this world ever got better without competition. Someone who knows that fertile soil allows everything to grow and that if you have a positive attitude and a positive business climate, everyone will grow together.
This is a country where any lump of coal can become a diamond, where if you can conceive it, you can achieve it. What the one-percenters – and the other 99 percent, as well – need is a president who believes it, and a government that will get out of the way so it can happen.
Ed Butowsky is the managing partner of Chapwood Investments, LLC, a private wealth management advisory firm that focuses on providing comprehensive financial counseling and investment advice to wealthy families and individuals. An internationally recognized expert in the investment wealth management and personal finance industry, he specializes in recognizing how current events affect investment portfolios. For more information: www.edbutowsky.com and www.chapwoodinvestments.com.