Conservative Blogger
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Weiner says he would beat Trump Jr. like 'rented mule' in mayoral race
Former congressman Anthony Weiner, who resigned in disgrace amid a sexting scandal, said Tuesday he would only come out of political retirement to run against Donald Trump Jr. in a race for the mayor of New York City and said he would beat him “like a rented mule.”
Trump Jr., the son of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, has been floated as a possible challenger to Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2017 since his well-received speech in support of his father at the Republican National Convention last week in Cleveland.
Weiner, a Democrat, was attending his party’s national convention in Philadelphia and was asked about the rumored Trump Jr. candidacy. Weiner suggested that he would return from political exile to take on the son of the billionaire real estate mogul.
"The only thing that could make me come out of retirement and run for mayor again is if anyone named Trump ran," Weiner told WNYW-TV. "I would come out of retirement just to beat him like a rented mule, and then I'd turn the keys back over to de Blasio."
Trump Jr. retorted on Twitter that Weiner, who resigned his congressional seat after admitting he sent sexually explicit messages to women who weren't his wife, should get lost.
Trump Jr., an active campaigner who also is helping to run his father's business, has pointedly not ruled out entering politics. But Trump has made clear that Trump Jr. won't be running for mayor next year.
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Weiner unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2005. He resigned his congressional seat in 2011. He made another bid for mayor in 2013 and was leading several polls until it was revealed he had continued the questionable behavior after his resignation. He now works as a pundit and consultant.
Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, is a top adviser to Hillary Clinton, the first woman to win the convention votes needed to claim the presidential nomination of a major U.S. political party.
Wasserman Schultz left to defend House seat, $$ pours in for primary foe
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| Another Idiot. |
Soon after Wasserman Schultz was booed Monday during a Florida delegation breakfast in Philadelphia, Democratic primary foe Tim Canova wrote to his 20,000 Twitter followers, "It's time to end her political career for good," and shared a link to his campaign fundraising webpage.
The tactic appears to be working. He said he's raised about $100,000 in the 72 hours since the scandal erupted, all without leaving south Florida or picking up a phone to dial for dollars.
Yet officials with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee made clear Monday they have no plans to spend money to save her. Top committee leaders told reporters that they do not spend money on safe Democratic seats, which hers is, because they need to save resources for states they are trying to save or flip.
While the seat may be safe in the fall from Republicans, that doesn’t mean she’s a lock in the primary.
It’s just the latest example of how Bernie Sanders, who has endorsed Canova, has been able to twist the political knife even further – after leaked emails that indicated an anti-Sanders bias in the chairwoman’s DNC operation led to her ouster.
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Sanders, who has already sent fundraising pleas on Canova's behalf, said he also may campaign for him. At a round-table interview Tuesday with Bloomberg Politics, he said he'd be doing so not because of "some kind of personal vendetta against Debbie," but because Canova is a "good candidate."
Privately, some Democratic officials think Wasserman Schultz is at risk of losing her Aug. 30 primary to Canova.
The Washington Post reported that the congresswoman was now planning to return to Florida, from the Philadelphia convention, amid concerns over her reelection bid.
That she even has to think about her House race is a turnaround for the congresswoman who was considered among the most powerful Democrats in Washington, in large part for her post at the DNC and unwavering support for President Obama, who appointed her.
However, accusations by Sanders and fellow Democratic primary challenger Martin O’Malley that she and others in the DNC were partial to front-runner Clinton were bolstered by the email leak.
The backlash among Democrats and others was almost immediate, with protesters around the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia condemning her actions, including Code Pink demonstrators wearing signs that reading “Resign Debbie.”
The respected, non-partisan Cook Political Report still shows Wasserman Schultz as a “solid” pick to win reelection. But her Democratic primary and potential GOP challengers are making political hay of the roughly 20,000 hacked emails released by WikiLeaks, including one in which she suggested Sanders’ vow to take away her DNC post was “silly.”
Nathan Gonzales, who analyzes House races for the non-partisan Rothenberg and Gonzales Political Report, said Tuesday that Wasserman Schultz’s recent travails “raise the natural question” about whether she could lose her primary- or general-election race. However, he downplayed the idea of a drastic or immediate turnabout.
“In such a high-profile situation, it’s easy to image an (upset.) But it’s extremely difficult to beat an incumbent in a primary,” he said. “She has her share of problems, but I don’t know if that’s going to hit her in her district.”
Gonzales said there’s no plans to downgrade the seat from “safe,” saying, “I’d have to see more information … new polling.”
“The emails just point out what so many of us believed, that the process was rigged for Hillary Clinton,” said Joe Kaufman, one of two Republican primary candidates in Wasserman Schultz’s 23rd Congressional District, west of Fort Lauderdale, in southern Florida.
“It looks a little like Debbie is getting a payback for her helping get Hillary Clinton elected. … My campaign believes that people who wanted to vote for her just shouldn’t vote at all because a vote for her is a vote for the rigged process.”
Democratic strategist Douglas Smith suggested Monday that party leaders are correctly trying to keep the email story from continuing for days and months, which would further damage Wasserman Schultz.
However, Smith thinks Wasserman Schultz’s political capital will help her prevail.
“I think she’ll win,” he said. “She’s got the heavy support of voters, families."
In her written statement announcing her DNC resignation, the congresswoman said, "My first priority has always been serving the people of the 23rd district of Florida and I look forward to continuing to do that as their member of Congress for years to come."
Clinton makes history, wins Democratic presidential nomination
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| ??? |
South Dakota’s delegation put her over the top in the tally, but it was ex-primary foe Bernie Sanders who closed out the roll call and made her nomination official after his home state of Vermont cast its votes.
“I move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the nominee of the Democratic Party for president of the United States,” Sanders said, as the crowd erupted in cheers and waved Clinton signs.
The nomination was affirmed by acclamation moments later; the final delegate tally was 2,842-1,865.
The high-profile show of unity on the floor, at a convention marked from the start by discord, followed speculation about what role Sanders might play in formally anointing Clinton the nominee.
The night before, the Vermont senator tried to restore order in the hall by urging his supporters – many of whom booed Monday night at the mere mention of Clinton’s name – to get behind her campaign. Those supporters loudly cheered and chanted his name as Sanders was put in for nomination Tuesday afternoon.
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Some Sanders supporters also walked out at the end, chanting, “This is what democracy looks like,” as a couple-hundred protesters chanted “shame” outside the complex.
But the rancor in the hall may be subsiding in the wake of the opening day’s street protests and disruptions inside the convention arena.
Longtime Clinton ally and civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., touted her qualifications as he delivered one of the nominating speeches on her behalf.
“She is one of the most qualified candidates to ever run for president,” he bellowed.
In a moment of poetic justice, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard delivered one of the nominating speeches for Sanders moments earlier, describing his cause as a “movement fueled by love” that “can never be stopped or defeated.”
Gabbard had resigned in protest from the DNC amid complaints over how Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz had treated Sanders; Wasserman Schultz over the weekend was forced to resign following leaked emails that bolstered those claims of anti-Sanders bias.
The roll call preceded another stacked night of speeches, headlined by former President Bill Clinton, the latest party elder to attempt to get the base to close ranks behind his wife and direct its energy toward defeating Republican nominee Donald Trump in November.
Sanders made a similar case the night before.
“Based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States,” he told the audience Monday, with many of his supporters visibly crying during his remarks.
The frustration among his base had been inflamed in the run-up to the convention, when the leaked Democratic National Committee emails appeared to show top party officials criticizing him and discussing ways to undermine him. While Wasserman Schultz was forced to resign in the wake of the leak, that alone did not quell the unrest.
The party is eager to bring all factions together, though, in preparation for the general election battle officially joined Tuesday against Trump, who was formally nominated by the Republicans last week in Cleveland.
On the sidelines, Trump was hammering Democrats Tuesday for all but omitting reference to the Islamic State terror network on their opening night.
“Dems don't want to talk ISIS b/c Hillary's foreign interventions unleashed ISIS & her refugee plans make it easier for them to come here,” he tweeted Tuesday.
Bill Clinton makes personal, methodical case to elect wife Hillary as 'change maker,' champion of the underclass
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| Idiot |
“She did more positive change-making before 30 than most do in a lifetime,” said Clinton, hours after his wife officially became the first woman to become the presidential nominee of a major U.S. political party.
“She is still the best darn change-maker I have ever known," he said. "But we won’t get to that if she’s not elected. Hillary will make us stronger together. I hope you elect her."
Hillary Clinton, who was not in the convention hall, made a brief video appearance at the end of the evening, saying she was "so happy, it's been a great day and night and we just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet."
But there was no reference to her husband's just-completed speech.
Much of that was a personal history of their early relationship that started at Yale Law School, how he had to repeatedly persuade her to marry him, and descriptions of his wife’s early efforts to help children and underserved Americans.
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Clinton's roughly 40-minute speech was warmly received at the Wells Fargo Center, ending much of the speculation about whether Sen. Bernie Sanders' supporters would embrace him and whether the 69-year-old former president could still captivate a crowd.
He spoke after a parade of other high-profile Democratic supporters, including former Attorney General Eric Holder and interim DNC Chairman Donna Brazile, who took the stage to highlight the so-called “fights” of Clinton’s life -- including those for women, children and social justice and for better national security.
“As a child, I sat in the back of the bus,” Brazile said. “I’ve spent my life trying to change that. And from the first day when I met Hillary Clinton, I’ve known that she’s someone who … fights just as hard. As long as she’s in charge, we are never going back.”
The former president and Arkansas governor also followed a group of black women whose children died violent deaths and are part of the Mothers of the Movement organization.
“Hillary knows that when a young black life is cut short, it’s not just a personal loss. It is a national loss,” said Geneva Reed-Veal, whose daughter, Sandra Bland, was found hanged in a Texas jail cell last year. The official verdict of suicide was disputed by her family. “What a blessing it is for all of us that we have the opportunity … to cast our votes for a president who will help leads us down the path toward restoration and change,” she said.
On-stage star power included actresses Lena Dunham and Debra Messing.
President Clinton re-emerged Tuesday on the national stage after causing the Hillary Clinton campaign heartburn earlier this month by buttonholing Attorney General Loretta Lynch while the FBI was still conducting an investigation into his wife's using a private server system for officials emails while secretary of state.
Clinton was a dominating force in his wife’s failed 2008 presidential bid, so much so that her campaign reportedly had to scale back his presence on the trail, particularly after he was dismissive of black voters abandoning the Clintons to help Barack Obama in his decisive South Carolina primary win. Hillary Clinton eventually apologized for the comment.
On Tuesday, President Clinton tried to get the Democratic Party back on track at the convention after a rough start.
Roughly 20,000 Democratic National Committee emails released Sunday revealed Chairman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and some staffers tried to undermine Sanders’ insurgent primary campaign.
Wasserman Schultz was swiftly forced to resign Monday, in an effort to keep news of the scandal from overshadowing the four-day convention.
By Monday night, Democrats appeared back on the path to a unified party with Hillary Clinton in charge, after strong speeches from First lLdy Michelle Obama and Sanders.
“I’m with her,” the first lady said to roaring cheers.
The Vermont senator, who withheld his endorsement of Clinton for weeks after she secured the nomination in early June, said in his closing speech that Clinton “must become the next president,” which appeared to end much of the acrimony.
The pro-Sanders and anti-Clinton protests outside the convention’s security perimeter that dominated the early part of the week were smaller Tuesday, in the 90-degree-plus heat.
The roll call vote Tuesday of state delegates to officially nominate Clinton went relatively smoothly, with just a few pockets of Sanders discord.
With Sanders starting a persistent and ultimately imposing primary challenge, Hillary Clinton announced in late 2015 that she would unleash a “secret weapon,” which to nobody’s surprise was husband Bill, a master orator who by most accounts took weeks to regain some of his old form.
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Protesters march on Democratic National Convention
PHILADELPHIA – Sweltering in Philly took on new meaning Monday as supporters of Bernie Sanders vented their anger at the email scandal that cost party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz her job -- then turned up the heat at the opening of the Democratic National Convention.
The protesters marched toward the convention site from City Hall downtown, with the crowd numbering close to 2,000 by late afternoon.
By late afternoon, hundreds of demonstrators were face to face with police on bikes. Five were taken into custody and placed in plastic handcuffs after they jumped a barrier that was erected just moments earlier. In total, dozens reportedly were taken into custody. But city police later said there had been no arrests; rather, 55 had been cited for disorderly conduct.
Inside the convention hall, boos also broke out among Sanders supporters as they jeered at the very mention of Hillary Clinton’s name.
As the protesters gathered outside City Hall earlier in preparation for the march, volunteers handed out water to demonstrators as an oppressive heat wave hit the region. The National Weather Service forecast temperatures hitting the high 90s on Monday but feeling 100-plus degrees with the humidity factored in.
Despite the heat, demonstrators took up the cause -- coming from Florida to Philly and everywhere between.
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“How violating, how absolutely dehumanizing,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan claims state Democratic officials gave her a hard time after she tried to vote for Sanders. She said she complained and even sent a letter to DNC CFO Brad Marshall but was ignored – and says it’s one of the reasons she has become frustrated with the process.
Monday’s rallies, for some Sanders supporters, turned into a victory march following the stunning and sudden resignation of Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz as the Democratic Party’s chairwoman.
On Sunday, Wasserman Schultz resigned following furor over thousands of leaked emails that seemed to show Democratic National Committee members tipping the scales in favor of Clinton during the primaries.
The uproar was a blow to Democrats who had hammered Republicans over their lack of unity at last week’s convention in Cleveland. On Thursday, Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican nomination. Police had anticipated protests and riots ahead of the Republican convention though only a few popped up.
Sullivan says the WikiLeaks email scandal reaffirms her fears that the party may be permanently fractured.
“For us, who have been watching the whole thing unfold… we already knew the system was rigged,” Sullivan said. “It wasn’t a surprise. To us, it was ‘Do you believe us now?’”
In one of the largest rallies planned for Monday, a pro-Bernie Sanders group walked four miles across the Ben Franklin Bridge, which connects New Jersey and Philadelphia.
Naomi Craig, who drove down from West Minster, Vt., said despite her opposition to Republican candidate Donald Trump, she won’t vote for Clinton.
“I’m scared of Trump but I’m not not scared of Hillary,” Craig told FoxNews.com.
Jared Foster of Joanna, S.C., brought his son, A.D. 15, and his friend Mentrez Davis, 15, to Philadelphia as a teachable moment.
“It’s good to get experience in activism,” A.D. told FoxNews.com. “Coming from South Carolina – it’s a very red state and to meet people who are like-minded is neat.”
Quintin Lynch of Enterprise, Ore., said he was throwing his support behind Green Party presumptive presidential candidate Jill Stein.
"We don't stand a chance in hell with Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump," he said. "I was never about Bernie. He was a leader but not the leader of the movement."
Multiple grassroots organizations have come to Philadelphia in an effort to get their voices heard.
One such organization, Democracy Spring, asked supporters online if they were willing to get cuffed for the cause.
On their website, they want supporters to sign a pledge that includes the line: “I pledge to risk arrest with hundreds of others doing nonviolent civil disobedience at the DNC in Philly between July 25-28.”
On Sunday, police estimated between 5,000 and 10,000 people attended rallies -- already surpassing the number of protestors at the RNC convention in Cleveland.
Pasu Tivorat, of Sacramento, who wore a Guy Fawkes mask, told The New York Times Trump and Clinton were both bad choices.
“If we nominate Hillary, then she can continue to abuse her base,” he said. “Every progressive idea we come up with they throw under the bus.”
He added, “I’d rather watch the D.N.C. burn,” he added.
Dem officials jeered, booed at convention opening; DNC apologizes over emails
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| Baltimore mayor gavels in the Democratic National Convention ( Debbie?) |
The opening made clear that the party is far from united, despite the new DNC leadership offering an official apology to Sanders and the party, just as the convention was getting underway, for what it called “the inexcusable remarks made over email” by top officials that seemed to show a bias against Sanders.
The statement from incoming party leader, Donna Brazile, and six other officials, offered a “deep and sincere apology” and said the emails, leaked by WikiLeaks, “do not reflect the values of the DNC or our steadfast commitment to neutrality during the nominating process.”
The written statement also said the party will not tolerate disrespectful language.
But despite outgoing DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz resigning in the wake of the scandal, apparent Sanders supporters caused a ruckus inside the convention hall, leading some speakers to plead with the crowd to unite behind Hillary Clinton.
As Rep. Marcia Fudge tried to preside, boos and chants broke out, particularly whenever Clinton’s name was mentioned.
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
As protesters held up signs with the letters “TPP” crossed out – a reference to the trade deal Clinton once supported and that Sanders fiercely opposes – Fudge said, “We are all Democrats, and we need to act like it.”
In a bid to ease tensions, some key backers of the Vermont senator were made late additions to Monday night's program.
Among those added were two strong Sanders supporters -- Maine lawmaker Diane Russell and former NAACP president Ben Jealous.
Jealous praised the party platform and said, "Join us at the ballot box and we will elect Hillary Clinton as president of these United States."
Some frustrated Sanders fans continued to boo at the mention of Clinton's name.
Russell also tried to sell delegates on the compromise that's been reached on the future role of superdelegates in the nominating process.
And she stressed her support for Clinton.
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