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OCTOBER 17,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:53 P.M. ET:

GOOD QUESTION – From The Hill:   Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wants to know whether President Obama has confronted the Cuban government over its reported aid for Syrian President Bashar Assad.  In light of Obama's decision to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba, Grassley said it is "disconcerting" that the Castro government appears to be siding with Russia in the the Syrian civil war.  "Press reports now indicate that hundreds of Cuban military personnel are on the grounds in Syria, with the purpose of supporting Russia and Iran in bolstering the Assad regime," the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman wrote in a letter to Obama Friday.  Anyone shocked?  It's just another example of America's enemies laughing at the Obama administration, realizing that it is spineless, and is led by a president who doesn't even like his own country.

APPALLING – From the Washington Times:  In the latest issue of Marvel’s revamped Captain America, the iconic superhero takes on a group of right-wing conservatives trying to stop illegal immigrants from crossing the border.  In “Captain America: Sam Wilson #1,” the superhero also known as Sam Wilson heads to the border to take on an “evil” militia group known as the Sons of the Serpent, who are patrolling the area between Mexico and Arizona, according to a video summary of the issue created by the Maciver Institute.  The Sons of the Serpent try to stop a group of illegal immigrants from crossing the border. They accuse the immigrants of invading a sovereign land to spread disease and crime, take American jobs and collect welfare. Sounds remarkably like an old-style attempt by hard leftists to influence America's kids through the kind of things kids read.  Very sad, but not shocking.

BULLETIN – The pro football vote is being heard.  From CBS:   DENVER (CBS4) – Peyton Manning is showing his support for one of the Republican presidential candidates.  The latest campaign filings show Manning contributed $2,700 to Jeb Bush’s campaign. That amount is the maximum an individual can donate to any campaign committee.  Manning’s brother Eli already donated the same total to the Bush campaign earlier this year.  Isn't there an old saying, "As quarterbacks go, so goes the nation"?  No, I didn't think so either.  But I'm glad to see that Hollywood isn't the only celebrity center participating in politics.

October 17, 2015       Permalink

WISDOM – AT 12:51 P.M. ET:  The Republican national chairman, Reince Priebus, is speaking common sense to his party as it embarks on a presidential campaign.  Priebus has done a fine job of rebuilding a party that was losing state and congressional elections that it should easily have won.  But there is the presidency.  And, as Priebus points out, if the GOP loses that next year, it is nowhere.  From Newsmax: 

The Republican Party is "cooked" if it fails to take back the White House in 2016, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus says.

In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Priebus said a Republican president is essential following two terms of a Democrat in control.

"We're cooked as a party for quite a while if we don't win in 2016," he told the Examiner.
But Priebus adds he doesn't anticipate a disastrous election for the GOP because "history is on our side."

"Our job as a national party is to elect Republicans, and it generally means House, Senate, presidential," Priebus told the Examiner.

"However, I think that we have become, unfortunately, a midterm party that doesn't lose and a presidential party that's had a really hard time winning.

"We're seeing more and more that if you don't hold the White House, it's very difficult to govern in this country — especially in Washington D.C."

COMMENT:  He is right.  All the other offices combined don't equal the presidency.  Obama has shown that executive authority has meaning, and the president has the bully pulpit besides.

Republicans must be prepared to run a flawless presidential campaign, behind a winning candidate.  I don't know who that candidate is right now.  There's no obvious choice, like Ronald Reagan.  Two superb governors, Rick Perry and Scott Walker, have been knocked out of the race.  I would say that the great hope is Marco Rubio, who, when he's on, is excellent.  But his campaign has been almost invisible.

We cannot take four more years of a Democratic foreign policy.  That is the bottom line.

October 17, 2015       Permalink

TRUMP BLUNDERS – AT 11:46 A.M. ET:  Donald Trump goes too far.  Some people consider it part of his charm.  A guy who "tells it like it is."  But as we get closer to an actual presidential election, the charm is wearing off.  Americans want a president, not a guy who thinks that negotiating with Putin is the same as negotiating with interior decorators. 

Now Trump has, not for the first time, stepped into dangerous territory, and it's costing him.  From CNN:

Washington (CNN) Donald Trump, under fire for suggesting that George W. Bush shared in the blame for the 9/11 terrorist attacks because they happened during his presidency, repeatedly declined to engage with reporters about the matter Friday night -- opting instead to continue a long-running feud with Jeb Bush on Twitter afterwards.

Trump regularly speaks with reporters at campaign events and often takes multiple questions in an impromptu manner, making his silence Friday all the more noticeable.

When asked by CNN after a rally at a local high school here if he thought the attacks were George W. Bush's fault, Trump, after pausing to listen to the question, walked away.

Minutes later, he again declined to say anything when asked to react to Bush's response on Twitter, ignoring at least half a dozen questions on the matter before driving away in his motorcade. He did respond to questions about the crowd size at his campaign event Friday and why he was campaigning in Massachusetts.

The controversy began Friday morning when Trump implied that the former president could share some blame for the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans, as he was in office at the time.

"When you talk about George Bush, I mean, say what you want, the World Trade Center came down during his time," Trump said on Bloomberg TV.

Bloomberg anchor Stephanie Ruhle interjected, "Hold on, you can't blame George Bush for that," before Trump stood by his comments.

"He was president, OK? ... Blame him, or don't blame him, but he was president. The World Trade Center came down during his reign," Trump said.

Jeb Bush angrily responded Friday afternoon, calling the comment "pathetic."

COMMENT:  It is pathetic.  Like Trump's ridiculing of John McCain's war record was pathetic, and his disparaging remarks about Carly Fiorina's looks were pathetic.  After a time, the "pathetics" begin to build up.

Trump looked truly shaken last night when confronted by reporters, as if he knew, or had been told, that he'd committed a major blunder.  Only crackpots and conspiracy theorists blame George Bush for 9-11. 

So far, Trump has overcome all his blunders and foolish statements.  But there may be a limit.  My own feeling is that he has distorted the campaign on the Republican side, and has taken attention away from far more qualified candidates.  Politics is partially show business, but it isn't entirely show business.  Nor is it entirely ego. 

October 17, 2015      Permalink

HILLARY'S PLIGHT – AT 11:15 A.M. ET:  Why do I have to read this in a British paper?  Hillary Clinton is now trying to laugh off the dead-serious FBI investigation into her behavior as secretary of state.  But she could face criminal charges...maybe right before Inauguration Day.  From London's Daily Mail:

Hillary Clinton could be prosecuted in federal court for failing to tell President Barack Obama about her private email server at the time she was running it, according to a veteran FBI agent.

Obama said flatly during a '60 Minutes' interview on Sunday that 'No,' he did not know Clinton sidestepped security protocols with her a home-brew email setup while she was his secretary of state.

The FBI agent who spoke with DailyMail.com has had a 20-year career in federal law enforcement and serves in a supervisory capacity in a domestic FBI field office.

He said on Friday that failing to put Obama in the loop could be enough to send her to prison for ten years.

The federal Espionage Act includes a provision that criminalizes 'gross negligence' by officials charged with safeguarding national defense information.

Separately, the law's text makes a criminal of any security clearance holder who fails to notify his or her 'superior officer' when a breach of security occurs through such negligence.

'If investigators conclude that the former secretary [Clinton] was criminally careless in how she approached the security of the sensitive documents in her possession, then this part of the law could be used to prosecute her,' the agent said, on condition of anonymity.

'"Gross negligence" just means "serious carelessness",' he clarified.

His voice became more deliberate and quiet when DailyMail.com asked him to address the notification clause in what is technically known as '18 USC 793.'

'The secretary's superior is the President of the United States,' the FBI agent noted.

'So unless he were aware of what she was doing when she was doing it, it seems there could be a legal problem [for her].'

COMMENT:  In addition to this, there are many, many other legal issues facing Clinton.  That point was made last night on Fox by James Kallstrom, former head of the New York office of the FBI.

Clinton's strategy has now turned to ridiculing, even laughing at, the investigations she faces.  Her campaign is doing one of those "it's time to move on" moments.  But the FBI is not moving on.  The FBI is moving.

October 17,  2015     Permalink

OCTOBER 16,  2015

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET:

HILLARY GAINS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE – From The Politico:  Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are in a dead heat among likely New Hampshire primary voters, according to the results of a Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll released Friday.  Approximately 37 percent went for the former secretary of state, while 35 percent threw their support behind Sanders. Vice President Joe Biden, who has not announced a run, received just 11 percent. Additionally, just 36 percent want Biden to get into the race, while about 50 percent say the vice president should not seek a third run for the White House (he previously ran in the 1988 and 2008 cycles). This is clearly a reaction to Clinton's strong performance at Tuesday night's debate.  We'll see if it lasts. 

GETTING STUDENTS CORRECT FOR HALLOWEEN – From College Insurrection:   Now that Columbus Day is over, Wesleyan University is turning its attention toward the next controversial date on the calendar: Halloween.  Wesleyan’s Office of Student Affairs has placed posters throughout campus, an example of which was obtained by Inside Higher Ed, featuring a “Halloween Checklist” to help students determine whether their costume ideas might be offensive.  “Is your costume offensive?” the poster asks. “Check yourself and your friends.”  There follows a list of several general questions that students are encouraged to ask themselves before settling on a costume, such as whether it “[mocks] cultural or religious symbols such as dreadlocks, headdresses, afros, bindis, etc.” Another red flag, according to the flyer, are costumes that “attempt to represent an entire culture or ethnicity.”  I'll be careful not to wear my "British gentleman" costume.  British lives matter!

HERE IT COMES – There were justifiable fears that the Iran nuclear deal would cause a nuclear arms race in the Mideast.  From AP:   WASHINGTON (AP) — Amid fears of an atomic arms race in the Middle East, a senior United Arab Emirates official has told a top US lawmaker that it too might seek the right to enrich uranium that Iran has asserted under the recently signed nuclear deal.  The landmark Iran accord to curb its nuclear weapons in exchange for economic sanctions relief allows Tehran to enrich uranium. In barely noticed testimony last month, Rep. Ed Royce (R-California), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the UAE’s ambassador in Washington, Yousef al-Otaiba, had informed him in a telephone call that the country no longer felt bound by its previous nuclear agreement with the United States.  This is just what we need.  Makes the world safe for hypocrisy.

October 16, 2015       Permalink

JOE – AT 9:45 A.M. ET:  There's an old saying in presidential politics that a candidate is never so popular than on the day before he announces for president.   So CNN and the others are now hyping the "excitement" over an expected announcement by Joe Biden regarding his election intentions.  Oh the heat!  Oh the wanting of Joe!  From the LA Times:

Vice President Joe Biden is nearing a final decision on a possible White House run, according to a message to his political network from one of his closest advisors.

"If he decides to run, we will need each and every one of you -- yesterday," says the message from Biden's longtime aide Ted Kaufman.

The campaign would be motivated by his “burning conviction” to boost the middle class, the message says.

Biden is aware of looming deadlines for getting on the ballot in some states, but his “first and foremost consideration” remains the welfare of his family, Kaufman said in the message, which was obtained by The Times.

“He has been in public and political life a long time and he has a good grip on the mechanics around this decision,” Kaufman writes. “It will not surprise you, as it does not surprise me, what he will weigh in the decision and what -- being Joe Biden -- he will not.”

COMMENT:  Frankly, I think many people are getting tired of the Biden watch.  True, latest polling shows that he would defeat any leading Republican candidate, whereas Hillary would lose to almost all of them.  But Hillary had a good debate Tuesday night, and that will be considered in Biden's decision.

And what will happen if Joe jumps in?  He'll get a bump, then reality will set in as Dems contemplate a very divisive and possibly ugly primary race.

I love it.

October 16, 2015       Permalink

THE FIELD MARSHAL MARCHES ON – AT 8:57 A.M. ET:  Obama's latest decision on Afghanistan reflects a long pattern, which has resulted in one American loss after another.  From the Washington Times: 

In the end, President Obama was forced to listen to his generals — not his political instincts — on Afghanistan troop levels, and he decided to split the difference.

Mr. Obama is keeping 5,500 troops in Afghanistan beyond his presidency, about half the strength recommended by his top general in-country. It marks the sixth time he has rejected the advice of a ground commander on the force size in the long Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Military experts call that streak unprecedented for a commander in chief.

Like the current 9,800 U.S. troops there, the drawdown force of 5,500 will maintain a noncombat stance in training Afghan forces and hunting al Qaeda terrorists, Mr. Obama said Thursday. Administration officials said the U.S. will spend about $14.6 billion a year to house the troops at a total of four bases in Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Bagram — an increase over the estimated $10 billion annual cost of keeping a force at the U.S. Embassy in the Afghan capital.

The president had wanted to deliver a speech saying that all American troops were out of Afghanistan at the end of next year, as he did in 2011 for the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. But he was swayed by the dark picture of the Afghan conflict that the top brass has been drawing for him, and now Mr. Obama will pass the war onto the next president in 2017.

COMMENT:  I heard a remark from a high-ranking military figure – I cannot confirm the truth of this – that Obama has received about 115 recommendations from military leaders, and has turned down every one of them.  It wouldn't surprise me.

Obama just isn't interested in military affairs, doesn't much like the military, and, bottom line, doesn't much like his own country.  We just have to get through the next 15 months with him, and it will be difficult.

October 16, 2015       Permalink

THIS GETS SERIOUS – AT 8:35 A.M. ET:  Comments by President Obama have gotten under the skin of FBI agents investigating Hillary Clinton.  Not a good thing.  From The New York Times: 

WASHINGTON — Federal agents were still cataloging the classified information from Hillary Rodham Clinton’s personal email server last week when President Obama went on television and played down the matter.

“I don’t think it posed a national security problem,” Mr. Obama said Sunday on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” He said it was a mistake for Mrs. Clinton to use a private email account when she was secretary of state, but his conclusion was unmistakable: “This is not a situation in which America’s national security was endangered.”

Those statements angered F.B.I. agents who have been working for months to determine whether Ms. Clinton’s email setup had in fact put any of the nation’s secrets at risk, according to current and former law enforcement officials.

Investigators have not reached any conclusions about whether the information on the server had been compromised or whether to recommend charges, according to the law enforcement officials. But to investigators, it sounded as if Mr. Obama had already decided the answers to their questions and cleared anyone involved of wrongdoing.

The White House quickly backed off the president’s remarks and said Mr. Obama was not trying to influence the investigation. But his comments spread quickly, raising the ire of officials who saw an instance of the president trying to influence the outcome of a continuing investigation — and not for the first time.

COMMENT:  Read the whole well-reported article.  Obama doesn't want Hillary to succeed him – he'd clearly prefer Biden – but he doesn't want to appear personally to be sinking her.   It's a destructive balancing act, but agents conducting the investigation are clearly not amused.  Presidential words are bound to have some effect, if not on the FBI, then on the prosecutors – political appointees in many cases – who must decide what cases to prosecute.

October 16,  2015     Permalink