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SEPTEMBER 10,  2016

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

THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE POLITICS BUSINESS – FROM HEAT STREET:   College Progressives at Penn State University were not happy with the steep entry price to a “Conversation with Chelsea” event featuring former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton, the least successful member of the Clinton political dynasty.  The event, which took place Wednesday in State College, Pa., charged $500 just to get in the door, and $1,000 for a photo with Chelsea. For $2,700, attendees would be granted access to a special reception with the guest of honor.  College Progressives at Penn State really wanted to be a part of the so-called “conversation,” but quite rightly noted that $500 was a hefty price that would exclude many college students from attending.  I'm sure the Clintons would call that a generous discount.

OBAMA TRASHES AMERICA, AGAIN – FROM GRABIEN NEWS:   What is it about traveling abroad that seems to encourage President Obama to unload all manner of grievances on the United States? For whatever reason, traveling abroad appears to help crystallize everything wrong he sees in America. During his recent trip to Cuba and Argentina, for example, we counted 18 separate times he talked down his employer, the United States of America.   His just-concluded trip to Asia was no different.   Here are 18 separate attacks he unloaded while in China and Laos:  There are still too many poor children in the United States  Too many children in America are not getting enough to eat  Despite America's wealth, we’re not providing sufficient educational resources in poor communities  America lacks the “political will” to help poor inner cities that have suffered discrimination.  Americans are “lazy” in thinking we don’t need to learn about foreign nations.  Colin Kapernack is justified protesting the National Anthem, as the NFL star is raising “real, legitimate issues” about things America needs to be talked about.   America suffers from racism, conflicts between ethnic groups, and discrimination against immigrants.  Criticisms of America being imperfect and having problems with racism discrimination are accurate.  America still has “situations where women are not treated equally.”  America “didn't think through” our policy in Vietnam War, as dropping cluster bombs proved counterproductive to "winning hearts and minds."  America’s treatment of Native Americans was “tragic.”  America “struggled to stay true” to our founding ideal that all men are created equal.  When the environment is destroyed in America, it’s because the private sector is being “lazy."
The United States is still to this day learning how to develop industry without destroying the environment.
Due to industrialization, America “used to have terrible pollution … everywhere.”  America’s role in the Vietnam war led to mass displacement of people from their homes.  America dropped more bombs on Laos than on Germany and Japan during World War II … more than 2 million bombs … “the bombs fell like rain.” More bombs, he said on several occasions, were dropped on Laos per capita than anywhere else in the world.  We bombed the “simple homes” of civilians in Laos. “Villages and entire allies were obliterated.” The ancient Plain of Jars “was devastated.” Countless civilians were killed.   We have four more months of this guy.

THE POWER OF CUSTOMERS, AND JUDGMENT –  FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   SAN ANTONIO — The owner of a Texas mattress store has closed his store after apologizing for what he called a “tasteless” advertisement promoting a 9/11 anniversary sale.  The online ad for Miracle Mattress in San Antonio featured a woman screaming as two towers of mattresses topple.  In a statement posted to the store’s social media Friday, owner Mike Bonanno said the store “will be closed indefinitely.” He said the company also “will be silent through the 9/11 anniversary to avoid any further distractions from a day of recognition and remembrance for the victims and their families.”  He repeated his Thursday apology, saying the online ad was produced without his knowledge by employees in San Antonio.  Bonanno says he will announce next week “accountability actions” taken with the employees responsible for the ad.  A bad situation thoughtfully handled by the owner.  But, ultimately, he is responsible and must take responsibility.

September 10, 2016       Permalink

TRUMP DEMANDS APOLOGY – AT 12:32 P.M. ET:   And appropriately so.  After Hillary Clinton's speech in which she insulted and demeaned Trump supporters, the Trump campaign is demanding that she retract.  From The Politico: 

Donald Trump’s campaign is demanding an apology for comments Hillary Clinton made at a fundraising event Friday in New York City, where she said half of his supporters belonged in a “basket of deplorables” — “the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it.“

The Republican nominee tweeted Saturday morning: "Wow, Hillary Clinton was SO INSULTING to my supporters, millions of amazing, hard working people. I think it will cost her at the Polls!"

“Come to an event; talk to real people who aren't donors,” Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway wrote in a Twitter exchange with Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill earlier Saturday morning. “Or better: have Hillary apologize.”

Neera Tanden, head of the liberal Center for American Progress and a close Clinton ally, shot back at Conway: "let's make a deal: your campaign apologizes for calling Mexican immigrants rapists and we'll talk."

Trump never said that.  He said that illegal immigrants have among them rapists and criminals. 

The event, a gala for the group LGBT for Hillary at Cipriani Wall Street that featured Barbara Streisand, was not the first time Clinton has used the term. But her extended riff this time drew swift and harsh condemnation from Republicans -- as well as comparisons to past presidential campaign gaffes.

And...

Conway was quick to criticize the comments, jabbing Clinton on Twitter for "placing people in 'baskets'" and insulting "millions of Americans."

“Treating people as subhuman - irredeemable/deplorable - is no way to run for POTUS,” tweeted Tim Miller, a former Jeb Bush spokesman and fervent Trump opponent. “Dems shld skip the excuses & move straight to mea culpa.”

COMMENT:  But they won't.  Hillary meant every word of it.  It's the elitist mentality.  We're better than you are, better than everyone.  How dare you not vote for us.

September 10, 2016        Permalink

SIGN OF THE TIMES – AT 11:58 A.M. ET:  In the president's home city of Chicago, some citizens are taking things into their own capable hands after watching their neighborhoods descend into chaos.  From CBS local: 

(CBS) – A Chicago man, fed up and frustrated with what he says is the rising crime in his neighborhood, takes matters into his own pocketbook — shelling out thousands to pay for private street security.

Security firm owner Howard Greer, also a Chicago cop, patrols the 1100 block of North LaSalle. It’s his off-duty job, paid for by local resident De Mudd.

“I’ve been watching my neighborhood deteriorate over the last couple of years,” Mudd says.

Police, he says, couldn’t keep up. So, Greer and fellow off-duty officers now walk the Gold Coast pocket with guns and handcuffs — six days a week, eight hours a day.

The biggest problems here? Drug dealing, prostitution and loitering.

“It’s like a supplement, supplement to crime fighting, supplement to police department,” Greer explains. “I think it’s very effective.”

It’s not cheap. Mudd says he’s paid $5,000 since mid-August and anticipates spending $50,000.

“I have the means. I’ve been very fortunate,” he says.

Mudd doesn’t blame police and, in fact, sympathizes with them. He also talked to his alderman before hiring Greer’s firm.

Ald. Walter Burnett says he remembers speaking to Mudd about the idea and agrees there are not enough police patrols.

COMMENT:  One of the problems in Chicago is lack of leadership at the top.  In New York, Mayor Rudy Giuliani refused to be intimidated by local "leaders" who always wanted a cut of the action.  In Chicago, those leaders control their communities, like the old machine politicians that they are.  And they have little interest in crime control. 

It's good to see citizens taking action.  Acting within the law, they can be effective.  But it will be up to the community itself to help them.  So far, I haven't heard a single leader, like Jesse Jackson, say a word in their favor.

September 10, 2016        Permalink

TRUMP STILL ADVANCING – AT 11:31 A.M. ET:  New polls continue to show a deterioration in Hillary Clinton's prospects.  It's panic time.  From Reuters:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican Donald Trump appears to have carved out a wider path to the White House as a number of states including Florida and Ohio are no longer considered likely wins for Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project released on Saturday.

The project, which combines opinion polls with an analysis of voting patterns under different election scenarios, still shows Clinton would have the best chance of winning the presidency if the Nov. 8 election were held today. Yet Trump has caught up to her level of support in several states.

Clinton now has an 83 percent chance of winning the election by an average of 47 votes in the Electoral College, the body that ultimately selects the president. In late August, the States of the Nation estimated that Clinton had a 95 percent chance of winning by an average of 108 electoral votes.

COMMENT:  The key point is the amount of progress Trump has made in the last three weeks.  For Trump, the lesson is that he must continue that progress.  In the last three days he's faltered with foolish statements on foreign policy, including his praise of Vladimir Putin.

But Trump and, just as important, his staff, have shown a recent ability to repair damage and get back on track.  Clinton has shown no such ability.  She seems in a permanent rut, the candidate who apparently thinks the country owes her the presidency, regardless of what she does and says.

Long way to go, but this is now a horse race. 

September 10,  2016     Permalink

SEPTEMBER 9,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:51 P.M. ET: 

VULGAR HILLARY – FROM THE HILL:   Hillary Clinton divided Donald Trump supporters into two categories at a fundraiser Friday night and said one group falls into a "basket of deplorables."  Clinton spoke at an LGBT-focused fundraiser for her campaign in New York hosted by Barbara Streisand and evaluated the people who have propelled Trump's unorthodox campaign, according to reporters on the scene.   "You know, just to be grossly generalist, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables," Clinton said, according to BuzzFeed News. "The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up."  Clinton said the other half are people struggling who have found hope in Trump's message.  That is absolutely vulgar – modern McCarthyism at its worst.  Even some Democrats are warning that the party is going too far in its labeling of opposing candidates.  But the left doesn't care.

TRUMP HELPED BY REGISTRATION – FROM FOX:    Republicans are outpacing Democrats in registering new voters in key states.  A review of registration figures shows that in the swing states that sign up voters by party, Republicans are seeing a significantly bigger boost since 2012. In states like Florida and Pennsylvania, the party has added tens of thousands of voters to the rolls at a time when Democrats have seen their base shrink.  “The numbers [in those states] … are a huge shift from what we’ve seen in 2012,” Republican National Committee spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said.  The surge doesn’t change the fact that Clinton leads, if only by a thin margin, in most battleground state polls, which presumably reflect the current voter make-up.  Bottom line, this election may well be won by the candidate the voters see as least obnoxious.

MAJOR ENDORSEMENT NEWS – It is announced that Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, is endorsing Hillary Clinton for president.  "I think it's obvious Hillary Clinton needs to be the next president," Schultz said to CNN.  The key question, being considered by pundits everywhere, is how this will affect the overpriced-coffee vote.  That vote is normally divided between the decaffeinated and the regular coffee crowd.  The decafs are a force in New York, Washington and Hollywood, where control of nerves is a priority.  The regulars are in the real places, where people can control themselves without special coffee.  There have been no polls taken of these factions.

September 9, 2016        Permalink   

A POSSIBLE VETO, AND A DANGEROUS ONE –  AT 10:15 A.M. ET:  The president may be facing a serious foreign-policy dilemma right in the middle of a political campaign, and his decision could be unpopular and put Hillary on the hot seat.  From The Hill: 

President Obama is facing a dilemma over legislation allowing the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia in U.S. courts.

The House is expected to vote overwhelmingly in favor of the legislation on Friday. The Senate has already passed the same legislation unanimously.

Obama has fiercely opposed the bill, arguing it could both strain relations with Saudi Arabia and also lead to retaliatory legislation overseas against U.S. citizens. The Saudi government has led a quiet campaign in Washington to kill the legislation.

Those efforts have been fruitless in Congress, however.

The legislation has broad support from both parties, and Congress could override an Obama veto for the first time if he rejects the legislation.

Such an outcome would undoubtedly embarrass Obama and divide Democrats ahead of the 2016 elections and a crucial lame-duck session of Congress.

Friday’s vote is heavy with symbolism; it will take place on the eve of the 15th anniversary of Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

If the House vote is as resounding as expected, supporters hope, coupled with the unanimous passage of the Senate version in May, the White House may reconsider its concerns.

“I think the pressure is the vote,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), an original backer of the bill and one of its 29 Democratic co-sponsors.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are unsure whether Obama will actually use his veto pen on the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.

“I presume they would have to think very carefully about a veto because it might very well be overridden,” said Nadler.

COMMENT:  Nadler is one of the most liberal members of Congress, and represents the district in New York that contains Ground Zero.  If he is making those comments it's a signal to the White House that the president is on thin ice in opposing the legislation.  All members of the House are up for re-election this year. 

September 9, 2016       Permalink

DEMS START TO PANIC – AT 9:51 A.M. ET:   Oh, there is upset, there is trauma, there is the realization that they may not get those jobs in the next administration.  The Democrats are reaching for their Zoloft.  From The Hill: 

Democratic senators, anxious over Hillary Clinton’s inability to pull away from Donald Trump, have some advice for their nominee: Be more open, show your soul, focus on the economy and talk about blue-collar jobs.

What soul are they referring to?

Recent polls show Trump within striking distance of Clinton, defying predictions in Washington that he is doomed in November.

Trump’s ability to stay competitive while running an unconventional campaign has underscored what Democratic lawmakers see as the need for Clinton to improve in certain areas.

These lawmakers, who served with Clinton in Congress and have known her for years, say her public persona is too guarded.

They struggle to reconcile the charismatic, warm and funny woman they know in private with Clinton’s public persona, which can come across as stern, aloof or annoyed.

Democratic senators say it’s natural for Clinton to put up her guard because she has been the target of Republican attacks for decades. But they think she might benefit from relaxing a little more on the campaign trail.

“Her decades in this arena have taken their toll,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). “When you’re hit a lot there’s almost an unconscious shield that controls the answers to your questions. I think she’s got to get rid of that and just let herself be.

“Everybody that knows her, loves her. They know her heart is full,” she added. “That’s what she ought to do, just take the shield away from the heart.”

Vice President Biden offered similar advice earlier in the week, calling on her to be “more open.”

COMMENT:  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Her heart is full, but so is her bank account.  The Clintons have made tens of millions selling access, and that is the real heart in this discussion.  The public believes she is corrupt.  It's hard to hide that with a wink and a smile, and a full heart. 

September 9, 2016       Permalink 

NORTH CAROLINA MOVING TOWARD TRUMP – AT 9:18 A.M. ET:  We stress, of course, that this is only one poll, but it's a respected one.  North Carolina has been a problem for Trump.  In recent years North Carolina, like Virginia, has been a problem for Republicans, owing in part to a large influx of liberal northerners.   From Suffolk University: 

With two months to go before the November general election, Republican Donald Trump (44 percent) leads Democrat Hillary Clinton (41 percent), by 3 points in North Carolina, according to a Suffolk University poll of likely voters in the Tar Heel State.

The poll is a statistical dead heat and is within the survey’s margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. When asked who they think will win the November presidential election, 49 percent said Clinton and 33 percent Trump, with 17 percent undecided.

Libertarian Gary Johnson was the choice of 4 percent of voters, with 8 percent undecided. Green Party nominee Jill Stein is not listed on the North Carolina ballot although voters may write in her name.

“North Carolina is very close, and so is the gender gap margin, though it’s not quite working in Hillary Clinton’s favor with Johnson in the mix,” said David Paleologos director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center in Boston. Among men, Trump led 53 percent to 32 percent, with Johnson getting 3 percent, while among women Clinton led 49 percent to 36 percent, with Johnson at 5 percent.

COMMENT:  Trump barely dents the black vote, which is Clinton's great strength in North Carolina, and in other battleground states. 

The Suffolk poll confirms what we see generally, a move toward Trump, with two months to go before the election.

September 9,  2016     Permalink