Political Wire

Archives for December 2015

Reid Says GOP Making U.S. Vulnerable to Attack

· 22 Comments

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) says Republicans are “increasing the odds of another terrorist attack on American soil by blocking legislation aimed at taking guns out of the hands of citizens suspected of holding terrorist sympathies,” The Hill reports.

Said Reid: “By blocking efforts to give law enforcement the tools they need to keep guns out of the hands of FBI terror suspects, Republicans are leaving every American community vulnerable to an attack by terrorists armed with assault weapons – just like the attacks we saw in Paris and San Bernardino.”

He added: “Republicans should be ashamed of themselves and their cowardice.”

Clinton Says We’re Not Winning War Against ISIS

· 10 Comments

Hillary Clinton said that the United States is “not winning” the battle against the Islamic State, the Washington Post reports.

Said Clinton: “We’re not winning, but it’s too soon to say that we are doing everything we need to do. And I’ve outlined very clearly we have to fight them in the air, we have to fight them on ground, and we have to fight on the Internet. And we have to do everything we can with our friends and partners around the world to protect ourselves.”

Rubio Turns Focus to Cruz

· 6 Comments

For months, Sen. Marco Rubio “ran an above-the-fray presidential race, high-mindedly dismissing his Republican rivals’ attacks and promising a campaign his family could be proud of long after 2016,” the New York Times reports.

“No more. In interviews, speeches and in stealthier ways, Mr. Rubio has abruptly changed course, zeroing in on Sen. Ted Cruz in an urgent effort to halt his momentum with conservative voters in this state and beyond.”

Trump Says Profiling Can Stamp Out Terrorists

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Donald Trump said the country’s “tremendous problem” with “radical Islamic terrorism” will get solved once President Obama “gets the hell out” of office, Politico reports.

He also said an unwillingness to profile terrorists contributed to the problem.

Said Trump: “I think there can be profiling. If they thought there was something wrong with that group and they saw what was happening, and they didn’t want to call the police because they didn’t want to be profiling, I think that’s pretty bad. People are dead. A lot of people are dead right now. So everybody wants to be politically correct, and that’s part of the problem that we have with our country… You have people that have to be tracked. If they’re Muslims, they’re Muslims.”

Obama to Address Nation on Terror

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President Obama on Sunday night will deliver a rare Oval Office address about terror threats in the aftermath of the San Bernardino, California, shootings that claimed 14 lives, CNN reports.

Los Angeles Times: “Obama’s address comes amid growing criticism from Republicans and even some Democrats about his policies for combating terrorism and dealing with Syria’s civil war, especially after last month’s coordinated Islamic State attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.”

New York Times: “Unable to curb the availability of guns at home or extremist propaganda from overseas, the authorities may have to rely more on encouraging Americans to watch one another and report suspicions.”

Christie Begins to Attack Trump

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“Add Chris Christie to the list of Republicans suddenly ready to engage Donald Trump,” Politico reports.

Said Chrisite: “We do not need reality TV in the Oval Office right now. President of the United States is not a place for an entertainer.”

“This type of overt criticism of the GOP poll leader is a departure for Christie, who has generally refrained from attacking Trump… Christie is walking something of a perilous path here. Trump has proudly touted the fact that whenever one of his Republican rivals has gone after him on the stump, that candidate’s poll numbers have dropped.”

Bush Tries to Reassure Donors

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New York Times: “The agenda for the three-hour donor meeting, which was closed to the news media, included a question-and-answer session with Mr. Bush… The campaign also presented new internal polling data from New Hampshire…. The general Bush pitch hinges on restoring a traditional framework to an election in which — so far, at least — the traditional rules of politics have ceased to apply, and where unconventional outsiders like Donald J. Trump have ridden a frenzy of visceral voter anger to the top of the polls.”

Branstad Set to Break Longevity Record

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After nearly 21 years in office, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) this month will become the longest-serving governor in U.S. history, “surpassing a mark set by a onetime Revolutionary War general,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Few governors even reach a decade in office, in part because most states have term limits. Among sitting governors, Mr. Branstad’s closest peer is California’s Jerry Brown, who is nearing 13 years in office broken up over two time periods. Mr. Branstad will set the record on Dec. 14, surpassing George Clinton, the first governor of New York.”

Iowa GOP Working to Prevent Another Botched Caucus

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“Republicans in Iowa are working overtime to prevent a repeat of the botched 2012 caucuses when scores of unaccounted ballots caused Mitt Romney to be wrongly declared the winner over Rick Santorum,” The Hill reports.

“State party officials say they’ve moved aggressively to address the problems that plagued the ballot count in January 2012, and believe the new technologies they’ve adopted, as well as having more workers on staff and enhanced training programs, will pave the way for a smooth and accurate reckoning at the Feb. 1. caucuses.”

Trump Says He’s a Better Campaigner Than Clinton

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Donald Trump “wrapped up a whirlwind week of campaigning — one that included six rallies in five states, a forum, a book signing, media interviews and lots of tweeting — he accused Hillary Clinton of not being able to keep up with him,” the Washington Post reports.

“Trump has repeatedly said this week that Clinton will attend a campaign event or do a heavily negotiated media interview, then disappear for several days — he says to sleep, something that he only does for a few hours each night.”

Said Trump: “You don’t see her for four or five days, then four or five days later, she awakens, puts on her pantsuit, goes out and does a, you know, does a press conference. She throws on the ‘ol pantsuit.”

Quote of the Day

· 72 Comments

“We can’t make an African-American white.”

— Michigan State Senator Marty Knollenberg (R), quoted by WXYZ, on the educational disparities between different demographic groups.

University Wants Students to Carry Weapons

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Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. urged students to carry concealed weapons on campus in the wake of  the San Bernardino massacre, the News and Advance reports.

Said Falwell: “It just blows my mind when I see that the President of the United States says that the answer to circumstances like that is more gun control… I’ve always thought if more good people had concealed carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in.”

He added: “Let’s teach them a lesson if they ever show up here.”

Primaries Will Offer Clues to Identity of the GOP

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Dan Balz: “Early next year, when Republican voters begin to select their 2016 presidential nominee, they will not just be choosing one individual from among a large field of candidates. They will also be choosing among competing theories about what the party needs to do to win the White House.”

“One choice pits what Donald Trump represents — the appeal of a strong personality — against what House Speaker Paul D. Ryan spoke about last week: the power of a conservative agenda. The other choice highlights strikingly different models for winning primaries and general elections, embodied in the campaigns of Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.”

A Detailed Look at How Trump Talks

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The New York Times analyzed “every public utterance” by Donald Trump “over the past week from rallies, speeches, interviews and news conferences.”

“The most striking hallmark was Mr. Trump’s constant repetition of divisive phrases, harsh words and violent imagery that American presidents rarely use, based on a quantitative comparison of his remarks and the news conferences of recent presidents, Democratic and Republican… And Mr. Trump uses rhetoric to erode people’s trust in facts, numbers, nuance, government and the news media.”

Key takeaway: “A significant difference between Mr. Trump and 20th-century American demagogues is that many of them, especially McCarthy and Wallace, were charmless public speakers. Mr. Trump, by contrast, is an energetic and charismatic speaker who can be entertaining and ingratiating with his audiences. There is a looseness to his language that sounds almost like water-cooler talk or neighborly banter, regardless of what it is about.”

Can Marco Rubio Even Win a Primary?

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This piece is only available to Political Wire members.

Marco Rubio has become the establishment’s choice in the Republican presidential primary, but as Ed Kilgore notes, “At some point, you have to start winning caucuses and primaries to win the nomination. And it’s hard to identify right now where Rubio is supposed to claim his first victory.”

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Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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