The super PAC supporting Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s presidential bid is taking aim again at Donald Trump, Politico reports.
“New Day for America, which recently aired a series of ads against the billionaire, is following up with another attack timed to coincide with a campaign rally Trump is hosting Wednesday in Manassas, Virginia. The super PAC is mailing fliers to New Hampshire as part of an effort to criticize Trump’s rhetoric on illegal immigration.”
Donald Trump said he has always felt guilty about not serving in the military, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “I always felt a little guilty. I’ve done a lot of things. I’ve built the Vietnam Memorial in New York… It’s a way of making up.”
Rep. Alan Grayson’s (D-FL) “campaign manager, deputy campaign manager, and senior adviser are leaving their jobs in the Democratic congressman’s troubled Florida Senate campaign,” Politico reports.
A new Quinnipiac poll finds Donald Trump is the undisputed leader in the Republican presidential field, as Ben Carson drops to third place after being in a virtual tie with Trump last month.
Trump leads with 27%, followed by Marco Rubio at 17%, Ted Cruz at 16%, Ben Carson at 16% and Jeb Bush at 5%. No other candidate gets more than 3%.
Said pollster Tim Malloy: “It doesn’t seem to matter what he says or who he offends, whether the facts are contested or the ‘political correctness’ is challenged, Donald Trump seems to be wearing Kevlar. Dr. Ben Carson, moving to center stage just one month ago, now needs some CPR.”
“On the front lines of the battle against the Islamic State, suspicion of the United States runs deep. Iraqi fighters say they have all seen the videos purportedly showing U.S. helicopters airdropping weapons to the militants, and many claim they have friends and relatives who have witnessed similar instances of collusion,” the Washington Post reports.
“Ordinary people also have seen the videos, heard the stories and reached the same conclusion — one that might seem absurd to Americans but is widely believed among Iraqis — that the United States is supporting the Islamic State for a variety of pernicious reasons that have to do with asserting U.S. control over Iraq, the wider Middle East and, perhaps, its oil.”
Sarah Palin told CBN News that she took her unexpected firing from Fox News last summer very hard.
Said Palin: “Some things happened that I haven’t talked about publicly, things like getting canned from a job I really liked, sort of out of the blue, because I called somebody out. Next morning I got word, ‘Oh, we no longer need you anymore.’ ”
She quickly added: “Yeah, it was a shock, but more power to Fox News. They’re a private enterprise. They can fire someone for wearing the wrong color tie that day – that’s their prerogative and I’ve been on both sides of the hiring and firing.”
Dana Millbank: “Let’s not mince words: Donald Trump is a bigot and a racist. Some will think this an outrageous label to apply to the frontrunner for a major party’s presidential nomination. Ordinarily, I would agree that name-calling is part of what’s wrong with our politics.”
“But there is a greater imperative not to be silent in the face of demagoguery. Trump in this campaign has gone after African Americans, immigrants, Latinos, Asians, women, Muslims and now the disabled… It might be possible to explain away any one of Trump’s outrages as a mistake or a misunderstanding. But at some point you’re not merely saying things that could be construed as bigoted: You are a bigot.”
“I think she will be a great partner.”
— Jeb Bush, quoted by The Hill, on his vice presidential pick.
“The campaigns and allies for three establishment presidential candidates – Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and John Kasich – have spent a combined $47.5 million in TV ads in the 2016 race so far,” NBC News reports.
“By contrast, the campaigns and allies for the three Republicans who have been leading or surging in the most recent polls – Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Ted Cruz – have spent just $2.9 million.”
Former 2012 GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain took offense at being cited by Jeb Bush as an example of an outsider presidential candidate who lost the race.
Said Cain: “At least I was once winning. Jeb Bush has been doing nothing but losing throughout this entire campaign.”
New York Times: “Some of the highest-ranking Republicans in Congress and some of the party’s wealthiest and most generous donors have balked at trying to take down Mr. Trump because they fear a public feud with the insult-spewing media figure. Others warn that doing so might backfire at a time of soaring anger toward political insiders.”
“That has led to a standoff of sorts: Almost everyone in the party’s upper echelons agrees something must be done, and almost no one is willing to do it.”
“He’s really not a factor at this point.”
— GOP presidential candidate Jim Gilmore (R), quoted by BuzzFeed, on Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) presidential campaign.
Charlie Cook: “Thinking about the 2016 Republican presidential nomination has generally boiled down to two competing views. The first is that Trump and/or Carson, the consummate political outsiders, will remain at the top of the GOP field, with one or the other ending up as the nominee; the prospect makes some Republicans ecstatic and drives others into a near-clinical depression.”
“The second view: While we certainly don’t know who the GOP nominee will be, we can feel reasonably assured that it won’t be one of those two. Adherents of this view see today’s Republican Party as behaving crazily but not actually insane.”
Vanity Fair: “Using never-before-heard audio tapes from three separate press conferences, in 1982, 1983, and 1984, When AIDS Was Funny illustrates how the reporter Lester Kinsolving, a conservative (and not at all gay-friendly) fixture in the White House press corps, was consistently scoffed at when he posed urgent questions about the AIDS epidemic. With snickering, homophobic jokes and a disturbing air of uninterest, Speakes dismisses Kinsolving’s concerns about the escalating problem.”
Donald Trump put a price on his participation at the coming CNN Republican debate: $5 million, NBC News reports.
Said Trump: “How about I tell CNN, who doesn’t treat me properly … I’m not gonna do the next debate, okay? I won’t do the debate unless they pay me $5 million, all of which goes to Wounded Warriors or goes to vets.”
Jeb Bush “formed an expansive financial support team led by about 350 major donors from across the country in a much-needed show of strength for his presidential campaign,” Reuters reports.
“The list of donors on his campaign’s National Finance Committee, provided to Reuters, is a who’s who of his long-time supporters from Florida, members of his famous family’s far-flung political network, and recruits from other candidates in the race. The announcement of the team appeared aimed at reassuring jittery Bush supporters that he maintains a steady stream of funds and has the ability to fight his way out of a rough period in which his poll numbers have sagged.”
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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