Archives for July 2016
American Heiress
Out next week: American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst by Jeffrey Toobin.
Angry at Mike Pence
David Brooks: “The Sanders people have 90 percent of the Democratic Party’s passion and 95 percent of the ideas. Most Sanders people are kind- and open-hearted, but there is a core that is corrupted by moral preening, an uncompromising absolutism and a paranoid unwillingness to play by the rules of civic life.”
“But the extremist fringe that threatens to take over the Democratic Party seems less menacing than the lunatic fringe that has already taken over the Republican one.”
“This week I left the arena here each night burning with indignation at Mike Pence. I almost don’t blame Trump. He is a morally untethered, spiritually vacuous man who appears haunted by multiple personality disorders. It is the ‘sane’ and ‘reasonable’ Republicans who deserve the shame — the ones who stood silently by, or worse, while Donald Trump gave away their party’s sacred inheritance.”
Flake Says Voters Won’t Take GOP Seriously
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) told WGN-AM that chants of “lock her up” at the Republican National Convention hurt the party’s case against Hillary Clinton.
Said Flake: “I had a bit of trouble with some of the chants, the ‘lock her up’ and what not. I don’t think that that, while it certainly appeals inside to that room, it doesn’t appeal much on the outside.”
Poll Finds Clinton’s Speech Was More Effective
A CNN instant poll right after the Republican and Democratic conventions finds that Hillary Clinton gave a much more effective speech than Donald Trump.
- 71% had a “very positive” reaction to Clinton’s speech, as opposed to 57% for Trump.
- 82% believed Clinton’s policies would move the country in the right direction, as opposed to 73% for Trump.
Trump Says He Wanted to ‘Hit’ Several DNC Speakers
Donald Trump told ABC News that he wanted to “hit” some of the Democratic convention speakers “so hard” while watching them.
Said Trump: “You know what I wanted to. I wanted to hit a couple of those speakers so hard. I would have hit them. No, no. I was going to hit them, I was all set and then I got a call from a highly respected governor.”
He added: “I was gonna hit one guy in particular, a very little guy. I was gonna hit this guy so hard his head would spin and he wouldn’t know what the hell happened.”
Court Strikes Down North Carolina Voter ID Law
A federal appeals court has struck down North Carolina’s voter identification law, holding that it was “passed with racially discriminatory intent,” Politico reports.
The ruling also invalidated changes the state made in 2013 to early voting, same-day registration, out-of-precinct voting, and preregistration.
Rick Hasen has much more.
The Party for Grown-Ups
Josh Barro: “Many of the conservatives who watched with dismay as the Republican Party nominated Donald Trump have now watched with amazement as Democrats co-opted some of Republicans’ favorite themes at the Democratic National Convention.”
“Democrats’ thinking was clear: We’re the only political party left for grown-ups, so we’d better make sure we have something to offer voters on both sides of the aisle.”
“There was a clear choice about tone, especially on the last two days of the convention: Speakers would not mock conservatives for getting into bed with Donald Trump. They would mock Trump and make the case that conservatives should be embarrassed and ashamed that their party nominated him — and should look across the aisle at a party that shares more of their goals and values than they may have realized.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I don’t think name calling has any place in public life, and I thought that was unfortunate that the president of the United States would use a term like that, let alone laced into a sentence like that.”
— Gov. Mike Pence, in an interview with Hugh Hewitt, objecting to President Obama calling Donald Trump a “demagogue.”
Convention Ratings Don’t Predict the Winner
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “If we look back at the total ratings for every political convention from 1960 to 2012, it’s quickly apparent that the side whose convention receives the most viewers doesn’t necessarily win.”
“Out of 13 elections during this period (not including this year), there have been seven where the party whose convention got lower ratings won the election in November. So it’s safe to say that ratings have little to no electoral meaning.”
Trump Says He Didn’t Plan the GOP Convention
Donald Trump distanced himself from his own Republican convention telling the New York Times, “I didn’t produce our show — I just showed up for the final speech on Thursday.”
Headline of the Day
What to Watch For In the Next Wave of Polling
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Democrats Win the Convention
First Read: “Hillary Clinton’s speech Thursday accepting her party’s presidential nomination was OK; she is never going to rhetorically outshine President Obama or her husband Bill Clinton. But what she and Democrats did achieve was produce a powerful convention that contrasted with Donald Trump’s last week in Cleveland.”
“While the GOP convention had high-profile no-shows (the Bushes, Mitt Romney, John Kasich) and a speech by a candidate who didn’t endorse Trump (Ted Cruz), the Democrats trotted out Obama, Bill Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama, and yes Bernie Sanders, who all testified on Hillary Clinton’s behalf. While the GOP convention focused on police, the Democrats featured both police and the mothers of Trayvon Martin and Sandra Bland. And while the GOP convention highlighted the violence that immigrants had committed and Benghazi, the Democrats introduced Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim-American Army captain, who delivered arguably the week’s most stinging critique against Trump.”
“In totality, the Democratic convention itself was flawless — with two exceptions: 1) the Debbie Wasserman Schultz mess; and 2) the few dozen Sanders delegates who disrupted Clinton last night. Taken together, the two conventions matched the persona of their nominee: Cleveland was chaotic; Philadelphia was disciplined.”
Virtual Tie In Missouri
A new St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Mason-Dixon poll in Missouri finds Hillary Clinton edging Donald Trump in the presidential race, 41% to 40%, with Libertarian Gary Johnson at 9%.
Quote of the Day
“Most people don’t care about it. I’ve had very, very little pressure.”
— Donald Trump, telling Fox News he won’t released his tax returns.
Schumer Predicts a Democratic Generation
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) “is feeling good enough about the battle for Senate control to essentially predict he’ll be majority leader next year. Not only that, the veteran New York Democrat believes his party is on the cusp of something much bigger: An era of electoral dominance,” Politico reports.
Said Schumer: “We’re going to have a Democratic generation. President Obama helped create it. But it’s just where America’s moving demographically, ideologically and in every way. We’ll have a mandate to get something done.”
How Big a Bounce?
Politico: “Clinton’s team accomplished many intermediate goals during their four days in Philly: The Obamas delivered a husband-and-wife tandem of historic speeches; Bernie Sanders went from being a renegade to a team player – helping to stamp out the last glowing embers of the revolution he sparked in New Hampshire; Clinton was applauded by several dozen speakers (led by her husband) who sought to reverse her negative image.”
“And none of that matters, not one bit, if Clinton can’t reverse Trump’s recent surge in the polls with a discernible convention bounce. She won’t get the 14-point boost her husband got in 1992, but she’ll take anything that moves the dial, that is to say roughly the recent average uptick of three or four percent.”
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