New York Times: “The leader of a white supremacist group that has been linked to Dylann Roof, the suspect in the murder of nine African-Americans in a Charleston, S.C., church last week, has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republican campaigns, including those of 2016 presidential contenders such as Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum and Rand Paul, records show.”
Budget Battle Could Boost Cruz and Paul
“Ted Cruz and Rand Paul have created national profiles by picking fights in the U.S. Senate, and the two Republican presidential rivals will soon have a chance to engage in another, as they oppose efforts to roll back automatic spending cuts enacted as part of a 2011 budget agreement,” Bloomberg reports.
“It’s a brawl that will allow them to portray themselves as principled guardians of the public purse against a classic Washington establishment combine: Republicans who are worried about cuts to the Pentagon budget and Democrats who didn’t want spending cuts in the first place.”
Pope Says Those in Weapons Industry Aren’t Christian
Pope Francis said that people who manufacture weapons or invest in weapons industries are hypocrites if they call themselves Christian, the Guardian reports.
“Francis issued his toughest condemnation to date of the weapons industry at a rally of thousands of young people at the end of the first day of his trip to the Italian city of Turin.”
Torricelli Wants to Return to Politics
Former Sen. Bob Torricelli (R-NJ) “has a hole in his soul, and he doesn’t hide it. He misses being a United States Senator, and he still winces when he remembers the day he dropped out of his re-election campaign in 2002 after being ‘severely admonished’ by his fellow senators on ethics charges,” the Newark Star Ledger reports.
“Torch, as he is known, wants back in to the political game. He has nailed it as a real estate developer over the last decade, building a fortune that friends put at more than $30 million.”
A Defiant Show of Unity in Charleston Church
New York Times: “In a display of unity, resolve and defiance, ‘Mother Emanuel,’ as people here call the church, opened its doors for its regular Sunday service, just four days after three men and six women were left in a bloody pile in its basement.”
“The chocolate wooden pews with scarlet cushions were packed here, with whites sitting next to blacks, locals next to visitors. Similar gatherings spanned the country, as churchgoers mourned and prayed and honored the lives lost Wednesday evening. They hoped to show that the suspect’s reported goal of setting off a race war had failed miserably.”
Liberal Is No Longer a Bad Word
Politico: “Democrats have been running away from the ‘liberal’ label for a long time, but recent polling shows that rank-and-file Democrats are increasingly happy to pin the scarlet ‘L’ on themselves. It may seem counterintuitive, but the rise in liberal pride is crucial to liberals building a long-lasting relationship with moderates and cementing a post-Obama leftward trajectory.”
GOP Candidates Tread Carefully on Confederate Flag
“The massacre of nine African-Americans in a storied Charleston church last week, which thrust the issues of race relations and gun rights into the center of the 2016 presidential campaign, has now resurfaced another familiar and divisive question in the emerging contest for the Republican nomination: what to do with the Confederate battle flag that flies on the grounds of the South Carolina Capitol,” the New York Times reports.
“And similarly to some of their predecessors seeking to win the state’s first-in-the-South primary election, the leading Republican candidates are treading delicately so as not to risk offending the conservative white voters who venerate the most recognizable emblem of the Confederacy.”
Washington Post: “If there’s one subject on which you just can’t win as a Republican politician these days, it seems to be the Confederate flag.”
House GOP Leadership Gets Payback
Roll Call: “After three conservative House Republicans were kicked off the whip team as a result of voting against a rule for trade legislation on June 11, a new round of punishment is being meted out: Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz has taken away the gavel of Subcommittee Chairman Mark Meadows.”
“Meadows, who is now the fourth member of the House Freedom Caucus to face retribution for his “no” vote on the rule, was the chairman of the Government Operations Subcommittee.”
Second Tier Candidates Gain Ground
A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina all gained significant ground with Republican primary voters in the weeks since they announced their candidacy for the party’s presidential nomination.
“Sen. Rand Paul moved in the opposite direction over the same period, with the share of likely GOP primary voters who said they could see themselves backing him falling from 59% in late April to 49% in mid-June.”
“Support for the three leading candidates — Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and Marco Rubio — largely held firm, a potential sign that voter perceptions of each are starting to solidify.”
Clinton Says Struggle with Racism Far From Over
Hillary Clinton delivered her “boldest remarks yet on race and gun violence, topics that have quickly become some of the most prominent and divisive in the presidential campaign, particularly after Wednesday’s mass shooting in Charleston, S.C.,” the New York Times reports.
Said Clinton: “It’s tempting to dismiss a tragedy like this as an isolated incident, to believe that in today’s America bigotry is largely behind us, that institutionalized racism no longer exists. But despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, America’s long struggle with race is far from finished.”
Influence of Money in Politics a Top Concern
A new new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds that Americans express far more alarm about the influence of money in politics than the fact that another Bush and Clinton are running for the White House.
“Asked to rank their top concerns about the upcoming presidential election, one-third of Americans pointed to the sway that companies and wealthy individuals may have over the outcome, more than for any of five other issues tested.”
Ted Cruz’s Secret Weapon for Evangelicals
Wall Street Journal: “Rafael Cruz, a 76-year-old Cuban-American who fled the Batista regime in the 1950s, is a super-surrogate on the presidential campaign trail for his son. He is a practiced speaker who brings evangelicals to their feet—a powerful weapon for his son in one of the fiercest battles within the Republican nomination contest: The fight for voters on the religious right.”
“For the Cruz campaign, relying on the candidate’s father carries some risk. Rafael Cruz’s passionate Bible-laced rhetoric and provocative conservative barbs could alienate swing voters the Texas senator needs to broaden his appeal.”
Trump Pinata a Hit in Mexico
“After Donald Trump’s Mexico-bashing comments this week, Mexicans are engaging in a little Trump-bashing of their own,” the AP reports.
“Call it revenge, Mexican style. Artisan Dalton Avalos Ramirez has launched a Trump pinata, featuring The Donald’s inimitable hairstyle and a big, big mouth. The papier-mache figure will come in a variety of sizes.”
Romney Wants Confederate Flag Taken Down
Mitt Romney called for the removal of the Confederate flag that flies over the state house in Charleston, South Carolina, calling it a symbol of “racial hatred,” Politico reports.
The Huffington Post reports that Jeb Bush ordered that the Confederate flag be taken down from Florida’s state capitol in 2001.
An Australian on Gun Control
Jim Jefferies: “In Australia, we had the biggest massacre on earth, the Australian government went, ‘That’s it! No more guns!’ And we all went, ‘Yeah, alright then. That seems fair enough.’ Now in America, you have the Sandy Hook Massacre where little, tiny children died, and your government went, ‘Maybe – we’ll get rid of the BIG guns?’”
Perry Calls Shootings an ‘Accident’
Rick Perry (R) characterized the shooting in Charleston as an “accident” during an interview with Newsmax, while accusing President Obama of using the massacre to push a gun control agenda.
Said Perry: “This is the MO of this administration anytime there is an accident like this.”
Texas Tribune: “The one presidential candidate who cannot make a mistake did just that Friday.”
McConnell Will Call Democratic Bluff on Trade
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “is daring Senate Democrats to vote against fast-track trade legislation they supported less than a month ago,” The Hill reports.
“The GOP leader has scheduled a procedural vote on fast-track for Tuesday, and is signaling he’s through offering concessions. The Kentucky Republican believes he’ll get the 11 Democratic votes he needs to move forward because pro-trade Senate Democrats have already gone out on a limb to support fast-track — despite the cries of organized labor and other groups on the left.”
Politico: “Many of the Democrats who voted for the trade bill when it first passed the Senate did so because workers aid was part of the package. They were also given assurances that a vote would be scheduled to reauthroize the Export-Import Bank, which expires at the end of the month.”
Quote of the Day
“I am not resigned. I have faith we will eventually do the right thing. I was simply making the point that we have to move public opinion. We have to feel a sense of urgency.”
— President Obama, quoted by Politico, saying his comments after the Charleston shootings do not reflect surrender on gun control measures.