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Rand Paul’s Effort to Woo Black Voters Falters

April 30, 2015 at 8:54 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 31 Comments

Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) “intensive effort to redeem himself — and the Republican Party — with minorities seemed to be on the verge of cratering,” CNN reports.

“He joked Tuesday to conservative radio host Laura Ingraham that he was happy his train didn’t stop in the riot-scarred city of Baltimore. It was exactly the type of tone-deaf remark the Kentucky senator’s group of black advisers urged him to avoid as he seeks to expand the GOP’s outreach to minorities… The episode underscores Paul’s complicated history with race. This is the man who openly questioned central tenets of the Civil Rights Act before he later voiced unequivocal support.”

Jon Stewart Skewers Judith Miller

April 30, 2015 at 8:40 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 35 Comments

It’s not clear why former New York Times reporter Judith Miller decided it would be a good idea to defend her reporting on the Iraq War on the Daily Show.

Here’s how Stewart opened the interview: “My feeling has always been… I believe that you helped the administration take us to, like, the most devastating mistake in foreign policy that we’ve made in, like, 100 years.”

Bonus Quote of the Day

April 30, 2015 at 8:04 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 33 Comments

“I respect the courts, but the Supreme Court is only that — the supreme of the courts. It is not the supreme being. It cannot overrule God.”

— Mike Huckabee, quoted by CNN, on the pending same-sex marriage ruling.

Wonk Wire: More religious Americans support gay marriage than oppose it

Fiorina Prepares to Defend Her Record as CEO

April 30, 2015 at 7:56 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 25 Comments

“Carly Fiorina’s political future depends on whether she can defend her record as CEO of Hewlett-Packard,” The Hill reports.

“The likely GOP presidential candidate is aiming to do just that in her new book Rising to the Challenge, set to be released May 5, a day after the expected launch of her 2016 campaign. Fiorina now claims the company’s decision to fire her in 2005, after a turbulent six-year tenure, was a result of a dysfunctional board of directors and not her leadership.”

Creator of ‘The Wire’ Blames Martin O’Malley for Riots

April 30, 2015 at 7:46 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 17 Comments

David Simon, the creator of The Wire, says that as mayor of Baltimore, Martin O’Malley (D) “cooked the books in order to create the impression of a declining crime rate in Baltimore, and along the way created the mass anger that burst wide open this week,” the Huffington Post reports.

Said Simon: “He destroyed police work in some real respects. Whatever was left of it when he took over the police department, if there were two bricks together that were the suggestion of an edifice that you could have called meaningful police work, he found a way to pull them apart.”

New York Times: Baltimore could become a burden for O’Malley

Clinton Charity Never Provided Foreign Donor Data

April 30, 2015 at 7:22 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 21 Comments

“An unprecedented ethics promise that played a pivotal role in helping Hillary Clinton win confirmation as secretary of state, soothing senators’ concerns about conflicts of interests with Clinton family charities, was uniformly bypassed by the biggest of the philanthropies involved,” the Boston Globe reports.

Politico: “A handful of deep-pocketed donors are reconsidering their gifts to the $2 billion Clinton Foundation amid mounting questions about how it’s spending their money and suggestions of influence peddling, according to donors and others familiar with the foundation’s fundraising.”

Christie Not Concerned About Bridge Investigation

April 30, 2015 at 7:14 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 6 Comments

Gov. Chris Chistie (R) said that he’s “not the least bit concerned” about the potential developments in the ongoing investigation over the George Washington bridge scandal, CBS News reports.

Said Christie: “That matter will take it’s natural course and be dictated by the folks who are investigating it, and I don’t have anything to do with that, so I certainly can’t allow it to affect me.”

Quote of the Day

April 30, 2015 at 7:11 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 8 Comments

“Where he got clobbered was 47%. I think Romney is a good man who had a hard campaign, but I cannot think of a statement in all of politics that I disagree with more strongly.”

— Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), quoted by CNN, on why Mitt Romney lost the 2012 presidential election.

Clinton Runs Against Part of Her Husband’s Legacy

April 30, 2015 at 7:09 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 6 Comments

Hillary Clinton “isn’t just running against Republicans. She’s also running against parts of her husband’s legacy,” the Washington Post reports.

“On issues large and small, the Democratic presidential contender is increasingly distancing herself from — or even opposing — key policies pushed by Bill Clinton while he was in the White House, from her recent skepticism on free-trade pacts to her full embrace of gay rights. The starkest example yet came Wednesday, when Hillary Clinton delivered an impassioned address condemning the ‘era of incarceration’ ushered in during the 1990s in the wake of her husband’s 1994 crime bill — though she never mentioned him or the legislation by name.”

Jeb Bush Lays Claim to Hispanic Vote

April 30, 2015 at 7:05 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 6 Comments

Jeb Bush “spoke in personal terms Wednesday to Hispanic evangelicals about his faith, his family and his hopes for overhauling the immigration system, part of a broader effort to aggressively court Latino voters who deserted the Republican Party in 2012,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The appearances showed him laying the groundwork for a strategy that could pay dividends both in some GOP primaries and in a general election, reinforcing his supporters’ claim that Mr. Bush is the candidate uniquely suited to draw more Hispanic voters to the party.”

Obama Backs Away from Effort to End Death Penalty

April 30, 2015 at 7:01 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 4 Comments

“For a moment last year, it looked as if the Obama administration was moving toward a history-making end to the federal death penalty,” the New York Times reports.

“But the idea never gained traction, and Mr. Obama has seldom mentioned the death penalty review since. Now, as the Supreme Court considered arguments Wednesday over whether lethal injection, as currently administered, was unconstitutional, the obstacles the Obama administration faced provide vivid examples of just how politically difficult the debate remains.”

Rubio Sought Leniency for For-Profit College

April 29, 2015 at 7:39 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 17 Comments

“Last summer, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida asked the U.S. Department of Education to ‘demonstrate leniency’ toward Corinthian Colleges by permitting the wealthy for-profit company to continue accessing millions of dollars in federal financial aid while it was cooperating with a federal investigation,” Bloomberg reports.

“Ten months later, the company shuttered its remaining 28 campuses, instantly displacing some 16,000 students just days after it was fined $30 million by the Department of Education for a scheme involving “confirmed cases of misrepresentation of job placement rates” for as many as 947 students. The decision to close shop came after years of federal and state investigations into the company.”

Ex-Christie Aide Will Plead Guilty in Bridge Scandal

April 29, 2015 at 3:46 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 14 Comments

David Wildstein, “a former ally of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) who ordered intentional traffic jams near the George Washington Bridge, is scheduled to plead guilty to criminal charges on Thursday,” Bloomberg reports.

“Wildstein is set to appear in federal court in Newark, where grand jurors have heard testimony in secret for months about gridlock over four mornings in Fort Lee, New Jersey, according to the person, who requested anonymity because the matter isn’t public. He would plead guilty to a charging document known as a criminal information, the person said. It was unclear what the specific charges would be.”

Clinton Worried About Bush Fundraising

April 29, 2015 at 3:21 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 13 Comments

Hillary Clinton “had once planned to wait until May to hold her first fund-raising events. But in the last two weeks, she has moved up her schedule, primarily out of concern about Jeb Bush’s extensive super PAC fundraising,” the New York Times reports.

“The move to make a quicker dash for campaign funds, according to people close to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, was driven by the Democratic candidate’s concern about the amount of money that Jeb Bush had been raising for his super PAC.”

Walker Has Strong Ties to Top GOP Donors

April 29, 2015 at 2:52 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 5 Comments

“Scott Walker enters the Republican presidential race with far stronger ties to the party’s biggest fund-raisers than any other candidate besides Jeb Bush,” The Upshot reports.

“Roughly half of the nation’s top 250 Republican donors have given money to Mr. Walker in his campaigns for Wisconsin governor, according to an Upshot analysis of Federal Election Commission records and state records. By comparison, 30 percent have given to Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, 20 percent to Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and 10 percent to Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey.”

Tied Election Will Be Settled By Roll of Dice

April 29, 2015 at 12:27 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 19 Comments

The next mayor of Platte, North Dakota will be determined by the luck of the draw, the Daily Republic reports.

“At 4 p.m. on Thursday in Platte’s City Hall meeting room, Steve Christensen and incumbent Mayor Rick Gustad will choose between a high-card draw and a high-roll with dice to determine the election’s winner for the two-year term.”

U.S. Military Quietly Expands Role in Afghanistan

April 29, 2015 at 11:55 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 14 Comments

“Months after President Obama formally declared that the United States’ long war against the Taliban was over in Afghanistan, the American military is regularly conducting airstrikes against low-level insurgent forces and sending Special Operations troops directly into harm’s way under the guise of ‘training and advising,'” the New York Times reports.

“In public, officials have emphasized that the Taliban are not being targeted unless it is for ‘force protection’ — where the insurgents were immediately threatening American forces. But interviews with American and Western officials in Kabul and Washington offer a picture of a more aggressive range of military operations against the Taliban in recent months, as the insurgents have continued to make gains against struggling government forces.”

Pope Backs Equal Pay for Women

April 29, 2015 at 10:48 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 64 Comments

Pope Francis backed efforts for equal pay for men and women who perform the same work, saying that continuing disparities in pay for women are a “pure scandal,” according to the National Catholic Reporter.

Said Francis: “Why is it expected that women must earn less than men? No! They have the same rights. The disparity is a pure scandal.”