“I have the biggest crowds, I get the biggest standing ovations, and then I read these sleaze-bag reporters. And they say, ‘Donald Trump had a smattering of applause.’ A smattering – and they’ll say about some guy that’s a loser politician that’s up and nobody’s even watching him, ‘He gave a brilliant speech!’ They’re very dishonest.”
— Donald Trump, quoted by the Daily Mail, on political journalists.
“What is under way is a transition to a new order, and that’s going to take a long time. What we now regard as extraordinary turbulence in the Middle East is going to be the norm over the next several decades.”
— Former Sen. George Mitchell (D-ME), in an interview with Bangor Daily News.
Seymour Hersh: “It’s been four years since a group of US Navy Seals assassinated Osama bin Laden in a night raid on a high-walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The killing was the high point of Obama’s first term, and a major factor in his re-election. The White House still maintains that the mission was an all-American affair, and that the senior generals of Pakistan’s army and Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) were not told of the raid in advance. This is false, as are many other elements of the Obama administration’s account.”
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The Clinton Foundation “has acknowledged that the government funding totals omitted from their tax returns cannot be found on their website either, despite the foundation’s acting chief executive officer earlier suggesting they were available there,” Reuters reports.
“The foundation’s acknowledgement means precise totals for government grants to the charity for the last three years of Clinton’s four-year tenure as secretary of state have still not been publicly disclosed. All U.S. charities have to separately disclose each year how much they get in government funding, both domestic and foreign.”
Rick Klein: “It’s too early to panic, of course, but… Jeb Bush’s quiet, no-rush non-campaign got a touch louder over the weekend, with a pair of moves that suggest a recalibration during this pre-announcement phase. He used a speech at the Falwell-controlled Liberty University to do what candidates speaking at Liberty University do these days: Blast the Obama administration for limiting religious freedom… Then, in an interview with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, Bush said he would have invaded Iraq just like his brother did, saying it was a ‘news flash’ that there wouldn’t be ‘big space’ between them on the issue.”
“For context, Bush’s expected candidacy has scared exactly zero candidates out of the race. Two new New Hampshire polls showing a jumble at the top – a four-way tie in a state that’s pretty close to must-win for the former Florida governor. It might be time for Bush to send some signals to the party base, at least around the edges.”
First Read: “There are at least four reasons why the GOP candidates are focused so heavily on foreign affairs — more so than at this time in the 2012 presidential cycle. One, the economy has improved (223,000 jobs were created last month, and Obama’s economic handling is up to 49% in the latest NBC/WSJ poll), while the deficit has decreased. Two, there’s the rise of ISIS. Three, there’s the Iran deal that the Obama administration is racing to finalize by next month. And four, there’s the GOP recognition that focusing on foreign policy is maybe the best way to go after Hillary Clinton’s record as secretary of state.”
“Republicans keep saying they’ll be ready to act if the Supreme Court upholds the big legal challenge to Obamacare, thereby wiping out financial assistance for millions of people in two-thirds of the states,” the Jonathan Cohn reports.
“With the clock ticking down to a ruling, it’s gotten awfully hard to take the GOP’s vows seriously.”
Wonk Wire: Most Americans doubt court will rule fairly on Obamacare
“I don’t have to defend everything that I’ve ever done.”
— Mike Huckabee, in an interview with CBS News, when asked about his role promoting a dietary supplement that claims to cure diabetes.
My latest column in The Week: Is Hillary Clinton flip-flopping or just evolving?
Bill Clinton “does not plan to do any campaign activities for his wife in 2015, including fundraisers for her campaign or allied super PACs. He has said privately that she should lead the campaign on her own,” the Washington Post reports.
New York Times: “The once ubiquitous term ‘middle class’ has gone conspicuously missing from the 2016 campaign trail, as candidates and their strategists grasp for new terms for an unsettled economic era. The phrase, long synonymous with the American dream, now evokes anxiety, an uncertain future and a lifestyle that is increasingly out of reach.”
“The move away from ‘middle class’ is the rhetorical result of a critical shift: After three decades of income gains favoring the highest earners and job growth being concentrated at the bottom of the pay scale, the middle has for millions of families become a precarious place to be.”
“A social stratum that once signified a secure, aspirational lifestyle, with a house in the suburbs, children set to attend college, retirement savings in the bank and, maybe, an occasional trip to Disneyland now connotes fears about falling behind, sociologists, economists and political scientists say.”
Hillary Clinton “is leaving nothing to chance this time around,” the Boston Globe reports.
“The Clinton presidential operation may look like a juggernaut from the outside, but her attempts to marshal early support in the home states of long shots are evidence that she feels the need to protect every flank, no matter how weak the opposition appears.”
Gov. Chris Christie’s “most notable spending spree occurred during the 2010 and 2011 NFL football seasons at MetLife Stadium, where the New York’s Giants and Jets play their home games. New Jersey’s governor traditionally enjoys free use of luxury boxes for games and other events at the government-owned venue, but food and beverages cost extra,” according to New Jersey Watchdog.
“On 58 occasions, Christie used a debit card to pay a total of $82,594 to Delaware North Sportservice, which operates the concessions at MetLife. The governor’s office did not provide any receipts, business reasons or names of individuals entertained, but defended the expense.”
Jeb Bush says he would have invaded Iraq, as his brother did in 2003, but told Fox News that mistakes were made, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Said Bush: “I would have [authorized the invasion], and so would have Hillary Clinton, just to remind everybody. And so would almost everybody that was confronted with the intelligence they got.”
“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s efforts to complete fast-track trade legislation by the end of the month are running into an old nemesis: Harry Reid,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The legislation, which would ease approval of the biggest-ever trade pact, involving the U.S. and 11 other countries around the Pacific Rim, was expected to sail smoothly through the Senate. The House had been seen as a bigger challenge. Mr. McConnell has scheduled a Tuesday vote to take up the trade bill, which is a priority for both Republicans and the Obama administration. In recent days, though, Mr. Reid has raised numerous objections that pose a threat to the bill’s quick passage.”
Matt Bevin (R), “the upstart Kentucky Republican who famously locked horns with Mitch McConnell in a no-holds-barred 2014 Senate primary, is now running for governor. At first, his hopes for victory appeared all but impossible,” National Journal reports.
“But now, days before the May 19 primary, a dramatic turn of events—largely surrounding dueling allegations of domestic violence and accessory to slander between Bevin’s two primary rivals—have left the tea-party-aligned Bevin with a chance at victory.”
Politico: “It wasn’t clear at the time, but is increasingly so now, that Jeb Bush’s decision last December to signal, but not formally announce, his candidacy was a short-term logistical masterstroke befitting his family’s reputation for mastering the mechanics of elections. His undeclared status has freed him to raise what aides are saying will be as much as $100 million from rich patrons and outside groups (the second he files presidential paperwork, he’s prevented from requesting big super PAC checks), and it has temporarily shielded him from being the target of shots many of his would-be opponents are leveling at Hillary Clinton.”
“This inversion — building a campaign on the back of a super PAC instead of vice versa — is novel and could be a model for the future, but it also puts a lot of pressure on an opaque candidate who publicly has done little more than a set of sporadic, low-octane speeches with few specifics to offer.”
“Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday that its new monarch, King Salman, would not be attending meetings at the White House with President Obama or a summit gathering at Camp David this week, in an apparent signal of its continued displeasure with the administration over United States relations with Iran, its rising regional adversary,” the New York Times reports.
Wall Street Journal: “The decision marks a diplomatic snub from one of the top leaders in the region, and follows U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to the Saudi capital last week.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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