January 12, 2016

Daaaamn! Obama Says He Can Only Imagine a Trump SOTU ‘in a Saturday Night Skit’

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/daaaamn-obama-says-he-can-only-imagine-a-trump-sotu-in-a-saturday-night-skit/

As he prepares to deliver his final State of the Union address, President Obama granted an interview to The Today Show‘s Matt Lauer, who granted Obama a chance to serve Donald Trump like an Ahi ceviché with an unctuous fig reduction. Asked if he could imagine Donald Trump delivering next year’s SOTU, Obama smoothly replied “Only in a Saturday Night skit.”



Damn, son! I think Trump is gonna need some aloe vera for that burn!

Obama’s dig capped off the portion of the interview in which Matt Lauer joined many current political “thinkers” in trying to blame Obama for the rise of the white resentment-fueled Trump phenomenon. The President patiently explained to Lauer that millions of people didn’t just wake up hateful on Inauguration Day 2009:

President Obama: The message that Donald Trump is putting out has had adherents a lot of times during the course of our history. You know, talk to me if he wins, then we’ll have a conversation about how responsible I feel about it, but I’m pretty confident that the overwhelming majority of Americans are looking for the kind of politics that does feed our hopes and not our fears, that does work together and doesn’t try to divide us, that isn’t looking for simplistic solutions and scapegoating, but looks for us, you know, buckling down and figuring out how to do we make things work for the next generation.

Matt Lauer: So when you stand and deliver that State of the Union address, in no part of your mind or brain can you imagine Donald Trump standing up one day and delivering a State of the Union address?

President Obama: Well, I can imagine it in a Saturday Night skit. Look, anything is possible, and I think, you know, we shouldn’t be complacent. I think everybody’s got to work hard

.

Don’t judge Lauer too harshly, though. I’m sure if he had survived, you could find some reporter asking Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. if he feels responsible for George Wallace.

LOL (Video in link)

January 12, 2016

In Defending Controversial Gun Vote, Bernie Sanders Proposes A Measure That Already Exists

His opponent Hillary Clinton has increasingly used Sanders' mixed record on gun control legislation to contrast the two.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-guns_56946081e4b09dbb4bac619b



WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Monday attempted to defend his controversial vote to protect gun producers and sellers from legal liability if a gun is used in a crime, but proposed a revision to the law that already exists.

His opponent Hillary Clinton has increasingly used his mixed record on gun control legislation to draw a contrast between the two, highlighting his vote in 2005 to give manufacturers immunity from lawsuits if a gun is used for criminal purposes, including mass shootings.

(More in link)

January 11, 2016

Hillary: If Fighting For Women's Rights "Is Playing The Gender Card, Deal Me In!"

By First Amendment

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/1/10/1468201/-Hillary-If-Fighting-For-Women-s-Rights-Is-Playing-The-Gender-Card-Deal-Me-In



Planned Parenthood held an event today in New Hampshire to officially endorse Hillary Clinton. Hillary delivered a line that drew a rousing cheer from the crowd.

It's a classic and something we may be hearing on the campaign trail in the days to come. Video below. I transcribed the quote to the best of my ability.

Enjoy!

Republicans say I'm playing the gender card. Well, if fighting for equal pay, paid leave and Planned Parenthood is playing the gender card, deal me in!

More with video in link

January 10, 2016

Gabby Giffords to endorse Hillary Clinton

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/1/10/1468087/-Gabby-Giffords-to-endorse-Hillary-Clinton

By sonofkenny



Big get for Hillary. Gabby Giffords is set to endorse her for President. Given the comparable record on this issue between Hillary and Sanders, it is perhaps not surprising Gabby would do so. Still a significant endorsement, one that IMO is likely to loom large for those who rank gun control as one of their top concerns (myself included)...

Former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Arizona, is expected to endorse Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, a source close to Giffords tells CBS News.

Giffords and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, will officially announce their endorsement of the candidate later this week, with Clinton's position on gun control playing a role in their decision.

The couple's endorsement is a personal one and not a decision from their political action committee, Americans for Responsible Solutions.

The former Arizona congresswoman has been a staunch advocate of tightening firearm legislation since 2011, when a gunman opened fire at a supermarket parking lot in Tucson, shooting Giffords in the head and killing six others. This weekend was the fifth anniversary of the shooting.

January 10, 2016

Transportation Secretary Foxx to endorse Hillary. 4th Obama Cabinet Member to endorse Clinton!

By First Amendment

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/1/10/1468044/-Transportation-Secretary-Foxx-to-endorse-Hillary-4th-Obama-Cabinet-Member-to-endorse-Clinton



Foxx was the popular two-term mayor of Charlotte, NC, winning his second election with over two-thirds of the vote. He was President Barack Obama's choice in 2013 to lead the transportation department.

He is now the fourth Obama cabinet member to line up behind Hillary.

He will be in Waterloo, Iowa on Monday to deliver his endorsement. Another solid endorsement for the Clinton campaign.

wcfcourier.com/...

Calling Clinton a champion of American families, Foxx said in a statement that Clinton has the platform to move the country forward.

“Hillary Clinton is my candidate for President of the United States. She is best positioned to continue the progress made by President Obama on a range of issues -- from strengthening our economy to making the right investments in our infrastructure to common-sense gun safety laws to ensuring a fair criminal justice system,” Foxx said in a statement.

www.cnn.com/...

Foxx will be the fourth member of President Barack Obama's cabinet to endorse the former secretary of state, joining Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro and Labor Secretary Tom Perez.

Foxx, the former mayor of Charlotte who joined Obama's cabinet in 2013, will endorse Clinton at an organizing event in Waterloo, Iowa, on Monday.

A snippet from his bio on the White House website.

www.whitehouse.gov/...

Foxx joined the U.S. Department of Transportation after serving as the mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, from 2009 to 2013. During that time, he made efficient and innovative transportation investments the centerpiece of Charlotte's job creation and economic recovery efforts. These investments included extending the LYNX light rail system, the largest capital project ever undertaken by the city, which will build new roads, bridges, transit as well as bicycle and pedestrian facilities; expanding Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, the sixth busiest in the world; working with North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue to accelerate the I-485 outer belt loop using a creative design-build-finance approach, the first major project of its kind in North Carolina; and starting the Charlotte Streetcar project.

January 8, 2016

Bernie Sanders under fire after Obama’s warning shot on guns

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/bernie-sanders-under-fire-after-obamas-warning-shot-guns

TOLEDO, Iowa — Sen. Bernie Sanders is under fire from Democratic rival Hilary Clinton amid a new campaign by the White House to pressure Democrats into backing his gun control proposals.

On Thursday night, President Obama published an op-ed in The New York Times in which he warned he would “not campaign for, vote for or support any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support common-sense gun reform.” Among other measures, the president called on Democrats to support ending a law that grants gun manufacturers immunity from certain lawsuits. Sanders voted for legislation that included the immunity provision in 2005 and indicated earlier this year that he still supports shielding gun companies and dealers from legal action.

Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs told Politico that Sanders was “willing to take another look at that legislation.” In an October debate, the candidate said he did not agree with the entire 2005 bill and was mostly concerned with protecting small gun shop owners rather than large companies.

Sanders told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Friday that he did not believe Obama’s op-ed was aimed at pushing him to the left on gun control and emphasized their agreement.

“You know, there are a lot of candidates and money in the House and the Senate who may be opposed to sensible gun control legislation,” Sanders said. “ I happen not to be one of them. I strongly support the executive order that the president is working on right now. “

White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Friday that breaking down opposition to gun immunity among Democrats like Sanders was exactly Obama’s intention.

“I certainly noticed that Senator Sanders told one of your [colleagues] here when asked this very question, he was eager to point out that Senator Sanders had made clear that he was willing to revisit that position,” Earnest said. “That’s exactly the goal here, right? We want people to change their minds.”

Earnest added that he was not familiar with Sanders’ record and that the op-ed was “not any sort of secret or subtle signal to demonstrate a preference in the presidential primary” when it came to candidates. Nonetheless, he said that any Democratic nominee would need to prove their commitment to “common-sense measures” on guns in order to earn Obama’s support.

Clinton has attacked Sanders over gun control in the past and her campaign scheduled a conference call with the media on Friday to highlight the issue in response to the news.

“I voted against it,” Clinton said in an October Democratic debate against Sanders. “I was in the Senate the same time. It wasn’t that complicated to me. It was pretty straightforward to me that he was going to give immunity to the only industry in America — everybody else has to be accountable, but not the gun manufacturers, and we need to be able to stand up and say enough of that, we’re not going to let it continue.”

January 8, 2016

NH: Last-month push for Hillary. Al Franken cracks 'em up. Bill Clinton, Wambach, Dunham.

By Floridageorge

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/1/7/1467010/-NH-Last-month-push-for-Hillary-Al-Franken-cracks-em-up-Bill-Clinton-Wambach-Dunham



As the New Hampshire primary season comes down to its final month, Hillary and her campaign team are employing a strong push for every vote that they can reach, and a multi-layered campaign process that not only relies on Hillary’s own criss-crossing of the state for campaign events, townhalls, speeches, but also, more increasingly, a strong surrogate strategy.

ABC News: Hillary Clinton Dominating the Surrogate Game in New Hampshire

(MANCHESTER, N.H.) -- Hillary Clinton seems to have a strategy for trying to chip away at Bernie Sanders's lead in New Hampshire: Campaign every day, even when you're out of the state.

Clinton sent a battalion of high-profile supporters to the Granite State this week, including her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Minnesota Sen. Al Franken arrived Thursday, while television star Lena Dunham and U.S. soccer legend Abby Wambach will criss-cross the state Friday.

After arriving today in New Hampshire Al Franken was scheduled for four Hillary events.

Franken cracks 'em up in Dover

DOVER — Though he's been a politician for eight years, U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) has not lost the wit that made him famous as a writer and performer on "Saturday Night Live." Franken was quick with the jokes as soon as he walked through the door at Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign headquarters in Dover on Thursday.

….

Franken spoke for about 15 minutes on why he supports former Secretary of State Clinton's bid for the White House. His comments were interspersed with plenty of sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek humor, all of which was greeted with warm laughter from the audience.

"I've known Hillary for 20 years, and she is the smartest, toughest, most experienced and hardest-working person in this race," Franken said. "She's my only choice for president. She will make a great president."

More in Link above

January 5, 2016

Trump Stumbles All Over Himself When Asked a Single Foreign Policy Question by O’Reilly

AKA Why we need a president who knows SOMETHING about whats going on outside the borders of the United States.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/trump-stumbles-all-over-himself-when-asked-a-single-foreign-policy-question-by-oreilly/

It’s not that the following question from O’Reilly Factor host Bill O’Reilly on Monday night is all that difficult to understand: “If you’re elected President, are you going to take military action against Iran?”

It just seems so damn hard to answer for Donald Trump, who bobbed, weaved, and danced his way through an assortment of stumbling responses, ultimately settling on nothing.

“Well I would want to help Saudi Arabia,” is how the real estate mogul began. But instead of responding whether or not he would in fact use military force against a nation that is currently outraged over the recent execution of a Shiite cleric, Trump veered off course towards economics instead.

He continued, “But Saudi Arabia is going to have to help us economically. They were making — before the oil went down — now they’re making half (sic). But they were making a billion dollars a day…”

O’Reilly cut Trump off, accusing him of dodging the question. After more back-and-forth that yielded sheer nonsense from the man leading the race to earn the Republican nomination, O’Reilly pressed on, saying, “Look, the election is this year. If you’re elected President, and you don’t like the [Iranian nuclear] deal, are you gonna bomb their nuclear facilities? Are you gonna do that?”

More with the hilarious video in link.

January 4, 2016

Bill Clinton Elegantly Massacres Donald Trump’s Credibility As A Presidential Candidate

http://www.politicususa.com/2016/01/04/bill-clinton-elegantly-massacres-donald-trumps-credibility-presidential-candidate.html



While campaigning for his wife in New Hampshire, former president Clinton never mentioned Trump by name, but he didn’t have to. With one simple slice, Clinton went after Trump’s credibility as a presidential candidate.

Clinton said, “Every presidential election, people run. And believe it or not, it’s kind of scary this year, but believe it or not, most everybody actually tries to do what they say they’re gonna do when they’re running. They are telling you what they believe. And, so you gotta take ’em seriously, but you also have to take seriously whether they have any chance of doing what they say they’re gonna do or any record of doing it.”

The strategy is simple and beautiful. Instead of mocking Donald Trump, Bill Clinton is warning America to take him seriously because the Republican frontrunner is saying what he really believes. The warning that Trump will try to do everything that he is campaigning on such as building a wall on the US southern border and banning Muslims from entering the country highlights Trump’s extremism.

The second part of Bill Clinton’s statement that voters also have to examine whether or not Trump has any chance of doing what he wants to do was a logical deconstruction of Trump’s credibility as a candidate. What Clinton was suggesting is that Donald Trump should be taken seriously, but he has no chance of accomplishing the things that he claims he wants to do if he gets elected.

More plus videos in link

January 4, 2016

Hillary Shuts Down GOP Lawmaker: "You are very rude, and I am not going to ever call on you."

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/1/3/1465786/-Hillary-Shuts-Down-GOP-Lawmaker-You-are-very-rude-and-I-am-not-going-to-ever-call-on-you

By First Amendment



It appears that Katherine Prudhomme O'Brien, the NH GOP lawmaker screaming and flailing her arms in the video, has been stalking Hillary for several years now.

She tried the same stunt in 2007, during a Clinton campaign appearance.

She tried it again today and Hillary shut her down to the roar of the crowd.

Reading through many of the comments on her Facebook, her appearance failed spectacularly. Please feel free to express your opinion there, if you wish.

If Republicans think these garbage attacks on Hillary and Bill will work, they are in for a very rude awakening.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/01/03/heckler-disrupts-hillary-clinton-town-hall-over-bill-clintons-sexual-history/

Prudhomme-O'Brien has for years followed the former first lady, peppering her with questions about allegations of past sexual misconduct by Bill Clinton. The state lawmaker's outbursts startled an otherwise friendly town hall audience. It is unclear whether Clinton was able to hear her comments.

After Prudhomme-O'Brien's third interruption, Clinton responded angrily: "You are very rude, and I'm not ever going to call on you."

DKos member Lysis made an excellent observation, in the diary comments, about Prudhomme O’Brien’s real motivation here. Thanks Lysis!

Apparently, someone thought to ask her if she'd be showing up at Bill’s upcoming NH events. She said no. Only going after his wife for his alleged misdeeds. Pretty revealing of her true motivations, don't you think?

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/03/politics/hillary-clinton-heckled-over-bill-clinton-sex-scandals/

O'Brien has a history of heckling presidential candidates. She boasted to reporters after the event about trying to ask Clinton about the issue late last year and the New Republic dubbed her "New Hampshire's Most Annoying Voter" in 2007 after she heckled former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Many in the audience were displeased with O'Brien after the event, complaining that she ruined the event and that she only heckled Clinton as a way to get attention.

O'Brien said after the event that she has no plans on heckling Bill Clinton at his two Granite State campaign stops on Monday.

Update:

Prudhomme O'Brien has decided to explain her decision to ask the question, in a long and rambling reply on her Facebook. If you like, please share your thoughts.

Her reply is right out of the GOP playbook to attack the Clinton’s.