Source: Huffington Post

Carly Fiorina has a big problem with the truth. More specifically, she has a problem with embellishing the truth, in a manner very reminiscent of disgraced NBC anchor Brian Williams.

On Friday, conservative radio host Sean Hannity asked Fiorina to explain stories that Hewlett-Packard violated in the Iran embargo, by selling millions of dollars of computers, parts and equipment through a Dubai-based company, while she was CEO.

"The SEC did a thorough investigation and concluded that no one in management, myself included, knew anything about it," Fiorina told Hannity.

...

Yes, except the SEC investigation didn't. In fact, the SEC didn't perform an investigation at all, especially one that cleared her of any knowledge of the affair.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-schmeltzer/carly-fiorina-lies-to-fox_b_8163596.html

I like Clinton. I do not think she is "GOP lite," but I do think she's more centrist and less progressive than I prefer. If she wins the nomination, I will certainly support and vote for her.

But -- with that said -- we have road tested this "Clinton is Inevitable" campaign theme, and it is not a winner.

Source: Vox.com

Jeb Bush got thunderous applause from the Republican audience at last week's presidential primary debate when he said his brother, former President George W. Bush, "kept us safe."

But he's about to get something very different from a liberal outside group called Americans United for Change: An ad reminding him that his brother was president during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the US, the American invasion of Iraq, the failed federal response to Hurricane Katrina and the 2008 financial crisis.

...

"It’s as if Jeb Bush believes his brother’s presidency began on September 12th, 2001. But we’re not letting Jeb rewrite history," Brad Woodhouse, the president of AUC, said. "It’s convenient but not honest to ignore the facts that the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor happened on George W. Bush’s watch after dismissing warnings from U.S. intelligence officials weeks before 9/11 that Osama bin Laden was ‘determined to strike in US’ and that his terrorist network might hijack American planes."

...

AUC says the ad will start running Monday on cable television across the nation.



Read more: http://www.vox.com/2015/9/19/9357333/ad-bush-kept-us-safe

Source: Philly Voice

Ever since Christie sat next to Jerry Jones at The Linc last December and celebrated as Dallas took control of the division lead for good, he became very unpopular with Eagles fans. The vitriol on Twitter that night was through the roof. Even if the North Jersey native were a Giants fan (which he logically should be), there wouldn’t have nearly been the same level of objection. When two NFC East teams divide your state, there is something fundamentally wrong with supporting both of their biggest rivals.

In a pretty harmless way, the Eagles called out Christie’s bandwagon tendencies. Nice attention to detail with the red sweater:



Read more: http://www.phillyvoice.com/eagles-post-funny-video

---

Note to Self: Do not piss off the Philadelphia Eagles

Source: Vox.com

36 percent of poll respondents support Donald Trump; 12 percent support Ben Carson; and 10 percent support Carly Fiorina. All together, that's 58 percent of Republican debate-watchers who support one of the three candidates in the race with no experience in elected office whatsoever. To put it another way, none of the twelve candidates in the field with political experience managed to crack 10 percent of the vote.
...
Jeb Bush's numbers are dismal — and Scott Walker's are even worse

6 percent of poll respondents said they would vote for Jeb Bush. That ties him with Chris Christie for sixth place (behind Trump, Carson and Fiorina, as well as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio). Just like Trump is somehow still gaining support, Bush is somehow still losing it.

It is definitely bad news for the Republican establishment that their preferred candidate is getting 6 percent in the polls. But the man who was supposed to be his "conservative challenger" is doing even worse. Scott Walker, who when the race started was the closest thing to the candidate of the conservative movement, is polling at 1 percent. He is tied with former New York Governor George Pataki.



Read more: http://www.vox.com/2015/9/19/9353865/republican-poll-debate-fiorina

---

Not enough polling to draw any definitive conclusions about how the Republican race has been shaped by the debate and other recent developments, but it is clear that things are not moving in the direction that the Republican establishment had in mind.

Source: CNN

Rick Santorum and Ted Cruz refused to criticize Trump or say whether they believe Obama is a Christian, instead slamming reporters for asking about the incident. Jindal said it wasn't a candidate's "role" to correct a questioner -- but also said he would have pointed out the U.S.'s anti-discrimination values.

And Chris Christie, Lindsey Graham and Jeb Bush emphatically said they believe Obama was born in the U.S. and criticized Trump for not standing up to the questioner.
...
"Look, ladies and gentlemen I'm not playing this ... game that you want to play," a visibly aggravated Santorum said at Heritage Action's presidential forum in Greenville, South Carolina. "The President can defend himself. He doesn't need Rick Santorum to defend him. He's got you doing that very, very well. So cut it out."
...
"You know, my focus is on my campaign," Cruz said. "I understand the press wants to get Republicans throwing rocks at each other. How about we talk about the challenges facing this country?"

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/18/politics/donald-trump-muslim-barack-obama-2016-candidates-chris-christie/index.html

Source: Buzz Feed.com (via Huffington Post)

A number of Walker’s donors and supporters have been circulating a rumor about Wiley in recent days, apparently aimed at discrediting him and bringing about a shakeup in the organization, according to two Republican sources. The sources, neither of whom is affiliated with a presidential campaign, said they heard the rumor from people in Walker’s camp. They also said an anonymous letter about Wiley is circulating in political and donor circles, though it is unclear where it originated.
...
The influential conservative talk radio host and blogger Erick Erickson appeared to allude to the whisper campaign Thursday on Twitter: “Lots of different people all sending me the same rumor about a particular campaign manager caught indecently at the Ohio debate.”

As the Washington Post reported Thursday, Walker’s financial backers are pressuring him to replace Wiley, who they believe has mismanaged the campaign’s funds and failed to adequately respond to the candidate’s sharp drop in national polls over the summer.
“There is a substantial amount of chatter that he needs to go,” a Walker fundraiser told the Post. “People are worried.” Walker told the newspaper he had just finished a conference call with 80 top donors and none of them brought it up.

Read more: http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/sources-scott-walkers-donors-are-circulating-rumor-about-cam#.rsppOv5Ao

---

I don't much care what the rumor pertains to or whether it is true -- when the national news about your campaign is about some insiders trashing other insiders, the campaign is doomed.

More bad news for the already distressed Walker campaign.

Source: madison.com

... Walker ... spoke the least of the 11 candidates who shared the stage.

Throughout the three-hour debate, Walker spoke for eight minutes and 29 seconds, falling into the bottom three with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. To compare, Walker spoke for five minutes and 51 seconds in the two-hour Fox News debate, placing him in the bottom two for speaking time.
...
While Walker has pledged to terminate the Iran deal "on day one" in the Oval Office, Bush argued, "it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement."
...
As the debate wore on, Walker, like most candidates onstage, fell victim to the heat. His brow seemed to glisten more with each pan of the camera, and the camera's gaze seemed to elude him more and more throughout the night ... In the days leading up to the debate, Walker's national poll numbers had plummeted to 3 percent, from double digits last month.

Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/election-matters/scott-walker-is-barely-seen-heard-in-second-republican-debate/article_0028241a-ac6e-59d7-9acd-bcf08331a3f6.html

---

There has been a ton of post-debate coverage of Walker, and it is NOT good for the Walker campaign:

Amid dropping poll numbers, Scott Walker will retreat to focus on Iowa: "GOP presidential candidate Scott Walker -- who has tumbled from top-tier status amid tepid debate performances and other missteps -- will pull back from other early-voting states" as he "also faces growing pressure from some financial backers to make staffing changes in an attempt to turn around his campaign."

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker failed to deliver in GOP debate, analysts say:

The reviews of the second Republican presidential debate are in, and they’re not good for Gov. Scott Walker.
A Washington Post columnist dubbed him one of the biggest losers among the 11-candidate field in the prime-time Wednesday faceoff.
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia said Walker “made the least of his time.”
Politico suggested his candidacy is now “on life support.”

Scott Walker tries to reassure nervous donors: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his team are working hard to calm their major donors — some of whom are worried that Walker is on a downward slide and did little to help his campaign in Wednesday night's debate."

Things are looking grim for the Walker campaign (and I couldn't be happier about that).

Micah Cohen:

Carly Fiorina. She’s sitting with an 8 percent chance of becoming the Republican nominee — would you buy or sell her stock?

Harry Enten:

I’d sell. Let me be the old curmudgeon in this group; I continue to believe that a traditional candidate will emerge as the ultimate nominee. I believe her record at HP will eventually bring her down, among other things. That said, I wouldn’t put her chance near 0. Perhaps closer to 3-5 percent. Better than Trump.... Let me point out a few things: 1. I think we need to realize that this is still September. Other more establishment candidates did very well last night. 2. Fiorina self-funded somewhat in 2010. Not exactly someone who relied on the traditional infrastructure.

Nate Silver:

Yay, an actual disagreement! I’d at least hold Fiorina’s stock at 8 percent, and maybe buy ... hold is totally an option ... the thing about Fiorina is that it seems a little off to classify her as an insurgent/outsider. If you’re the CEO of a major company like HP, you’re a part of the establishment. Unless you’re a real weirdo. And if you run for Senate as a Republican in 2010, and run as a surrogate for a bunch of Republican candidates, you’re part of the ​*political*​ establishment too.

Simone Landon:

Who’s Walker? Was he even there last night?

Enten:

Buy. At 4 percent? I’d buy. ... His debate performance was a ball of meh, but he’s the governor of a fairly large bluish-tint state. He won election three times in four years. He’s conservative.

Silver:

Yeah, it’s a buy at 4 percent....his favorability ratings are pretty good and he has “enough” money to survive for a while.... I’m not saying that his stock hasn’t diminished. But I think there’s been an overreaction. A 25-to-1 shot? Sure. I’ll take a few of those tickets.

Cohen:

Jeb Bush at 39 percent: buy/sell/hold?

Enten:

Selling ... 39 percent is way too high.... {Fair price is} somewhere between 20-30 percent. His super PAC still has a ton of money. He leads the endorsement race (if barely). He’s ahead of most of the other traditional candidates in the polls (for whatever that is worth). And I don’t think he is too moderate for the party at this point.

Silver:

Yeah, sell. I don’t really get why he’s at 39 percent. ... {Fair price is} 25 percent? 30 percent?

Cohen:

THE DONALD: 13 percent. Buy/sell/hold?

Enten:

Sell.

Landon:

we all sell on The Donald

Source: CNN

Fact check: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he was named U.S. attorney by President George W. Bush on September 10, 2001.
...
VERDICT: False
...
Fact check: Donald Trump says Wisconsin is losing $2.2 billion.
...
VERDICT: False
...
Fact check: Bush says U.S. has failed to bolster ties to any nation under Obama.
...
VERDICT: False
...
Fact check: Trump says he never lobbied Bush for casinos in Florida.
...
VERDICT: False
...
Fact check: Bobby Jindal says letting more Syrian refugees into the U.S. would involve a circumvention of the normal immigrant vetting process.
...
VERDICT: False

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/16/politics/republican-debate-fact-check/index.html