Source: Politico

Top Republican lawmakers are planning a wide-ranging offensive — including outreach to foreign officials by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office — to undermine President Barack Obama's hopes of reaching an international climate change agreement that would cement his environmental legacy. ... A top policy aide to McConnell (R-Ky.) has had conversations with a select group of representatives from foreign embassies to make it clear that Republicans intend to fight Obama's climate agenda at every turn, sources familiar with the efforts say.... He has had conversations with officials representing both developed and developing countries. Environment & Energy Publishing first reported on his efforts.

McConnell himself warned foreign leaders last spring to "proceed with caution before entering into a binding, unattainable deal” with Obama, noting that "two-thirds of the U.S. federal government" — Congress and the Supreme Court — hasn't signed off on the president's plans.

Republicans have no direct way of interfering with December's climate summit in Paris, and Obama's domestic climate strategy relies almost entirely on executive branch regulations that don't require Congress' approval. But the resistance could threaten to gum up progress in carrying out Obama's policies, making it easier to undo them if the GOP retakes the White House in 2016.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/gop-congress-climate-pact-paris-213382#ixzz3l4ZFGoas

to help the party, please do one or both of the following:

(1) make a speech on income equality in which you acknowledge that Sen. Sanders has made this a theme of both his entire career and his current presidential campaign; help Sanders bring his message to a larger audience;

(2) make a speech on the blatant hypocrisy of the right-wing media for manufacturing a private-email-server attack on Clinton when Bush-Cheney did the same, John Ellis "Jeb" Bush did the same, Scott Walker did the same, Marko Rubio did the same, Chris Christie did the same, Rick Perry did the same, Piyush "Bobby" Jindal did the same, etc.

If you want to help the party and honor your worthy legacy, help the party by bolstering its excellent candidates (Martin O'Malley could use a shout out, too) but don't put yourself in the spoiler position of Bradley '00 or Kennedy '80. Don't go out as a spoiler.

Source: cleveland.com (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Donald Trump remains the Republican frontrunner for president in Iowa and New Hampshire. But Ohio Gov. John Kasich... With support from 12 percent of GOP voters, Kasich is in second place behind Trump, who leads with 28 percent in the nation's first primary state.

Close on Kasich's heels is Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon, at 11 percent. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush -- once viewed as the most likely nominee -- sits at 8 percent. Former tech executive Carly Fiorina, with 6 percent, is next.

In Iowa, which holds the first caucus, Trump tops the field at 29 percent, followed by Carson at 22 percent. No other candidate gets more than 6 percent. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who a month ago was the favorite to win Iowa, sits at 5 percent. Kasich, who hasn't campaigned much there, is at 2 percent.
...
On the Democratic side, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has taken the lead from Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, leading her 49 percent to 38 percent. In Iowa, the former U.S. secretary of state leads Sanders 48 percent to 37 percent.


Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2015/09/john_kasich_sits_at_second_pla.html

Support Kim Davis Bigotry

Huckabee
Cruz
Walker
Rubio
Paul
Jindal
Santorum

"The Law is the Law"

Trump
Carson
Bush
Kasich
Fiorina
Christie
Graham

Does anyone see where any of these candidates should be re-characterized? Could anyone make sense of whether Santorum supports bigot Kim Davis failing to perform her job {edit - apparently he's pro-bigot on this issue, too}? Does anyone know or care which side Perry supports?

NB: edited to allocate Santorum to the idiot list.

Gallop released a new poll on the Republican candidates' favorability and name recognition, and here is a chart from the Gallop report:


Compare today's net favorability numbers from Gallop with net favorability from yesterday's Monmouth poll of Republicans:

Carson (67% favorable – 6% unfavorable = 61% net favorability)
Trump (59% favorable – 29% unfavorable = 30% net favorability)
Fiorina (43% favorable – 13% unfavorable = 30% net favorability)
Walker (42% favorable – 15% unfavorable = 27% net favorability)
Kasich (23% favorable – 18% unfavorable = 5% net favorability)
Bush (41% favorable – 39% unfavorable = 2% net favorability)

Contrast these net favorability numbers with Republicans against Monmouth's most recent net favorability polling of Democrats:

Clinton (71% favorable – 17% unfavorable = 54% net favorability)
Biden (67% favorable – 14% unfavorable = 53% net favorability)
Sanders (42% favorable – 12% unfavorable = 30% net favorability)
O’Malley (13% favorable – 8% unfavorable = 5% net favorability)

CONCLUSION: Bush is in the midst of a complete free fall.

Source: beforeitsnews.com

For a lot of people they would be nervous being in the spotlight and sitting right next to a candidate while they give a speech but apparently Jeb Bush was so boring the jitters didn’t keep one woman awake. I have to admit, even the short video of Bush’s speech made me tired. He was very low energy and it reminded me of sitting in class listening to a boring professor. Someone give him a Espresso!

...

During the 108-second video you can see her sitting behind Bush wearing a Boston Red Sox cap. She keeps yawning and closing her eyes as he discussed health care insurance during a town hall at Foss Manufacturing in Hampton, New Hampshire.

Read more: http://beforeitsnews.com/opinion-conservative/2015/09/bush-supporter-falls-asleep-on-stage-during-his-speech-video-3050540.html

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Source: The Hill

A new poll find Donald Trump's favorability rating soaring among Republicans, while Jeb Bush's image slides ... according to a Gallup survey released Friday.

...

But a number of candidates have seen their image slide over that time, led by Ohio Gov. John Kasich who slipped 12 points from a net favorability of 27 to 15, the biggest drop.

...

Bush had a net favorability of 25 two weeks ago and is now at 19, while Walker went from 37 to 31, each down 6.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was down 4 points. Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) remained steady, going up 1 point; with Mike Huckabee and Sen. Rand Paul each seeing a 2 point bump.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/polls/252751-poll-trumps-favorability-soars-among-republicans

---

Here is a chart from the Gallop report:


Compare today's net favorability numbers from Gallop with net favorability from yesterday's Monmouth poll of Republicans:

Carson (67% favorable – 6% unfavorable = 61% net favorability)
Trump (59% favorable – 29% unfavorable = 30% net favorability)
Fiorina (43% favorable – 13% unfavorable = 30% net favorability)
Walker (42% favorable – 15% unfavorable = 27% net favorability)
Kasich (23% favorable – 18% unfavorable = 5% net favorability)
Bush (41% favorable – 39% unfavorable = 2% net favorability)

Contrast these net favorability numbers with Republicans against Monmouth's most recent net favorability polling of Democrats:

Clinton (71% favorable – 17% unfavorable = 54% net favorability)
Biden (67% favorable – 14% unfavorable = 53% net favorability)
Sanders (42% favorable – 12% unfavorable = 30% net favorability)
O’Malley (13% favorable – 8% unfavorable = 5% net favorability)

CONCLUSION: Bush is in the midst of a complete free fall.

Source: New York magazine

As Donald Trump continues to dominate the Republican presidential race, frustration and panic have become high enough to make some inside the party Establishment pine for a candidate they roundly rejected as recently as January: Mitt Romney. Romney himself has become one of Trump’s most vocal detractors inside the party. “He’s someone to whom civility means a lot. The whole Trump thing really bothers him,” a close Romney adviser told me — and some Romney-ites are only too happy to talk up the prospect of their man jumping into the race if the Establishment fails to stop Trump, whose support in Iowa and New Hampshire is currently greater than Jeb Bush's, Scott Walker's, Marco Rubio's, Chris Christie's, and John Kasich's combined.

“Mitt wants to run. He never stopped wanting to run,” a senior member of his 2012 team told me. Other Romney-ites, watching this cycle’s candidates falling short, feel a sense of vindication after all the attacks they endured after Romney's failed 2012 bid. "These guys like Walker and Perry, they were big deals in their states, but you get them onto the national stage and it's a different story," a former Romney adviser told me. "It's like they were in middle school, and now they're freshmen in high school and they're getting their faces slammed in the toilets." Another former Romney adviser complained about Bush's decision not to go all-in on New Hampshire, a state a moderate must win. "Romney did 100 town halls in New Hampshire from announcement to the primary. It's madness. Bush has done only 23."

Read more: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/09/romneys-horror-at-trump-renews-mitt-2016-talk.html

Source: Fortune

The former frontrunner is abandoning his hands-off approach toward Trump — a perilous if necessary change in tactics.... That’s the unmistakable takeaway from a one-two punch the faltering former Republican frontrunner launched Tuesday against the contender who’s displaced him.

First, the Bush campaign released an 80-second online video that used old footage of Trump to call attention to his history of conservative apostasies. A succession of clips shows Trump describing himself as “very pro-choice,” a fan of single-payer healthcare, higher taxes on the rich and President Obama’s stimulus package, and a Hillary Clinton supporter. “I’ve lived in New York City in Manhattan all my life, so, you know, my views are a little bit different than if I lived in Iowa,” Trump says in a snippet from a 1999 Meet the Press interview that the Bush campaign uses both to open and close the ad..... “He attacks me every day. He attacks me every day with barbarities,” Bush said, according to a Washington Post report that translated his comments. “They’re not true. What we did today was to put out in his words to show that he’s not conservative. He supports people like Nancy Pelosi. He’s given money to Hillary Clinton. He was a Democrat longer than Republican. He’s said that he’s more comfortable being a Democrat. He doesn’t have a record, because he hasn’t been a person who has served like me, who served for eight years as governor. He’s not a conservative. That’s my point.”...

Bush’s newly aggressive tack comes as polls show him lagging considerably behind the billionaire developer — both nationally and in the early proving grounds of Iowa and New Hampshire. And it marks a sharp strategic reversal. Less than two months ago, Bush swore off even discussing Trump, dismissing him as an unserious candidate and a distraction from the real contest. Several weeks later, as Trump has consolidated his lead and proved it more durable than the competition could have imagined, Bush no longer appears to have the luxury of a pay-no-mind attitude.

Read more: http://fortune.com/2015/09/01/sinking-jeb-attacks-trump/

---

We have seen how well this tactic has worked for other candidates:

Source: Morning Consult

The Morning Consult survey shows Trump leading among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents with 37 percent of the vote, compared with just nine percent for the second-place finishers, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) are tied for the next spot with six percent. Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) claims 5 percent of the vote, barely ahead of Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) at 4 percent.
...
Though earlier polls have shown Trump building a broad coalition, a slight gender gap is beginning to emerge. More male voters, 41 percent, say they back Trump than female voters, 32 percent. Trump also gets a disproportionate amount of support from those without a college education, from Republicans in urban areas and from voters who say national security is their most important issue.
...
Trump is almost universally known among registered voters, though just 42 percent say they have a favorable opinion of him. But among self-identified Republicans, 66 percent say they view Trump favorably, markedly better than any other candidate seeking the party’s nomination. By contrast, just 52 percent of Republicans say they view Bush favorably... Bush’s unfavorable rating among Republican voters, 36 percent, is higher than the 32 percent who say they see Trump unfavorably.

Read more: http://morningconsult.com/2015/08/trump-clinton-lead-primary-matchups-bush-ties-carson-for-runner-up/