Day: September 4, 2019

Mattis Backs Reading

Buck Banks

“If you haven’t read hundreds of books, you are functionally illiterate, and you will be incompetent, because your personal experiences alone aren’t broad enough to sustain you. Any commander who claims he is ‘too busy to read’ is going to fill body bags with his troops as he learns the hard way.”

— Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, writing in his new memoir.

Biden Team Already Lowering Expectations

Buck Banks

“We must be getting closer to the primaries and caucuses, because Joe Biden’s team on Tuesday began the job of lowering expectations. They’re now making the case that the former vice president could still take the nomination even if he doesn’t win in either Iowa or New Hampshire. … As Steve Kornacki correctly says, no one has actually done this since the modern nomination system began in 1972. (And as Kornacki adds, Bill Clinton in 1992 doesn’t count because all the other candidates conceded Iowa to home-state Senator Tom Harkin.) … It’s not just that failing to win would hurt Biden; it’s that failing to win would mean someone else won, and that candidate might be well positioned to capitalize on an early victory.”

— Jonathan Bernstein

Ted Cruz Revives ‘Deep State’ Theory

Buck Banks

“Their objective is just wait out Donald Trump. They’re convinced he’s leaving in January 2021, and so it’s a waiting game.”

— Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), suggesting that the “Deep State is alive and well” within the Treasury and State Department and that their “number one objective” is to preserve the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, Jewish Insider reports.

Biden’s Lead Over Warren Narrows

Buck Banks

28%

A new IBD/TIPP poll finds Joe Biden leading the Democratic presidential race with 28%, followed by Elizabeth Warren at 24%, Bernie Sanders at 12%, Kamala Harris at 6%, Pete Buttigieg at 5% and Cory Booker at 4%. No other candidate polled more than 1%. Another 15% of respondents said they were undecided. In general election matchups, Biden led President Trump by 54% to 42%, while Sanders had a narrow 49% to 45% edge over Trump and Warren and Harris had slimmer 49% to 46% leads.

Despite Pledge, Biden Accepting Money from Lobbyists

Buck Banks

$200,000

Joe Biden entered the Democratic primary promising “from day one” to reject campaign cash from lobbyists, the AP reports. “Yet hours after his April campaign kickoff, the former vice president went to a fundraiser at the home of a lobbying executive. And in the months since, he’s done it again and again. … It’s difficult to quantify how much Biden has raised from the multibillion-dollar influence industry, but the roughly $200,000 he accepted from employees of major lobbying firms is far more than any of his rivals has received.”