Tag: Campaign 2016

Perry Contradicts Walker’s Equating Unions with ISIS

Buck Banks

These are Americans. You are talking about, in the case of ISIS, people who are beheading individuals and committing heinous crimes, who are the face of evil. To try to make the relationship between them and the unions is inappropriate.

— Rick Perry, in an interview with NBC News, criticizing Scott Walker’s comparison of union protests with the Islamic State.

For Walker, Union Protest and ISIS are of a Piece

Buck Banks

I want a commander-in-chief who will do everything in their power to ensure that the threat from radical Islamic terrorists do not wash up on American soil. We will have someone who leads and ultimately will send a message not only that we will protect American soil but do not take this upon freedom-loving people anywhere else in the world. We need a leader with that kind of confidence. If I can take on a 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world.


— Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), telling conservatives that his experience with union protests has prepared him to confront terrorists, TPM reports.

Ignore the Right-Wing Media Hype – There’s No Chance Condoleeza Rice Will Be California’s Next Senator

Jon Ponder

Rice
Rice
Right wing media outlets were giddy last week after the Field Poll found that, in aggregate, former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, now a Stanford professor and fellow at the Hoover Institution, had more support than anyone else who might consider running for the California U.S. Senate seat now held by Democrat Barbara Boxer, who is retiring. Headlines like this in Reuters and other legit sources caused the stir: “Condoleezza Rice Leads Potential 2016 U.S. Senate Hopefuls in California.”

Reuters is, of course, technically correct. Field asked California voters to weigh in on 18 possible candidates to replace Boxer. From the 18 names on the list, 49 percent of respondents chose Rice and 46 percent chose Democrat Kamala Harris, the state Attorney General, who is the only announced candidate so far.

Wow! Rice is winning by 3 points — or at least that’s the way right-wing blogs like Breitbart.com, Tucker Carlson’s Daily Talker and Red Alert Politics spun the poll results. In reality, the suggestion that Condoleeza Rice could win the 2016 Senate race in California is nonsense.

[…]

Walker Off to an Early Lead in Iowa

Buck Banks

25%

Gov. Scott Walker’s lead in Iowa of the 2016 Republican presidential pack — twice as high as his nearest rival, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. There is a horse race for second place, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) at 13%, Ben Carson at 11%, Mike Huckabee at 11% and Jeb Bush at 10%. No other candidate is above 5% and 9% are undecided. Key finding: “Tea Party supporters make up 32% of likely caucus-goers and Walker gets 33% of that Tea Party vote.”

Walker Still Not Sure God Wants Him to Be President

Buck Banks

I’m still trying to decipher if this is God’s calling. You’ve got to be crazy to want to be president of the United States. You’ve got to be crazy. To look at what it does to a person and a family, you’ve got to be crazy. But you should only do it if you feel that God’s called you to get in there and make a difference.


— Gov. Scott Walker (R), quoted by the Wall Street Journal.

Like It or Not, Candidates Have to Answer ‘Gotcha’ Questions

Buck Banks

Presidential candidates have to answer all kinds of questions. Sometimes they are relevant or germane to the event they’re at or the campaign at large — and sometimes they’re not. But how they answer, even these ‘gotcha’ questions – designed as a litmus test of rationality – can be revealing of their mindset, their depth and their mettle as a candidate.

— Domenico Montanaro, writing for “PBS Newshour.”

Walker Doesn’t Know If Obama Loves America

Buck Banks

I’ve never asked the President so I don’t really know what his opinions are on that one way or another.”

— Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, sought to stay out of the uproar over former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s comments about President Barack Obama and love of country, saying those two could speak for themselves.