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An ‘air of inevitability’ should be a good thing, right? It’s in the superhero toolbox, right next to the cloak of invisibility and hammer of invincibility. So why do journalists treat it like kryptonite?
— Ana Marie Cox, writing in the Daily Beast.
From the time he was 9 years old, he was influenced by Frank Marshall Davis, who was a communist.
— Former New York Gov. Rudy Giuliani, doubling down on his claims that President Obama doesn’t “love America” in an interview with the New York Post — “claiming the commander-in-chief has been influenced by communists since his youth.” Giuliani also said another bad influence on Obama was Saul Alinsky, a community organizer whom the ex-mayor called a ‘socialist.’
I don’t question his motives. And I try not to question the president’s motives as being a good American or a bad American.
— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by CNN, on whether President Obama loves America.
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.
It’s of course very early in the 2016 cycle. But it’s never too early for some healthy alarm. Are we the only ones who are struck that many of the leading Republican candidates, whether moderate or conservative, seem to be planning stale and tired campaigns? Hillary will herself, it’s safe to predict, run a stale campaign with tired themes. But the polls suggest she would prevail in a conventional matchup of boring campaigns. We’re all free to ignore the fire bell in the night, and hope for the best. But it would be a shame to have to explain in November 2016 how the Republican party decided to sleepwalk to defeat.
— Bill Kristol, writing in the Weekly Standard.
85%
Of New Hampshire Republicans and independents likely to vote in next year’s GOP presidential primary say it doesn’t matter that Gov. Scott Walker (R) didn’t graduate college, and that he’s qualified to be the next president, according to a new NH1 News Poll.
As Mrs. Clinton prepares to embark on a race for the presidency, she has a web of connections to big corporations unique in American politics—ties forged both as secretary of state and by her family’s charitable interests. Those relationships are emerging as an issue for Mrs. Clinton’s expected presidential campaign as income disparity and other populist themes gain early attention.
One of the biggest assets for Democrats – especially for Hillary Clinton – going into this next election is the fact that they are much more ideologically united than the GOP. From social issues to economic ones, the overwhelming majority of Democrats are on the same page. This, of course, leaves little room for a primary challenger to Hillary Clinton to expose a gap or drive a wedge. … Not so much for Republicans who are divided on almost everything other than foreign policy and a desire to repeal Obamacare. This is will not only make it difficult for a Republican to become a ‘consensus’ candidate in the primary, but could make it difficult to unite the party post-primary as well.
In a general election, nominating Bush would neutralize one of Hillary Clinton’s biggest liabilities (the idea that she, too, is a figure from the past trying to ride her last name to power). Instead of having the clear contrast that would be possible if Republicans were to name a fresh candidate, the 2016 election would devolve into a proxy battle over whether Americans want to restore the Bush or Clinton presidencies. Whether the GOP likes it or not, that isn’t a matchup that favors Republicans.
Vice President Biden, in a very candid moment, which he enjoys, flew into LaGuardia and said, ‘You fly into LaGuardia, and you think you’re flying into a Third World country.’ Now, that was a slight overstatement, slightly insensitive, slightly insulting. But, basically true.
— New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), quoted by the New York Observer.
