|
nChrist
|
 |
« on: January 16, 2016, 01:19:41 AM » |
|
________________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 1-15-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________
Daily Digest
Jan. 15, 2016
THE FOUNDATION
“In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate — look to his character.” —Noah Webster, 1789
FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
It’s a Three-Man Race1
By Nate Jackson
Donald Trump may just win the Republican presidential nomination. Thursday night’s debate made clear that this is at most a three-man race between the real-estate mogul, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. And Trump pretty clearly came away stronger than anyone, not because he had the best or most well-thought-out answers, but because he keeps proving his very presence can dominate the stage. His supporters are now itching for the chance for him to take on Hillary Clinton.
Chris Christie had his moments, and Jeb Bush and John Kasich weren’t bad. Ben Carson once again, unfortunately, seemed entirely out of his depth. It’s tough to see a way up for any of these four.
So we’ll highlight three exchanges between the trio we view as the strongest contenders.
First, the “birther” controversy over Cruz’s eligibility to run for president2. Cruz addressed it head-on:
“Back in September, my friend Donald said that he had had his lawyers look at this from every which way, and there was no issue there. … Now, since September, the Constitution hasn’t changed. But the poll numbers have. And I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa. But the facts and the law here are really quite clear. Under longstanding U.S. law, the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen.
"If a soldier has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That’s why John McCain, even though he was born in Panama, was eligible to run for president. If an American missionary has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That’s why George Romney, Mitt’s dad, was eligible to run for president, even though he was born in Mexico.
"At the end of the day, the legal issue is quite straightforward, but I would note that the birther theories that Donald has been relying on — some of the more extreme ones insist that you must not only be born on U.S. soil, but have two parents born on U.S. soil. Under that theory, not only would I be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be disqualified, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified and, interestingly enough, Donald J. Trump would be disqualified — because Donald’s mother was born in Scotland. She was naturalized.”
After some cross-talk, Cruz redirected the focus, saying, “You’re an American, as is everybody else on this stage, and I would suggest we focus on who’s best prepared to be commander in chief, because that’s the most important question facing the country.”
Trump didn’t concede anything and neither will his supporters or those who insist Cruz isn’t eligible, but in our estimation Cruz won the debate exchange handily.
He did not, however, come out so well on the question of “New York values.” Having previously hit Trump with that phrase, Cruz was asked to define his terms.
“I think most people know exactly what ‘New York values’ are,” he replied. Prompted for more, he answered, “There are many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York, but everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal, are pro-abortion, are pro-gay-marriage, focused around money and the media. … Not too many years ago, Donald did a long interview with Tim Russert3. And in that interview, he explained his views on a whole host of issues that were very, very different from the views he’s describing now. In his explanation, he said, ‘Look, I’m from New York. That’s what we believe in New York. Those aren’t Iowa values.’”
For the record, in that 1999 interview Trump said he was “very pro-choice,” which he conceded was probably “a little bit of a New York background.” And in his 2000 book, “America We Deserve,” Trump wrote, “I support the ban on assault weapons and I also support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun.”
Cruz is right that the values of the leftist elite don’t jive with conservative ones, but he whiffed on the formulation, as Trump’s rebuttal clearly illustrated.
“He insulted a lot of people,” Trump said of Cruz. “When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York,” Trump recalled. “You had two 110-story buildings come crashing down. Thousands of people killed. And the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup. … And the people in New York fought, fought and fought. … We rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers.”
Trump clearly won this round with his heart-felt appeal, and it left even Cruz applauding.
Finally, on immigration, an issue many conservatives view as “make-or-break” for their votes, Rubio came away still looking weak and untrustworthy. Asked to explain his work to expand legal immigration, Rubio argued that the issue has changed: “First and foremost, this issue has to be more than anything else about keeping America safe. And here’s why: There’s a radical jihadist group that is manipulating our immigration system, and not just green cards. They’re recruiting people that enter as doctors, and engineers, and even fiancées. They understand the vulnerabilities we have on the southern border. They’re looking to manipulate the visa waiver countries to get people into the United States. So our number one priority must now become ensuring that ISIS cannot get killers into the United States.”
He added, “The issue is a dramatically different issue than it was 24 months ago. Twenty-four months ago, 36 months ago, you did you not have a group of radical crazies named ISIS burning people in cages and recruiting people to enter our country legally.”
He’s right that it’s a national security issue, but it always has been. And Cruz hit back hard: “Radical Islamic terrorism was not invented 24 months ago. Twenty-four months ago, we had al-Qaida, we had Boko Haram, we had Hezbollah, we had Iran putting operatives in Central America, South America. It’s the reason why I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and led the fight to stop the Gang of Eight amnesty bill. It was clear then like it’s clear now that border security is national security.”
Another win for Cruz. Frankly, immigration is possibly a deal-breaker for conservatives and Rubio, despite his conservative record on almost every other issue. Neither Rubio nor Cruz is always forthright about his position — past or present — but there’s one thing voters will remember: Rubio helped write the Gang of Eight bill; Cruz opposed it. End of story.
To sum up, the “establishment” is coalescing around Rubio (which is rather ironic given that he was part of the first Tea Party wave elected to Congress, and defeated a liberal Republican in a primary to win his seat.) Mainstream conservatives are rallying around Cruz’s banner. And those who simply wish a pox on both houses believe Trump is their man. One thing’s for sure, this race is as interesting as any in recent memory.
Note: We compiled a few other notable quotes on the web1:
TOP RIGHT HOOKS
Clinton Campaign Flounders Ahead of Iowa Caucus4
Getting Hillary Clinton elected is a family (crime) business, but one that’s facing a bear market. Her lead in the polls5 has shrunk to only 8.6 percentage points ahead of Bernie Sanders — the narrowest gap in the campaign so far. Clinton is running an uneven racetrack. Of course an avowed socialist named Sanders is making headway, because a socialist named Barack Obama has paved the way and the party can’t tell the difference6 between Democrat and socialist.
This is terrible news for the Clinton campaign 15 days ahead of the Iowa caucus, as Clinton’s lead is shrinking faster7 than it did in 2008. In what appeared to be a last ditch effort to reach out to younger voters, the Clinton campaign sent Chelsea Clinton to attack Sanders' health care policy in New Hampshire Tuesday, saying it would destroy ObamaCare, and thus take away health insurance from millions. (She didn’t mention he would replace it with a single-payer system.) Chelsea is the figure Clinton has used to soften her image, to highlight her maternal side, to mitigate the fact that she fought for her husband’s reputation after women accused him of sexual assault — a fact that has come back to hurt Hillary8 because today’s society is more likely to believe women who speak up.
But this race isn’t for Sanders or Clinton — with the baggage of the email scandal and dealings through her nonprofit — to decide. “The person who will decide the nomination on the democratic side is FBI Director James Comey,” said9 commentator Charles Krauthammer. “If he decides to do a criminal referral [on Clinton], I think she can collapse — either it’s quashed and then there’s a huge scandal, or there’s an indictment, in which case, [Joe] Biden steps forward and he offers himself, self-sacrificially.” Don’t count out Elizabeth Warren, either. While many of the deadlines have passed to get Biden’s or Warren’s name on the primary ballots in key states, Democrats could make the unusual move of running a brokered convention months later, replacing their inevitable candidate with a savior. |
