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« on: February 01, 2016, 06:42:08 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 2-1-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
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Daily Digest
Feb. 1, 2016
THE FOUNDATION
“National defense is one of the cardinal duties of a statesman.” —John Adams, 1815
TOP RIGHT HOOKS
Some Clinton Email Too Classified to Release1
“I take classified information very seriously,” Hillary Clinton insisted Sunday. “You know, you can’t get classified information off the classified system in the State Department to put onto an unclassified system, no matter what that system is.” She’s not exactly correct, but it would take a herculean effort to strip classification markings2 — which is apparently what she did. “There is absolutely no evidence that I ever sent or received any email marked classified.” Marked is the key word in Clinton parsing, and even former Clintonista George Stephanopoulos cornered her on that one: “You’ve said many times that the emails were not marked classified. The non-disclosure agreement you signed as secretary of state says that that’s really not that relevant. It says classified information is marked or unmarked classified and that all of you are trained to treat all of that sensitively and should know the difference.” Bingo, though her comments above were, astoundingly, in reply to his charge.
It’s certainly inconvenient that the State Department just announced it would not release 22 of her emails at all because revealing the information contained in them — even if redacted — would be too damaging to national security. The State Department has already released more than 1,300 of Clinton’s classified emails, but these 22 are so serious as to merit holding them. (Those and 18 more that are direct communications with Barack Obama, who famously claimed he only found out about Clinton’s email practices “through news reports.”)
Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy sums up the problem3: “The reasoning behind that conclusion is alarming. It is not just that the intelligence community (IC) understandably wishes to keep top secret national-defense information under wraps. Because of how recklessly Clinton and her top aides handled classified information, the IC must operate under the assumption that there are copies of these 22 emails floating around — whether in the possession of current or former government officials but unaccounted for or, worse, in the possession of, say, foreign governments that managed to hack into Clinton’s unsecured private system. If the State Department were to release publicly even redacted copies of the emails, those who may have complete copies will be able to figure out the SAP information and use that knowledge both to compromise government sources and programs, and in analyzing other U.S. government information to which they’ve gained access. In other words, it is potentially catastrophic.”
Heck, even Bernie “Sick and Tired of Her Damn Emails” Sanders now thinks Clinton’s malfeasance is “a very serious issue,” though he swears, “I’m not going to politicize it.”
Finally, on a related note, Defense Secretary Ash Carter has decided not to pursue further punishment4 for Gen. David Petraeus over mishandling of classified information. Perhaps Carter is simply trying to make life easier for Clinton.
Is Cruz a Liar?5
“Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have the identical position on health care, which is they want to put the government in charge of you and your doctor,” Ted Cruz said Sunday, attacking his rivals' health care plans. “Fact checking” site PolitiFact6 rated this statement false — because Clinton is the least leftist of the three, as she wants to preserve ObamaCare.
The next day, Trump called into ABC to defend his position. “Look, Ted Cruz is a total liar,” Trump said7. “I’m so against ObamaCare. I’ve been saying it for two years in my speeches. I’m going to repeal and replace ObamaCare.”
So the question is this: What will Trump replace Obama’s failed policy with? Currently, Trump has not released a detailed health care plan. But if his past comments are any indicator, he will support some sort of single-payer health care system, similar to that of the socialist candidate. In 2000, while Trump was pondering a third-party presidential run, he published a book, “The America We Deserve.” In it, he wrote8 in praise of single-payer health care systems like the one in Canada: “We must have universal health care. I’m a conservative on most issues but a liberal on this one.”
In this weekend’s interview with ABC, Trump insisted he did not support single-payer, but he was downright idealistic regarding providing health care — and he sounded eerily like the liberals that condemn conservatives for their focus on fiscal responsibility: “We’ll work something out. That doesn’t mean single-payer and maybe [Cruz has] got no heart. And if this means I lose an election, that’s fine because frankly, we have to take care of the people in our country. We can’t let them die on the sidewalks of New York, or the sidewalks of Iowa, or anywhere else.”
The results, we fear, will be that TrumpCare9 would expand government even further and fulfill the ideological policy goals set by Obama.
Iowan Votes Matter!10
It’s Iowa Caucus Day! Finally, after months of talk, donations, debates and ads, the corn meets the harvester when Iowans cast their votes — or in terms of the Democrat caucuses, stand by their candidates. Iowa delegates make up only 1% of the total available delegates nationwide, but because the Hawkeye State holds its caucus first, it’s the state that often sets the tone for the rest of the election. While the returns will start rolling in at 8:30 p.m. EST, the forecasts predict11 that Hillary Clinton will end up victorious, though if Bernie Sanders comes from behind for a win, it could handicap Clinton. The GOP race is mainly a competition between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, with Trump favored with a 46% chance of winning, according to polling website FiveThirtyEight12.
This means the race may come down to whoever can run a better get-out-to-vote campaign. Cruz is burning the shoe leather in a get-out-to-vote campaign13 that features 12,000 volunteers going door to door. Meanwhile, Trump is relying on the energy generated through his rallies to get his supporters — many potential first-time caucus-goers — out to their precincts tonight. Meanwhile, Marco Rubio, currently the GOP’s third-place candidate, has seen a bump in the polls. Rubio really needs a stronger-than-expected finish14 to propel him forward to wins in future battleground states. Regardless of what happens, tonight is when the presidential race really gets its start.
FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
You Will Know Them By Their Fruits15
By Robin Smith
In this most unconventional election cycle, there have been a few things that have remained constant. One of them is the effort on the campaign trail to appeal to Christians.
Call them by whatever name of the era — the “Moral Majority,” the “Religious Right” and now “evangelicals” — those who generally affiliate with the Republican Party due to non-negotiable issues of their faith comprise a large number of voters. That’s especially true in early contest states like Iowa and South Carolina.
In the 2012 Iowa Caucus, those who self-identified as “evangelical” or born-again Christians in an entrance poll by Edison Research numbered 57% of all participants. The value of this group of voters is undisputed; yet winning the hearts and minds of these voters seems to be awkward for many campaigns, which, alone, should convey a message.
Evoking surprise from some candidates and their Beltway consultants, these voters are driven by their faith in the civic arena to pursue obedience in Christ’s command to be “the salt of the earth” and “the light to the world.” These same values voters aren’t looking for a preacher but are sure quick to spot the inconsistencies of pandering politicians who fall back on props and catch phrases.
A few weeks back when Donald Trump took the platform at Liberty University, the audience of the Christian school, founded by evangelical stalwart and pastor Jerry Falwell, caught the real-estate tycoon making reference to a Bible verse in a manner that exposed his unfamiliarity with Scripture. Instead of quoting “Second Corinthians,” Trump referenced “Two Corinthians.”
Gaffe of the century? Hardly, but his cavalier dismissal of questions about his faith made it something to ponder.
Trump’s ascendency has been borne out of an absolute disgust toward “the GOP Establishment,” which excels in empty promises and deliberate lies to the base so as to get elected. Those promises have too often been forgotten by those safely ensconced in their DC digs. The obvious question has to be asked, “Why are these same voters permitting Donald Trump to use their faith with such disregard and deception?” |
