On Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry appointed former career diplomat Janice Jacobs as the State Department’s “Email Czar,” to help respond to FOIA requests surrounding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server. [Read more…]
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September 9, 2015 by
Florida senate candidate Patrick Murphy flubbed his way through an interview with CBS Miami’s Jim DeFede on Sunday, giving vague answers about his qualifications for a promotion to the U.S. Senate despite ranking as one of the least effective congressman in the nation.
However, Murphy did have one moment of clarity during the exchange. [Read more…]
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September 9, 2015 by
Since being handpicked by the Washington, D.C. Democratic establishment, Katie McGinty’s senate campaign has been marked by a complete lack of substance – her website doesn’t even have an “issues” section – and evasiveness on major policy issues like the Iran deal and proposed EPA regulations. [Read more…]
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September 9, 2015 by
On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton sat down for an interview with ABC’s David Muir, where she finally apologized for using a private email server while Secretary of State.
DAVID MUIR: Why haven’t you directly apologized for setting up and using a private email server as secretary of state?
HILLARY CLINTON: “Well, I understand why people have questions and I’m trying to answer as many of those in as many different settings as I can. What I did was allowed by the State Department. It was fully above board. Everybody in the government with whom I emailed knew that I was using a personal email, and I have said it would have been a better choice to have had two separate email accounts. And I’ve also tried to not only take responsibility, because it was my decision, but to be as transparent as possible.”
Later that day, The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman reported that Hillary Clinton’s “heartfelt” apology for her use of a private email server came only after the campaign focus group tested the issue:
In an Aug. 26 news conference, Mrs. Clinton said she understood why people had questions about the email arrangement, which she said came about as a matter of convenience so she could carry a single mobile device. She said she took responsibility for the decision to use the private server and said it would have been better to have used a private email only for personal matters and an official one for work.
Last week, Mrs. Clinton’s aides showed a video of that news conference to a New Hampshire focus group of independents and Democrats, according to a Democrat briefed on the focus group whose account was confirmed by a person in her campaign. Participants said they wanted to hear more from Mrs. Clinton about the issue.
The focus group also showed that the email issue was drowning out nearly everything else that Mrs. Clinton was hoping to communicate to voters — something Mrs. Clinton and her husband have complained about to friends.
The panel on MSNBC’s Morning Joe mocked Clinton’s apology for its flat tone.
Bloomberg’s John Heilemann, pointed out: “If you look at the tone that she had when she told the Snapchat joke right. You think about the verve with which she told it. That was from the heart. There’s was this sarcastic and kind of dismissive, but it was real. When she told that joke, she enjoyed telling that joke. With David Muir yesterday, she did not enjoy apologizing.”
NBC’s Chuck Todd reported: “No, and it did feel like this is the correct answer. That this is the, I think, Walter was putting it, that this was what she is saying what a bunch of donors and a bunch of nervous Democratic activists want to hear from her.”
NBC’s Peter Alexander echoed Chuck Todd’s claim:
Its seems that this push to show more “humor” and “heart” like everything else Hillary Clinton does is nothing more than a focus group tested pivot to save her campaign.
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September 8, 2015 by
Today in an interview with ABC’s David Muir, Hillary Clinton finally apologized for using a private email server while Secretary of State. However, just yesterday in an interview with The Associated Press, Clinton not only didn’t apologize for the server, but said what she did “was fully above board”:
Q: Why haven’t you directly apologized for setting up and using a private email server as secretary of state?
A: “Well, I understand why people have questions and I’m trying to answer as many of those in as many different settings as I can. What I did was allowed by the State Department. It was fully above board. Everybody in the government with whom I emailed knew that I was using a personal email, and I have said it would have been a better choice to have had two separate email accounts. And I’ve also tried to not only take responsibility, because it was my decision, but to be as transparent as possible.”
And last Friday, in an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, Clinton twice refused to apologize for the email server:
In the same ABC interview, Clinton also claims that she is “trying to be as transparent as I possibly can.” But Clinton clearly set up her private server to avoid government records laws and have complete control of what the public could see.
Maybe this is Clinton‘s way of dealing with the growing chorus of criticism over the email scandal, including from the highly-respected Tom Brokaw and the hugely influential U.S. Rep James Clyburn, the dean of the South Carolina congressional delegation.
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC): “People are really concerned about those emails.” (Politico, 9/8/15)
And maybe Clinton is hoping this will reverse her major slide in recent polls. Regardless, voters will see this as another example of Clinton saying whatever it takes to win an election.
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September 8, 2015 by
Kentucky has been the focus of national news this past week. County Clerk Kim Davis found herself in jail for refusing to sign off on same-sex marriage licenses citing religious beliefs.
One would think Andy Beshear, Democrat candidate for attorney general, would have something to say on the matter, but so far he has dodged questions, and left events early to avoid any significant interaction with the press.
This goes to a bigger issue with Andy Beshear’s candidacy and his strategy of silence. Beshear has been running an absentee campaign, not widely publicizing events and avoiding any off-script media interaction.
The fact is, voters don’t know anything about Beshear, and that’s how he wants it. He has refused to be transparent and release a list of clients he has represented in his private legal practice, many of which have business before the Attorney General’s office. Beshear’s refusal to disclose his clients even brought criticism from liberal watchdog group, Common Cause Kentucky, whose chairman said it is hard to see how Beshear could take money from “special interests and serve as the people’s lawyer.”
Now, despite the entire national media focusing on Kentucky, and his opponent,Whitney Westerfield, taking a clear position, Beshear still hasn’t told the voters where he stands on the issue at hand. In the past, when asked where he stands on same-sex marriage, Beshear refused to comment, claiming it would be inappropriate for him to comment because he might have to render an opinion on the issue if elect.
At a time where voters seem to be drawn to courageous candidates, it’s hard to see how Beshear’s strategy of silence will spur any enthusiasm.
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September 8, 2015 by
According to a new Monmouth University poll released today, Hillary Clinton’s lead in the Democratic primary has dropped 10 points in just one month. It seems that Clinton’s fourth campaign reset couldn’t come at a better time.
This comes on the heels of last week’s Gallup poll that shows Clinton’s favorability at a 23-year low, as well as the NBC News/Marist poll over the weekend that showed her falling behind self-avowed socialist Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire.
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September 8, 2015 by
With the passing of Labor Day, the fall campaign season has officially begun, which seems to be the perfect time for Hillary Clinton to reset her campaign for the fourth time since announcing her candidacy in April. [Read more…]
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September 8, 2015 by
The Democrat vs. Democrat dynamic roiling the Illinois senate primary has extended beyond the candidates themselves and is pitting the state’s leading liberals against each other, according to a new report from Politico: [Read more…]
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September 8, 2015 by
Last night, The New York Times reported that both the CIA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency confirmed that Hillary Clinton received two emails on her private server that were classified at the “top secret” level —one of the highest security classifications used by the U.S. government – when they were sent. [Read more…]
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