2024

[Crafty_Dog]

Israel Reshuffles the U.S. Presidential Election Deck
The Hamas crisis is a sudden opportunity for Nikki Haley and Mike Pence.
Daniel Henninger
By
Daniel Henninger
Follow
Oct. 18, 2023 6:31 pm ET


Suddenly in the aftermath of the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7, we have a presidential election about national security. And that could shuffle the U.S. presidential-candidate deck.

The foreign-policy debate on the Republican side—China, Ukraine, the open border—had become rote. No longer. Hamas’s killing of civilians and seizing of hostages, including presumably Americans, has forced the world’s troubles to the top of the presidential agenda.

Joe Biden flew to the Israeli war zone and gave a worthy speech of commitment to the U.S. ally.

Support for Rep. Jim Jordan as House speaker depended in large part on the imperative to pass aid bills for Israel and Ukraine.

After Donald Trump, days after the massacre, reflexively posted statements of derision about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and admiration for Hezbollah as “smart,” he spent the week refocusing attention on his foreign-policy accomplishments.

After one weekend in October, the table has filled with national-security crises: an existential threat to Israel, Iran exploiting the Middle East cauldron, what comes next for Taiwan, and Russia’s war against Ukraine, on the border of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The U.S. southern border sits as an open, bleeding wound.

Let’s cut to the chase. Actually two chases.

One, which presidential candidate is up to—or qualified for—this new challenge?

Two, which party is willing to pay to do what is necessary for the U.S. to meet the challenge?

The second question answers itself. The Democratic foreign-policy establishment isn’t as far left as the party’s dominant wing. But the party of the Squad, Bernie Sanders, anti-Israel demonstrators and cash-starved progressive city governments controls the Democrats’ limitless domestic spending priorities, which simply no longer include a robust national defense. Any Democratic president with control of one congressional chamber will keep inflation-adjusted defense spending flat at best. After Oct. 7, flat puts us at risk.

The U.S. has fallen below an adequate level of readiness in almost every area—weapons systems and inventories, troop levels and recruitment, ships and airplanes, training rotations, the aging of the nuclear deterrent.

These dilemmas consume hours of pondering and planning by Pentagon analysts. The Israel-Hamas war makes clear the pondering is over among our adversaries. It would be naive to think that Tehran, Beijing, Moscow and possibly Pyongyang aren’t right now comparing notes on how to exploit the U.S. security nightmares Iran has just created in the Middle East.

That the U.S. needs real leadership in its next president is a cliché because it’s true and needs repeating. A Republican presidential contest that had become desultory has been rebooted by events in the Middle East.

The Democrats’ legal assault on Mr. Trump looked as if it had handed him the nomination. But it’s by no means clear that the former president is the right person to lead the country through what lies ahead.

Mr. Trump produced a largely credible foreign policy, but he has since become impossibly variable. His criticism of Mr. Netanyahu over a 2020 incident hours after the massacre was an incomprehensibly wrong note. Mr. Trump’s head currently is in too many disparate places, and that won’t get better. It has become a risk factor.

The candidates for whom the Israeli crisis and its broader implications create an opening are Nikki Haley and Mike Pence. They are the only two other GOP contenders with credible foreign-policy experience.

Ron DeSantis’s remarks on foreign policy always seem targeted at some constituency. He spent this week bogged down in a marginal argument with Ms. Haley over refugees from the Middle East. He looks determined to hold onto the Trump-Ramaswamy isolationist faction in the party. But as in 1941, events have isolated the isolationists.

Chris Christie and Doug Burgum have been running on their state experience, and Tim Scott’s appeal is domestic and cultural issues.

The tectonic plates of global politics have shifted beneath this campaign. The next U.S. president should be able to explain in detail the country’s national-security needs, including the trade-offs, such as the reality that long-term entitlement spending has to be on the table.

Ms. Haley has shown she can do that. If former Vice President Pence is ever going to play to his proven strength and make the case for a Reaganite foreign policy, the time is now.

An ABC/Ipsos poll taken after the Hamas massacre put public support for Mr. Biden’s handling of the crisis at a startling 41%. The public simply has lost faith in his competence. We’ll find out soon enough how much this crisis alters the Biden pattern.

In a national-security crisis, what a nation needs from its leaders is experience, focus and stamina. Former chess champion Garry Kasparov recently floated in these pages the idea of Mr. Biden’s ceding the Democratic nomination to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a retired four-star Army general.

However improbable, as of Oct. 7 an Austin candidacy would be a problem for Republicans. There’s still time for GOP voters to figure out what their party, and the country, is going to need in a president, now and for a very long time.

[Crafty_Dog]

https://www.dickmorris.com/trump-pulls-ahead-of-biden/

[Crafty_Dog]

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/exclusive-black-lives-matter-leader-stands-behind-j6-prisoners-endorses-trump-5513609?utm_source=Goodevening&src_src=Goodevening&utm_campaign=gv-2023-10-20&src_cmp=gv-2023-10-20&utm_medium=email&cta_utm_source=Goodevening&est=2yxCHCQiWryAzonKf3RZQeg7ZJpMLw38uPlMyli%2FuIKGVD04mMSVQNbbSWv2Kr5OeMZ8

[Crafty_Dog]

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/21/democrats-black-voters-2024-00122846

[DougMacG]

They've been saying the opposite which makes no sense.

https://harvardharrispoll.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/HHP_Oct23_KeyResults.pdf

[ccp]

if poll is accurate the argument that Trump can't beat Biden is caput

The argument that DeSantis or Haley would do better against Biden is caput

Looks Trump will be the candidate from a jail cell
or house arrest in M a L

[ccp]

one silver lining if Trump wins

we finally get rid of Cher

maybe she can take some of her friends overseas with her.

[DougMacG]

"if poll is accurate the argument that Trump can't beat Biden is caput."

  - As I read that I think of the Georgia elections last 3 times where we lost the Presidency and the Senate in a (formerly?) red Republican state, (Republicans won every other race) and I think of Lucy holding the football and we are Charlie Brown, America's favorite but not exactly a winner.

Take one more kick at it?

Not if I don't have to.

I posted the final Carter Reagan debate.  Different times but similar challenges. Inflation, stagnation, cold war strategies, social issues, Middle East trouble, energy and oil, environment, taxes, deficits, regulations.

They actually had an "election day" back then where you see all your neighbors but cast the ballot in private.  A week before the election, even the day of the election, no one knew who would win, and it was a 3 way contest.  Reagan won by 10 points, won 44 states including Calif, NY, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, etc, every state west of Georgia except MN.

Trump has an excellent pre covid, 3 year record, he is the hero of half of the R party, BUT he doesn't have the disposition to win over the rest.

While we look for 60-40 issues to emphasize, we are finding 70-30 issues and better, the border, inflation, the economy.  Yet we head down a path that says we do no better than 50-50, and the tie goes to who best controls the media and the vote harvesting.

Even the mess in the House tied back to Trump.

[ccp]

" - As I read that I think of the Georgia elections last 3 times where we lost the Presidency and the Senate in a (formerly?) red Republican state, (Republicans won every other race) and I think of Lucy holding the football and we are Charlie Brown, America's favorite but not exactly a winner."


agree with all you said.

we really need to win the Senate and increase lead in Congress as well as we all know.

recent history does not bode well for that if we look at last 3 elections

and I think it at least in part due to Trump (and McConnell)

so far the mid east situation has done nothing for Biden's poll numbers

wondering if it proliferates what would that mean for him.

perhaps people will rally around the war president perhaps he will get blame - I have no idea

thinking back in history have we ever had war president voted out?

Roosevelt died few months before end of war

LBJ resigned but good chance he would have lost if he did not.

Reagan survived Grenada  / and Lebanon bombing both 40 yrs ago 1983.

[DougMacG]

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/11/us/politics/trump-netanyahu-israel.html

Criticizes Israel just days after the attacks began.

[ccp]

NYT blocked

[Crafty_Dog]

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/longtime-desantis-ally-flips-to-trump-over-israel-issue-never-let-us-down-5516491?utm_source=Goodevening&src_src=Goodevening&utm_campaign=gv-2023-10-25&src_cmp=gv-2023-10-25&utm_medium=email&cta_utm_source=Goodevening&est=ENaJNRuSIqR4y6oT6JlaEX%2FQbhReENOmWNdtlh2UiPZFO9gIFt%2Fyx%2FaPom1ZHBI6FqnZ

[DougMacG]

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/11/us/politics/trump-netanyahu-israel.html

Criticizes Israel just days after the attacks began.

"Paywall blocked"


Trump Criticizes Netanyahu and Israeli Intelligence in Florida Speech
The attacks were a major focus of Mr. Trump’s remarks to a crowd of superfans in his home state, which has a significant number of Jewish voters.

Donald Trump, wearing a suit and red tie, standing on a stage with a black background.
Donald Trump mixed his usual stump speech with a focus on Israel in remarks to supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
Michael Gold
By Michael Gold
Reporting from West Palm Beach, Fla.

Oct. 11, 2023
Former President Donald J. Trump, who frequently paints himself as the fiercest defender of Israel to ever occupy the White House, on Wednesday criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a speech in Florida just days after deadly Hamas attacks rocked the country.

Speaking to a crowd of supporters in West Palm Beach, a few miles from his residence at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump related a story he said he had never told about Israel’s role in the killing of Iran’s top security and intelligence commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, by an American drone strike in 2020.

Mr. Trump said that Israel had been working with the United States on a plan for the attack, but that he had received a call shortly beforehand to let him know that Israel would not take part. The United States proceeded anyway.

“But I’ll never forget,” Mr. Trump said. “I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down. That was a very terrible thing.”

He then criticized Israeli intelligence, pointing in part to failures to anticipate and stop Hamas, the Islamic militant group, from executing such a large-scale and devastating attack. “They’ve got to straighten it out,” Mr. Trump said.

At the same time, Mr. Trump, who frequently paints himself as a staunch ally of Israel, vowed that he would “fully support” the country in its war against Hamas.

The attacks were a major focus of Mr. Trump’s remarks in Florida, which is home to a significant number of Jewish voters. As he has recently, Mr. Trump attacked President Biden, blaming him for the assault and repeating a falsehood about U.S. funds to Iran, a longtime backer of Hamas. He also repeated his suggestion that the bloodshed would not have happened if he were president.

But, in a new flourish, Mr. Trump then tied the current conflict to his conspiracy theories and lies about the 2020 election.

“If the election wasn’t rigged,” he said, “there would be nobody even thinking about going into Israel.”

Mr. Trump also appeared to blame the Biden administration for clashes on Israel’s northern border, which the former president attributed to Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed militant organization in Lebanon committed to the destruction of the Jewish state. He then repeatedly called Hezbollah “very smart.”

Mr. Trump’s appearance in West Palm Beach marked a bit of a homecoming. He has held a flurry of campaign events in Iowa and New Hampshire, and last week, he traveled to New York to attend a civil fraud trial he faces there.

In Florida, he spoke at a convention center for a meeting hosted by Club 47 USA, which describes itself as the largest pro-Trump club in America and a “corporation formed to support” the former president’s agenda.

The friendly crowd, Mr. Trump said, accounted for his decision to recount the story about the strike against Mr. Suleimani. “Nobody’s heard this story before,” he said. “But I’d like to tell it to Club 47, because you’ve been so loyal.”

Mr. Netanyahu commended Mr. Trump at the time. But some in Israel were more muted, wary that Iran might retaliate against Israel for the American attack.

Mr. Trump has been critical of Mr. Netanyahu before, telling the Axios reporter Barak Ravid that he was particularly incensed after the prime minister congratulated Mr. Biden for his 2020 election victory.

Mr. Trump also criticized Mr. Netanyahu in a Fox News Radio interview that is expected to air on Thursday. In a clip from that interview that aired on television on Wednesday, Mr. Trump said that Mr. Netanyahu “was not prepared and Israel was not prepared.”

He again suggested Israeli intelligence had been deficient, saying, “Thousands of people knew about it and they let this slip by. ”

Mr. Trump’s remarks in Florida drew near-immediate criticism from the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, his closest rival in the primary.

“Terrorists have murdered at least 1,200 Israelis and 22 Americans and are holding more hostage, so it is absurd that anyone, much less someone running for President, would choose now to attack our friend and ally, Israel, much less praise Hezbollah terrorists as ‘very smart.’” Mr. DeSantis said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

More at link.  Paywall blocked.

[DougMacG]

Remember Eugene McCarthy, 1968.  He didn't win NH but he shook up the race.

Look for Dean Phillips to get in.

Who, you ask...

And he will win more votes than RFKjr would have.

[ccp]

" Former President Donald J. Trump, who frequently paints himself as the fiercest defender of Israel to ever occupy the White House, on Wednesday criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a speech in Florida just days after deadly Hamas attacks rocked the country."

I am not totally against criticism of Ben but better to do in private - especially with an ongoing war.

That said it always one way with Trump.

He uses his giant mouth to criticize anyone and everyone who in some way irritates him

BUT IS A PUSSY WHEN SOMEONE CRITCIZES HIM!

jack ass.

[ccp]

one would think we could have a candidate who would trounce Biden but no of course not 

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/

of course ,polls especially this long out mean very little but this is not encouraging

if we can't win with a blow out this time we never will.

[ccp]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/backlash-after-nbc-taps-lester-holt-kristen-welker-to-moderate-republican-debate-absolute-insanity/ar-AA1iU7ai?ocid=msedgntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=f82007e05dac4812a03eaa8b8ca349e6&ei=10

however the Fox debates were lousy too

[DougMacG]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/backlash-after-nbc-taps-lester-holt-kristen-welker-to-moderate-republican-debate-absolute-insanity/ar-AA1iU7ai?ocid=msedgntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=f82007e05dac4812a03eaa8b8ca349e6&ei=10

however the Fox debates were lousy too

I like Hugh Hewitt, their token conservative.  I don't agree with him on everything but he is very good. He's the one who got Trump with the nuclear triad question 8 years ago, and got pounded back for it.

Regarding the other two, it's a Republican debate, they can do their job or expose their bias.  People like DeSantis and Haley can handle their 'mainstream' questions fine, or at least they need to. 

Trump should join in.  What is he afraid of, a Biden like screw up?  Having to do the hard work of preparing? 

DeSantis teased him on this, a sense of entitlement, lost a little zip on the fast ball. 

Trump says RD is falling like a dead bird in the sky, but I'll bet he hates having a little banter thrown back at him.

40-50 point lead and he's afraid of blowing it.  Like a typical MN sports team, he's going to play 'prevent defense' all the way into the playoffs and then blow the big one, again.

He's upside down in his approvals and he has a chance to go on prime time with Lester Holt and his top challengers, quadruple the audience and hit it out of the park.  But no... like Biden, an old guys can't overrule his advisors?  Wait a year, literally through trials, to face the public?  Good luck with that.

[DougMacG]

Calling Gavin, can you pick up the phone! One day left to file in NH?

Biden's Approval Rating Among Dems Drops 11 Points in One Month

https://www.axios.com/2023/10/26/biden-approval-rating-democrats-israel-gaza

It's hard to juggle the interests of the Hamas wing of the Dem party with the interests of the American wing.

[DougMacG]

You heard it here first.
https://firehydrantoffreedom.com/index.php?topic=2752.msg163731#msg163731

Yes, Dean Phillips is in.  Who?

Longshot?  Why?  He votes Left like Nancy Pelisi, he speaks moderate, was adopted into a silver spoon, is one of the richest members of Congress, and unlike failing Joe he is upright most of the day and likely to stay that way through November and beyond.

If you are a Democrat, switch horses. If you are a Republican, be scared.  He can reach to the middle way better than slow Joe.

https://m.startribune.com/democratic-u-s-rep-dean-phillips-launches-longshot-bid-for-presidency/600315200/
From the article, "his political differences from Biden are slim to none and the Minnesotan has backed Biden's work as president."

Who actually thinks NH Democrats will hear smooth Dean, in person, and choose Absent Joe?  Out of what, loyalty?  Economic record?  World peace? The belief he can beat Trump?  How?  From the basement again?

Oops, Slow Joe isn't on the ballot in NH (and neither of them will carry SC).  Go figure.

Gavin won't jump in (yet) because (Obama and the machine) advisors make those decisions.

Both parties better wake up.

Phillips has one problem that Newsom and Biden also have, how to separate from the awful record of Joe Biden. Like Bernie, he supports the "good" kind of socialism?
---------
Speaking of the Dem machine, NY Times has 50 stories online and no mention of Dean Phillips. NH paper doesn't have the announcement yet either, I guess the campaign isn't fully up to speed yet.
https://www.unionleader.com/

CBS has it,
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/minnesota/news/who-is-dean-phillips-minnesota-representative-democrat-joe-biden-2024-presidential-election/
"I think President Biden has done a spectacular job for our country," Phillips said. "

[ccp]

some stuff on Dean Philips

He labels himself a moderate Dem like you say, but he is a Jewish Democrat (meaning hard core Democrat "his whole life")
Brown University (strike against him)
Stepson of Dear Abby
has conservative review liberty score of ***2%***!
George McGovern (along with MLK Jr) was a role model
calls Joe Biden "a wonderful and remarkable man"

he is no "moderate" as Doug implies.

https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=dean+philipps+youtube++announcement&mid=6963B3A2ED022042A4CB6963B3A2ED022042A4CB&FORM=VIRE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Phillips

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/27/dean-phillips-presidential-campaign-2024-00123919

OTOH Biden's approval rating :

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president-biden-job-approval-7320.html#!

[DougMacG]

Right.  He is no moderate.  He speaks moderate.

They didn't mention that the Republican he took out was the Chairman of the Ways and Means committee.

Our district ( MN-3, west suburbs of Mpls) was Republican for all my life until 2018.  Rich suburbs had already flipped liberal for Obama, and then with Trump we lost them all. 2018 was also the midterm under them Mueller cloud. 

Phillips opponent was an anti-trump Republican but that was of no matter in that political environment.  Now our district is gone permanently.

Phillips didn't live in the district but he can buy a home anywhere. He speaks the suburban political language and that is where these elections are now fought, the suburbs of Milwaukee, the suburbs of Atlanta, the suburbs of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh , the suburbs of Phoenix, the suburbs of Las Vegas, the suburbs of Detroit.

I have a bad feeling about all this. His own people put "long shot" in the headline. All he can do it at this point is surpass expectations.  The resistance of the democratic establishment only helps him out there in the cafes and the town halls. He'll be the best listener you ever saw.

Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, they were not listeners, they were not "problem solvers".  Bill Clinton felt your pain like no one else.  He served two terms. What were his core principles? Nobody knows.

Trump dodges debates and Biden dodges being president, while Phillips is just a simple (trust fund baby) man of the people.  He inherited two and a half times more than Trump did.

One question before we close this out:

Hey Dean, name one problem you ever solved?

[ccp]

" Trump dodges debates and Biden dodges being president "

Trump campaign:

Scowl for the cameras

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=trump%20scowl%20%20images&qs=n&form=QBIR&sp=-1&lq=0&pq=trump%20scowl%20%20images&sc=0-19&cvid=7C7BDB73960842D5850264A551C4C2BD&ghsh=0&ghacc=0&first=1

Certainly the LEFT has boxed him into this position but that does not help us get more than the MAGA heads .....

[Crafty_Dog]

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/president-trump-vows-to-protect-israel-us-jews-from-antisemitic-maniacs-5518841?utm_source=News&src_src=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2023-10-29-2&src_cmp=breaking-2023-10-29-2&utm_medium=email&est=rgNvBobdTyVujGfZLVDsz%2BxP0XjZQycAl8oXxnQjo%2BhBluLLYMSr1RO8YqhyawGFdg%2Fv

[DougMacG]

Tim Alberta has a nice story on Dean Phillips, Den Phillips has a warning for Democrats, Trump is going to beat Biden.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/dean-phillips-has-a-warning-for-democrats/ar-AA1iX0dQ

(Doug) has a warning for Dean Phillips.  Age isn't why Voters think we are on the wrong path 77-17:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2023/10/27/battleground_state_independents_reject_biden_on_economy__149973.html

It's the policies stupid, that Dean Phillips voted for 100%.

[ccp]

" It's the policies stupid, that Dean Phillips voted for 100%."

didn't he call Biden a "wonderful and remarkable man" 

the Dem line jornolister/nonsense line is to state what a great job Biden did but he is a teensie weensie too old

 

[DougMacG]

I've been on the parallels of Bidenomics to Carter stagnation.  Josh Krashaar points out the connection to Carter's foreign policy woes.

https://www.axios.com/2023/10/29/biden-israel-war-jimmy-carter

[DougMacG]

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/10/30/joe-bidens-big-new-hampshire-blunder-00124145
------------
(Doug). New Hampshire is a potential swing state. South Carolina is not.

Joe Biden will try to explain from the bully pulpit if he can find it how New Hampshire isn't a real primary anymore after 120 years because he says it isn't and he is the establishment and the power and the glory amen, while trying not to drool.

New Hampshire is a real primary and Joe Biden is not on the ballot. Pretty easy name to spell on a write in. Murkowski won in Alaska. He will get enough write in votes to authenticate his loss.

The 'machine' never should have let the Philips train start rolling.

[Crafty_Dog]

https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/10/why-nikki-haley-is-gaining-in-iowa/

[Body-by-Guinness]

All I can figure is that this level of snark and angst can only be inspired by the concern so feeble an opposition might reveal what a husk of a candidate Biden truly is:

https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2023/10/30/dems-are-freaking-out-over-this-little-known-minnesota-congresscritter-n4923449

[Crafty_Dog]

I see that in Iowa both DeSantis and Haley are 16% each and that Trump is 43%.  The article showed that many are not locked into their current first choice and that Haley is moving up (10%?!?) whereas DeSantis is not. 

Here is another way of looking at it:  DeSantis-Haley are 32% and that Trump is 43%, i.e. a 11% lead, which at this point is not definitive-- and we have yet to account for the minor players.   The article made the point that DeSantis is playing for the Trump vote and Haley for the anti-Trump vote.  Restated, whether it becomes Trump or DeSantis, between them the MAGA vote is 58%.

[DougMacG]

All I can figure is that this level of snark and angst can only be inspired by the concern so feeble an opposition might reveal what a husk of a candidate Biden truly is:

https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2023/10/30/dems-are-freaking-out-over-this-little-known-minnesota-congresscritter-n4923449

Both Trump and Biden and their supporters are looking VERY insecure this primary season considering what leads they are purported to have.

One of my Dem buddies is a big financial backer of Dean Phillips, as if he needed one, and I'm already bugging him  about getting "us" a tour of the Phillips White House.

I joke only slightly.  I think the race for second place on both sides is extremely relevant at this point with such old, flawed and troubled frontrunners.

The Republican oversight committee lhas the goods on Joe and Trump is up to his eyeballs in court appearances that are 99% BS but only one has to stick.

Trump has had a life of good health but is a walking risk group and Biden is way past health risk.

Even Kirk Cousins needs a back up.

[Crafty_Dog]

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/florida-sen-rick-scott-endorses-trump-in-2024-race-5522330?utm_source=News&src_src=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2023-11-03-2&src_cmp=breaking-2023-11-03-2&utm_medium=email&est=L%2BhC583CnFiCn%2FYhoLBDlXUp7D7xREgMo53wJfFPfq1yq6sPme0%2Ben2riBETJ2Kp8Xpi

[DougMacG]

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/florida-sen-rick-scott-endorses-trump-in-2024-race-5522330?utm_source=News&src_src=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2023-11-03-2&src_cmp=breaking-2023-11-03-2&utm_medium=email&est=L%2BhC583CnFiCn%2FYhoLBDlXUp7D7xREgMo53wJfFPfq1yq6sPme0%2Ben2riBETJ2Kp8Xpi

I wonder when the last time was that people felt we had the best candidate possible from both sides, Reagan and Mondale?

I don't get what is happening right now but I can read polls and so can Rick Scott.

DeSantis is still winning the race for second place but if something happens to Trump, his supporters won't forgive DeSantis for running against him .

[ccp]

"I wonder when the last time was that people felt we had the best candidate possible from both sides, Reagan and Mondale?"

IS THERE NO ONE ELSE??!!!!

https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=troy+is+there+no+one+else&mid=A5E11413C996A8738E38A5E11413C996A8738E38&FORM=VIRE

ME:

IF ONLY THERE WAS SOMEONE ELSE!!!

[Crafty_Dog]

For Nikki Haley, Opportunity Knocks Again
She has a knack for being in the right place at the right time—and, more important, for making the most of her good luck.
By
Barton Swaim
Follow
Nov. 3, 2023 5:14 pm ET




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Nikki Haley speaks at Poor Boy’s Diner in Londonderry, N.H., Nov. 2. PHOTO: BARTON SWAIM
Manchester, N.H.

You might say Nikki Haley has an exceptional sense of timing, or that she possesses the most valuable political gift of all: luck. That’s not to diminish the former South Carolina governor’s political skill or competence; it’s to point out that at crucial moments in her career, things have gone her way—either because she took the right opportunities at the right time, or because those opportunities fell into her lap, or both. Probably both.

Things are trending her way again. In February, when Ms. Haley announced her campaign for the presidency, not much happened. Six months later at the first GOP presidential debate, she acquitted herself well by all accounts. Then, after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, the nation, and the Republican Party, turned its attention to global affairs. Ms. Haley served as United Nations ambassador during the first two years of Donald Trump’s presidency, giving her more foreign-policy experience than any Republican candidate except Mike Pence, who last weekend suspended his campaign. Another capable performance at the third GOP debate on Wednesday night—in which the front-runner, Mr. Trump, again isn’t participating—would likely move things further in her direction.

It’s not simply a matter of her résumé. Ms. Haley, 51, is the only candidate in the GOP race who can articulate a hawkish Reaganite vision of global American leadership. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, by far the most accomplished executive in the race, zigs and zags on matters of foreign policy. Vivek Ramaswamy enunciates a cerebral albeit less-than-coherent version of Mr. Trump’s semi-isolationism. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott speaks with conviction only about domestic affairs. That leaves Ms. Haley. “A strong America doesn’t start wars,” she said on Monday at the South Carolina State House in Columbia. “A strong America prevents wars, and we have to start being a strong and proud America again.”

Ms. Haley polls second only to Mr. Trump in New Hampshire and South Carolina. The latest data out of Iowa, where Mr. DeSantis has spent the bulk of his time and money, has Ms. Haley tied with the Florida governor. A third-place finish for him would likely end his campaign.

At the State House, where she filed officially as a candidate in the Feb. 24 primary, Ms. Haley was introduced by three allies who’d backed her since her improbable run for governor in 2010: state Rep. Nathan Ballentine, state Sen. Tom Davis and U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman. In her speech, Ms. Haley called them “three very lucky charms,” and said they don’t care about polls but “about being in the right place at the right time.”

One of them, Mr. Davis, served as chief of staff to Ms. Haley’s predecessor, Gov. Mark Sanford, for whom I also worked from 2007 to 2011. Mr. Sanford cared immensely about policies and the principles behind them; Ms. Haley, less so. She often seemed more interested in boosterism, relentlessly touting economic-development announcements and requiring cabinet agencies to answer the phone with the words “It’s a great day in South Carolina.”

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I asked Mr. Davis what he’d seen in her back in 2010 and why he supported her presidential bid now. “There’s something about her demeanor, her confidence, her ability to communicate,” he said, noting dryly that some of his Senate colleagues put a single-serve box of Lucky Charms on his desk after that press event. “There’s something you sense about her. It sounds trite to say it, but Nikki’s got ‘it,’ whatever ‘it’ is. You can’t tie it back to a set of policies or a set of ideas. Ideas and policies, those excite me and you. But I can recognize a political talent when I see it. And there’s something about Nikki—she has this ability to size up a situation and capitalize on it. I think that’s executive leadership.”

I might call it an ability to take advantage of political opportunity. In 2010 Ms. Haley, a state representative, was trailing a U.S. congressman, the attorney general and the lieutenant governor for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. Sarah Palin, at the height of her short-lived political power, endorsed her in a rally on the State House grounds. I was there—it was an electrifying moment in a state that had never had a female governor. Ms. Haley shot to the top, made effective use of the girl-power theme without overdoing it, and never looked back. She won handily in November.

Ms. Haley is often and fairly credited with removing the Confederate flag from the State House grounds. A 1996 compromise had moved it from atop the capitol to a spot near a Confederate monument. After a white racist psychopath murdered nine black Charleston churchgoers in June 2015, the desire to remove the flag altogether was overwhelming and bipartisan. To her credit, the governor oversaw the ceremonies remembering the dead and removing the flag with dignity. She managed to show the right level of emotion without seeming to perform, and she called, appropriately, for the killer to be sentenced to death, which he was.

In her second memoir, “With All Due Respect,” Ms. Haley claims that she had come into office in 2011 intending to remove the flag. “I made a point, early on,” she writes, “of talking to both Republicans and Democrats to see if there was the political will to take the flag down once and for all. Members of both parties pushed back against the idea.” That may be true. But in an October 2014 debate—eight months before the murders—she dismissed her Democratic challenger’s suggestion that the flag be removed. “I spend a lot of my days on the phone with CEOs and recruiting jobs to this state,” she said. “I can honestly say I have not had one conversation with a single CEO about the Confederate flag.”

That her years as governor are remembered in the mainstream press entirely for bringing down the flag, and not at all for dismissing the idea of its removal, is a feat of good fortune no other Republican would have managed.

[ccp]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/former-obama-strategist-wonders-if-biden-should-stay-in-presidential-race/ar-AA1jqodt?ocid=msedgntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=4f19148a149b43d0b08f69973fd52f1d&ei=24

what legitimate concerns?

I am confused.

We keep hearing from the Dems that Joe is a good and honorable man who has done a fabulous job.

So what more do the Dems Need Axel ROD!?

I know, it is the message not the policies . 

[ccp]

https://thehill.com/opinion/4288198-biden-2-0-expect-a-more-aggressively-left-wing-second-term/

[ccp]

Biden vote for me or you will get Trump

Phillips vote for me or you will get Biden

Harris vote for me or you wil not be able to get abortion, blacks will not be able to vote, we will not be able to address the root source of immigration

Trump vote for me or you get Bidenomics (good) but then you will have to suffer with my personality and annoying antics and BS along the way

All the other Republicans - vote for me or you will get Biden/Harris/ or Trump


The voters -> they all suck!

[Crafty_Dog]

I disagree, but post it anyway:

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-case-for-nikki-haley/

[ccp]

Maddows:

if Trump convicted his lead turns to losses in all the swing districts he was supposedly ahead in NYT poll

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/rachel-maddow-brings-up-poll-numbers-ignored-by-people-worried-donald-trump-will-win-in-2024/ar-AA1jxugI?ocid=msedgntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=3dcdfef7435b44c9baf4a77292ca9070&ei=9

Andy on , I think Travis radio yesterday :

I don't recall all the details but he thinks Trump has no chance of winning and the NYT is suspect not only because anything political coming from them is,
but also because the LEFT wants DJT to be nominee.

Andy states the DC case is much more of a threat to DJT since it is IN DC and jury will be out to get Trump as is the judge.
He points out that while some legal analysts point out the Florida case is more of a threat it is as a matter of fact under the jurisdiction of a favorable judge and jury and is thus less of  a threat of conviction then DC .

On CNN last night someone pointed out again what we already know - Trump has a "ceiling" problem. Dems ready to pounce on this.
The DNC lawyer mob fighting him on that front will get a conviction , perhaps just prior to the election and flip the poll favorability numbers

MAGAs blind to all this or whatever, will support Trump regardless.

On the point does Andy think Biden will not be nominee he was less sure but seemed, like me to think he will not be.

[Crafty_Dog]

Interesting point by Rachel!

I would add the distinction between Federal and State charges-- even if he wins, Trump cannot pardon himself for a State conviction.

[DougMacG]

I voted today.  Walked in and the first thing they told me was I could put my ID away, they won't be using that.

Looks like everything I cared about locally and across the country lost and lost by wide margins. .

[DougMacG]

Diane Feinstein, Joe Biden, Mitch McConnell, I'm no doctor but I know when people look like they're on their last breath. Oops one of them is gone.  As conservatives we have very little say in what happens next in this country, but the Governor of a "red state" picks who will replace Mitch McConnell and we just lost that race by 10 points.

 https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/why-andy-beshears-victory-is-a-bad-omen-for-republicans/ar-AA1jz66P

Control of the US Senate is crucial and we of course have no chance in Calif etc but we keep losing in Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, even Ohio, now Kentucky?

But I keep seeing polls showing Biden upside down and Trump leading all over.  I don't know what the trick is there but if you want to know the real value of something, attach it to a deposit slip, hand it to a bank teller and see how much money they ring up in your account.

Two good polls lately, as they say, that and a quarter won't buy a cup of coffee.

This is the era of Trump, he is the de facto leader of the party, what did he do to swing the elections in Kentucky, Virginia, Ohio?  We know swung the Senate elections in Georgia, twice times two, four critical races lost recently there while Kemp and others win.
 
But Trump, he gets anointed, doesn't have to campaign or debate. Because he is SO good.

Is anybody else getting sick of losing?

This isn't some silly team sport we're talking about.  This is our country, our civilization, our world we are screwing up.

[ccp]

The lib sites are all over this this AM .

NYT WP NEWSWeek PBS NPR CNN MSDNC etc

I don't trust their take on the outcome.

 On a quick search I do not see any conservative sources yet who are trying to break it down

We will see in the next couple of days, I guess.

I thought Youngkin addressing the abortion situation with recommending a 15 week with exceptions was a good compromise.
I don't know if that is why we lost in VA or not, but if it was abortion as the reason this compromise did not work.
On fox last night was Hilton bashing Youngkin for making abortion an important topic claiming he should have ignored it. Jason Chaffin disagreed as I had. 
Is ignoring a topic because Republicans poll poorly a good strategy? Such as Climate change. We don't have to make it front and center but totally ignoring does not seem logical .  OTOH many voters are not logical they vote for their wallets and hearts.

I know abortion is a topic close to your heart.
Maybe or maybe not that made the difference.
I don't know.
But if even a 15 week compromise can't win on this issue then I don't how to reach the girlies on this at all.

Some state lower races do not always correlate well with national polls.

We lost governor in Ky but won sec of state and AG in Kentucky -
We did win MS governor.

[DougMacG]

"We lost governor in Ky but won sec of state and AG in Kentucky..."


  - Which proves it is a 'red state', but it's the Governor who will have a say in which party controls the US Senate for the 6 years or more.

We are out spent and out-messaged in every race while party officials sit on their fat salaries.  Why isn't Ronna McDaniel fired this morning?  Why isn't NBC fired and the debate moved?  Why isn't debating a requirement for party endorsement?  Why haven't they found a way to raise money like the other party, found a way to put out a message?, found a way to clean up the elections?

We aren't even rearranging deck chairs on this sinking ship.

[Crafty_Dog]

"but the Governor of a "red state" picks who will replace Mitch McConnell and we just lost that race by 10 points."

Fk.

[ccp]

"but the Governor of a "red state" picks who will replace Mitch McConnell and we just lost that race by 10 points."

 

can the old crow make it to '26?  as bad as he is he is still better than a crat.

[Crafty_Dog]

renthood
Recapping election results in Kentucky, Virginia, and Ohio, it's clear the Republican Party struggled.

Nate Jackson


Republicans have a problem connecting with voters on some big cultural issues. Most conservatives see major problems running rampant in our society, and we see that one party is disproportionately responsible. So why does that party keep winning?

Abortion kills perhaps as many as a million American children each year — wildly more than any other cause, including the Democrat bugaboo of "gun violence." Yet Democrats demand abortion policies as permissive as those of only a few socialist/communist countries in the world, and they won at the ballot box yesterday.

Democrat Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is going to get a lot of attention from the national party as a rising national star after winning reelection in his deep-red state. He won primarily by being a left-winger who convinced voters he's not certifiably insane. He distanced himself from Joe Biden and he focused on state issues — most of which exhibited that he actually is far more competent and likable than Biden. The state is growing economically, even as voters struggle with the inflation Beshear's party caused. Voters approved of the way the governor handled natural disasters like floods and tornadoes, and even when it came to not-so-natural ones like COVID, voters at least declined to punish Beshear for typical Democrat tyranny.

Arguably, Beshear's key to victory was using abortion to his advantage, painting his opponent, state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, as an "extremist" and himself as a protector of limited government. Yet Beshear is the social extremist, having vetoed a GOP bill banning so-called "gender-affirming care" for children.

It shouldn't go without mentioning that Cameron was repeatedly cast as the "protégé" of Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, who bears the distinction of being the least popular politician in America. Clearly, McConnell should be thinking about retiring, not picking the next generation of leaders.

Then again, Cameron's closing argument was that he was endorsed by Donald Trump, who boasted that Cameron is his guy, "not really 'a McConnell guy.'"

For what it's worth, McConnell last won in 2020 with nearly 58% of the vote. Trump won Kentucky in 2020 with 62%.

Overall, many of the same dynamics played out in neighboring Virginia, where Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin suffered a setback by not only failing to help his party take the state Senate but by losing the state House the GOP had won back in 2021. That said, it wasn't a disaster, either. Virginia Republicans lost three House seats and sit at a 49-51 minority, all while gaining a seat in the Senate.

Youngkin has been floated by some GOPers desperate for a viable challenger to Trump for the presidential nomination as a late-entering savior. Yesterday's results will likely put that idea to rest. Virginia voters like Youngkin and he may still have a national future, but a state that is dominated by the suburbs of Washington, DC, declined to give him and his party unified control in Richmond. That will hamper his agenda for the next two years and likely lower his profile unless he can effectively govern with a bipartisan coalition. Moreover, given that Virginia also often serves as a bellwether a year ahead of national elections, yesterday's results bode ill for the GOP in 2024.

A side note about Virginia state races. Democrat Susanna Gibson became famous by soliciting donations for live-streaming sex with her husband and then having the chutzpah to decry the publicity as "an illegal invasion of my privacy designed to humiliate me." She is currently trailing her Republican opponent in a race for a state House seat, which at least would be a minor defeat for pornography and a victory for those who want to keep her bedroom out of government.

Finally, back to abortion, Ohio voters overwhelmingly passed Issue 1, a constitutional amendment codifying the "right" to abortion, and the result wasn't even close. Ohio backed Trump by eight points, and the abortion amendment succeeded by 12 points yesterday. Democrats successfully turned their extremist position into one of limited government, and Ohio voters went for it, just as voters have in similar ballot issues in six other states after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

The ugly reality in Ohio is that the language of Issue 1 endangers all children, not just those in the womb. It establishes "an individual right to one's own reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion." That opens the door for medical mutilation on the gender front. And because it's now enshrined in the state constitution, legislators will have little wiggle room in the future.

Planned Parenthood's butchers are rejoicing at the newly secured revenue streams, which is why the company and numerous other out-of-state actors spent so heavily to win.

Voters in Ohio also approved Issue 2, which legalizes pot in the state and — sarcasm alert — should really help the mental capacity of voters in the future.

What connects all the dots here? Democrats are master manipulators of voter emotions. Democrats want to kill children in the womb and groom and mutilate them once out of it. Yet these members of the Party of Big Government are successfully framing both issues as keeping government out of decisions made at home. They are casting Republicans as power-hungry prudes who want to take control of people's intimate decisions. The emotional appeal — especially to women voters — is incredibly strong.

Exit question: Where's "keep the government out of my bedroom" during Pride Month?

[Crafty_Dog]

second

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/takeaways-from-tuesdays-elections-5519511?utm_source=News&src_src=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2023-11-08-2&src_cmp=breaking-2023-11-08-2&utm_medium=email&est=KFxoaecy9OoMbF17w2AgGyAbR2Ny3fowpiq9f0G86Obhbtu9ZBqe20rfhymEpRMjweyb