[VIDEO] Carly Fiorina Rejects Debate Criteria: CNN "Putting Their Thumb On The Scale"

The next GOP debate is on CNN on September 16, but Carly Fiorina may not be on the stage, since CNN has decided to average polls since July, rather than using a more recent measure (like the RCP average).

CARLY FIORINA: It is frustrating to show the least that CNN is putting their thumb on the scale. 

I am also cofortably within the top five in virtually every statewide poll that has been taken since [the last] debate... It is pretty frustrating that a media company, through its rules, would try to decide who Republican primary voters get to see on that debate stage.

Via: Real Clear Politics

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[FLASHBACK] TRUMP’S NO CHUMP (FROM FEBRUARY 2000)

(This review is taken from The American Spectator’s February 2000 issue.)

The America We Deserve
Donald J. Trump with Dave Shiflett
Renaissance Books / 286 pages / $24.95

Reviewed by Dave Shiflett

Editors’ note: No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you: This review is indeed written by the writer who co-wrote the book under review. The age of New Politics demands new approaches. So enjoy this New Review.

President Trump—now there’s a bold concept for this new millennium.

It’s not for everyone. Donald J. Trump, the nation’s most flamboyant billionaire, has deeply alarmed the political class by threatening to wade into its most sacred process and buy its most exalted office-without its permission! Politics Inc. is outraged. Murdoch’s BeltwayStandard goes so far as to call Trump a chump—on its front page! Other Toadtown analysts, including the Washington Post’s fashion writer, insist the man has no substance.

But Trump has a great deal of substance—about $5 billion worth—and says he may be willing to spend $100 million to convince America that what it really needs is a real estate guy in its top political job. His budding relationship with politics also reflects the workings of a very canny political mind. A plurality of voters are now independent of party loyalty. Trump is independent—both of party and of financial worry. Or, as he puts it, Trump has one financial backer: Trump. And so this most independent of men is courting a nation increasingly populated by political individualists. It could be a potent equation.

So what’s the deal with Trump? In The American Spectator’stime-honored tradition of investigative journalism, we have looked beyond the glitter and gab to get the true picture of the man. In fact, it can be rightly said that we have written the book on Trump—and in this reviewer’s opinion it’s a pretty good read. Indeed, if America begins choosing its presidents according to the quality of the books they produce, Donald Trump will coast into that somewhat smallish white rambler on Pennsylvania Avenue.

The competition shall be trashed in due time. But first, in the service of history, it is important to chronicle how Trump’s latest book, The America We Deserve, came into being. Apparently by late 1998, Trump—from this point on, let me call him Mr. Trump—had become convinced that the time might be right for a run at the presidency. His name had been bandied about before; fellow New Yorkers had asked him to consider running for that city’s mayorship, or for governor. But why go for peanuts when the presidency, brought to a low state by Bill Clinton, is on the block?

Reviewing his assets, Mr. Trump found he held commanding leads in vital areas: money, name recognition (or, as it is more properly called, celebrity), youth, a mailing list of 6.5 million people, and chicks so beautiful they could raise the sap in a piano leg. He had some hopes and fears about America, and the suspicion that he was at least as competent to head the government as Clinton. All he needed was someone to help him put his bid to prose.

“Who is the most eminent hack writer in America?” Mr. Trump is said to have asked his pin-striped aide, Roger Stone. “I’ll make a few calls,” the latter is reported to have replied.

Soon enough, one of the great collaborative literary efforts of the modern era was born—the perfect union between a man of high achievement and a hack writer who, according to close friends, would write his own mother’s death warrant for a quarter a word. (Like Mr. Trump, this hack sometimes refers to himself in the third person.)

The first meeting between the two took place last spring in Mr. Trump’s 26th Floor Manhattan office, a Krugerrand’s toss from Central Park. Mr. Trump laid out his vision as his hack took furious notes. Occasionally the phone would ring and Mr. Trump would discuss the ups and downs of his fabled life. At one point, the name Bianca floated through the office like a gossamer-winged succubus. “This guy makes Warren Beatty look like a monk,” the hack marveled to himself.

But the most riveting moment came when Mr. Trump suddenly took on a far-away look while recalling a warning his uncle had given him while Mr. Trump was still a boy. His uncle, an MIT professor, foresaw the day of miniaturized weapons. “One day,” Mr. Trump quoted him, “somebody will be able to detonate a suitcase-sized bomb in Manhattan that will flatten the entire city.” Thus was born what is perhaps the most mesmerizing chapter in TAWD—one in which, among other things, Mr. Trump warns that under his presidency, North Korea could experience some live-ammo discipline.

But there are many other great chapters.

In fact, as any reader will be forced to admit, the book shows Mr. Trump to be a sensible and erudite fellow. What’s more, it provides the clearest exploration of America’s New Politics, which can be understood as the attempt by a highly diverse voter coalition to achieve a thoroughly American purpose: Throw the bums out. And in this case, put a rich guy in.

Via: American Spectator

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FULL INTERVIEW OF DONALD TRUMP BY SARAH PALIN!!!

The Donald was interviewed by conservative favorite Sarah Palin on the One America News network and we got it just for you!!!

Via: The Right Scoop

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Thanks to Judge Erickson for curtailing the EPA

President Obama's latest case of executive overreach has hit a wall: Judge Erickson.

A federal judge in North Dakota acted late on Thursday to block the Obama administration’s controversial water pollution rule, hours before it was due to take effect. 

Judge Ralph Erickson of the District Court for the District of North Dakota found that the 13 states suing to block the rule met the conditions necessary for a preliminary injunction, including that they would likely be harmed if courts didn't act and that they are likely to succeed when their underlying lawsuit against the rule is decided. 

The decision is a major roadblock for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers, who were planning on Friday to begin enforcing the Waters of the United States rule, expanding federal jurisdiction over small waterways, like streams and wetlands.

The EPA has turned into President Obama's favorite agency.  The EPA is out of control, as many businessmen will tell you.

More important, the EPA is exhibit A of how President Obama goes around Congress or simply governs without Congress.

As with the immigration order halted by a Texas judge, President Obama is learning that it's tough to govern on a unilateral basis.  In other words, sooner or later you will run into a judge who understands the U.S. Constitution.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

Via: American Thinker

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FBI ‘A-TEAM’ INVESTIGATING HILLARY CLINTON’S EMAIL CASE

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has put its “A-Team” of investigators on the Hillary Clinton email case to find out if Clinton violated a key section of the federal Espionage Act.

FBI investigators are determining whether Clinton violated 18 US Code 793, Fox News reported Friday. The code pertains to giving national defense information to people who are not classified to have that information.

As Breitbart News has extensively reported, Clinton’s private email server, which contained classified information, was given to the tiny Denver-based firm Platte River Networks, which employs a top Clinton operative closely tied to Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. Other Clinton staffers, including her adviser Bryan Pagliano, worked on her private email server over the years.

The FBI is keeping silent about its investigation into Clinton’s emails, which it is conducting in coordination with the Department of Justice prosecutor who tried Gen. David Petraeus for leaking classified information. But a source told Fox News that violating the Espionage Act is definitely a felony.

The Espionage Act was passed in 1917 during the Woodrow Wilson administration, as the United States became involved in World War I.

Via: Breitbart

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Man suspected of killing Texas county sheriff's deputy reportedly arrested

The man suspected of a killing a Texas county sheriff’s deputy has reportedly been arrested at the end of a successful SWAT scene.

Fox affiliate KRIV reports Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies captured the suspect in the murder of Deputy Darren Goforth early Saturday. The man was taken into custody at Pine Falls and Sunny Ridge in northwest Harris County, according to the station.

The suspect’s mother assisted law enforcement officers in the capture of her son, KRIV reports.

Goforth, 47, was pumping gas into his patrol car at a suburban Houston gas station when a man approached him from behind and fired multiple shots, Harris County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Ryan Sullivan told The Associated Press.

Police had described the suspect as a male with a dark complexion, about 5-foot-10 to 6-feet tall, wearing a white T-shirt and red shorts driving a red or maroon pickup truck with an extended bed. Police posted pictures of the suspect from a security camera on Twitter.

Sheriff’s office spokesman Deputy Thomas Gilliland said Goforth had traveled to the Chevron station where the shooting happened, after responding to a routine car accident.

“He was pumping into his vehicle, and the male suspect came up behind him and shot the deputy multiple times,” Gilliland told the Houston Chronicle. “The deputy fell to the ground, the suspect came over and shot the deputy again multiple times as he lay on the ground.”

KRIV reported Goforth was shot once in the head and three times in the back.

The Texas Department of Public Safety and the Houston Police Department were also involved in the search for the suspect.

This is a very tough moment right now for the Harris County Sheriffs Office," Gilliland said. "Keep us in your prayers and in your thoughts."  

"Bob Goerlitz, president of the Harris County Deputies Organization, said the incident was "shocking."

“We've been warned of things like this, because of public sentiment nationally and events over the last few years ... It's just horrific. That's the only way to describe it."

Click for more from KRIV.

Via: Fox News

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Donald Trump rips CNN, illegals, John Kerry, backs Tom Brady

Slamming Secretary of State John F. Kerry as “a joke,” Donald Trump whipped a crowd of supporters into a froth at a fundraiser at car czar Ernie Boch Jr.’s Norwood manson, where the fiery real estate mogul doubled down on his hardline anti-immigration stance and scorched a CNN reporter.

“John Kerry is a joke. No, he’s a bicyclist,” Trump said of the former Bay State senator. “He’s 73 years old and he’s got a very big (Iran nuclear) deal going on and he goes into a bike race and breaks a leg. The Iranians can’t believe what’s going on.”

Trump also laid into Kerry for not demanding the release of four Americans held hostage in Iran before agreeing to the nuke pact.

“John Kerry and Obama said the reason they didn’t ask for the hostages is because they didn’t want to complicate the deal,” Trump said. “By the way, I wrote ‘The Art of The Deal.’ ”

The event, held at Boch’s sprawling mansion, drew a lively crowd of more than 1,000 Trump supporters, many of whom packed into a small media tent while the Republican front-runner fielded questions from reporters.

“You know a lot of the gangs in St. Louis and Ferguson, a lot of the gangs in Chicago, the toughest and the meanest, the worst dudes ... they’re illegal immigrants,” Trump said to a loud round of applause. “And I tell you one thing, if I get in, they’re going to be gone so fast out of this country.”

Trump, who has made waves in the 2016 presidential race with his controversial comments about illegal immigrants, Arizona Sen. John McCain and Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, was greeted on the way in by about two dozen pro-choice and immigrants’ rights protesters, which prompted a CNN reporter to ask him for a response.

“I don’t see many protesters, I see thousands of people, and there’s a few protesters and I figured you’d ask that question,” Trump said before asking the woman if she was from CNN. “You people do not cover us accurately at all. We have a few protesters outside and we have thousands of people and the first question from CNN is about protesters.”

Trump also scored points with the locals by weighing in on Deflategate.

“Leave Tom Brady alone!” he said to a raucous ovation. “I know Tom Brady, Tom Brady is an honest guy, he’s a great guy, he’s a great champion and winner. Leave him alone!”

Among the protesters waving signs outside was Patricia Montes of Centro Presente, who said she felt Trump’s comments on immigration were directly responsible for the savage attack on a homeless Hispanic man in Boston earlier this month.

“He’s responsible because of the hate and sentiment he’s been spreading,” Montes said. “It’s because of him and his supporters — like the people attending this party.”

But the chants of the protesters didn’t put a damper on the festivities.

“This is such a great, incredible group of people,” Trump told the cheering, chanting, sign-wavers under a big-top-sized tent in Boch’s backyard. “Something is happening. There’s a movement going on. Call it the silent majority. Call it whatever you want, but there’s a movement going on ... I love you all!”

Via: Boston Herald

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Women’s Equality Day

“Men, their rights, and nothing more;

Women, their rights, and nothing less.”

-Susan B. Anthony

Today marks the 95th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which passed with Republican majorities in the House and Senate and finally granted women the right to vote.

Because of suffragists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and Susan B. Anthony, women have a voice in our national political system today. These courageous individuals, and the countless others who joined their ranks, inspired generations of stronger, more empowered women.

Their legacy lives on. As we celebrate this momentous moment in our history, House Republicans know that the work has only just begun. We will continue to do all we can in our effort to empower women to embrace every opportunity available to them at work and at home.

Happy Women’s Equality Day!

Via: GOP.gov

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[VIDEO] Republican Weekly Address: Iran Deal Saturday August 29, 2015

WASHINGTON, DC – The president’s nuclear agreement with Iran and its consequences for our national security will be the focus of this week’s Republican address,  to be delivered by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA).  Earlier this month, Royce introduced H.J. Res. 64, legislation preventing implementation of the agreement. 

"Stopping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon is one of the biggest national security challenges we face.  Unfortunately, the President's Iran agreement is fundamentally flawed, and makes this dire threat more likely - not less,” Chairman Royce said. “I look forward to sharing with Americans the troubling aspects of this agreement as the House and Senate get set for a vote in September."

Rep. Royce became chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in January 2013.  He is in his 12th term representing Southern California’s 39th district.  Learn more by visiting the committee’s official website or by following the committee on Facebook and Twitter. 

Via: You Tube

Obama Weekly Address: Meeting the Global Threat of Climate Change Saturday August 29, 2015

WASHINGTON, DC — In this week's address, the President spoke about his upcoming trip to Alaska, during which he will view the effects of climate change firsthand. Alaskans are already living with the impact of climate change, with glaciers melting faster, and temperatures projected to rise between six and twelve degrees by the end of the century. In his address, the President spoke to ways in which we can address these challenges, including the transition away from fossil fuels to more renewable energy sources like wind and solar, an effort in which America is already leading. And he stressed that while our economy still has to rely on oil and gas during that transition, we should rely more on domestic production than importing from foreign counties who do not have the same environmental or safety standards as the United States. The President looked forward to his upcoming trip, and promised that while he is in office, America will lead the world to meet the threat of climate change before it’s too late.

The audio of the address and video of the address will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 a.m. ET, August 29, 2015.

Via: Whitehouse

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[VIDEO] DEPUTY FATALLY SHOT FROM BEHIND AT HOUSTON GAS STATION

HOUSTON (AP) -- A sheriff's deputy in uniform was shot and killed Friday night while filling up his patrol car at a suburban Houston gas station, according to authorities.

Deputy Darren Goforth, 47, was pumping gas into his vehicle about 8:30 p.m. Friday when a man approached him from behind and fired multiple shots, Harris County Sheriff's Office spokesman Ryan Sullivan told The Associated Press. Once the deputy fell to the ground, the suspect fired more shots.

Police described the suspect as a dark-complexioned male who is believed to be between 20 and 25 years old, and stands about 5-foot-10 to 6-feet tall. He was wearing a white T-shirt and red shorts and driving a red or maroon pickup-style truck with an extended cab. Police said an intensive search for the suspect remained ongoing Saturday morning.

No motive was determined for the shooting. Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said Goforth, who was a 10-year veteran of the force, had a wife and two children.

"In my 45 years in law enforcement, I can't recall another incident so cold-blooded and cowardly," Hickman said.

Sheriff's office spokesman Deputy Thomas Gilliland said Goforth had traveled to the Chevron station where the shooting happened, after earlier responding to a routine car accident.

"He was pumping gas into his vehicle. and the male suspect came up behind him and shot the deputy multiple times," Gilliland told the Houston Chronicle. "The deputy fell to ground. the suspect came over and shot the deputy again multiple times as he lay on the ground."

He said Goforth died at the scene. Detectives were checking security camera video for possible clues.

"We are actively searching for suspect right now," Gilliland said. "I can tell you with diligence and justice the suspect will be caught. And he will be brought to justice ... This is a very callous individual."

Via: AP

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Apple Is About To Lay Down Its TV Cards

Some of us have been waiting for Apple to drop its proverbial hammer on television for what seems like forever. A company with a strong sense of design, the ability to craft purposeful hardware and software and a penchant for cutting through the crap to deliver something you actually want to use (mostly) — who wouldn’t want to see what it could do with the junkfest that is modern TV?

So far, all we’ve gotten is noodling. A self-professed hobby in the size of a small hockey puck that has glacially increased in usefulness and utility.

A new Apple TV is on the way, though, and it could move the needle in more than one industry. According to information I’ve been able to compile from multiple sources, Apple is about to lay down its cards.

Some of the nuts and bolts are already out there, but no one is really talking about how they fit together. Let’s talk.

A Platform

We’ve confirmed many details of the new device with multiple sources. First, that the new Apple TV, as has been reported previously by Buzzfeed, will feature an updated design and Apple’s A8 chip in a dual-core configuration. The more powerful chip will support an updated interface with much better effects and navigational improvements that make browsing through big content libraries — one of my biggest wants — much easier.

It stands to reason that Apple will be able to push the A8 much, much further than it ever has before given that the Apple TV is plugged into the wall, and not dependent on battery.

This will enable developers of games and other resource-intensive applications to produce higher quality and more demanding apps. Among the demos I’d expect to see on stage next month are content apps, games, and broadcast companies. These apps fit the venue (fixed, but large and participatory) and purpose of your television — and the apps that people will build for the Apple TV would do well to take those factors into account as well.

A native SDK that takes advantage of the hardware fully will, for the first time ever, turn the Apple TV into a platform, a self-sustaining life form that Apple likely hopes will dominate competitors who have done only slightly better about adding third-party support.

Control

To control the new Apple TV? A new remote. One major feature of which was pretty much nailed by Brian Chen in an article earlier this year. It’s slightly bigger and thicker, with physical buttons on the bottom half, a Touchpad area at the top and a Siri microphone. Info about this remote was included in a report by Mark Gurman earlier this month, along with some other information we’ve confirmed about the new Apple TV.

One thing that hasn’t been talked about yet is the fact that the new remote will be motion sensitive, likely including several axis’ worth of sensors that put its control on par with a Nintendo Wii remote. The possibilities, of course, are immediately evident.

A game controller with a microphone, physical buttons, a touchpad and motion sensitive controls would be extremely capable. While Apple is likely going to target the broad casual gaming market, I would not be shocked to see innovative gameplay blossom from that type of input possibility. Think, for instance, of multi-player gaming with several people using voice input, or many popular genres of party games that would do far better on the TV than on an iPad or iPhone.

Why A Spoon, Cousin?

Why this strategy? Why games? Why a platform? Why a spoon?

There are a couple of reasons. You might think that one of them is that the ‘home hub’ business is a ripe market, but I’m not so sure. Does anyone actually use the cable pass-through on the Xbox One any more? That’s a rhetorical question.

I love my Xbox, it’s fantastic, but I don’t even begin to think of it as a source for TV, and while I’m sure there are those who do, I would bet that it is far from a majority. At any rate, it’s not enough to upset any status quo because the interface and functionality are handicapped by the providers that Microsoft had to please. The console as a ‘home hub’ just never materialized — despite the fact that Bill Gates had exactly predicted this moment in his incredibly prescient CES keynote in 2000.

If Apple is able to launch an easy-to-use controller attached to a powerful enough engine to support the burgeoning casual games market, we could see the same kind of absorption that is happening as smartphones eat the portable console gaming market. As the Xbox and PS4 veer sharply into the hardcore gaming market, Nintendo, with its gunshy approach to thinking laterally about its gaming properties and other platforms, is set up to be disintegrated by a new king of ‘good enough’ gaming. 

And attached to that is a platform that is ripe for movies, content apps and new classes of home automation and control apps that we haven’t even begun to see yet.

The cable providers and content creators are fine with gaining another endpointfor their wares — but not so much with being disintermediated by a platform that has the capabilities of treating their content agnostically, like so many atoms to be re-organized according to a user’s whim, regardless of point of origin.

Judging by the (reported) trouble that Apple has had getting its TV streaming service locked down and ready to ship, that unhappiness is presenting itself in the form of money. If Apple is going to provide a holistic TV experience where multiple programs across multiple networks can be searched and played non-linearly with a single tap, the gatekeepers are going to want a blood price to do it.

Some very smart people I’ve been talking to suggest that, by building a platform, Apple is generating leverage that it can use to great effect in these negotiations. A mid-market breakout box offering is one thing, but a huge, rumbling platform with an upward trajectory of living-room dominating apps and third-party content is another beast. If, obviously if, Apple is successful with the Apple TV, it could be in a position to dominate content in a way that no other ‘smart’ TV platform has before it.

If Apple did indeed ‘delay’ the Apple TV from being released at WWDC, then it probably had a reason. And, if my sources are correct, that reason could well be polish, polish, polish. The experience of using it is said to blow away the types of junky smart TV interfaces we’ve had to deal with so far. This is the first real Apple TV product.

If that polish translates into leverage, then negotiating with Apple could be much, much more uncomfortable for the content providers. Why a spoon? Because it hurts more.

Image Credit: Bryce Durbin

Via: Tech Crunch

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Uber Shows How To Break Crony Capitalism

The taxi medallion scam is one of the worst examples of crony capitalism.  Uber (and some other app-driven services) are in the process of defeating the scam in New York and, apparently, in many other places as well.  It's about time.

The scam is simple.  A city issues a limited number of so-called "medallions," which convey exclusive rights to pick up passengers on the streets, and often at airports as well.  I have never heard anybody articulate a good rationale for why the number of medallions should be limited.  Fake rationales include preventing "destructive" competition (don't we have that in every industry?) and so-called environmental concerns (always articulated by those holding medallions whose only value lies in artificial scarcity). 

I have a long-time friend, call him R, who is head of one of those lenders that specialize in loans for the purchase of taxi medallions.  Twenty or so years ago I went for the first time to a fundraising event for a candidate for City office, and there was R.  Since then, I haven't been to many fundraising events for candidates for local offices, but at the few I have attended, somehow R was always there.  I can't say I was surprised when Bloomberg News reported last month that the medallion taxi industry had contributed over $500,000 to the campaign of Bill de Blasio for Mayor.  Probably, they contributed that amount or close to it to other candidates as well.  Other than the City employee unions and real estate interests, the taxi medallion guys have been right at the top of the political contribution heap.

Back when I first found out from R what business he was in (I think this was in the 90s), I expressed some very severe skepticism.  From there, the conversation went something like this:

R:  It's literally the best industry to lend in.  We have not had a single default in decades.

Me:  That will be true until the day that all the value suddenly disappears.  Basically, all the value comes from the artificial scarcity.  One day that will disappear, and the medallions will suddenly be worthless all at once.

R:  They've been saying that for decades.  Meanwhile we are diversifying to some degree.  

Since this was before this blog recorded all my thoughts, I don't have an official record of my prediction.  However, it is now rapidly coming true.

For the past few years, New York City taxi medallions have been trading for over $1 million each.  With over 13,000 medallions issued, this has represented a value of over $13 billion --a good measure also of the value of the inconvenience inflicted on people in neighborhoods where taxis have been systematically unavailable for decades due to the corrupt crony system.  But with the advent of Uber, the value of the medallions has suddenly plummeted. This article from CNN Money in July reports that the value of a medallion is off by some 40% from its peak just last year.

And that's if you can sell a medallion at all.  Many reports indicate that the market has gone dead as lenders have been spooked and refuse to lend. 

When the medallion market first started to plummet, de Blasio and his friends on the City Council (all takers of industry cash) floated several proposals to put the reins on Uber, including, for example, a limit on Uber licenses.  But when the reports started to come out about the unbelievable amounts of political contributions they had received from the medallion taxi industry, suddenly they were in a tough spot.  Turns out that our "progressive" Mayor and City Council would happily sell their outer-borough constituents down the river, inflicting them with $13 billion of inconvenience, and handing the $13 billion to a handful of cronies, in return for a paltry few million of political contributions.

The latest news is that de Blasio and the Council are refusing to help out their medallion-owning friends, so the medallion owners are now pinning their hopes on a litigation contending that existing law restricting non-medallion owners to only "pre-arranged travel" effectively outlaws the Uber model.  Good luck with that.  Of course de Blasio and the Council will gladly help out their medallion-owning friends as soon as nobody is looking; but it seems that people are going to be looking at this one, at least for a while.  Now, will anybody start to pay attention to, for example, the "green energy" scam?

Via: Manhattan Contrarian

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[OPINION] Hillary Clinton’s flaws are being obscured by Trump-smoke

Aug. 28–If nothing else, Donald Trump is proving to be a fabulous smokescreen for Hillary Clinton.

While the real estate mogul bloviates and offends large swaths of the American public, Clinton rides on as the front-runner in the Democratic presidential primary, Trump-smoke obscuring her own significant flaws.

Just yesterday, for example, at a campaign stop in Ohio, Clinton absurdly compared several GOPpresidential candidates’ “extreme views about women” to the views of terrorist groups.

She said: “Now, extreme views about women, we expect that from some of the terrorist groups. We expect that from people who don’t want to live in the modern world. But it’s a little hard to take coming from Republicans who want to be the president of the United States.”

I happen to share Clinton’s views on abortion and other women’s health issues, but that’s an uncalled for and offensive comparison to make. The Republican National Committee swiftly called for an apology, saying in a statement: “For Hillary Clinton to equate her political opponents to terrorists is a new low for her flailing campaign. She should apologize immediately for her inflammatory rhetoric.”

I agree. And don’t say, “But look at all the offensive things being said on the Republican side.” That doesn’t matter. Two wrongs — or 20 wrongs, or whatever — don’t make a right.

Clinton has every opportunity right now, with the Republican candidates flailing about trying to manage Trump’s xenophobic squawking, to keep to the high road. Comparing your opponents to terrorists is as low-brow as it is inaccurate.

Of course there are other issues as well. Clinton has been dismissive of the legitimate questions and concerns surrounding her use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state, seemingly missing the fact that for some of us it’s not the legality of what she did but rather the overall air of dodginess.

She has repeatedly made light of the situation, once saying she started a Snapchat account because the “messages disappear all by themselves” and, when talking about whether her private server was wiped clean, saying, “What? Like with a cloth or something?”

She seems to be dialing back the cavalier attitude now, but the damage has already been done, and it appears substantial. A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday found this: “‘Liar’ is the first word that comes to mind more than others in an open-ended question when voters think of Clinton.”

And 61 percent of respondents say Clinton “is not honest and trustworthy,” a record low for her.

That’s a rather pitiful starting point for the person many Democrats seem to believe is their most qualified candidate.

It’s easy to look at the chaos in the GOP primary and say, “Wow, is that really the best they can do?”

But if you peer through the dust Trump keeps stirring up, you can get a look at the lackluster Democratic primary and say the same thing.

rhuppke@tribpub.com

Via: Daily Witness

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[VIDEO] Unleashing Prosperity with Stephen Moore

FreedomWorks Senior Economic Contributor Stephen Moore discuss his new role and partnership with FreedomWorks and our new plan to Unleash Prosperity in America.

Via: Freedom Works