DonViejo
DonViejo's JournalRick Santorum Mocks Rand Paul As Kerry-Style Flip Flopper
By SAHIL KAPUR Published SEPTEMBER 5, 2014, 5:19 PM EDT
Rick Santorum penned a blistering opinion piece for Politico magazine on Friday mocking Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) as a flip-flopper on U.S. military action against the militant group ISIS.
"Did Senator Paul just hire John Kerry's speechwriter? Is he really trying to convince Americans that he was against U.S. intervention before he was for it?" wrote the former senator and 2012 presidential candidate.
Santorum, a longtime supporter of U.S. interventionist policies, pointed to Paul's change of heart in support of air strikes against ISIS, as expressed in a TIME opinion piece by Paul on Thursday. Santorum pointed to the Kentucky Republican's voting record and past remarks to highlight his longstanding skepticism of interventionism.
Santorum's op-ed was titled, "Will the Real Rand Paul Please Stand Up?" He opened: "The Kentucky senator is trying to tell us he’s not an isolationist. That dog won't hunt."
###
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rick-santorum-rand-paul-flip-flopper
Report: McConnell Campaign Manager Faced Subpoenas Before Resigning
By SAHIL KAPUR Published SEPTEMBER 5, 2014, 2:11 PM EDT
Mitch McConnell's campaign manager, Jesse Benton, was facing subpoenas for emails and financial transactions before he resigned last Friday from the helm of Senate Republican leader's reelection effort.
The Center For Responsive Politics reported on Thursday that one of two grand juries investigating an Iowa bribery scandal in the 2012 presidential election had in late July subpoenaed documents from "at least seventeen individuals, including [Ron] Paul, [Michele] Bachmann and Jesse Benton."
Benton is ensnared in the probe because he was a top aide to Paul's 2012 campaign. He maintains he's innocent and said he stepped down from McConnell's campaign due to "inaccurate press accounts and unsubstantiated media rumors" which he said "risk unfairly undermining" the Republican's bid.
The probe is about whether Iowa State Sen. Kent Sorenson (R) was bribed to switch his endorsement from Bachmann to Paul; the switch came after Sorenson received a $25,000 check that was traced to a store linked to another one of Paul's aides, Dimitri Kesari.
###
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jesse-benton-subpoena
Hillary: I Will 'Probably' Decide Early Next Year Whether To Run In 2016
Source: TPM
By DYLAN SCOTT Published SEPTEMBER 5, 2014, 2:38 PM EDT
Hillary Clinton will "probably" decide after Jan. 1, 2015, whether she will run for president in 2016, she said Friday.
"I am going to be making a decision around probably after the first of the year," Clinton told the crowd in Mexico City, where she was speaking at a event for a organization founded by billionaire Carlos Slim, according to the Associated Press.
Clinton had previously said in June that it was "probably likely" she wouldn't make an announcement until 2015 and that she would start seriously weighing the possibility after the November midterm elections.
As MSNBC's Alex Seitz-Wald noted, Clinton announced her 2008 campaign on Jan. 20, 2007.
###
Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/hillary-clinton-2016-first-of-the-year
Former NSA Official: Edward Snowden Leak Has 'Clearly' Helped ISIL
ADAM CHANDLER
According to a former top NSA official, Islamic State fighters have managed to avoid detection by American intelligence apparatuses because of protocols released in the Edward Snowden leak.
Chris Inglis, the former Deputy Director of the NSA, who retired earlier this year and has since taken up work with a K Street private equity firm, says that ISIL has managed to study up on American surveillance tactics and has evaded detection by the American intelligence community because of the disclosures infamously released by Edward Snowden. The remarks were first reported by Rowan Scarborough:
This isn't the first invoking of Snowden's name since ISIL began its rampage across northern Iraq and Syria. In the aftermath of last month's failed U.S. raid to spring the since murdered American hostages James Foley and Steven Sotloff, Snowden's disclosures were interjected into the debate about whether the mission failed because ISIL now understood how the United States gathers its intelligence.
more
http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/09/former-nsa-official-edward-snowden-leak-has-clearly-helped-isil/379674/
Bush Sends Signals About 2016 Presidential Run
"Republican strategists and fundraisers say Jeb Bush's closest advisers have been quietly spreading the word that they should avoid committing to other possible presidential candidates until he decides on his own course after the November election," the Wall Street Journal reports.
"The message from Mr. Bush's inner circle during the past few months is in part an effort to bat down speculation that the former Florida governor has ruled out a 2016 run, say GOP donors and strategists who have spoken with the Bush camp."
###
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/09/05/bush_sends_signals_about_2016_presidential_run.html
Burke Leads in Wisconsin
A new We Ask America poll in Wisconsin finds Mary Burke (D) leading Gov. Scott Walker (R) in the race for governor, 48% to 44%.
###
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/09/05/burke_leads_in_wisconsin.html
Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick says 'maybe' to presidential run
Massachusetts governor: 'I have been asked to think about it'NEEDHAM, Mass. —Gov. Deval Patrick walked closer towards a run for the White House on Thursday, acknowledging it is on his radar screen.
"There are a lot of people who have asked me to think about it," said Patrick during a taping of WCVB-TV's political show 'On The Record.' "I'm under no illusions. It's a huge decision, not just for me but for my family."
"Maybe, but not right away," said Patrick when pressed on his intentions.
Patrick acknowledged criticism of his eight years in office from the three Democratic candidates hoping to succeed him during a live debate aired on WCVB on Wednesday.
Read more: http://www.wcvb.com/politics/deval-patrick-says-maybe-to-presidential-run/27880292#ixzz3CSdwkd2t
Move over, Mitch! Paul Ryan lets slip secrets of how GOP will run the Senate
Paul Ryan vows the nuttiest House bills will make the president's desk if Mitch McConnell becomes majority leaderJOAN WALSH
Move over, Sen. Mitch McConnell! Rep. Paul Ryan is telling the world what you’ll do if Republicans take over the Senate.
It’s only fair, I guess, since Speaker Ted Cruz is running the House.
But seriously, who came up with this strategy, shared by McConnell, to drive a big midterm GOP victory by promising to move the political process from paralysis to rigor mortis? First McConnell told his paymasters, the Kochs, that he’ll court another government shutdown by attaching riders to spending bills that the president will almost certainly have to veto. After running that notion by the Kochs at their June retreat, and finding they liked it, McConnell brought it to Politico last month.
Now Ryan goes McConnell one better by telling The Hill’s Scott Wong that the Senate will take up unpopular House GOP legislation that Majority Leader Harry Reid has supposedly bottled up.
“Right now, Harry Reid is protecting the president from making difficult decisions, and I believe that we can unblock a number of things that should at least get to the president’s desk and make him make a decision,” Ryan promised.
more
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/05/move_over_mitch_paul_ryan_lets_slip_secrets_of_how_gop_will_run_the_senate/
It’s John McCain’s party again: How the GOP returned to total hawkishness
With the rise of ISIS, whatever GOP debates there were about the wisdom of interventionism are goneJIM NEWELL
Treasured American war machine John McCain engaged in a touch of gloating this morning on Twitter, linking to an article in the Washington Post about how whatever faction of “anti-interventionism” there ever was within GOP ranks has been effectively stamped out.
John McCain ✔ @SenJohnMcCain
Follow
It's gratifying to see all these doves turn into hawks! http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rise-of-islamic-state-tests-gop-anti-interventionists/2014/09/03/efbe6b86-3382-11e4-9e92-0899b306bbea_story.html …
10:02 AM - 5 Sep 2014
How gratifying, indeed. What a sunnier, simpler world we now inhabit, in which the GOP no longer has any space for ideological debate about the appropriate use of American military might. John McCain has reason to gloat. He won.
Not that long ago, the prospect of military intervention in Libya in 2011 and against the Assad regime in 2013 split the Republican party. You had unyielding Senate hawks like John McCain and Lindsey Graham arguing relentlessly for intervention and regime change, while other senators like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz weren’t so sure. Yes, they may have had less-than-intellectual motives: these were military actions that Barack Obama wanted, so of course they merited opposition. Well, whatever. The point is that there were Republicans who were against taking sides in various overseas civil wars, to the grating frustration of the traditionally hawkish party establishment.
more
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/05/its_john_mccains_party_again_how_the_gop_returned_to_total_hawkishness/
Rand Paul Swipes Hillary: Don't Fight Climate Change 'Instead Of Terrorism'
By SAHIL KAPUR Published SEPTEMBER 5, 2014, 11:16 AM EDT
Sen. Rand Paul leapt at the opportunity to swipe Hillary Clinton on Friday.
The Kentucky Republican was asked on Fox News about the Democrat's comments Thursday that climate change constituted "the most consequential, urgent, sweeping collection of challenges" facing the country and the world.
His response: "I don't think we really want a commander-in-chief who is battling climate change instead of terrorism."
He went on to question "whether she has the wisdom to lead the country — which I think it's obvious that she doesn't." Both Paul and Clinton are seen as likely 2016 presidential contenders.
###
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rand-paul-hillary-climate-change-terrorism
Profile Information
Name: DonGender: Male
Hometown: Massachusetts
Home country: United States
Member since: Sat Sep 1, 2012, 03:28 PM
Number of posts: 60,536
