Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review like the “Office Space” inspired Ted Cruz ad criticizing Hillary Clinton. They also slam Donald Trump for saying conservatives are a big part of the problem in Washington. And they elaborate on Hillary’s list of unappealing options to derail Bernie Sanders.
The results of the Republican and Democratic primaries in New Hampshire set the stage for a showdown in South Carolina but also send an unmistakable “wake-up call” to to the political establishment in both parties.
The outsiders had a very good night Tuesday. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and Donald Trump scored landslide wins respectively and Sen. Ted. Cruz, R-Texas, defied expectations by finishing in third place.
While getting less than a third of Trump’s vote total, Cruz still edged Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who had been expected to finish second in New Hampshire. He also bested Jeb Bush, despite being outspent $36 million to $800,000.
As the race shifts to the Palmetto State, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., says the voting thus far shows people in both parties are fed up with business as usual.
“Not only Trump’s victory but Bernie Sanders’ victory underscores the frustration that most Americans have with Washington, D.C. They know our country is headed in the wrong direction, that Washington, D.C. is broke. They’re just desperate to find someone who’s saying, ‘Let’s turn over the apple cart and start all over again,'” said Meadows.
“People want straight talk. They want somebody to be able to tell it like it is. Even if they don’t agree on some of the issues, they’re going to reward those who call it like it is. That’s why we’re seeing Donald and Bernie and Ted Cruz perform so well,” said Meadows.
While those three candidates may be light years apart ideologically, Meadows says they are tapping into the same disgust.
“When you calculate all of their votes, it ought to give Washington, D.C., a real wake-up call in terms of the job that they’re doing,” said Meadows.
Meadows is the second-term lawmaker who filed the motion to vacate the speaker’s chair in the House of Representatives last year, a move that ultimately triggered the resignation of House Speaker John Boehner. Meadows is endorsing Cruz in the 2016 campaign.
As the remaining Republicans tangle vie for the nomination, Meadows says the outsiders have a distinct advantage over the candidates considered more acceptable to party leaders.
“It’s important for us to return the government to the people and to the will of the people and restore that confidence and trust. It’s going to be difficult for anybody who is running in the establishment lane to accomplish that,” said Meadows, referring to Rubio, Bush and Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio.
Some advocates for the likes of Trump and Cruz believe that the jumble in the middle of the GOP pack in New Hampshire is good for the outsiders because it will now be weeks or longer before the top establishment candidate emerges.
Meadows disagrees.
“I look at it very differently. The quicker we can get down to two or three candidates and look at each one of them on their own merits, the easier it is to focus on the strengths and weaknesses of each potential presidential nominee,” said Meadows.
But just as one establishment candidate may ultimately emerge, either Cruz or Trump has to eventually elbow the other out of the race. Meadows says Cruz is the right choice.
“It’s one thing to talk the talk. It’s another to walk the walk,” said Meadows. “He’s been in the fight. He’s not only willing to say it on the campaign trail, but I’ve seen him actually do it here in Washington, D.C., and has come under tremendous ridicule. Whether it’s in front of a camera or behind the scenes in a private office, Ted Cruz is the same guy.”
“He’s someone who’s willing to fight to restore our constitutional principles and, with that, make sure the voice of the American people is the number one priority here in Washington, D.C.,” said Meadows.
South Carolina polls conducted in January suggest Trump had a sizable lead at the time. More polls will come soon, but Meadows is confident Cruz will do well.
“I know Sen. Cruz has a great ground game there that has been in place for many many months and has been reaching out on a one-on-one basis all over the state,” said Meadows, who will work on behalf of Cruz in South Carolina.
As for the general election, Meadows is again defying conventional wisdom by rejecting the nation that Sanders would be easier for the Republican nominee to beat given his open embrace of “Democratic socialism.”
He believes Hillary Clinton is very vulnerable.
“I think if Hillary is the nominee, the baggage that she brings makes her a greater drag on that Democratic side of the aisle than anybody else,” said Meadows.
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review discuss the exit of Carly Fiorina from the GOP race and how she made the race better. They also discuss the revelation that a State Department aide to Hillary Clinton told a reporter how he needed to write a story previewing a major Clinton speech – and the reporter dutifully complied. And they discuss the undemocratic super delegates that dominate the Democrats’ nominating process.
Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders crushed their opponents and conventional wisdom Tuesday night in New Hampshire, as Democratic female voters abandoned Hillary Clinton in favor of Sanders and Trump easily won the women’s vote despite his reputation for being crude towards them.
On Tuesday, Trump took 35 percent of the Republican vote. Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, was a distant second at 16 percent, with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, finishing third. Exit polls show Trump dominated among all demographics, including women. Trump won 33 percent of the female vote in a nine-candidate race. Kasich had 16 percent, followed by Jeb Bush with 12 percent.
Those numbers follow Trump’s famous feud with Fox News Channel anchorMegyn Kelly over Trump’s derogatory statements about various women over the years and over Kelly herself.
Women in New Hampshire didn’t care.
“They’re not taking to the fainting couches and I think that’s one of two reasons why Trump is doing okay with women,” said Independent Women’s Forum Senior Fellow Gayle Trotter, who attracted national attention in 2013 for her passionate defense of the second amendment before the U.S. Senate.
“Women are tough and they understand that politics is not beanbag. They’re maybe slightly offended by some of things that he’s said, but they really care that he is tapping into these issues that seem to be pressing on our nation right now.”
Trotter says Trump also scores points with women for another unspoken reason.
“His other secret weapon are the women who are very successful and accomplished, who are going on the campaign trail for him. Exhibit A is his daughter, Ivanka,” said Trotter, noting Ivanka is over eight months pregnant. “He particularly noted Ivanka and said that she had been to seven events politicking for him. She is a great ambassador for him.”
So will Trump’s reputation ever catch up with him? Trotter doubts it.
“It’s hard to imagine. This is the only politician I’ve ever seen who uses a media firestorm as a campaign strategy. Not only does he say all of these kind of outrageous things, he embraces them. He is excited and proud of saying them,” said Trotter.
She says Trump appears immune to the controversies that normally sink campaigns.
“It’s hard to believe that he could really say anything worse than he’s already said or if he did that it would have any kind of backlash on him. All the political pundits and prognosticators said there’s no way he could recover from any of these comments. He’s proven them wrong time and time again,” said Trotter.
On the Democratic side, observers assumed Hillary Clinton would cruise to the nomination thanks to a stranglehold on the women’s vote. She did score a 55-44 margin among Democratic women in Iowa, but Sanders won a majority of female voters in New Hampshire by the very same margin.
Trotter says Hillary’s blatant and repeated playing of the gender card is turning women off.
“I think she really feels this nomination is owed to her for all of the time she has put in. Every time she goes out on the campaign trail, she’s talking about how hard she has worked. That does not seem to be resonating with Democratic voters who want to be inspired,” said Trotter.
She says Sanders is hitting that note with the Democratic base.
“Bernie Sanders is something very different than what we’ve seen in Washington. He is connecting with voters across the country. On top of that, he is offering something very, very different than what Hillary Clinton is,” said Trotter.
Sensing that female support was slipping, Clinton told a debate audience last week that Sanders could not label her as “establishment” because she was a woman and a woman has never been president. Trotter says that was a telling moment.
“That’s such a silly statement. That was, I think, the most defining moment of that debate. She’s a woman who has been in the corridors of power for decades,” said Trotter.
She says that line is in complete contradiction to the rest of Clinton’s case to Democratic voters.
“She is also trying to run on the idea that she’ll be a third term of President Barack Obama. She’s trying to have it both ways and I think the young women who are dissatisfied with the establishment are dissatisfied with that answer. It doesn’t answer’s Bernie Sanders’ criticism,” said Trotter.
Trotter says another colossal mistake was Hillary and her surrogates trying to shame women away from Sanders. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told supporters there was a special place in hell for women who don’t support each other. Feminist Gloria Steinem told HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” that young women backed Sanders because young men did.
“Those comments do not help Hillary Clinton. There are a lot of young women who expect there will be a woman president one day in their lifetimes, but Hillary Clinton is not the women they want to be commander-in-chief,” said Trotter.
On Wednesday afternoon, Republican Carly Fiorina suspended her campaign after poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire. In her Facebook announcement, Fiorina offered a very different vision of feminism than the one pitched by Clinton.
“To young girls and women across the country, I say: do not let others define you. Do not listen to anyone who says you have to vote a certain way or for a certain candidate because you’re a woman. That is not feminism. Feminism doesn’t shut down conversations or threaten women. It is not about ideology,” wrote Fiorina.
“It is not a weapon to wield against your political opponent. A feminist is a woman who lives the life she chooses and uses all her God-given gifts,” Fiorina added.
Trotter says Fiorina should be commended for her campaign.
“I think it’s great that she participated. I think she had a great message and a lot of really strong policy proposals. But I think not being on that debate stage really killed her campaign,” said Trotter.
She says the contrast between Clinton and Fiorina shows the hypocrisy of the liberals.
“Maybe if Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright had really put into practice their own philosophy of standing up for women and campaign for Carly Fiorina, we might have seen some difference,” said Trotter.
“Of course they were never going to do that, because it’s never about being a woman. It’s about having the proper ideology. That’s the key for leftist feminists,” said Trotter.
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review love watching Hillary Clinton get trounced in New Hampshire but are a bit concerned at how eager many Democrats are to destroy the free market as Bernie Sanders would do. They cringe as Donald Trump dominates the Republican primary by a yuuuge margin and vaults back into front-runner status. And they sigh as the likes of John Kasich and Jeb Bush get a new lease on life.
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review like that Michael Bloomberg is now publicly discussing a possible White House bid – a move that would seem to benefit Republicans. They also slam Jeb Bush for wanting to overturn the Citizens United decision after his Super PAC blew through $120 million with nothing to show for it. And they discuss some of their frustrations with the first in the nation primary.
Declaring himself the only leader in the key Louisiana U.S. Senate race, retired U.S. Air Force Col. Rob Maness says he is the best choice to address tough problems and challenge the leadership of both parties.
While the presidential campaign is sure to dominate the political headlines all year, the fight for control of the U.S. Senate is in full swing and a battle in the Louisiana bayou will provide of the critical tests for direction of the Republican Party and the balance of power in Washington.
Republicans currently hold 54 Senate seats but are playing defense far more than Democrats as a result of the GOP’s strong performance in 2010. Several incumbent Republicans are retiring and open seats mean crowded fields in several states. Louisiana is one of them.
Republican Sen. David Vitter is retiring after two terms. While the seat is likely to stay in Republican hands, voters will have to decide which Republican gets the nod. In addition to Maness, Rep. John Fleming and Rep. Charles Boustany are in the race, along with State Treasurer John Kennedy.
Maness says he’s running again in 2016 because the United States is craving real leadership.
“I am the outsider. I’m a proven fighter. I fought for my country for 32-and-a-half years. I have a proven track record of leadership that’s not a political. It’s a military track record of leadership and a corporate track record of leadership and a community track record of leadership. That’s what the American people and the people of Louisiana are demanding,” said Maness.
Fleming boasts an 88 percent rating from Heritage Action, while Boustany scores a 58. The American Conservative Union gives them ratings of 96 and 68 respectively.
Maness says he doesn’t have a lot of negative things to say about his opponents, but he still insists they all lack the most important quality.
“They’re all friends of mine. I helped a lot of them get elected. I voted for one of them because the job he’s doing at the state level is doing a good job at it. But they’re not leaders. They’re not proven leaders that are going to go up and lead,” said Maness.
“In order to lead you’re going to have to go up and push back against the party leadership that you’re a part of on minute one. I’m going to be joining folks like Mike Lee, Ted Cruz if he still happens to be there, Rand Paul if he happens to still be there. Those folks all demonstrated that they would go up and push back regardless of the political consequences. That’s what the people are expecting,” said Maness.
He painted a a contrast between that approach and what he’s seen from his two opponents serving in Congress.
“If they’ve been messing around and voting for the likes of John Boehner or voting for the likes of Paul Ryan, the people are going to reject them. They’re going to reject my opponents in this race because they’re all political insiders. They’ve come up the career political track and they’re all career politicians,” said Maness.
Maness also says he’s running because all of our problems keep getting worse.
“Our country is broken. It’s in worse condition than it was three years ago when I decided to run against Bill Cassidy and Mary Landrieu. Today , we’re weaker than we’ve ever been. Our allies can’t trust us and our enemies don’t respect or fear us. Our military’s weaker than it’s ever been,” said Maness.
Other issues concern him greatly, starting with our sluggish economy.
“Our economic situation is not very good. We were able to prevent a great depression but we had a great recession and we’re in the longest and worst recovery that we’ve ever seen in the nation’s history,” said Maness.
He’s also ready to do something about border security.
“Our borders are still not secure. Illegal aliens are coming across our border and taking our jobs and making our country insecure. They’re getting through not just our borders but our immigration system as we saw in the San Bernardino attacks. It’s easy to fool our immigration system and get through,” said Maness.
On issues of special importance to Louisiana, Maness says he would be a tireless advocate of expanding markets for American energy. He also wants to wipe away government regulations that he says are hampering the fishing industry along the Gulf Coast.
In 2014, Maness finished third in an eight-man “jungle primary.” In Louisiana, all candidates are on the same ballot, regardless of party. Unless one candidate wins a majority of the vote, the top two finishers advance to a run-off.
Maness grabbed almost 14 percent of the vote but finished well behind Landrieu’s 42 percent and Cassidy’s nearly 41 percent.
Maness says he will be much more competitive this time because his name is already known this time, whereas he was a complete unknown two years ago.
“According to one of my opponent’s Super PAC polls that came out in December, I start the race with the second highest name identification and the second highest favorability ratings,” said Maness.
He says he was also visibly active for conservative candidates and causes in last year’s key state races.
“We built a lot capital with the grassroots, not only at the tea party level and the outside the party level, but at the Republican Party level. I think we’ve got a great advantage because of that and we already have a solid voter base,” said Maness.
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review discuss Hillary’s tanking polls among women and the insulting response from Clinton surrogates Madeleine Albright and Gloria Steinem. They also slam ABC’s Martha Raddatz for pestering candidates to commit to preemptive strikes against North Korea without full intelligence briefings. And they’re disgusted at Republicans for suddenly embracing the idea of making women register for Selective Service and be eligible for the military draft if the draft is reinstates.
The Obama administration is ordering border patrol agents to release illegal immigrants without making them appear in court or keeping track of their whereabouts and it’s also dramatically rolling back aerial surveillance along the southern border, leading a senior congressman to suggest the public is unaware it is being “betrayed” by our commander-in-chief.
What’s sad is the people of the United States don’t recognize that they’re being betrayed by their own president and also betrayed by those people in the Congress and the Senate who have been going along with this amnesty program,” said Rep. Dana Rohrbacher, R-California, a leading voice against amnesty and for border enforcement.
On Thursday, reports emerged that the Obama administration was effectively telling U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents to stand down and not process people entering the United States illegally. They further state that agents are told not to order illegals to appear at a deportation hearing and not make efforts to track them down inside the U.S.
“We might as well abolish our immigration laws altogether,” said National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd.
In addition, Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, and Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, are imploring the Department of Homeland Security for an explanation for a 50 percent rollback in aerial surveillance of the Texas-Mexico border.
Rohrabacher says he and fellow critics of Obama’s immigration policies are well past the point of outrage.
“This president has done so many things that are contrary to the interests of the safety and security and prosperity of the people of the United States that this is no surprise, especially in dealing with foreign entities, whether it’s Muslims overseas or whether it’s illegal immigrants coming in here from various countries. This is nothing new for this administration,” said Rohrabacher.
One of Rohrabacher’s top concerns is how Obama’s open door policy could further weaken national security.
“He’s opening the door. There’s not even going to be a guard on the door to watch who’s coming in. Do you think the radical Islamist terrorists that have declared war on our country and murder us at any chance, you think they don’t see this? They’ve already got a lot of people here,” said Rohrabacher.
“What the president is doing is going to increase the level of criminals that are coming here from other countries and terrorists who come here specifically to hurt Americans and kill Americans,” he added.
While Rohrabacher is clearly disgusted with Obama on this issue, he is adamant that blame can be spread throughout the two parties.
“Our president is supposed to be watching out for the people of the United States. Our president has decided that he will not do so. The Democratic Party needs to be held accountable for this. And the people in the Republican Party that have been going along with this open borders, amnesty approach to immigration deserve to be held accountable as well,” said Rohrabacher.
The congressman says he understands that people are desperate to escape crippling poverty and other problems in their native countries and even admires their determination to make a better life for their families, but he says compassion for their circumstances cannot supersede the well being of the American people.
“That doesn’t mean we’re going to bring people in who will take jobs away from Americans, will consume the health care and the education dollars that we have for Americans. We don’t need that,” said Rohrabacher.
He encourages voters to find out what their congressmen and senators have really been doing on these issues.
“Hold people accountable in public office for the stands they have taken. Our country is in grave jeopardy because of it,” said Rohrabacher.
He offers a couple of tips.
“Look and see where your elected officials stand on amnesty. That’s a tip-off as to whether they are secretly going along with the president,” said Rohrabacher.
Rohrabacher says one issue in particular gets twisted beyond recognition.
“How about those people who say we have to take care of the ‘Dreamers? Oh, we have to take care of the Dreamers.’ What they’re talking about is giving benefits to young people who are here illegally when those education benefits should be going to our own people. Our own kids are saddled with debt and we’re going to give education benefits to people who have come here illegally?” asked Rohrabacher.
Since January 2015, Republicans have controlled both the House of Representatives and the Senate. So why can’t the GOP do something to to curb Obama’s alleged recklessness on the border?
“Controlling Capitol Hill doesn’t mean anything unless you have a two-thirds vote against a president who veto anything he doesn’t like. It takes a two-thirds vote to override the veto so we haven’t been in control of Capitol Hill enough to be in control of a legislative agenda,” said Rohrabacher.
Rohrabacher has endorsed Ted Cruz for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, in what seems like a process of elimination among the major candidates. He says Rubio is simply all over the map on this issue.
“The people of Florida elected him when he pledged not to support amnesty, pledged to fight this idea of open borders. As soon as he got elected to the United States Senate, he flipped over and became a major force for amnesty. Now he wants to flip again and wants us to forget that lie,” said Rohrabacher.
The congressman simply doesn’t believe Donald Trump is serious about the issue.
“Trump is talking off the top of his head and quite often he says things that are contradictory,” said Rohrabacher. “He says we’re going to deport the people here illegally. Then he says once they can get home they can immediately come back if they want to. This is nonsense. So the only one who makes any sense to me is Ted Cruz,” said Rohrabacher.
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are glad to see conservative Mary Katherine Ham added to the panel for Saturday night’s GOP debate. They also discuss just how bad Rick Santorum is as a surrogate for Marco Rubio. And they get a good laugh out of Hillary Clinton claiming she can’t be part of the establishment because she’s a woman. All that plus our Superbowl picks.
