Joining today's show are Mike Barnicle, Matt Lewis, John Heilemann, Robert Draper, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Donald Trump, Jeff Greenfield, Chuck Todd, Hallie Jackson, State Rep. Justin Bamberg, Fmr. Secy. Donald Rumsfeld, Sara Eisen, Bob Moritz and in Taji, Japan today, a pod of 60+ Striped Dolphins were driven into the the killing cove. This Dolphin is shown no mercy as its family is slaughtered around it. 2016-26-01 10.30 am #dolphinproject #tweet4dolphins.
Trump and Cruz have different appeals to evangelicals. The true believers, the skeptics, and the plain curious huddled for two hours Saturday in a line that spanned the campus of Dordt College, stamping their feet against the cold as they waited for Donald Trump's chapel sermon.
Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, was visiting the small Christian Reformed school in northwest Iowa to contend for the votes of evangelicals, the most influential bloc in the state's Feb. 1 caucuses.
He has significant support from born-again Christians nationally - 42 percent according to a recent New York Times/CBS News poll - but trails in the demographic in Iowa to rival Ted Cruz, a senator from Texas and the son of a Baptist preacher. Overall, the two are in a tight race.
Cruz is fluent in the language and worldview of evangelical Christianity; Trump, not so much.
Trump curses. He's been married three times. The real estate developer and reality TV star is prideful and, by his own admission, greedy. He mangles Bible references and has told interviewers he does not believe he has ever asked God for forgiveness - presumably because he does not need to do so. And Trump was a longtime supporter of abortion rights but says he's changed his mind.
"Christianity is under siege," Trump told 1,600 in the chapel, alluding to battles over the legalization of same-sex marriage and requirements for contraceptive coverage in Obamacare, as well as the aversion in some places to acknowledging Christmas.
"We don't exert the power we should have," Trump said. "Fact is, the politicians can't do anything to you if you band together." If he's in the White House, he promised, "you're going to have somebody representing you really, really well."
In his stump speech, Cruz often asks his audiences to "lift up our country in prayer: Father God, please keep this awakening going. Continue this revival across this country that we can pull back from the abyss."
The Texas senator likes to quote 2 Chronicles 7:14: "If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
Many evangelical leaders are pushing back against Trump, saying that believers should not abandon their principles for an authoritarian's siren song.
"One thing the Bible is very clear on, and that is 'do not be deceived,' " said John Stemberger, president of Florida Family Action. "They're suspending what they know to be true because Trump takes care of the emotional need to have a protector in difficult times."
He said evangelicals should consider the morality of the casino business and remember that Trump has supported gay marriage and federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
On the other hand, Trump got effusive praise when he visited Liberty University from the son of the school's founder, the Rev. Jerry Falwell Jr., and he was introduced by Dallas pastor Robert Jeffers at Dordt.
"In my opinion, Donald Trump lives a life of helping and loving others, as Jesus taught in the great commandment," Falwell said, comparing him to his own father and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Trump "cannot be bought - he is not a puppet on a string like many other candidates."
Sioux County is about 85 percent Republican and traditionally conservative, filled with descendants of Dutch immigrants. It also is home to a large community of Latino immigrants - some of them undocumented - who work in the meatpacking and dairy industries. Trump's language about shutting off the flow of immigration has angered many of the longtime residents, who are trying to accommodate the newcomers.
"A lot of conservative Republicans around here don't like Trump, from our faith-based belief in 'love your neighbor,' " said Derrick Vander Wall, 43, who was wearing a T-shirt under his coat advertising a local Latino festival as he waited to hear Trump. "I don't think he'll do that well here."
He usually votes in the Republican caucuses but is not sure whom he will back this year. "Our ancestors were Dutch immigrants, and people didn't like them either," Vander Wall said.
Four years ago, 57 percent of Iowa Republican caucus-goers identified themselves as evangelical Christians. (By comparison, just 22 percent of New Hampshire primary voters describe themselves as born-again.) Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum won 32 percent of the evangelical vote in Iowa, enough to catapult him to a narrow victory. Yet libertarian Ron Paul got 18 percent of the evangelical vote, according to entrance polls from 2012. Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, neither one a favorite of evangelicals, each grabbed 14 percent.
"The evangelical vote in Iowa is not monolithic," said Jamie Johnson, a longtime Republican operative and an evangelical pastor active in social issues. "It's a tribe with a whole lot of differences of opinion. Nobody has the vote on lockdown."
Evangelical voters have plenty of options this time around, he said. In addition to Cruz and Trump, there are Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the 2008 GOP caucus winner, not to mention Santorum.
Based on what he's seeing around the state, Johnson believes Trump will get a significant slice of support from evangelicals. "They want to seal the border; they believe that Donald Trump will do whatever he has to do to take the fight to ISIS and stop Islamic terrorism, and they like that he is not concerned with political correctness," Johnson said. "He says things we've been wanting to say for a long time."
Julian Raven, an artist and itinerant preacher, travels to Trump rallies around the country telling of how he was inspired by a vision to paint a massive mural of Trump with an eagle descending to rescue the U.S. flag from falling.
"If he was applying to be a pastor, forget it, but that's not the same as a political leader," said Raven, 45, of Elmira, N.Y. "I believe God is calling this man."
He thumbed through the Bible resting on the steering wheel of his panel truck to find Isaiah 45, in which God tapped Cyrus, a Syrian, to save Israel. "There is a lot of biblical evidence that God could be choosing Donald Trump," Raven said.
New Ted Cruz ad attacks Donald Trump's "New York values". In a new television ad, Ted Cruz doubles down on his controversial line of attack against Donald Trump's "New York values."
The ad opens with a clip of Trump's appearance 1999 on NBC's "Meet the Press," in which Trump says, "I lived in New York City and Manhattan all my life, so my views are a little bit different than if I lived in Iowa."
Over ominous music, a female narrator then says, "They are different -- like on abortion." The ad then shows Trump remarking in the NBC interview, "I am pro-choice in every respect."
The ad will play statewide in Iowa starting Tuesday. The Iowa caucuses are held February 1.
When Cruz earlier this month attacked Trump's "New York values" in a Republican primary debate, it prompted a fierce backlash. For instance, conservative Rep. Peter King of New York declared that "New York values" are represented by the heroes of 9/11 and officers who fight terrorism. "Go back under a rock," he told Cruz via Twitter.
Poll: Trump retakes IA lead, keeps big edge in NH, SC
Cruz super PAC goes after Trump on abortion
That, however, isn't stopping Cruz from using that line of attack.
Meanwhile, a pro-Cruz super PAC released its own ad on Monday that uses the exact same line from Trump's 1999 NBC interview in which he says, "I am pro-choice in every respect."
Super PACs are legally prohibited from coordinating with political campaigns.
The latest CBS Battleground Tracker shows a tight race between Cruz and Trump in Iowa: Trump has regained the lead and now has a 5-point edge over the Texas Republican.
New Ted Cruz ad attacks Donald Trump's "New York values". In a new television ad, Ted Cruz doubles down on his controversial line of attack against Donald Trump's "New York values."
The ad opens with a clip of Trump's appearance 1999 on NBC's "Meet the Press," in which Trump says, "I lived in New York City and Manhattan all my life, so my views are a little bit different than if I lived in Iowa."
Over ominous music, a female narrator then says, "They are different -- like on abortion." The ad then shows Trump remarking in the NBC interview, "I am pro-choice in every respect."
The ad will play statewide in Iowa starting Tuesday. The Iowa caucuses are held February 1.
When Cruz earlier this month attacked Trump's "New York values" in a Republican primary debate, it prompted a fierce backlash. For instance, conservative Rep. Peter King of New York declared that "New York values" are represented by the heroes of 9/11 and officers who fight terrorism. "Go back under a rock," he told Cruz via Twitter.
Poll: Trump retakes IA lead, keeps big edge in NH, SC
Cruz super PAC goes after Trump on abortion
That, however, isn't stopping Cruz from using that line of attack.
Meanwhile, a pro-Cruz super PAC released its own ad on Monday that uses the exact same line from Trump's 1999 NBC interview in which he says, "I am pro-choice in every respect."
Super PACs are legally prohibited from coordinating with political campaigns.
The latest CBS Battleground Tracker shows a tight race between Cruz and Trump in Iowa: Trump has regained the lead and now has a 5-point edge over the Texas Republican.
Trump rips Cruz: 'Lie after lie'. Donald Trump called Ted Cruz a liar on Tuesday, charging that the Texas senator repeatedly misrepresents the Republican front-runner's views.
"He's just saying lie after lie. It's not becoming," Trump told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "Good Morning America."
"He really does lie. He's so nervous," Trump added. "I saw him the other day. He is so nervous. He is such a mess. His polls have gone down. People realize that he probably can't even run for president. He was born in Canada."
Trump's searing attack on Cruz continued a narrative he began Monday afternoon with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Trump blasted Cruz as a "nasty person" in the interview with Blitzer and said, "Ted cannot get along with anybody."
Trump and Cruz are locked in a tight battle for Iowa, which holds its first-in-the-nation caucuses on Monday. Trump has recently edged ahead of the Texas senator after days of relentless, multi-pronged attacks on Cruz.
On Tuesday, Trump took aim at a new Cruz ad that features old video footage of Trump saying he supports abortion rights.
Trump cited the ad as the latest example of Cruz misrepresenting his positions.
"I'm pro-life -- 100%. He knows it. Everybody knows it," Trump said.
The ad also shows Trump at a rally appearing to call Iowans "stupid." Trump responded on "Good Morning America" that he was simply referring to Iowans -- and Americans as a whole - who were supporting candidates other than himself.
These comments come after my article that i wrote a couple weeks ago which is double folded if you include him exploiting the Planned Parenthood issue which was debunked day one and was entitled ' Ted Cruz lies all of the time and he is an annoying person':
He just mentioned that he would start a federal investigation on the fake Planned Parenthood Videos and over the weekend he lied about our military.
Even Fox News fought back with regard to his (Ted Cruz) carpet bombing statement to his face on the Sunday news show. Chris Wallace pretty much ridiculed Ted Cruz's irresponsible statement about carpet bombing ISIS in Syria using a general's words. Wallace started out by playing Cruz's comments.
We will have a president who would make clear we will utterly destroy ISIS. ... We will carpet bomb them into oblivion.
Chris Wallace pointed out that carpet bombing ISIS could never work because ISIS is embedded within civilian populations. in major cities. Wallace then put up a graphic and read a statement by General Robert Scales. The general was the former head of the U.S. War College. He was quoted in a New York Times editorial titled "Ted ‘Carpet-Bomb’ Cruz" that said the following:
Mr. Cruz is a lawyer and a foreign-policy neophyte. Anyone with any understanding of military strategy knows that “carpet-bombing” is a term used by amateurs trying to sound tough. Indiscriminate bombing has never been a military strategy, and it would be senseless in an age of “smart” weaponry and precise targeting.
In Syria and Iraq, mass bombing would kill hundreds of innocent civilians and fuel radicalization. That’s why military leaders utter the term “carpet-bomb” only while laughing at Mr. Cruz.
“That’s just another one of those phrases that people with no military experience throw around,” chuckled retired Maj. Gen. Robert Scales, a military historian and former commandant of the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa.
The only thing close to “carpet-bombing” was Operation Arc Light in 1965, in which two or three B-52 Stratofortresses bombed sections of Vietnam to support tactical operations on the ground, not to flatten the place. “America has never carpet-bombed anyone at any time because that’s not our doctrine,” said General Scales.
Ted Cruz came back with a rather belligerent answer. "Well look, I will apologize to no one with how vigorous I will be winning the war on terror defeating radical Islamic terrorism." Ted Cruz said. "We will start by having a president willing to acknowledge our enemy. Say it by its name which President Obama and Hillary Clinton refuse to do."
Ted Cruz then went into a convoluted monologue about what carpet bombing means. He tried to use Dessert Storm as an example. He then started itemizing each part of the military that is smaller. As a Conservative one would believe smaller and more effective is what he would be aspiring for.
Chris Wallace then schooled the "lawyer and foreign-policy neophyte." "There is a big difference," said Wallace. "First of all, military people would tell you we didn't carpet bomb in Kuwait in the Gulf War. We did precision striking. In addition if I may, the Iraqi army was all massed by itself in the Kuwaiti desert. We are now talking about ISIS, soldiers, they are not massed. They are embedded in Mosul. They are embedded in Raqqa with civilians."
In effect Ted Cruz is talking about effecting a massacre. He would likely be committing a war crime if he carpet bombed an entire city to kill a few terrorists.
It was evident Chris Wallace was disgusted with Ted Cruz's rhetoric. He said as much when Cruz responded to his fact based statement. "I would like to ask you about some of your votes and not the rhetoric," Chris Wallace exasperatedly said before Cruz responded with more statements highlighting his willful ignorance.
The facts are that the air force has 5,032 aircraft with another 40 combat squadrons today (http://index.heritage.org/military/2015/chapter/us-power/us-air-force/) when Cruz stated on Sunday that we have less than 4,000 in place (down from over 8,000 in 1991).
And, we really have a a total of 430 ships in action today with another 100 to 200 in reserve or not in reserve but being made or being fixed today (http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a15297/us-navy-entire-fleet/). Cruz said on Sunday that we had 529 in 1991 and a total of 272 active military ships today.
He then relates what we did in the Gulf War as 'carpet bombing' when that is an insult to the men and woman that actually used what was absolute precision air bombing and we all saw that live while it happened on CNN. Besides, we can all remember the Colin Powell press conferences those days and during it? And, it is a deceiving comment to make in comparison to that war and to the war we face today which Chris Wallace mentioned so that was at least good to see.
Honestly, he the most annoying human being I have to listen to every day by far and by leaps and bounds (which says alot considering the cast of clowns out there in the media every day).
Remember him reading Dr. Suess for like 8 hours? He is an idiot.
CNN/ORC Poll: Donald Trump dominates GOP field at 41%. Donald Trump has hit a new high in the race for the Republican nomination, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll, with more than 4-in-10 Republican voters nationwide now saying they back the billionaire.
And more than two-thirds of Republicans say he's the candidate most likely to capture their party's presidential nomination.
Trump has topped the 40% mark for the first time in CNN/ORC polling, standing at 41%. That more than doubles the support of his nearest competitor, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who notches 19% support in the poll. No other candidate hit double-digits. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio landed at 8%, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 6%, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 5%, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 4%, and the rest at 3% or less.
Despite the new high-mark for Trump, the GOP race remains fairly stable compared with where it was in the most recent CNN/ORC poll in late December.
In that poll, Trump stood at 39%, Cruz at 18% and Rubio at 10%. Carson's 4-point dip, from 10% to 6%, between the two surveys is the largest change in the field, and it is not large enough to be a statistically significant change given the new poll's 5-point margin of sampling error.
Trump's lead is clearly significant, however, and the poll finds him well ahead of the field among a range of GOP subgroups. He leads among both men and women, younger and older voters, white evangelicals, conservatives and both self-identified Republicans and independents who lean toward the party.
There are two subgroups where Trump's lead is less dominant: college graduates and tea party supporters. Even among those groups, however, he remains at the head of the pack. Among those holding degrees, 26% back Trump, 20% Cruz, and tea party supporters split 37% for Trump, 34% for Cruz.
Trump's supporters are more likely than those backing other candidates to say that they've definitely made up their mind (70% of Trump's supporters say they are locked in compared with 40% who back other candidates).
And the prospect of a Trump candidacy generates more enthusiasm overall (40% of Republican voters say they would be enthusiastic about a Trump nomination) than the possibility of Cruz (25% enthusiastic) or Rubio (18% enthusiastic) at the head of the ticket.
Trump's dominance continues when voters assess which of the GOP candidates would best handle top issues.
Trump holds his widest advantage on handling the economy: 60% of GOP voters say Trump would best handle it, a 48-point lead over Ted Cruz. Likewise, Trump has a 55% to 16% edge on handling illegal immigration.
His margin is smaller, though still significant, on handling foreign policy. Republican voters in the poll rated terrorism their most important issue in considering a candidate for president: 49% called it "extremely important," outpacing the share calling the economy, government spending or illegal immigration as central to their vote.
Trump has gained ground over the course of the campaign on the values issues that are often meaningful among Republican primary voters.
Trump rips Cruz: 'Lie after lie'.
The share who say Trump would do the best job on social issues has grown from 15% in September to 28%. Cruz trails Trump by just 4 points on that matter.
And about one-third of Republicans say they think Trump is the candidate who "best represents the values of Republicans like yourself," 34% choose Trump, 9 points ahead of Cruz at 25%. No other candidate hits double-digits on that measure.
Trump's case for the presidency rests at least in part on his standing as a political outsider. The poll finds that a broad swath of GOP voters (55%) say they feel completely unrepresented by the government in Washington, and among those voters, Trump holds a 47% to 19% lead over Cruz.
The poll also finds Trump is widely seen as the candidate best able to win in November: 63% of Republicans say so, compared with 16% who see Cruz as best positioned to win and 10% who name Rubio.
But in hypothetical general election, Trump appears to fare slightly worse than either Cruz or Rubio when matched up against either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. All six match-ups are close, with no one candidate leading another outside the margin of error of 3.5 percentage points for registered voters. But Rubio and Cruz each hit 50% support when matched against Clinton, while Trump stalls at 47%.
Cruz: Trump 'could be unstoppable' if he wins Iowa
Rubio and Sanders produce a near-even split, 49% Sanders to 48% Rubio, while the Democratic senator hits 50% against either Trump or Cruz.
Overall, a majority of registered voters (56%) now say they think Trump will win his party's nomination for president, and that rises to 68% among Republican voters. Last summer, 40% of registered voters said they thought Bush would top the GOP ticket in 2016 -- now, just 5% say so.
The CNN/ORC Poll was conducted by telephone January 21-24 among a random national sample of 1,002 adults. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. For results among the 405 registered voters who are Republicans or independents who lean toward the Republican Party, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 5.0 percentage points.
Democratic Polls for Jan. 25: State of the Race in Iowa & New Hampshire.
Hillary Clinton, campaigning here with Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards in Iowa, is ahead by a slim margin in that state and a wide swath nationally. (Getty)
We’re just six days from the Iowa caucus. National polls show a commanding lead for Hillary Clinton, but Bernie Sanders’s hold on New Hampshire polls is increasing, and he’s taken the lead in a recent Iowa poll. The betting markets (according to PredictWise) and Iowa FiveThirtyEight forecasts continue to favor Hillary despite the tight polling margin in the state.
Here’s a look at the state of the race:
Iowa
The two most recent polls in Iowa contradict one another. A new poll by KBUR shows Clinton with a 9-point lead over Sanders, 48 percent to 39 percent, with Martin O’Malley taking 7 percent. In other unwelcome news for Sanders, the poll shows that only 5.6 percent of voters polled are undecided, meaning there may not be a whole lot of room to make up ground.
However, CNN found Sanders had a lead of 8 points, 51 percent to 43 percent, with O’Malley carrying 4 percent. Sanders was also the most trusted candidate on the economy, a topic on which Clinton had led in CNN polling since August. CNN, however, also differs from the KBUR poll in showing a much higher portion of completely or partly undecided voters than, at 36 percent. Another notable caveat to the CNN poll: while, like most polls, it controls for “likely caucus-goers,” when it asked those who actually did caucus in 2008, Clinton was the favorite by a 55-38 margin.
In polling averages provided by RealClearPolitics, Clinton maintains a 6.4-point lead, 47.9 to 41.5, with O’Malley at 5.5 percent.
Iowa Polling Averages (by RealClearPolitics)
- Hillary Clinton: 47.9%
- Bernie Sanders: 41.5%
- Martin O’Malley: 5.5%
FiveThirtyEight, which utilizes factors beyond polls in its “polls-plus” predictions, gives Hillary Clinton an 78 percent chance to take the state, down from the 85 she carried for most of the month. Sanders is at 22 percent, with O’Malley at less than 1 percent. (Due to rounding, the sum of the averages exceeds 100.) Its polls-only forecast, which doesn’t use eactra factors but weights the polls according to methodology and past accuracy, gives Clinton a 72 percent chance to win the primary, with Sanders at 28, well above her RealClearPolitics lead.
FiveThirtyEight Polls-Plus Forecast for Iowa
Hillary Clinton: 78%
Bernie Sanders: 15%
Click the “next page” button below for a breakdown of New Hampshire and national polls, as well as a look at the Democratic primary schedule.
POLL: Who ‘Won’ The Democratic Town Hall Forum?
Last Night's Democratic Town Hall in 90 Seconds
The top Donkeys met last night for a CNN town hall-style forum, scheduled at the last minute before the Iowa caucuses. Didn’t catch it? No problem, because we burned through the bull to bring you everything you need to know in 90 seconds. Watch the video above to see all the uncensored Dem-on-Dem action.
First up was Bernie Sanders, and B.S. was full of promises. They ranged from the inadvisable to the impossible, from free healthcare for all without rising costs to free college for all without rising costs.
Setting aside the price controls and bureaucratic rationing that would require, there’s just one catch. To pay for his estimated $18 trillion in additional spending over the next 10 years, which is almost as much as the current national debt owed from multiple centuries of fiscal mismanagement, Sanders either has to debt-smother your children or raise taxes. While he’s presumably going to have to settle on some combination thereof, he admitted only to the latter last night.
While Bernie was eating his free lunch, Martin O’Malley wandered into the room and rolled up his sleeves (literally, and very deliberately). Touting his record, O’Malley shifted to local politics, claiming that only he has a plan to revitalize America’s cities.
Let’s just hope this revitalization doesn’t look like the one that has occurred in the shining city on the hill of which he was mayor from 1999 to 2007, Baltimore. That model for the modern, gun-controlled city last year experienced the highest per-capita murder rate in its history and a near-record number of shootings. Progress!
And finally, emerging from the fog of classified email was the most relatable version of Hillary Clinton we’ve seen yet.
OK, maybe not.
In the midst of a perfect storm of political platitudes, Hillary found time to deny that she had done anything wrong, ever—with regard to her emails, Benghazi, the “scumbag Woodstock” that Libya has become more generally, you name it. The Secretary can only wonder who wouldn’t prioritize convenience over their sworn duty when transmitting sensitive national security information.
While Russian and Chinese hackers sure do appreciate her transparency, a hundred FBI agents and countless Libyan civilians might beg to differ.
But don’t worry, America. In case you were wondering, that wasn’t a huge spider eating Hillary’s neck, it was just a stupidly large microphone.
And that’s really the main thing we took from the Democratic town hall.
First up was Bernie Sanders, and B.S. was full of promises. They ranged from the inadvisable to the impossible, from free healthcare for all without rising costs to free college for all without rising costs.
Setting aside the price controls and bureaucratic rationing that would require, there’s just one catch. To pay for his estimated $18 trillion in additional spending over the next 10 years, which is almost as much as the current national debt owed from multiple centuries of fiscal mismanagement, Sanders either has to debt-smother your children or raise taxes. While he’s presumably going to have to settle on some combination thereof, he admitted only to the latter last night.
While Bernie was eating his free lunch, Martin O’Malley wandered into the room and rolled up his sleeves (literally, and very deliberately). Touting his record, O’Malley shifted to local politics, claiming that only he has a plan to revitalize America’s cities.
Let’s just hope this revitalization doesn’t look like the one that has occurred in the shining city on the hill of which he was mayor from 1999 to 2007, Baltimore. That model for the modern, gun-controlled city last year experienced the highest per-capita murder rate in its history and a near-record number of shootings. Progress!
And finally, emerging from the fog of classified email was the most relatable version of Hillary Clinton we’ve seen yet.
OK, maybe not.
In the midst of a perfect storm of political platitudes, Hillary found time to deny that she had done anything wrong, ever—with regard to her emails, Benghazi, the “scumbag Woodstock” that Libya has become more generally, you name it. The Secretary can only wonder who wouldn’t prioritize convenience over their sworn duty when transmitting sensitive national security information.
While Russian and Chinese hackers sure do appreciate her transparency, a hundred FBI agents and countless Libyan civilians might beg to differ.
But don’t worry, America. In case you were wondering, that wasn’t a huge spider eating Hillary’s neck, it was just a stupidly large microphone.
And that’s really the main thing we took from the Democratic town hall.
With tight polling in Iowa the Democratic Presidential candidates had one last chance to convince first-state voters in a town hall forum hosted by Chris Cuomo for CNN. Rather than a debate, the event was a “town hall” format, allowing each candidate to answer questions at their own speed.
Read our recap below, then vote in our poll about who won.
Economics
When asked about his not backing away from the “socialist” label, Sanders offered a definition of democratic socialism:
Sanders: Something's wrong when rich get richer & everyone else gets poorer http://cnn.it/1WLLdVI #DemTownHall
O’Malley called himself a believer in “fair market economic capitalism.”
Sanders: Something's wrong when rich get richer & everyone else gets poorer http://cnn.it/1WLLdVI #DemTownHall
Income Inequality/Wall Street
Sanders admitted that he would raise taxes, but claimed his programs would save the taxpayers money in the long run:
Sanders took a shot at Wall Street as well, saying that after receiving taxpayer-funded bailouts, it was time for the major financial firms to return the favor to the American people:
.@BernieSanders: Maybe it’s time Wall Street helps the middle class #DemTownHall http://cnn.it/1WLLdVI
Sanders then advocated a minimum wage increase not only for economic justice, but as a move toward pay equality.
O’Malley also advocated abolishing the gender pay gap:
How about the long-deferred promise of equal pay for equal work -@MartinOMalley #DemTownHall http://cnn.it/1WLLdVI
Social Security
Bipartisanship
While Sanders declared himself the most progressive member of Congress, he also noted his record as the most successful member in getting amendments passed, often by working with Republicans.
Foreign Policy
Clinton called the use of military force “a last resort, not first choice.”
.@HillaryClinton: Military action "should be the last resort" #DemTownHall http://cnn.it/DemTownHall
She touted her record working to build a coalition to force Iran to the negotiating table regarding their nuclear program and brokering a ceasefire in Gaza.
Human rights activist and lawyer Arjun Sethi, however, disputed her account:
Arjun Sethi
Omg. Hillary wanted to bomb Iran when she ran for office in 2008. She kept saying Obama was naïve to sit down with the Iranians #DemTownHall
Hillary called for a coalition of Muslim nations to defeat ISIS, and attacked anti-Muslim comments from Donald Trump (though she didn’t mention him by name) as detrimental to that cause.
Omg. Hillary wanted to bomb Iran when she ran for office in 2008. She kept saying Obama was naïve to sit down with the Iranians #DemTownHall
Qualifications
In response to Clinton’s ad touting her credentials, Sanders stood up to vigorously touted numerous times he claimed to have opposed the political movements that have caused most of America’s problems, while Clinton was a part of them. He reiterated, however, that he respected and liked his opponents.
Hillary Clinton addressed one of these “lapses in judgment” during her time:
Clinton defends vote for Iraq War: "I have a much longer history than one vote, which I've said was a mistake." #DemTownHall
O’Malley touted his record as a leader through “deep divisions” like those currently facing America:
Hillary addressed the “enthusiasm gap” between herself and Sanders:
.@HillaryClinton gets her first question from someone leaning toward @BernieSanders http://cnn.it/DemTownHall
Gun Control
Sanders recalled that Clinton, who challenged Sanders’s record on guns, was dubbed “Annie Oakley” by the future President Obama for her soft record on gun control. Sanders also pointed out his affirmative campaign and voting records on instant background checks and the “gun show loophole.”
.@BernieSanders on guns: "I have supported instant background checks" http://cnn.it/DemTownHall #DemTownHall
Personal
Sanders addressed his athletic past, as an elementary school borough basketball champion and city finalist in the mile run.
.@BernieSanders reflects on what his parents would think of his presidential run. #DemTownHall
Racial & Sex/Gender Equality
O’Malley outlined a plan to advance equality:
.@MartinOMalley discusses how he would make America "more inclusive" #DemTownHall http://cnn.it/DemTownHall
Hillary claimed to have been on the “front line of change and progress” for years:
.@HillaryClinton: I've been at the front line of change and progress [for a long time]. #DemTownHall
Climate Change
Sanders lamented running out of time before addressing climate change.
O’Malley called climate change a great business opportunity for America:
The biggest issue for young people? @MartinOMalley says it's climate change #DemTownHall http://cnn.it/1WLLdVI
Many were impressed with O’Malley, though not enough to vote for him:
Timothy P. McCarthy
Best case scenario for @MartinOMalley is that he becomes HUD Secretary for @HillaryClinton #DemTownHall
Dan Speerin
O'Malley is solid on a lot of issues. He just needs to lose the cliche theatrics and platitudes. #DemTownHall
One user took a humorous swipe at the town hall’s demographics:
holly wood
If this is representative, Iowa has way too many law students for the new economy. #DemTownHall
Trump: Keystone pipeline, like Cruz, connects Canada and Texas. Donald Trump is riding high in New Hampshire, but he's not about to pull any punches against Ted Cruz just two weeks out from the primary.
At a campaign rally at Farmington High School Monday night, the Republican presidential front-runner launched into a multi-pronged attack on the Texas senator, on everything from the Texas senator's eligibility to be president and his ties to Wall Street banks.
"My new battle is with a gentleman named Ted Cruz," Trump said, labeling the senator a "Canadian" and warning the room that Cruz would be vulnerable to lawsuits. "He was born in Canada, on Canadian soil."
"That pipeline goes from Canada, the birthplace of Ted Cruz ... all the way to Texas," Trump said. "Maybe there's a conflict of interest!"
As he discussed the issue of eminent domain and the Keystone XL Pipeline, Trump drew laughter from the gymnasium when he joked that the pipeline extended from Canada to Texas.
The real estate developer also went after his closest rival for failing to properly disclose loans he had received from Goldman Sachs and Citibank for his 2012 Senate campaign.
Pointing to Medicare, the businessman said the government spends too much money on prescriptions because they don't "bid out" the contracts, thanks to the influence of pharmaceutical lobbyists.
"He's Robin Hood. He's Mr. Robin Hood and he's going to protect you from the horrible Wall Street bankers," Trump mocked. "Goldman Sachs has him. And Citi has him."
Besides taking aim at Cruz, Trump touted his private sector experience.
A recent spate of surveys have shown Trump enjoying significant leads over Cruz in New Hampshire. A CNN/WMUR poll last week gave Trump with a 20-point lead over Cruz -- 34% to 14%.
"They say like $300 billion could be saved if we bid them out. We don't do it. Why? Because they're drug companies, folks," Trump said. "We have so many instances like that. That's one instance. Hundreds of billions of dollars, we don't bid it out. We bid it out in Trump, but we don't bid it out with politicians cause they don't even know what it means to bid out."
Trump kicked off his speech Monday by boasting about his latest poll numbers -- but signaled to his supporters that he's not taking anything for granted.
"These polls have gone so crazy and so positive that I hate to tell it to you because I want you to go out," Trump said, pleading with the crowd to get out and vote on February 9. "You've gotta go out."
Grand Jury Investigating Planned Parenthood Indicts Anti-abortion Activists Instead.
In a twist this Monday, a Texas grand jury investigating Planned Parenthood wrapped by issuing several indictments not to the women’s healthcare provider, but to two of the anti-abortion activists who had prompted the investigation.
The grand jury, convened by the Harris County district attorney’s office, indicted David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt for tampering with a governmental record.
The indictments conclude a two-month investigation into video taped at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Houston operated by Planned Parenthood of the gulf coast. Daleiden and Merritt introduced themselves as executives at a biomedical research company and presented fake California drivers’ licenses.
Mayor de Blasio speaks up for Hillary Clinton's record and new platform on the show and how he faces storm of controversy over snow cleanup in Queens. The Mayor feels that Hillary can raise the stand of the Middle Class society. I am not sure what basis beside him saying that Hillary Clinton lived it in the sense that she knows how to deal with Congress. He says over and over that Hillary knows how to get it done. I am not sure why he feels that way. I do not think her past work conveys it but anyway, and, with regard to the snowstorm, there is no mention of the Queens debacle but with shades of Mayor Mike Bloomberg being in Bermuda when the blizzard of 2010 bore down on New York City - burying forgotten Queens residents under a blanket of snow is being blamed ion him.
What's Mayor Bill de Blasio's excuse is asked by the district leader in Queens? Nothing quite tests a New York City mayor's mettle like a blizzard. A raging snowstorm has the unique ability to pierce through a mayor's lofty rhetoric or grand vision of government. The snow either gets plowed out of the way or it doesn’t; the rest is just commentary. A snowstorm got Lindsay. A snowstorm got Bloomberg. And a snowstorm just got de Blasio. Unfortunately, in all three cases that meant it really got my constituents. Late Sunday night, a full 24 hours after Winter Storm Jonas spit out its last snowflake on New York City, I toured streets throughout the neighborhoods in my central/eastern Queens district. Too many hadn’t yet been introduced to a snowplow or had a fleeting acquaintance so long past that it left no remaining impression. Our streets were blanketed in snow and people are trapped in their homes, unable to get to school, work or doctor appointments.
In a truly cruel technological twist, the City's online, real-time snowplow tracker, PlowNYC, showed many streets as having been recently plowed when clearly they hadn't been. Really, what inspires greater confidence in your government than standing atop a snow mound in the middle of an unplowed street and looking at an app telling you that the street was plowed a few hours ago?
This is just one manifestation of the City's failure to fulfil one of its most basic responsibilities, but in the investigatory hearing to come (and boy does there need to be an investigatory hearing), we need to explore if PlowNYC's detached optimism was as much cause as symptom. For example, was the City relying on PlowNYC's flawed data to make decisions about where to deploy resources, diverting snowplows from streets that it mistakenly believed were already plowed?
A snowplow clears snow on Lexington Avenue during the snowstorm January 2016 in New York.
FRANCOIS XAVIER MARIT/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
A snowplow clears snow on Lexington Avenue during the snowstorm January 2016 in New York.
The bottom line: the City knows how to remember Queens in a snowstorm when it wants to. My constituents want to know why this weekend this administration chose to forget. Rory Lacman is the City Councilman for the 24th District, which covers Kew Gardens Hills, Pomonok, Electchester, Fresh Meadows, Hillcrest, Jamaica Estates, Briarwood, Parkway Village, Jamaica Hills and Jamaica.
What's Mayor Bill de Blasio's excuse is asked by the district leader in Queens? Nothing quite tests a New York City mayor's mettle like a blizzard. A raging snowstorm has the unique ability to pierce through a mayor's lofty rhetoric or grand vision of government. The snow either gets plowed out of the way or it doesn’t; the rest is just commentary. A snowstorm got Lindsay. A snowstorm got Bloomberg. And a snowstorm just got de Blasio. Unfortunately, in all three cases that meant it really got my constituents. Late Sunday night, a full 24 hours after Winter Storm Jonas spit out its last snowflake on New York City, I toured streets throughout the neighborhoods in my central/eastern Queens district. Too many hadn’t yet been introduced to a snowplow or had a fleeting acquaintance so long past that it left no remaining impression. Our streets were blanketed in snow and people are trapped in their homes, unable to get to school, work or doctor appointments.
In a truly cruel technological twist, the City's online, real-time snowplow tracker, PlowNYC, showed many streets as having been recently plowed when clearly they hadn't been. Really, what inspires greater confidence in your government than standing atop a snow mound in the middle of an unplowed street and looking at an app telling you that the street was plowed a few hours ago?
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Regardless of it all today, please stay in touch!
