Subject: Stitch: The Birth of a Hawk, Hillary's VP Search & The State of the RNC-Donald Courtship
From: Jonathan Allen <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 2016 16:26:22 +0000
List-Id: dff5dea186e38c29c57ca6f8fmc list <dff5dea186e38c29c57ca6f8f.326717.list-id.mcsv.net>

** THE BIG QUESTION

Is Clinton's 'muscular' brand of foreign policy better matched to 2016 than it was to 2008?

BIRTH OF A HAWK: HOW HILLARY CAME TO LOVE THE MILITARY
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MARK LANDLER, who covered Hillary Clinton at State for the New York Times, writes a weekend long read on the roots of Clinton's hawkish leanings. It's worth the full read, which you can get by clicking here (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/magazine/how-hillary-clinton-became-a-hawk.html?smid=tw-nytmag&smtyp=cur&_r=1) .

Landler writes that Clinton's affinity for muscular U.S. foreign policy is rooted in a classic view of American exceptionalism.
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"It set her apart from her rival-turned-boss, Barack Obama, who avoided military entanglements and tried to reconcile Americans to a world in which the United States was no longer the undisputed hegemon. And it will likely set her apart from the Republican candidate she meets in the general election. For all their bluster about bombing the Islamic State into oblivion, neither Donald J. Trump nor Senator Ted Cruz of Texas have demonstrated anywhere near the appetite for military engagement abroad that Clinton has."

—Mark Landler/NYT (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/magazine/how-hillary-clinton-became-a-hawk.html?smid=tw-nytmag&smtyp=cur&_r=1)

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CLINTON'S TOP POLICY ADVISER, Jake Sullivan, opens a window into the Clinton camp's thinking that may seem counterintuitive to some at a time when Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, the surprise candidates of 2016, have expressed wariness about the deployment of U.S. forces.
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"There’s no doubt that Hillary Clinton’s more muscular brand of American foreign policy is better matched to 2016 than it was to 2008.”

—Jake Sullivan/NYT (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/magazine/how-hillary-clinton-became-a-hawk.html?smid=tw-nytmag&smtyp=cur&_r=1)

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With Republicans and Democratic rival Bernie Sanders having criticized Clinton's foreign policy and national security judgment, the question of whether the American public agrees with her hawkish-for-a-Democrat worldview should be a big one come November.

** CLINTON VP VET
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The quadrennial mentioning frenzy is well under way, and PATRICK HEALY of the New York Times lists a bunch of potential Clinton running mates in a story this morning. Some are more realistic than others:
* Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine
* Virginia Sen. Mark Warner
* Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown
* Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick
* Labor Secretary Tom Perez
* Florida Sen. Bill Nelson
* New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker
* HUD Secretary Julian Castro

BOB SHRUM told Healy that John Kerry's advisers erred in pushing for John Edwards over Dick Gephardt in 2004.
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"Choosing Edwards was a mistake because Dick could have helped us in Ohio in a way that Edwards could not, and Dick would have done better in the vice-presidential debate. ... But a lot of us wanted Edwards at the time. Kerry was doubtful about him, but was persuaded. ... The most important thing for Hillary, in the end, is to follow her own instincts on this one.”

—Bob Shrum/NYT (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/us/politics/hillary-clinton-vice-president.html)

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CHRIS CILLIZZA of the Washington Post ranks his Top 5 here (https://sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/019b61f3d6ddbfe010ec2eca23af6fd1) , with explanations for each choice.

1) Julian Castro

2) Sherrod Brown

3) Tim Kaine

4) Tom Perez

5) Amy Klobuchar

Stitch take: Clinton puts a lot of emphasis on experience, and she would no doubt prefer to pick someone who is battle tested in policy — both domestic and foreign — and politics. That's a tall order. Kaine, a former governor of swing-state Virginia and DNC chairman — and a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees in the Senate — probably fits that bill best among those who have been mentioned.

BUT, the personal relationship matters, as do a dozen other factors. Bottom line: It's too early to tell.

The conventional wisdom is that she would wait to see what the Republican ticket looks like, but it might signal confidence in her choice to name him or her before the GOP convention.

**
TRIVIAL PURSUITS
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ABOUT TODAY

31 years ago, Coca-Cola released New Coke and stopped production of what would later become known as Coca-Cola Classic. It did not go well.

YESTERDAY'S TRIVIA
Arizona Sen. Carl Hayden was the first person to serve seven terms in the Senate. He also spent 15 years in the House and retired as the longest-serving member of Congress — a record that has since been surpassed by Robert Byrd and all-time leader John Dingell.

TODAY'S TRIVIA

Name the Vermont-born Spanish-American War hero who briefly ran for president in 1900.
Send answers to [email-masked]. The first person to answer correctly wins the eternal respect of the Stitch, and, perhaps more important, the right to ask tomorrow's trivia question.

PLEASE SEND TIPS, suggestions, comments, complaints, corrections andSNL's Prince tribute (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/snl-pay-tribute-prince-clip-887101)  to [email-masked]

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**
GOP, TEAM TRUMP TEST THE WATERS OF A PARTNERSHIP
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Or, as JANET HOOK's headline in the Wall Street Journal (http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-and-gop-grope-toward-unity-1461365775)  puts it: "Donald Trump and GOP Grope Toward Unity."

Tap a news app this morning and you'll find some version of the story of tentative teen-agers, Trump and the GOP, surviving their first rendez-vous well enough to merit a second date. Janet, who got assists from Monica Langley and Patrick O'Connor, quotes Henry Barbour, a Mississippi Republican National Committee member, on the state of play after members of Trump's team talked with RNC members n Florida this week.
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"They helped themselves a lot, but they will help themselves more when the candidate starts trying to unify Republicans from the stump more consistently. ... He needs to do more if he wants to close this deal out.”

—Henry Barbour/WSJ (http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-and-gop-grope-toward-unity-1461365775)

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CELESTE KATZ of Mic captures the olive branch RNC Chairman Reince Priebus extended to Trump.
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"Now, I know our candidates are going to say some things to attract attention. That's part of politics. But we all need to get behind the nominee."

—Reince Priebus/Mic (http://mic.com/articles/141609/rnc-chairman-reince-priebus-downplays-fears-of-convention-chaos-at-spring-meeting#.voYjnnUwW)

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BUT SOME RNC MEMBERS won't be as quick to forget or forgive the invective Trump has aimed at Priebus or the threat/promise that Trump would install a new chairman if he is the nominee, as PHIL RUCKER, BOB COSTA & DAN BALZ report in a Washington Post story (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/some-gop-elites-arent-quite-convinced-by-trump-charm-offensive/2016/04/22/3e0e5160-089e-11e6-bdcb-0133da18418d_story.html) that concludes there is still substantial wariness over Trump's effort to woo the party machinery.
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"Stop the attacks on Reince and the RNC leadership. ... Reince is the best chairman, I think, in the party’s history, and there is no question that he is the guy to lead us into the general election. Any discussion about a new chairman is completely stupid."

—SC GOP Chair Matt Moore/WaPo (https://sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/e90b555de361fde05ac22fd4e8ca2ec0)

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STEVE DUPREY, an RNC member from New Hampshire, explains to JOHN McCORMICK & JENNIFER JACOBS of Bloomberg Politics that the RNC spring meeting couldn't have been better timed for Trump's advisers to find an audience willing to listen.
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"The magnitude of the win in New York state, just before people came here sort of started the buzz. ... People are impressed by that.”

—Steve Duprey/Bloomberg Politics (https://sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/e6d78e94c7a80d3d888d83ccccd06791)

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BUT IT'S JOHN HAMMOND, the chairman of the Indiana Republican Party, who wraps it all up in a bow for John and Jennifer, speaking for other RNC members who remain concerned about the question of whether Trump's courtship of insiders and promises of working with the party are honest or a necessary ploy.
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“It’s a question of duality or duplicity. ... We need to understand what that participation with the national and state parties would look like.”

—John Hammond/Bloomberg Politics (https://sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/e6d78e94c7a80d3d888d83ccccd06791)

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* There are plenty of Republicans who will stay in the #NeverTrump category, ***but the willingness of RNC members to hear Trump out — and try to discern his intentions — isn't good news for anyone else who still hopes to become the GOP nominee.
* Yet it will be harder for Trump to convince GOP insiders of his sincerity if there are more stories like this one (https://sidewire.com/politics/dashboard/articles/d8a1e22f1aa804da89d9a9557f36d95a) , from Kyle Cheney of Politico, about Trump emissaries employing hardball tactics to influence the delegate-selection process.

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—30—

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