Subject: H4A News Clips 7.19.15
From: Alexandria Phillips <[email-masked]>
To: Alexandria Phillips <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2015 07:00:29 -0400
List-Id: <HRCRapid.hillaryclinton.com>

*H4A News Clips*

*July 19, 2015*

*TODAY’S KEY
STORIES.....................................................................................
4*

In Iowa, it was a good night for Clinton — and her rivals // WaPo // Dan
Balz – July 18, 2015..... 4

Hillary Clinton slams Trump over criticism of McCain // WaPo // Sean
Sullivan – July 18, 2015. 7

*HRC NATIONAL
COVERAGE..............................................................................
7*

Clinton and Sanders Take Aim at Different Targets as Democrats Gather in
Iowa // WSJ // Laura Meckler – July 18,
2015..........................................................................................................................
7

Why Hillary Clinton is pushing to reignite Democrats in Arkansas // WaPo //
Sean Sullivan – July 18,
2015............................................................................................................................................
10

As Democrats face off, Clinton keeps focus on GOP // AP – July 18,
2015................................. 12

Clinton Eulogizes Promoter of National Civil Rights Museum // AP – July 18,
2015.................. 14

Hillary Clinton is ignoring Bernie Sanders — and it's a smart move // AP //
Lisa Lerer – July 18, 2015        14

Hillary Clinton to hold private fundraiser near Pittsburgh // AP – July 18,
2015....................... 16

Hillary finds new major fundraisers to boost campaign // Politico // Tarini
Parti & Theodoric Meyer – July 18,
2015.....................................................................................................................................
16

Hillary Clinton slams Trump’s ‘shameful’ comments on McCain’s war record //
Politico // Annie Karni – July 18,
2015................................................................................................................................
19

Hillary Clinton Calls Donald Trump Comments 'Shameful' // Bloomberg //
Jennifer Epstein – July 18,
2015............................................................................................................................................
21

Hillary Clinton Condemns Donald Trump’s ‘Insults’ of ‘Genuine War Hero’
John McCain // ABC News // Liz Kreutz – July 18,
2015...........................................................................................................
22

At first cattle call, Democrats hone name-free Clinton attacks // CNN //
Dan Merica – July 18, 2015           23

'Older,' 'Wiser,' 'Richer' Donald Trump Would Be Better President Than
Hillary Clinton, Bill Kristol Says // ABC News // Ben Bell – July 18,
2015....................................................................................
25

Clinton, Sanders share the stage in Iowa // The Hill // Elliot Smilowitz –
July 18, 2015............ 26

Hillary Clinton turns up the heat as Iowa takes on general election feel //
The Guardian // Ben Jacobs – July 18,
2015...............................................................................................................................
27

Hillary Clinton delivers fiery speech at Democratic party hall of fame
dinner // The Guardian // Ben Jacobs – July 18,
2015........................................................................................................................
30

Elizabeth Warren Gives Hillary Clinton Economic Advice (Sort Of) In a Fiery
Public Speech // Bustle // Lauren Barbato – July 18,
2015........................................................................................................
30

Hillary Forbids Young Supporters from Talking to Press // The Weekly
Standard // Daniel Halper – July 18,
2015.....................................................................................................................................
32

Together the First Time, Hillary Clinton and Her Rival 2016 Democrats Still
Play Nice // The National Journal // Emily Schultheis – July 18,
2015.......................................................................................
33

The trap Hillary can’t escape: Her Bernie Sanders problem is she doesn’t
understand Sanders’ policies are popular, mainstream and the future //
Salon // Bill Curry – July 19, 2015............................... 35

National Security Expert Slams Hillary’s ‘Assault’ On Free Speech // The
Daily Caller // Rachel Stoltzfoos – July 18,
2015........................................................................................................................
40

Hillary Clinton defends Iran pact during Davenport, Iowa, campaign stop //
Sioux City Journal // Ed Tibbetts – July 18,
2015......................................................................................................................
41

Clinton remembers D'Army Bailey at funeral // Commercial Appeal // Thomas
Bailey – July 18, 2015       43

*OTHER DEMOCRATS NATIONAL
COVERAGE................................................. 45*

*DECLARED.................................................................................................
45*

*SANDERS.................................................................................................
45*

Sanders vaults from fringe to the heart of the fray // The Boston Globe //
Annie Linksey – July 18, 2015    45

*UNDECLARED............................................................................................
49*

*BIDEN......................................................................................................
49*

Sources: Joe Biden Still Considering A Presidential Campaign // HuffPo //
Ryan Grim – July 18, 2015        49

Biden still considering 2016 bid: report // The Hill // Keith Laing – July
18, 2015................... 50

*OTHER.....................................................................................................
51*

Activists disrupt forum featuring candidates O’Malley, Sanders // WaPo //
John Wagner – July 18, 2015 51

Demonstrators disrupt presidential forum at Netroots event // AP // Ken
Thomas – July 18, 2015               53

Iowa Democratic Party dinner: 5 takeaways // Politico // Gabriel
Debenedetti – July 18, 2015. 55

Black Lives Matter' protesters flummox O'Malley, Sanders // Politico //
Daniel Strauss – July 18, 2015     57

O'Malley apologizes for saying 'all lives matter' at liberal conference //
CNN // Chris Moody – July 18,
2015............................................................................................................................................
59

Martin O'Malley And Bernie Sanders Interrupted By ‘Black Lives Matter’
Activists At Progressive Conference // HuffPo // Sam Levine – July 18,
2015................................................................................
60

Democratic Presidential Candidates Face Off in Iowa // ABC News // Josh
Haskell – July 18, 2015              61

Sanders, O'Malley face protesters at Netroots Nation conference // LA Times
// Nigel Duara – July 18,
2015............................................................................................................................................
62

'Black Lives Matter' protesters halt Sanders, O’Malley events // The Hill
// Mark Hensch – July 18, 2015 64

Democratic candidates turn dinner into a GOP bashing party // NY Post //
Bob Fredericks – July 18,
2015............................................................................................................................................
65

‘Black Lives Matter!’: Sanders, O’Malley Heckled by Liberal Demonstrators
at Blogger Convention; Clinton a No-Show // The Blaze // Dave Urbanski –
July 18, 2015......................................................... 66

O’Malley Apologizes For Saying ‘All Lives Matter’ // Daily Caller // Derek
Hunter – July 18, 2015 67

O'Malley, Sanders Shouted Down at Netroots by 'Black Lives Matter' Protest
// The National Journal // S.V. Dante – July 18,
2015...........................................................................................................
68

Martin O'Malley Was Booed For Saying "All Lives Matter," & Here's Why That
Phrase Should Just Disappear // Bustle // Chris Togonotti – July 18,
2015............................................................................
69

*GOP.................................................................................................................
70*

*DECLARED.................................................................................................
70*

*BUSH........................................................................................................
71*

Raising money is a Jeb Bush family business, even for the next generation
// WaPo // Ed O’Keefe – July 18,
2015.....................................................................................................................................
71

Jeb Bush consultant critiques Republican digital culture // Yahoo News //
Jon Ward – July 18, 2015         73

How Jeb Tackled the Cocaine Cartels // The Daily Beast // Betsy Woodruff –
July 18, 2015..... 75

Talk of rolling back Obama’s Iran nuclear deal on day one is not ‘mature’
// The Washington Times // Kellan Howell – July 18,
2015..........................................................................................................
79

*RUBIO.....................................................................................................
80*

Rubio: ‘The American people believe in immigration' // The Hill // Keith
Laing – July 18, 2015 80

*WALKER..................................................................................................
81*

Scott Walker Is Starting His Road to the White House in a Winnebago // ABC
News // Jordyn Phelps – July 18,
2015...............................................................................................................................
81

Iowa Republicans get some satisfaction as Scott Walker rolls up like a rock
star // The Guardian // Ben Jacobs – July 18,
2015.....................................................................................................................
82

Scott Walker promises forceful foreign policy in Sioux City stop // Sioux
City Journal // Bret Hayworth – July 18,
2015...............................................................................................................................
83

*PAUL........................................................................................................
85*

Report: Rand Paul calls for scrutiny of Muslims // USA Today // Bill
Theobald – July 18, 2015. 85

Ron Paul Not Listed As Donor To Rand Paul’s Presidential Campaign // Daily
Caller // Jamie Weinstein – July 18,
2015...............................................................................................................................
86

*CRUZ.......................................................................................................
86*

Cruz: Planned Parenthood leaders should be prosecuted // The Hill // Keith
Laing – July 18, 2015              86

Ted Cruz On Iran Deal: There Will Be Blood // Breitbart – July 18,
2015................................. 87

Ted Cruz says he won't 'go into the gutter' to criticize Donald Trump //
Business Insider // Bryan Logan – July 18,
2015...............................................................................................................................
88

*PERRY.....................................................................................................
89*

Rick Perry redoubles attack on Donald Trump for John McCain remarks // The
Guardian // Ben Jacobs – July 18,
2015...............................................................................................................................
89

Perry calls on Trump to end his campaign: ‘His comments have reached a new
low’ // Washington Times // Seth McLaughlin – July 18,
2015...........................................................................................
90

Rick Perry: Trump Is Unfit to Lead the Military, ‘Should Immediately
Withdraw’ from Race // MediaIte // Josh Feldman – July 18,
2015.......................................................................................................
91

Rick Perry calls on Donald Trump to withdraw from the presidential race //
Business Insider // Maxwell Tani – July 18,
2015.....................................................................................................................
92

*GRAHAM.................................................................................................
93*

'I feel like I'm on Oprah': Lindsey Graham tears up in Iowa as he explains
how the government helped him survive his parents' early death // Daily
Mail // David Martosko – July 18, 2015..................... 93

*SANTORUM.............................................................................................
95*

Rick Santorum wants curbs on legal immigration in effort to help boost
wages in US // AP – July 18,
2015............................................................................................................................................
96

*HUCKABEE.............................................................................................
96*

Huckabee Responds to Trump: ‘John McCain is a hero’ // Alex Swoyer – July
18, 2015............ 96

*CARSON...................................................................................................
96*

Carson: Black voters 'waking up' to GOP // The Hill // Keith Laing – July
18, 2015................... 97

Dr. Ben Carson on ‘Trump’s McCain Statement: ‘We Need to Hear from
Everybody’ // Breitbart News // Alex Swoyer – July 18,
2015..........................................................................................................
97

*JINDAL....................................................................................................
98*

Jindal focuses on his religion in Indianola // The Des Moines Register //
Paige Godden – July 18, 2015     98

*TRUMP..................................................................................................
100*

The Trump Campaign’s Turning Point // NYT // Nate Cohn – July 18,
2015........................... 100

Donald Trump disparaged John McCain’s military service. Is this the end of
his run? // WaPo // Philip Bump – July 18,
2015......................................................................................................................
103

Trump slams McCain for being ‘captured’ in Vietnam; other Republicans
quickly condemn him // WaPo // Philip Rucker – July 18,
2015...............................................................................................
104

Trump Surge Leaves All but Jeb Bush in Donald’s Dust // WSJ // Dante Chinni
– July 18, 2015 107

Trump's Criticism of McCain Overshadows Issues in Iowa // AP – July 18,
2015..................... 108

Trump attacks McCain: 'I like people who weren't captured' // Politico //
Ben Schreckinger – July 18,
2015..........................................................................................................................................
110

Trump on John McCain: 'I Like People That Weren't Captured, Okay?' //
Bloomberg // Sahil Kapur – July 18,
2015...................................................................................................................................
112

Trump questions McCain's bravery, says 'he is not a war hero' // CNN //
Mark Preston & Eugene Scott – July 18,
2015..............................................................................................................................
113

Republicans Condemn Donald Trump After He Belittles John McCain’s War
Record // TIME // Zeke Miller – July 18,
2015.......................................................................................................................
117

Donald Trump Hits the Limits of Celebrity // TIME // Zeke Miller – July 18,
2015................. 118

After Donald Trump says John McCain 'not a war hero,' Republican rivals
denounce him // LA Times // Noah Bierman – July 18,
2015......................................................................................................
120

Trump clarifies attacks on McCain // The Hill // Keith Laing – July 18,
2015.......................... 122

Draft-Dodging Trump Says POW McCain ‘Not A War Hero’ // Daily Beast //
Olivia Nuzzi – July 18, 2015  123

Trump comments on McCain war record spark outrage // USA  Today // Jason
Noble – July 18, 2015          129

After Attacking John McCain's War Record, Donald Trump's Dramatic Fall Is
Predictable // Forbes – July 18,
2015...................................................................................................................................
131

*UNDECLARED...........................................................................................
133*

*OTHER...................................................................................................
133*

Seeing Crowd, G.O.P. Donors Holding Back // NYT // Nicholas Confessore &
Sarah Cohen – July 18, 2015 133

On Republican Hopefuls’ Checklist: A Super PAC and Lots of Money // WSJ //
Patrick O’connor and  Reid J. Epstein - July 19,
2015........................................................................................................
136

GOP contenders court evangelical vote in Iowa // AP – July 18,
2015..................................... 138

GOP's 2016 ad war slowly heating up // CNN // Tom LoBianco – July 18,
2015....................... 139

*TOP
NEWS.....................................................................................................
141*

*DOMESTIC.................................................................................................
141*

Ku Klux Klan and New Black Panther Party Protest at South Carolina Capitol
// NYT // Alan Binder – July 18,
2015...................................................................................................................................
141

*INTERNATIONAL......................................................................................
143*

ISIS Says It Carried Out Bombing That Killed 100 in Iraq // NYT // Anne
Barnard – July 18, 2015 144

Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Says Nuclear Deal Won’t Change U.S. Ties //
WSJ // Aresu Eqbali – July 18,
2015...................................................................................................................................
145

*TODAY’S KEY STORIES*

*In Iowa, it was a good night for Clinton — and her rivals
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-iowa-it-was-a-good-night-for-clinton--and-her-rivals/2015/07/18/f7d171d0-2d67-11e5-960f-22c4ba982ed4_story.html>
// WaPo // Dan Balz – July 18, 2015 *

The first gathering of the Democratic presidential candidates played almost
according to script here Friday night. Hillary Rodham Clinton stood above
the field but did not dominate. Bernie Sanders displayed the passion that
has made him such a favorite of the left. And Martin O’Malley’s speech got
a reception that belied his anemic poll numbers.

The serial speeches by Clinton, Sanders and O’Malley — who were joined in
the program by fellow contenders Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb — also
highlighted the leftward shift of the Democratic Party under President
Obama and the degree to which that movement is continuing during the
contest for the party’s presidential nomination.

Clinton, who spoke with the aid of a teleprompter, was fiery, funny and
sharply partisan. It was a red-meat speech delivered to an audience eager
for her to deliver it. She took little notice of her Democratic opponents
and concentrated her attacks on the opposition party.

She noted that Republicans have fresh faces running for president but
denounced the GOP as a party mired in the past and wedded to policies that
have not worked except for thewealthiest in society.

On economics, she warned that the GOP candidates want to return to the
tax-cutting policies of previous Republican administrations. “Trickle-down
economics has to be one of the worst ideas of the 1980s,” she said. “It is
right up there with New Coke, shoulder pads and big hair. I lived through
it — and there are photographs. And we’re not going back to that.”

That wasn’t her only hair reference. When she turned to Donald Trump, it
went like this: “Finally, a candidate whose hair gets more attention than
mine.” Then the humor stopped, as she added that there is “nothing funny
about the hate he’s spewing” toward immigrants. She called it shameful and
ridiculed the other GOP candidates for being slow to denounce Trump’s words.

The former secretary of state and senator from New York attacked former
Florida governor Jeb Bush for his comments on part-time work. She hit at
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for restricting reproductive rights in his
state, saying the voters should say no to politicians “who shame and blame”
women. She even went after Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad for vetoing spending on
mental health and got one of the biggest ovations of the night.

If once she seemed tentative about talking about herself and her family,
she no longer is. She talked as she has done in this campaign about the
abandonment her mother endured as a child. She said becoming a grandmother
was “transformational,” forcing one to consider the kind of future this
generation will leave for others. “And that’s why I’m never going to let
the Republicans rip away the progress we have made,” she said.

She said she would fight against efforts to go back to trickle-down
economics and to a “wild West on Wall Street,” to retrenchment on marriage
rights or to efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

She mocked Republicans who say they aren’t scientists and therefore can’t
judge whether climate change is man-made. “Look, I’m not a scientist
either,” she said. “I’m just a grandmother with two eyes and a brain, and
I’m not going to let them take us back.”

She showed her willingness as well to embrace gender issues and the
prospect of becoming the first female president. Ticking through a series
of policies that would help women, she noted that some would say, “There
she goes again” on women’s issues. “Well, I’m not going to stop,” she said,
“so get ready for a long campaign.”

Sanders’s fire

Sanders again showed he is prepared to go where Clinton won’t on economic
issues. He called for a nationwide mass movement against the “billionaire
class” that he has made the heart of his populist insurgency. No president,
he said, can bring about the changes he says are needed “unless there is a
political revolution.”

Clinton attacks Wall Street but hardly with the vigor of Sanders. Calling
wealth and income inequality the moral and political issues of the day, the
senator from Vermont identified his enemy and called on Democrats to take
up the fight. “The greed for the billionaire class has got to end, and we
are going to end it for them,” he said.

There is an old-fashioned passion that Sanders brings to the campaign, and
it has clearly found an audience on the left. Clinton’s policies are
progressive but safely so; Sanders’s go beyond. Without naming her, he drew
contrasts with Clinton that many in the audience clearly understood.

Sanders would raise the minimum wage more than she. He opposes the
Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. He favors both a big
infrastructure program to rebuild roads and bridges as well as a big public
jobs program to reduce unemployment among young African Americans and
Hispanics.

On health care, he would move beyond the Affordable Care Act and seek to
enact a Medicare-style government-run single-payer system. On Social
Security, he would expand benefits, not cut them.

The Sanders cheering section on Friday filled one end of the room, and the
response he received was one more sign that he has found an audience within
the party and, if he can keep building on it, could threaten Clinton here
and in New Hampshire.

O’Malley’s eloquence

The surprise of the night might have been O’Malley, the former Maryland
governor and ex-mayor of Baltimore, if only because he has largely been
dealt out of the narrative of the current Democratic contest. He had hoped
to become the alternative to Clinton only to see Sanders take up that
space. Now he languishes far behind. But he showed he has a message, too.

His speech was a version of Sanders’s message but with a different style
and eloquence. Sanders’s style is direct and blunt. O’Malley’s rhetoric and
cadence lift in other ways, and many times he brought the whole audience
from their seats cheering.

“I’m not the only Democratic candidate for president who holds progressive
values,” he said. “But I am the only candidate for president with 15 years
of executive experience.” He said he offered the party “action not words.”

He agrees with Sanders on minimum wage and trade and Social Security. He
wants a major initiative to rebuild urban America. He attacks the “bullies
of Wall Street” with just as much enthusiasm and edge.

“We must prosecute financial crimes, and if a bank is too big to fail, too
big to jail and too big to manage, then it’s too damn big and it needs to
be broken up before it breaks us up,” he said to cheers and applause.

Chafee and Webb

Chafee and Webb provided the evening’s bookends, curiosities to many in the
audience and so far barely registering in the consciousness of party
activists.

Chafee, the former Rhode Island governor, spoke for less than seven
minutes, denouncing Republican foreign policy as “failed, arrogant,
unilateral, bellicose.” He added: “We need to reject once and for all the
belligerent advocates of conflict.”

Webb was notable for declaring his differences with Obama on the newly
negotiated nuclear agreement with Iran. And seeking to set himself apart
from others, the former senator noted that he is the only candidate elected
statewide in Virginia “with a union card, two purple hearts and three
tattoos.”

Republicans have had many such forums this year. For the Democrats, Friday
was the first opportunity to see their candidates in the same room. Clinton
delivered a rousing and polished speech, but Sanders and O’Malley showed
there is appetite for an even harder-edge populist message among party
activists. That will provide the tension as the Democratic contest evolves
in the coming months.

*Hillary Clinton slams Trump over criticism of McCain
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/07/18/hillary-clinton-slams-trump-over-mccain-comments/>
// WaPo // Sean Sullivan – July 18, 2015 *

At a state Democratic fundraising dinner here Saturday night, Hillary
Rodham Clinton took sharp aim at Donald Trump and his Republican opponents,
singling out the real estate mogul on his comments disparaging Sen. John
McCain (R-Ariz.) over his military record.

"There's nothing funny about the hate he is spewing at immigrants and their
families and now the insults he has directed at a genuine war hero, Sen.
John McCain," she said.

Clinton said it was "shameful" that it took Trump's GOP opponents so long
to "stand up to him," mostly referring to Trump's comments on immigrants.

Trump spoke at a Republican fundraising dinner about an hour's drive away
in Hot Springs on Friday night.

"Last night the new Republican front-runner was here in Arkansas — yes
Donald Trump. Finally, a candidate whose hair gets more attention than
mine," quipped Clinton.

*HRC** NATIONAL COVERAGE*

*Clinton and Sanders Take Aim at Different Targets as Democrats Gather in
Iowa
<http://www.wsj.com/articles/clinton-and-sanders-take-aim-at-different-targets-as-democrats-gather-in-iowa-1437198606>
// WSJ // Laura Meckler – July 18, 2015 *

Hillary Clinton and her chief rival for the Democratic presidential
nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders, each brought Iowa Democrats to their feet
Friday night in a pair of fiery speeches, though their sharp tongues were
aimed at different targets.

Speaking at an Iowa Democratic Party dinner, Mrs. Clinton trained her
attacks on Republicans who she said would take the nation backward on the
economy, health care and more. Mr. Sanders also took shots at the GOP, but
he said the real problem is the nation’s “billionaire class” who take home
a disproportionate amount of the money and wield a disproportionate amount
of the power in the nation’s political system.

“This country belongs to all of us and not a handful of billionaires,” he
said. None of the needed changes would come about, he said, without a
political revolution and a “mass movement coast to coast.”

Mrs. Clinton’s ambitions were less sweeping: a Democratic White House that
would advance the interests of families and children and the idea that
people who work hard should be able to get ahead. “I’m never going to let
the Republicans rip away the progress we have made,” she said.

In back-to-back speeches at the state party’s annual Hall of Fame dinner,
the two were joined by three others seeking the party’s nomination, the
first time all five candidates have appeared on the same stage. The
ballroom was filled with some 1,300 Democrats.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley also won a standing ovation as he
embraced virtually every position that liberal Democrats are advocating. He
said he would work to prosecute Wall Street wrongdoing, raise the minimum
wage to $15 per hour, expand Social Security benefits, kill trade
agreements, make college debt-free and reinstate rules that separated
commercial and investment banking.

“If a bank is too big to fail, too big to jail and too big to manage, then
it’s too damn big and it needs to be broken up,” he said.

He also tried to differentiate himself as the candidate with the most
executive experience and a track record in Maryland of advancing gun
control, same-sex marriage rights and other issues.

But his challenge was evident from the first words out of his mouth. Mired
at the bottom of polls, he sought to introduce himself. “My name is Martin
O’Malley. I’m running for president. And I need your help,” he said.

Two other long-shot candidates also shared the stage. Former Rhode Island
Gov. Lincoln Chafee sounded his support for the nuclear agreement with Iran
and for the opening of diplomatic relations with Cuba. “This is the right
way to make the world safer,” he said of the Iran deal.

By the time former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb’s turn to speak arrived—he was
last due to the alphabetical order of the speakers—dozens of people were
streaming for the doors. He voiced concern about the Iran deal and
highlighted his opposition to the Iraq war. “As a senator I would have
never voted to authorize that invasion,” he said. That was a cloaked shot
at Mrs. Clinton, who voted yes, and one of the few criticisms of any kind
spoken about another candidate.

Going into the evening, most of the focus was on Mrs. Clinton, the former
secretary of state who remains the front-runner, and Mr. Sanders, the
Vermont senator who has gained ground in recent weeks.

Mrs. Clinton offered a withering attack on the GOP. She charged that
Republicans would cut taxes for the rich, strip regulations for American
corporations and promote “trickle-down economics,” which she called one of
the worst ideas of the 1980s.

“It is right up there with New Coke, shoulder pads and big hair,” she said,
mixing humor with policy. “I lived through it—there are photographs—and
we’re not going back to that.”

Republicans argue that the economic policies under Democratic President
Barack Obama have stifled growth, and are pushing for lower tax rates and
fewer regulations on business, which they see as burdensome.

Mrs. Clinton also joked about Republicans who deflect questions about the
impact of climate change by saying they aren’t scientists. “I’m not a
scientist either,” she said. “I’m just a grandmother with two eyes and a
brain.”

Some Republicans doubt the scientific consensus that human activity is
warming the Earth, and say mostly Democratic proposals to combat it would
hurt the economy.

Mr. Sanders was greeted with chants of “Bernie, Bernie” before he was even
introduced. In his speech, he repeatedly denounced the concentration of
wealth at the top of the income scale.

“Enough is enough. That has got to end and together we will end it,” he
said. “This campaign is sending a profound message to the billionaire
class. You can’t have it all. You can get huge tax breaks when children in
America go hungry.”

He also vowed a single-payer health-care system, free tuition at public
universities and to appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn the
Citizens United ruling, which allowed unlimited contributions to super PACs.

“There is nothing we can’t accomplish,” he said. “Please don’t think small.
Think big.”

Friday also brought many Republican presidential candidates to the state.
At a rally in eastern Iowa, Republican state party chair Jeff Kaufmann
said, “Our message is clear to Democrats in Iowa and across the nation: The
Republican Party is unified and ready to put a Republican back in the White
House.”

*Why Hillary Clinton is pushing to reignite Democrats in Arkansas
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/why-hillary-clinton-is-pushing-to-reignite-democrats-in-arkansas/2015/07/18/07a7b9ea-2cbc-11e5-a250-42bd812efc09_story.html>
// WaPo // Sean Sullivan – July 18, 2015 *

The Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library and Learning Center, set on a
six-acre campus here, is about a 15-minute drive away from the Bill and
Hillary Clinton National Airport.

In between are the state capitol and the governor’s mansion, now controlled
by Republicans, who also hold all six of the state’s seats in Congress.

In some ways, Clinton never left the state where she served as first lady
for 12 years, as she has already etched her name in Arkansas history. In
others, she’s an outsider — the Democratic front-runner for president in a
state that has moved sharply Republican in recent years.

Clinton returns Saturday evening to try to turn things around. She will be
the feature speaker at a Democratic fundraising dinner some 2,000 people
are expected to attend. The visit highlights Clinton’s effort to fortify
and revitalize state and local Democratic parties as she runs for
president, including in areas where victories have been hard to come by in
recent elections.

Arkansas is perhaps the best test of how well that strategy will work.
Clinton and her husband Bill are practically political royalty here, giving
them an advantage that President Obama and other Democratic leaders never
had. But they face stiff headwinds months after Republicans dominated the
midterm elections, despite them campaigning for Democratic candidates here.

Part of Clinton’s plan to help state Democrats around the country is simply
showing up and boosting ticket sales to dinners. Her speech at the
Jefferson-Jackson dinner in North Little Rock comes after appearances at
similar dinners in New Hampshire and Virginia in recent weeks.

Clinton aides say they are trying to build a broad national coalition that
extends well beyond the states that vote early in the primary. Last month,
the campaign said it had dispatched 51 organizers to build volunteer
networks in the 46 non-early states and had held or scheduled 320
organizing meetings there.

Arkansas Democratic Party chairman Vincent Insalaco said the prospect of
Clinton being at the top of the ticket in 2016 has made it easier to
recruit Democrats to run for state and local offices.

Republicans confidently predict that Clinton, should she win the Democratic
nomination, would not prevent them from winning Arkansas in the
presidential election. And even the most optimistic Democrats acknowledge
how difficult it would be to spring an upset. The last Democrat to carry
the state was Bill Clinton in 1996. Obama lost twice by wide margins.

“She cannot revitalize the party in Arkansas because the party has no
future at this time,” said Arkansas Republican Party chairman Doyle Webb.
“It’s suffered great losses. If you look at our success over the past three
election cycles, their infrastructure is down.”

The Clinton campaign, which is trying to diminish the impression that she
is the inevitable Democratic nominee, says it is focused on Arkansas as
part of the primary process. The state is slated to be part of a full batch
of “Super Tuesday” primaries on March 1.

“Hillary Clinton is committed to strengthening the Arkansas Democratic
Party, and helping Democrats be successful up and down the ballot next year
and beyond,” said Clinton spokesman Tyrone Gayle.

The massive electoral shift toward Republicans in Arkansas, once a
Democratic stronghold, is part of a broader trend in Southern states in
recent years. Clinton’s allies and friends hope her résumé of local
accomplishments can help ease some of their suffering at the ballot box and
bring more voters into the Democratic fold.

They point to her work on behalf of women, children, families and poor
rural residents, citing her co-founding of Arkansas Advocates for Children
and Families, a nonprofit advocacy group.

“If you look at many of Hillary’s domestic policy initiatives and
interests, you can trace them back to her work in Arkansas,” said Skip
Rutherford, a longtime Clinton adviser and friend who is the dean of the
University of Arkansas’s Clinton School of Public Service.

Insalaco said Clinton left a defining political mark.

“She was a very different first lady,” he said. “I think she helped pave
the way for women to run for office in Arkansas, for women to have success
in politics in Arkansas.”

Republicans believe that Clinton’s accomplishments in the state will only
carry her so far, since she has spent the past two decades outside of
Arkansas — representing New York in the Senate from 2001 to 2009 and then
serving as U.S. secretary of state for the next four years.

At a Republican fundraising dinner on Friday in Hot Springs, the crowd
cheered when real-estate mogul and White House hopeful Donald Trump said
Clinton “deserted” Arkansas.

Rutherford sees things differently. But he also sees a challenging
landscape for Clinton in 2016.

“The base of support for Hillary Clinton has not shrunk in Arkansas,”
Rutherford said. “But the demographics have changed.”

*As Democrats face off, Clinton keeps focus on GOP
<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/as-democrats-face-off-clinton-keeps-focus-on-gop/>
// AP – July 18, 2015 *

Ignoring her primary challengers, Hillary Rodham Clinton focused instead on
the expanding field of Republican contenders as she and her fellow
Democrats tried to impress influential party activists in Iowa.

The fundraising face-off for the benefit of the state party came Friday
night as the Democratic primary fight - long assumed to be just short of a
coronation for Clinton - appeared to be heating up into a slightly more
serious contest. In recent weeks, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has risen in
the polls and packed arenas with voters eager to hear the message of the
self-described socialist who's become Clinton's chief rival.

But rather than confront her most immediate political obstacle in a crucial
primary state, Clinton took aim at the other party, vowing to never let
Republicans "rip away the progress" made during the Obama administration.

"Trickle-down economics has to be one of the worst ideas of the 1980s,"
Clinton said, evoking Republican policy from the Reagan era. "It is right
up there with New Coke, shoulder pads and big hair."

Singling out former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Clinton launched a familiar
attack on his statement that Americans need to work longer hours.

"Americans don't need lectures -- they need raises," she said. "So if
Republicans really want to help us, why don't they join us in breaking down
barriers?"

Clinton additionally pledged an agenda of "small growth, fair growth, and
long-term grown," because her campaign "has to be about how we unlock the
potential of every American."

Sanders, too, refused to criticize his primary opponent directly. Earlier
in the day he edged closer to an attack when he questioned whether Clinton
would back the kinds of tough regulations for Wall Street that's become a
rallying call for liberal Democrats.

"You'll have to ask Hillary Clinton her views on whether we should break up
these large financial institutions," he said during an afternoon appearance
in Cedar Rapids.

At the evening forum, Sanders called for a "political revolution" fueled by
a "mass movement from coast to coast" that would end the influx of money
into politics and take the country off "the path to oligarchy."

"The greed of the billionaire class has got to end and we are going to end
it for them," he said. He added: "Please don't think small. Think big."

The Clinton campaign has signaled that it considers Sanders to be a
legitimate challenger who will be running for the long haul, noting the
$15.2 million he's raised - largely from small donors - in the first three
months of the race.

They believe he will find a measure of support in Iowa, where the caucus
system typically turns out the most passionate voters, and in New
Hampshire, given Sanders' many decades representing neighboring Vermont in
Congress. A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed that Sanders has even
doubled his support in Iowa since May.

On Friday, Clinton's campaign said it bought $7.7 million worth of
television advertising time in early voting states, its first ad buy for
the 2016 contest. In Iowa, the campaign paid $3.6 million for time in all
eight media markets that serve the state. An additional $4.1 million of
airtime was purchased in New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first
primary.

Unlike her rivals, Clinton has already built a vast campaign
infrastructure, run from a multistory headquarters in New York City, with
hundreds of staffers across the country. But so far the Clinton team has
resisted any direct engagement with Sanders, fearing such an exchange might
alienate the activists and small-dollar donors who will form the base of
support in the general election if Clinton should win the nomination.

"You can see that Democrats are united, we are energized, and we are ready
to win this election," Clinton said Friday night.

In a fiery address, she slammed the economic policy of former Florida Gov.
Jeb Bush, joked that businessman and TV star Donald Trump is "finally a
candidate whose hair gets more attention than mine," and criticized
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for targeting union power.

"That's why we can't let Republicans take us back," Clinton said. "We're
not going back to the Wild West on Wall Street. We're not going back to
denying climate change."

Besides Sanders and Clinton, the forum featured former Maryland Gov. Martin
O'Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and former Rhode Island Gov.
Lincoln Chafee.

O'Malley introduced himself as a can-do former chief executive who tackled
a series of problems in Maryland by promoting public education, freezing
college tuition, passing a "Dream Act" for young immigrants and expanding
family leave policies.

But like Sanders, he got some of his biggest applause when he talked about
regulating and punishing Wall Street - underscoring the populist mood of
the most active Democratic voters.

"Main Street struggles while Wall Street soars," he said. "If a bank is too
big to fail, too big to jail and too big to manage, then it's too damn big."

In contrast to O'Malley and Sanders, Chafee and Webb both spoke of foreign
policy issues at length.

Chaffee praised the contentious nuclear deal with Iran, exclaiming "What a
change!"

"Avoiding war is worth every bit of our energy," the Rhode Island governor
added. "This is the right way to make the world safer."

*Clinton Eulogizes Promoter of National Civil Rights Museum
<http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/clinton-eulogizes-promoter-national-civil-rights-museum-32542244>
// AP – July 18, 2015 *

Former President Bill Clinton led the eulogies Saturday for D'Army Bailey,
a lawyer and judge who helped preserve the Memphis hotel where civil rights
leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and turn it into the
National Civil Rights Museum.

Bailey died last Sunday at age 73 after a long illness.

At his funeral attended by Memphis' mayor, other political leaders, lawyers
and judges, Clinton heaped praise on Bailey for saving the Lorraine Motel,
The Commercial Appeal (http://bit.ly/1MhNoOn) reported.

"The Lorraine Motel could be a parking lot for all you know today if it
hadn't been for D'Army Bailey," the former president said.

"The man was moving all his life," Clinton added. "And he believed
everything should have a moving purpose, including this museum. He left you
and America a national treasure."

Bailey led the fight to preserve the crumbling Lorraine Motel, where King
was slain while standing on a balcony on April 4, 1968. King had stayed at
the hotel while marching and making speeches on behalf of striking
sanitation workers who were protesting low wages and unsafe working
conditions.

Bailey assembled donors to buy the hotel, which ultimately became the
National Civil Rights Museum in 1991. The museum has since undergone an
extensive renovation.

Bailey received his law degree from Yale and practiced civil rights law in
New York before moving to California. He served on the Berkeley,
California, city council from 1971 until 1973.

He later returned home to Memphis, where he practiced law and served as a
judge.

Bailey also had small acting roles in several films, including "The People
vs. Larry Flynt" and "How Stella Got Her Groove Back."

*Hillary Clinton is ignoring Bernie Sanders — and it's a smart move
<http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-is-ignoring-bernie-sanders-and-its-a-smart-move-2015-7#ixzz3gImvO6dm>
// AP // Lisa Lerer – July 18, 2015 *

Ignoring her primary challengers, Hillary Rodham Clinton focused instead on
the expanding field of Republican contenders as she and her fellow
Democrats tried to impress influential party activists in Iowa.

The fundraising face-off for the benefit of the state party came Friday
night as the Democratic primary fight — long assumed to be just short of a
coronation for Clinton — appeared to be heating up into a slightly more
serious contest.

In recent weeks, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has risen in the polls and
packed arenas with voters eager to hear the message of the self-described
socialist who's become Clinton's chief rival.

But rather than confront her most immediate political obstacle in a crucial
primary state, Clinton took aim at the other party, vowing to never let
Republicans "rip away the progress" made during the Obama administration.

"Trickle-down economics has to be one of the worst ideas of the 1980s,"
Clinton said, evoking Republican policy from the Reagan era. "It is right
up there with New Coke, shoulder pads and big hair."

Sanders, too, refused to criticize his primary opponent directly. Earlier
in the day he edged closer to an attack when he questioned whether Clinton
would back the kinds of tough regulations for Wall Street that's become a
rallying call for liberal Democrats.

"You'll have to ask Hillary Clinton her views on whether we should break up
these large financial institutions," he said during an afternoon appearance
in Cedar Rapids.

At the evening forum, Sanders called for a "political revolution" fueled by
a "mass movement from coast to coast" that would end the influx of money
into politics and take the country off "the path to oligarchy."

"The greed of the billionaire class has got to end and we are going to end
it for them," he said. He added: "Please don't think small. Think big."

The Clinton campaign has signaled that it considers Sanders to be a
legitimate challenger who will be running for the long haul, noting the
$15.2 million he's raised — largely from small donors — in the first three
months of the race.

They believe he will find a measure of support in Iowa, where the caucus
system typically turns out the most passionate voters, and in New
Hampshire, given Sanders' many decades representing neighboring Vermont in
Congress.

On Friday, Clinton's campaign said it bought $7.7 million worth of
television advertising time in early voting states, its first ad buy for
the 2016 contest.

In Iowa, the campaign paid $3.6 million for time in all eight media markets
that serve the state. An additional $4.1 million of airtime was purchased
in New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first primary.

Unlike her rivals, Clinton has already built a vast campaign
infrastructure, run from a multistory headquarters in New York City, with
hundreds of staffers across the country.

But so far the Clinton team has resisted any direct engagement with
Sanders, fearing such an exchange might alienate the activists and
small-dollar donors who will form the base of support in the general
election if Clinton should win the nomination.

"You can see that Democrats are united, we are energized, and we are ready
to win this election," Clinton said Friday night.

In a fiery address, she slammed the economic policy of former Florida Gov.
Jeb Bush, joked that businessman and TV star Donald Trump is "finally a
candidate whose hair gets more attention than mine," and criticized
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for targeting union power.

Besides Sanders and Clinton, the forum featured former Maryland Gov. Martin
O'Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and former Rhode Island Gov.
Lincoln Chafee.

O'Malley introduced himself as a can-do former chief executive who tackled
a series of problems in Maryland by promoting public education, freezing
college tuition, passing a "Dream Act" for young immigrants and expanding
family leave policies.

*Hillary Clinton to hold private fundraiser near Pittsburgh
<https://www.indianagazette.com/news/reg-national-world/hillary-clinton-to-hold-private-fundraiser-near-pittsburgh,50010333/>
// AP – July 18, 2015 *

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton will attend a private
fundraiser at a supporter’s home in the Pittsburgh suburbs next week.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported an email sent to Clinton supporters
on Tuesday announced the fundraiser to be held at the home of community
activist Cindy Shapira in Fox Chapel. The tony, wooded suburb is home to
sprawling mansions and millionaires a few miles east of Pittsburgh.

The event called “Conversations with Hillary” lists contribution levels of
$1,000 for a “friend” on up to $27,000, which qualifies one as an “event
host.” That also includes getting to attend a reception with Clinton and
membership in her Hillstarters program.

The newspaper reported the Wednesday fundraiser will be Clinton’s first
western Pennsylvania stop since a brief Pittsburgh visit the day she
announced her candidacy in April.

*Hillary finds new major fundraisers to boost campaign
<http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/hillary-finds-new-major-fundraiser-to-boost-campaign-120314.html>
// Politico // Tarini Parti & Theodoric Meyer – July 18, 2015 *

Hillary Clinton’s campaign has drawn in dozens of new bundlers who have
raised $100,000 or more for her presidential campaign, though several
big-name Democratic donors have not yet stepped up as major fundraisers.

Since launching her campaign three months ago, Clinton has attracted
fundraising help from donors who did not bundle for either of President
Barack Obama’s campaigns, according to a POLITICO analysis of a list of
more than 100 “Hillblazers” — or top bundlers — voluntarily disclosed by
the campaign this week. About 40 percent of her donors did not serve as
bundlers for Clinton’s previous campaign or either of Obama’s presidential
campaigns. And only about seven percent of those who bundled at least
$100,000 for Obama in 2012 have raised that much for Clinton.

The absence from Clinton’s campaign bundler list, however, may mean that
deep-pocketed donors have chosen another route of candidate support. In
this presidential election, outside groups are already overshadowing
official campaigns, and some major bundlers from previous elections may
have opted to write big checks to Priorities USA Action, a super PAC
supporting Clinton. Those details will not be made public until the end of
July.

Bundlers pull together individual contributions capped at $2,700 — the
federal limit for individuals in the primary — and their efforts can add up
to big money. The fundraising is more time-consuming for wealthy donors
than simply writing six- or seven-figure checks to super PACs, but
inclusion on a campaign bundler list often comes with perks that give
donors inside access. This week, for example, Hillblazers were treated to
four hours of face time with top campaign officials at a Brooklyn Marriott
hotel close to Clinton’s headquarters.

Overall, with money raised from the bundlers, Clinton’s campaign reported
collecting roughly $47.5 million in the last three months.

Super PACs operate with no restrictions on fundraising, but they are not
allowed to coordinate with campaigns. Super PAC reports to the Federal
Election Commission will offer a more complete picture of Clinton’s big
donor support.

“The sad reality of super PACs is that if the impact a bundler can make is
waning, the influence of grassroots donors is exceedingly diminished,” said
Bill Burton, who co-founded Priorities in the 2012 election cycle when it
was supporting Obama. “But it’s important to note that bundlers are still
critically important to the success of a campaign operation. Without them,
no presidential campaign can raise the funds needed to be successful.”

The boldface names of Democratic donors missing from Clinton’s bundler list
include billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer; Hollywood moguls Steven
Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg; former Clinton adviser Vernon Jordan;
Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs; Chicago Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts;
billionaire Warren Buffett; Salesforce founder Marc Benioff; and Vogue
editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.

Most of them did show up as $2,700 contributors to Clinton, the maximum
primary contribution. Some have even hosted Clinton fundraisers. But none
have so far raised six-figures for Clinton, as they have done in past
presidential elections.

Steyer hosted a fundraiser for Clinton at his San Francisco mansion in
April. Ricketts co-hosted an event for the Democratic frontrunner in
Chicago in May, and Jacobs is expected to host an August fundraiser.

Some new Clinton bundlers include lobbyists, who were barred from
contributing to the Obama campaigns, and have been quick to return to
Democratic presidential politics by raising cash for Clinton. They include
Washington lobbyists Steve Elmendorf, David Jones, Jay Dunn, former
Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez and former South Carolina Gov. James Hodges.

Other new bundlers are women like Allida Black, co-founder of the Ready for
Hillary super PAC that laid the foundation for Clinton’s White House bid,
and former Clinton press secretary Lisa Caputo.

Black, a first-time bundler, said she’s raised $117,000 so far for
Clinton’s bid and hopes to raise more.

“It’s too important for me to stop. I think it’s the most important
election of my lifetime, and I think Hillary is someone I’ve watched since
the early 70s, known since the 90s, and she is the candidate of my lifetime
when it comes to issues I care about. So I have to put my money where my
mouth is,” Black said.

“The thing I’m enormously proud of is that a boat load of my money came
from small-dollar donors,” Black added. “My donors gave anywhere from $20
to $1,000, $500. Some even gave $5. I reached out to everyone I know
because I wanted people to invest because its important to me and the
country and important for Hillary. I find that men are receptive and women
are eager.”

Pamela Eakes, who has bundled for Obama and Clinton, told POLITICO in a
recent interview that Clinton supporters tried to encourage women who lack
money to write large super PAC checks to jump into fundraising.

“Strategically, we’re doing what we’ve done for years,” said Eakes, a major
donor based in Seattle. “We’ve always reached out to women. This time the
most qualified person to be president happens to be a woman and a mother.
So it’s not strategic, it’s just natural.”

Some of the Hillblazers are Clinton supporters who did not bundle for
Obama. Now, they are making a comeback. They include Tracy Bernstein, who
sits on the board of the nonprofit Sasha Bruce; Espirit co-founder Susie
Tompkins Buell; longtime supporter and Clinton Foundation donor Lynn
Forester de Rothschild; and Univision owner Haim Saban and his wife Cheryl.

Clinton is the only 2016 candidate so far to release bundler names.
Disclosure is voluntary, and campaigns that name their bundlers typically
don’t provide exact amounts they’ve raised or their addresses and
occupations, as campaigns are required to do for reports filed to the FEC.

GOP presidential contenders Jeb Bush and Scott Walker have said they will
also voluntarily disclose their bundlers, but have not yet released the
information.

*Hillary Clinton slams Trump’s ‘shameful’ comments on McCain’s war record
<http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/hillary-clinton-slams-trumps-shameful-comments-on-mccains-war-record-120321.html#ixzz3gJVT6vuL>
// Politico // Annie Karni – July 18, 2015 *

Hillary Clinton sharply rebuked Donald Trump on Saturday for his “shameful”
comments that Sen. John McCain was not a war hero because he was captured
in Vietnam.

Clinton also moved quickly to erase any daylight between Trump and the rest
of the GOP field, where the real-estate mogul and reality television
personality has moved from sideshow to the current leader in the polls.

“Donald Trump, finally a candidate whose hair gets more attention than
mine,” Clinton quipped at a Democratic dinner here. “But there’s nothing
funny about the hate he is spewing at immigrants and families — and now the
insults he has directed at a genuine war hero, Sen. John McCain.

“It’s shameful, and so is the fact that it took so long for his fellow
Republican candidates to start standing up to him,” she said. “The sad
truth is if you look at many of their policies, it can be hard to tell the
difference.”

Clinton made her comments at the annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Little
Rock, in front of a crowd of about 1,500 Democrats. It was a brief,
half-day homecoming for Clinton, her first visit to her de facto home state
since she announced her candidacy in April.

In her keynote address, she gave an impassioned version of her stump
speech, talking about paid leave, childcare, equal pay for equal work,
universal preschool, and refinancing student debt. She reiterated her
promise to hold individuals on Wall Street accountable for actions that
lead to economic crises.

And she criticized the Republican field as a generic whole. “They may have
some fresh faces, but they are the party of the past,” she said.
“Trickle-down economics has to be one of the worst ideas of the 1980s. It
is right up there with New Coke, shoulder pads and big hair. I lived
through that. There are photographs. And believe me we’re not going back.”

After arriving in town late Saturday afternoon, Clinton visited the house
she and Bill Clinton lived in when they first moved to Little Rock from
Fayetteville, after Bill Clinton was elected state attorney general in
1977. She also made a brief stop at the Clinton Presidential Center, and
drove by their old 1992 campaign headquarters, before arriving at the
Verizon Center to keynote the dinner. She was scheduled to fly out Saturday
night after her speech, an aide said.

Arkansas has changed dramatically since the Clintons were the stars of the
state’s Democratic Party more than three decades ago. Democrats have been
trounced here in recent elections, where the GOP now holds a majority at
all levels of government in a state that used to be a Democratic
stronghold. In his 2012 reelection campaign, President Barack Obama lost
Arkansas by 24 points. Former Democratic governor and close Clinton ally
Mike Beebe, the one stalwart Democratic survivor, left office in January
after he was term-limited out.

The changing politics of Arkansas were on display Friday night, where Trump
was warmly received by a crowd of over 1,000 Republicans at a GOP dinner in
Hot Springs, Bill Clinton’s boyhood home.

But inside the overly air-conditioned Verizon Center, state Democrats were
trying to keep both the pounding heat and the bleak political map out.

“I’m here to tell you the Democratic party is alive and well in Arkansas!”
said state Democratic Party chairman Vince Insalaco.

For her part, Clinton acknowledged that last year was “a hard one for
Democrats” in Arkansas. But she put a positive spin on it. “Don’t forget,
voters did come out and pass an increase in the minimum wage,” she said.
“Arkansas voters know paychecks need to grow. We just have to offer a plan
for more growth and more fairness they can believe in and vote for.”

The arena was filled with longtime Clinton allies like Beebe; Mack McLarty,
who served as White House chief of staff; former Sen. Blanche Lincoln;
former Sen. David Pryor; Gen. Wesley Clark; and Lynda Dixon, Bill Clinton’s
former personal secretary during his years as Arkansas governor, among
others. The crowd was thrilled to welcome Clinton home — a large portrait
of the former Secretary of State was sold at a pre-dinner auction for
$19,000.

Speaking to reporters before Clinton took the stage, Beebe said Democrats
are suffering because Arkansans are “mad at the White House. They’re mad at
the president, in Arkansas.”

But he said Clinton can distance herself from Obama without being disloyal
to a president she served under. “She can row her own boat,” he said. “She
will be loyal, as she should be. She has her own plans, her own policies.”

He also acknowledged that Trump’s entry into the race is good for Clinton.
“Good, I hope he wins,” he said when asked about Trump’s large and
supportive crowd here Friday night.

As for whether Clinton could win here, he acknowledged in today’s
environment, “it will be difficult, but yes. If anyone on that side of the
aisle right now [has a chance,] she does. but it will be an uphill battle
because the state has gone significantly red.”

*Hillary Clinton Calls Donald Trump Comments 'Shameful'
<http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-07-19/hillary-clinton-on-donald-trump-s-mccain-comments-it-s-shameful->
// Bloomberg // Jennifer Epstein – July 18, 2015 *

Donald Trump's dismissive comments about Senator John McCain's military
service in the Vietnam War were "shameful," Hillary Clinton said Saturday,
joining most of her would-be Republican presidential rivals  in defending
the former prisoner of war.

Hours after the real estate mogul-turned presidential candidate set off an
uproar in the Republican party with his suggestion that McCain, who spent
more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, was "not a war hero,"
Clinton lambasted Trump in a speech at the Arkansas Democratic Party's
annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner.

Clinton, who served in the Senate with McCain, broadened her critique of
Trump beyond his comments about the Arizona senator to include Trump's
incendiary remarks about immigration — which set off his feud with McCain.

"There's nothing funny about the insults he's directed at a genuine war
hero."

"There is nothing funny about" how Trump has talked about immigrants or
"the insults he's directed at a genuine war hero, Senator John McCain,"
Clinton told her audience in North Little Rock. "It's shameful."

Noting the deference many Republicans have accorded the outspoken
billionaire, whose take-no-prisoners speaking style has rocketed him
towards the top of his party's presidential field, Clinton questioned why
it "took so long for most of his fellow Republican candidates to stand up
to him."

Some Republicans, including McCain, have publicly disagreed with Trump's
comments on immigration, including a charge that Mexicans illegally
crossing the border are "rapists." But it was not until Trump attacked
McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, that condemnation became
more vocal and widespread.

Almost every major Republican candidate running for president, with the
notable exception of Texas Senator Ted Cruz, rounded on Trump Saturday
after he pooh-poohed McCain's time in the infamous Hanoi Hilton, where the
the Navy pilot was tortured to the point where he says he considered
suicide.  “He’s not a war hero," Trump told a gathering of evangelicals in
Ames, Iowa. "He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who
weren’t captured."

In her visit to North Little Rock, which brought her back to the state
where she was once first lady, Clinton also commented on Thursday's
shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A Marine from Arkansas was among the
five people killed by a gunman who opened fire at two military facilities
there.

The incident "breaks our hearts but it also stiffens our resolve," she
said. "We will not be intimidated by terrorists. We’ll be strong, we’ll be
smart and we’ll defend our country and our values."

*Hillary Clinton Condemns Donald Trump’s ‘Insults’ of ‘Genuine War Hero’
John McCain
<http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hillary-clinton-condemns-donald-trumps-insults-genuine-war/story?id=32543623>
// ABC News // Liz Kreutz – July 18, 2015 *

Leave it to Donald Trump to help Republicans and Democrats find common
ground.

Hillary Clinton joined the chorus of presidential candidates from both
parties Saturday to condemn Trump for saying Sen. John McCain, a decorated
Vietnam War veteran, was not a war hero.

During her headlining speech at a Democratic dinner in Little Rock, Ark.
Clinton called Trump’s assertion “shameful” and described McCain as a
“genuine war hero.”

“Donald Trump, finally a candidate whose hair gets more attention that
mine,” Clinton quipped.

“But, there’s nothing funny about the hate he is spewing at immigrants and
their families, and now the insults he’s directed at a genuine war hero,
Senator John McCain,” she added. “It’s shameful, and so is the fact that it
took so long for most of his fellow Republican candidates to start standing
up to him.”

Earlier today, Trump came under fire for saying at a campaign event in Iowa
that McCain is only a war hero “because he was captured.”

The comment has drawn criticism from a slew of his Republican presidential
challengers, as well as Clinton and Secretary of State John Kerry.

“I have known John McCain for more than thirty years. We've had our share
of disagreements and still do today. But one thing I know is beyond debate
is that John McCain is a hero, a man of grit and guts and character
personified,” Kerry said in a statement released tonight.

McCain spent five and a half years as a POW after he was captured in 1967
while flying his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam. His aircraft was
shot down by a missile and he nearly drowned landing in a lake. He had his
shoulder crushed by his captors, who refused to treat his injuries, which
were exacerbated by beatings administered during interrogations. He
survived a program of severe torture and his wartime injuries restrict him
from lifting his arms above his head.

Clinton made her attack against Trump during her first trip back to
Arkansas since becoming a presidential candidate.

In her speech, Clinton attacked the GOP for being the “party of the past.”
She also reminisced fondly about her years spent in Little Rock.

Looking out at the many familiar faces she saw in the crowd, Clinton
thanked her longtime friends: “I hope you know that you mean the world to
me and my family,” she said.

*At first cattle call, Democrats hone name-free Clinton attacks
<http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/18/politics/iowa-democratic-party-candidates/>
// CNN // Dan Merica – July 18, 2015 *

Hillary Clinton's opponents didn't have to use her name in order to launch
attacks against the Democratic frontrunner at Friday night's Iowa
Democratic Party Hall of Fame dinner.

The pluses and minuses of Clinton's frontrunner status were on full display
at the dinner. The 1,300-person audience was largely dominated by Clinton
supporters, who hooped and hollered throughout her speech. But the fact
that she leads every national and state poll was also the reason her
opponents honed all of their rhetorical fire against Clinton, not the four
other Democrats in attendance.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley was the most aggressive at targeting
Clinton during the first event of the presidential campaign to include all
five Democratic candidates -- O'Malley, Clinton, former Virginia Sen. Jim
Webb, former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee and Vermont Sen. Bernie
Sanders.

The former Maryland governor sprinkled his speech with subtle knocks
against positions Clinton has taken and areas where the governor's team
feels she is weak.

"We didn't just talk about it, we actually got it done," O'Malley said,
casting himself as the only candidate with 15 years of executive
experience. The line, while biographical, is also meant to knock Clinton,
who O'Malley's campaign believes is all talk but no action when it comes to
progressives issues.

O'Malley also subtly knocked Clinton on minimum wage, trade and energy. "I
am the first candidate but I am not the last" to call for a 100% clean
electric grid by 2050, he said, seemingly alluding to the fact Clinton
would not commit to climate change demands at an event Thursday in New
Hampshire.

On trade, O'Malley hit the North American Free Trade Agreement, a trade law
that was approved under President Bill Clinton's administration but is
deplored by unions.

"Many of you remember the return of NAFTA. It was nada," he said.

Asked by CNN afterward whether the lines were directed at Clinton, O'Malley
said, "No, they're directed at our country's future."

He added later, "I'm offering my candidacy and I'm highlighting the things
that I've done. And I hope each of the candidates will highlight the things
that they have done. One of the things that I have done is accomplish many
of the progressive goals and values that the rest of the field is committed
to, and I don't doubt their sincerity ... but I actually have the
experience in having gotten that done. That's a distinguishing
characteristic that I offer, but it's up to the people to decide."

Clinton, for her part, did not return the attacks, instead choosing to use
her 15 minutes to describe the reason she was running, attack Republicans
and stress the importance of building up the Democratic Party.

"We Democrats are in the future business. But from the Republican
candidates for president, we see the opposite," Clinton said. "Now they may
have some fresh faces, but they are the party of the past."

Clinton even reached back to Republicans of presidencies past, calling
"trickle-down" economics "one of the worst ideas of the 1980s," one that is
"right up there with New Coke, shoulder pads and big hair."

"I lived through it," she said, "and there are photographs, and we are not
going back to that."

Clinton also looked to sum the entire 15-person Republican field into one
candidate: Donald Trump, the businessman whose bombastic statements about
Mexicans have revolted most Democrats and many Republicans. Calling him the
"new Republican frontrunner" -- a nod to his standing in the polls --
Clinton said she was happy there is "finally a candidate whose hair gets
more attention than mine."

Her only mention of her Democratic opponents was at the top of her speech
when she said she was happy to be there with "my fellow candidates."

That was true for all candidates except for Webb, who notably complimented
Sanders multiple times in his speech.

"Bernie, you always fire me up," Webb said of the blunt independent senator.

Webb told CNN after the speech that there was "no real strategy" to
heralding Sanders.

"I think Bernie Sanders raises a lot of good issues to be discussed," he
said. "I wouldn't necessarily agree with all of his solutions."

Webb noted in his speech that if he were president, he would have "never
urged the invasion of Iraq." Clinton in 2002 voted to authorize military
action in Iraq, a decision that hurt her mightily in her failed 2008
presidential bid.

Webb also said he wouldn't have used "military force in Libya during what
was called the 'Arab Spring.'" Clinton advocated military force in Libya
while she was secretary of state.

But O'Malley and Webb were not the only Democrats to knock Clinton.

Going into the event, Clinton's aides anticipated that their candidate
would draw much of the fire. After the speech, all said that they were
surprised O'Malley didn't hit Clinton harder.

And other Democrats knocked the frontrunner without naming her.

Sanders, the candidate surging in the polls both nationally and in Iowa,
did not attack Clinton. Around 200 supporters at 20 tables backed Sanders,
who delivered a stump speech that promised universal health care,
tuition-free college and a breakup of the big banks.

Chafee opened the event, but only spoke for six minutes, less than half the
15 minutes allotted to each candidate.

He used his speech to introduce himself to the audience and outline his
views on climate, war and raising the minimum wage.

He received a polite response, but nowhere near the excitement generated by
Clinton, O'Malley and Sanders.

The sheer fact that all Democrats were at Friday night's event was notable.
Republicans have had cattle calls -- events that bring a high number of
candidates -- nearly every week, but this was the first of the Democratic
nomination fight.

*'Older,' 'Wiser,' 'Richer' Donald Trump Would Be Better President Than
Hillary Clinton, Bill Kristol Says
<http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bill-kristol-older-wiser-richer-donald-trump-potus/story?id=32524822>
// ABC News // Ben Bell – July 18, 2015 *

Real estate mogul Donald Trump would make a better president than Hillary
Clinton, Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, told ABC News.

Kristol, who joins the "This Week" roundtable Sunday and is also an ABC
News contributor, shared his thoughts on the 2016 race for president, the
Iran nuclear deal struck this week and more over email.

1. Is Donald Trump helping or hurting the Republican Party? Also, what are
Trump’s chances for capturing the Republican nomination for president?

Kristol: Trump's chances of being the GOP nominee are small but not
nonexistent. And he's not hurting the GOP, and is probably helping by
broadening the tent. Incidentally, if you look at match-ups of the various
GOP possibilities with Hillary Clinton, they're doing no worse today than
before Trump emerged. So what evidence is there -- as opposed to knee-jerk
conventional wisdom -- that he's hurting the GOP?

2. Would Donald Trump make a better president than Hillary Clinton?

Kristol: Yes. After all, he's older, wiser, and richer!

3. You called the nuclear deal struck with Iran this week “a deal worse
than even we imagined possible.” So, what would have been your alternate
plan? Do you see this development changing Israel’s view on a potential
military strike?

Kristol: The alternative would be to keep the sanctions in place (or
perhaps ratchet them up), increase diplomatic and political pressure on the
regime, keep on sabotaging the nuclear program, etc.

'This Week' Powerhouse Puzzlers: Test Your Knowledge

The Clintons: Then and Now

4. Looking outside those who are openly seeking the White House, who do you
think will be closely looked at for the VP spot on the eventual Republican
ticket for president?

Kristol: GOP VP's: Rubio (if not the nominee), Martinez, Ayotte, Kasich,
Cotton.

5. How do you see the issue of gay marriage playing in this election?
Should GOP candidates focus on it?

Kristol: Probably not a big issue, and probably not one GOP candidates will
focus on. The Supreme Court and the Constitution ("judicial supremacy")
could be a big issue, though.

*Clinton, Sanders share the stage in Iowa
<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/dem-primaries/248418-clinton-sanders-share-the-stage-in-iowa>
// The Hill // Elliot Smilowitz – July 18, 2015 *

Democratic presidential candidates shared the stage at a party event in
Iowa on Friday night, but rather than take aim at each other, they took
turns attacking Republicans.

The Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame dinner was a shared platform for
five 2016 contenders — Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), former
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee and
former Sen. Jim Webb, according to the Associated Press.

Clinton, the primary’s leader in the polls, also led the way in GOP
attacks, accusing Republicans of trying to “rip away the progress we have
made” and bring back Reagan-era policies.

"Trickle-down economics has to be one of the worst ideas of the 1980s," she
said. "It is right up there with New Coke, shoulder pads and big hair."

Clinton took particular aim at businessman Donald Trump, who has rocketed
to the top of many Republican presidential polls.

“Finally, a candidate whose hair gets more attention than mine,” she joked.

“But there’s nothing funny about the hate he is spewing about immigrants
and their families,” Clinton added. “It really is shameful.”

She also called out by name Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for his battles to
declaw labor unions, as well as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for his
economic policy.

Sanders used his speech to evoke populist messages, saying “the greed of
the billionaire class has got to end — and we are going to end it for them.”

He called for a “political revolution” to end big money in politics, and a
renewed focus on helping the little guy.

“The issue of wealth and income inequality is the great moral issue of the
time, the great economic issue of our timethe great political issue of our
time,” he said.

O’Malley touted his liberal record in Maryland on immigration, education,
gay marriage and the minimum wage.

“We didn’t just talk about it,” he said. “We got it done.”

He also joined the other candidates in attacking Wall Street.

"If a bank is too big to fail, too big to jail and too big to manage, then
it's too damn big,” O’Malley said.

*Hillary Clinton turns up the heat as Iowa takes on general election feel
<http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/18/hillary-clinton-iowa-bernie-sanders-martin-omalley>
// The Guardian // Ben Jacobs – July 18, 2015 *

With Hillary Clinton maintaining a strong lead in the polls in the
first-in-the-nation caucus state, her campaign is increasingly looking like
a “post-caucus” operation, focused on the general election.

At the Iowa Democratic party’s Hall of Fame dinner in Cedar Rapids on
Friday night, the first time all five declared Democratic candidates for
the White House were together on one stage, Clinton gave a fiery speech
which almost seemed more appropriate for a general election rally than an
attempt to rally the base.

The former secretary of state seemed to ignore not just her Democratic
opponents but the host of issues raising debate on the left, from student
loans to a $15 minimum wage. Instead, Clinton attacked three Republican
presidential candidates – Donald Trump, Scott Walker and Jeb Bush – by name
while also criticizing unnamed people who dismissed her emphasis on women’s
issues.

In contrast, her chief Democratic rivals, former Maryland governor Martin
O’Malley and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, both hit a list of progressive
hobby horses, including minimum wage and immigration reform.

Sanders got a rapturous reception from fans who started cheering before his
name was mentioned, continued through his call for “a political revolution”
in the US and all the way through the time he sat down. Both mentioned
conservatives – Trump in O’Malley’s case and the Koch Brothers for Sanders
– but they presented them simply as symbols of what they found morally
abhorrent, rather than as potential electoral opponents.

The “general election” approach was nothing new for Clinton. In a rally
before the event, held in a steamy basement underneath the Veterans
Memorial building, she delivered a fiery speech to a crowd of more than
300, attacking Republican economic plans by stating “we’ve trickled on
enough” and warning of the dire consequences of a GOP president in 2016.

“It was awesome,” said local state representative Art Staed. The room had a
pep rally feel as a number of Clinton organizers took the stage to fire up
the crowd and pass the time until the former secretary of state arrived.
While the campaign provided free pizza, they charged for water, soda and
even alcoholic beverages. In the rather warm room, water quickly sold out.

The crowd featured a mix of Clinton loyalists and those curious to see the
Democratic candidate in the flesh on a relatively rare public appearance in
Iowa. Vlora Ajeti came from Illinois. A Kosovan American, she said she
would be forever grateful to the Clinton family for what Bill Clinton did
for Kosovo.

In contrast, Linda Early of Cedar Rapids said of Clinton: “She’s as good as
the others.”

Early seemed supportive but not exactly converted to the cause.

In Iowa, Clinton has mostly used roundtables or private gatherings with
invited guests. With the exception of one fundraiser in the fall of 2014,
she did not set foot in the state between her 2008 loss in the Iowa
caucuses and the April announcement of her candidacy for 2016. She did not
campaign on behalf of local Democrats or show up at party events. However,
her campaign has been organizing in the state, putting together a massive
footprint.

The room at the Hall of Fame dinner felt that Clinton influence. Reporters
were penned off, either because mixing press and attendees presented
security issues – according to the secret service – or to “allow the event
to move along”, according to a spokesman for the Iowa Democratic Party.
This represented a major shift, according to one Iowa Democratic insider,
from past practice at party events.

This did not mean that there were no old-fashioned politics at the event.
On the street outside, a sign war was waged between supporters of Clinton
and O’Malley in the nearly 100F heat. Staffers from both campaigns waved
signs and shouted cheers. Unsurprisingly, Clinton had more people –
O’Malley supporters, divided between those affiliated with his campaign and
his Super Pac, struggled mightily to stay competitive.

The Sanders campaign did not have any such presence. Instead, 37 supporters
stayed in the air conditioning and got to meet the candidate.

Sanders has built a devoted fanbase, similar in some ways to that of the
libertarian Ron Paul in 2008 and 2012. Sanders supporters showed up the
dinner covered in paraphernalia. Clinton or O’Malley supporters might be
happy with a sticker – Sanders fans were wearing T-shirts.

The Vermont senator, who held a veterans’ event earlier on Friday, has
built a following so devoted that at least one attendee had flown halfway
across the country to see him. Claire Harrison had flown in from
California. She told the Guardian “I wanted to hear him” and said she had
combined the trip with a visit with a friend in Omaha.

Sanders has built a robust state operation around Pete D’Alessandro, a
veteran Iowa operative. While he has not quite run a traditional Democratic
caucus campaign, Sanders has still been a frequent visitor who has been
showing up in the state for more than a year. Like Barack Obama, he is
building a passionate following composed of traditional lefties and
first-time caucus goers.

Jay Lion of Spencer, Iowa, told the Guardian he had specifically changed
his registration from Independent to Democratic in order to caucus for
Sanders. A former factory worker currently on disability while getting
dialysis treatment, he said he had been waiting to support Sanders for
president since he first saw the Vermonter on C-Span in 2002.

O’Malley has long been running a traditional caucus effort in Iowa. He has
repeatedly visited the state, dispatching staffers to work on various
Democratic campaigns in 2014 there and doling out money to local Democrats.

At an event held on Thursday night in Ottumwa, the Marylander spoke to a
crowd of about 40 who gathered in a hotel ballroom. He emphasized his
progressive bona fides, telling attendees: “I think we should raise the
minimum wage to $15 wherever we can – however we can.” The evening felt far
more like a traditional Iowa caucus event, in which candidates go out of
their way to court local Democrats. O’Malley walked into the room with a
birthday cake for the local county chair – his campaign left with a signed
supporter card from her.

At the Ottumwa event, Joe Judge, the chair of the local Democratic party in
rural Monroe County who was leaning towards O’Malley, told the Guardian he
thought O’Malley was the only Democratic candidate who could win a general
election in his area. A loyal Obama supporter who had met all three
candidates, he said he simply thought after due consideration that Clinton
and Sanders would lose the rural, heavily Irish area to a Republican in
November 2016 – but that O’Malley could win.

At the Hall of Fame diner on Friday, the crowd cheered all three candidates
– each of the three campaigns had purchased 200 tickets for supporters. The
question, though, remained: which candidate will Iowa Democrats support in
February?

Given changes in the way candidates are campaigning, the vote could
determine not only the future of the nation, but the future of the Iowa
caucus as well.

*Hillary Clinton delivers fiery speech at Democratic party hall of fame
dinner*
<http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/18/hillary-clinton-delivers-fiery-speech-at-democratic-party-hall-of-fame-dinner>*
// The Guardian // Ben Jacobs – July 18, 2015 *

Hillary Clinton delivered a fiery barn burner to a gathering of more than
1,300 Iowa Democrats Friday night.

At a Democratic party hall of fame dinner in Cedar Rapids, Clinton attacked
three Republican presidential candidates by name as well as railing against
Iowa’s Republican governor, Terry Branstad. The Democratic frontrunner did
not mention any of her opponents in the Democratic primary by name.

The speech felt more like a general election address with Clinton going
after both Jeb Bush and Scott Walker by name and arguing Democrats “are in
the future business … but [the Republicans] are the party of the past”. But
perhaps the best applause came for her attack on the state’s Republican
governor who is currently in a showdown with the state legislature after
vetoing education funding.

The former US secretary of state built on her typical stump speech by
delivering a series of cable news ready zingers towards conservatives.
Clinton mocked those Republicans who express skepticism about climate
change by claiming “I’m not a scientist” by declaring: “I am not a
scientist either. I’m just a grandmother with two eyes and a brain and I am
not going to let them take us backwards.”

The former secretary of state also took a jibe at the GOP’s economical
policy, saying “trickle down economics was one of worst ideas of 1980s
along with New Coke, shoulder pads and big hair”.

Clinton also took care to emphasize her work on women’s issues,
highlighting the struggles of her mother’s impoverished childhood and her
work as a young lawyer at the Children’s Defense Fund.

*Elizabeth Warren Gives Hillary Clinton Economic Advice (Sort Of) In a
Fiery Public Speech*
<http://www.bustle.com/articles/98135-elizabeth-warren-gives-hillary-clinton-economic-advice-sort-of-in-a-fiery-public-speech>*
// Bustle // Lauren Barbato – July 18, 2015 *

Days after Hillary Clinton delivered her first major campaign speech on
economic issues, Sen. Elizabeth Warren took to the Netroots Nation stage on
Friday to fulfill her role as America’s progressive savior — but the Donald
Trumps and Sarah Palins of the Republican Party weren’t her only targets.
In a passionate headlining address at the gathering of progressive
activists, Warren seemingly gave Hillary Clinton some economic advice
<http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/elizabeth-warren-netroots-nation-presidential-requirements-120298.html>,
including a stark ultimatum about Wall Street politics. The Massachusetts
senator’s pointed words will likely raise some eyebrows in the Democratic
Party, especially as Clinton’s biggest challenger, the progressive Sen.
Bernie Sanders, continues to see his popularity surge.

We probably shouldn’t be too surprised over Warren’s speech. The senator,
who has publicly supported both Clinton and her friend Sanders in the past,
hardly shies away from calling out those in her own party. But the timing,
of course, is obvious: Was Warren not impressed with Clinton’s recently
revealed economic plan, which was hailed by many writers and news outlets
as “fiery
<http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/18/hillary-clinton-delivers-fiery-speech-at-democratic-party-hall-of-fame-dinner>,”
feminist,” “pro-immigrant” and even “progressive
<http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/12-progressive-promises-from-hillary-clintons-economic-speech-20150713>
”?

Here’s a look at where Clinton and Warren may differ on economic reform —
and what Warren wants Clinton to do about it if she wins the White House in
2016:

Wall Street In The White House

As we know, Warren isn’t that popular on Wall Street, but Wall Street loves
Clinton. Or they loved the old Clinton, anyway. On Monday, Clinton took a
harsher stance on her former allies and backers, saying:

As a former senator from New York, I know firsthand the role that Wall
Street can and should play in our economy, helping main street grow and
prosper, and boosting new companies that make America more competitive
globally. But as we all know in the years before the crash, financial firms
piled risk upon risk, and regulators in Washington either could not or
would not keep up. I was alarmed by this gathering storm and called for
addressing the risks of derivatives, cracking down on subprime mortgages
and improving financial oversight.

Under President Obama’s leadership we have imposed tough new rules that
deal with some of the challenges on Wall Street. Those rules have been
under assault by Republicans in Congress and those running for president. I
will fight back against these attacks and protect the reforms we have made.
We can do that, and still ease burdens on community banks to encourage
responsible loans to local people and businesses they know and trust.

But perhaps Warren wasn’t convinced. The Massachusetts senator told the
large crowd at Netroots Nation:

I think anyone running for that job — anyone who wants the power to make
every key economic appointment and nomination across the federal
government — should say loud and clear that they agree: We don’t run this
country for Wall Street and mega corporations. We run it for people.

Beyond Dodd-Frank

Both Warren and Clinton brought up Dodd-Frank, the Wall Street-consumer
protection legislation passed in the wake of the financial collapse and
recession. “Progressives believe that Wall Street needs stronger rules and
tougher legal enforcement — and that, five years after Dodd-Frank — it’s
time to stop pretending and really end ‘too big to fail’ with rules like
the Glass-Steagall Act,” Warren said Friday, referring to the Great
Depression-era legislation that she wants to revive.

Sanders recently said he would support Warren’s new Glass-Steagall Act
<http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/15/politics/elizabeth-warren-hillary-clinton-glass-steagall/>,
but Clinton advisers said this week that she would not support the reform.
Coincidentally, it was Clinton’s husband, Bill, who repealed the
Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, after nearly 60 years of economic reform.

Although she has wavered on Glass-Steagall, Clinton did address more Wall
Street regulation in her sweeping economic address, though the promises
were vague. Clinton said Monday:

We also have to go beyond Dodd-Frank. Too many of our major financial
institutions are still too complex and too risky. And the problems are not
limited to the big banks that get all the headlines. Serious risks are
emerging from institutions in the so-called shadow banking system,
including hedge funds, high-frequency traders, non- bank finance companies.
So many new kinds of entities, which receive little oversight at all.

Boosting The Middle Class

Warren has made middle-class Americans the crux of her career, so it’s no
surprise she said on Friday that she wants a president who will “embrace
the kind of ambitious economic policies that we need to rebuild opportunity
and a strong middle class in this country.” Will this person be Clinton?

Well, it seems the middle class is the focus of Clinton’s campaign, and her
recent speech drove at least one point home: Wages. Wages. And more wages.

“The defining economic challenge of our time clear. We must raise incomes
for hard-working Americans, so they can afford a middle-class life,”
Clinton said in her speech Monday. “We must drive steady income growth that
lifts up families, and lifts up our country.  And that will be my mission,
from the first day I am president to the last.”

*Hillary Forbids Young Supporters from Talking to Press
<http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/hillary-forbids-young-supporters-talking-press_993050.html>
// The Weekly Standard // Daniel Halper – July 18, 2015 *

"Here's what struck me," said Susan Page of USA Today, "when I read the
coverage in the Des Moines Register this morning. Jennifer Jacobs, who's
been on your show, was covering this last night. Big demonstrations outside
of young people for O'Malley and Hillary Clinton. She went up to the
Clinton supporters -- these are protesters for Clinton -- and they were
told they were not allowed to [speak to] a reporter."

Page continued, "Now, why in the world would the campaign tell their own
supporters who came out to campaign in favor Hillary Clinton ... these are
the young people, college kids, for Hillary, and they've been told they
can't talk to reporters. Why in the world would you do that?

"This raises some warning flags for Hillary Clinton campaign that is trying
to control their supporters."

*Together the First Time, Hillary Clinton and Her Rival 2016 Democrats
Still Play Nice
<http://www.nationaljournal.com/2016-elections/all-together-the-first-time-hillary-clinton-and-her-democratic-2016-rivals-still-play-nice-20150718>
// The National Journal // Emily Schultheis – July 18, 2015 *

It had all the makings of a showdown: after months in each other's
footsteps on the campaign trail, all five 2016 Democratic presidential
contenders were gathered in the same room for the first time Friday night,
ready to stand in front of each other and tell a 1,300-strong crowd why
they,and not their rivals, should get the party's presidential nod.

But when the five—Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley, Jim
Webb and Lincoln Chafee—spoke here tonight, there was little rancor to be
found. Instead, the candidates took turns touting their own credentials,
occasionally praising each other, and ripping into the Republican 2016
field.

"You can see that Democrats are united, we are energized and we are ready
to win this election," Clinton said.

Indeed, throughout the evening—the fundraiser for the state Democratic
party—was remarkably free of intra-party fireworks. The five candidates
refrained from criticizing each other in any explicit way. In fact, the
only one of them who even uttered an opponent's name was Webb, whose speech
directly followed followed Sanders and made several praising references to
him.

Some of the others, including Sanders and Chafee, made general references
to the other Democrats in attendance without naming any names. Sanders, for
example, spoke of "great Democrats who have dedicated their entire lives to
public service." "This is a great team and I thank them all," he said.

Unlike the Republicans, who have gathered at a handful of cattle call-style
events across the country this year—and will appear on stage in Ohio
together at their first debate in just a few weeks—Democrats have not held
similar events.

Instead, the gathering of presidential hopefuls focused their attention on
the Republican Party, offering up criticisms of the 2016 GOP field and
framing the party's philosophy as a whole as outdated.

The five candidates spoke alphabetically, which meant Chafee was first,
followed by Clinton. When she came on stage, supporters began chanting,
"Hil-lar-y! Hil-lar-y!" Clinton told some personal stories in her speech,
touching on frequently-cited anecdotes about becoming a grandmother and her
mother's struggles as a young girl. But she saved most of her comments for
criticism of the Republican Party.

"I am running for everyone who's ever been knocked down but refused to be
knocked out," she said. In closing, she hoped for a country "where a father
can tell his daughter you can be anything you want to be, even President of
the United States."

Sanders' vocal and enthusiastic supporters, who have been drawing him big
crowds and are beginning to form the basis for his campaign's organization
here in Iowa, The chants for Sanders—"Bernie! Bernie!"—started barely
seconds after O'Malley, who spoke third, walked off stage. And throughout
the Vermont senator's speech, in addition to loud cheers, supporters were
vocal: some shouted "Preach!" or "That's right!" after each point he made.

"No president can bring about the changes that we need in this country
unless there is a political revolution," Sanders said. He got perhaps his
biggest applause line—from people across the room—when he called for the
Supreme Court to overturn its now-infamous Citizens United decision.

Clinton took aim at the Republican economic philosophy: "Trickle-down
economics has to be one of the worst ideas of the 1980s. It is right up
there with new Coke, shoulder pads and big hair," Clinton quipped. "I lived
through it and there are photographs—and we are not going back to that."

She went after Florida Gov. Jeb Bush by name, criticizing his remark that
Americans want to work "longer hours."

"In the past week, Gov. Bush scrambled to explain his statement that
Americans need to work longer hours. He now says he just wants part-time
workers to be able to find full-time jobs," she said. "Well, so do I.
There's just one problem: his policies and the policies of all these
Republican candidates would make that harder, giving more tax cuts to those
at the top won't do anything for part-time workers."

O'Malley lamented what he described as the decline of the Republican Party,
including the rhetoric of business mogul Donald Trump.

"They once had leaders and visionaries: Lincoln, Eisenhower," O'Malley
said. "Now they create traffic jams and dismiss science."

Of the other Democrats, O'Malley had a strong contingent of supporters in
the room and got loud cheers and applause when he appeared on stage. His
supporters—both the official campaign and the super PAC—cheered loudly, and
for hours, outside the Cedar Rapids Convention Center before the event
began.

The lesser-known Democratic candidates, who did not have nearly as many
supporters in the room, had a hard time getting traction with the crowd.
Chafee, the former Rhode Island governor, spoke for just 6 minutes of his
allotted 15. "I'm the only presidential candidate who has been a mayor, a
U.S. senator and a governor," he said. "And throughout these experiences I
have tried to earn a reputation for courage and honesty."

And when Webb prepared to speak—he was fifth of the five candidates—some
attendees began filing out of the room before he even made it on stage.
"I'm going to turn the lights out tonight, folks," Webb joked.

If there was conflict to be found Friday, it was on Twitter, where
spokespersons for Clinton and O'Malley disputed whose candidate was first
to support President Obama.

Lis Smith, communications director for O'Malley's campaign, tweeted that
O'Malley was the "first Dem tonight to give @BarackObama full-throated
shout out." Nick Merrill, the traveling spokesman for Clinton's campaign,
replied with a direct line from Clinton's speech: "With President Obama's
leadership and the determination of the American people, we're standing
again." Smith fired back by saying, "Oh sorry, I guess I fell asleep during
that one."

After Merrill replied again ("Be nicer."), Smith Tweeted that "it was—to
its credit—a nice speech/" Minutes later, Smith was engaged in a war of
Twitter words with Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer.

*The trap Hillary can’t escape: Her Bernie Sanders problem is she doesn’t
understand Sanders’ policies are popular, mainstream and the future
<http://www.salon.com/2015/07/19/the_trap_hillary_cant_escape_her_bernie_sanders_problem_is_she_doesnt_understand_sanders_policies_are_popular_mainstream_and_the_future/>
// Salon // Bill Curry – July 19, 2015*

There's a reason Clinton's economic plan sounds wooden and unspecific.
She's misreading public mood and her party

The Clinton Express wheezed its way into New York City this week, rolling
into Greenwich Village to offload another “big speech,” this time on the
economy. Whoever is driving this train must have considered Cooper Union as
a possible station stop; a speech Lincoln gave there in 1860 may have made
him president. But this speech wasn’t that big, not by a long shot. The
campaign settled on a spot a few blocks away, a smallish auditorium over at
The New School.

Even that venue was a bit of a reach. The New School has a history of
innovative  economic inquiry dating to its 1919 founding by such
progressive lights as John Dewey and Thorstein Veblen, neither of whom,
it’s safe to say, would be backing Clinton today. When the school opened,
the New York Times said its announced purpose was “to seek an unbiased
understanding of the existing order, its genesis, growth and present
working.”

The country could use a fresh, unbiased analysis of the existing order.
Clinton’s speech provided nothing of the sort.

Still, it was well received in some quarters. At Vox, where much of what
Clinton says is well received, Matthew Yglesias called her pledge to
prosecute financial crimes “the most important words she has spoken thus
far in the campaign.” It’s not saying much, as she hardly ever says
anything substantive, let alone important. Yglesias likens her rhetoric to
Elizabeth Warren’s, but why Warren when so many other politicians now
promise the same thing? He notes Clinton’s “trust gap” with “activists
focused on the issue” but says those activists can take “succor” knowing
that bringing such cases is one of the few ways a “sharply constrained”
President Clinton would have of “leaving a mark.”

In other words, count on her doing it because she won’t be able to do much
else.

In a piece written before the event and based on campaign backgrounders,
Yglesias claims the speech marks Clinton’s passage from neoliberalism to
“paleoliberalism,” as in the Paleolithic Age of hunter gatherers. He says
it “hints at a fundamental philosophical difference” Clinton now has with
her husband, her old boss and her old self, and that it shows she is now
“less inclined to favor a market-oriented approach than a left-wing
approach” in which the financial sector is “deliberately regulated in a
heavy handed way rather than allowed to lead the economy.”

Yglesias says “left-wing interest group leaders” tell him they’re skeptical
but he says “history suggests that presidents generally try to implement
the agendas they have promised.” He also says Clinton was never “purely” a
neoliberal—she backed a minimum wage hike and was willing to let government
play a bigger role in health care—and that as president she’d extend
financial regulation and help strengthen unions. He noted that Clinton
would not be delivering a “laundry list” of specifics and that until she
did no one could be quite sure what she was up to.

The Times’ David Brooks also thinks Clinton is “best viewed… as a new
paleoliberal.” To Brooks it denotes a faith that “government is more
competent at steering companies toward their own best interests than are
the companies themselves.” He says that many of her ideas have been proven
wrong, that voters don’t share her fondness for central planning and that
she has “no plausible chance” of getting her agenda through Congress.
Still, he says, she “hasn’t gone crazy” or ruined herself by “wandering
into the class warfare swamps.” He thus concludes that politically she has
“cleared the first hurdle of this campaign” by offering “a coherent
response to today’s economic conditions.”

The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne said “Clinton is making a major bid to
shape the conversation” that “could mark the beginning of a genuinely
substantive debate between Democrats and Republicans over how to define the
nation’s economic problems.” He quoted a “campaign official” accusing
Republicans of peddling “the same old proposals every Republican
presidential candidate has been offering since Reagan”; unlike Clinton,
whose package of new benefits includes “family leave, child care and more
affordable access to college.” The official seemed not to know that, good
as some of Clinton’s ideas may be, they are mostly the same ones Democratic
candidates have been offering since Reagan.

Yglesias, Brooks and Dionne are fine writers. But their somewhat
overlapping analyses, like Clinton’s speech, perpetuate some habits we need
to break. Clinton is no “paleoliberal,” a more than faintly pejorative
label liberals would do well to challenge. She, Bill and Barack Obama
practically invented neoliberalism and remain members in good standing
until proven otherwise. If your speeches are long on weepy tales of
“everyday Americans” you met on the campaign trail, but short on policy
prescriptions, the credit goes to David Axelrod, not Paul Krugman. If you’d
raise the minimum wage but won’t say how much, you’re Mitt Romney. If you
back the Trans Pacific Trade Partnership–and despite recent evasions she’s
all for it–you’re fighting for capital, not labor.

I.F. Stone once counseled young reporters not to develop inside sources. He
said reporters do more for sources than sources do for them, and that
anyway most of what we need to know lies right under our nose, hidden like
Poe’s purloined letter in a speech or a public record. It’s sound advice,
but especially if you’re covering the Clinton campaign. Background
interviews with insiders are catnip for reporters, few of whom would miss a
chance to get out ahead of the pack. But if they’d wait for the transcript
they might reap the full rewards of textural criticism. To wit:

Yglesias’ notion that presidents try to deliver on campaign promises may be
right, notwithstanding Obama’s spotty record. (See ethics reform,
whistleblowers, the surveillance state, the public option, the minimum
wage, etc.) But if you parse Hillary’s speech you find that despite talking
for 55 minutes she didn’t make any promises, or at least none specific
enough to be politically actionable. Her handlers did a fine job of
prepping the press for yet another dearth of detail. But at this point
“instructions to follow” isn’t a viable message for Clinton, nor should any
reporter react to such assurances from any politician with anything but a
long, loud groan.

Clinton’s speech didn’t spark a “substantive debate between Democrats and
Republicans.” If you’ve so much as glanced at the GOP field, you know they
won’t be having one this year. Nor did it move the needle on the Democrats’
debate, which moves away from Clinton even as she runs to chase it down.
It’s true for reporters and campaigns alike: If you focus too much on
tactics, you miss the meaning of the race. What drives this race is not
what the left wants; it’s what middle-class families want. Their economic
anxiety and outrage at the condition of our democracy is transforming
politics in ways Obama never imagined.

It’s this mood that David Brooks mistakes for the “class warfare swamps.”
Voters prize civility and long for a populism without culprits or
conspiracies–but sorely want to hear their righteous anger expressed.
Clinton won’t do it, in part because she can’t offend the delicate
sensibilities of her donors but also because, like Brooks, she mistakes the
mood for a leftist insurrection. Many of us–see Paul Rosenberg’s wonderful
article right here in Salon–have long argued that the old categories are
defunct and that much of what the old order calls radical has long since
gone mainstream. Soon everyone will see it. For now, let me suggest a rule:
any policy enjoying majority support in every poll must henceforth be
called centrist, not “radical” or “left wing.” If you aren’t sure, look it
up.

Clinton’s speech was on balance another disappointment, but it must be said
she packed it with more proposals than any candidate not named Bernie
Sanders has offered all year. Her delivery remains a problem. She’s
improved, but can’t shake that sing-songy cadence that makes her sound like
Al Gore hosting a children’s television show. Aides say she must seem more
authentic, but it can’t help that her policies are so vague or that her
anecdotes seem so canned. Her full embrace of Axelrod’s politics of
biography isn’t helping either. Telling so many personal stories, she gives
off more than a whiff of self-involvement. On Monday she recalled a nurse
in the hospital where her granddaughter was born thanking her for “fighting
for paid leave.” She’d be better served by a story in which she thanks the
nurse. What she mainly needs is to tell fewer such stories.

Clinton’s style is problematic but her real problem is policy. Her speech
embodied the neoliberal struggle to adapt to changing times and especially
to changing public opinion. The early tenets of neoliberalism were economic
deregulation, fiscal austerity, modulated militarism, a faint
environmentalism and a cultish faith in the potential for technology,
economic growth and global trade to solve our problems. The deregulation
boom fizzled out in 2008; Republicans don’t even talk much about it in
public except in the most abstract terms. Many neoliberals remain deficit
hawks, as do most voters, but the Tea Party has tired everyone on the topic.

Clinton learned in 2008 that her less-modulated militarism is a nonstarter
with the Democratic base. Its stock has since fallen with the general
public. The Iraq War and our bloated military budget belong at the heart of
any discussion of what sank our economy in the 2000s and what we must do
now to fix it, but don’t wait for Clinton to make the case. Neoliberals
would extend the social contract but not in a slow economy, which nowadays
means not at all. It’s why Clinton, who does want to extend it, mostly
namechecks cherished goals– universal pre-K, paid leave, lifelong
learning–while steering clear of the fiscal weeds. A surprising amount of
her economic agenda involved social services and educational opportunity
and she was at her best making the case for their importance to the overall
economy.

Clinton structured her speech as a plan for three types of growth: strong
growth, fair growth and long-term growth. Strong growth got the lead
mention, though unlike Jeb Bush she got no more specific than “getting
close to full employment is crucial for raising incomes.” It speaks volumes
of all our fears for the future when the leading Democratic candidate for
president lowers her sights to “getting closer to full employment” and no
one even seems to notice.

Clinton revisited lots of familiar proposals, from immigration reform to
enacting the Buffett Rule to investing in infrastructure, so many that such
shape and purpose as the speech might once have had was lost. Its one
intriguing passage pertained to a promise to promote profit sharing. By the
standards  of modern politics it was long, a whole paragraph, which
suggests Clinton or her people are at least giving some thought to issues
of economic structure, though what she offered up was the merest morsel of
an idea that is in itself timid.

Clinton’s speech had its isolated moments but if it sparks a debate it
won’t be because she made common cause with a category of unicorns called
paleoliberals, but because Bernie Sanders seizes the chance it presents.
Clinton still doesn’t get it. It is the neoliberals who are paleo now. The
ferment Sanders has tapped into is the future. But to get there coalitions
must be broadened and policies rethought; when the old order collapses you
don’t seek the old center, you invent a new one.

In taking on Hillary, Sanders must not only propose policies, he must
expose the false logic of the status quo. Some issues will be easier than
others. Sanders is plainspoken about the radical environmental changes we
must make to secure our prosperity and avoid an existential catastrophe.
The transition to a sustainable economy based on conservation and clean,
renewable energy is our most urgent economic task. Yet of the 5,113 words
in Clinton’s speech, exactly 60 were on energy and the environment. You
can’t run as a Democrat and name-check climate change. Clinton’s a fine
debater, but on this topic she’s easy pickings.

In her speech, Clinton didn’t abandon any neoliberal doctrine but she
whistled past them all, even the core neoliberal faith in growth,
technology and trade. Sanders has the skills to dissect these issues in
ways we can grasp. Someone has to. Rising tides no longer lift most boats,
let alone all. Even if things go well, we aren’t apt to see the wage growth
we once knew. Yet we could create even more disposable income by lowering
the costs of basic necessities for average families. It will take big
reductions in the costs of health care, education, energy, consumer credit,
transportation–and yes, even taxes. We can do it, but only by reining in
powerful institutions that now use the political system to mortgage us to
the past.

Sanders has long recognized that “fair growth” demands not just a little
profit sharing but economic democratization through employee ownership,
consumer and producer cooperatives, cooperative banks and a host of other
new and old economic forms that struggle to survive under present rules.
Clinton says she wants to be the “small-business president.” I think she
means it, but I don’t think she knows what it means. Again, Sanders is
miles ahead of her.

In the ’90s you couldn’t tell Bill Clinton from Newt Gingrich on the topic
of new technology. There’s no shame in that. Everybody was a believer then.
Not long ago you could be laughed out of politics for saying this
technological wave might be the one that finally costs more jobs than it
creates. But 20 years into the Age of Information, jobs are in short
supply. As we restructure employment and all the many ways in which we
provide for one another’s needs, we are less tolerant of technology’s
intrusions on our privacy and personhood.

The issue of the day is “trade.” I’m amazed when economists invoke the
theories of David Ricardo as if nothing’s changed in the 200 years since
his passing. Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage asserted that free
trade always results in a net benefit to the trading partners since each
sells goods on which it enjoys a natural advantage: climate, raw materials,
labor supply, etc. But when jobs cross borders in nanoseconds the
advantages everyone seeks are low wages and weak governments. Somebody must
tell the neoliberals this is no longer about who has the best weather to
grow bananas in. In fact, it is no longer about trade. It is about whether
democracy rules commerce–or commerce rules democracy. It’s a subject
Sanders knows well. Clinton appears clueless.

This is the debate we need: how best to turn back the impersonal tide of
globalization and begin conscious creation of a new, intentional economy.
This isn’t the debate Clinton or the media is prepared to have. But it’s
the one the country urgently desires, and one progressives can win. Like
the polls, the throngs flowing to Sanders’ events and the small-dollar
donations to his campaign attest to the ripeness of the moment. The real
proof’s in the power of ideas.

*National Security Expert Slams Hillary’s ‘Assault’ On Free Speech
<http://dailycaller.com/2015/07/18/national-security-expert-slams-hillarys-assault-on-free-speech/>
// The Daily Caller // Rachel Stoltzfoos – July 18, 2015 *

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton put her willingness to
defend the Constitution in serious doubt when she promised Islamic
countries the United States government would intimidate Americans who
violate their free speech code, national security expert Stephen Coughlin
told The Daily Caller News Foundation.

As Secretary of State, Clinton promised an international Islamic
organization in 2011 that the United States government would “use some
old-fashioned techniques of peer pressure and shaming” to intimidate
Americans who improperly criticize Islam or Muhammad.

“An official of the United States, in an official communiqué, went to a
foreign land to commit to a foreign leader that the United States
Government would engage in the extra-legal practice of intimidating
American citizens in the exercise of what is otherwise their protected free
speech rights under the First Amendment,” Coughlin told TheDCNF.

Coughlin discusses the move in his recently published book, “Catastrophic
Failure: Blindfolding America in the Face of Jihad,” and told TheDCNF it
casts a pall on her record as secretary of state.

“If her willingness to sell out Americans First Amendment rights to the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation by categorizing as ‘hate speech’
anything that is deemed offensive to Islam is any indication, she may be
the least qualified candidate to support and defend the Constitution,” he
said.

Coughlin’s an attorney, decorated intelligence officer and expert on
Islamic law and terrorism who consulted the military’s Joint Chiefs of
Staff for about a decade following 9/11, before the Muslim Brotherhood
allegedly convinced the White House to ban him and “outlaw” his briefings.

He cites Clinton’s 2011 visit to Turkey and her cooperation with the OIC in
his book as one example of how muslim ideologists wield influence in the
“highest reaches” of the U.S. government.

The Clinton campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

The OIC is the second-largest intergovernmental organization after the
U.N., consisting of 57 states that identify as “the collective voice of the
Muslim world.”

After she helped the OIC secure passage of U.N. resolution 16/18,
“Combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of, and
discrimination, incitement to violence, and violence against persons based
on religion or belief,” Clinton promised the U.S. would take what steps it
could to curb speech critical of Islam.

“And together we have begun to overcome the false divide that pits
religious sensitivities against freedom of expression, and we are pursuing
a new approach based on concrete steps to fight intolerance wherever it
occurs,” she said in an address following the resolution’s passage.

“We also understand that, for 235 years, freedom of expression has been a
universal right at the core of our democracy,” she added. “So we are
focused on promoting interfaith education and collaboration, enforcing
antidiscrimination laws, protecting the rights of all people to worship as
they choose, and to use some old-fashioned techniques of peer pressure and
shaming, so that people don’t feel they have the support to do what we
abhor.”

The resolution condemns “any advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes
incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, whether it involves
the use of print, audio-visual or electronic media.”

Coughlin argues in his book it’s part of a deliberate OIC-led effort to
bring the U.S. and other countries in line with Muslim speech standards,
first by condemning and eventually criminalizing unwanted speech such as
depictions of Muhammad.

“Over the last few years, major left wing and Islamists organizations have
been working diligently to reframe free speech in an oppositional narrative
that distinguishes sanctioned speech, designated free speech, from hate
speech in a long term campaign to brand nonconforming speech as hate speech
that is at first to be ridiculed and then criminalized,” he told TheDCNF.

*Hillary Clinton defends Iran pact during Davenport, Iowa, campaign stop
<http://siouxcityjournal.com/hillary-clinton-defends-iran-pact-during-davenport-iowa-campaign-stop/article_ea402f1f-8b7e-57fb-8809-aeccfe57f63c.html>
// Sioux City Journal // Ed Tibbetts – July 18, 2015 *

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton defended the nuclear
agreement reached with Iran at a campaign stop in Davenport on Saturday,
saying, “What we were doing before President Obama became president and I
became secretary of state wasn’t working.”

The deal announced earlier in the week between Iran and a coalition of six
countries, led by the United States, has been greeted with near unanimous
scorn from Republicans in Congress and those who are running for president.

But in a visit to Davenport on Saturday, the former secretary of state said
Iran had made advances in its nuclear program during the Bush
administration and left the Obama team with a problem.

"When we came into office, that train had left the station,” Clinton said.
"Our challenge was, what were we going to do to back it up. And I think,
given the circumstances, this agreement holds promise for stalling,
preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and we have got to enforce
it.”

Republicans have been trying to tie the agreement to Clinton almost as much
as they do to Obama. And critics have complained that the inspections parts
of the pact are weak.

Clinton, though, said that if she is elected, enforcement would receive
constant attention from her.

“I will just be on that day in and day out to make sure we catch them if
they try to cheat,” she said.

Clinton spoke for about a half-hour at the home of Ken Croken, an executive
at Genesis Health System.

She covered a wide range of subjects over a half-hour, then met with the
approximately 60 people who attended. Reporters and photographers were
ushered out of the house after her remarks.

Clinton got a big cheer when she defended Obama’s handling of the economy.
She also praised the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision and spoke
of the need to push for early education.

She also, for the second consecutive day, criticized Gov. Terry Branstad
for recent mental health and education spending vetoes.

Clinton made the stop in Davenport on the heels of a big fundraiser for the
state Democratic Party on Friday night in Cedar Rapids, where all the major
contenders for the party’s 2016 presidential nomination appeared.

Clinton has a wide lead in the polls, both nationally and in Iowa. But Sen.
Bernie Sanders of Vermont has gained some ground in recent weeks. And the
progressive wing of the party is pushing Clinton to take a harder line on
Wall Street, among other things.

Nonetheless, some of those who attended Saturday, a number of whom were
already Clinton supporters, said that she struck the right balance for
them. And they said her years of experience appealed to them.

“I think she knows what you have to do to get things done,” Margie
Schwaninger, a retired teacher from Bettendorf, said. Schwaninger said she
supported Clinton eight years ago.

Sheri Carnahan, of Davenport, who also supported Clinton in 2008, echoed
other supporters who say that in her years working in politics, Clinton has
worked to advance progressive priorities.

“The issues that are important to me are the issues that she’s fought for
long before she ran for president of the United States,” Carnahan said.

Clinton was headed to Arkansas on Saturday night for a party fundraising
dinner there. But before she left she stopped to greet some people in the
McClellan Heights neighborhood for a short time, posing for a picture with
a Galesburg couple and their 10-month-old son who had been having lunch in
the area and then went for a walk.

*Clinton remembers D'Army Bailey at funeral
<http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/local-news/bailey_funeral_11176995>
// Commercial Appeal // Thomas Bailey – July 18, 2015 *

Former President Bill Clinton on Saturday eulogized Judge D’Army Bailey as
a mover and “movement politician.’’

“He was always moving us,’’ the 42nd president told a large crowd of
mourners during a two hour and 20 minute funeral at Mississippi Boulevard
Christian Church.

The Circuit Court judge, lifelong civil rights activist, author and even
part-time actor died July 12 of cancer at age 73.

Judge Bailey’s civil rights activism, Clinton acknowledged with a smile,
had “moved’’ Southern University to expel him and “moved’’ citizens of
Berkeley, California, to remove him from their City Council in 1973.

“But that was part of who he was,” Clinton said in his 17-minute eulogy.
“Here’s the first thing I want to say to the young people: You need to be
moving.’’

That same compulsion to act led Judge Bailey, Clinton said, to save the
Lorraine Motel. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated there in 1968.

Judge Bailey and the late A.W. Willis raised $144,000 to buy the bankrupt
motel, and continued working until the motel opened in 1991 as the National
Civil Rights Museum.

About 250,000 people visited the museum on Mulberry over the past year.

“The Lorraine Motel could be a parking lot, for all you know, today if it
hadn’t been for D’Army Bailey,” said Clinton, who reminded the mourners
that he attended the museum’s dedication as governor of Arkansas.

“ ... He left a monument that will have to be moved, not physically but
internally,’’ he said. “You can’t imagine if you are not of a certain age
what the civil rights museum means to those of us who were young when
Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis.’’

Before the black-garbed church choir started the service with soothing
strains, Judge Bailey’s body lay at the front in an open, wood casket.
Floral displays flanked the casket, which, when closed, was draped in a
U.S. flag.

Judge Bailey’s colleagues in the judiciary — about 40 strong — sat as a
group at the front behind U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen and Memphis Mayor A C
Wharton.

Wharton was one of six people who gave short eulogies before the former
president took the pulpit. The others were U.S. Dist. Judge Bernice Donald,
attorney Richard Glassman, family friend Aubrey Howard, Circuit Court Judge
Jerry Stokes and Bailey’s brother, Shelby County Commissioner Walter Bailey.

Wharton smiled as he described Judge Bailey as “the most sophisticated,
cosmopolitan radical that most of us would ever meet.’’

Wharton drew laughter when he said, “Who but D’Army Bailey could pull off
‘speaking truth to power’ while remaining one of the individuals in power?
But, hey, that was D’Army Bailey.’’

A city mayor receives lots of advice, Wharton told the mourners. Judge
Bailey never sugarcoated his, Wharton said, again with a smile. “You got it
pure and unadulterated. And the hard part about it was that it was always
true.’’

Glassman recalled being both a courtroom adversary and close friend to
Judge Bailey over the years. Bailey had a passion for Justice, he said,
adding, “D’Army showed those around him how to turn passion into action
through his own example.

“He always emphasized the importance of the law and the right of all
persons coming into his courtroom — young, black, experienced, not
experienced — he treated all parties fairly and equally,’’ Glassman said.

Donald said one of the highlights of her life was when Judge Bailey asked
her to administer to him the oath of office when he took the bench.

She described Judge Bailey as a bridge builder. “We in this community, in
this state and nation are a better people because D’Army Bailey lived,’’
she said.

Stokes, the Division 6 Circuit Court judge, described another way that
Judge Bailey was a mover: He kept cases in his courtroom moving along.
Judge Bailey was loathe to grant attorneys’ requests for continuances — or
delays — in his courtroom, Stokes said.

“You had to fish or cut bait,” Stokes said. “He would not tolerate delays.’’

Walter Bailey brought applause when he told the mourners, “D’Army did
everything in his mortal power to make this a better world for all of us.’’

Clinton received a rousing ovation before and after his eulogy.

“This man was moving all his life,” the former president said. “We’re a
long way from where we used to be. And he had a lot of fun doing it.

“All those movie roles he had (Judge Bailey acted in several movies
including “The People vs. Larry Flynt”); I wish we had a movie of the
founding of the civil rights museum and he could close out his career as a
lead actor playing the starring role,’’ he said.

“ ... He left you and America a national treasure. He left his wife and
children and brother and the family he loved so much a loving legacy.

“You have to decide what to do with it,’’ Clinton said.

“He moved to the very end. To the very end he moved. May God rest his soul.
He earned it.’’

*OTHER DEMOCRATS NATIONAL COVERAGE*

*DECLARED*

*SANDERS*

*Sanders vaults from fringe to the heart of the fray
<https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/07/18/summer-sanders-fall-sanders/FWFu6n73iroD98e4og2baM/story.html>
// The Boston Globe // Annie Linksey – July 18, 2015 *

It’s 7:20 a.m. and Bernie Sanders looks irritated. He’s already buckled
into his economy seat on Delta Flight 4516 and an attendant just announced
that the flight would sit on the runway for 30 minutes before taking off.

“Planes,” grumbled the Vermont senator. “Don’t get me started about
airplanes.” Then he added, in a tone that sounded only half-joking, “This
is when you want a private jet.”

Sanders’ insurgent campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination
doesn’t spring for charters like his top competitor — at least not yet. On
this day he isn’t even flying nonstop, as he heads from Cedar Rapids, Iowa,
to Phoenix via Minneapolis. If all goes well, he’ll just be a few minutes
late to a forum at Netroots Nation, an annual gathering of liberals.

The weekend events — another rally is planned in Houston Sunday — is
capping off Sanders’ best week so far in his increasingly credible quest
for the nomination. Federal reports made public last week show he has
raised more than $15 million for his campaign, beating every other
presidential candidate from either party save Hillary Rodham Clinton (she
hauled in about $46 million). He has gathered the money from an army of
small donors that is larger than that of any other presidential candidate.

And, as he pulled his roller bag out of the air-conditioned terminal into
the blast of Phoenix heat Saturday morning, he was preparing to speak that
evening before his largest crowd yet.

Through some combination of political skill, fortuitous timing, well-tuned
messaging, and sheer luck this has become the Summer of Sanders — in which
an unkempt 73-year old man who isn’t even a member of the Democratic Party
is mounting the strongest challenge to the Democratic establishment. He’s
gone from being dismissed as a fringe candidate to having a huge early
impact on the primary.

The self-described Democratic socialist flying coach is suddenly a star.
Clinton aides have acknowledged concern about losing ground in Iowa and New
Hampshire, or both, to Sanders. One poll has shown him within 19 percentage
points of Clinton in the Hawkeye State and another has him within eight
points of her in New Hampshire.

‘This country belongs to all of us and not a handful of billionaires.’

But, will it last? Or, as one of his strategists put it, could the next few
months bring the fall of Sanders?

Already the Sanders campaign infrastructure is creaking under the weight of
the unexpected interest in his candidacy. Tens of thousands of bumper
stickers were on back order. Venues for rallies need to be changed multiple
times as the RSVPs pile high, and crowds swell. And most importantly, to
survive, he’ll need to expand his support beyond the liberal wing of the
Democratic Party — and persuade the party that he should be the standard
bearer.

Sanders contends that the national caricature of him as a hippy-dippy
socialist from the People’s Republic of Burlington, where he was mayor from
1981 to 1989, is largely inaccurate. He jokes about it — saying that he
doesn’t own a pair of Birkenstocks and never would “in a million years.” He
says that his message resonates most loudly with blue-collar workers, not
the tie-dye set.

On Friday night in a vast hall in Cedar Rapids before 1,300 people, that
appeal was on full display. Sanders shared the stage for the first time
with the other four Democratic candidates who took turns speaking to the
audience. He won multiple standing ovations for a thundering rant against
the inordinate power of the super-rich. He called for a “political
revolution” and predicted that without it, the country was heading toward
an oligarchy.

“Nothing will get done unless millions of people stand up and roundly
proclaim enough is enough,” Sanders said, gripping the lectern with both
hands. “This country belongs to all of us, and not a handful of
billionaires.”

It was a classic display of Sanders’ freewheeling approach, the aura of
blunt authenticity that makes him seem a refreshing change from Clinton’s
poll-tested messages and reluctance to offer detailed positions on issues
of the day.

“He really connected,” said Steve Hultman, a 65-year-old retired teacher
from Council Bluffs, Iowa. “Hillary has to go to work. She has to get the
facts and framing to excite the Democratic side of the party.”

Some part of Sanders’ popularity flows directly from the Elizabeth Warren
wing of the Democratic Party. He only began to rise in polls of probable
voters when the Massachusetts senator’s name was dropped from their surveys
after it became clear that she wouldn’t run. For him as for her, not having
to worry much about moderate support is liberating; Clinton has no such
luxury. And it doesn’t really tell against Sanders at this early stage that
a liberal message like his may not play well, or at all, in some states a
candidate must win to gain nomination or election.

But there’s more to Sanders than the Warren echo. Unlike others in the
current field, he has been quietly building a national grass-roots network
for years. His 2012 Senate campaign finance report looks remarkably similar
to his presidential one last week, with most contributions coming from
small donors across the country. He raised $7.2 million for that election,
swamping his Republican opponent, who took in about $135,000.

While he was being written off in 2014 by the news media and other
candidates focused on Warren instead, Sanders road-tested his message. In
Los Angeles, he recalled, there were standing-room-only crowds this year
well before announcing his candidacy. In Texas, so many people came to hear
him that a traffic jam of supporters headed for the venue made it difficult
for him to get to the event himself.

Still, those around Sanders weren’t sure he was going to run even weeks
before his April 30 announcement. “As late as late April, if Bernie had
called and said ‘we’re not doing this’ I would not have been shocked,” said
Tad Devine, a longtime Sanders ally and a political consultant.

There’s a limit to the revolution Sanders is pushing: The senator won’t
mount an independent bid for president. No matter how the crowds swell.
“We’re doing this within the party system,” he said again Saturday on the
Minneapolis leg of his trip.

Keeping it simple

Sanders’ plane landed in Minneapolis with about 30 minutes to get his
connecting flight. One passenger positioned himself near the end of the jet
bridge to get a photo of him getting off the plane. He paused for selfies
with several others as they all waited for luggage checked at the gate.

Lisa Fontana took a selfie with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders at a
Democratic Party event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Unlike Clinton’s container-ship-sized campaign organization with more than
300 on staff, Sanders has a much smaller operation. On Saturday he traveled
with only his campaign manager, his communications director, a
videographer, and his wife. He figured out most of the logistics himself —
securing boarding passes for the group and leading everyone through the
Minneapolis airport from one terminal to the other.

The campaign pays 25 full-time staff members in Iowa and rents offices in
10 different towns. Sanders has just 10 full-time staffers in Vermont, 5 in
Washington, and 4 in New Hampshire, plus 11 paid interns in Vermont and New
Hampshire.

He revels in this relative lack of professional help. To make his point, he
briefly commandeered an interview with a reporter last week in Washington.

“Ask me who my campaign finance director is,” he said over coffee in a
Senate cafeteria.

“We don’t have one. Ask me who my pollster is,” he said. “We don’t have
one.” He said he writes his own direct mail.

That’s not to say Sanders has a consultant-free campaign. He’s soaked up
some talent from President Obama’s team. The names include Scott Goodstein,
an online director for Obama’s first presidential race, and Arun Chaudhary,
another veteran of the 2008 Obama campaign team who was Obama’s first
videographer.

Teamwork pays off

Should this team’s work pay off and Sanders becomes even more viable, the
target on his candidacy will grow. On June 25 a super PAC linked to former
Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, another declared Democratic candidate,
spent about $10,000 on online ads critical of Sanders’ record on gun
control, which is, for a Democrat, notably friendly to gun owners.

Sanders’ team fought back, using the same rhetoric that Warren so
effectively employs against her many critics: Frame the attack as an
assault on the progressive movement and raise buckets of cash off of it.

The day after the ads began, Sanders’ campaign blasted an e-mail to
supporters requesting help. Within 48 hours they’d raised more than
$800,000, according to a source familiar with his fund-raising.

But by far the most talked about aspect of Sanders’ candidacy is the size
of the crowds — it comes as a shock even to the candidate.

“You walk into an arena and find 10,000 people looking at you . . . ” he
said in an interview, trailing off. Then he turned to Michael Briggs, his
charmingly beleaguered press aide.

“How many RSVPs do we have now in Phoenix?” he asked. “10,000?”

The swell forced the campaign to move the event twice. The same thing
happened in Portland, Maine, where he ended up speaking to more than 7,500.
And in Madison, Wis., where he spoke to a crowd about 10,000. And in
Denver, where he spoke to about 5,000.

Putting this many supporters in a room takes work. The campaign e-mails
supporters who live near events, and they ask an enthusiastic Reddit
community to spread the word.

There’s a practical reason for holding these events. Sanders hasn’t spent
much time building the relationships within the Democratic Party leaders at
the state level that can help propel a national candidacy.

“We need to build organization, particularly in relatively early states,”
Devine said.

On Saturday — when Sanders finally arrived at Netroots — the work that he
needs to do to appeal to the broader Democratic coalition was clear. A
group of mostly African-American demonstrators protesting police brutality
had heckled O’Malley, disrupting his speech.

Sanders knew he was walking into a difficult situation. “It’s this
afternoon’s talk I’m worried about,” he said before walking on the stage —
and faced some of the same angry chants, competing with the cheers.

*UNDECLARED*

*BIDEN*

*Sources: Joe Biden Still Considering A Presidential Campaign
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/joe-biden-presidential-campaign_55a9583fe4b0d2ded39ef720>
// HuffPo // Ryan Grim – July 18, 2015 *

Vice President Joe Biden is still very much considering a bid for the White
House, people close to Biden say, and will make a final decision at the end
of the summer, targeted for September.

The Iowa caucuses are scheduled for early February, meaning Biden would
have roughly four months to barnstorm the first-in-the-nation state before
the contest turned to New Hampshire.

Front-runner Hillary Clinton has faced a surprisingly tough challenge from
democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, who is within striking distance in
Iowa despite not being registered as a Democrat and trailing far behind in
establishment support. Sanders' surge suggests Clinton could be once again
beatable in a Democratic primary.

While Biden is seriously considering the bid, he has by no means decided to
pull the trigger.

"He has said he would announce his decision at the end of the summer," said
Ted Kaufman, a former Democratic senator from Delaware and longtime aide to
Biden, when asked about Biden's plans. Kaufman recently went back to work
for the vice president in the months preceding Beau Biden’s death so that
he could help his old boss and friend through the unspeakably difficult
time.

The vice president’s press secretary, Kendra A. Barkoff, denounced the
speculation, but kept the door ajar. "The Biden family is going through a
difficult time right now,” said Barkoff. “Any speculation about the views
of the vice president or his family about his political future is premature
and inappropriate."

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Biden’s late son, Beau
Biden, who the vice president has called "my soul," had urged him to run
for president before he died. His son Hunter has also encouraged him to
enter the race.

Though he is undeclared, Biden is polling at slightly above 10 percent
nationally, trailing both Sanders and Clinton.

*Biden still considering 2016 bid: report
<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/dem-primaries/248428-biden-still-considering-2016-bid-report>
// The Hill // Keith Laing – July 18, 2015 *

Vice President Joe Biden is still mulling a challenge to Hillary Clinton
for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, the Huffington Post
reported.

Clinton is the dominant frontrunner for the Democratic nomination to
succeed President Obama, but Biden expects to make a decision on entering
the race by September, according to the report.

"He has said he would announce his decision at the end of the summer,"
former Biden aide and Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.), said when he asked about
the vice president's 2016 plans, according to the website.

Clinton has widely been seen as the likely 2016 Democratic nominee, even
before she launched her presidential bid in April. But she has faced a
surprising challenge from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has drawn large
crowds and quickly risen in polls.

Clinton campaign officials have insisted that they are not worried about
Sanders or any of the other Democratic candidates in the presidential race,
including former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, former Sen. Jim Webb and
former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee.

Biden, who has run for the presidency twice before in 1988 and 2008, would
be considered a longshot if he launches a bid.

A spokesperson for Biden dismissed the presidential speculation in the
report.

"The Biden family is going through a difficult time right now,” Vice
Presidential Press Secretary Kendra Barkoff told the website, referencing
the death of Biden's son, Beau, who had been Delaware's attorney general.

“Any speculation about the views of the vice president or his family about
his political future is premature and inappropriate," Barkoff continued.

Biden has traveled extensively since the 2014 election to early-voting
states in the 2016 primaries like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

*OTHER*

*Activists disrupt forum featuring candidates O’Malley, Sanders
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/activists-disrupt-forum-featuring-candidates-omalley-sanders/2015/07/18/ca64eb34-2d60-11e5-bd33-395c05608059_story.html>
// WaPo // John Wagner – July 18, 2015 *

A forum featuring two of the most liberal candidates for the Democratic
presidential nomination was disrupted and taken over Saturday by liberal
activists seeking to showcase their concerns for the plight of African
Americans.

Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
made back-to-back appearances in a presidential town hall that was part of
the four-day Netroots Nation conference here, an annual gathering of 3,000
progressive activists that Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton
elected to skip.

Shortly into O’Malley’s allotted time, his discussion with a moderator was
disrupted by more than 100 protesters that included members of Black Lives
Matter, a group formed after teenager Trayvon Martin’s shooting in Florida,
and the Black Alliance for Just Immigration.

As chanting protesters streamed to the front of the room, O’Malley looked
stunned at first and then started clapping along.

Close to 10 minutes later, leaders of the protest were handed microphones
and rattled off a number of their concerns, including deaths of African
Americans in police custody, and demanded specific solutions from O’Malley.

“It’s not like we like shutting s--- down, but we have to,” Patrisse
Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matters, told the crowd, saying the
group’s issues were an emergency.

The protest, however, did not appear aimed at O’Malley. The protesters
remained as Sanders appeared on stage, and he took a less patient approach.

“Whoa, whoa, let me talk about what I came to talk about for a minute,” the
senator said before launching into a riff on income inequality and steps to
address it.

The Vermont senator faced chants and heckling as well, but Sanders
continued talking. Asked what he had done in the Senate to benefit black
Americans, he started to talk about the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

“We can’t afford that!” heckled Elle Hearns, a 28-year-old Ohio-based
coordinator for the LGBT rights group GetEqual.

O’Malley made several starts at addressing the issues raised but was
interrupted.

Democratic presidential candidate and former Maryland governor Martin
O’Malley speaks to guests at the Iowa Democratic Party’s Hall of Fame
Dinner on Friday.

“I think that all of us as Americans have a responsibility to recognize the
pain and grief throughout our country from all of the lives that have been
lost to violence, whether that’s violence at the hands of police, whether
that’s violence at the hands of civilians,” he said.

“Stop trying to generalize this s---!” yelled Ashley Yates, a 30-year-old
activist from Oakland, Calif.

Later, O’Malley drew boos as he said: “Black lives matter. White lives
matter. All lives matter.”

After his appearance, O’Malley addressed those comments on a radio show
being recorded at the convention hall.

“When I said those other two phrases, I meant no disrespect,” O’Malley told
the online radio show “This Week in Blackness.” “I did not mean to be
insensitive in any way.”

As Baltimore’s mayor, O’Malley faced criticism of the city’s aggressive
policing policies, a topic that moderator Jose Antonio Vargas questioned
him about at the outset of the forum. (Vargas, a journalist, filmmaker and
activist who is an immigrant in the country illegally, previously worked as
a reporter for The Washington Post.)

Sanders made several comments addressing the protesters’ concerns,
including: “In my view, maybe, just maybe, it’s time to invest in jobs and
education, not in jails and in incarceration.”

That generated applause from a crowd where hundreds carried Sanders’s
campaign signs.

Vargas decided to cut the forum about 15 minutes short of its allotted time.

“Unfortunately, we have to wrap it up,” he said.

“Okay, good,” Sanders replied, before rising to exit.

Following the event, Mary Rickles, a spokeswoman for Netroots Nation, said:
“We wish the candidates had more time to respond to the issues. What
happened today is reflective of an urgent moment that America is facing
today.”

The crowd was largely sympathetic to the protesters, but many said
afterward that they wish they could have heard more from the candidates.

“I didn’t disagree with the message,” said Elizabeth Arledge, 50, of
Alexandria, Va., an activist who focuses on civil justice. “I was very
supportive of it, and I also wanted the program to go on.”

Lucas Hernon, 30, of Las Cruces, N.M., an undecided voter, said he thought
O’Malley handled the situation well except for when he said white lives
also matter. “As a white person, we don’t need to be reminded of that,”
Hernon said.

Some in the audience suggested there could be fallout from the event for
Sanders, whose challenges include expanding his appeal beyond liberal white
voters.

Bethany Winkels, a 30-year-old activist from Minneapolis, said it was
hypocritical for Sanders to call for more grass-roots organizing in one
breath and then sound dismissive of the protesters in the next.

“It’s shameful, and he needs to do better,” Winkels said.

*Demonstrators disrupt presidential forum at Netroots event
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/bc3ccd7839a1420f9c20a25ee81077df/omalley-faces-demonstrators-liberal-netroots-convention>
// AP // Ken Thomas – July 18, 2015 *

Demonstrators protesting cases of police brutality and the treatment of
black Americans by law enforcement disrupted a presidential forum on
Saturday as Democratic candidate Martin O'Malley was interviewed on stage.
The group later heckled Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

In a raucous scene at the annual Netroots Nation convention, a large group
of protesters streamed into the convention hall chanting, "Black lives
matter!" as O'Malley was interviewed by Jose Antonio Vargas. One of the
group's leaders took over the stage and addressed the audience as the
largely female group of demonstrators railed against police-involved
shootings, the treatment of immigrants and Arizona's racial history.

The demonstrators were promoting the national "Black Lives Matter"
movement, which seeks changes to law enforcement policies following several
high profile deaths of black men at the hands of police.

Sanders and O'Malley are vying to become the Democratic alternative to
front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was campaigning in Iowa and
Arkansas on Saturday and did not attend Netroots.

Before the demonstrations, Vargas pressed O'Malley to defend his law
enforcement record as Baltimore's mayor a decade ago. O'Malley faced
scrutiny when unrest broke out in his home city after an African-American
man, Freddie Gray, died while in police custody in April.

O'Malley discussed his work to deal with violence and drug addiction in
Baltimore, telling the crowd, "there are very few issues in our country
that are quite as painfully intertwined as the legacy of violence, race and
law enforcement in America." He said his policies improved policing,
reduced the number of police-involved shootings and increased drug
treatment.

About 20 minutes into the interview, demonstrators walked into the
cavernous ballroom, creating a confusing scene. Tia Oso, National
Coordinator for the Black Alliance for Just Immigration in Phoenix, took
the stage and addressed the crowd, noting two years had passed since the
the Black Lives Matter movement started after Michael Brown, an unarmed
black 18-year-old was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson,
Missouri. Days of protests that sometimes turned violent in the St. Louis
suburb followed.

"We want to take a moment at Netroots to acknowledge the lives lost," Oso
said. Organizers sought to restore order and at one point, Cheryl Contee, a
Netroots Nation board member, took the stage and asked the audience to
allow O'Malley to respond.

O'Malley said all Americans have a responsibility to "recognize the pain
and the grief throughout our country, through all the lives that have been
lost to violence." He reiterated that every police department should be
required to report all police-involved shootings and create civilian review
boards.

"Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter," O'Malley told
the crowd, as some protesters heckled him.

O'Malley later said after a roundtable event on immigration that he
regretted the comments. "I meant no insensitivity by that and I apologize
if that's what I communicated. That was misstated. What I intended to say
was that we're all in this together — that black lives do matter and we
have a double-standard of justice in this country."

Sanders, during his abbreviated 20 minute appearance, spoke about the need
to address wealth and income inequality, noting that blacks and Hispanics
face high rates of unemployment.

His remarks were interrupted at times by the protesters, prompting Sanders
to respond, "Black lives of course matter. I spent 50 years of my life
fighting for civil rights."

Sanders called the criminal justice system "out of control" and described
high rates of unemployment and incarceration for young black Americans.

The Netroots Nation convention has been a rough place for presidential
candidates before. Clinton last appeared in 2007, when it was called the
Yearly Kos, and heard boos from some activists who disapproved of her vote
for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and her acceptance of campaign contributions
from lobbyists.

*Iowa Democratic Party dinner: 5 takeaways
<http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/iowa-democratic-party-dinner-hillary-clinton-120315.html>
// Politico // Gabriel Debenedetti – July 18, 2015 *

If Hillary Clinton is worried about liberal challenger Bernie Sanders, she
didn’t let it show here on Friday night at the party’s first cattle call
event, which saw Democrats’ quintet of presidential candidates finally
descend on the same place at the same time.

As expected, at the Iowa Democratic Party’s Hall of Fame Dinner all eyes
were on Clinton and Sanders, who sat just feet away from each other. The
cavernous ballroom of roughly 1,300 Iowan activists ate up the strain
between the party’s leading candidates, while laying bare some of their
most glaring weaknesses. The crowd was largely made up of party
establishment figures sympathetic to Clinton, but it also comprised a
healthy pro-Bernie faction, creating a night of tension for two candidates
who insisted on talking past one another, neither fully acknowledging the
former secretary of state’s status as a dominating front-runner who remains
dogged by Sanders’ fiery, insurgent, and grumpy candidacy.

Meanwhile the audience barely registered the presence of Lincoln Chafee or
Jim Webb. But there were signs of a small opening for Martin O’Malley,
whose speech was received favorably by a crowd that is nonetheless still
working out what, exactly, is his pitch. For the former Maryland governor,
who was expected to be Clinton’s primary progressive antagonist until
Sanders snatched the mantle from him, it was mostly a relief.

Here are POLITICO’s five takeaways from the Democrats’ first cattle call:

1. Hillary’s sensitive to the critique that she’s a candidate of the past

On the campaign trail, Clinton repeatedly drops lines about how Republican
policies are backward-looking and how she wants to move the country
forward. But on Friday night, she slipped beyond that standard campaign
fare. Facing recent criticism from Republicans — particularly 40-somethings
Marco Rubio and Scott Walker — that she represents the politics of her
husband’s White House and the 1990s, Clinton, 67, made clear she is fed up
with this argument.

“Trickle-down economics has to be one of the worst ideas of the 1980s. It
is right up there with New Coke, shoulder pads, and big hair,” she said, in
what amounted to catnip to a true blue crowd. “I’m never going to let the
Republicans rip away the progress we’ve made. They may have some fresh
faces, but they are the party of the past.”

The “fresh faces” reference wasn’t just an elbow thrown at Rubio and
Walker, however. It also read like a brush-back pitch to O’Malley, whose
“new leadership” slogan couldn’t be clearer in its intent.

2. A healthy number of Iowa Democrats are on the same page as Bernie
Sanders. But not the majority.

Faced with questions about Sanders’ polling surge, Clinton supporters
frequently say that 30 to 40 percent of the party fits Bernie’s — or
Elizabeth Warren’s — ideological profile, but no more than that.

Friday night showed exactly why.

Clinton’s speech regularly brought huge portions of the crowd to its feet
with her broadsides against Republicans, and then to a hushed, reverent
silence when she spoke about her mother’s hard childhood.

But while Sanders’ stemwinder drove so many “you tell ‘ems” and “hell
yeah”s from the crowd that it occasionally felt like a tent revival, well
more than half the room felt no need to even acknowledge Sanders’ most
powerful lines. It was as if he was talking to the crowd wearing Bernie ‘16
stickers, but not to anyone else. The bulk of the audience effectively
twiddled during the loudest stretches of the Sanders stump speech, leaving
the rapturous applause to the designated Bernie tables.

The message of political revolution failed to land on ears that weren’t
already sympathetic to Sanders, suggesting there are limits to the bounds
of his popularity in the state — and within the state party establishment —
that by now knows him well.

3. Clinton sees no benefit in acknowledging her Democratic rivals

Hillary Clinton had yet to mention any of her Democratic opponents on the
campaign trail heading into Friday night. That didn’t change once the
evening’s festivities were over, suggesting Clinton won’t start taking on
Sanders unless he starts matching or surpassing her in polls.

Instead, the former secretary of state went after Jeb Bush, Scott Walker,
and Donald Trump by name, throwing the crowd the red meat it so craved and
sending a clear message to the audience that she views herself as the
front-runner for the nomination.

“We’ve heard a lot recently from the new Republican frontrunner, Donald
Trump. Finally, a candidate whose hair gets more attention than mine,” she
said, to laughs and raucous applause.

“Governor Walker kicked off his campaign by rolling back reproductive
rights for women and stripping union workers of their rights,” she said to
jeers.

And to Republicans who avoid discussing climate change by pleading
ignorance as non-scientists, Clinton mocked their timidity. “I’m not a
scientist either, I’m just a grandmother with two eyes and a brain, and I’m
not going to let them take us backwards.”

Clinton’s camp sees no need to elevate any of the Democratic rivals
trailing her by naming them, and except for a brief nod at the beginning of
her speech that did not use any names, she might as well have been the
headliner at a political rally for Iowa Democrats.

4. Bernie now recognizes the Democratic Party’s diversity

It’s abundantly clear to the Sanders campaign that it has a real candidate
on its hands. But the Vermont senator has never had to appeal to minority
voters in his heavily white state, and he’s now starting to take up the
challenge.

After tacking a passage about immigration reform onto his stump speech in
front of a Hispanic advocacy group earlier this week, Sanders went much
further on Friday, drawing huge applause from his pockets of the room by
bringing up disproportionately high African-American incarceration rates
and his hope to help undocumented immigrants.

Lines like these may be part of any standard liberal stump speech, but
Sanders is no standard liberal. His rollicking, red-faced speech on Friday
picked up steam with his usual anti-billionaire talk, but there was a
noticeable ripple through his delighted supporters when he reached the
sections designed to speak to minority voters.

5. O’Malley has the potential to catch fire in Iowa

O’Malley plainly showed the most potential in Cedar Rapids, successfully
firing up a crowd full of partisans for rival candidates. But his
performance also highlighted his central problem as he concentrates on
Iowa: he has yet to define whether he wants to be the progressive
standard-bearer or the candidate with executive experience.

“My name is Martin O’Malley, I’m running for president, and I need your
help,” he said, effectively acknowledging from the start that he is still
working to gain traction and higher name recognition. The crowd rose to its
feet repeatedly over the next 15 minutes as he ticked through a progressive
wish-list — from Wall Street reform to sweeping clean energy measures.
Nonetheless, O’Malley’s central pitch seemed to be based on the notion that
his city hall and governor’s mansion experience would impress.

“I am the only candidate for president with fifteen years of executive
experience,” he said. “We didn’t just talk about it, we actually got it
done.”

The two pitches are not mutually exclusive, but they’re separate messages.
Without choosing one to center his campaign on, O’Malley appeared to be a
compelling character but not necessarily a viable option — at least for
now. He finished to serious applause and scattered “O-Mall-ey!” chants. But
they were drowned out within seconds by roars from far more enthusiastic
backers of the next speaker:

“Bernie! Bernie!”

*Black Lives Matter' protesters flummox O'Malley, Sanders
<http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/black-lives-matter-protesters-flummox-omalley-sanders-120319.html>
// Politico // Daniel Strauss – July 18, 2015*

When Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders took the stage at Saturday’s
Netroots Nation forum here in Arizona, things didn’t go exactly as planned.

Both Democratic presidential candidates were supposed to sit down with
activist and journalist Jose Antonio Vargas to talk about immigration.
Instead, they got shouted down.

O’Malley, the former Maryland governor, was up first, and his forum was
hijacked by protesters who said they were from the “Black Lives Matter”
movement. They moved toward the stage, chanting, “What side are you on?
Black people! What side are you on?”

Two of the activists climbed onto the stage and seized the microphones as
O’Malley and Vargas stood by patiently.

“It’s not like we like shutting shit down but we have to,” activist
Patrisse Cullors said. “We are tired of being interrupted.”

But shutting things down is what they did.

O’Malley was repeatedly drowned out by chanting protesters who wanted to
discuss police brutality against black Americans. When O’Malley finally did
get a chance to respond, they kept shouting.

“I believe every police department in America should have to report in an
open and transparent way all police-involved shootings, all discourtesy
complaints, all brutality complaints,” O’Malley, a former Baltimore mayor,
said. Asked by Vargas about civilian review boards, O’Malley added, “all
departments should have civilian review boards.”

That was roughly as specific as the protesters allowed O’Malley to get. He
went on to say, awkwardly, “black lives matter, white lives matter, all
lives matter,” sparking loud boos.

O’Malley repeated the phrase and the audience kept booing. Vargas tried to
quiet the crowd down, but time was up anyway.

“Unfortunately, Senator Sanders is waiting out there,” Vargas said.

“We just started,” O’Malley quipped.

It started off well: Sanders supporters waved “Bernie” signs in the air as
the independent Vermont senator took the stage, hoping to talk about
economic policy and bash Republicans.

He got chaos instead.

“Here’s the serious issue: We live in a nation in which to a significant
degree media is controlled by large multinational corporations. We live in
a nation in which 95 percent of talk radio is right wing, including in
areas where Republicans have almost no support,” Sanders began.

The protesters kept shouting, forcing Sanders to address there concerns.

“When we talk about issues like ‘black lives matter’, let me tell you
something,” Sanders said. “A study came out a few weeks ago talking about
youth unemployment in America, an issue we do not deal with as a nation.
And here’s what, here’s what that said. What that report said is that if
you are a high school graduate and you’re white, the unemployment rate is
33 percent. If you are Hispanic, the unemployment rate is 36 percent; if
you are African American, the unemployment rate is 51 percent. And in my
view maybe, just maybe, it is time we invest in jobs and education not in
jails and incarceration.”

The protesters began shouting again when Sanders tried to pivot back to
discussing Wall Street greed and economic inequality. At one point, Sanders
offered a deviation from his usual talking points: “Black people are dying
in this country because we have a criminal justice system that is out of
control,” he said.

Vargas tried to pepper the Vermont senator with immigration questions, but
the chants once again threatened to drown them out. At one point, Sanders’
frustration showed. “Black lives of course matter, but I have spent 50
years of my life fighting for civil rights and if you don’t want me to be
here that’s OK,” he said.

Once again, time ran out and Vargas said, “Unfortunately we have to wrap it
up.”

“OK, good,” Sanders said.

*O'Malley apologizes for saying 'all lives matter' at liberal conference
<http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/18/politics/martin-omalley-all-lives-matter/>
// CNN // Chris Moody – July 18, 2015 *

Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley apologized on Saturday
for saying "All lives matter" while discussing police violence against
African-Americans with liberal demonstrators.

Several dozen demonstrators interrupted the former Maryland governor while
he was speaking here at the Netroots Nation conference, a gathering of
liberal activists, demanding that he address criminal justice and police
brutality. When they shouted, "Black lives matter!" a rallying cry of
protests that broke out after several black Americans were killed at the
hands of police in recent months, O'Malley responded: "Black lives matter.
White lives matter. All lives matter."

The demonstrators, who were mostly black, responded by booing him and
shouting him down.

Later that day, O'Malley apologized for using the phrase in that context if
it was perceived that he was minimizing the importance of blacks killed by
police.

Invoking the familiar names of blacks who died at the hands of police,
including Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Tamir Rice, thousands have taken
part in protests across the country calling for a more aggressive federal
response to recent slayings by police. A protester is arrested at the
demonstration on December 13 in Oakland.

"I meant no disrespect," O'Malley said in an interview on This Week in
Blackness, a digital show. "That was a mistake on my part and I meant no
disrespect. I did not mean to be insensitive in any way or communicate that
I did not understand the tremendous passion, commitment and feeling and
depth of feeling that all of us should be attaching to this issue."

Judith Butler, a philosopher at the University of California, Berkeley,
recently explained why some find it offensive to respond to the "Black
Lives Matter" movement with the "all lives matter."

"When some people rejoin with 'All Lives Matter' they misunderstand the
problem, but not because their message is untrue. It is true that all lives
matter, but it is equally true that not all lives are understood to matter,
which is precisely why it is most important to name the lives that have not
mattered, and are struggling to matter in the way they deserve," Butler
said in an interview with The New York Times. "If we jump too quickly to
the universal formulation, 'all lives matter,' then we miss the fact that
black people have not yet been included in the idea of 'all lives.'"

O'Malley isn't the first Democrat to come under fire for the remark.
Hillary Clinton was criticized in June for doing the same thing.

*Martin O'Malley And Bernie Sanders Interrupted By ‘Black Lives Matter’
Activists At Progressive Conference
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/martin-omalley-bernie-sanders-heckled_55aab696e4b065dfe89e8a90>
// HuffPo // Sam Levine – July 18, 2015 *

"Black Lives Matter" protesters interrupted Democratic presidential
candidates Martin O'Malley, former governor of Maryland, and Sen. Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.) during their appearances Saturday at Netroots Nation, a
progressive conference being held in Phoenix this year.

O'Malley was interrupted after just one question during a panel discussion
with Jose Antonio Vargas, and Sanders had barely begun speaking before he
was cut off.

Demonstrators began chanting, "What side are you on?" during a Q&A session
with O'Malley. O'Malley allowed the protesters to finish, but drew boos
when he said that "black lives matter, all lives matter, white lives
matter," according to Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel. O'Malley later
admitted that he made a mistake in his choice of words, and said he did not
mean any disrespect.

Sanders was quickly interrupted when he spoke and told protesters that he
agreed with them.

Sanders tried to continue speaking, but Vargas eventually ended the panel
early.

While O'Malley and Sanders had a difficult time speaking on Saturday,
former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the
Democratic nomination, chose not to attend the conference and was
campaigning in Arkansas instead.

*Democratic Presidential Candidates Face Off in Iowa
<http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/democratic-presidential-candidates-make-case-iowa/story?id=32530323>
// ABC News // Josh Haskell – July 18, 2015 *

It was a big night for Democrats in Iowa who heard from all five
presidential candidates on everything from income inequality to climate
change and recent Supreme Court decisions on same-sex marriage and the
Affordable Care Act.

Lincoln Chafee, Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley, Bernie Sanders, and Jim
Webb didn't spend any time going after each other Friday, but instead laid
out their visions for the country and at times went after the Republican
presidential candidates.

Clinton spent the majority of her speech criticizing Republicans by name --
including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush -- whose comments that "Americans
need to work longer hours" didn't sit well with the former secretary of
state.

"He now says he just wants part-time workers to be able to find full-time
jobs," she said. "So do I. There’s just one problem: his policies and the
policies of all these Republican candidates would make that harder."

Hillary Clinton Thinks Telemarketers Are 'Really Annoying,' Too

Hillary Clinton Cashes in, Donald Trump Dead Last in 2016 Campaign Money
Race

Bernie Sanders Gets His Say on Clinton's Day in Capitol

But the Democratic front-runner didn't stop with Bush. Clinton and O'Malley
also went after billionaire Donald Trump.

“We've heard a lot recently from the new Republican front-runner, Donald
Trump," said Clinton. "Finally, a candidate whose hair gets more attention
than mine. But there’s nothing funny about the hate he is spewing towards
immigrants and their families."

"If Donald Trump wants to run on a platform of demonizing immigrants, he
should go back to the 1840's and run for the presidential nomination of the
Know-Nothing Party," said O'Malley.

The night began with the five candidates taking the stage together as loud
chants of Bernie and Hillary filled the room. More than 1,300 from across
the state greeted the candidates with open arms and listened to each 15
minute speech with the same amount of attention but varying levels of
enthusiasm.

Clinton, O'Malley, and Sanders had a number of standing ovations from their
backers in the room, but lesser known candidates Chafee and Webb had a
harder sell. They laid out their visions for the country, spending a
considerable amount of time telling Iowans about their accomplishments as
public servants.

Sanders was the only candidate to bring up recent race-related shootings in
America.

"I want to see an America where when young black men walk down the street,
they will not be harassed by police officers," he said, pausing when the
crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Raising his hands, Sanders added "They will not be killed and not be shot."

Outside the convention hall, O'Malley and Clinton supporters who didn't
have tickets to the dinner chanted at each other as cars honked in downtown
Cedar Rapids. All of the candidates stayed till the end of the event and
worked the room afterwards.

The politicking continues Saturday in Iowa as 10 Republican presidential
candidates will discuss their vision for the country at the Family
Leadership Summit in Ames.

*Sanders, O'Malley face protesters at Netroots Nation conference
<http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-sanders-omalley-netroots-nation-20150718-story.html>
// LA Times // Nigel Duara – July 18, 2015 *

e annual Netroots Nation political conference, being held here this year,
isn’t just supposed to be friendly to progressive candidates. It is an
applause-filled jaunt that can add luster to campaigns whose candidates
want to be standard-bearers of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.

That was far from the case on Saturday, the showcase day of the five-day
event that began Wednesday, as former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont found themselves face-to-face with
protesters, led by supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Black lives matter, white lives matter, all lives matter.

- Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, to a chorus of boos

Black Lives Matter was fueled by several high-profile deaths of unarmed
black men at the hands of police in the last two years, and the slogan has
been the rallying cry for a series of protests calling for social justice.

Saturday’s verbal confrontation first came during O’Malley’s town hall
meeting.

He had just delivered what should have been applause lines at such a
conference — closing for-profit prisons and ending wealth inequality — when
about 30 protesters streamed into the Phoenix Convention Center’s main hall
and began shouting questions:

“What are you doing to stop the killing of black men?”

“Do black lives matter to you?”

Seated onstage, hands clasped and elbows on his knees, O’Malley in response
turned his speech over to related issues: creating civilian review boards
for police departments, pushing through criminal justice reform and asking
the same of other candidates. A protester was invited on stage.

“I recognize the pain and grief throughout country, to all the lives lost
to violence,” O’Malley said, to tepid applause, before expounding on the
efforts he made when he was mayor of Baltimore to end an epidemic of
violence and drug abuse.

Then, after the 15-minute interruption, O’Malley said, “Black lives matter,
white lives matter, all lives matter.”

He was roundly booed. He repeated the line. More boos followed. He
eventually waved to the crowd as he left the stage.

Sanders next took the stage with the protest in full swing, but
nevertheless muscled his way through. He scoffed at questions about what he
has done for the civil rights movement, replying that he’s spent 50 years
fighting for civil rights.

“We need a political revolution in this country,” said Sanders, sticking to
the grass-roots progressive message that has earned him crowds in the tens
of thousands at appearances across the country.

The difference, said conference attendee Lexis Clark of Chicago, was that
O’Malley seemed to waffle and waver during the protest, while Sanders, used
to long, loud debates, simply boomed his way through the interruptions.

“I wasn’t blown away” by O’Malley, said Clark, 30. “He didn’t do a very
good job controlling it.”

To the protesters themselves, neither candidate did much to assure them
that the goals of the Black Lives Matter movement would be considered.

“They all fumbled when we brought black issues to the table,” said Ashley
Yates, 30, one of Saturday’s protest leaders. “That was by design.”

It wasn’t the first time a presidential candidate has been roundly booed at
the conference. At the 2007 event, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in her first
presidential campaign, heard boos for being too centrist and for voting in
favor of the Iraq war. She skipped this year’s event.

The conference, held this year in Phoenix in an attempt by organizers to
plant a flag in a red state, issued a statement less than an hour after
Saturday’s protest to say it “stands in solidarity with all people seeking
human rights.”

“Our aim was to give presidential candidates a chance to respond to the
issues facing the many diverse communities represented here,” conference
organizers said in an email. “Although we wish the candidates had more time
to respond to the issues, what happened today is reflective of an urgent
moment that America is facing today.”

Yates was unconvinced.

While candidates’ plans on issues such as banking reform and wage
inequality have specifics — whom they would appoint, what steps they would
take on Day One — they’ve been vague when it comes to pushing for racial
and social justice.

“You can’t hold anyone accountable for something they haven’t agreed to
yet,” Yates said, adding that Netroots, for all its progressive leanings,
remained a largely white space.

“Let’s be honest: It’s mostly white, concerning white issues,” Yates said,
“when we are out here dying.”

*'Black Lives Matter' protesters halt Sanders, O’Malley events
<http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/248430-black-lives-matter-protesters-halt-omalley-event>
// The Hill // Mark Hensch – July 18, 2015 *

“Black Lives Matter” protesters disrupted two 2016 Democratic presidential
candidates during speeches in Phoenix on Saturday.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley both
had question-and-answer sessions halted at the 2015 Netroots Nation
conference.

“Say that black lives matter,” demonstrators chanted at both men. “Say that
I am not a criminal. Say my name.”

Activists began intruding on the event during O’Malley’s session with host
Jose Antonio Vargas.

“What side are you on?” they began singing at the former Maryland governor.

Vargas tried salvaging the situation, but protesters only shouted over him
louder.

“We hear you,” he said. “Everyone take a little breathe.”

The flustered moderator then let a “Black Lives Matter” leader who
identified herself as Patrisse Cullors address O’Malley.

“Let me be clear – every single day people are dying, not able to take
another breath,” she said.

“We are in a state of emergency,” she added. “If you do not feel that
emergency, then you are not human. I want to hear concrete action plans.”

O’Malley responded by appealing to the unity of Americans that comes from
their shared country.

“I think all of us have a responsibility to recognize the pain and grief
caused by lives lost to violence,” he said.

“Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter,” O’Malley added,
drawing boos from the demonstrators.

An apology to O’Malley flashed on the event’s teleprompter once the
disruption began, according to reports.

Sanders fared little better with outraged crowd members when his session
began.

“If you don’t want to be here, that’s OK,” he said over yelling attendees.
“I don’t want to shout over people.”

“Black lives of course matter,” Sanders added. “I have spent 50 years of my
life fighting for civil rights.”

Sanders argued criminal justice reform is essential for improving race
relations in the U.S.

“Black people are dying in this country because we have a criminal justice
system that is out of control,” he said.

“We need fundamental reform in police departments all over this country,”
Sanders said.

“In my view, maybe, just maybe, it is time to invest in jobs and not jails
and incarceration,” he added.

Protesters hailed the two-year anniversary of the “Black Lives Matter”
movement during their demonstration at Saturday’s event.

The protesters say law enforcement unfairly discriminates against blacks in
both its policies and its enforcement.

*Democratic candidates turn dinner into a GOP bashing party
<http://nypost.com/2015/07/18/democratic-candidates-turn-dinner-into-a-gop-bashing-party/>
// NY Post // Bob Fredericks – July 18, 2015 *

All five declared candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination
gathered at a party dinner in Iowa Friday night and took turns bashing
Republicans while mostly playing nice with each other.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, the front-runner, and socialist Vermont Sen. Bernie
Sanders, her toughest challenger so far, got most of the attention at the
Hall of Fame celebration dinner, but ex-Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley,
former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee and ex-Virginia Sen. Jim Webb were
also on hand.

Clinton used tough rhetoric to go after the GOP candidates and brought
Democrats to their feet, The Washington Post reported.

“I’m never going to let the Republicans rip away the progress we have made.
Trickle-down economics has to be one of the worst ideas of the 1980s. It is
right up there with New Coke, shoulder pads and big hair,” she said.

*‘Black Lives Matter!’: Sanders, O’Malley Heckled by Liberal Demonstrators
at Blogger Convention; Clinton a No-Show
<http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/07/18/black-lives-matter-sanders-omalley-heckled-by-liberal-demonstrators-at-blogger-convention-clinton-a-no-show/>
// The Blaze // Dave Urbanski – July 18, 2015 *

The demonstrators were promoting the national “Black Lives Matter”
movement, which has sought changes to law enforcement policies in the
aftermath of sometimes-violent protests in several cities. The group grew
from the fatal shooting of a black, unarmed 18-year-old, Michael Brown, by
a white police officer in the St. Louis suburb.

Sanders and O’Malley are vying to become the alternative to Democratic
front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was campaigning in Iowa and
Arkansas on Saturday and did not attend Netroots.

Before the demonstrations broke out, Vargas pressed O’Malley to defend his
law enforcement record as Baltimore’s mayor a decade ago. O’Malley faced
scrutiny when unrest broke out in his home city after an African-American
man, Freddie Gray, died while in police custody in April.

O’Malley discussed his work to deal with violence and drug addiction in
Baltimore, telling the crowd, “there are very few issues in our country
that are quite as painfully intertwined as the legacy of violence, race and
law enforcement in America.” He said his policies improved policing,
reduced the number of police-involved shootings and increased drug
treatment.

About 20 minutes into the interview, demonstrators walked into the
cavernous ballroom, creating a confusing scene. Tia Oso, National
Coordinator for the Black Alliance for Just Immigration in Phoenix, took
the stage and addressed the crowd, noting two years had passed since the
the Black Lives Matter movement started.

“We want to take a moment at Netroots to acknowledge the lives lost,” Oso
said. Organizers sought to restore order and at one point, Cheryl Contee, a
Netroots Nation board member, took the stage and asked the audience to
allow O’Malley to respond.

O’Malley said all Americans have a responsibility to “recognize the pain
and the grief throughout our country, through all the lives that have been
lost to violence.” He reiterated that every police department should be
required to report all police-involved shootings and create civilian review
boards.

“Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter,” O’Malley told
the crowd, as some protesters heckled him.

Sanders, during his abbreviated 20 minute appearance, spoke about the need
to address wealth and income inequality, noting that blacks and Hispanics
face high rates of unemployment.

His remarks were interrupted at times by the protesters, prompting Sanders
to respond, “Black lives of course matter. I spent 50 years of my life
fighting for civil rights.”

Sanders called the criminal justice system “out of control” and described
high rates of unemployment and incarceration for young black Americans.

Netroots Nation executive director Raven Brooks said in a statement that
the organization “stands in solidarity with all people seeking human
rights.” He said Netroots aimed to give presidential candidates to respond
to the issues faced by many diverse communities.

“Although we wish the candidates had more time to respond to the issues,
what happened today is reflective of an urgent moment that America is
facing today,” Brooks said.

Here’s another video taken Saturday of demonstrators chanting “This is what
democracy looks like!” apparently while exiting a large conference room.

*O’Malley Apologizes For Saying ‘All Lives Matter’
<http://dailycaller.com/2015/07/18/omalley-apologizes-for-saying-all-lives-matter-video/>
// Daily Caller // Derek Hunter – July 18, 2015 *

Former Maryland Gov. and Democratic Party presidential candidate Martin
O’Malley, along with fellow candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, were
shouted off stage at the Netroots Nation conference in Phoenix, Ariz.,
Saturday. O’Malley’s offense was saying, “Black lives matter, white lives
matter, all lives matter.”

O’Malley has now apologized for including “white lives matter, all lives
matter” in his statement.

The Black Lives Matter movement on the extreme progressive left does not
tolerate inclusion of all lives, or any other lives when it comes to
mattering.

Appearing on the Internet based “This Week In Blackness,” or TWiB Nation,
host L. Joy Williams excoriated O’Malley for his insensitivity for
including “white lives” and “all lives” in his statement. The former
governor did not repeat the phrases, he referred to them as “those other
two phrases.”

“I want to ask something specifically,” Williams said, “Towards the end, in
your explanation, you said the phrase ‘all lives matter,’ you said the
phrase ‘white lives matter.’ But I want to ask you, do you understand the
difference in responding in that conversation, in that context, with ‘all
lives matter’ or ‘white lives matter’ when we’re specifically talking about
black death, that is not all inclusive.”

O’Malley responded, “I certainly do and, in fact, I believe what I first
said was that ‘black lives matter’ before those other two phrases. And when
I said those other two phrases I meant no disrespect to the point, which I
understand, that black lives matter is making.”

*O'Malley, Sanders Shouted Down at Netroots by 'Black Lives Matter' Protest
<http://www.nationaljournal.com/2016-elections/o-malley-sanders-shouted-down-at-netroots-by-black-lives-matter-protest-20150718>
// The National Journal // S.V. Dante – July 18, 2015 *

Protesters upset that the topic of police shootings in black communities
was not getting a high enough profile at the Netroots Nation conference
shut down a much-touted forum Saturday featuring two Democratic
presidential candidates.

Several dozen activists burst into the Phoenix Convention Center meeting
hall as former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley was 20 minutes into a planned
40-minute moderated discussion. They sang – "What side are you on, people,
what side are you on?" -- chanted, and eventually were given a microphone
by conference organizers to ask O'Malley a question about police-involved
violence.

"We hear you," Netroots board member Cheryl Contee said from the stage.
"Give the governor a chance to respond."

O'Malley has been dogged by his record as Baltimore mayor since rioting
there this year following the death of an unarmed black man in police
custody. When his answer started describing some of his actions as mayor,
the protesters began shouting him down again.

And when he said, "Black lives matter, white lives matter, all lives
matter," the protesters roared in disapproval. O'Malley left the stage not
long after.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose supporters had packed the hall, was
similarly interrupted. Sanders tried to deliver a truncated version of his
stump speech, only louder, in an attempt to drown out the protesters. When
he was asked what his plan was to deal with police violence, he brought it
back to a favorite topic of his, high unemployment in the black community,
which he would solve with a trillion dollar program rebuilding the nation's
infrastructure.

That answer failed to satisfy the protesters, who continued shouting and
chanting until moderator Jose Antonio Vargas told Sanders that they had to
wrap it up. Sanders replied: "Okay, good."

The protesters held a victory rally of sorts afterward. "People only yell
when they feel they're not being heard," said one.

Ashley Yates, an activist who came to prominence in St. Louis during the
riots there last year following the police shooting of a black man, was
among the leaders of Saturday's protest. "We're telling you that black
America is starved for resources and we are in a state of emergency," she
said.

As to whether the disrupted discussion would make it harder for Netroots to
attract presidential candidates in the future, Yates said: "That's
Netroots' question to answer."

For its part, Netroots declined to criticize the protest. "Although we wish
the candidates had more time to respond to the issues, what happened today
is reflective of an urgent moment that America is facing today," the group
said in a statement. "In 2016, we're heading to St. Louis. We plan to work
with activists there just as we did in Phoenix with local leaders,
including the #BlackLivesMatter movement, to amplify issues like racial
profiling and police brutality in a major way."

Sanders continued with plans for a Saturday evening rally at the same
Convention Center venue, while O'Malley held a discussion with local
immigration activists Saturday afternoon.

*Martin O'Malley Was Booed For Saying "All Lives Matter," & Here's Why That
Phrase Should Just Disappear
<http://www.bustle.com/articles/98176-martin-omalley-was-booed-for-saying-all-lives-matter-heres-why-that-phrase-should-just>
// Bustle // Chris Togonotti – July 18, 2015 *

Saturday was a big day for Democratic presidential candidate Martin
O’Malley. Despite serving two terms as the governor of Maryland and being
one of just five Democrats in the 2016 field, he’s getting pretty
overlooked in the early going. So, like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, he
decided to speak at Netroots Nation, a good opportunity to draw some
attention at a high-profile progressive event. And draw some attention he
did, for all the wrong reasons: Martin O’Malley was booed for saying “all
lives matter,” and he really should have seen that one coming.

Look, there’s no denying that O’Malley was probably a little thrown off his
game. His appearance was interrupted by seemingly organized chants before
the offending flap, an interruption that culminated in activists taking the
stage and getting on the mic. That has to be a little disorienting,
regardless of whether you’re sympathetic to him or not.

But that kind of a moment can speak volumes, too – about how someone
responds to a breakdown in the pre-arranged order of things, and how they
choose to communicate about the most raw, serious issues for a given
community. Here’s are three reasons why Martin O’Malley got booed, and why
“all lives matter” really needs to go away.

It’s An Unneeded Statement

Think about the phrase black lives matter, and all the events that
culminated to birth the movement. Mainly, instances of black people being
slain by police without any legal action afterward. Michael Brown in
Ferguson, no indictment. Eric Garner in New York City and John Crawford in
Ohio – both men’s deaths captured on video – no indictments. It’s true that
all lives do and should matter, but the point is that when black lives are
lost, society doesn’t treat it as such. Institutionally, and in the hearts
and minds of countless racist trolls you can find in all corners of the
internet, black lives matter less. Which is why it’s so important to
specifically name that, and to be unapologetic about it.

Stealing Black Activist Language Is Offensive

Think of it like this: have you ever seen supporters of law enforcement
tweet #BlueLivesMatter? It became a thing after the murder of NYPD officers
Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu late last year, and you still see it from time
to time. But beyond being intensely inflammatory – appropriating black
activism against police brutality in service of law enforcement – it
crucially misses the point.

After officers Liu and Ramos were killed, what happened? Their tragic
deaths were national news, everybody knew their names, and there was a
massive police and public response. The loss of life was treated as
unacceptable and horrifying, and not just by police officers and their
supporters, but by the public at large. And, had the perpetrator not killed
himself shortly after the murders, he undoubtedly would have been hunted
relentlessly and brought to justice. That’s the difference.

Basically, if you’re a white authority figure invoking the language of
black activists, you should only do so address the issues, not dilute them.

He Didn’t Just Say “All Lives Matter”

In reality, O’Malley’s remarks were even a little bit worse than a simple
“all lives matter” would have been. In full, while discussing how Maryland
halted the death penalty under his watch, O’Malley said the following (the
relevant portion starts at 59 minutes in).

Every life matters, and that is why this issue is so important. Black lives
matter, white lives matter, all lives matter. … Black lives matter. White
lives matter. All lives matter.

O’Malley must’ve felt some conviction about this, because he repeated it
even with the boos and jeers still raining down from the first time. But,
both in tone and in execution, it was an epic blunder. He came off, quite
frankly, as though he were lecturing black people about their own movement.
The argument of activists isn’t that white lives don’t matter, it’s that
black lives should matter every bit as much. In fact, over the din of the
crowd, you can make out a man’s voice yelling just that.

We don’t need to hear that all lives matter! We already know that all lives
matter!

In short, it came across as incredibly condescending, and made it seem as
though O’Malley hadn’t put enough thought into such a loaded remark.

*GOP*

*DECLARED*

*BUSH*

*Raising money is a Jeb Bush family business, even for the next generation
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/raising-money-is-a-jeb-bush-family-business-even-for-the-next-generation/2015/07/18/440d390a-2d66-11e5-bd33-395c05608059_story.html>
// WaPo // Ed O’Keefe – July 18, 2015 *

Politically, Jeb Bush wants voters to focus on his first name and his own
political record. But when it comes to fundraising, he’s still banking on
the success of his last name.

He hosted wealthy donors, many of whom backed his father and brother’s
presidential bids, at his parents’ coastal estate in Maine this month. And
on Friday night, he headlined a raucous dinner hosted by a PAC led in part
by his two sons. It was held in a Venetian Hotel ballroom next to the
theater where Diana Ross performs.

The group cannot officially endorse in the presidential race, so Bush and
his family are drawing inspiration from the PAC as he continues
fundraising. But the PAC is an outgrowth of the 2004 reelection campaign of
George W. Bush — so, in essence, Jeb Bush is learning the lessons of his
older brother.

With his father sidelined by injury and his brother staying out of the
fray, Bush is deploying his wife and sons to appear at some of the 17 major
fundraising events in 11 states and the District of Columbia that are
scheduled through September.

Bush raised $11.4 million for his campaign in the last quarter — he was a
candidate for just 16 days of the period. The sum was part of an
unprecedented $119 million raised on his behalf by an allied super PAC and
another leadership PAC. Most of his campaign money came from donors
cultivated by the Bush family for more than 40 years. Just $368,000 came
from people giving less than $200. Bush himself gave more to his campaign —
$388,720 — to cover expenses.

Asked about the paltry sum of donations from small-dollar donors, Bush says
that there will be plenty of time to cultivate grass-roots supporters.

“We had 16 days, and we wanted to send a statement of seriousness about the
campaign. It was launched, and, in 16 days, we raised $11 million. I’m
proud of that,” he told reporters last week. “We’ll have ample time to
broaden that out. That’s the intention.”

For now, Bush is focused on bigger dollars, and his appearance on Friday
night was a tacit acknowledgment of the work his sons are doing to help.

He appeared at a conference hosted by Maverick PAC, a group of wealthy
Republicans under the age of 40 who support GOP political candidates of a
similar age. The PAC was launched in Texas by about a dozen of George W.
Bush’s “Mavericks,” or young professionals who helped raise at least
$50,000 in 2004. In 2006, George P. Bush — Jeb’s older son — joined the
group and became chairman in 2010. He expanded the PAC beyond Texas to
include more than 20 chapters, with several in Florida and one in London.

As Texas land commissioner, George P. Bush can no longer actively
participate, but his friend, Jay Zeidman, kicked off the event Friday
night. He stood in jeans and a button-down shirt handing out awards to
winners of a “40 under 40” prize while attendees dined on chicken and pork
barbecue, cole slaw and potato salad.

Spotted in the crowd was Charlie Spies, a Republican campaign finance
lawyer, who represents Maverick PAC and Right to Rise USA, the super PAC
allied with Jeb Bush that raised a record $103 million last quarter.

Two younger conservative authors, Guy Benson and Kristen Soltis Anderson,
sat onstage sipping beer while touting their books. Benson admitted he’d
spent most of the day drinking by the hotel pool. Both lamented that too
many liberals rely on comedians Jon Stewart and John Oliver for their news
and bemoaned the “stifling culture of political correctness.”

Bush applauded enthusiastically from the front of the room. He was later
introduced to the crowd by Fritz Brogan, a Washington restaurateur who
worked in George W. Bush’s administration and has grown close to Jeb Bush
Jr.

Jeb Bush thanked his younger son for his early help and called out his
wife, Columba, who was in the crowd.

“We’ve been married longer than the age of retirement of a MavPAC member,”
he said.

Father and son later headed upstairs to Bouchon, the French restaurant by
chef Thomas Keller, where they hosted a kickoff reception for “Mission:
NEXT” — essentially the 2016 version of George W. Bush’s “Mavericks” group.

In a nod to his home state of Florida, Jeb Bush’s donor program is called
“Mission 2016 JEB” — a NASA-inspired title for a program that will have
three distinct tiers for top bundlers.

The first tier, called Apollo, will be for bundlers who can help Bush raise
at least $75,000. The second tier, called Endeavour, is for donors who
reach at least $150,000. Top-flight bundlers will reach the Voyager level
as they help rake in at least $250,000.

Mission: NEXT will be for donors under 40 who can help raise at least
$50,000. George P. and Jeb Bush Jr. will co-chair the group and said in a
joint statement that it “will be the central program for youth involvement
in the campaign.”

Through a spokesman, George P. Bush declined an interview request.

Jeb Bush Jr. said in a recent interview that when he meets with potential
supporters, “I try to share my experience with Dad, working with him the
last six years, what he’s like as a dad or a grandfather, his experience in
Florida as governor. And talk about potential solutions for things like
student debt, the job market, health care, things that are facing
millennials.”

The two brothers have tapped their own professional networks — wooing
junior executives such as Zeidman, business executives such as Brogan and
attorneys, surgeons, investment bankers, accountants and other young
professionals in Texas, Florida and elsewhere.

Andres Asion, a Miami real estate broker who is backing Jeb Bush and is
friends with Jeb Bush Jr., said the brothers “have been raised in the
business, per se, and they know their market and they know what they’re
doing very well.”

Watching Bush’s new plans unfold are several former members of Maverick PAC
who have aged out and remain active in GOP politics and fundraising.

Jonathan Neerman, the former chairman of the Dallas County Republican
Party, called the group “a starter PAC” that “was an introduction to the
bundling world at a donor level that was not cost-prohibitive. Its genesis
was really a networking opportunity for young bundlers from around the
state to stay connected.”

Another presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), is a founding
member and standout alumnus. His campaign chairman, Chad Sweet, is a former
member.

“I’ve been tremendously impressed by the success of MavPAC over the years,
serving as a vehicle for young professionals to play a meaningful role in
the political process,” Cruz said in an interview.

Clearly, Cruz learned from the experience: Despite trailing far back in
most polls, he raised $14 million for his campaign last quarter and another
$37 million through a constellation of super PACs backing his campaign. The
combined $51 million put him just behind Bush in the GOP money race.

*Jeb Bush consultant critiques Republican digital culture
<https://www.yahoo.com/politics/jeb-bush-consultant-critiques-republican-digital-124448872556.html>
// Yahoo News // Jon Ward – July 18, 2015 *

A top digital consultant to Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign had harsh
words for Republican technologists on Saturday, saying that many of them
are “impostors” and that the GOP has until recently been an “atrociously
bad” place for tech savvy people who wanted to get involved in politics.

The Republican party “was a terrible place for a smart technologist to come
work,” Andy Barkett, a former Facebook engineer, said at a conference on
technology and politics hosted by Lincoln Labs, a conservative nonprofit
group.

Barkett, who was hired by the Republican National Committee as its chief
technology officer two years ago, made reference to his time at the RNC,
which did not go smoothly.

“I mean it was a terrible place for me when I started. It was horrible. It
was like the worst experience of my life,” Barkett said of his entry into
Republican politics, after spending over a decade at Silicon Valley
companies, where he moved into angel investing on the side. “It was just,
like, atrociously bad.”

Barkett was brought in after the RNC conducted an “autopsy” of the 2012
election that concluded they lagged far behind the Democrats in using
technology to target voters for persuasion and turnout.

But Barkett said that Republican digital culture “is getting better, and
now for the first time since I’ve been involved in it over the last few
years, you can take a smart person and plug them in and they can be really
effective and make a difference.”

And yet, Barkett, 34, said that too many people in Republican politics, and
political culture in general, still are too ignorant of basic technology.

“There’s a whole bunch of people in politics who say a lot of words, all
the buzz words that we talked about, and they say, ‘I want more analytics.’
None of them have any idea what any of those things mean,” he said, seated
on a stage during a panel discussion alongside digital operatives working
for the presidential campaigns of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

“They have no idea what the difference is between building an
infrastructure of servers that knows how to send e-mails, to having an
e-mail list, or the difference between the records in the voter file and
the analytics that you do in addition to those,” he said.

Barkett urged people in politics doing tech-related work to “get over the
impostor syndrome and learn what the f you are talking about.”

“Be honest with yourself, you’re probably a political person and you
probably don’t know what the f you’re taking about. And the first thing you
should do is probably dig in and learn. In the short run it will hurt you,
because you will be exposed as a fraud,” he said. “You people will learn
that you don’t know these things yet. And in the long run it will help you,
because you will then be one of the one percent of the people in politics
who does know what they’re talking about.”

Yahoo Politics asked Barkett during the panel whether he was criticizing
the 200 or so Republicans working in the tech space, and he clarified his
comments.

“I wouldn’t say all 200 of them are complete phonies. I would say that a
lot of them are good at one thing or another. So a lot of them may be very
good at online fundraising, which is a thing, which is important, or they
may be very good at online advertising in a political context, which is a
thing that’s important,” Barkett said. “There’s not a lot of people who are
genuinely well-rounded technology leaders. It’s a pretty small percentage
of that number.”

Barkett is a controversial figure in Republican politics. His blunt style
of communication and willingness to openly criticize other vendors and
consultants quickly created many enemies when he arrived at the RNC. Less
than a year after being hired by the RNC and its private sector data arm,
Data Trust, to do work at both entities, he left Data Trust and went to
work only at the RNC.

One of Barkett’s biggest tasks at the RNC was to build a digital dashboard
to access voter file data. That dashboard, which was called Beacon, never
acquired a high user adoption rate and has been eclipsed by other platforms.

The RNC is currently working on a new dashboard that they hope will compete
with the one being delivered to a growing number of Republican campaigns by
the Koch brothers political arm, Freedom Partners, through a subsidiary
called i360.

Barkett is now doing work for Bush’s campaign through a company called
Digital Core Campaign, LLC, which was paid $64,216 on June 30 for “web
service.” DCC advertises on its website that they do “big data
infrastructure,” “modeling and analytics,” “digital communications,” and
“field and finance integration.” The New York Times reported earlier this
year that Barkett would be building a voter file to be used by both Bush’s
campaign and the super PAC supporting the former Florida governor.

Barkett on Saturday referred to Bush as his “client.”

*How Jeb Tackled the Cocaine Cartels
<file:///C:\Users\aphillips\Downloads\How%20Jeb%20Tackled%20the%20Cocaine%20Cartels>
// The Daily Beast // Betsy Woodruff – July 18, 2015 *

It was an October day in Miami, 1985, and Leonel Martinez didn’t want to
die.

Margarita Escobar—a Colombian woman known as La Doctora and rumored to be a
distant relative of Pablo Escobar—had paid Martinez, a construction
magnate, a hefty sum to move 12 duffel bags of cocaine from The Bahamas to
Miami on his luxury yacht. The load got intercepted en route, though, and
La Doctora wanted her money back. But Martinez didn’t have it.

So she called him up and said she would be visiting his office. Martinez
did the natural thing: He bought a Cadillac limousine, sent it to pick up
her and her bodyguard at the airport—in an effort to project wealth he
didn’t quite have—and welcomed her to his office.

She demanded he produce the cash. He didn’t have it, and he offered her ten
condominiums instead. But that wasn’t good enough. Give her the money, she
said, or she’d kill him.

“You can kill me, or you can wait,” he replied.

She decided to wait, and she flew back to Colombia. Then Martinez got to
work rustling up the thousands he owed her.

Overlooking that conversation was a wall plastered with pictures of
Martinez glad-handing some of South Florida’s most powerful political
luminaries. That’s because the drug-trafficker—according to retired DEA
agent and a retired Metro Dade police officer who worked to hunt him
down—had a knack for creating the illusion of intimacy with elected
officials.

A few of those officials had the last name Bush.

But those donations didn’t get him much.

In fact, as governor, Jeb Bush became a favorite of drug warriors.  He
mirrored his father’s tough-on-drugs tactics in Florida, won the loyalty of
cops and DEA agents, and showed the limits of money in politics.

When Jeb arrived in South Florida after the 1980 presidential campaign, it
was a crazy time.

The use of drug money in politics was commonplace.

In fact, his dad’s presidential campaign and the Jeb-helmed Dade County
Republican Party both took contributions from Martinez, and faced minimal
political repercussions when Martinez’s true career was revealed.

Eduardo Gamarra, a professor in Florida International University’s
department of politics and international relations, said at that time
Southern Florida was so saturated with cocaine-tainted cash that it would
have been odd if none of it could get traced to Jeb.

“That’s just the way things were in the 1980’s,” he said.

Gamarra added that grip-and-grin photos with drug dealers didn’t
immediately mean the politician was in league with them. Even then-state
attorney Janet Reno appeared in a photo with Martinez when he was being
investigated for bribery.

Martinez moved from Cuba to Miami when Castro rose to power, and he
proceeded to build a successful construction business—with a lucrative
marijuana- and cocaine-trafficking business on the side.

He also made a number of contributions to the Dade County Republican Party
when young Jeb Bush chaired it, as Jack Colhoun detailed in an essay in the
anthology Covert Action: The Roots of Terrorism. Martinez won respect in
Republican circles and, according to his former defense attorney Ron
Dresnick, even managed to snag a photo with Jeb. It was never released.

This came at a time when Jeb was laying some of the groundwork for the
GOP’s eventual and total takeover of state-level politics there. In 1984,
Politico wrote, 4,000 Democrats became Republicans and 74 percent of
Hispanics to join the voter rolls that year registered with the GOP.

That success ballooned, and Bush carried Miami-Dade in both of his
successful gubernatorial campaigns. His impact in the Sunshine State is
hard to overstate.

And a tiny little statistically insignificant sliver of it was thanks to
coke money.

“Just like today everybody has to be a badass when it comes to fighting
terrorists, the 80’s and 90’s were really the same. You had to demonstrate
that you were a drug warrior.”

By 1989, Martinez was unmasked as a narcotrafficker. The Miami Herald
reported that he had promised to give a covert Drug Enforcement
Administration informant a dump truck worth $80,000 and five lots worth
$120,000 in exchange for 300 kilograms of cocaine. The Herald also noted
that, in a government affidavit, between 1981 and 1989 Martinez and his
team endeavored to move hundreds of pounds of marijuana and “multi-hundred
kilogram shipments of cocaine” into Southern Florida. As one does.

The Martinez case was representative of a South Florida cocaine problem of
cartoonish proportions—a culture where Jeb’s political ambitions first
began to flourish.

“It was a nuthouse,” recalled Tom Raffanello, a former Special Agent in
Charge of the DEA’s Miami Field Division, who had that position for three
years of Jeb’s governorship there. “We averaged two drug-related shootings
a month for almost two years. Everybody had a gun. Everybody was pissed off
all the time.”

Tony Kost, a retired Metro-Dade Police Department detective who worked to
apprehend Martinez, Dominic Albanese (a retired DEA agent who worked on the
investigation), and Raffanello all praised Jeb’s work to continue the
prosecution of the Drug War that started when his father, George HW Bush,
was vice president for Ronald Reagan.

It’s an interesting story of the failure of money in politics; though
Martinez managed to donate his way into the good graces of South Florida
Republicans, some of his favorite politicians ended up being the most
dogged foes of his industry.

Albanese said that Jeb Bush’s support of the War on Drugs—despite
inadvertently appearing in a photo with a powerful drug trafficker—speaks
to his integrity.

“I can’t say enough good things about what the Bushes did for the anti-drug
department, I’m telling you now,” he added. “I know where we would have
been if it wasn’t for them. We’d be in deep kimchi right now, I’m telling
you, with the drug problems.”

Jeb Bush appointed the state’s first drug czar, Jim McDonough, just a month
after he assumed office. McDonough’s responsibilities included coordinating
statewide efforts to curtail the import and distribution of narcotics. Bush
prioritized streamlining the communications between different agencies and
governments—local, state, and federal—to make anti-drug efforts more
efficient.

Gamarra, a Democrat, also said taking Martinez’s cocaine cash shouldn’t
taint the Bush family’s anti-drug legacy.

“It’s kind of popular to go around saying we’ve lost the drug war,” he
said, “but South Florida really demonstrates how they built up the correct
kind of legislation—financial controls and so on.”

“You’re not going to find an airplane flying into the Everglades dumping
cocaine,” he added. “Miami has drug problems today but this is not the
1980’s by any stretch of the imagination.”

Gamarra described Bush and his team as “the best drug warriors in town.”

“Just like today everybody has to be a badass when it comes to fighting
terrorists, the 80’s and 90’s were really the same,” he continued. “You had
to demonstrate that you were a drug warrior, that you were in favor of al
the extreme kind of measures to stop drugs coming into the United States.”

Data from the U.S. Department of Justice indicates that total violent crime
grew at a slower rate than Florida’s overall population during Bush’s
governorship.

While the population grew steadily, from 15.1 million people in 1999 to
18.3 million in 2007, the number of violent crimes committed in the state
ebbed and flowed. In 1999, there were 129,044 total violent offenses. That
number dipped to a low of 123,754 in 2004. And it grew to 129,602 in 2006,
his last full year as governor.

The fact that violent crime didn’t grow at the same rate as the population
seems to corroborate the anecdotal evidence from South Florida’s top drug
warriors—that, with time, the state became less bloody.

Raffanello said Bush’s efforts to improve communication between local
sheriffs, the DEA, and other law enforcement arms were particularly
fruitful.

As governor, he and his wife Columba participated in yearly Tallahassee
summits that brought together the state’s drug warriors for networking,
planning, and coordination. Raffanello said the impact of those
meetings—and the impact of the governor’s involvement with them—made
statewide enforcement efforts more organized and effective.

“I thought he really gave a shit,” Raffanello said. “It’s refreshing to see
a politician care about an issue.”

So his efforts seem to have made Florida less violent and crazy, but
Gamarra said the overall outcome was mixed. While drug-related violence
went down, there weren’t great results as far as overall drug use.

“The objective of all of this stuff was to stop the flow of drugs into the
United States,” he said. “And we have just as many drugs coming into the
United States today as we did in 1985. And the price is cheaper and quality
of the drugs is better.”

Still, Raffanello said Jeb’s greatest impact was the shift of drug violence
from the Sunshine State to the U.S./Mexico border, saying the violence in
Florida decreased “exponentially.”

“We probably had three of the most successful years we had in the last two
decades,” he said.

*Talk of rolling back Obama’s Iran nuclear deal on day one is not ‘mature’
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/18/jeb-bush-talk-of-rolling-back-obamas-iran-nuclear-/>
// The Washington Times // Kellan Howell – July 18, 2015 *

Jeb Bush told a Nevada audience on Friday that he would not repeal
President Obama’s Iran nuclear agreement on day one.

Speaking in Carson City, the former Florida governor reiterated his
opposition to the deal, which will ease economic sanctions on Iran in
exchange for a decade of limitations to it’s nuclear program.

But Mr. Bush stopped short of promising he would dismantle the deal and
denounced other Republicans who have promised to do so, calling them
panderers, Politico reported.

“At 12:01 on January, whatever it is, 19th [2017], I will probably have a
confirmed secretary of state; I will not have a confirmed national security
team in place; I will not have consulted with our allies. I will not have
had the intelligence briefings to have made a decision,” Mr. Bush said,
Politico reported. “If you’re running for president, I think it’s important
to be mature and thoughtful about this.”

Mr. Bush said he would never have negotiated with Iran in the first place
and told the crowd of roughly 100 people at the town hall that he doesn’t
discredit Mr. Obama for doing so, but for not negotiating harder.

“I’m deeply worried about this agreement because I think it’s going to
create the possibility of nuclear proliferation in the region and a much
more unstable Middle East that will impact us,” he said, Politico reported.

After holding a moment of silence for the Marines killed in a shooting
Thursday at a recruiting center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Mr. Bush slammed
Mr. Obama for a foreign policy approach that has left the Middle East in
tatters and had led to incidents of domestic terrorism like this week’s
shooting.

“We’re living in times that are quite perilous,” Mr. Bush said, Politico
reported. “Now we see what happens when we pull back. These threats spread
over the Internet all around the world including our own country. I, for
one, we believe we need to reengage with the rest of the world, fight
barbaric Islamic terrorism in the Middle East and also do what we need to
do to protect the homeland, using all the tools available to make it so,
protecting civil liberties along the way but make sure, make sure that we
keep this country safe.”

FBI officials have yet to confirm if the accused 24-year-old Kuwaiti-born
gunman had any ties to Islamic terrorist organizations.

*RUBIO*

*Rubio: ‘The American people believe in immigration'
<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-primaries/248423-rubio-the-american-people-believe-in-immigration>
// The Hill // Keith Laing – July 18, 2015 *

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Saturday said he believes voters are willing
to embrace immigration reform if officials find a way to stem the tide of
illegal entrances into the country.

"I think the American people believe in immigration and want it to work for
America," the Republican presidential candidate said at the Family
Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa.

"I don't think we can make any progress on it until we bring illegal
immigration under control," Rubio continued. "That's been the biggest
lesson of last three years."

Rubio pushed for an immigration reform package in 2013, prior  launching
his 2016 presidential bid, but he backed off amid staunch opposition from
conservatives.

The White House hopeful placed blame for the failed immigration reform
effort on President Obama and Democrats in Congress.

"I believe people are ready to be very reasonable about it [and] modernize
our system," he said. "But before they do anything, they want to make sure
that problem we have now of a rampant, out-of-control illegal immigration
is brought under control and never happens again, and they don't believe
that is and they don't trust this president to do it."

Obama has moved to address immigration through executive action, arguing he
had to act on his own because Congress failed to pass an immigration reform
measure in his first six years in office.

Rubio said blamed the congressional inaction on Senate Minority Leader
Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who was the majority leader until the beginning of
this year.

"It was frustrating for four years in the Senate, and Harry Reid chose to
do nothing," he said. "And even now, we face the situation where even if we
make progress, you have a president that will veto things.”

“There are consequences to electing someone to the highest office of the
land is who more interested in doing things by executive order than through
the proper channel that our constitution gives us."

Rubio also criticized Obama for striking a nuclear agreement with Iran,
saying the president is pursuing the deal "because he wants a legacy.

"He is dying to build exhibits for his presidential library," Rubio said of
Obama, who promised to meet with hostile foreign leaders during his 2008
campaign.

"This is going to be that Barack Obama opened up America to Iran, and the
next president blew it," Rubio continued. "And it's absurd and our allies
in the region know it's absurd."

"We now live in a world were we treat the Ayatollah in Tehran with more
respect than the Prime Minister of the only pro-American, free enterprise
democracy in the Middle East, the state of Israel," the Florida senator
said.

He said the final decision on the Iran deal will come down to "whether you
are able to convince 13-14 Democrats to vote against it."

He said he is opposed to the nuclear agreement because "the inspection
requirements in the deal are a complete sham.”

"It sounds almost like an arbitration panel for a contract between two
companies," Rubio added.

*WALKER*

*Scott Walker Is Starting His Road to the White House in a Winnebago
<http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/scott-walker-starting-road-white-house-winnebago/story?id=32540385>
// ABC News // Jordyn Phelps – July 18, 2015 *

On his first trip to Iowa as the fresh face of the Republican presidential
field, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has been putting the pedal to the metal,
crisscrossing the Hawkeye State’s corn field-lined interstates in a
souped-up Winnebago RV with a goal of hitting all 99 counties before voters
here cast the nation’s first votes in the presidential nominating process.

Since arriving in Iowa Friday -- the final stop of his whirlwind
five-state, 16-city campaign kickoff tour -- it has been abundantly clear
that Iowa is the key to Walker’s White House hopes.

"We're pulling a full Grassley. We're doing like Chuck Grassley and Joni
Ernst and Terry Bandstad," Walker is telling audience after audience,
referring to the state's two senators and governor, as he traverses the
length and breadth of Iowa with his wife and two college-age sons. "We're
going around in an RV in all 99 counties across this great state. We're
having a lot of fun, it's a lot of fun for us cruising around the state in
the RV."

It's a tried-and-true approach for the masters of Iowa-style retail
politics, and one that's not only reaped benefits for Iowa politicians but
presidential hopefuls too. Rick Santorum, the winner of the state’s 2012
Republican caucuses, visited all 99 counties. And as the governor of a
neighboring Midwestern state who spent his early childhood years in Iowa,
the son of a small-town Baptist preacher, Walker goes heavy in emphasizing
his Midwestern roots – and values -- as he makes his pitch to voters here.

While campaigning this week, he has taken to pulling from his pocket a
40-year-old-photo of him and his brother, David, holding an Iowa state flag
and telling the story of how as boys they raised money to buy a state flag
for the Plainfield, Iowa, town hall by walking around town with a
mayonnaise jar with a slit in the top, eventually collecting enough coins
to purchase the flag.

"That’s the kind of people we are here in the Midwest," Walker said. "We
stand up for what's right, we do the right thing, we don't make a lot of
fuss about it, we just do it. And I think that's what we need now more than
ever in Washington."

Everything from Walker's choice of transportation (he jokes he could go
camping in the RV) to his footwear (Harley boots) and the contents of his
pockets (that photo of him and his brother holding an Iowa state flag as
children), bolster Walker’s narrative as a relatable guy who could just as
easily live down the block as he could at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Walker closes his stump speech with a promise not to leave the people of
Iowa behind in the rearview mirror of his Winnebago if they can deliver him
a win in the 2016 caucuses.

"I'm not just coming to the caucus, I'm committed here," Walker says. "You
help me win this caucus and we go on and become the nominee, we will be
back in Iowa to win in November of 2016, because the pathway to a
Republican president comes through the Midwest."

*Iowa Republicans get some satisfaction as Scott Walker rolls up like a
rock star
<http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/17/iowa-scott-walker-republican-presidential-candidate>
// The Guardian // Ben Jacobs – July 18, 2015 *

In a shortsleeved button-down shirt and with a thin veil of sweat on his
upper lip, Scott Walker would never be mistaken for Mick Jagger. Yet on his
first official trip to Iowa as a candidate for the presidency, the
Wisconsin governor came across as a rock star in mid-tour form.

In lieu of performing his greatest hits, Walker reached back to his
40-minute announcement speech from Monday – and gave some lines word for
word.

Surrounded by a crowd of almost 200 in a room on the upper deck of a
minor-league baseball stadium in Davenport, Walker said he could bring “new
and fresh leadership which gets things done”. He went on to recite the
story of how he cracked down on organized labor in his home state, praising
the idea of “true freedom” as he did so.

“As long as you don’t violate the health and safety of your neighbor, go
out and start your own business,” Walker said.

He also denounced Barack Obama’s deal with Iran and, unsurprisingly, cited
Ronald Reagan as his foreign policy model.

Many of the attendees were familiar with Walker’s record. John Moeller of
Davenport told the Guardian he had long been a small donor to the Wisconsin
governor. Pat Turner of nearby Coal Valley, Illinois, said her daughter, a
student at the University of Wisconsin, experiencing major budget cuts
pushed by the governor, didn’t much like him. However, Turner, a former
teachers union member, liked that the Wisconsin governor cracked down on
tenure for public school teachers.

No screaming teenage girls ran on stage – although Miss Scott County 2014
did sit behind Walker, wearing tiara and sash. The governor was approached,
after his speech, by a homeless man, who embraced him.

Gregory Kehl, a 60-year-old army veteran wearing a Harley-Davidson vest,
asked to pray with the candidate. As they embraced, Kehl prayed for a
Walker victory. He had never voted before, he said, but he would do so in
this election for Walker.

Kehl then asked for help finding something to eat. Walker directed him to a
staff member who took him to an assortment of hamburgers and bratwursts,
provided for attendees.

Some more traditional Republican supporters were also impressed. Gene
Lepperd of Bettendorf talked to the Guardian while munching on a bratwurst
with onions and ketchup. Lepperd, who was wearing an Iowa State University
polo shirt, said he thought Walker was No 1 in the 15-strong Republican
field. Asked why, he cited Walker’s record as governor.

A lot of politicians will give “these flowery speeches”, Lepperd said, but
he thought the governor was “one of the few who had walked the walk” with
his conservatism in office in Wisconsin.

The Davenport event was Walker’s first stop in Iowa as an official
candidate – he has announced his intent to visit all 99 counties in the
course of the primary campaign. He was scheduled to crisscross the Hawkeye
State through Sunday.

*Scott Walker promises forceful foreign policy in Sioux City stop
<http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/a1/scott-walker-promises-forceful-foreign-policy-in-sioux-city-stop/article_7ec73f02-0a40-5244-8fb2-464abce0dfb1.html>
// Sioux City Journal // Bret Hayworth – July 18, 2015 *

Pointing to his experience as Wisconsin's chief executive, Gov. Scott
Walker on Saturday vowed he would establish the toughest foreign policy
since Ronald Reagan if he wins the presidency in 2016.

Walker, a Republican, told a crowd of 200 in Sioux City that he would steer
the nation away from Democratic President Barack Obama's failed, inadequate
defense of longtime ally Israel and ensure that sanctions remain on Iran, a
nation that is suspected of wanting to develop nuclear weapons. A 60-day
period for Congress to review Obama's deal to lift sanctions on Iran is
underway.

"Iran is not a place we should being doing business with," Walker said.

Walker spoke for 20 minutes outside a Republican Party office downtown on a
sunny day. He didn't take questions from the crowd.

He came through the city as part of a six-state, 16-city swing after
launching his campaign Monday in Wisconsin. He plans to visit 10 Iowa
counties through Sunday, traveling in a Winnebago motor home.

Walker noted that he lived as a young boy in Plainfield, Iowa, in the 1970s
before his minister father moved the family to Wisconsin. He peppered his
remarks with statements about living in Iowa, Big 10 Conference sports and
shopping for bargains at Kohl's.

When he turned to policies, Walker said he would boost the economy by
reducing harmful federal regulations on business, decreasing tax rates and
ensuring that all types of energy be used nationally.

"I am for building a better economy, where everyone can be lifted up and
get their piece of the American Dream. And I am for protecting your
children and grandchildren from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism
and other threats like that in the world," Walker said.

As for his Wisconsin accomplishments, Walker pointed to education reform,
lowering property taxes and reducing benefits to state employee union
members in 2011.

Walker said in becoming the first Republican governor in Wisconsin since
1984 he has demonstrated the mettle needed to win a bruising presidential
election next year.

"I am going to come back and play to win in Iowa," Walker said of the state
that is among roughly 10 battleground states that could decide the
presidency.

Walker has led the broad Republican field in Iowa polls for many months,
even though he wasn't officially a candidate until this week.

Walker's visit closed out a notable week of Republican candidates making
their first visit to Sioux City. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush spoke Monday,
and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio had a campaign stop on Friday. They drew crowds
ranging in size from 140 (Rubio) to 240 (Bush).

Sandy Sievers, of Sioux City, said Walker is among her current five top
choices for president. She also likes former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Rubio,
and U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz, of Texas, and Lindsay Graham, of South Carolina.

"I am checking Walker out thoroughly," Sievers said. "He is with my
philosophy on foreign affairs. We do need to support Israel. We have kind
of left them to sink or swim."

Jim Lewis, of Sioux City, has Walker and Perry in his top tier of
candidates.

Lewis said the fact that Walker prevailed after an election to remove, or
recall, him from the governor position is impressive.

"He is coming from a blue (Democratic-leaning) state. He won the election
on the recall even more than he won the first time. To me, that shows he is
doing the right thing," Lewis said.

*PAUL*

*Report: Rand Paul calls for scrutiny of Muslims
<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/07/18/paul-muslim-immigration/30342457/>
// USA Today // Bill Theobald – July 18, 2015 *

Breitbart News is reporting that GOP presidential candidate Rand Paul told
one of its reporters backstage at a speech in Houston last night that the
U.S. should provide extra scrutiny of people coming into the country from
predominantly Muslim countries after the Chattanooga, Tenn., terrorist
attack on Friday.

"I’m very concerned about immigration to this country from countries that
have hotbeds of jihadism and hotbeds of this Islamism," Paul told
Breitbart. "I think there does need to be heightened scrutiny. Nobody has a
right to come to America, so this isn’t something that we can say ‘oh,
their rights are being violated.’ It’s a privilege to come to America and
we need to thoroughly screen those who are coming."

The alleged shooter in the Chattanooga incident -- which claimed the lives
of five U.S. Marines -- was named Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez. The
24-year-old was born in Kuwait and immigrated to the U.S.

Paul also cited an incident in his hometown of Bowling Green, Ky., where
two Iraqi refugees who were placed in Kentucky tried to buy military grade
missiles.

"I think we’re doing the wrong thing by just having this open door policy
to bring in people without significant scrutiny. I’m for increasing
scrutiny on people who come on student visas from the 25 countries that
have significant jihadism. Also, any kind of permanent visas or green
cards, we need to be very careful. I don’t think we’re being careful enough
with who we let in," he said.

Paul, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said he would ask that
senators to look at reinstating the National Security Entry-Exit
Registration System program.

Started in 2002 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the DHS system recorded
the arrival, stay and departure of people from countries chosen based on an
analysis of possible national security threats. Registrants were also
required to register when they left. The program was effectively eliminated
in 2011.

*Ron Paul Not Listed As Donor To Rand Paul’s Presidential Campaign
<http://dailycaller.com/2015/07/18/ron-paul-not-listed-as-donor-to-rand-pauls-presidential-campaign/>
// Daily Caller // Jamie Weinstein – July 18, 2015 *

Rand Paul’s father Ron does not appear to be among the over 100,000 donors
so far to his son’s presidential campaign.

According to the younger Paul’s recent Federal Election Commission filing,
the elder Paul, a former Texas congressman who himself ran for president
three times, has yet to donate to his son’s 2016 presidential campaign — at
least not more than the $200 threshold where his donation would be required
to report. Rand’s mother, Carol, does not appear to have donated her son’s
campaign yet either.

In contrast, the other Republican presidential contender with a storied
political family, Jeb Bush, has received the maximum allowable donation of
$2,700 from both his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and his
mother, former first lady Barbara Bush.

A host of Bush siblings and in-laws, including former President George W.
Bush and former first lady Laura Bush, have also donated $2,700 to Jeb’s
campaign to win the Republican presidential nomination.

An email to Paul’s campaign spokesman by The Daily Caller Thursday
requesting comment went unreturned.

Between April when Paul officially entered the presidential field and June
30, Paul has raised nearly $7 million, according to numbers filed earlier
this week with the FEC. That number places him ahead of Republican
contenders like Carly Fiorina and Rick Perry, but behind Marco Rubio, Jeb
Bush, Ben Carson and Ted Cruz.

Paul’s mother Carol did donate $2,000 to her son’s Senate race in 2010.

*CRUZ*

*Cruz: Planned Parenthood leaders should be prosecuted
<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-primaries/248432-cruz-planned-parenthood-should-be-prosecuted>
// The Hill // Keith Laing – July 18, 2015 *

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Saturday said the leaders of Planned Parenthood
should be prosecuted after the release of a video this week showing an
executive discussing the donation of fetal organs.

"Every American should watch that video and say, ‘Are those my values?’ ”
the 2016 presidential candidate said at the Family Leadership Summit in
Ames, Iowa.

"On tape, it appears a Planned Parenthood official is admitting to multiple
felonies," he continued. "The U.S. Department of Justice, if it was not
simply a partisan arm of the DNC, should open an investigation and
prosecute Planned Parenthood. Congress should hold hearings and we should
cut off funds."

Planned Parenthood's senior director of medical services, Dr. Deborah
Nucatola, was filmed discussing the demand for fetal organs such as livers,
lungs and “intact” hearts. The video has been viewed more than 1.5 million
times since it was released Tuesday.

Republicans have threatened to cut of the group's federal funding since the
release of the video, but Democrats have sought to protect the payments.

Paul said he also took issue with a recent Supreme Court decision to
legalize same-sex marriage, which he said was "lawless and it was sad."

"It's naked judicial activism," he said.

*Ted Cruz On Iran Deal: There Will Be Blood
<http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/07/18/ted-cruz-on-iran-deal-there-will-be-blood/>
// Breitbart – July 18, 2015 *

In case there was any doubt, which there probably wasn’t, Sen. Sen. Ted
Cruz (R-TX) is not a fan of the Iran deal that President Barack Obama
announced on Tuesday.

Indeed, he told CQ Roll Call Tuesday it will fund murder.

If the deal goes into effect, it “will result in the United States
government becoming one of the leading funders of international terrorism,”
and that “those American dollars will be used to murder Americans, to
murder Israelis, to murder Europeans.”

The Texas Republican said a sensible commander in chief would demand that
Iran disassemble all centrifuges, forfeit its enriched uranium, shut down
its intercontinental ballistic missile program — which is solely to “carry
a nuclear weapon to the U.S.” — and stop being the world’s leading state
sponsor of terrorism.

Cruz called Obama’s speech announcing the deal “particularly shameful” for
not mentioning Americans imprisoned in Iran — specifically Pastor Saeed
Abedini, Marine veteran Amir Hekmati and journalist Jason Rezaian.

“To see the president not even mention Americans wallowing in Iranian
prisons for having the temerity to profess their faith, for having the
temerity to exercise their First Amendment rights, I cannot imagine the
heartbreak and betrayal that [their] families must be feeling and that
every American should be feeling at a president who doesn’t stand up and
defend Americans,” Cruz said.

Cruz, of course, isn’t the only 2016 aspirant to oppose the Iran deal. The
party’s candidates appear united in opposition.

*Ted Cruz says he won't 'go into the gutter' to criticize Donald Trump
<http://www.businessinsider.com/ted-cruz-says-he-wont-go-into-the-gutter-to-criticize-donald-trump-2015-7#ixzz3gJFjpSYy>
// Business Insider // Bryan Logan – July 18, 2015 *

Criticism of real estate mogul-turned-presidential candidate Donald Trump
has been swift and boisterous of late, thanks to Trump's fiery statements
labeling some Mexican immigrants as "rapists" and drug-runners.

Trump's latest target is Arizona Senator John McCain (R), a decorated
veteran who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

After the billionaire businessman trampled McCain's service record
Saturday, saying "He's not a war hero," and mocked McCain's time in
captivity, the ensuing backlash was quick and sharp.

Current GOP presidential candidates and the Republican Party at large have
summarily condemned Trump's attack, except for one candidate, Ted Cruz.

In a Bloomberg interview Saturday, Cruz said "I'm not going to go into the
gutter with personal attacks"

Cruz hearkened back to his days in the Senate where he says "I haven't
impugned the character of Republicans or Democrats and I don't intend to
start today," Bloomberg reports.

Trump has doubled down on his unfiltered political rhetoric despite
criticism coming from all sides, including Republican National Committee
chairman, Reince Priebus.

News Corporation founder, Rupert Murdoch, tweeted Saturday that Trump is
"embarrassing the country."

For better or worse,  Trump has not been shy about challenging anyone who
opposes him — engaging critics on social media and in public.

In the few weeks since Trump launched his 2016 presidential campaign, Ted
Cruz, who is also vying for the GOP nomination, has made a concerted effort
to stay out of Trump's way.

Even as the repudiation of Donald Trump's views on immigration exploded,
Cruz — who is of Cuban ancestry — backed away, even saying he "salutes"
Trump for "focusing on the need to address illegal immigration."

*PERRY*

*Rick Perry redoubles attack on Donald Trump for John McCain remarks
<http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/18/rick-perry-donald-trump-john-mccain>
// The Guardian // Ben Jacobs – July 18, 2015 *

Former Texas governor Rick Perry doubled down on his condemnation of Donald
Trump’s attack on John McCain, demanding an immediate apology.

Trump, however, said only that McCain was “yet another all talk, no action
politician who spends too much time on television”.

Hours after Trump said McCain was “not a war hero” on stage at the Family
Leadership Summit in Ames, Perry went on the same stage and tore into Trump
for his remarks.

McCain’s plane was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967 and he spent five
and a half years in captivity, subject to repeated torture.

Perry said: “I was highly offended about what Donald Trump said about
[McCain’s] years of sacrifice in a dirty, dingy, terrible prison in North
Vietnam. Donald Trump owes every American veteran and, in particular, John
McCain an apology.”

In response to a follow-up question from moderator Frank Luntz, the former
Texas governor said that if Trump did not apologize it would disqualify him
from being a legitimate candidate as well as commander in chief.

Perry’s comments received polite applause from the audience of thousands of
Iowa social conservatives.

In a statement on Saturday afternoon, Trump tried to pivot on his comments
about McCain and distance himself from criticism of the Arizona senator’s
service. Trump said: “I am not a fan [of] John McCain because he has done
so little for our veterans and he should know better than anybody what the
veterans need, especially in regards to the VA [Veterans Affairs
department].

“He is yet another all talk, no action politician who spends too much time
on television and not enough time doing his job and helping the vets.”

Earlier on Saturday, Perry’s campaign had issued a statement stating
Trump’s comments represented “ a new low in American politics” and urging
the former Celebrity Apprentice host to “immediately withdraw from the race
for president”.

In recent days, Perry has engaged war of words with Trump. The former Texas
governor has condemned Trump’s comments on immigration and said the
billionaire’s ideology was “a toxic mix of demagoguery and nonsense”.

In return, Trump tweeted that Perry “should be forced to take an IQ test
before being allowed to enter the GOP debate”.

Perry is running for president for a second time, after his 2012 campaign
was torpedoed by a debate gaffe, in which he forgot the name of a third
government department he was proposing to abolish.

*Perry calls on Trump to end his campaign: ‘His comments have reached a new
low’
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/18/rick-perry-calls-donald-trump-end-his-presidential/>
// Washington Times // Seth McLaughlin – July 18, 2015 *

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry is calling on Donald Trump to bow out of the
2016 GOP presidential race, after the New York real estate mogul ridiculed
Sen. John McCain’s military service.

Mr. Perry and Mr. Trump have been engaged in a back-and-forth that
escalated Saturday when Mr. Trump dismissed the idea that Mr. McCain is a
war hero for getting shot down over Vietnam and being imprisoned for nearly
six years.

Mr. Perry called on Mr. Trump to apologize and end his bid for the White
House, and the Republican National Committee said that there is “no place
in our party” for Mr. Trump’s comments.

“As a veteran and an American, I respect Sen. McCain because he volunteered
to serve his country. I cannot say the same of Mr. Trump. His comments have
reached a new low in American politics,” Mr. Perry said. “His attack on
veterans make him unfit to be Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces,
and he should immediately withdraw from the race for President.”

Mr. Trump and Mr. Perry have been trading barbs for several days.

Mr. Trump said Mr. Perry failed to secure the Texas-Mexico border as
governor and said Mr. Perry should be “forced to take an IQ test before
being allowed to enter the GOP debate.”

Mr. Trump also had took aim this week at Mr. McCain, the party’s 2008
presidential nominee, calling him a “dummy” after the Arizona Senator said
that Mr. Trump’s controversial remarks on immigration have fired “up the
crazies” in the Republican party.

The feud spilled into the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa on Saturday when
Mr. Trump mocked Mr. McCain’s war hero status.

“He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured,” Mr. Trump
said, sarcastically. “I like people who weren’t captured.”

Then he added, “He’s a war hero because he was captured. OK, I believe —
perhaps he’s a war hero.”

Mr. Trump’s GOP presidential came to Mr. McCain’s defense.

“If there was ever any doubt that @realDonaldTrump should not be our
commander in chief, this stupid statement should end all doubt,” Sen.
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said.

“Enough with the slanderous attacks,” said former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
“@SenJohnMcCain and all our veterans - particularly POWs have earned our
respect and admiration.”

Sean Spicer, RNC spokesperson, said Mr. McCain is “an American hero because
he served his country and sacrificed more than most can imagine. Period.”

“There is no place in our party or our country for comments that disparage
those who have served honorably,” Mr. Spicer said.

Despite the blow back, Mr. Trump signaled he plans on sticking around the
nomination race, blasting out a news release in which he leveled additional
criticism at Mr. McCain.

“He is yet another all talk, no action politician who spends too much time
on television and not enough time doing his job and helping the Vets,” Mr.
Trump said. “He is also allowing our military to decrease substantially in
size and strength, something which should never be allowed to happen.”

“I have great respect for all those who serve in our military including
those that weren’t captured and are also heroes,” he added. “I want to
strengthen our military and take care of our Veterans. I want to MAKE
AMERICA GREAT AGAIN especially for those that serve to protect our freedom.
I am fighting for our Veterans!”

*Rick Perry: Trump Is Unfit to Lead the Military, ‘Should Immediately
Withdraw’ from Race
<http://www.mediaite.com/online/rick-perry-trump-is-unfit-to-lead-the-military-should-immediately-withdraw-from-race/>
// MediaIte // Josh Feldman – July 18, 2015 *

Lots of Donald Trump‘s Republican presidential candidates have already
shredded him for his comments about John McCain, but Rick Perry came out
swinging by calling for Trump to basically GTFO.

In case you missed it, the draft-defering Trump attacked McCain today over
his war hero status because, “He’s a war hero ’cause he was captured. I
like people that weren’t captured.”

Now, for some unbelievable reason, lots of conservatives including the
aforementioned candidates thought Trump crossed a line.

Perry was the first to release a statement on The Donald’s latest rambling,
this one really going for the jugular (emphasis his):

Donald Trump should apologize immediately for attacking Senator McCain and
all veterans who have protected and served our country. As a veteran and an
American, I respect Sen. McCain because he volunteered to serve his
country. I cannot say the same of Mr. Trump. His comments have reached a
new low in American politics. His attack on veterans make him unfit to be
Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces, and he should immediately
withdraw from the race for President.

For the record, when Trump was asked if he plans to apologize, he said no.

*Rick Perry calls on Donald Trump to withdraw from the presidential race
<http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-mccain-rick-perry-jeb-bush-2015-7#ixzz3gJ4BmNFA>
// Business Insider // Maxwell Tani – July 18, 2015 *

Real-estate magnate Donald Trump's latest comments were a bridge too far
for many top Republican presidential rivals. And at least one candidate
wants him out of the race.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) said Trump should be disqualified from
running for president.

"His attack on veterans make him unfit to be Commander-in-Chief of the US
Armed Forces, and he should immediately withdraw from the race for
President," Perry said in a statement.

At an event in Iowa on Saturday, Trump raised eyebrows for criticizing Sen.
John McCain's (R-Arizona) military service and status as a prisoner of war
in Vietnam.

"He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't
captured," Trump said.

Trump's comments sparked immediate condemnation from the Republican
presidential field. Perry was the first to explicitly call for him to
withdraw from the race.

"I respect Sen. McCain because he volunteered to serve his country," Perry
said in a statement. "I cannot say the same of Mr. Trump. His comments have
reached a new low in American politics."

GOP candidate and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), McCain's
long-time friend, also said Trump's comments were "disqualifying." Other
Republican hopefuls, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), Wisconsin
Gov. Scott Walker (R), and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), condemned
Trump's remarks.

Trump was quick to slightly tone down his comments about McCain, though he
did not apologize.

"He is yet another all talk, no action politician who spends too much time
on television and not enough time doing his job and helping the
[veterans]," Trump said in a statement. "He is also allowing our military
to decrease substantially in size and strength, something which should
never be allowed to happen."

As it has done when defending controversial comments in the past, Trump's
campaign cited the excitement in the crowd as proof that his message
resonated with the crowd.

"Note, Mr. Trump left to a long lasting standing ovation, which will be by
far the biggest ovation of the weekend, and much congratulatory praise," a
statement from the Trump campaign said.

Trump's comments come after McCain criticized the real estate mogul earlier
this month for bringing out "the crazies" in the Republican base.

Perry — a former cargo-plane pilot in the Air Force — made military service
a major part of his presidential campaign. In his announcement speech last
month, the former governor was joined onstage with several veterans and the
wife of sharpshooter Chris Kyle, made famous by the semi-biographical film
American Sniper.

*GRAHAM*

*'I feel like I'm on Oprah': Lindsey Graham tears up in Iowa as he explains
how the government helped him survive his parents' early death
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3166772/I-feel-like-m-Oprah-Lindsey-Graham-tears-Iowa-explains-government-helped-survive-parents-early-death.html#ixzz3gJHNxXep>
// Daily Mail // David Martosko – July 18, 2015 *

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham fought back tears on Saturday during a
religious Republican gathering, recalling his late mother and father, and
imagining how he would talk to them if he could.

Graham was left with a 13-year-old sister to raise at age 21 when his
parents both died within a year's time, and he said he wished they knew
'that Darline turned out really good.'

And risking the wrath of more than 1,000 red-meat conservatives gathered in
Ames, Iowa, he insisted that he and his younger sibling wouldn't have
survived the crisis of their lives without robust government benefits.

'I'm a proud Republican but there's a time and a place for the government,'
he said. 'I've been on my knees and some people helped me get up.'

'I'm glad I had college loans for my sister,' he said. 'I'm glad Social
Security is there. If I got to be president of the United States I'd make
sure we did the right thing and the hard thing, because the country needs a
leader and Barack Obama has been a miserable failure as president.'

Asked by moderator Frank Luntz at the Family Leadership Summit to say what
he would say to his parents, Graham paused while tears welled in his eyes.

He said, whisper-like, that he would say 'that Darline turned out really
good.'

'And I've tried hard. And thanks to you, I've come a long way.'

Over generous applause at one of the day's most genuine human moments,
Graham told the crowd: 'Love is not the size of the house, but what happens
inside the house. I was well loved.'

'To all those kids who were not well loved, I feel so sorry for you,' he
preached. 'This is a Family Leadership council. We're all one car wreck
away from needing somebody's help.'

As the ovation subsided, Graham turned and smiled.

'I feel like I'm on Oprah,' he said. 'I'm sorry.'

'What does that make me?' Luntz asked.

Graham's focus on the value of taxpayer-funded benefits was a stark
contrast to other GOP presidential candidates who spent their alloted time
on stage describing which federal programs – and entire cabinet departments
– they would ban from Washington.

The Internal Revenue Service, the Education and Energy Departments and the
section of Health and Human Services that administers Obamacare programs
were popular targets.

And while neither Republicans nor Democrats are fond of bashing
entitlements like Social Security, there's scant agreement on how to keep
the programs functioning as benefit payouts dramatically outpace taxpayer
contributions.

The Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees reported in 2014 that
the two programs' long-term unfunded obligations – money the government
will need to distribute but has no plan to collect in taxes – has reached
nearly $49 trillion.

That figure continues to grow and is approaching triple the size of
America's official public debt.

Republican reformers have been loath to risk the wrath of elderly voters
and those approaching retirement, tiptoeing around the idea of changing how
benefits are allocated.

Think-tanks periodically propose raising the retirement age as Americans'
life-expectancy grows, in order to keep Social Security solvent, or
'means-testing' Social Security by denying benefits to people who already
have confortable retirement incomes of their own.

I'm a proud Republican but there's a time and a place for the government.
I've been on my knees and some people helped me get up. I'm glad I had
college loans for my sister. I'm glad Social Security is there.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, reflecting on how the GOP needs to be willing to
compromise in order to keep entitlement programs solvent

Democrats typically pan such proposals as mean-spirited and cruel,
especially as biennial federal elections draw near.

But Graham, a centrist on immigration reform, said Saturday that his own
experience with the Social Security program would drive him to reach across
the political aisle as president and get something done.

'When I was 21 my mom died,' he said. 'A year later my dad died. I'm 22. My
sister's 13.'

'My mom had Hodgkins Disease,' he recalled wistfully. 'We got totally wiped
out because we were underinsured. So I don't need a lecture from Democrats
about health care.'

'We got Social Security survivor benefits to help our family since my
sister was a minor.'

Graham pointed to his own situation as an aging bachelor, and hinted that
he was a stand-in for other Americans who could afford to bend on their
retirement expectations.

'I'm 60, I'm not married, I don't have any children,' he said.

'What would I do to save Social Security for people who need it more than I
do? Almost anything.'

'I would give up some of my benefits to save it for those who needed it
more. I'd work with a Democrat to save Medicare and Social Security.
Because if we don't, we're all going down together.'

Graham told the story of Republican President Ronald Reagan and Democratic
House Speaker Thomas 'Tip' O'Neill collaborating in 1983 to avoid a Social
Security default by raising the retirement age.

While both men's partisan backers grumbled, the pair took a public victory
lap and became genuine friends.

That result, surprising for Washington, emerged after Reagan formed a White
House commission on saving Social Security and invited O'Neill and the
Democrats to share its seats.

In contrast President Barack Obama, said Graham, 'has done nothing but
talk.'

A similar commision, named after co-chairs Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles,
a former Republican Senator and Clinton Chief of Staff, delivered
recommendations on the long-term solvency of the U.S. treasury that the
White House has largely ignored.

'He had a chance to do something about our national debt – Simpson-Bowles,'
Graham complained on Saturday. 'He threw it in the trash can.'

*SANTORUM*

*Rick Santorum wants curbs on legal immigration in effort to help boost
wages in US
<http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2015/07/18/floridas-rubio-hes-experienced-on-21st-century-issues>
// AP – July 18, 2015 *

Several Republicans presidential candidates are vowing to stop illegal
immigration. But Rick Santorum says the U.S. needs to curtail legal
immigration as well.

The former Pennsylvania senator says the vast majority of immigrants coming
into the U.S. — legally and illegally — are driving down wages for
American-born workers.

Santorum tells Iowa evangelical voters on Saturday that "we need to hold
the line and stop illegal immigration" while reducing legal immigration of
unskilled workers by 25 percent. He says that will help bring up wages in
the U.S.

Santorum is among 10 presidential candidates courting religious
conservatives in Iowa. He won the state's caucuses in 2012, but faces
strong competition for the evangelical vote in 2016.

*HUCKABEE*

*Huckabee Responds to Trump: ‘John McCain is a hero’
<http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2015/07/18/huckabee-responds-to-trump-john-mccain-is-a-hero/>
// Alex Swoyer – July 18, 2015 *

GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee distanced himself from fellow
candidate Donald Trump’s statements about Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)43%

on Saturday.

“I said very clearly Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is a hero — Donald Trump will
need to determine whether that’s a statement he needs to walk back,”
Huckabee told a news conference, saying that he continues to speak only for
himself.

Reporters also questioned Huckabee about Trump’s popularity, since the real
estate mogul has rocketed to number one in recent polls.

“I’m having a hard time understanding why I don’t have 97 percent in the
polls right now,” Huckabee quipped, saying he’ll focus on his campaign and
not on Trump.

Huckabee added that the polls will continue to fluctuate.

“You guys are giving him so much attention — give me a little bit of the
love,” Huckabee joked to the press.

The crowd at the Family Leadership Summit certainly did. Huckabee got four
standing ovations — the most for any candidate so far.

*CARSON*

*Carson: Black voters 'waking up' to GOP
<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-primaries/248427-carson-black-voters-waking-up-to-gop>
// The Hill // Keith Laing – July 18, 2015 *

Ben Carson on Saturday said African-American voters are "waking up" to the
possibility of supporting GOP candidates for office like himself.

"I think there's a lot of people who are waking up," the
neurosurgeon-turned-presidential candidate said at the Family Leadership
Summit in Ames, Iowa.

"I met with a group of black pastors yesterday and people are waking up in
droves," he continued. "I think they're realizing what's been happening
here."

Carson said he converted to the Republican Party after growing up and going
to school in Democratic strongholds during the Reagan administration.

"I started listening to Ronald Reagan … and I said he doesn't doesn't sound
like that," he said, noting he had heard horror stories about conservatives
during his entire upbringing.

Carson criticized President Obama for shrinking the size of the U.S.
military in the face of terrorism threats in the Middle East.

"Our military is shrinking while our enemies are growing and
metastasizing," he said. "It seems like we're trying to destroy ourselves.
We've got to do better than that."

The Republican presidential hopeful said he would prepared to fight Islamic
State in Syria and Iraq if successful in his bid to become
commander-in-chief.

"We have radical Islamic jihadists who want to destroy us and they want to
destroy our way of life," he said. "And their existence is a threat to us.
We cannot be in that mindset that we made a mistake and we spent a bunch of
money, so let's just get into our little cocoon. That's not going to work."

*Dr. Ben Carson on ‘Trump’s McCain Statement: ‘We Need to Hear from
Everybody’
<http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/07/18/dr-ben-carson-on-trumps-mccain-statement-we-need-to-hear-from-everybody/>
// Breitbart News // Alex Swoyer – July 18, 2015 *

In a press conference following GOP candidate Dr. Ben Carson’s speech at
the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, Carson was asked what he
thought about Trump’s comments on illegal immigration and recent statement
on  Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) as a war hero, which Trump made during his own
speech at the Summit.

“I think everybody has their niche – everybody has their voice,” Carson
answered. “I think we need to hear from everybody. And that’s the beauty of
the process we have.”

A reporter asked Carson what niche Trump has in the GOP presidential race.

“I think that’s a decision that will be made by the people,” Carson
answered.

Carson continued to say the people will decide who’s voice they favor: “Not
the media, not the pundits, but the people – all we have to do is make sure
we allow voices to be heard.”

Carson said he believes Sen. McCain has done some wonderful things when
questioned if he considers McCain a war hero.

*JINDAL*

*Jindal focuses on his religion in Indianola
<http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/07/18/bobby-jindal-indianola/30359755/>
// The Des Moines Register // Paige Godden – July 18, 2015 *

Hours before Bobby Jindal met hundreds of media and fans Saturday at the
Family Leadership Summit in Ames, he sat down with a much more intimate
crowd 50 miles south in Indianola.

About 60 people gathered to see the Louisiana governor and White House
hopeful at the First Assembly of God Church.

Jindal started his hour-long remarks by pointing out that the sleeping baby
his wife Supriya Jolly was holding wasn't theirs.

"Before we start any rumors, that is not our baby," Jindal said. "That'd be
news to my parents and a lot of other folks back home."

The Jindals have three children of their own: Slade, Selia and Shaan.

The youngest of which, Bobby said, was accidentally born at home.

His wife was in labor for more than 24 hours with the first two children,
he said, but the third came in 30 minutes.

"I'll tell you this," Jindal told the crowd. "Any man who thinks they're
tough, there's a reason the Lord God almighty decided women — not men —
should have babies. If men had babies, there would be one and we'd get
together and say 'never again.' "

The Republican focused a good portion of his speech on his religious
beliefs.

He said as commander in chief he'd hunt down and kill radical Islamic
terrorists and make sure to condemn the "evil individuals who are going
straight to hell, where they belong."

Jindal later said Christians are the ones who are being persecuted in
America.

His remarks on terrorism began with blasting President Barack Obama, who at
the Pentagon earlier this week said the country can't win the war on terror
with guns.

"You know, I'm glad generals Eisenhower and Patton didn't take that idea in
World War II," Jindal said. "Can you imagine if a previous generation said
we're going to win, we're going to beat evil with propaganda? The French
would be speaking German today."

He said instead of having a president who is busy apologizing for and
criticizing America and wants to protect Americans from microwave popcorn,
Oreos and junk food, citizens should want a president who will actually say
the words "radical Islamic terrorism."

"How can we beat an enemy if we're not willing to name it, identify it and
confront it?" Jindal asked. "I don't want a commander in chief who says
we're going to contain them. I want a commander in chief who says we're
going to hunt them down and kill them."

He said as president, he'd tell Muslim leaders they have to explicitly
embrace the same freedoms for people of different religious beliefs as they
want for themselves.

Jindal said his own statements are harsh, and he'll be judged for being
anti-Muslim or racist, but he said it's just common sense to say he'd
confront radical Islamic terrorism.

Later, he called out Hillary Clinton, who said Jindal was too extreme for
saying he wants to get rid of the Supreme Court justices after they
legalized gay marriage.

Maybe, he said, he really only wants two-thirds of the justices gone.

"We need Republicans who are willing to fight for our principles," Jindal
said. "I'm for federal efforts to give us our Tenth Amendment back to
define marriage as being between a man and a woman, but we also need to
fight for our First Amendment rights."

He said the left is trying to take away the First Amendment right of
freedom of religious expression.

"Several weeks ago, Hillary Clinton said those of us who are pro-life need
to have our religious beliefs changed," Jindal said. "My religious beliefs
are between me and God almighty. I'm not changing because Hillary Clinton
doesn't like it, or the New York Times doesn't like it. But make no
mistake, the left are now trying to silence us."

In Louisiana, Jindal said, he wrote an executive order in May protecting
the rights of individuals and businesses that says no one can sanction or
discriminate against those who have a traditional view of marriage.

His reward, he said, was a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union.

"They used Louisiana's own Religious Freedom and Restoration Act to defend
the rights of religious minorities, and I'm glad they did," Jindal said.
"But now that Christians are the ones being persecuted and discriminated
against, now the ACLU is showing its hypocrisy. They don't want anything to
do with the rights of Christians.

"I want to say this very slowly and simply so even Hillary Clinton can
understand it," Jindal said. "The United States of America did not create
religions liberty. Religious liberty created the United States of America."

Jindal also talked about Israel and Iran, stating every time Israel gets
attacked, the president talks in moral equivalents.

The president, he said, believes both sides should make concessions even
though only one side is using suicide bombers to attack civilians.

Instead of putting pressure on Israel, Jindal said, the country needs to
figure out how to reject violence and believe in itself.

"If they want negotiations, it's up to them to reject violence, to reject
terrorism, to recognize the right for Israel's right to exist," Jindal said.

He questioned how Obama can be making deals with Iran when he can't even
acknowledge Israel exists.

"We need to make it clear Israel is our most important ally in the Middle
East," Jindal said. "Secondly, I will not recognize a bad deal negotiated
by this president."

Jindal received a lot of applause with his stance on immigration, including
a story on how his parents achieved the American dream.

"When they came, they came legally," he said to a clapping audience.

He received even louder applause when he said: "If folks want to come to
our country, they should come legally, they should learn English, they
should adopt our values and they should roll up their sleeves and get to
work when they get here."

Jindal later said he'd try to protect the border, but he wouldn't do that
with a 1,000-page immigration bill. The only thing that would be good for,
he said, is if someone decided to stack the pages up along the border.

*TRUMP*

*The Trump Campaign’s Turning Point
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/upshot/the-trump-campaigns-turning-point.html?abt=0002&abg=1>
// NYT // Nate Cohn – July 18, 2015 *

Donald Trump’s surge in the polls has followed the classic pattern of a
media-driven surge. Now it will likely follow the classic pattern of a
party-backed decline.

Mr. Trump’s candidacy probably reached an inflection point on Saturday
after he essentially criticized John McCain for being captured during the
Vietnam War. Republican campaigns and elites quickly moved to condemn his
comments — a shift that will probably mark the moment when Trump’s
candidacy went from boom to bust.

His support will erode as the tone of coverage shifts from publicizing his
anti-establishment and anti-immigration views, which have some resonance in
the party, to reflecting the chorus of Republican criticism of his most
outrageous comments and the more liberal elements of his record.

His surge in the presidential polls began on June 16 when he declared his
candidacy. Announcements of that type always yield a wave of media
coverage, just as they did for candidates like Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio. So
far this year, media attention from announcements has helped the best-known
candidates by an average of six percentage points, with the effect
degrading steadily afterward.

But Mr. Trump has not received an ordinary amount of media attention, and
he has not received an ordinary bounce. He has been perfecting the art of
attracting media attention for more than two decades, first in New York and
then nationwide. Today, he is a celebrity, the biggest and best-known
personality in the race, someone who would attract an unusual amount of
attention and interest even if he said nothing unusual or interesting. Mr.
Trump, of course, made unusual and provocative comments from the start,
saying in his announcement speech that Mexican “rapists” were entering the
United States.

The amount of news media coverage of Mr. Trump dwarfed the attention
received by other candidates. His post-announcement bounce has dwarfed
other candidates’ surges as well. In taking the lead in some polls, he has
justified another wave of media coverage and attention that continues to
the article you’re reading right now.

It is tempting to attribute Mr. Trump’s surge to something more than media
coverage, to assume that his positions must have unusual resonance with
Republican voters, or to infer that Republicans are clamoring for an
anti-immigration candidate. Those factors do play a role, but the
predominant force is extraordinary and sustained media coverage.

Donald Trump’s support kept climbing, even after his initial
post-announcement boost.

The average includes Donald Trump and all candidates who received at least
4 percent in polls before their announcement: Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Marco
Rubio, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee and Ben Carson.

The polling is consistent with the media-driven explanation as well. His
support does not follow ideological lines, as Harry Enten of
FiveThirtyEight has observed. It is not even clear that he has more support
among immigration hard-liners than other Republicans. A Politico article
titled “The Mystery of the Trump Coalition” struggled to identify which
issues or demographics drove support for Mr. Trump. There might not be any.

Media-driven bumps occur all the time. Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and
Herman Cain all rode bits of good news to a lead in national polls in 2011.
They even occur in general elections, like after a party convention, when
voter preferences are far firmer than they are in a 17-way primary. Google
Trends data indicates that the interest in Mr. Trump rivals or even exceeds
the interest in Mitt Romney after the Republican National Convention and
presidential debates in 2012.

But media-driven surges are not sustainable. Eventually, the media coverage
shifts from whatever initially propelled the bounce — an announcement, a
strong debate performance, a convention — toward a more serious examination
of the candidate newly at the top of the polls. Some candidates can
withstand this scrutiny. Most do not.

Google search interest in Donald Trump has been about the same as Mitt
Romney’s during September and October of 2012, before the general election.

Lynn Vavreck, who contributes to The Upshot, and her fellow political
scientist John Sides described the cycle of boom-bust candidacies as
“discovery, scrutiny and decline” in their book “The Gamble.” Mr. Trump,
who already enjoys high name recognition, may not present a typical case of
“discovery,” but it’s highly unlikely he’ll avoid decline after
encountering scrutiny.

Even a cursory look at Mr. Trump’s political record revealed a candidate
with serious liabilities once journalists and campaigns started taking him
seriously. He has donated more to Democrats than Republicans over the last
decade. He has even donated to Hillary Clinton, who he has said he likes,
and the Clinton Foundation. He has supported universal health care and
seems to continue to do so. He has supported a $5 trillion dollar tax
increase and has said he is “very pro choice,” although he has since
changed his position on abortion. He is self-evidently unelectable in a
general election, combining terrible poll numbers with an unpresidential
persona.

Conservative candidates and their supporters view him as a rival. They have
every incentive to publicize those of his views that the G.O.P. considers
heretical. More moderate and establishment-friendly Republicans oppose his
statements and views on immigration. They fear that his tone will alienate
Hispanic voters, who are considered essential to the party’s general
election chances now and in the future. Mr. Trump’s supporters will start
taking cues from the uniform opinion of their fellow partisans.

Until today, the big question about Mr. Trump was when coverage would shift
toward a serious examination of him. Journalists and campaigns have,
understandably, been reluctant to treat him as a serious candidate. The
Huffington Post, for instance, decided it would cover him in the
entertainment section. But eventually, campaigns were bound to treat him as
a threat to be neutralized, and journalists would decide he was a candidate
who needed to be covered.

Today, Mr. Trump brought the shift upon himself. His comments were nothing
less than an invitation for the rest of the Republican Party to begin their
long-awaited offensive. So far, the Republican National Committee, Rick
Perry, Bobby Jindal, Jeb Bush and Scott Walker have already criticized him
for his comments.

After today, Republican commentators and campaigns will have far fewer
reservations about attacking Mr. Trump. They will be dismissive of his
candidacy, and they will probably diversify their attacks, expanding the
onslaught to include his record of donating to Democrats and his continuing
support for universal health care. Nearly all of the campaigns have
incentives to pile on, and Mr. Trump — without a deep base of support and
with few party allies — will struggle to hold on.

He will probably try to stoke support and coverage with more
attention-grabbing remarks, though my hunch is that his act will have lost
its novelty by the time the attacks begin to take their toll. Voters will
be looking for more from him than the bombastic campaign he has offered so
far. They will be looking for a serious presidential candidate, and they
won’t find one.

*Donald Trump disparaged John McCain’s military service. Is this the end of
his run?
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/07/18/donald-trump-disparages-john-mccains-military-service-did-he-finally-go-too-far/>
// WaPo // Philip Bump – July 18, 2015 *

At Saturday's Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, Donald Trump may, at
last, have crossed a line with Republican voters from which he can't walk
back.

Arizona Sen. John McCain earlier this week harshly criticized the
businessman in a conversation with the New Yorker, lamenting Trump's
comments about Mexican immigrants. Having already responded on Twitter by
calling McCain a "dummy," Trump upped the ante in Iowa by disparaging
McCain's -- and every POW's -- military service.

"He's a war hero because he was captured," Trump said. "I like people that
weren't captured."

The online response (for what it's worth) was immediate and harsh. Many
pointed to the fact that Trump had received deferments that let him avoid
service in Vietnam. In an ensuing press conference, Trump blamed a bone
spur, among other things. A subsequent written statement offered that Trump
has "great respect for all those who serve in our military including those
that weren't captured and are also heroes." (And ends with: "Note, Mr.
Trump left to a long lasting standing ovation, which will be by far the
biggest ovation of the weekend, and much congratulatory praise.")

Unsurprisingly, his primary opponents criticized him as well, at varying
degrees of severity.

As CBS' John Dickerson pointed out on Twitter, Trump's comment allows
establishment Republicans who disagreed with Trump's much more vituperative
comments about Mexican immigrants to at last lay into him or write him off.
Several of Trump's primary opponents were loathe to respond to his
immigration comments with much ferocity. But defending illegal immigrants
requires a higher political investment than defending former prisoners of
war. Ted Cruz, Trump's most reliable defender on the immigration remarks,
declined to condemn these comments, either.

Voters may react differently. Given the increasing number of times Trump
has made outlandish comments that have been disproven or rebuked -- and
that Trump has nonetheless steadily risen in the polls -- it's easy to
envision Trump not paying much of a price this time, either.

Among the conservative voters that rallied to Trump's side after his
attacks on immigration, McCain is hardly a favorite. (Some laughter can be
heard in the audience following Trump's comment.) But for less fervent
voters who liked the idea of straight-shooting Donald Trump who was the
only guy talking about immigration, the comments will likely cause some
reconsideration of support. Average Republican voters support deporting
illegal immigrants. They are far more likely, however, to support military
service.

It's worth noting that Trump endorsed McCain during the latter's 2008 bid
for the presidency. At the time, Trump said that McCain was "a man worthy
of respect." He continued: "And this country no longer has respect. What we
need more than anything else is just that word: Respect."

*Trump slams McCain for being ‘captured’ in Vietnam; other Republicans
quickly condemn him
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/07/18/trump-slams-mccain-for-being-captured-in-vietnam/>
// WaPo // Philip Rucker – July 18, 2015 *

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump slammed Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.), a decorated Vietnam War veteran, on Saturday by saying McCain
was not a war hero because he was captured by the North Vietnamese.

“He’s not a war hero,” Trump said. Sarcastically, Trump quipped, “He’s a
war hero because he was captured.” Then, he added, “I like people that
weren’t captured.”

Trump’s comments came during his appearance at the Family Leadership
Summit, a day-long gathering of about 3,000 social conservative activists
that is drawing nine other Republican presidential candidates.

A celebrity businessman and reality television star, Trump has surged to
the top of polls in the GOP race, in part because of his inflammatory
comments about undocumented immigrants from Mexico.

Republican leaders and other candidates have been careful in how they
respond to his immigration remarks, but his condemnation of McCain opened
the floodgates, drawing swift and sharp criticism from other Republicans.

Former Texas governor Rick Perry, himself a subject of recent attacks from
Trump, said Trump was “unfit” to serve as president and should “immediately
withdraw” from the race.

“Donald Trump should apologize immediately for attacking Senator McCain and
all veterans who have protected and served our country,” Perry said in a
statement. “As a veteran and an American, I respect Sen. McCain because he
volunteered to serve his country. I cannot say the same of Mr. Trump. His
comments have reached a new low in American politics. His attack on
veterans make him unfit to be Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces,
and he should immediately withdraw from the race for President.”

Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, also chimed in with a Twitter post
calling or an end to such “slanderous attacks”:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, campaigning in Western Iowa, denounced Trump’s
remarks and said McCain is “undoubtedly an American hero.” This is a change
in tune for Walker, who on Friday refused to speak ill of Trump over his
immigration comments.

“He needs to apologize to Senator McCain and all the other men and women
who have worn the uniform,” Walker told reporters following a campaign stop
in Sioux City. “It’s just a disgrace.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) posted on Twitter: “America’s POWs deserve much
better than to have their service questioned by the offensive rantings of
Donald Trump”

The Republican National Committee also criticized Trump and defended McCain.

“Senator McCain is an American hero because he served his country and
sacrificed more than most can imagine. Period,” RNC Chief Strategist and
Communications Director Sean Spicer said in a statement. “There is no place
in our party or our country for comments that disparage those who have
served honorably.”

Mitt Romney, who ran against McCain in the 2008 GOP primaries, also took to
Twitter to defend him: “The difference between @SenJohnMcCain and
@realDonaldTrump: Trump shot himself down. McCain and American veterans are
true heroes.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who has been perhaps the loudest defender of
Trump’s remarks about immigrants and met privately with Trump a few days
ago in New York, refused to condemn Trump over his comments about McCain.

Cruz said that he considers McCain a friend and “an American war hero” and
that it is an honor to serve with him in the Senate. But he said he would
not criticize another Republican candidate, including Trump.

“I recognize that folks in the press love to see Republican-on-Republican
violence, so you want me to say something bad about Donald Trump or bad
about John McCain or bad about anyone else,” Cruz told reporters here. “I’m
not going to do it. John McCain is a friend of mine. I respect and admire
him and he’s an American hero. And Donald Trump is a friend of mine.”

For the past few days, Trump has been publicly feuding with McCain, the
GOP's 2008 presidential nominee. McCain said that Trump had drawn out
“crazies” with his immigration-focused rally in Phoenix last weekend, and
Trump responded by calling McCain a “dummy” for finishing at the bottom of
his class at the Naval Academy.

Trump stepped up his criticism of McCain on Saturday in Ames. He said he
had supported McCain's 2008 campaign and claimed to have raised $1 million
for him.

“He lost,” Trump said. “He let us down. I never liked him as much after
that because I don’t like losers.”

In a combative, 18-minute news conference following his remarks here, Trump
refused to apologize for his attack on McCain's war service.

Trump said he considers prisoners of war to be heroes — although he called
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl an exception — but accused McCain of doing little to
help veterans in the Senate.

“John McCain has not done enough for the veterans,” Trump told reporters.
“The veterans in this country are suffering. The veterans in this country
are treated as third-class citizens. John McCain talks a lot, but he
doesn’t do anything.”

Trump grew hot and agitated by repeated and sharp questioning from
reporters, who were asking him to explain his earlier suggestion that
McCain should not be considered a war hero because he had been captured.

“I like the people that don’t get captured, and I respect the people that
do get captured,” Trump said.

But he did not answer the questions about McCain directly. He snapped at
one persistent reporter, “Go back to being a pundit.”

Trump managed to avoid serving in the Vietnam war because of a series of
draft deferments. Asked why he didn’t serve, Trump said, “I had student
deferments and ultimately had a medical deferment because of my feet. I had
a bone spur.” But Trump said he did not recall which foot was injured and
instructed reporters to look up his records.

Trump added, “I was not a big fan of the Vietnam War. I wasn’t a protester,
but the Vietnam War was a disaster for our country. What did we get out of
the Vietnam War other than death? We got nothing.”

After meeting with the news media, Trump took to Twitter, where he did not
back down from his criticism of McCain:

Outside the political world, Trump was also being widely criticized.

Ann Mills-Griffiths, president of the National League of POW/MIA families,
a nonprofit group that supports families of American troops held as
prisoners of war and those missing in action, said that Trump's comments
were inappropriate.

“Sen. McCain was a prisoner of war who came home with honor but also
continued to serve the nation and certainly the cause of America’s veterans
returned and unreturned,” Mills-Griffiths said in an interview. “We all
need to be grateful for those who did serve with honor.”

John Rowan, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America, said in an
interview that the group is “assiduously non-partisan” and does not support
candidates or comment on political rhetoric.

Rowan said only of Sen. McCain’s service in Vietnam, including his time as
a prisoner of war,  that “he served his country well.”

But Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America,
commented that Trump’s remarks were offensive to all veterans who have
served overseas.

“Trump’s asinine comments about Senator McCain's service are an insult to
everyone who has ever worn the uniform — and to all Americans,” Rieckhoff
said on Twitter. “Trump’s stupidity is especially egregious given the death
of a Navy Petty Officer just this morning and the death of 4 Marines this
week. An attack on one veteran's service is an attack on us all.”

And John W. Stroud, national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of
the United States, said: “For someone who never served a day in uniform to
criticize the service and sacrifice of a combat-wounded veteran is
despicable.”

*Trump Surge Leaves All but Jeb Bush in Donald’s Dust
<http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/07/18/trump-surge-leaves-all-but-jeb-bush-in-donalds-dust/>
// WSJ // Dante Chinni – July 18, 2015 *

Something strange has happened to the Republican presidential field since
Donald Trump joined it a month ago: Mr. Trump and Jeb Bush are rising.
Everyone else is falling in the polls, or seems stuck in place.

Mr. Bush’s support has jumped by about four percentage points in the Real
Clear Politics average of polls, rising to 15.5%. Mr. Trump’s support has
bumped up more than 10 points since mid-June, to 15% as of Friday.

And everyone else? Here’s another view of how support for most of them has
fallen during the course of the Trump bump.

The numbers suggest Mr. Trump is shaking up the GOP primary electorate in a
meaningful way.

He seems to be taking support from the most conservative and
anti-Washington rivals in the field, particularly Mike Huckabee, Scott
Walker, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul.

Mr. Bush’s rise in the polls, coming in tandem with Mr. Trump’s growing
strength, may be a sign that so-called establishment Republicans are
closing ranks around Mr. Bush, possibly as a result of Mr. Trump
consolidating his own support. Marco Rubio may be feeling some of that
shift with his sinking numbers.

The numbers suggest there may be very different approaches among the
candidates to dealing with Mr. Trump, who has the media’s attention right
now.

Mr. Bush’s rise in the polls suggests that his base of support has little
overlap with Mr. Trump’s, and he therefore may have the least to lose in
attacking the brash New Yorker. And Mr. Bush, in fact, has criticized Mr.
Trump’s now-famous claim that many Mexican immigrants are criminals.

The rest of the field may take a more subtle approach to handling Mr.
Trump. Attacking him head-on may risk alienating his supporters.

There’s reason to believe that Mr. Trump will fade. Many voters have a
negative view of him, as a recent USA Today/Suffolk University poll shows,
suggesting that he may not weather well over time.

If Mr. Trump’s negative ratings hobble him in the nomination fight, his
supporters will be up for grabs. And the candidates who have lost support
in the last month are going to be looking to get their voters back – and
perhaps a chunk of someone else’s supporters, as well.

*Trump's Criticism of McCain Overshadows Issues in Iowa
<http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/07/18/us/ap-us-gop-2016-social-conservatives-.html>
// AP – July 18, 2015 *

Donald Trump's criticism Saturday that Sen. John McCain isn't a war hero
overshadowed his rivals' quest for support among evangelical voters at an
Iowa political gathering designed to showcase their conservative views.

In their appeals to more than 2,000 religious conservatives crowded into an
sports arena, Trump and other White House hopefuls urged a crackdown on
illegal immigration, a forceful approach to the Islamic State group that
could include ground troops, and a devotion to Christian values.

Yet Trump's questioning of a respected Republican leader's war record
dominated the day.

When the moderator pressed Trump over his recent remark that McCain was "a
dummy" and pointed out that the Arizona Republican was a war hero, Trump
said: "He's not a war hero. ... He is a war hero because he was captured. I
like people who weren't captured."

The comment directed at a former prisoner of war drew some boos from the
audience and criticism from several Republican rivals who took the stage
later in the day. McCain's spokesman offered no comment.

Trump's outsized role in the Republican presidential primary began last
month when he described Mexican immigrants as "bringing drugs, they're
bringing crime, they're rapists, and some, I assume, are good people."

"It turns out I was right," Trump declared on Saturday, citing the recent
murder of a California woman by an immigrant in the country illegally. "I
am so proud of the fact that I got a dialogue started on illegal
immigration."

Trump was not alone in his hardline approach on illegal immigration.

Once a leading advocate for an immigration overhaul that included an
eventual pathway to citizenship, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Saturday
he'd support "work permits or something like that" for immigrants in the
country illegally, but only after "we bring illegal immigration under
control."

Rick Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, took it a step
further. He called for curbs on illegal and legal immigration, suggesting
that both groups of immigrants are hurting American-born workers. He
specifically called for cutting legal immigration by 20 percent.

"What is in the best interests of American workers?" Santorum said.

The Republicans' position moves further away from GOP leaders' previous
calls to embrace comprehensive immigration changes heading into a
presidential election where Hispanic voters are expected to play a critical
role.

On foreign policy, the candidates offered an aggressive approach to the
Islamic State group, whose rise has become an increasing concern for
American policy makers and a focus in the Republican presidential primary.

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a conservative favorite, said he was
skeptical of the U.S. invasion of Iraq more than a decade ago. On the
Islamic State group, however, Carson said there was a "strong likelihood"
that American ground forces would be necessary to contain the threat.

"I would send ground troops if I needed ground troops in order to take the
land," Carson said. "You're not going to take the land without troops."

While not addressing ground forces, Rubio charged that, "ISIS is someone we
can humiliate," using an alternative acronym for the group.

"We need to subject them to high-profile humiliating defeats that we
broadcast and advertise to the world," he continued. "We have won
propaganda wars before."

The conversation came as evangelical voters eye their options in an
extraordinarily crowded Republican presidential contest. There are already
15 high-profile contenders in the race, while two more are expected to join
by month's end.

Iowa's evangelical voters traditionally hold great sway in the state
caucuses, which are expected for the first week in February. Christian
conservatives backed the winners of the last two caucuses, Mike Huckabee in
2008 and Rick Santorum in 2012, but neither became their party's nominee.

Former Iowa Republican Party Chairman Matt Strawn said it was likely too
early for a leader to emerge among Christian conservatives.

"Not only are there considerable options within the Christian conservative
lane, but there are also those in that lane that demonstrate appeal to a
broader base," he said.

Indeed, muscular policies on immigration and foreign policy are often
popular among the GOP's most passionate voters — as is a commitment to
Christian values.

"I go to church. And I love God," Trump said. "I'm a religious person. ...
People are so shocked when they find this out."

*Trump attacks McCain: 'I like people who weren't captured'
<http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/trump-attacks-mccain-i-like-people-who-werent-captured-120317.html#ixzz3gJ5XuraS>
// Politico // Ben Schreckinger – July 18, 2015 *

Donald Trump might finally have crossed the line.

Appearing on Saturday at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, the
real estate mogul took his running feud with Arizona Sen. John McCain to a
new level.

“He’s not a war hero,” said Trump. “He was a war hero because he was
captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

The remarks, which came after days of back-and-forth between McCain and
Trump, were met with scattered boos.

McCain, a former Navy pilot, spent roughly five-and-half years in a
notorious North Vietnamese prison known as the “Hanoi Hilton,” where he was
repeatedly tortured. He spent two of those years in solitary confinement.

At a press availability following his remarks, Trump denied saying that
McCain isn’t a war hero and said, “If somebody’s a prisoner, I consider
them a war hero.”

He also continued his attacks on the Arizona senator, saying, “I think John
McCain’s done very little for the veterans. I’m very disappointed in John
McCain.”

Trump received four student deferments from military service between 1964
and 1968. In Ames, he told reporters another medical deferment he received
after graduating was for a bone spur in his foot. When asked which foot,
Trump told reporters to look up the records.

In a follow-up statement sent to reporters, Trump again declined to
apologize, calling McCain “yet another all talk, no action politician who
spends too much time on television and not enough time doing his job.”

Trump’s fellow Republican presidential candidates quickly distanced
themselves from his remarks — with a few notable exceptions.

“Enough with the slanderous attacks,” Jeb Bush tweeted.

“@SenJohnMcCain and all our veterans - particularly POWs have earned our
respect and admiration.”

“John McCain is an American hero. I have nothing but respect for his
service to our country,” tweeted Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. “After Donald
Trump spends six years in a POW camp, he can weigh in on John McCain’s
service,” he added in a second tweet.

”.@SenJohnMcCain is an American hero & all POW’s deserve our nation’s
highest debt of gratitude. @realDonaldTrump’s comments are disgraceful,”
tweeted former Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

“As a fellow veteran I respect @SenJohnMcCain because he volunteered to
serve his country. I cannot say the same about Mr. @realDonaldTrump,” Perry
added. He then called in a statement for Trump to drop out of the race.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close friend of McCain’s, tweeted,
“If there was ever any doubt that @realDonaldTrump should not be our
commander in chief, this stupid statement should end all doubt.” He added:
“At the heart of @realDonaldTrump statement is a lack of respect for those
who have served - a disqualifying characteristic to be president.”

At a campaign event in Sioux City, Iowa, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker called
McCain “an American hero.” At a press gaggle afterwards, he said of Trump,
“I unequivocally denounce him.”

“I know @SenJohnMcCain. Senator John McCain is an American hero. Period.
Stop,” tweeted New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

“America’s POWs deserve much better than to have their service questioned
by the offensive rantings of Donald Trump,” tweeted Florida Sen. Marco
Rubio, who spoke at the summit before Trump.

Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, tweeted:
“.@SenJohnMcCain is an American hero because he served his country and
sacrificed more than most can imagine. Period.”

“There is no place in our party or our country for comments that disparage
those who have served honorably,” he added.

Not all Republicans were ready to condemn Trump. When asked by POLITICO if
the mogul’s comments were out of line, Santorum declined to comment. In a
tweet, he defended McCain, but did not mention Trump: “.@SenJohnMcCain is
an American hero, period.”

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz spoke at length to reporters about McCain’s heroism
between signing books and appearing on-stage at the summit, but he, too,
declined to condemn the comments when asked about them.

Neurosurgeon Ben Carson, whose appearance followed Trump’s at the summit,
declined to comment on Trump’s remarks after leaving the stage. He also
would not say when asked whether or not McCain was a war hero. “It depends
on your definition of a war hero,” he said.

*Trump on John McCain: 'I Like People That Weren't Captured, Okay?'
<http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-07-18/trump-on-john-mccain-i-like-people-that-weren-t-captured-okay->
// Bloomberg // Sahil Kapur – July 18, 2015 *

Donald Trump went where nobody could have expected even Donald Trump to go.

The real estate mogul and Republican presidential candidate, who's leading
the field in several recent polls, lit into Senator John McCain of Arizona
on Saturday when speaking to a conservative conference, even going after
his legendary military service—and drawing instant condemnation from fellow
candidates.

"He's not a war hero," Trump said in a question-and-answer session with
pollster Frank Luntz. Then he altered his comment: "He's a war hero because
he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, okay?"

“He's a war hero because he was captured.”

The crowd responded with an awkward mix of shocked "oohs" and scattered
applause. "Because he was captured, okay? Perhaps he's a war hero. But
right now he's said some very bad things about a lot of people."

McCain spent more than five years in captivity as a prisoner of war in
Vietnam, a brutal period during which he was tortured and faced solitary
confinement, after his plane was shot down. His feud with Trump escalated
last week after Trump rallied conservatives in Phoenix against illegal
immigration, which McCain, who is running for reelection to the Senate in
2016, told New Yorker "fired up the crazies."

Trump retorted: "I know what a crazy is. I know all about crazies. These
weren't crazy."

And that wasn't all Trump had to say about McCain. He attacked him for
having "graduated last in his class" at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis
(McCain actually graduated fifth from last).

Asked why he didn't serve in the Vietnam War, Trump responded that he had a
bone spur, although he couldn't remember in which foot. "It's a long time
ago. I had student deferments and ultimately had a medical deferment
because of my feet," he said.

Badgered by reporters at a news conference shortly after, Trump repeatedly
refused to back down or apologize for his attack on McCain,  and even
launched new missives. "I think John McCain has done very little for the
veterans. I'm very disappointed in John McCain."

"If someone's a prisoner I would consider that person a war hero. And we
have a lot of war heroes that weren't prisoners also. And we should give
them credit, too," he said.

Trump's fellow Republican candidates at the Ames, Iowa, forum, including
Bobby Jindal, Lindsey Graham, and Rick Perry, quickly condemned the
comments.

"John McCain is an American hero. I have nothing but respect for his
service to our country," Louisiana Governor Jindal said on Twitter. "After
Donald Trump spends six years in a POW camp, he can weigh in on John
McCain's service."

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who was not at the conference, also
tweeted. "Enough with the slanderous attacks."

*Trump questions McCain's bravery, says 'he is not a war hero'
<http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/18/politics/donald-trump-john-mccain-war-hero/>
// CNN // Mark Preston & Eugene Scott – July 18, 2015 *

Donald Trump ignited a political firestorm Saturday by questioning whether
Sen. John McCain -- who spent over five years as a prisoner during the
Vietnam War -- is a war hero.

By mid-afternoon, Trump tried to walk back his blunder on Twitter, saying
"captured or not, all our soldiers are heroes!"

But his attempt at damage control seemed unlikely to diminish the anger his
remarks had caused. They provoked an immediate outcry from his 2016
presidential rivals and the Republican National Committee, which has
expressed concern about the impact his controversial remarks on immigration
have had on the GOP brand.

For Republicans waiting to pounce on Trump and knock him from his position
as the party's leading presidential candidate, the real estate mogul may
have handed them an opening.

Cruz declines to denounce Trump's McCain comments

The controversy began early Saturday afternoon, when Trump, speaking at a
question-and-answer session at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa,
commented on McCain, with whom he's recently feuded over illegal
immigration.

"He is not a war hero," Trump told pollster Frank Luntz, who was hosting
the session.

"He is a war hero," Luntz interjected.

"He is a war hero because he was captured," Trump said, cutting him off. "I
like people that weren't captured, OK? I hate to tell you. He is a war hero
because he was captured. OK, you can have -- I believe perhaps he is a war
hero."

The comments met with a mix of gasps, boos, laughter and some applause from
an audience.

McCain, a Naval aviator, was shot down in 1967 over North Vietnam and
fractured both arms and legs after being ejected from his aircraft. He was
repeatedly tortured during his stay in the notorious "Hanoi Hilton" -- and
refused early release when the North Vietnamese learned his father was a
Navy admiral -- until he finally returned home in 1973 following the Paris
Peace Accords.

The Arizona senator, who has limited mobility in his arms following his war
experience, received the Distinguished Flying Cross, a Silver Star and a
Purple Heart for his service.

Trump believes in God, but hasn't sought forgiveness

Trump, meanwhile, received several deferments during the war. According to
The Smoking Gun, which obtained selective service records for Trump in
2011, he received four student deferments between 1964 and 1968, and later
a medical deferment in 1968.

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers told CNN that the senator would have no
comment on Trump's statements.

But McCain's daughter, Meghan, tweeted that she was "horrified" and
"disgusted" by the remarks.

"I can't believe what I am reading this morning," she said. "There are no
words."

2016 GOP hopefuls rip remark

Trump's comments were swiftly condemned on Twitter Saturday afternoon, with
multiple Republican 2016 candidates blasting the remarks.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry said in emotional comments made to an audience
at the summit that if Trump doesn't apologize, he is unfit to be
commander-in-chief of the United States.

"To disparage a legitimate American hero like John McCain -- you may
disagree with his policies and that's fine. I tell people all the time it's
OK to question your government," said Perry, an Air Force veteran. "But
don't question the men and women of the military who sacrifice and
sometimes pay a huge price for our safety and our freedom and our
economics."

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a frequent target of Trump's criticism, also came to
McCain's defense.

"Enough with the slanderous attacks. @SenJohnMcCain and all our veterans -
particularly POWs have earned our respect and admiration," he tweeted.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal called McCain "a hero" on Twitter.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close friend of McCain's, fired off a
series of tweets criticizing Trump and questioning his qualifications to be
president in light of the comments.

But while Texas Sen. Ted Cruz -- who has stood out in the 2016 field as a
supporter of Trump's controversial remarks on immigration -- defended
McCain in a tweet, he notably declined to criticize Trump when asked by
reporters to comment on the real estate mogul's remarks. Instead, he blamed
the media for trying to turn Republicans against each other.

"You know I recognize that folks in the press love to see
Republican-on-Republican violence, and so you want me to say something bad
about Donald Trump, or bad about John McCain or bad about anyone else," he
said. "I'm not going to do it."

Retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson was also asked if he defined McCain as
a war hero, and said that while he believed the senator has "done some
wonderful things," he also stopped short of denouncing Trump.

"It depends on your definition of a war hero. I think he has done some
wonderful things, certainly the history is consistent with what we would
consider a war hero," Carson said. "So do we take that away from him
because some people disagree with him politically? I think that's probably
a stupid way to do things."

Mitt Romney, the 2012 presidential candidate, vouched for McCain's heroism
and praised veterans on Twitter.

"The difference between @SenJohnMcCain and @realDonaldTrump: Trump shot
himself down. McCain and American veterans are true heroes," he tweeted.

But Trump dismissed Romney -- and McCain again -- in a tweet.

Why would anybody listen to @MittRomney? He lost an election that should
have easily been won against Obama. By the way, so did John McCain," he
tweeted.

Sean Spicer, the communications director for the Republican National
Committee, said in a statement that McCain "is an American hero because he
served his country and sacrificed more than most can imagine. Period."

"There is no place in our party or our country for comments that disparage
those who have served honorably," Spicer said.

Secretary of State John Kerry, a Vietnam War veteran, said McCain is "a
hero, a man of grit and guts and character personified. He served and bled
and endured unspeakable acts of torture."

Speaking to reporters after the event, Trump sought to clarify his comments.

"If a person is captured, they're a hero as far as I'm concerned," Trump
said. "But you have to do other things also. I don't like the job John
McCain is doing in the Senate. He's not taking care of our veterans."

Borger: Trump is the guy GOP candidates can't afford to ignore

His campaign also released a statement, in which Trump said McCain has done
"little" for U.S. veterans.

"I am not a fan John McCain because he has done so little for our veterans,
and he should know better than anybody what the veterans need, especially
in regards to the (Department of Veterans Affairs)," Trump said in the
statement. "He is yet another all-talk, no-action politician who spends too
much time on television and not enough time doing his job and helping the
vets. He is also allowing our military to decrease substantially in size
and strength, something which should never be allowed to happen."

Joel Arends, chairman of Veterans for a Strong America, in a statement said
feuding between McCain and Trump over issues "has nothing to do with Mr.
Trump's high regard for the military or veterans as a whole. Mr. Trump is
supporter of the U.S. military and of America's veterans. It is well known
that when Mr. Trump is attacked by a detractor, he swings back." The group
said it was glad Trump clarified his remarks and said McCain is a war hero.

This is not the first time Trump has taken a jab at the 2008 Republican
nominee this week.

After McCain criticized Trump's visit to Phoenix last weekend, saying he
"fired up the crazies" in regard to his controversial comments on illegal
immigration, Trump called the Arizona senator a "dummy" on Twitter.

".@SenJohnMcCain should be defeated in the primaries. Graduated last in his
class at Annapolis--dummy," he said.

In his campaign's statement on Saturday, Trump again referenced illegal
immigration as the main reason for his feud with McCain.

"Furthermore, he was extremely disrespectful to the thousands upon
thousands of people, many of whom happen to be his constituents, that came
to listen to me speak about illegal immigration in Phoenix last week by
calling them 'crazies,'" the statement said. "These were not 'crazies' --
these were great American citizens."

Trump supported McCain's presidential candidacy in 2008. He donated $28,450
to John McCain's Victory Committee, a super PAC, and endorsed him on CNN's
"Larry King Live" that year, calling him "a smart guy and I think he's
going to be a great president."

During Saturday's Q&A session, Trump claimed he raised $1 million for the
Arizona senator. After the event, Trump added on Twitter that McCain "let
us down by losing to Barack Obama in his run for President!"

*Republicans Condemn Donald Trump After He Belittles John McCain’s War
Record
<https://time.com/3963612/donald-trump-john-mccain-military-service/> //
TIME // Zeke Miller – July 18, 2015 *

The Republican National Committee and a bevy of GOP presidential candidates
lined up to repudiate Donald Trump on Saturday after the reality television
star-turned-White House hopeful attacked the military service of Sen. John
McCain, a former POW.

Appearing at a candidate cattle call in Ames, Iowa, the real estate mogul
told a crowd he was no supporter of the 2008 Republican presidential
nominee. “He was a war hero because he was captured,” Trump said. “I like
people who weren’t captured.”

Trump’s critique of McCain did what his previous controversial remarks
could not quite do: open the floodgates for fellow Republicans to denounce
him. After all, the perceived political risk inherent in defending the
record of a war hero is far less than that of getting involved in
contentious debates around immigration.

McCain, who was held captive in Vietnam for nearly six years after his
airplane was shot down over Hanoi, has been critical of the Trump’s
bombast, saying that it had “fired up the crazies.” Trump’s
already-controversial mocking of the Arizona senator is only the latest in
a series of provocative statements and scandals that have swirled around
his campaign, including his comment that many Mexican immigrants are
“rapists” and his claim “The illegals come in, and the illegals kill their
children.”

“Senator McCain is an American hero because he served his country and
sacrificed more than most can imagine. Period,” said RNC communications
director Sean Spicer. “There is no place in our party or our country for
comments that disparage those who have served honorably.”

Trump, who is riding atop the GOP primary polls, appears certain to make
the first GOP debate stage on Aug. 6, even as the RNC is facing escalating
calls to somehow bar him from participating. But under Federal Election
Commission rules, there is no legal mechanism for the party or the hosting
network, Fox News, to ban a candidate who meets the qualifications.

But the comments about McCain have set up a race among GOP candidates to
most-forcefully condemn their fellow candidate, a trend that is likely to
continue live on national television at the debate. In a statement, former
Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Trump’s comments were disqualifying and, “he
should immediately withdraw from the race for President.”

Other candidates and Republican leaders weighed in on stage at the Iowa
Family Leader summit after Trump spoke, or took to Twitter to lambast him:

For his part, Trump issued a statement lambasting McCain’s “extremely
disrespectful” description of Trump supporters and saying in part, “I have
great respect for all those who serve in our military including those that
weren’t captured and are also heroes.”

But the statement showed no signs of contrition, noting, “Mr. Trump left to
a long lasting standing ovation, which will be by far the biggest ovation
of the weekend, and much congratulatory praise.”

In a series of Twitter postings later, Trump lauded veterans but did not
back off his earlier remarks, and in fact continued to criticize McCain’s
record.

*Donald Trump Hits the Limits of Celebrity
<http://time.com/3963685/donald-trump-john-mccain/> // TIME // Zeke Miller
– July 18, 2015 *

Controversy has always been at the heart of Donald Trump’s professional
career, defined by his ostentatious displays of wealth, innumerable public
feuds, and a television show built around firing people. So when he entered
the political arena, there was little question that it would revolve around
the same, but few predicted the Trump-sized firestorm he set off Saturday
when he criticized the military service of former Vietnam POW Sen. John
McCain.

After a lifetime in the spotlight, Trump is painfully learning the
difference between the rules of the game when playing as a candidate
instead of a celebrity.

For years, Republicans have courted Trump’s endorsement, entertainment, and
deep pockets, tolerating—even encouraging and profiting from—his
longstanding list of outlandish comments. They invited him to keynote state
party conventions and to endorse their 2012 nominee, even as they stood
silently by as he challenged President Obama’s birthplace and indulged in
his routine name-calling.

Not even comments deemed insulting to a vital segment of the
electorate—suggesting that many who have immigrated to the U.S. illegally
from Mexico are “rapists”—were enough to spark widespread condemnation.

But on Saturday the floodgates opened, with Trump criticism flowing from
nearly every fellow 2016 candidate, the Republican National Committee,
former GOP nominee Mitt Romney, and even Fox News’ Rupert Murdoch. For many
in the party, it was a long-anticipated occasion—the inevitable moment when
the candidate so obviously and completely stepped in it that sitting silent
was no longer an option.

“He’s not a war hero,” Trump said Saturday of the 2008 Republican
presidential nominee at a candidate forum in Ames, Iowa. “He’s a war hero
because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

Trump avoided serving in the Vietnam War using four deferments, including a
medical deferment for a bone spur. McCain was shot down over Hanoi and
imprisoned for nearly six years, undergoing physical and psychological
torture at the infamous Hanoi Hilton.

Already feeling the financial burn of the ending of a series of financial
and endorsement deals in the wake of his immigration comments, the
statement set Trump on the path to becoming a Party pariah.

The swift reaction reflected both the GOP’s pent-up frustration with the
man at the top of their primary polls, and the reality that in Republican
politics, offending those in the U.S. illegally may provoke mild
consternation, but attacking veterans is sacrilegious.

“When is Donald Trump going to stop embarrassing his friends, let alone the
whole country,” Murdoch tweeted Sunday.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has sought to use his criticism of Trump
to his own political advantage, became the first GOP candidate to call on
his rival to withdraw from the race, as South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham
called it disqualifying for the highest office in the land.

“Seems to me that there’s an enormous sense of relief among Republicans
that he f—-d up so badly,” said one Republican operative.

Party officials, including RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, had been sending
signals to Trump for weeks to tone down his rhetoric against those in the
U.S. illegally for fear of alienating Hispanic voters. They also were
critical of his frequent criticisms of fellow Republicans, violating Ronald
Reagan’s 11th commandment.

“There is no place in our party or our country for comments that disparage
those who have served honorably,” RNC communications director Sean Spicer
said in a statement Saturday in response to the McCain comments, an
exceptionally rare critique of a presidential candidate’s own party.

In a defiant statement Saturday, Trump criticized McCain for allegedly
failing veterans which noted that he has “great respect” for people who
served in the military. It concluded without any effort at appeasing his
critics: “Mr. Trump left to a long lasting standing ovation, which will be
by far the biggest ovation of the weekend, and much congratulatory praise.”

*After Donald Trump says John McCain 'not a war hero,' Republican rivals
denounce him
<http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-trump-mccain-20150718-story.html> //
LA Times // Noah Bierman – July 18, 2015 *

nald Trump, whose bombastic statements have shot him to the top of
Republican presidential primary polls, mocked Sen. John McCain's war record
as a POW in Vietnam on Saturday, crossing a line that triggered
condemnations from previously quiet GOP leaders and rivals.

They used their strongest terms to date — calling Trump’s comments
“slanderous,” declaring him unfit for office, and asserting that the
Republican Party has no tolerance for disparaging statements about combat
veterans.

The question now is whether Trump, who saw his campaign take off after
broadly denouncing Mexicans who cross the border illegally as rapists and
drug dealers, will remain popular with segments of the GOP base who revere
military service, prisoners of war and the 2008 presidential nominee’s
connection to both.

“He’s not a war hero,” Trump said at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames,
Iowa, in response to a question about McCain, who has sharply criticized
Trump’s withering comments on immigrants.

“He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't
captured, OK? I hate to tell you. He's a war hero because he was captured,
OK? And I believe — perhaps he's a war hero. But right now, he's said some
very bad things about a lot of people,” Trump said.

McCain, a Navy aviator during the Vietnam War, suffered several broken
bones and spent more than five years as a prisoner in North Vietnam,
including two years in solitary confinement, after his Skyhawk was shot
down during a bombing mission over Hanoi in 1967.

McCain, the son of the U.S. Navy commander in the Pacific at the time,
refused North Vietnamese offers for an early release because Americans
captured before him remained prisoners of war. He was released in 1973, and
has served Arizona in the Senate since 1987. The Republican now heads the
Senate Armed Services Committee.

Trump received four student deferments from the draft between 1964 and 1968
and a medical deferment that kept him out of the military, according to
reports published in 2011.

For all the expressions of indignation, the dust-up inevitably was a
reminder of Republican-backed attacks on combat medals awarded to John F.
Kerry, the former senator, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee and now
secretary of State, for his service in Vietnam. The attacks, which hurt
Kerry's 2004 campaign, ultimately were discredited as untrue.

Since announcing his campaign on June 16, Trump has lost numerous
commercial endorsements and business deals due to his harsh comments about
Mexican immigrants.

His rhetoric has worried Republican leaders, who are trying to broaden the
party’s support among women and minorities, especially the growing number
of Latino voters, before the 2016 election. In a Univision poll, 71% of
Latinos surveyed had an unfavorable view of Trump.

Some GOP candidates have refrained from criticizing Trump until now because
many core conservatives, who vote heavily in Republican primaries, support
him. A Fox News poll released Friday found 68% of GOP voters said Trump was
“basically right” about immigration.

But by appearing to attack military veterans and POWs, a more powerful
constituency among conservatives and other voters, Trump may finally have
given party leaders a chance to pop his balloon, which has been eclipsing
other candidates.

The Republican National Committee immediately denounced Trump’s comments
Saturday, saying “there is no place in our party or our country for
comments that disparage those who have served honorably.”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who had previously avoided discussing Trump,
told reporters Saturday, “I unequivocally denounce him,” according to his
campaign.

Fellow leading candidates Sen. Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican whose
parents were born in Cuba, and Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor whose
wife is Mexican American, also criticized Trump.

“Enough with the slanderous attacks,” Bush wrote on Twitter.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry — who days ago condemned Trump’s “toxic mix of
demagoguery and nonsense” — on Saturday called upon him to end his campaign
because of comments that have “reached a new low in American politics.”

“His attack on veterans make him unfit to be commander-in-chief of the U.S.
armed forces, and he should immediately withdraw from the race for
president,” Perry said in a statement.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said on Twitter that “after Donald Trump spends
six years in a POW camp, he can weigh in on John McCain's service.”

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was a notable exception, calling McCain a friend and
hero on Twitter but adding, “Donald Trump is a friend of mine.”

Trump has clashed verbally with McCain, who supported a comprehensive
immigration overhaul that passed the Senate but died in the House. While on
a campaign swing in Phoenix last week, Trump slammed McCain in his home
state, violating normal rules of party politics.

“I've supported John McCain, but he's very weak on immigration,” Trump
said. He also questioned whether McCain, who is up for reelection in 2016,
would hold onto his Senate seat.

“I think he will probably lose if somebody runs against him for the
Republican nomination,” Trump said.

McCain told the New Yorker that Trump’s comments were “very hurtful ...
because what he did was he fired up the crazies.”

On Saturday, his daughter Meghan McCain said on Twitter that she was
“horrified” and “disgusted” by Trump’s latest comments: “There are no
words.”

*Trump clarifies attacks on McCain
<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-primaries/248431-trump-clarifies-attacks-on-mccain>
// The Hill // Keith Laing – July 18, 2015 *

Donald Trump accused Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) of being "all talk, no
action" on veterans issues on Saturday as he sought to clarify his
dismissive words toward McCain earlier in the day.

"I am not a fan of John McCain because he has done so little for our
Veterans and he should know better than anybody what the Veterans need,
especially in regards to the VA," Trump said in a statement released by his
campaign.

"He is yet another all talk, no action politician who spends too much time
on television and not enough time doing his job and helping the Vets,"
Trump continued. "He is also allowing our military to decrease
substantially in size and strength, somethings which should never be
allowed to happen."

Trump faced immediate criticism Saturday after mocking McCain’s six years
as a prisoner during the Vietnam War.

“He was a war hero because he was captured,” Trump sarcastically told host
Frank Luntz during the 2015 Family Leadership Summit. “I like people who
weren’t captured.”

Trump was swiftly rebuked by the Republican National Committee and several
of his fellow 2016 Republican presidential candidates.

Trump said in his statement that McCain has been "extremely disrespectful
to the thousands upon thousands of people, many of whom happen to be his
constituents, that came out to listen to me speak about illegal immigration
by calling them 'crazies.'

"These were not 'crazies' --- these were great American citizens," Trump
said.

"I have great respect for all those who serve in our military including
those that weren't captured and are also heroes," he continued. "I want to
strengthen our military and take care of our veterans. I want to make
America great again, especially for those that serve to protect our
freedom. I am fighting for our veterans!"

Trump’s statement noted at the end: “Mr. Trump left to a long lasting
standing ovation, which will be by far the biggest ovation of the weekend,
and much congratulatory praise.”

*Draft-Dodging Trump Says POW McCain ‘Not A War Hero’
<http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/18/draft-dodging-trump-says-pow-mccain-not-a-war-hero.html>
// Daily Beast // Olivia Nuzzi – July 18, 2015 *

In September 2008, Donald Trump donated $28,450 to John McCain’s Victory
Committee and endorsed him on Larry King Live. “I know him. I like him. I
respect him,” he said. “He’s a smart guy and I think he’s going to be a
great president.”

Seven years later, Trump is the one running, and he now respects McCain,
who spent five years as a prisoner during the Vietnam War, so little that
he says he’s not really a war hero.

During a discussion at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa Saturday
afternoon, Trump said, “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was
captured. I like people that weren’t captured, OK? I hate to tell you.”

Trump, whose candidacy has been defined by his insults to various groups of
people and even entire ethnicities, finally went too far.

Paul Rieckhoff, the founder and CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of
America, told The Daily Beast that Trump’s comments were “asinine” and an
insult “to everyone who’s ever worn the uniform and to all Americans.”

Rick Perry, one of just two Republican primary contenders to have served in
the military (the other is Senator Lindsey Graham), called for Trump to
withdraw from the contest.

“Donald Trump should apologize immediately for attacking Senator McCain and
all veterans who have protected and served our country,” he said in a
statement. “As a veteran and an American, I respect Sen. McCain because he
volunteered to serve his country. I cannot say the same of Mr. Trump. His
comments have reached a new low in American politics. His attack on
veterans make him unfit to be Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces,
and he should immediately withdraw from the race for President.”

Lindsey Graham responded to Trump on Twitter: “At the heart of
@realDonaldTrump statement is a lack of respect for those who have served—a
disqualifying characteristic to be president.”

So did Jeb Bush: “Enough with the slanderous attacks. @SenJohnMcCain and
all our veterans–particularly POWs have earned our respect and admiration.”

And Scott Walker: “Just told a crowd in Sioux City: @SenJohnMcCain is a war
hero.”

“He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like
people that weren’t captured, OK? I hate to tell you.”

And Bobby Jindal: “After Donald Trump spends 6 years in a POW camp, he can
weigh in on John McCain’s service.”

And Rick Santorum: “.@SenJohnMcCain is an American hero, period.”

And Chris Christie: "I know @SenJohnMcCain. Senator John McCain is an
American hero. Period. Stop."

Ted Cruz initially stood out as being the only candidate to refuse to stand
by McCain, telling The Washington Post’s Philip Rucker, “Folks in the press
love to see Republican on Republican violence, so you want me to say
something bad about Donald Trump or bad about John McCain or bad about
anyone else. I’m not going to do it.” Perhaps regretting that decision,
Cruz then Tweeted, “John McCain is an American hero. Although we have some
policy disagreements, I’m proud to serve alongside him.”

As the crowd in Iowa laughed, gasped and booed—unsure if Trump was
joking—he doubled down on his point. “He’s a war hero because he was
captured! OK? I believe, perhaps, he’s a war hero. But right now? He’s said
some very bad things about a lot of people.”

Actually, he’s said very bad things about just one person who Trump cares a
lot about: Trump.

On Thursday, The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza published an interview with
McCain, wherein the Arizona senator criticized Trump, who had just held a
rally in Phoenix. “This performance with our friend out in Phoenix is very
hurtful,” McCain said. “Because what he did was he fired up the crazies.”

It would become evident, in the following days, that Trump—callous and
bombastic by nature—had hurt feelings.

He immediately lashed out first on Twitter, saying “The thousands of people
that showed up for me in Phoenix were amazing Americans. @SenJohnMcCain
called them ‘crazies’—must apologize!” He then said he thought McCain
should lose his Senate primary: “.@SenJohnMcCain should be defeated in the
primaries. Graduated last in his class at Anapolis--dummy!”

And then in an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Friday. “I’m a
loyalist,” he said. “I’m a person that like, if somebody is with me, I’m
with that person. And John McCain was very disloyal to me.”

Saturday afternoon, in a statement following his insult to McCain, Trump
said that McCain, whose office has not yet responded to a request for
comment from The Daily Beast, had been “disrespectful” to the people who
came to see him speak in Phoenix when he told The New Yorker they were
“crazies.”

“These were not ‘crazies,’” Trump said. “These were great American
citizens.”

Trump’s decision to criticize McCain’s military record is all the more
puzzling given the circumstances surrounding his lack of one.

Trump claimed, in an April interview on WNYW, that he avoided the Vietnam
War because “I actually got lucky because I had a very high draft number.”
He said, while attending the Wharton School of Finance, that “I was
watching as they did the draft numbers and I got a very, very high number
and those numbers never got up to me.”

But The Smoking Gun reported that Trump’s draft number was 365, and when it
was drawn on Dec. 1, 1968, “18 months after Trump graduated” from the
Wharton School, Trump “had already received four student deferments and a
medical deferment,” according to records obtained by the publication.

Rieckhoff joked, “He was so interested in seeing the president’s birth
certificate, I’m sure he’d be willing to provide the documentation about
that.”

Despite his lack of service, Trump, in the post-insult statement, said, “I
am not a fan of John McCain because he has done so little for our Veterans
and he should know better than anybody what the Veterans need, especially
in regards to the VA. He is yet another all talk, no action politician who
spends too much time on television and not enough time doing his job and
helping Vets.”

It was, in fact, McCain (along with Senator Bernie Sanders, a candidate for
the Democratic nomination) who last year passed legislation to reform the
Department of Veterans Affairs and improve veterans’ access to health care,
among other things.

In the statement, Trump clarified that he has “great respect for all those
who serve in our military including those that weren’t captured and are
also heroes.”

The release ended with a “note”: “Mr. Trump left to a long lasting standing
ovation, which will be by far the biggest ovation of the weekend, and much
congratulatory praise.”

*Trump fuels GOP fire with criticism of McCain*
<http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/248439-trump-fuels-gop-fire-with-criticism-of-mccain>*
// The Hill // Mark Hensch – July 18, 2015 *

Republicans of all stripes spent Saturday hammering Donald Trump for his
remarks mocking Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) over his time spent as a
prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Many of the GOP’s most visible members are suggesting the outspoken
billionaire and presidential candidate went too far taunting McCain during
a speech Saturday afternoon.

“He was a war hero because he was captured,” Trump sarcastically told host
Frank Luntz during the 2015 Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa. “I like
people who weren’t captured.”

The quip came after Luntz challenged Trump’s criticisms of McCain’s
political career.

The pollster questioned his verbal attacks on McCain, calling him a “war
hero.”

“I supported McCain for president,” Trump said. “He lost and let us down,”
he added, arguing he spent $1 million supporting McCain’s Oval Office bid.

“I’ve never liked him as much after that,” Trump added. “I don’t like
losers.”

The Republican National Committee (RNC) quickly rejected the business
mogul’s remarks.

“Senator McCain is an American hero because he served his country and
sacrificed more than we can imagine – period,” said RNC Chief Strategist
and Communications Director Sean Spicer said in a statement.

“There is no place in our party or our country for comments that disparage
those who have served honorably,” he added.

Trump’s many rivals for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination joined the RNC
in discrediting his political legitimacy.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Trump should immediately mend fences with
McCain over his remarks, or end his campaign.

“As an individual who has worn the uniform of this country, I was highly
offended by what Donald Trump said about John McCain,” Perry said during
his own 2015 Family Leadership Summit remarks.

“Donald Trump owes every American, and in particular John McCain, an
apology,” he added.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close friend of McCain’s, argued McCain and
other prisoners of war like him deserve “recognition and respect” for their
sacrifices.

“If you want to be commander-in-chief and you are serious about wanting
that job, the last thing you’d do is disrespect the people in our armed
services,” he said.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush expressed disgust with Trump’s statements in a
post on Twitter.

“Enough with the slanderous attacks,” he tweeted. “@SenJohnMcCain and all
our veterans – particularly POWs have earned our respect and admiration.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) was equally dismissive of Trump.

“America’s POWs deserve much better than to have their service questioned
by the offensive rantings of Donald Trump,” he wrote.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker vowed he would personally defend McCain’s
tenure during the Vietnam War against any critics.

“@SenJohnMcCain is an American hero, period,” he said on Twitter. “I’ll
denounce any attack against his service and anyone else who wears this
uniform.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), who considers himself a friend of both McCain and
Trump, refused comment on the bitter feud.

“I recognize that folks in the press love to see Republican-on-Republican
violence, so you want me to say something about Donald Trump or bad about
John McCain or bad about anyone else,” he said, according to The Washington
Post. “I’m not going to do it.”

“John McCain is a friend of mine,” Cruz added. “I respect and admire him
and he’s an American hero. And Donald Trump is a friend of mine.”

Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney noted the differences between
McCain and Trump’s military backgrounds in his own pointed criticism on
Twitter.

“The difference between @SenJohnMcCain and @realDonaldTrump: Trump shot
himself down,” Romney wrote. “McCain and American veterans are true heroes.”

Megan McCain, John McCain’s daughter, expressed disbelief that Trump would
insult her father’s sacrifices during the Vietnam War.

“I can’t believe what I am reading this morning,” she wrote on Twitter.
“Horrified. Disgusted. There are no words.”

“I have a brother that just returned from Afghanistan a month ago, glad he
can come home to this being said about his father and his service,” she
added.

The Concerned Veterans of America (CVA) offered a comparison between McCain
and Trump on military service in its own rebuke of the real estate mogul.

“Donald Trump’s attacks against Senator John McCain today are the height of
arrogance and reveal that he has no understanding of what our Vietnam POWs
endured and the honor they displayed during their captivity – Senator
McCain among them,” the group said in a statement.

“A man who received four student deferments to avoid service in Vietnam has
absolutely no credibility to attack someone like John McCain who
volunteered to serve his country and suffered 5 1/2 years of torture as a
result,” it said.

The military personnel organization took issue with Trump’s remarks over
veterans affairs made during the same controversial speech.

“Donald Trump also revealed he has no idea what he is talking about in
regards to reforming and fixing the VA,” it said.

“If he did, he would have known that Senator McCain has been a leader in
fighting to give veterans more health care choices and to hold the VA
accountable for its failures,” it added.

“Finally, this incident should clarify for veterans which leaders really
understand the issues they face and the sacrifices they made as part of
their military service. Unfortunately, it appears Donald Trump is not one
of them.”

Later Saturday, as criticism was percolating, Trump sought to clarify his
remarks, saying his problem with McCain stems from the senator’s policy
stances.

"I am not a fan of John McCain because he has done so little for our
Veterans and he should know better than anybody what the Veterans need,
especially in regards to the VA," Trump said in a statement released by his
campaign.

"He is yet another all talk, no action politician who spends too much time
on television and not enough time doing his job and helping the Vets," he
continued. "He is also allowing our military to decrease substantially in
size and strength, somethings which should never be allowed to happen."

Trump also accused McCain of being “extremely disrespectful” toward
attendees of an immigration rally in Phoenix last weekend that was
headlined by Trump.

"These were not 'crazies' --- these were great American citizens," he said.

"I have great respect for all those who serve in our military including
those that weren't captured and are also heroes," Trump added.

"I want to strengthen our military and take care of our veterans. I want to
make America great again, especially for those that serve to protect our
freedom. I am fighting for our veterans!"

Trump’s statement noted at the end: “Mr. Trump left to a long lasting
standing ovation, which will be by far the biggest ovation of the weekend,
and much congratulatory praise.”

Trump was taking issue with McCain’s critique of his July 11 rally against
illegal immigration in Phoenix.

McCain argued in an interview published Thursday that the event energized
the right wing’s most extreme members.

“It’s very bad,” he said of Trump’s Phoenix rally earlier this month.

“This performance with our friend out in Phoenix is very hurtful,” McCain
added. “Because what he did was he fired up the crazies. Now he galvanized
them. He’s really got them activated.”

Trump has retaliated by calling McCain a “dummy” and predicting he will
lose his upcoming Senate primary in Arizona.

Trump on Saturday said McCain is insulting the Americans who support
stronger policies against illegal immigration.

“15,000 people showed up to hear me speak,” Trump said of the Phoenix
event, adding that it was “beautiful.”

“He called them all crazy,” he added of McCain. “I know all about crazies,
and those weren’t crazies.”

*Trump comments on McCain war record spark outrage
<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/2015/07/18/trump-mccain-war-hero-captured/30347573/>
// USA  Today // Jason Noble – July 18, 2015 *

Donald Trump's insults of Sen. John McCain at a presidential candidate
forum here on Saturday drew sharp and immediate condemnation from across
the Republican spectrum — including calls for him to quit the 2016 race.

The swift, nearly unanimous rebuke prompted by Trump's comments questioning
McCain's war heroism may suggest a shift in the Republican presidential
contest, as rivals seize an opportunity to marginalize a popular but
divisive figure who some see as potentially destructive to the party's
standing among Latino voters.

The comments that sparked the firestorm came after forum moderator Frank
Luntz interrupted a Trump tirade against McCain to note the senator's
heroism in the Vietnam War and the more than five years he was held as a
prisoner of war.

"He's a war hero because he was captured," Trump replied dismissively. "I
like people that weren't captured, OK?"

Trump went on to insult McCain's academic achievements at the U.S. Naval
Academy. At a subsequent news conference, he said McCain "has not done
enough for the veterans in this country."

The businessman and reality TV star, who entered the GOP race last month,
has dominated media coverage for weeks with controversial comments on
immigration and unflinching criticism of other candidates. More recently,
he's begun to take the lead in national polls.

But by expanding his bombastic rhetoric to include criticism of a former
prisoner of war, Trump may have overplayed his hand, even with Republicans
eager for a candidate at odds with the political establishment, said
political scientist Kyle Kondik, managing editor of a political newsletter
published by the University of Virginia.

"There's a constituency that supports the pretty stridently anti-illegal
immigration comments which Trump has made," Kondik said. "But I don't think
there's a constituency for comments that come off as anti-military or
basically making fun of POWs, which is what Trump did."

Indeed, rival GOP candidates, party officials and others who may have been
looking for an opportunity to distance themselves from Trump seized on the
comments. Within an hour, at least a half-dozen fellow candidates tweeted
to either criticize Trump or defend McCain, and a few did so on the very
same stage at Stephens Auditorium later on Saturday.

Cary Gordon, an evangelical pastor from Sioux City, said that he has seen
Trump surging in Iowa in recent weeks and that Trump has surprised many
grass-roots conservative activists with his accessibility and
thoughtfulness at campaign events.

But that momentum is almost certainly lost now, Gordon said.

"Donald Trump probably handed ammunition to his own firing squad today," he
said.

Trump's comments came during the Family Leadership Summit, a key forum for
candidates seeking to win approval from the state's sizable bloc of
socially conservative evangelical voters.

At a news conference following his appearance, Trump did not apologize for
his remarks, according to the Associated Press. He did offer this
clarification: “If a person is captured, they’re a hero as far as I’m
concerned. I don’t like the job John McCain is doing in the Senate because
he is not taking care of our veterans.”

Also appearing Saturday were presidential candidates Marco Rubio, Ben
Carson, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum,
Lindsey Graham and Scott Walker.

Cruz, a senator from Texas, won numerous standing ovations and some of the
loudest cheers of the day with red-meat conservative rhetoric opposing
abortion — including calling for criminal investigations into Planned
Parenthood — same-sex marriage and Islamic extremism.

"Cruz has stood up and taken stands against what we call the mainstream
political machine," said Jeanne Shattuck, an attendee from Dallas Center.

Jindal, the Louisiana governor, competed with Cruz on crowd response,
hitting big applause lines when criticizing the media for failing to
adequately scrutinize President Obama and calling for federal employees to
be jailed for malfeasance.

Similarly, Graham, a senator from South Carolina, received sustained,
booming applause for criticism of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary
Clinton's handling of the attack in Benghazi, Libya, as secretary of state,
an issue that has animated conservatives but had received relatively little
mention Saturday.

Rubio, a senator from Florida, has been viewed with skepticism among many
conservatives for his previous support for a comprehensive immigration
reform package in the Senate. On Saturday, though, he appealed to many in
the crowd with substantive answers on immigration, the Islamic State and
entitlement reform.

Edward Wollner, a supporter of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, said Rubio's
performance made him "a little bit more viable."

"Honestly, I came in pretty closed-minded on Rand," Wollner said. "Rubio I
had kind of written off as a young, one-term senator, but he could actually
be competitive in a general election."

Many attendees were complimentary toward all the candidates who appeared on
Saturday, and far from ready to commit to one with the caucuses still more
than six months away.

"It's a no-lose situation, if you're a conservative, at this point," said
Scott Schaefer, a pastor from Davenport who described himself not as a
Republican but as a "Christian conservative compassionate capitalist
constitutionalist."

"This country needs a pastor, someone to shepherd this country."

*After Attacking John McCain's War Record, Donald Trump's Dramatic Fall Is
Predictable
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnzogby/2015/07/18/step-right-up-trump-is-the-bearded-lady-of-2016-race/>
// Forbes – July 18, 2015 *

Mr. Trump has decided to attack Senator John McCain’s war record.” He’s not
a war hero,” said Trump. “He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like
people that weren’t captured.” Mr. McCain is, in fact, a bona fide war hero
who rejected efforts to release him in exchange for selling out his fellow
prisoners of war. Mr. Trump’s activities extend only to building monuments
to himself because no one else apparently will do so. This is shameful. But
let’s be serious, folks. Donald Trump’s rise in the polls is as predictable
as his dramatic fall will be.

The Donald knows how to capture media attention. After all, he has been
doing it for decades now. He has teased about running in the past and
received too much coverage for that. Now he is a declared candidate and he
dominates attention for himself, something he craves and masters, by simply
being outrageous. He is Kim Kardashian’s rear, Paris Hilton’s sex tape, and
Caitlin Jenner’s transformation – all rolled into one and now dominating
media attention. In short order, Donald Trump’s candidacy will be Sarah
Palin’s plea for attention and Kate Gosselin’s whatever.

But we are talking about the Presidency of the United States and now,
today, the inevitable merging of this iconic institution with celebrity
culture. Enter The Donald. He has “surged” and “rocketed” – both Washington
Post terms – into second place in the battle for the Republican nomination.
Then, as of now, into first place. Stuff happens.

Some pundits say he is tapping into something. There is a rage against the
machine and Donald Trump represents a genuine phenomenon. But let me be
emphatic here: There is nothing genuine about him or about this. Allow me
to explain. First, there is a real anger out there among voters. There was
George Wallace, Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot, then the Tea Party. This is a
bona fide strain in American history. It is called xenophobia and fear of
the modern. It is the angry white man in a nation that is becoming more
non-white, less heterosexual, and less reliant on either organized religion
or traditional notions of patriotism. The demographics alone show how much
the America of “the old white man” is shrinking. And today, in this
worldview, is Armegeddon , the worst case scenario – a President who is a
man of color, with a Muslim name, insufficient proof of his nativity, and
in possession of a worldview that recognizes the limits of U.S. power in
the world and a willingness to lead from behind.

Enter Donald Trump. Yes, indeed, Mr. Trump has struck a responsive chord
among some. But let’s not get carried away with it. When the Washington
Post reported almost two weeks ago that Mr. Trump had both “surged” and
“rocketed” into second place in the GOP race, it really meant that his
polling numbers had moved from 6%-8% to 10%-12%. And now a couple of polls
show him leading the GOP pack with 17%-18%.

Several obvious points explain this. First, he has sucked all the oxygen
out of the room. Mr. Trump likes to produce good copy and that is what has
done. He has offended a large and growing constituency, our largest next
door neighbor, and the sensibilities of many stripes of Americans –
including some very high profile corporations and celebrities who also know
how to grab public attention. He has made a career out of being outrageous
and he is only doing what does best.

Second, this is the summer. Other candidates are just getting started and
(for them, at least) this is not the time to be making mistakes and saying
the wrong things. Rather, now is the time for the smaller events, the local
news coverage, the slow plodding visits and calls to raise money.

Third, there is in fact a constituency out there that is alienated and
angry. One that is looking for tough talk now, a reassertion of American
greatness in the world, an expression of outward resentment – what the
great historian Richard Hofstadter once called the “paranoid style in
American politics”. Trump has captured and captivated it for the moment.
But this is how you get to 17% or 18% (perhaps even 20%) in the polls. That
does not win an election even with so many candidates in the race. When
well over half of GOP voters say they disapprove of Mr. Trump and will
never vote for him, how does he grow? I suppose he can attack gays. There
are also Muslims and kids with disabilities. But a lot of that would be
duplicative. After all, if you hate Latinos, odds are you already fear
sharia law, gay couples, and tax money spent on special education.

Besides, does anyone really think Mr. Trump can sustain this outrageous
behavior for another year and a half? I for one don’t think we will be
talking about him in the fall of 2015. I am remembering Michele Bachman,
Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich. There are even more candidates this time
around who can be the GOP “Flavor of the Month.”

This summer, the circus marquis welcomes you to see and hear the
narcissistic bloviator who says the kinds of things you won’t hear anywhere
else. But look closely and the same sign will have a banner reading,
“Featuring Next Month…”

*UNDECLARED*

*OTHER*

*Seeing Crowd, G.O.P. Donors Holding Back
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/us/seeing-crowd-gop-donors-holding-back.html?_r=0>
// NYT // Nicholas Confessore & Sarah Cohen – July 18, 2015 *

Despite a wealth of choices in a crowded primary field, the vast majority
of high-level Republican donors and fund-raisers have not yet backed any
candidate financially, magnifying the importance of the coming debates as
the presidential hopefuls seek to impress potential backers.

Only about a fifth of the 1,000 or so fund-raisers and their spouses who
rallied around Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee in 2012, have given
money to any of the 2016 candidates, according to a New York Times review
of fund-raising records reported by the candidates last week.

Those who remain uncommitted — hundreds of volunteer “bundlers” who could
collect contributions from their friends and business associates —
represent a huge pool of untapped campaign cash, potentially hundreds of
millions of dollars, that could remake the primary campaign.

Some of the bundlers and donors said they had held back, in part, because
the field was the strongest they had seen in years, with several viable
contenders representing the party’s different generational and ideological
segments.

Unlike in 2012, when Mr. Romney dominated fund-raising even as he fought
off a series of insurgencies by more populist candidates, the affections of
many donors in 2016 are divided among three or four candidates. Others are
quietly weighing the impact of Donald J. Trump, who has jumped to the lead
in some national polls despite raising almost no money from the party’s
establishment.

“I haven’t committed to anyone at this point, and I’m not on the verge of
committing to anyone,” said Paul E. Singer, a hedge fund manager who is
among the most sought-after Republican bundlers in the country, at an
investment conference last week. “I think there are a number of candidates
that are smart, solid, good potential leaders, leaders and potential
leaders.”

The slow recruitment of major donors and bundlers is also a function,
several donors and Republican leaders said, of the candidates’ early
emphasis on raising money for “super PACs,” which tend to be funded by a
much smaller pool of extremely wealthy donors.

Note: Some contributions to Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham and Rand
Paul were made to their Senate campaigns before they became presidential
candidates. Data for John Kasich, Scott Walker, Chris Christie and Democrat
the Jim Webb is not yet available, so their donors are not known.

Source: New York Times analysis of Federal Election Commission data

Candidates cannot solicit the unlimited checks that fuel super PACs, and
several White House aspirants delayed entering the race this year and spent
the winter and spring securing commitments from mega-donors. One result:
Vast amounts of money are already flowing into the Republican race, but
mostly to super PACs, not candidates. Super PACs and outside groups backing
individual Republican candidates have raised about $230 million, while the
candidates took in just $64 million through the end of June.

“The super PAC donors were more important, to some extent eclipsing the
traditional world of hundreds of bundlers,” said Fred Malek, the finance
chairman of the Republican Governors Association. “The next quarter is
going to be hugely different.”

Mr. Romney’s financial operation raised $1 billion in 2012, more than any
Republican campaign in history, by combining those who raised money for
former President George W. Bush with hundreds of new Republican bundlers,
many of them from Wall Street. Some of Mr. Romney’s top bundlers, including
the Oklahoma energy executive Harold Hamm and Joseph W. Craft, the chief
executive of one of the country’s largest coal producers, have not yet
given to a Republican candidate in 2016.

The Times analyzed a list of Mr. Romney’s bundlers and their spouses that
USA Today assembled in 2012 with data from the Sunlight Foundation, which
tracks invitations to political fund-raisers, and the Federal Election
Commission, which requires that candidates disclose the names of registered
lobbyists who raise money for them.

Jeb Bush, the former president’s brother, appears to have won over the
largest share of Mr. Romney’s bundlers, with at least 120 donating to his
campaign. They include Brian Ballard, a Florida lobbyist, and Dan Loeb, a
hedge fund manager who shares Mr. Bush’s passion for education issues.

“Jeb’s record as a champion of parent choice and academic excellence is
unparalleled,” Mr. Loeb said in an email. “He understands that as a nation
we have a responsibility to even the playing field through education so
that every child has a chance at the American dream.”

Some bundlers are committed to Republicans who did not enter the race until
July and have not yet reported any fund-raising numbers, such as Gov. Scott
Walker of Wisconsin. An unknown number may have given to the candidates’
super PACs, which do not have to report their donors until the end of July.

Other bundlers, like Jenny Craig, the California-based diet guru, have
given to multiple candidates. Still others, like Frank VanderSloot, who
runs an Idaho-based health products company, are weighing the prospects of
two candidates they like.

“Frank VanderSloot is committed to helping both Marco Rubio and Scott
Walker get their messages out,” said Tony Lima, a spokesman for Mr.
VanderSloot. “He is engaged in that process.”

But the scramble for other major bundlers is a boon for candidates not
named Bush, several of whom are banking on the debates, which begin Aug. 6,
as a chance to prove their mettle and recruit new donors and fund-raisers.

Almost 50 Romney bundlers, among them Wayne Berman, an executive at the
Blackstone Group, and Harlan Crow, a Texas builder, have already given
money to Mr. Rubio, the Florida senator; 14 each have contributed to
Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina; and at
least 10, including the prominent New York hedge fund manager John Paulson,
have donated to Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of
Hewlett-Packard.

A separate analysis, looking at the top 250 donors to Republican candidates
and party organizations, showed a similar phenomenon: Fewer than 100 have
contributed to any of the 2016 candidates, according to the Times analysis.
Some of them have contributed to more than one candidate, indicating that
they are hedging their bets in what is likely to be a volatile and fiercely
fought campaign.

“I decided to give all of the ones I like the support, just in case they
made the primary,” said Elloine M. Clark, a Texas philanthropist who wrote
large checks to Mr. Cruz, Mr. Rubio, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Gov.
Bobby Jindal of Louisiana.

“I didn’t want to cut anybody out,” Ms. Clark added. “I want to see some
intelligent young people in the race.”

The Republican contenders are moving aggressively to tap that money. In
recent weeks, some have begun shifting from raising money for their super
PACs, which typically depend on a handful of ultra-wealthy donors, to their
campaigns, which require the help of hundreds of bundlers and thousands of
donors.

“As we talk to bundlers around the country, there is still a great pause
going on right now,” said Ray Washburne, the finance chairman for Gov.
Chris Christie of New Jersey. “There’s been no breakaway candidate, and
everyone is waiting to see the first debate.”

*On Republican Hopefuls’ Checklist: A Super PAC and Lots of Money
<http://www.wsj.com/articles/on-republican-hopefuls-checklist-a-super-pac-and-lots-of-money-1437300002>
// WSJ // Patrick O’connor and  Reid J. Epstein - July 19, 2015*

Expanding roles of super PACs, condensed nominating calendar are set to
transform 2016 primary campaigns; a well-positioned Jeb Bush

WASHINGTON—Some Republican presidential candidates could be in for sticker
shock.

Right to Rise, the super PAC supporting Jeb Bush, estimates it will cost
nearly $60 million just to run 10 days’ worth of advertising in each of the
first 30 primary states. And that price tag doesn’t include turning on the
lights of campaign offices and filling them with full-time staff dedicated
to identifying supporters and getting them out to vote on Election Day.

The expanding roles of super PACs and a condensed nominating calendar are
fundamentally transforming the way the 2016 primary campaign will be
conducted. Gone are the days when campaigns could just scrape together
enough money to advertise in Iowa and New Hampshire, and then count on an
early victory to spur an infusion of fresh contributions.

‘This is a new world with new rules.’

—Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich

Now, more than ever before, a premium is attached to amassing ahead of time
enough money for a mad dash through big states. Roughly 62% of the
delegates will be allotted in the first 52 days of voting, from February 1
through March 22. Eleven states hold nominating contests on March 1,
including Texas with its 20 media markets.

“This is a new world with new rules,” said former House Speaker Newt
Gingrich, who waged an unsuccessful White House bid in 2012. “You have lots
of candidates who are going to have super PACs and you’re going to have
many more well-funded candidates than you had in 2012.”

No Republican is better-positioned for this new era than Mr. Bush. Right to
Rise, which ended June with more than $98 million in the bank, is gearing
up for a big, multistate advertising push that will allow the group to run
ads in Minneapolis and Dallas when the rest of the field is fixated on
Manchester and Des Moines. The goal is to build such a big media presence
that other camps will struggle to keep pace.

“Gov. Bush has said that he is running to win and will do so by
communicating his conservative reform agenda across the country,” said Paul
Lindsay, a spokesman for Right to Rise. “We are planning a serious and
robust independent effort to help him achieve that goal and challenge
Hillary Clinton and the Democrats in the general election.”

Mr. Bush has raised a combined $114 million when his campaign cash is
combined with Right to Rise. While he’s ahead in the GOP money race, other
candidates are competitively positioned. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and a trio of
outside groups had raised a combined $52 million by the end of June to back
his candidacy. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and his aligned super PACs had
raised a total of $44 million.

Beyond media strategy, the new environment is changing traditional travel
itineraries. Candidates are already devoting more attention to later
primary contests, making regular stops in some of the 11 states with
primaries on March 1 as well as those that vote after them.

Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell said that four years ago no candidates
visited her office. ENLARGE

Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell said that four years ago no candidates
visited her office. PHOTO: ERIK SCHELZIG/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Four years ago, no candidates visited Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell.
This year, Mr. Bush has visited her office twice. Ohio Gov. John Kasich
stopped by last week, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee attended an
event for her in the spring. She is attending an event with Wisconsin Gov.
Scott Walker this week.

“Now, in the crowded primary, Tennessee is a plum state,” she said.

Three Republicans attended the Georgia Republican convention in June—New
Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Messrs. Cruz and Rubio—even though the event
fell on the same day as Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst’s pig roast in Boone. Messrs.
Cruz and Walker are expected back in Georgia next week.

“We haven’t seen this level of candidates coming through the state than I
can ever remember,” said Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, a
Republican who led efforts to create a so-called “SEC Primary” in which a
number of Southern states vote on March 1. (The contest is named after
college football’s Southeastern Conference.)

With 16 Republicans running and the polls muddled, many campaigns are
preparing for a longer-than-normal primary because of the strong
possibility that several candidates will split the first four nominating
contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

“They’re all concluding that you’re going to have three different winners
in the first three states,” said Erick Erickson, the conservative pundit
who helped organize a forum for GOP candidates in early August in Atlanta
that effectively replaces the once-dominant Iowa Straw Poll. “March 1 is
when you’re going to narrow it down to one or two.”

Because delegates will be allotted to candidates based on their percentage
of the vote until March 15, there is a chance the nomination remains up-for
grabs even after March 1. And the tight timeline means it will be difficult
for an underfunded candidate, like former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum
was in 2012, to score an early win and collect enough money to get up on
the air in those March 1 media markets.

Right to Rise spent weeks compiling advertising rates for individual media
markets in all 30 states that vote between Feb. 1 and March 22. They put
the cost of running ads for 10 days on the radio and on cable, broadcast
and satellite television in each state at $57 million. That total includes
$8.4 million for Texas alone.

The actual costs are bound to be much higher because television advertising
rates are likely to skyrocket with so many groups competing for time,
including the Democratic candidates. Mrs. Clinton’s campaign is already
reserving time on stations, as are other candidates.

TV stations must give candidates a low rate, but supply-and-demand will
dictate the cost for super PACs. In 2012, Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s
super PAC was charged $3,600 to air three 30-second ads during one New
Hampshire program; the Romney campaign paid half that for the same time.

The risk for all these candidates is that the wealthy benefactors financing
these groups may cut them off if they don’t catch on in the earliest voting
states. Even those Republicans with the most money may struggle to compete
in March if they lose every contest in February. Former New York City Mayor
Rudy Giuliani famously flamed out in 2008 when his campaign opted not to
compete in Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina.

“There are more super PACs that will have the funding to compete deeper
into the calendar and that will give candidates the option to stay in the
race longer,” said Carl Forti, who ran the super PAC for 2012 GOP nominee
Mitt Romney. “But you can’t underestimate momentum, and the press coverage
that will come from winning an early state can minimize the advantage of
money.”

*GOP contenders court evangelical vote in Iowa
<http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/republican-presidential-contenders-court-evangelical-vote-iowa/>
// AP – July 18, 2015 *

Republican presidential contenders seeking to woo evangelical voters are
making their case for conservative social issues at a gathering expected to
attract thousands of potential Iowa caucus-goers.

Ten candidates are scheduled to appear Saturday in Ames at the annual
Family Leadership Summit. No one seeking the GOP nomination has emerged as
a clear favorite among evangelical voters.

“They understand that this base has been very influential in past
caucuses,” said Bob Vander Plaats, president of the Family Leader, the
conservative organization sponsoring the event.

Vander Plaats, who has not endorsed any candidate in the 2016 race,
expressed concern that the Christian conservative vote might be split up
between multiple candidates, diluting its impact.

“The goal would be in this summit, and any subsequent venue or event, that
we would start recognizing a leader we could unite around and champion –
and try to get the person across the goal line,” he said.

Scheduled to attend are Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz,
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Louisiana
Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Arkansas Gov. Mike
Huckabee, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, retired neurosurgeon Ben
Carson and reality TV personality Donald Trump.

During the daylong event, the candidates will be questioned on stage by
political consultant Frank Luntz.

Iowa’s evangelical voters traditionally influence the state’s
first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses because they tend to be organized
and participate. Christian conservatives backed the winners of the last two
caucuses, Mike Huckabee in 2008 and Rick Santorum in 2012, but neither was
the eventual nominee.

Former Iowa Republican Party Chairman Matt Strawn said it was likely too
early for a leader to emerge among Christian conservatives. He also noted
that some of the candidates may have a wider draw.

“Not only are there considerable options within the Christian conservative
lane, but there are also those in that lane that demonstrate appeal to a
broader base,” he said.

*GOP's 2016 ad war slowly heating up
<http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/18/politics/election-2016-gop-tv-ad/> // CNN //
Tom LoBianco – July 18, 2015 *

Dollar days at the local Ford dealer are about to get pushed out by
heartwarming tales of Gov. John Kasich's mailman father and Gov. Rick
Perry's humble start as an Eagle Scout.

The stories candidates want to tell about their everyman roots, played out
in gauzy, 30-second blips, are about to take over airwaves in Iowa, New
Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

There are 15 candidates so far officially seeking the Republican
nomination. And every one of them wants to get on the air. Only the top 10
contenders, as determined by an average of national polls, will make it on
stage for the first Republican debate, just a few weeks from now, and
candidates are scrambling to make the cut.

"I am tired of hyphenated Americans. We are not Indian-Americans or
African-Americans, or Asian Americans, we're all Americans," intones
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, in his own twist on the typical candidate
introduction spot, which features clips of his family. Jindal has been
pacing himself on TV throughout Iowa for more than a month now.

Jindal, Perry and Kasich didn't crack 5% support among Republicans in the
most recent CNN / ORC poll, released late in June.

So far, the top tier is holding back. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, whose
supporters touted an eye-popping $114 million haul, and Wisconsin Gov.
Scott Walker, who formalized his candidacy this week, have yet to begin
unloading on-air.

Sen. Marco Rubio, who's sitting at the front of the GOP pack with Bush and
Walker, made a surprise move last month, spending $10 million to flood the
airwaves -- not now, but beginning in November, in the thick of the primary
fight.

According to federal filings for WMUR in New Hampshire, Rubio will grace
"Live with Kelly and Michael" and "The View" through the morning, before
book-ending the mid-day news. Then the afternoon is booked with spots
airing with "General Hospital," "The Chew" and "Who Wants to be a
Millionaire." Finally, ABC primetime viewers get their final dose of Rubio
during the nightly news and "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

Kasich's supporters paid for a $1.7 million Hail Mary that went up on air
last weekend in New Hampshire. In it, the often-blunt and sometimes prickly
veteran politico talks about his upbringing over a light piano soundtrack
and clips from smalltown America.

"My dad carried mail on his back. They called him 'John the Mailman.' They
loved him because he looked out for everyone in those neighborhoods,"
Kasich, who has not yet officially announced his candidacy for president,
said in the ads. "I learned something from my father: Do your best to look
out for other people."

And Christie, who's launching a come-from-behind bid in the Granite State,
is planning to spend $1.1 million in combined online and on-air advertising
beginning next week.

For candidates looking to get a leg up, buying up ads early can help them
find a foothold in the wide, wide field of big-name Republicans, said Greg
Moore, state director for Americans for Prosperity-New Hampshire.

The name of the game, he said, is building name identification among
possible voters.

"If you're trying to catch a wave, people have to know who you are before
you grab a surfboard," Moore said.

Craig Robinson, editor of The Iowa Republican website and a veteran
campaigner, said he's been impressed by the early consistency from Perry
and Jindal.

"Thus far it's been a Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal kinda air war," Robinson
said. "It's been those two who have really been on TV and have had a
prolonged presence."

The question for both, however, will be whether they can maintain their
pace throughout the year, he said. The stakes, in the Republican pack, are
holding onto territory and even carving a slice of land, at least one large
enough to appear on stage for the first Republican debates.

"For Perry, he needs to hold onto his debate spot. For Jindal, he needs to
break into that," Robinson said.

Moore is watching for most ads to start in earnest around September, when
schools are back in and families have returned from vacation. Once airtime
in Manchester has been snatched up, look for the candidates (and their
affiliated super PACs) to begin buying in the Boston market, which covers
southern New Hampshire.

Mike Schreurs, a veteran Republican buyer in Iowa who has advised Sen.
Chuck Grassley since 1974, noted that some candidates haven't had to spend
heavily yet because they're already getting plenty of exposure on their
own, through "earned media."

Others, like retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, have been making effective
use of radio advertising, Schreurs said. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly
Fiorina could be the next candidate hitting the radio.

Full-blown political saturation of the airwaves hasn't happened yet, but
Schreurs noted that could change in a minute once one of the big names like
Walker or Bush begin unloading on air.

"I think that's all going to change soon," he said.

*TOP NEWS*

*DOMESTIC*

*Ku Klux Klan and New Black Panther Party Protest at South Carolina Capitol
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/us/ku-klux-klanprotests-at-south-carolina-capitol.html?ref=us>
// NYT // Alan Binder – July 18, 2015 *

With police officers watching from nearby rooftops and a din of racial
slurs heard on the pavement below, members of the Ku Klux Klan and the New
Black Panther Party appeared at dueling rallies outside the South Carolina
State House on Saturday, eight days after officials here removed the
Confederate battle flag from the Capitol grounds.

Despite sporadic scuffles and hours of inflammatory rhetoric from white and
black demonstrators alike, the authorities largely maintained order and
prevented any significant violence. The police made five arrests, and the
South Carolina Department of Public Safety estimated that the State House
crowd, including onlookers, had at one point swelled to about 2,000 people.
They chanted — or at least heard — volleys of incendiary speech and shouts
of “white power!” and “black power!”

Excerpts From the Confederate Flag Debate in the South Carolina HouseJULY
8, 2015

Bystanders watched people wave flags celebrating Pan-Africanism, the
Confederacy and the Nazi Party. And they watched as black demonstrators
raised clenched fists, and white demonstrators performed Nazi salutes.

Much of the day’s drama was on the south side of the State House, near a
statue of former Senator Strom Thurmond, where a few dozen people
associated with the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan held a
demonstration. A Columbia newspaper, The State, reported that it was the
first Klan rally outside the State House since the late 1980s.

Saturday’s protesters, who were predominantly men, did not don the Klan’s
traditional white hoods and robes. Even as they denied being members of a
hate group, their message was a relentless one of white supremacy.

“This is my country,” one shouted at a group of black onlookers. “My
ancestors founded this country!”

“Peace is over with,” said William Bader, who said he was a Kentucky
resident and the imperial wizard of the Trinity White Knights of the Ku
Klux Klan. “There is no peace.”

Mr. Bader, who said he planned to wear his Klan regalia for a cross burning
on Saturday night, added, “What do I want to see happen? White revolution
is the only solution.”

But on Saturday afternoon, Mr. Bader and the other demonstrators who
championed a vision of white supremacy were vastly outnumbered as they
protested for an hour in a barricaded area of the State House grounds and
sometimes became involved in angry shouting matches with black people in
the crowd.

There were physical altercations beyond the barricades, but police officers
resolved them quickly. When the protest ended and the white demonstrators
began to march away around 4 p.m., state troopers with long guns, as well
as a Sheriff’s Department tactical team, helped to clear a path.

It barely worked. Hundreds of Klan critics followed the white demonstrators
to a nearby parking garage, and the authorities had to block roads so the
protesters could leave. One driver, besieged by a crowd of protesters that
ran toward the departing vehicles, crashed into a lamppost.

Some of the white people who circulated in the crowd before the Klan rally
said they were drawn to the protests by a blend of curiosity and support
for preserving Southern history.

“We’re not allowed to have this as a heritage,” Jerry Anderson, a
49-year-old white man who drove here from northwest Georgia, said as he
gestured toward another man’s Confederate battle flag. “But they can fly
theirs, and they can say what they want to, and it’s O.K.”

Mr. Anderson said he had never attended a Klan event, adding: “I’ve never
had a reason to go to one. But they take that away and holler that we’re
the racists, so, yeah, I’m here.”

By attending, people like Mr. Anderson defied Gov. Nikki R. Haley, a
Republican, who on Thursday asked South Carolinians to keep “away from the
disruptive, hateful spectacle members of the Ku Klux Klan hope to create
over the weekend.”

Earlier on Saturday, a rally organized by Black Educators for Justice, a
Florida-based group with ties to the former director of the New Black
Panther Party, attracted a smaller crowd and a far less conspicuous police
presence. Among the speakers was the chairman of the New Black Panther
Party, Hashim Nzinga, who made little mention of the June 17 massacre of
nine black people at Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal
Church. Instead, he argued that blacks must offer renewed and vigorous
resistance to what he regards as generations of oppression.

“Do what you need to do now before your coffin,” Mr. Nzinga said as a sign
nearby urged “death to the K.K.K.”

Mr. Nzinga found a receptive crowd, including Charles Goins, a 36-year-old
truck driver who held the red, black and green flag of Pan-Africanism. Mr.
Goins flatly and frequently said he did not expect the day’s rallies to aid
in race relations, but he said they could inspire blacks in South Carolina
to demand greater equality.

“If anything, this will unify black people because we’re tired of being
stepped on. We’re tired of being pushed around,” he said. “This is not the
’50s or the ’60s.”

But the crowds, which brought downtown Columbia traffic to a halt on a
sweltering day, eventually dissipated, especially once the Klan supporters
had been escorted from the area.

*INTERNATIONAL*

*ISIS Says It Carried Out Bombing That Killed 100 in Iraq
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/world/middleeast/isis-says-it-carried-out-bombing-that-killed-100-in-iraq.html?ref=world>
// NYT // Anne Barnard – July 18, 2015 *

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a bombing in eastern
Iraq, and Iraqi officials on Saturday said the death toll had risen to 100,
with 20 more missing and more than 100 wounded.

The bomb tore through a marketplace on Friday as shoppers prepared for a
major Muslim holiday in Khan Bani Saad, a mostly Shiite town about 12 miles
from Baquba, the capital of Diyala Province.

Government troops and Shiite militias months ago wrested back parts of the
province from the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and Daesh, its Arabic
acronym.

The attack was a blow to the unity and optimism that Iraqi officials have
sought to project as they mount a new offensive to drive the militants out
of Anbar Province, to the west. The government has struggled to oust the
group, more than a year after Islamic State fighters seized large areas of
northern and western Iraq.

In a statement claiming responsibility for the blast, the Islamic State,
which has often singled out Shiites as targets, declared that the bombing
was revenge for what it called a massacre of Sunnis in the town of Hawija,
farther north.

The statement may have been referring to an episode in March, during a
battle that eventually drove the Islamic State from the central city of
Tikrit. Residents of Hawija reported at the time that dozens of Islamic
State fighters had been killed by their commanders for trying to flee the
battlefield.

It is not unusual for conflicting accounts of clashes to emerge. There have
also been cases of indiscriminate killings by some Shiite militias in areas
that they have taken back from the Islamic State.

The militant group also claimed in its statement that the bomb had hit “a
gathering of Shiite militias.” But Iraqi officials said that many
civilians, including women and children, were killed or wounded in the
blast.

The Islamic State, which follows an extremist interpretation of Sunni
Islam, views Shiites as apostates and has often attacked Shiite civilians.
Its statement declared that it used three tons of explosives to kill and
wound more than 180 “apostates.”

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement that the Islamic State
was attacking civilians in response to recent government advances.

“The terrorist criminal gangs of Daesh committed a heinous crime targeting
civilians in Khan Bani Saad after the victories achieved by our heroic
forces in various places, and the Anbar operation is part of it,” he said.

The bomb struck as people were shopping for Eid al-Fitr, the end of the
holy month of Ramadan. Sunni Muslims generally celebrated the holiday a day
earlier.

The police and health officials said that in addition to the dead, at least
133 people were wounded in the blast. Identifying the dead was a
painstaking task because many bodies were dismembered, the officials said.

It was the most deadly bombing in the area since the American invasion of
Iraq in 2003, said Khudhur al-Ubaidi, the secretary of the Diyala
provincial council, adding that the death toll was expected to rise because
“most of the injured are in critical condition, and more bodies are still
under the rubble.”

Bombings have been a terrifying commonplace in Iraq since long before the
Islamic State existed in its current form. They often struck at Shiite
religious gatherings, but also hit marketplaces with shoppers of all sects,
throughout the American occupation and the years of sectarian infighting
that peaked in 2006 and 2007.

In recent years, car bombs and suicide bombs have been the militants’
weapons of choice for attacks in government-held areas.

*Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Says Nuclear Deal Won’t Change U.S. Ties
<http://www.wsj.com/articles/irans-ayatollah-ali-khamenei-says-nuclear-deal-wont-change-u-s-ties-1437202111>
// WSJ // Aresu Eqbali – July 18, 2015 *

Iran will uphold its anti-American policies and continue to support
regional allies inimical to Western interests, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei said Saturday, days after Tehran and six world powers struck a
landmark nuclear deal that renewed hopes of improved ties between longtime
adversaries.

“Our policy regarding the arrogant U.S. government will not change,” Mr.
Khamenei said in a televised address to mark Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim feast
day at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. “We don’t have any
negotiations or deal with the U.S. on different issues in the world or the
region.”

Mr. Khamenei said the country wouldn’t surrender to excessive demands, and
vowed not to change Iran’s policy of supporting regional allies that the
U.S. and Israel oppose.

Iran provides vital support for the Syrian regime, Hezbollah in Lebanon and
Shiite militias in Iraq, among other groups.

“Whether [the deal is] ratified or not, we will not give up on our friends
in the region,” Mr. Khamenei said.

The comments were the most detailed from Mr. Khamenei since the nuclear
deal was struck Tuesday. The hard-line cleric’s views are being closely
watched because he has the final say in most matters of state and could
still back out of the agreement.

While Mr. Khamenei was equivocal about the deal’s ultimate success, he also
hailed it as a win for Iran in a decadelong struggle to preserve its
nuclear achievements, including thousands of centrifuges that enrich
uranium.

He didn’t explicitly reject its provisions, nor did he fully embrace the
deal, an ambiguity that appeared to both play to his hard-line base and
appeal to Iranians who support the negotiations. A majority of Iranians
supported the deal, according to a poll conducted in May by the University
of Tehran and IranPoll.com.

“After 10 to 12 years of struggle with the Islamic republic, they have no
other way today but to tolerate the spinning of a few thousand centrifuges
in the country, the continuation of this industry and research and
development,” Mr. Khamenei said.

Iran’s nuclear deal with six world powers—the U.S., the U.K., France,
Germany, Russia and China—puts curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for
the removal of sanctions that have reduced its oil exports and hurt its
economy.

The U.S., the EU and the United Nations imposed the sanctions over
suspicions that Iran sought to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Iran has
always denied.

Mr. Khamenei’s insistence that Iran’s policy toward the U.S. wouldn’t
change appeared to run counter to recent suggestions by top government
officials that the deal could be a springboard for closer cooperation
against common threats, including Islamic State extremists in Iraq and
Syria.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, who spearheaded Iran’s negotiations,
said in an Eid message Friday that he hoped the nuclear deal could bring
about better regional and international collaboration. President Hassan
Rouhani, a pragmatic moderate, has articulated a foreign policy of
engagement based on mutual respect since his election in 2013.

Mutual distrust between Iran and the U.S. dates to the Iranian revolution
in 1979, which ousted the U.S.-backed Shah Reza Pahlavi and ushered in the
Islamic government in place today.

Chants of “Death to America” have since been a regular refrain during
government gatherings and Friday prayers, and hard-liners often refer to
the U.S. as “the great Satan,” a phrase coined by Iran’s first Supreme
Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Despite the nuclear deal’s finalization on Tuesday, it still faces hurdles
both in Iran and the U.S.

In Iran, the parliament and the Supreme National Security Council, a body
over which Mr. Khamenei has control, must sign off. But it is ultimately
Mr. Khamenei whose decision counts.

The U.S. Congress also has 60 days to weigh in on the deal. If lawmakers
pass a resolution disapproving the deal and President Barack Obama vetoes
it, a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate is required to override
the veto. Mr. Obama can still implement the deal if Congress can’t override
his veto.

Since the deal was signed, Mr. Obama’s administration has been fending off
opposition in Congress while trying to assure the U.S.’s Gulf Arab allies
that they won’t be abandoned in Washington’s mending of ties with Tehran.

In a speech following the deal, Mr. Obama said the accord wouldn’t resolve
all the U.S.’s differences with Iran, and that sanctions imposed over the
country’s human rights record would stay in place. But he said the deal
also “offers an opportunity to move in a new direction” toward tolerance
and peace.

The predominantly Sunni Muslim Gulf countries, led by Saudi Arabia, are
skeptical of the deal because they see Shiite Iran as their most potent
regional rival.

Mr. Obama met Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Adel al-Jubeir, on Friday to
discuss the Iran deal and other regional issues, according to a White House
statement.