Subject: Correct The Record Saturday August 2, 2014 Roundup
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2014 12:06:18 -0400
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

**

*Correct The Record Saturday August 2, 2014 Roundup:*

[Click here to see Burns Strider discuss how Correct The
Record is defending Sec. Clinton from the right-wing attack machine on the
conservative Christian Broadcasting Network.]
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK5Z-GEdKE4&feature=youtu.be>

*Headlines:*

*Centre Daily Times (P.A.): “Ready for Hillary? Bus tour aiming to gauge,
build support for Clinton White House run stops at Penn State campus”
<http://www.centredaily.com/2014/08/01/4288448/ready-for-hillary-bus-tour-aims.html>*

“The Hillary Bus, the mobile unit for the support movement Ready for
Hillary, made a stop on the Penn State campusFriday, and supporters handed
out posters, bumper stickers and buttons in an effort to ensure Clinton
finds the support she needs if she decides to run for the Oval Office.”

*Washington Post blog: GovBeat: “Iowa Democrats propose changes to caucus
system”
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/08/01/iowa-democrats-propose-changes-to-caucus-system/>*

“The Iowa caucuses are about to become more convenient for Democratic
voters who can’t take time off work or who are serving overseas, under
proposals offered by the state Democratic Party on Friday.”

*National Journal: “Rand Paul Rips Hillary Clinton: Not 'Fit to Lead the
Country'”
<http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/rand-paul-rips-hillary-clinton-not-fit-to-lead-the-country-20140801>*

“Sen. Rand Paul delivered an unusually harsh rebuke of Hillary Clinton in
Kentucky on Friday night, declaring that his potential 2016 rival is not
‘fit to lead the country.’”

*Newsmax: “Sherrod Brown a Serious Alternative to Hillary”
<http://www.newsmax.com/GeorgeWill/2016-Elections/2014/08/01/id/586235/>*

“If Ohio's senior senator were named Sharon Brown instead of Sherrod Brown,
progressives would have a plausible political pin-up and a serious
alternative to the tawdry boredom of Hillary Clinton's joyless plod toward
her party's presidential nomination.”

*MSNBC: “Has Cuomo taken the Clinton playbook too far?”
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/andrew-cuomo-lost-while-using-bill-clinton-playbook>*

“Unlike Bill Clinton, Cuomo’s political mentor, who has found plenty of
friends to stand behind him when the going got rough, Cuomo’s defenders
have been more isolated and tepid.”

*Articles:*

*Centre Daily Times (P.A.): “Ready for Hillary? Bus tour aiming to gauge,
build support for Clinton White House run stops at Penn State campus”
<http://www.centredaily.com/2014/08/01/4288448/ready-for-hillary-bus-tour-aims.html>*

By Jeremy Hartley

August 1, 2014

She may not even be a candidate yet, but that hasn’t stopped people from
drumming up support for a Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign.

The Hillary Bus, the mobile unit for the support movement Ready for
Hillary, made a stop on the Penn State campusFriday, and supporters handed
out posters, bumper stickers and buttons in an effort to ensure Clinton
finds the support she needs if she decides to run for the Oval Office.

The Ready for Hillary campaign is a “nationwide grass-roots movement
encouraging the former secretary of state to run for president in 2016,”
according to the campaign’s website. The bus has been following the former
first lady while she tours the country promoting her memoir, “Hard Choices.”

People of all ages quickly gathered around the bus, grabbing up Clinton
“swag” and taking selfies while providing their information to be called on
if Clinton throws her hat in the race.

“Wow! Almost didn’t have enough clipboards for today’s Penn State stop!”
the Hillary Bus tweeted from its official Twitter account.

Despite age differences, the attendees shared their hope that Clinton would
step into the presidential race.

“I have friends who are Republican women who are solidly for Hillary,” said
Vicki Smith, of State College. “I think people realize now we have a lot of
people in Congress who aren’t doing anything, but she’s been there. She’s
done a lot.”

Vicki Sutton, also of State College, said, “She has a lot more gravitas”
than any of the other potential candidates.

Kaitlyn Warner, 17, Caela Camazine, 17, and Meredith Tillotson, 18, all of
State College, said they were big Clinton supporters — and they all will
eligible to vote in a presidential election for the first time in 2016.

“(Clinton) appeals to a ton of different demographics,” Camazine said. She
also said it was important for younger voters to be aware of the issues.
“We’re the people voting. We have to make informed decisions,” she said.

“I think a lot of people aren’t thinking about it yet, because it seems so
far away,” Tillotson said. “The more involved you are, the more you know,
the more informed you’ll be to make a better decision.”

The Hillary Bus started its tour in early June, according to communications
director Seth Bringman, who has been riding with the bus since the
beginning. The tour kicked off with an event in Iowa and has been following
Clinton ever since.

“We’ve held events like these,” Bringman said, “but also happy hours and
house parties. We’re also active on Twitter.”

The bus acts as a mobile billboard for Clinton along the highway and at
rest stops, he said.

Before the Penn State stop, it was in Pittsburgh, he said, and was
scheduled to be in Harrisburg on Friday night. ComeMonday, the group plans
to park outside the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia and campaign during
that night’s Katy Perry concert.

The goal of the trip is to show Clinton all the support she has across the
country, Bringman said. “We do that through social media, through the
press, through pictures and sheer numbers.

“If she decides to run, she’ll have millions of supporters behind her from
the first day.”

Bringman said the campaign is all about tapping into the energy of the
voters and harnessing that enthusiasm to help Clinton run.

“It’s been a fun adventure,” he said, “meeting people across the country
and seeing the enthusiasm for Hillary.”

*Washington Post blog: GovBeat: “Iowa Democrats propose changes to caucus
system”
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/08/01/iowa-democrats-propose-changes-to-caucus-system/>*

By Reid Wilson

August 1, 2014, 2:28 p.m. EDT

The Iowa caucuses are about to become more convenient for Democratic voters
who can’t take time off work or who are serving overseas, under proposals
offered by the state Democratic Party on Friday.

The new rules would establish a statewide precinct for any Iowans serving
in the military, who could cast their votes by telephone. It remains
unclear, however, how the party will coordinate with the Defense Department
to ensure servicemen and women could participate from bases abroad.

Satellite caucus locations would be established for those with
disabilities, and the party will hire a special employee tasked with
picking caucus locations that are wheelchair accessible.

And the party said it would lobby the governor — Gov. Terry Branstad (R) is
heavily favored for re-election this November – and the state legislature
to pass new regulations requiring employers to let their workers take time
off to participate in caucuses.

Iowa Democratic Party chairman Scott Brennan delivered the proposed
modifications to the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws
Committee, which is meeting Friday in Washington. The new proposal will be
formally submitted as part of the state’s delegate selection process in
2015.

Current rules require Iowa Democrats to show up to their local precinct at
a certain time on a certain night. Typically, turnout at a caucus is much
lower than in a primary; in 2008, 239,000 people showed up to cast their
votes in Democratic caucuses, while 284,000 voted in the New Hampshire
primary a week later, even though Iowa has about twice New Hampshire’s
population.

The changes, aimed at increasing participation in the 2016 caucuses, are
widely seen as an appeal to former secretary of state Hillary Rodham
Clinton, who came in third place in the 2008 caucuses. Clinton’s campaign
had contemplated skipping the Iowa caucuses, and in her concession speech
she highlighted the fact that military members and late-night workers —
like those in the health care industry — couldn’t attend.

Clinton’s allies have been closely watching the machinations behind the
2016 presidential nominating process as she considers whether to run.
Harold Ickes, a longtime Clinton hand, joined the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws
Committee, where he served for years, last August.

But one thing that won’t change is when caucus-goers get to vote: There
will still be a set time the caucuses begin, rather than staggered times or
alternative forms of voting.

The state party said it would not recommend allowing people to vote in the
caucuses by proxy. In prepared testimony to the DNC panel, Brennan will say
the party didn’t want to create what he will call “super caucus goers,” a
person carrying multiple proxies whose vote would, in effect, be worth more
than others. Brennan will also say the party considered, but rejected, the
idea of absentee ballots, which would erode “the sense of community that
makes our caucuses so special.”

“The Iowa Caucuses are democracy in its purest form, and the ideas outlined
will help make this great process even better,” Brennan said in a statement.

Every four years, Iowa’s caucuses must fend off challenges from other
states eager for the spotlight and stature that comes with being among the
first presidential nominating contests.

The state’s representatives to the Democratic and Republican national
committees have both formed alliances with representatives from other early
contest states — New Hampshire, South Carolina and, to a lesser degree,
Nevada — to defend their position. Representatives from other states have
spent decades proposing and debating new primary systems, some of which
would allow states the opportunity to go first on a rotating basis, though
none have garnered enough support.

*National Journal: “Rand Paul Rips Hillary Clinton: Not 'Fit to Lead the
Country'”
<http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/rand-paul-rips-hillary-clinton-not-fit-to-lead-the-country-20140801>*

By Shane Goldmacher

August 1, 2014

[Subtitle:] The Republican attacks his potential 2016 opponent over both
her wealth and handling of Benghazi.

Marshall County, Ky. – Sen. Rand Paul delivered an unusually harsh rebuke
of Hillary Clinton in Kentucky on Fridaynight, declaring that his potential
2016 rival is not "fit to lead the country."

Paul, who is laying the groundwork to run for president in 2016, began his
speech by mockingly saying he was losing sleep over Clinton's money woes.
Clinton, who is far atop the polls among potential 2016 Democratic
candidates, had said during her recent book tour that she and President
Clinton left the White House "dead broke."

Paul facetiously asked the crowd to observe "a moment of silence" for her
finances.

"Somebody must have been praying for her," the Republican said seconds
later, "because she's now worth 100, 200 million. I tell you it was really
tough giving those speeches."

At least, Paul jabbed, she didn't have to suffer alone: "She had her limo
driver with her for the last 17 years to commiserate."

"I hope she can deal with only 100 million [dollars]," he added. "I
certainly wish that maybe she becomes preoccupied with something else
because I don't think she's fit to lead the country."

Paul's red-meat speech came before several hundred GOP activists gathered
in a converted indoor tennis court in far western Kentucky. It could be a
warm-up act for Iowa, the state that kicks off the 2016 presidential
nominating process, where Paul is headed next week.

Here in Marshall County, the Kentucky GOP crowd cheered repeatedly over
their plates of fried catfish and baked beans.

Paul attacked his potential Democratic rival at length for her handling of
security at the embassy in Benghazi, Libya, where the U.S. ambassador and
three other Americans were killed in 2012. Clinton was secretary of state
at the time.

She treated the embassy "as if it were Paris. Benghazi's not Paris.
Benghazi is a lot like Baghdad," he said.

Paul lashed out at Clinton, a more hawkish Democrat, even as his
libertarian-infused international perspective has put him at odds with much
of the traditional GOP foreign-policy establishment.

In Benghazi, Paul blamed Clinton for ignoring requests for a plane and
additional security, citing all the other things the State Department had
purchased during that time: "$100,000 for an electrical charging station"
in Vienna, "$650,000 on Facebook ads," and "$700,000 on landscaping for the
Brussels embassy," among them.

And Paul said the excuse that her deputies handled requests from Benghazi
was no excuse at all.

"If you don't read the cables from one of the most dangerous spots on
earth, frankly, you preclude yourself from ever being our commander in
chief," Paul declared.

*Newsmax: “Sherrod Brown a Serious Alternative to Hillary”
<http://www.newsmax.com/GeorgeWill/2016-Elections/2014/08/01/id/586235/>*

By George Wall

August 1, 2014, 8:37 a.m. EDT

If Ohio's senior senator were named Sharon Brown instead of Sherrod Brown,
progressives would have a plausible political pin-up and a serious
alternative to the tawdry boredom of Hillary Clinton's joyless plod toward
her party's presidential nomination.

Drop one of Brown's consonants and change another, and a vowel, and we
might be spared the infatuation of what Howard Dean called "the Democratic
wing of the Democratic Party" for Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Sherrod Brown won't be considered because the Democratic Party's activist
core is incurably devoted to identity politics — the proposition that
people are whatever their gender is (or their race or ethnicity or sexual
orientation or whatever seems stupendously important at the moment). And
the party's base seems determined to nominate and elect a woman, thereby
proving that what has occurred in Britain, Germany, Israel, India,
Argentina, Brazil, Chile and other nations can happen here.

Feel the excitement.

Brown, however, looks, sounds and acts like a real, as opposed to faculty
club, leftist. Although he is a Yale graduate, he has the rumpled look and
hoarse voice of someone who spent last night on Paris barricades, exhorting
"Les Miserables" to chuck cobblestones at the forces defending property.

And he is not just talk.

Last summer, before the botched rollout of HealthCare.gov, and the rest of
the continuing cascade of Barack Obama's debacles, there occurred a
little-noted episode that was a harbinger of the president's coming
difficulties.

It was then clear that Obama's preferred choice to replace Ben Bernanke as
chairman of the Federal Reserve Board was not Janet Yellen but Larry
Summers, who many Democratic senators opposed.

Some may have been hostile because Summers' abrasive manner offended
senatorial self-esteem.

Others, however, were opposed because of policy rather than vanity: They
thought that as Bill Clinton's treasury secretary and as Obama's principal
economic adviser, Summers had been insufficiently adversarial toward big
financial institutions, from some of which he had found remunerative
employments since leaving government.

One Democratic senator quickly got 20 colleagues to sign a letter
expressing support for Janet Yellen, thereby compelling Obama to retreat on
his exercise of a core presidential power, that of making nominations.

The impudent perpetrator of this act of lese-majeste was Brown, who said
that given more time he could have gotten the signatures of up to 27
members of the Democratic caucus.

He has sponsored legislation to codify, with caps on insured deposits, the
principle that a bank too big to fail is too big to exist.

He is impeccably wrong, meaning progressive, about free trade.

He is for fair trade, aka protectionism disguised in Peck sniffian
sanctimony demanding that less-developed nations adopt stronger labor and
environmental standards. And in 2012, a sign outside the Ohio Democratic
Party headquarters proclaimed "Only vehicles assembled by union workers in
North America are welcome in this parking lot."

As a congressman on the House Committee on International Relations in 2003
he, unlike Sen. Clinton, was impeccably right in opposing what became the
worst foreign policy blunder in U.S. history, the invasion of Iraq. He was
unpersuaded by the supposed evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction,
and said President George W. Bush had not answered questions about the
war's cost, the occupation, and probable Iraqi civilian deaths (which
turned out to be more than 125,000).

Warren's status as the progressives' heartthrob stems from the
theatricality with which she has alighted upon the obvious with a sense of
original discovery, and has studiously not drawn the obvious but
inconvenient conclusion.

She is incandescent with fury about the fact, which it certainly is, that
big government is a tireless servant of the strong.

She is scandalized by the process by which the regulatory state,
progressivism's achievement, is manipulated by those sufficiently affluent,
articulate and confident to hire manipulative lawyers and lobbyists.

In 1996, Bill Clinton ran for re-election promising to "build a bridge to
the 21st century."

Today, here comes Hillary Clinton, trailing clouds of seediness and
promising to build a bridge back to the 20th century, promising, evidently,
restoration of the 1990s prosperity based on commercialization of the
Internet.

Asked recently about marijuana, she said she was about to commit radical
candor.

She proceeded to say we should "wait and see" what happens where it is
legalized.

Are progressives so preoccupied with gender that they prefer Clinton's
risk-averse careerism, or Warren's astonished tantrums about the obvious
dynamics of big government, to Brown's authentic progressivism? Yes.

*MSNBC: “Has Cuomo taken the Clinton playbook too far?”
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/andrew-cuomo-lost-while-using-bill-clinton-playbook>*

By Alex Seitz-Wald

August 2, 2014, 10:09 a.m. EDT

To Andrew Cuomo’s long-shot Democratic primary opponent, the most
surprising response to the explosive new ethics allegations against the New
York governor is the lack of response. “What’s so striking is this
deafening silence,” says Zephyr Teachout, the Fordham Law professor who is
running to Cuomo’s left in the September primary.

The silence runs in two directions. Teachout is dismayed by the absence of
cries for investigation into a New York Times report that Cuomo tampered
with a supposedly independent commission he created to investigate
corruption in Albany. “It’s the best evidence that we have an old-boy
network in this state,” she told msnbc.

Equally conspicuous is the dearth of strong public support for the governor
from within Cuomo’s own party. Unlike Bill Clinton, Cuomo’s political
mentor, who has found plenty of friends to stand behind him when the going
got rough, Cuomo’s defenders have been more isolated and tepid.

Cuomo looked up to former President Clinton almost as much as he did his
own governor-father. But the younger Cuomo’s current predicament is a
lesson in what can happen to an ambitious Democrat who pushes the Clinton
strategy of triangulation to the breaking point, keeping one eye on the
White House while losing sight of the base.

The most obvious culprit of Cuomo’s troubles is his aggressive style.
“Everyone here is afraid of him,” said one Democratic strategist,
explaining why he (like several others who spoke to msnbc) asked that his
name not be used.

What looked to voters like ruthlessly pragmatic problem-solving in better
times now takes on the darker cast of shady backroom power politics. “His
style is an asset until it’s a liability,” said a former aide, who also
asked not to be named.

If Cuomo turns around to find he’s been abandoned, it may be because he’s
earned a reputation of kneecapping the people who are supposed to be his
friends when he perceives a threat. As secretary of housing and urban
development, Cuomo allegedly tried to intimidate the department’s inspector
general, according to a harassment complaint she filed.

His predecessor, Eliot Spitzer, one of a long list of New York Democrats
who have tangled with Cuomo, once called him “the dirtiest, nastiest
political player out there.” Cuomo has fought with Attorney General Eric
Schneiderman over control of a Wall Street settlement worth more than $600
million, organized a public rally against New York City Mayor Bill
DeBlasio’s education policy, and made a deal with Senate Republicans that
many Democrats say sabotaged the party from holding a majority in the upper
change.

But to liberal Democrats in the state, his bigger crimes are ideological.

On one hand, Cuomo has vigorously pursued a progressive social agenda on
issues like gay marriage and gun control. On the other hand, he’s staked
out a fairly conservative approach to the economy, fighting to cut taxes,
reduce the size of government, and reform education against against the
will of organized labor. “These are Reagan policies, these are not
Democratic policies,” says Teachout.

He’s been a favorite of Manhattan moneymen, some of whom have warm memories
of his father, and has taken money from liberal boogeyman David Koch and
GOP mega-donor Ken Langone, who started the group Republicans for Cuomo.

Cuomo’s not-so-secret grand strategy has been to drive up his numbers with
conservatives in the state so that he may one day sell himself to a
national audience as a pragmatic Third Way Democrat in the mold of his
political mentor, Clinton.

But Cuomo is from New York, not Arkansas, so to keep liberals on board he’s
directed their focus to his social policy achievements. “Other states look
to New York for the progressive direction,” he said after the state passed
same-sex marriage.

While liberal voters have been mostly happy with Cuomo, resentment among
progressive activists came to a head this spring after a contentious budget
process, when the labor-backed Working Families Party threatened to
withhold their endorsement. The party ultimately relented after a heated
internal struggle, but tensions with the left remained when the Times
investigation dropped.

“Andrew Cuomo is dying by the sword he lived by,” says Richard Brodsky, a
Democrat who served 14 terms in the State Assembly and has known Cuomo for
30 years. “There was an ideological bedmaking here that has left him with a
significant primary opponent and a charge of ideological impurity.”

When support from his party has come, it’s been sporadic and somewhat
tepid. “I see the argument that it was the governor’s commission, it was
staffed by him, and they served at his pleasure,” said Democratic Senate
minority leader Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, echoing – but not exactly
endorsing – the governor’s response to the allegations.

New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio, who served with Cuomo in the Clinton
administration, called the governor “a person of high integrity,” but also
said that the controversy is “not something I know a lot about.”

The question remains, however, whether voters will care. A Siena College
poll from mid-July found Cuomo enjoying overwhelming support. Even 65% of
self-described liberals said the governor had been doing a “good” or
“excellent” job. Over 90% of respondents didn’t even know enough to have an
opinion about Teachout.

“Activists have been griping about Cuomo and his Wall Street ties for
years, but everyone remembers gay marriage and just lets him slide. It’s
maddening,” said another progressive Democratic strategist who asked not to
be named, for fear of alienating himself with the leadership of a party
loyal to Cuomo.

Teachout, who only entered the race this summer, sees the controversy over
the commission as her chance to gain momentum. “It’s totally changing the
campaign,” she said.

“People haven’t had a way to understand why people are suffering,” Teachout
explained. “This scandal helps voters understand that this isn’t the state
of nature, it’s not accident, that this is a governor who is serving his
donors … not the people of the state of New York.”

*Calendar:*

*Sec. Clinton's upcoming appearances as reported online. Not an official
schedule.*

·  August 6 – Huntington, NY: Sec. Clinton signs books at Book Revue (
HillaryClintonMemoir.com
<http://www.hillaryclintonmemoir.com/long_island_book_signing>)

·  August 9 – Water Mill, NY: Sec. Clinton fundraises for the Clinton
Foundation at the home of George and Joan Hornig (WSJ
<http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/06/17/for-50000-best-dinner-seats-with-the-clintons-in-the-hamptons/>
)

·  August 13 – Martha’s Vinyard, MA: Sec. Clinton signs books at Bunch of
Grapes (HillaryClintonMemoir.com
<http://www.hillaryclintonmemoir.com/martha_s_vineyard_book_signing>)

·  August 16 – East Hampton, New York: Sec. Clinton signs books at
Bookhampton East Hampton (HillaryClintonMemoir.com
<http://www.hillaryclintonmemoir.com/long_island_book_signing2>)

·  August 28 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton keynotes Nexenta’s OpenSDx
Summit (BusinessWire
<http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140702005709/en/Secretary-State-Hillary-Rodham-Clinton-Deliver-Keynote#.U7QoafldV8E>
)

·  September 4 – Las Vegas, NV: Sec. Clinton speaks at the National Clean
Energy Summit (Solar Novis Today
<http://www.solarnovus.com/hillary-rodham-clinto-to-deliver-keynote-at-national-clean-energy-summit-7-0_N7646.html>
)

·  October 2 – Miami Beach, FL: Sec. Clinton keynotes the CREW Network
Convention & Marketplace (CREW Network
<http://events.crewnetwork.org/2014convention/>)

·  October 13 – Las Vegas, NV: Sec. Clinton keynotes the UNLV Foundation
Annual Dinner (UNLV
<http://www.unlv.edu/event/unlv-foundation-annual-dinner?delta=0>)

·  ~ October 13-16 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton keynotes
salesforce.com Dreamforce
conference (salesforce.com
<http://www.salesforce.com/dreamforce/DF14/keynotes.jsp>)

 ·  December 4 – Boston, MA: Sec. Clinton speaks at the Massachusetts
Conference for Women (MCFW <http://www.maconferenceforwomen.org/speakers/>)