Subject: ​Correct The Record Thursday October 30, 2014 Afternoon Roundup
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 14:40:07 -0400
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

*​**Correct The Record Thursday October 30, 2014 Afternoon Roundup:*

*Tweets:*

*Pres. Bill Clinton* @billclinton: From one son of the South and sports
fanatic to another, my hat's off to you,@tim_cook
<https://twitter.com/tim_cook/>. buswk.co/1tSzQjR <http://t.co/1dXvRa2Nhu>
 [10/30/14, 1:15 p.m. EDT
<https://twitter.com/billclinton/status/527871526637699073>]

*Correct The Record* @CorrectRecord: .@HillaryClinton
<https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton> donated the royalties from "It Takes a
Village" to orgs that serve children & families #HRC365
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/HRC365?src=hash>
http://clinton6.nara.gov/1996/12/1996-12-20-first-lady-announces-book-royalties-dispersement.html
…
<http://t.co/zFiZb6PQLP> [10/30/14, 10:16 a.m. EDT
<https://twitter.com/CorrectRecord/status/527826467741528064>]

*Correct The Record* @CorrectRecord: .@HillaryClinton
<https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton> brought together women entrepreneurs
and mentors through Pathways for Prosperity program #HRC365
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/HRC365?src=hash>
http://correctrecord.org/breaking-glass-womens-economic-empowerment/ …
<http://t.co/yBhBkdSOgX> [10/29/14, 3:46 p.m. EDT
<https://twitter.com/CorrectRecord/status/527546932369977344>]

*Headlines:*

*National Memo opinion: Joe Conason: “Plutocrat Or Populist? Actually,
Hillary Clinton Is Neither”
<http://www.nationalmemo.com/plutocrat-populist-actually-hillary-clinton-neither/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Horizon%20Test%20Group&utm_campaign=%5BHorizon%5D%20Morning%20Memo%20%28New%29%20--%20Test%202.0>*

“Neither plutocrat nor populist, she firmly believes a strong middle class
is the essence of a democratic society. But amid the ceaseless clamor of
right-wing ideology, that may just be radical enough.”

*Washington Post blog: The Fix: “Why Hillary Clinton would be smart to
announce her presidential candidacy ASAP”
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/10/30/why-hillary-clinton-would-be-smart-to-announce-her-presidential-candidacy-asap/>*

“The reality of being Hillary Clinton -- the best known politician not
named Barack Obama in the country and a massive frontrunner for the
Democratic presidential nomination -- is that the campaign both for and
against her is already well under way.  There are outside organizations
designed to gather opposition research against her (America Rising) and to
protect her from that criticism (Correct The Record).”

*Washington Post blog: Post Politics: “Hillary Clinton is everywhere this
week. That won’t last.”
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/10/30/hillary-clinton-is-everywhere-this-week-that-wont-last/?tid=hpModule_ba0d4c2a-86a2-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394>*

"Hillary Rodham Clinton is hitting the trail hard for Democrats in the home
stretch, making a whirlwind tour of fall battlegrounds as the days dwindle
to the Nov. 4 midterm elections."

*Business Insider: “Ted Cruz: Here’s The One Thing That Will Guarantee A
Hillary Clinton Victory”
<http://www.businessinsider.com/ted-cruz-cnbc-mitt-romney-hillary-clinton>*

“Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) believes the Republican Party needs to avoid one
crucial mistake in the 2016 presidential election: running a candidate ‘in
the mold’ of Mitt Romney, the 2012 nominee. ‘If we run another candidate
like that, Hillary Clinton will be the next president,’ Cruz said
Thursday morning
on CNBC.”

*CNBC: “Cruz: Hillary will win if another Romney-type runs”
<http://www.cnbc.com/id/102135645#.>*

“Sen. Ted Cruz, a tea party favorite and possible presidential contender,
told CNBC on Thursday the only way the GOP can win the White House in 2016
is to run a strong conservative candidate.”

*Quad City Times: “Hillary Clinton: It's not where you're from, it's who
you're for”
<http://qctimes.com/news/local/government-and-politics/hillary-clinton-it-s-not-where-you-re-from-it/article_d2b1db0a-249e-56ee-9461-c8f9ce6950c2.html>*

“The conservative research group, America Rising, also emailed reporters
Wednesday a list of about a half dozen instances when Clinton herself had
failed to answer questions on a range of topics.”

*Articles:*

*National Memo opinion: Joe Conason: “Plutocrat Or Populist? Actually,
Hillary Clinton Is Neither”
<http://www.nationalmemo.com/plutocrat-populist-actually-hillary-clinton-neither/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Horizon%20Test%20Group&utm_campaign=%5BHorizon%5D%20Morning%20Memo%20%28New%29%20--%20Test%202.0>*

By Joe Conason

October 30, 2014, 6:00 a.m. EDT

As America’s biggest political target – a status she is likely to enjoy for
the foreseeable future – Hillary Rodham Clinton takes incoming fire of
every caliber from all directions. One day her words are ripped from
context to depict her as a plutocratic elitist; on another day, she is
quoted, selectively, to prove that she is a raving populist. And on still
another day last week, when she was campaigning in North Carolina for
Senator Kay Hagan, a right-wing rag tarred her as a “plutocratic populist.”

Her partisan critics never worry about such ludicrous contradiction, so
long as they can keep pumping out the cheap shots. Having endured the same
tactics in the White House, the Senate, and the State Department, in
campaigns and in daily life, she must find it all boringly familiar by now.

So far her popularity has remained remarkably durable – but the constant
effort to sow confusion about her sympathies, positions, and policies,
especially on economic issues, still deserves rebuttal.

Ever since she mentioned the fact that she and her husband were “flat
broke,” meaning deep in debt, when they left the White House, Clinton’s
most hypocritical adversaries on the right have tried to provoke envy.
Accepting a large speaking fee from the likes of Goldman Sachs bolstered
the meme that she is “out of touch” with the problems faced by middle-class
families.

Now, as she speaks out on economic issues during the midterm campaign, she
is portrayed as “copying” the “populist, anti-corporate rhetoric” of
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), courageous scourge of crooked bankers and
financial fraudsters.

But the truth about Hillary’s economic outlook is both simpler and more
complex.

The simple part is that for her entire public career, Clinton has been a
consistent advocate for working families and the middle class — notably on
issues like the minimum wage, which she fought to raise as a senator. She
sponsored legislation not only to raise the wage, repeatedly, but demanded
a ban on congressional and executive pay increases until workers’ wages
went up first.

“I’m talking about people who get up and go to work every day, [whose
paychecks] haven’t been raised since 1997,” she told a conservative
farmers’ group in 2007. “And congressional salaries have gone up more than
$30,000 at the same time. I don’t think we should have any more
congressional pay raises until, number one, the minimum wage is raised, but
number two, until average wages start going up, because the last five years
Americans have been treading water.”

During her Senate career and then as a Democratic presidential candidate,
Clinton told everyone who would listen what she thought about questions of
fairness, inequality, and growth that remain central today. She dismissed
the idea that higher minimum wages damage growth and employment; she
demanded restoration of the traditional balance between government and
markets, which had tipped too much toward corporate power; she blasted the
Bush administration’s cuts in assistance to the poor and unemployed; and
she urged, above all, that the forces destroying the middle class must be
restrained and ultimately reversed.

Whatever her connections with the wealthy and well connected, Clinton
doesn’t seem terribly impressed. “With all due respect, rich people did not
make America great,” she said in 2006. “Every society throughout history
has had the rich and the poor. It was America’s destiny to create something
new, a middle class that provided upward mobility for the poor and
opportunity for the many. Our strength, our economy, our values derive from
the promise of America, the promise of lifting yourself up through hard
work in a society that rewarded results.” In her presidential campaign, she
called for a “21st-century progressivism” in the trust-busting,
labor-friendly style of Theodore Roosevelt.

The more complicated part, however, is that Clinton isn’t anti-business,
hostile to markets, or suspicious of enterprise, as “populists” are
supposed to be. She once sat on the Walmart board of directors. She often
speaks admiringly of her father’s small drapery business, she pushed hard
on behalf of American corporations abroad as Secretary of State, and at the
Clinton Foundation she now promotes small- and medium-business development
to empower women in America and around the world.

Clinton is a sharp, tough, determined politician who rose, like her
husband, from an ordinary family. She understands the pressures wreaking
havoc on the system of rewards and rules that built this country. Neither
plutocrat nor populist, she firmly believes a strong middle class is the
essence of a democratic society. But amid the ceaseless clamor of
right-wing ideology, that may just be radical enough.

*Washington Post blog: The Fix: “Why Hillary Clinton would be smart to
announce her presidential candidacy ASAP”
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/10/30/why-hillary-clinton-would-be-smart-to-announce-her-presidential-candidacy-asap/>*

By Chris Cillizza

October 30, 2014, 10:12 a.m. EDT

Former Obama chief strategist David Plouffe is advising Hillary Clinton to
announce her intention to run for president shortly after the 2014 election
concludes, according to a terrific piece this morning by Politico's Maggie
Haberman and Glenn Thrush. “Why not?” Plouffe reportedly told Clinton about
the prospect of an early announcement. “They are already going after you.”

Plouffe is right -- both for the practical reasons outlined in the quote
above and for more symbolic, but no less important, reasons too.

The reality of being Hillary Clinton -- the best known politician not named
Barack Obama in the country and a massive frontrunner for the Democratic
presidential nomination -- is that the campaign both for and against her is
already well under way.  There are outside organizations designed to gather
opposition research against her (America Rising) and to protect her from
that criticism (Correct The Record). There is a super PAC -- Priorities USA
-- that is expected to carry the load of the pro-Clinton,
anti-Clinton-opponent advertising and another one (Ready for Hillary)
building a grassroots network for her candidacy.

Hillary Clinton, in the eyes of the political world, is already running for
president. Waiting to acknowledge what everyone already knows and has spent
the last year-plus preparing for makes little sense -- particularly because
running for the nation's highest office requires massive amounts of time
for fundraising, organization building, message development and so on and
so forth.  Why play coy when there's no mystery?  Get in and start running.
Everybody already assumes you are.

The less obvious but maybe more important reason for Clinton to announce
sooner rather than later is that it would be somewhat unorthodox and
unexpected.  The conventional wisdom surrounding Clinton's timing on
announcing is that she wants to wait as long as possible for people to see
her in a political light.  Her approval ratings have been sky high for
years now because she hasn't been in office (or running for office) so why
not preserve that "I'm not a politician (yet)" vibe for as a long as
possible?

Clinton spent the entirety of her 2008 race for president guided by just
this sort of conventional wisdom. It led to her being perceived -- and
being -- an overly cautious politician who always wanted to see which way
the wind was blowing before making up her mind about anything. (Remember
that the start of Clinton's slide in the 2008 primary was when she tried to
have it both ways on a question about undocumented workers getting driver's
licenses at the end of a debate in the summer of 2007.)

Clinton needs to run a different kind of campaign this time. And, she has
the luxury to do some unconventional things because, unlike in 2008, there
is no real threat to her among the other Democrats thinking semi-seriously
about running for president. By "taking a risk" and announcing early --
although, of course, it's really no risk at all given her lack of
competition -- Clinton can show insiders, donors and activists (aka the
only people paying any attention at this point) that this campaign is going
to be different than the last one.

Add it up and there's really no reason for Clinton not to get into the
presidential race shortly after the 2014 midterms conclude. Unless, of
course, she decides not to run.

*Washington Post blog: Post Politics: “Hillary Clinton is everywhere this
week. That won’t last.”
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/10/30/hillary-clinton-is-everywhere-this-week-that-wont-last/?tid=hpModule_ba0d4c2a-86a2-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394>*

By Anne Gearan

October 30, 2014, 8:00 a.m. EDT

Hillary Rodham Clinton is hitting the trail hard for Democrats in the home
stretch, making a whirlwind tour of fall battlegrounds as the days dwindle
to the Nov. 4 midterm elections.

But don't expect most of that new visibility to last much past Nov. 5.

Clinton's itinerary this week includes stops in Iowa Wednesday for Rep.
Bruce Braley, in a close Senate race against Republican Joni Ernst; in New
Hampshire Sunday, to aid Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in fighting off a challenge
from former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R), and give a boost to Gov.
Maggie Hassan's far smoother path to reelection; and in between, to
Louisiana to give a boost to Sen. Mary Landrieu's battle to hold on to her
Senate seat and Kentucky Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes's effort
to claim Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's.

Clinton's packed schedule this month has also included events in Colorado
for Sen. Mark Udall, Florida for gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist,
Massachusetts for gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley, Nevada for Sen.
Harry Reid, Pennsylvania for gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf, Illinois for
Gov. Pat Quinn, Maryland for gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown and New
York and California for Democratic campaign cash. Her heavy midterm
stumping reflects her unique position as a hugely popular figure and
leading fund raiser in her party now and potential presidential candidate
later.

But the day after the votes are counted, Clinton probably turns into a
political pumpkin. No matter how the election goes for Democrats, she isn't
likely to appear among the party leaders crowing or crying on television.

Why? Because after the midterms are over, there'll be nothing standing in
Clinton's way for a second presidential run -- but it's not in her interest
to make any sudden moves.

Clinton has said she will decide by early 2015. Assuming she intends to
run, the planning will begin in earnest in the weeks following the midterms.

And assuming she intends to run, going quiet for a couple of months would
let her delay the moment when her every tiny move is evaluated through the
prism of 2016. Sure, that's already happening -- but maintaining even a
brief period of relative invisibility would give her a chance to digest the
outcome of the midterms and quietly collect assurances of political and
financial support nationwide.

After near-daily public appearances now, Clinton has just three known
public events after the midterms: An appearance at the 10th anniversary
celebration of the Clinton presidential library in Arkansas on Nov. 14 and
speaking appearances at a League of Conservation Voters event in New York
on Dec. 1 and at the Massachusetts Conference for Women on Dec. 4.

The likelihood that Clinton will nearly disappear overnight, coupled with
her past distaste for mixing it up with the press, made for a bit of irony
in Iowa.

Clinton took a swipe at Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst on Wednesday,
telling a Cedar Rapids crowd that Ernst's no-show for an Editorial Board
interview with the Des Moines Register is "disqualifying."

"I have concluded that Iowans take politics really seriously," CNN quoted
Clinton as saying. "You test your candidates, you actually force them to be
the best they can be, and they have to be willing to answer the tough
questions."

*Business Insider: “Ted Cruz: Here’s The One Thing That Will Guarantee A
Hillary Clinton Victory”
<http://www.businessinsider.com/ted-cruz-cnbc-mitt-romney-hillary-clinton>*

By Colin Campbell

October 30, 2014, 9:00 a.m. EDT

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) believes the Republican Party needs to avoid one
crucial mistake in the 2016 presidential election: running a candidate "in
the mold" of Mitt Romney, the 2012 nominee.

"If we run another candidate like that, Hillary Clinton will be the next
president," Cruz said Thursday morning on CNBC.

Cruz, a conservative firebrand who is looking at his own potential
presidential campaign, urged Republicans to instead "learn from history."

"We need to look to history and what works and what doesn't," he said. "The
one thing is clear is if Republicans run another candidate in the mold of a
Bob Dole, or a John McCain, or a Mitt Romney — and let me be clear, all
three of those are good, honorable men. They're decent men. They're
patriots. But if we run another candidate in the mold of a Bob Dole, or a
John McCain, or Mitt Romney, we will end up with the same result."

Cruz was responding to a question about the potential candidacy of former
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R-Florida), the brother and son of the two most
recent Republican presidents. Cruz declined to say whether Bush was too far
to the left, but spoke broadly about uninspiring candidates.

"Jeb has not declared his candidacy. I like Jeb. I'm a fan of Jeb Bush's.
I'm going to let him decide if he's running first and let the primary
voters make a decision," Cruz said.

Watch below.

[VIDEO]

*CNBC: “Cruz: Hillary will win if another Romney-type runs”
<http://www.cnbc.com/id/102135645#.>*

By Matthew J. Belvedere

October 30, 2014

Sen. Ted Cruz, a tea party favorite and possible presidential contender,
told CNBC on Thursday the only way the GOP can win the White House in 2016
is to run a strong conservative candidate.

"We need to learn from history," the Texas Republican said in a "Squawk
Box" interview. "If Republicans run another candidate in the mold of a Bob
Dole or a John McCain or a Mitt Romney ... we will end up with the same
result, which is millions of people will stay home on Election Day."

"If we run another candidate like that," he continued, "Hillary Clinton
will be the next president."

In political circles, many believe the former secretary of State will again
seek the Democratic nomination for president, though she has not said
either way yet. Hillary Clinton lost the nomination in 2008 to Barack Obama.

*Supports states' rights on gay marriage*

On social issues, Cruz said he supports the rights of the states to decide
whether to allow same-sex marriage even though he personally believes in
marriage between one man and one woman.

He appeared on CNBC ahead of next week's midterm election and as news was
breaking Thursday morning about Apple CEO Tim Cook announcing he's gay.

"I support marriage between one man and one woman," Cruz said. "And I
support the Constitution letting each state decide each marriage law
consistent with the values of their citizens."

"One of the problems of the 'big government left' is they want everything
to be a one-size-fits-all solution from Washington," he said.

In a separate "Squawk Box" interview Thursday, liberal Democrat Barney
Frank, retired openly-gay congressman from Massachusetts, praised Cruz for
those comments.

*'Very optimistic' about midterm election*

Cruz, known for bucking the Republican establishment, is not up for
re-election until 2018. But the freshman senator from Texas said he's been
crisscrossing the nation in support of conservative candidates in the runup
to Tuesday'svoting.

"I am very optimistic," he said. "I think Republicans are going to retake
the Senate. We're going to retire Harry Reid." The Senator Majority Leader
Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, has been a thorn in the GOP's side for years.

In a USA Today op-ed earlier this month, Cruz laid out an agenda for 2015,
assuming that Republicans would retain the House and gain control of the
Senate. He said Congress should work to jumpstart the economy, safeguard
constitutional liberties and strengthen national security. He also
advocated repealing Obamacare, auditing the Federal Reserve, and getting
rid of the federal education Common Core standards.

He echoed those economic themes in Thursday's CNBC interview. "On Wall
Street, things are booming. But for working men and women, life has gotten
harder and harder and harder. What we're doing under the Obama economy
isn't working."

*Quad City Times: “Hillary Clinton: It's not where you're from, it's who
you're for”
<http://qctimes.com/news/local/government-and-politics/hillary-clinton-it-s-not-where-you-re-from-it/article_d2b1db0a-249e-56ee-9461-c8f9ce6950c2.html>*

By Ed Tibbetts

October 29, 2014

Hillary Clinton urged Democrats in Davenport on Wednesday to work the rest
of the week to get Senate hopeful Bruce Braley elected, accusing his
Republican opponent Joni Ernst of ducking tough questions.

Clinton, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, campaigned for Braley at
a union hall in Cedar Rapids and later at the Davenport RiverCenter.

Clinton seized on the controversy over Ernst not meeting with some
newspaper editorial boards and said she was trying to let outside money win
the race for her.

"I've never seen anything like it," Clinton said.

The former secretary of state did have some fun with the line of attack.

"Not in Iowa do people get away with not answering questions — except
questions far into the future," she said, a quip that prompted cheers from
the crowd.

On a range of issues, Clinton drew contrasts between Braley and Ernst,
saying he stood with average Iowans, and for women. And she said what
matters most is not where the candidate is from, but who they are for.
"It's not just enough to be from Iowa, you have to be for Iowans," she said.

Clinton also took a poke at some of the themes of the Iowa Senate campaign,
which she said are trying to district people so "you'll be concerned about
pigs and chickens than hard working women and men," college costs and the
economy.

This was Clinton's second visit to the state in a month, and in Davenport
she recalled her own 2008 bid for the presidency, saying Iowans like to
challenge candidates.

"I have experienced that myself," she said.

Clinton finished third in the Iowa caucuses, and Republicans were too happy
to point to the 2008 race Wednesday, noting that Braley didn't back Clinton
then, instead choosing John Edwards and, later, Barack Obama.

Still, the Waterloo congressman was effusive in praising Clinton, recalling
singing "Happy Birthday" to her years ago, and he talked about the birth of
her first grandchild, which drew a wide smile from her.

For his part, Braley continued to press Ernst, saying she was trying to
conceal her views.

"She is trying to hide she is not on your side," Braley said.

The closing days of the campaign find a tight race, though Republicans say
they have the momentum, while Democrats say they have a superior grassroots
effort.

A Quinniapiac University poll, released Wednesday, said Ernst leads by a
49-45 margin.

Republicans touted the results, and they also pushed back against the idea
that Ernst is ducking questions.

Ernst's campaign has said she is meeting with voters on a 99 county tour,
but also going face to face with journalists.

The conservative research group, America Rising, also emailed reporters
Wednesday a list of about a half dozen instances when Clinton herself had
failed to answer questions on a range of topics.