Sorry Bernie supporters but the system is rigged, and I am not talking about the economic system a la your hero. No, I am talking about the Democratic primary and if the establishment is successful your candidate is not going to win.
You might think it was a remarkable stroke of good luck that Hillary Clinton won six coin tosses in a row and you might even believe that several delegates were wrongly allotted to the former Secretary of State in Iowa, but this next story should be extremely hard to swallow.
Have you wondered why Hillary Clinton does not feel like this was a big loss? Well, that is because it was not: even though Bernie Sanders thoroughly thrashed Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire Democratic primary the two candidates have won the same amount of delegates.
Here is more:
Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders win the New Hampshire primaries
The results of the New Hampshire primaries were never really in doubt as indicated by most polls in recent weeks, and it did not take both CNN and Politico very long to call the winners, shortly after all the polls were closed at 8:00 the inevitable was confirmed. As expected Donald Trump won the Republican primary and Bernie Sanders won the Democratic primary by wide margins.
The only real question left from about 8:05 on in the Democratic primary was how big of a margin would Bernie Sanders win by?
In the end Hillary Clinton’s embarrassment was complete as Bernie Sanders won by a 60%-38% margin. It is also interesting to note that according to the exit polls the former Secretary of State only won two demographic groups, those over 65 and those who make over $200,000 a year. (I guess all those “tax the rich” Democrats really mean tax those rich guys over there but not me.)
What did Hillary Clinton say in her speeches to Goldman Sachs?
During one of the debates Hillary Clinton stated she would look into the possibility of releasing the transcripts of her speeches she made to Goldman Sachs. Speeches in which she was paid over $200,000 to give by the way.
However last week when she was asked about making good on this promise she claimed there was a double standard, in other words she played the gender card. Hillary Clinton supporter Howard Dean also made the same claim in defending the former Secretary of State but in doing so he admitted what many of us have known for a long time: labor unions are nothing more than Democratic Super PACs that “Democrats like” and that the Democrats “go after” (Lois Lerner and the IRS anyone?) political opponents. If you missed that story check out this post I did on it.
Now while she has not released the transcripts of the speeches (for obvious reasons) we are starting to get reports of what she said, and needless to say, it differs from what she has been saying during the campaign.
Here is more:
Hillary Clinton is expected to lose the New Hampshire primary by a fairly large margin and after her closer than expected victory in Iowa (which included six coin tosses which just happened to all go in her favor, as well as a questionable delegate count which many Iowa Democrats are questioning) she is not happy.
In fact she is so unhappy that it is now being reported in this story that the former Secretary of state is mulling a campaign staff shake-up after the New Hampshire primary is over.
Here is more:
Hillary and Bill Clinton are so dissatisfied with their campaign’s messaging and digital operations they are considering staffing and strategy changes after what’s expected to be a loss in Tuesday’s primary here, according to a half-dozen people with direct knowledge of the situation.
The Clintons — stung by her narrow victory in Iowa — had been planning to reassess staffing at the campaign’s Brooklyn headquarters after the first four primaries, but the Clintons have become increasingly caustic in their criticism of aides and demanded the reassessment sooner, a source told POLITICO.
“The Clintons are not happy, and have been letting all of us know that,” said one Democratic official who speaks regularly to both. “The idea is that we need a more forward-looking message, for the primary – but also for the general election too… There’s no sense of panic, but there is an urgency to fix these problems right now.”
One would assume that a candidate’s campaign messaging would echo the message of the candidate so it would appear to me that the problem does not lie with the messaging but rather with the messenger. But that is just me, what do I know?
Hillary Clinton faced an attack from where she least expected it–on her left flank–and her counterattacks have thus far been unfruitful. Bernie Sanders turned her left flank and is now marching in on her but from the polls I have seen recently Bernie Sanders is not going to be as successful after the New Hampshire primary is over. But then again he could get a bump if he wins big…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Final New Hampshire poll before the primary
At this point I cannot wait until the primary is over because between campaign volunteers and pollsters our phone seems to be ringing non-stop! Over the weekend two volunteers showed up at my door and when I saw they were wearing Jeb Bush stickers I told them I was not interested in Jeb, they said okay and I thanked them. I was kind of surprised they did not try to talk to me more but very thankful they did not.
Anyway, the last poll before the primary is out and it shows Donald Trump with a big lead still but his numbers dropped slightly, with Marco Rubio in second place ahead of Ted Cruz. Here is more:
Trump holds 31%, down two points from the February 3-6 release, but within the poll’s margin of sampling error.
Behind him, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio earned 17% support — within the margin of sampling error of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 14%, but significantly ahead of the fourth and fifth place candidates in the poll, Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 10% and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 7%.
Behind Bush, Carly Fiorina stands at 5%, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 4% and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 3%.
At this point it looks like Donald Trump should have a big victory, his support has never really wavered, and the only question will be who comes in second place. It remains to be seen if Marco Rubio’s debate performance will wipe out his Iowa bump, and it is interesting to note that Ted Cruz did not get an Iowa bump after winning the caucuses. Perhaps the alleged dirty trick by his campaign staff did indeed hurt him in the Granite State.
I have to believe this will be Carly Fiorina’s and Ben Carson’s last stand before announcing the inevitable.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
In the wake of the Iowa caucuses there have been two main themes pushed on the American people. The first one is that Marco Rubio somehow won the caucuses even though he came in third place and the second one is that Ted Cruz stole the election from Donald Trump.
The latter scenario presupposes the notion that Ben Carson had enough supporters to lose to Ted Cruz to change the results, and all indications are that Ben Carson did not have that type of support in the first place. And if this it is actually true why has not one person who was supposedly tricked into supporting Ted Cruz over Ben Carson come forward?
But while the mainstream media has done everything in its power to negate the Cruz victory (dare I claim racism here?!) by claiming voter fraud it has ignored the close results in the Democratic caucuses, which were much closer than the Republican caucuses between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.
In addition to the willing suspension of disbelief it would require a thinking person to believe that against all odds Hillary Clinton won all six of the coin tosses which gave her a slight edge in the delegate count and allowed her to claim victory there are now reports coming out from caucusgoers that there were some shenanigans going on which took delegates away from Bernie Sanders in order to give Hillary Clinton more delegates than it appears she actually won.
Sunday, February 7th open thread: The Diamond Sea
Here is the open thread for Sunday, February 7th. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
Last week was a busy one with 15 stories covered–I know some of you are probably getting tired of my anti-Trump posts but this is something I feel strongly about and feel I must continue–did you miss any of them? If so there is an easy way to make sure it does not happen again. I understand that all of you are busy and cannot always find the time to check the blog for updates so why not subscribe to America’s Watchtower and receive email updates whenever I write a new post? That is the easiest way to follow the blog to ensure you never miss another post.
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Here is Sonic Youth performing “The Diamond Sea” live from 1996. I have not heard this song in years but there seems to be some symbolism in the lyrics which I never really caught before: he sings about the mirror stealing your soul, I wonder if this is an allusion to getting caught up in the material world, but maybe it is about an unhappy marriage. I don’t know but enjoy:
frui diem
This probably should have been posted a few days ago but somehow I missed it until now so I guess it is better late than never.
Earlier this week, after dropping out of the Republican primary race, Rick Santorum fell in line with the Republican establishment and endorsed Marco Rubio for President. However when he was asked to simply name one of Marco Rubio’s accomplishments which led him to the endorsement he struggled to do so.
In fact at one point he was forced to admit that Marco Rubio did not accomplish anything while in the Senate but stated that nobody else did either so you cannot pin the blame on one guy, that is not exactly a ringing endorsement is it?
In a way this lends credence and legitimacy to Donald Trump supporters who are fed up with nothing getting done in Washington who believe he can get something done because he admitted his candidate cannot get anything done.
Here is the video:
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Latest New Hampshire poll shows Marco Rubio closing in on Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton within striking distance of Bernie Sanders
The Boston Globe has released a new poll which shows Marco Rubio closing in on Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton closing in on Bernie Sanders. Here is more:
Front-runner Donald Trump holds a nearly 10 percentage point lead over his rivals in New Hampshire’s Republican primary race, but Senator Marco Rubio is closing the gap in the final days, according to a new poll released Friday.
Twenty-nine percent of voters surveyed said they backed Trump, and Rubio of Florida took second place with 19 percent. That’s the highest level of support Rubio has shown in any public survey since Trump entered the race in the summer.
The Suffolk University/Boston Globe survey also showed former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in striking distance of Senator Bernie Sanders, who has a 9 percentage point lead in the Democratic primary.
Major Democratic donor is telling donors to be prepared in case Joe Biden gets in the race
Despite his announcement that he would not seek the Presidency in 2016 the rumors have been persistent that Joe Biden might still jump into the race. It is an open secret that within the Democratic party people are worried about Bernie Sanders wresting the nomination away from Hillary Clinton because they believe he is too far to the left to win a general election. (I am not so sure that is the case anymore in America today.) And although it goes unsaid I think there are people within the Democratic party who also have concerns about the possibility of running a candidate who is under investigation by the FBI and could face indictment.
Yesterday a Democratic mega-donor sent out a flier telling donors to be prepared to donate to Joe Biden if he decides to jump into the race. Allow me to digress for a moment: Yes, the left actually has big donors and special interest groups donating to them despite their claims they want to get big money out of politics. Check out Howard Dean, in a moment of clarity, actually admitting labor unions are a Super PAC. Howard Dean actually admitted the Democrats only “go after” the groups the left does not like.
But anyway, back on point: Here is more:
America's Watchtower 