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Democratic Party Drama

Posted January 22nd, 2016 at 3:10 pm (UTC-5)
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Benghazi. A private email server. Whitewater.

Then Arkansas governor and Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton and wife Hillary Clinton campaign outside the Tampa March 9, 1992. (AP file)

Then Arkansas governor and Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton and wife Hillary Clinton campaign outside the Tampa March 9, 1992. (AP file)

All scandals with the name Clinton attached. Ever since the Clinton’s came to Washington more than 20 years ago, controversy has plagued the power couple, who have built a very loyal following right along side a long list of enemies.

Now as the former First Lady, senator from New York, and former Secretary of State makes her case to be President of the United States, she faces an unexpectedly tough battle from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who has attracted support from Americans who are tired of business as usual in Washington.

It has widely been assumed that the Democratic Party nomination was Hillary’s to lose.

But with polls showing more and more voters supporting non-mainstream candidates like Sanders (and billionaire Donald Trump on the Republican side), there are concerns that, despite her gravitas, Hillary’s credibility gap has weakened her hold on Democrats.

Can Hillary Take ’13 Hours’ of Truth?

Kirsten Powers – USA Today

Democratic partisans have seized on the new movie13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, which portrays the fateful night that left four Americans, including a U.S. ambassador, dead….

But sure to anger Obama administration supporters are the fleeting, but damning, references to the absurd assertion that the attack grew out of a YouTube video protest as well as scenes exposing blood-boiling bureaucratic incompetence and negligence both before and after the attack began.

Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, smiles at his home in Tripoli June 28, 2012. (AP).

Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, smiles at his home in Tripoli June 28, 2012. (AP).

Perhaps nothing has caused more consternation than a scene depicting the CIA bureau chief giving the men a “stand down” order when they sought permission to save Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., has blasted this as “clearly at odd with the facts.”

“The words were said to me. I heard him say, ‘Stand down’,” [CIA contractor, who survivied that night, John “Tig”] Tiegen told me.

Don’t Look for “13 Hours” to Dent Clinton’s Campaign

George E. Condon Jr. – The National Journal

Con­ser­vat­ives can’t hide their hope that 13 Hours: The Secret Sol­diers of Benghazi, the movie re­leased this past week­end about the 2012 at­tack, helps them de­feat Demo­crat Hil­lary Clin­ton.

But we’ve seen this movie be­fore. And Re­pub­lic­ans aren’t go­ing to be too happy with the end­ing. Al­most from the first talk­ie, Hol­ly­wood dir­ect­ors have thought they could use their movie­mak­ing skills to in­flu­ence voters. And al­most without ex­cep­tion, they have been dis­ap­poin­ted.

Amer­ica Rising, the anti-Clin­ton group, co-­hos­ted a Wash­ing­ton screen­ing last Fri­day, claim­ing that 13 Hours is “the movie Hil­lary Clin­ton doesn’t want you to see.” … Roger Stone, a some­time ad­viser to Trump, tweeted a ques­tion: “Will@13hours film end @Hil­laryC­lin­ton’s pres­id­en­tial bid?”

The an­swer, based on the his­tory of movies and polit­ics, is an al­most cer­tain “no.”

Email Scandal Puts Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Aspirations in Peril

Ben Wolfgang – The Washington Times

Hillary Clinton is vehemently disputing new charges that she sent top-secret information from a nonsecure email account while at the State Department, but analysts say the scandal has already damaged her so deeply that her presidential ambitions are at risk.

Mrs. Clinton’s messages contained some information classified above “top secret,” the intelligence community’s inspector general said in a letter to Congress this week…. Specialists say that voters on the fence in the Democratic primary election may very well take the email scandal — and the larger questions about Mrs. Clinton’s honesty — into account when picking a candidate.

“The problem for Hillary Clinton is that there are alternatives to her candidacy in Bernie Sanders. This is why polls of Democrats don’t think Sanders can win [the general election] but are willing to vote for him anyway,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, [a political science professor at the University of Houston who specializes in political leadership.]

Hillary Rodham Clinton, right, speaks as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., listens during the CNN Democratic presidential debate Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015, in Las Vegas.(AP)

Hillary Rodham Clinton, right, speaks as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., listens during the CNN Democratic presidential debate Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015, in Las Vegas.(AP)

Hillary Clinton’s Lifetime Cause

Ann Lewis – USA Today

Income inequality is a leading issue in this presidential campaign, which is excellent. Some in the media seem to think Hillary Clinton is new or insufficiently committed to solving this problem. As someone who’s known Hillary for a very long time, that’s an impression I’m happy to correct.

Remember, this is the same woman who spent a summer during law school investigating the working conditions of migrant farm workers, compiling evidence to hold their bosses accountable for their health and safety….

Of course, inequality in our country isn’t just economic – it has a long history of being racial, too. That’s why Hillary went undercover in Alabama, posing as a young mom trying to find an all-white school for her child to prove that segregation still persisted and to end the tax-exempt status enjoyed by schools that discriminated against African-American kids.

Hillary Clinton, center, visits with students at Century High School in Santa Ana, California in this May 1992 file photo (AP)

Hillary Clinton, center, visits with students at Century High School in Santa Ana, California in this May 1992 file photo (AP)

Hillary Clinton: The Cure for Citizens United Is More Democracy

Hillary Clinton – CNN

We need more transparency in our politics.

In the last three elections, more than $600 million in donations came from unknown, untraceable sources. That’s a lot of secret, unaccountable money. As president, I’ll require federal contractors to fully disclose their political spending.

I’ll call on the Securities and Exchange Commission to require that publicly traded companies do the same. And I’ll fight for legislation requiring the disclosure of all significant political donations, no matter where they come from or who they benefit.

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders offer Democrats an imperfect choice

David Horsey – Los Angeles Times

…[T]here is unease among more than a few Democrats who are not thrilled by their choices in the 2016 presidential contest.

Sanders’ ideas have stirred the ideological fervor of old progressives and young millennials…. But, though he is reasonably lovable in a grandfatherly way, Sanders is not stealing Democratic hearts like the youthful Robert Kennedy did….

Hillary, meanwhile, has the solid loyalty of veteran feminists and the affection of most black voters, but others are not so eager to relive the Clinton melodramas, nor are they convinced that a second Clinton White House would not cozy up to Wall Street the way the first one did. And younger voters do not necessarily see her as an agent of change, even if she would be the first female president.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., lifts his arms in celebration as he speaks at a rally in Portland, Oregon on Aug. 9, 2015. (AP)

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., lifts his arms in celebration as he speaks at a rally in Portland, Oregon on Aug. 9, 2015. (AP)

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