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Daily Digest

February 10, 2016

THE FOUNDATION

"[T]he mild voice of reason, pleading the cause of an enlarged and permanent interest, is but too often drowned, before public bodies as well as individuals, by the clamors of an impatient avidity for immediate and immoderate gain." —James Madison, 1788

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS

Trump, Sanders Ride Populist Wave

By Nate Jackson

The clear winners in New Hampshire Tuesday were Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. The two populists rode voter discontent to sizeable victories. Sanders, of course, had near home field advantage being from next-door Vermont. And Trump's New York values obviously played well among a moderate electorate. Neither ("yuge") win was surprising, so here are a few things that stood out on the GOP side (more on Sanders and the Democrats in Mark Alexander's essay this afternoon).

Since the current primary format began in 1976, no Republican has lost both Iowa and New Hampshire and gone on to win the nomination. That said, 2016 is unlike any election cycle in memory, and our hope is that Trump joins Pat Buchanan (1996) and John McCain (2000) in the annals of Republicans who won New Hampshire and failed to become the nominee. Trump is running strong throughout the South, however, and he's still the odds-on favorite.
Ted Cruz came in a surprising third after investing relatively little in doing well in a state with an electorate stacked against him. His showing only strengthens his position heading into the South.
Marco Rubio's fifth-place finish could prove disastrous. Coming off his impressive showing in Iowa, falling behind John Kasich and Jeb Bush was obviously a huge disappointment for the Florida senator. Both governors will stay in the race, making the path forward harder for all three. Rubio's debate gaffe — repeating memorized talking points in response to criticism for repeating memorized talking points — almost surely cost him dearly, even if vision matters more than experience. He admitted as much, telling supporters, "I did not do well on Saturday night. So listen to this: That will never happen again."
John Kasich's investment in the Granite State paid off with a second-place showing, though he still won less than half Trump's share of the vote. Given that the Ohio governor so far spent most of his resources in New Hampshire, the question now is where he goes from here. He doesn't poll strongly in any of the upcoming primary states (especially in the South) and has virtually no national campaign organization. Team Kasich should enjoy the attention while it lasts, because this is probably the high-water mark of his bid.
Jeb Bush continues to be the "not dead yet" candidate. He not only accomplished what he had to in order to stay alive — beating Rubio — but he's got a bit of momentum heading to South Carolina, which is a state very friendly to the Bush family. He's also got money, even after outspending Cruz 30 to 1 in New Hampshire. So as he had to instruct an audience recently, "please clap."
Chris Christie put all his marbles into performing well in New Hampshire and all he could muster was 7.5%, good for sixth place. He didn't benefit from his debate broadside against Rubio. And instead of heading to South Carolina, he's flying back to New Jersey to assess his campaign. Look for a drop-out announcement soon.
Ben Carson didn't even wait for the results before flying to South Carolina. Carly Fiorina's terrific debate performances haven't translated into actual votes. Jim Gilmore won 130 votes, which is less laughable than the 12 he secured in Iowa. All three should head for the exits.

In the end, New Hampshire provided some clarity in the race, but not much — in fact, it may have done the opposite. At least five candidates will move on, and a protracted battle looms. The biggest problem is that the circular firing squad may prove to be the party's undoing in November in what should have been a "gimme" election.
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TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Obama's Real Power Plan

Any way you cut it, Barack Obama wins. The Supreme Court on Tuesday placed a stay on a key portion of the chief executive's Clean Power Plan. At the request of 27 states and coal industry monoliths, the court in a 5-4 decision signaled that it had serious concerns about Obama's plan to limit carbon emissions by legislating through regulating. The move was somewhat unusual because SCOTUS didn't wait for a ruling by a lower court. Obama's spokesman Josh Earnest responded to the temporary stay saying the EPA regulations are grounded in the nation's other environmental laws and the administration will continue to implement the regs without directly defying the court. "Even while the litigation proceeds, EPA has indicated it will work with states that choose to continue plan development and will prepare the tools those states will need," Earnest said. "At the same time, the administration will continue to take aggressive steps to make forward progress to reduce carbon emissions." Under Obama's plan, the carbon emission regulations wouldn't go into effect until 2020, but states needed to submit plans on how they were going to comply with the regs relatively soon.
Obama had to have gambled the courts would check his Clean Power Plan, but he still gets political credit on the Left for trying to implement it. Heading into the presidential election year, Obama is showing his fellow ecofascists how important it is for them to elect Democrats so they can seat leftists on courts. It's the same play as with immigration and Obama's other executive actions.
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Threat Assessment: ISIL Coming to U.S.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday, with an annual assessment of threats to U.S. vital interests and national security. Clapper noted that "homegrown violent extremists" will pose "the most significant Sunni terrorist threat to the U.S. homeland in 2016." He estimated this would be terrorists who are inspired by foreign terror groups, not under the direct control of those groups, similar to the Chattanooga and San Bernardino attacks in 2015. Clapper described the Islamic State as "the pre-eminent global terrorist threat," and said their "estimated strength worldwide exceeds that of al-Qaida." He noted, "In 2014, the FBI arrested nine ISIL supporters — in 2015, that number increased over five-fold." Ominously, he warned that ISIL has succeeded in making and using chemical weapons — the first terrorists group to use "chemical warfare agent in an attack since Aum Shinrikyo used sarin in Japan in 1995."
When asked by Arizona Sen. John McCain about whether he'd ever seen such diverse challenges to security, Clapper replied, "In my 50-plus years in the intelligence business, I cannot recall a more diverse array of challenges and crises that we confront as we do today." Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart also provided testimony and warned that ISIL would likely be capable of striking the continental U.S. within the year. "ISIL will probably attempt to conduct additional attacks in Europe, and attempt to direct attacks on the U.S. homeland in 2016."
Despite Barack Obama's assurances that "we've contained them," apparently that's not the case.
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Will Lynch Rig the Clinton Investigation?

The FBI has officially announced that it is, in fact, investigating Hillary Clinton's email subterfuge. Obviously, this creates more pressure on Clinton, just as voters head to the polls in New Hampshire. But it's also causing the pressure to mount on Attorney General Loretta Lynch to recuse herself. Lynch's Justice Department will be the arbiter of whether an FBI investigation yields an indictment, and anyone who doesn't think Lynch is a partisan hack isn't paying attention. A few months back, Barack Obama declared Hillary's whole email kerfuffle was no big deal, saying, "I can tell you that this is not a situation in which America's national security was endangered." That's a blatant lie given that a couple dozen of Clinton's 1,500 classified emails can't be released even in redacted form because the top secret information contained therein would be too damaging if made public. But given Obama's declaration, will his attorney general effectively disagree and countenance an indictment? Many Republicans don't think so and are calling for a special prosecutor. Part of the reason is Lynch's own partisan history. She gave $10,700 to Democrats between 2004 and 2008, including $4,600 to Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. And she might have a continued job in a future Clinton administration. The bottom line is, never underestimate the willingness of Democrats to circle the wagons.
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BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Ben Shapiro: How Attitude Trumped Conservative Thought
Michelle Malkin: TSA: Total Security Abyss
Walter Williams: Sloppy Language and Thinking

For more, visit Right Opinion.

TOP HEADLINES

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report

OPINION IN BRIEF

Ben Shapiro: "[C]onservatism has very little to do with attitude. Conservatism demands Constitutionalism, and in the aftermath of a century of progressive growth of government — including growth at the hands of so-called conservatives — change need not be gradual. The attitude matters less than the goal. We can have hard-charging conservatives like Mark Levin; we can have 10-dollar-word conservatives like many of the writers at National Review. What we can't have is nonconservatives redefining conservatism as an attitude, and then ignoring the underlying philosophy. Yet that's precisely what we have in this race. The entire Republican race thus far has avoided policy differentiations in favor of critiques of attitudes. Who is more palatable, the shifty-seeming Cruz, or the smooth-talking Rubio? Who is more worthwhile, the brusque Chris Christie or the milquetoast Jeb Bush? Who cares? Republicans have spent so long in the wilderness that they've forgotten what animated them in the first place. At some point, Republicans forgot that their job was to determine the best face for a conservative philosophy, and instead substituted the face for the philosophy. The conservatism simply fell away. ... Conservatives need to worry less about how they fight — whether they wear creased pants or hurl nasty insults — and instead contemplate why they're fighting in the first place."
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SHORT CUTS

Insight: "Everything is destroyed by its own particular vice: the destructive power resides within. Rust destroys iron, moths destroy clothes, the worm eats away the wood; but greatest of all evils is envy, impious habitant of corrupt souls, which ever was, is, and shall be a consuming disease." —Menander (342-292 BC)
Upright: "Madeleine Albright ... said just a couple days ago women who don't help women, essentially don't support Hillary, have a special place in hell. I think it was Mark Twain who said heaven for the climate, hell for the company. It looks like the sisterhood of the marching pant suits is going to have to dress light. If she loses women, it shows you how much of a shellacking she took." —Charles Krauthammer
Thanks Obama: "Tonight we serve notice to the political and economic establishment of this country that the American people will not continue to accept ... a rigged economy where ordinary Americans work longer hours for lower wages while almost all new income and wealth goes to the top 1%." —Bernie Sanders on the "recovery" brought to us by his fellow socialist
A vast right-wing conspiracy: "Senator Sanders and I both want to get secret, unaccountable money out of politics. And let's remember ... Citizens United, one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in our country's history, was actually a case about a right-wing attack on me and my campaign. A right-wing organization took aim at me and ended up damaging our entire democracy. So, yes, you're not going to find anybody more committed to aggressive campaign finance reform than me." —Hillary Clinton (Translation: Free speech is bad when people criticize her.)
Dezinformatsia: "People talk about the liberal media and they say the whole media is liberal and the whole establishment is liberal. It's not true. ... If you are a liberal, you are not a majority in this country and you know it and it always feels this way." —MSNBC's Rachel Maddow
Non Compos Mentis: "Two weeks ago I paid $1.51 a gallon for gasoline in downstate Illinois. ... I think we're missing an opportunity here — a 5-cent increase in the federal gas tax can really fund an infrastructure program that can help create new jobs in this economy and help businesses. Now is the time to do it." —Sen. Dick Durbin
Late-night humor: "I saw that the unemployment rate in the U.S. just fell below 5 percent, which is the lowest it's been in eight years. When asked for comment on the number of unemployed Americans, Obama said, 'Uh ... I can't wait to be one of them!'" —Jimmy Fallon
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Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis!
Managing Editor Nate Jackson
Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm's way in defense of Liberty, and for their families.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

THE PATRIOT POST 02/10/2016