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The Hill: Clinton campaign warns media to tread carefully

By Amie Parnes

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is working the refs hard when it comes to reports about her health.

While Clinton responded to a fit of coughing this week with humor, saying she was “allergic” to GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, her aides and surrogates played the role of bad cop.

Campaign spokesman Nick Merrill took to task an NBC reporter who wrote about the coughing spell, posting on Twitter that the writer should “get a life.”

The five-paragraph story, by Andrew Rafferty, was titled “Hillary Clinton fights back coughing attack” and reported that the “frog in Clinton’s throat on Monday was one of the most aggressive she’s had during her 2016 run.”

Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for President Obama, asked via Twitter if “anyone on NBC, or anywhere else,” was willing to defend the piece.

The pushback signaled that Clinton’s campaign intends to sharply counterattack news organizations that take questions about her health seriously.

“They’re trying to work the refs a little bit as they try to push back on the mainstream media’s willingness to pick up on some of this stuff that’s usually left to the fringes,” Clinton surrogate Jim Manley explained.

The Drudge Report and other conservative media sites have largely driven the coverage of Clinton’s health, following the concussion she suffered in late 2012 and years before she announced her intention to run again for president.

But Manley said the Democrat’s camp has seen the coverage “bleeding to the mainstream media” in recent weeks.

After Trump insinuated recently that Clinton wasn’t healthy, the campaign responded forcefully, ripping Trump allies for concocting fake documents from Clinton’s doctor.

“They’re trying to stop it,” Manley continued. “I think they learned a long time ago that you can’t just ignore these things. There’s always a fine line between react or not, but in this day in age, to say nothing is often not the best way to go.”

Clinton aides and supporters see the healthcare stories as a bunch of baloney, and they want the media to cover it as such.

One former Clinton aide called it a “complete farce, and the only way to handle it is to say in no uncertain terms that Donald Trump is full of it.”

The former aide also agreed that the Clinton campaign wants to put pressure on the press.

“I think that the fact that any mainstream publications would do anything but make this is a story about Donald Trump is completely out of the mainstream and why these claims have gotten worse,” the former aide said. “Some reporters have taken these claims at face value, and it’s the reason this story is still out there.”

Those around the Clinton campaign insist Clinton World isn’t worried that the health stories will damage her White House bid, though the latest pushback comes as polls of the race have tightened.

“The fact of the matter is there is no truth or factual evidence to debunk,” the former aide said. “She is perfectly healthy. The only way is to challenge him to a pushup contest at the first debate.”

New revelations about Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of State and a round of negative headlines about donors to the Clinton Foundation are mostly blamed for the closer poll results. Clinton continues to battle perceptions that she is untrustworthy, and the twin storylines have hurt her.

Allies, however, maintain that voters aren’t worried about the stories questioning her health.

“I think the media deserves to be beat up on this because I think it’s ridiculous. I really doubt that any American really cares about this,” said Democratic strategist Brad Bannon.

“This is as trivial as you can get. The media deserves pushback for giving so much coverage to this thing,” he added.

Both the Clinton and Trump campaigns have had a contentious relationship with the press.

Continue reading, The Hill

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Washington Examiner: As debates near, forum shows potential Trump advantage

By Byron York

NBC’s “Commander in Chief Forum,” held Wednesday night aboard the USS Intrepid in New York, was the closest thing to a debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton until the real thing on Sept. 26. And it showed an advantage Trump might have when the two meet face-to-face: she has a record in government to defend, while he doesn’t. On that score, Trump, at 70 a newcomer to politics, seems new, while Clinton, at 68 a veteran of decades in public life, seems, well, not new.

The format of the NBC forum, in which the two candidates were separated by only a commercial break, put that contrast into higher relief than ever before.

Clinton cited her experience right out of the blocks, when moderator Matt Lauer asked her, “What is the most important characteristic that a commander in chief can possess?”

“Steadiness,” Clinton answered instantly. “An absolute rock steadiness, and mixed with strength to be able to make the hard decisions. Because I’ve had the unique experience of watching and working with several presidents …”

The problem for Clinton was that talk of her experience leads naturally to talk of what she has done — and that, in today’s campaign environment, means talk of her mishandling of classified information as secretary of state. “Why wasn’t it disqualifying?” was Lauer’s second question of the evening.

Then, when it came time for the military audience to ask questions of their own, the first for Clinton, from a retired naval officer, was brutal. “Secretary Clinton, how can you expect those such as myself who were and are entrusted with America’s most sensitive information to have any confidence in your leadership as president when you clearly corrupted our national security?”

Ouch. Clinton argued that she did not send or receive emails with a header marked “TOP SECRET” or the like. Maybe voters will find that convincing, and maybe they won’t. But it was a rocky start.

The next question, from Lauer, was about Clinton’s vote in 2003 to authorize the Iraq War.

Another audience member stood to ask: “You have had an extensive record with military intervention. How do you respond to progressives like myself who worry and have concerns that your hawkish foreign policy will continue?”

Continue reading, Washington Examiner

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Breitbart: Hillary Clinton at Commander-in-Chief Forum: ‘We Did Not Lose a Single American’ in Libya

By Alex Swoyer

Hillary Clinton declared during NBC News’s Commander-in-Chief forum that no lives were lost in Libya when she made the move to take out dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Even so, the former secretary of state did not mention the fact that 11 months later four Americans — including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens — were killed in a terrorist attack in Benghazi that arose from the instability that the overthrow created.

“With respect to Libya, again, there’s no difference between my opponent and myself,” Clinton stated, attempting to dismiss her hawkish-foreign policy record. “He’s on record extensively supporting intervention in Libya when Qaddafi was threatening to massacre his population. I put together a coalition that included NATO, included the Arab League, and we were able to save lives.”

“We did not lose a single American in that action,” she declared.

Continue reading, Breitbart

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Conservative Review: Levin: I’m voting for Trump … here’s why

By Phil Shiver

Mark Levin made the big announcement Tuesday night on his radio show after methodically walking listeners through his rationale.

At the beginning of the program, Levin made sure his real feelings were known. It was no secret that Levin’s first choice was not and is not Donald Trump. In fact, he boldly declared Tuesday that despite Trump’s holding some conservative policies, “Donald Trump is not a conservative … and he’s not reliable.”

Levin reiterated his position that Sen. Ted Cruz would’ve been a far better choice to champion conservative principles as president.

But that’s not what happened and … “at the end of the day, someone is going to be president.”

Levin then listed his critiques of Trump one by one. From his behavioral antics during the GOP primary to his lack of understanding when it comes to the Constitution and limited government, from his massive spending increase for infrastructure to his protectionist trade policies, and more.

It wasn’t all bad for Trump, however, as Levin later spoke positively about his tax plan, his positions on immigration, law enforcement, and foreign policy. Levin did offer a common and recurring disclaimer: Trump is NOT reliable.

Continue reading, Conservative Review

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Townhall: Trump Does The Unthinkable

By Liz Crokin

Donald Trump is a racist, bigot, sexist, xenophobe, anti-Semitic and Islamophobe — did I miss anything? The left and the media launch these hideous kinds of attacks at Trump everyday; yet, nothing could be further from the truth about the real estate mogul. As an entertainment journalist, I’ve had the opportunity to cover Trump for over a decade, and in all my years covering him I’ve never heard anything negative about the man until he announced he was running for president. Keep in mind, I got paid a lot of money to dig up dirt on celebrities like Trump for a living so a scandalous story on the famous billionaire could’ve potentially sold a lot of magazines and would’ve been a “yuge” feather in my cap. Instead, I found that he doesn’t drink alcohol or do drugs, he’s a hardworking businessman and totally devoted to his beloved wife and children. On top of that, he’s one of the most generous celebrities in the world with a heart filled with more gold than his $100 million New York penthouse.

In 2004, the first season of “The Apprentice” aired and at that time I worked as an entertainment columnist for the “RedEye Edition of the Chicago Tribune” and as a freelancer for “Us Weekly”. I had a gut feeling that Chicago contestant, Bill Rancic, was going to win the reality show. So I contacted him and covered the hit show the entire season. I managed to score an invite to New York for the show’s grand finale and after-party. This is where I first met Trump and got to ask him a few questions. That year, Rancic did win “The Apprentice”. I attended “The Apprentice” finale the next two years in a row. Between that and the frequent visits Trump and his family made to Chicago during the construction of their Trump International Hotel & Tower, I got a chance to meet most of his family too and I’ve had nothing but positive experiences with them. Since the media has failed so miserably at reporting the truth about Trump, I decided to put together some of the acts of kindness he’s committed over three decades which has gone virtually unnoticed or fallen on deaf ears.

Continue reading, Townhall

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The AP: Trump’s stamina attack on Clinton stirs talk of gender bias

Hillary Campaign Plane

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump and his Republican allies say Hillary Clinton is weak, lacks stamina and doesn’t look presidential.

 Intent on undermining his Democratic rival, Trump and GOP backers are increasingly relying on rhetoric that academics and even some Republican strategists say has an undeniable edge focused on gender. His criticism of Clinton goes beyond “Crooked Hillary,” and complaints about her use of a private email server as secretary of state and her foreign policy decisions.

Clinton, Trump said in a speech last week, “lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS and all the many adversaries we face.”

 He has repeatedly called attention to Clinton’s voice, saying listening to her gives him a headache. Last December, he mocked her wardrobe. “She puts on her pantsuit in the morning,” he told a Las Vegas audience. At rallies and in speeches, the billionaire mogul has also used stereotypes about women to demean Clinton, who stands to become America’s first female president if she wins in November.

A frequent point of criticism: Clinton doesn’t look like a typical president.

“Now you tell me she looks presidential, folks,” he said at a recent rally in New Hampshire.

“I look presidential,” he insisted.

Trump’s allies have piled on. Running mate Mike Pence often uses the word “broad-shouldered” to describe Trump’s leadership and foreign policy style, a tacit swipe at Clinton. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani argued that all of the miles Clinton logged during as secretary of state resulted in more harm than benefit.

“Maybe it would’ve been better if she had stayed home,” said Giuliani, who more recently questioned Clinton’s health, suggesting an internet search of the words “Hillary Clinton illness.”

“She is the first woman from a major party running for president, so gender is always at play,” said Dianne Bystrom, the director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University.

Clinton pushed back Monday against insinuations she’s in poor health, saying on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” that campaign is like an “alternative reality” where she has to “answer questions about am I alive, how much longer will I be alive, and the like.”

Continue reading, The AP

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ALG: LA Times/USC poll: After Milwaukee, Trump jumps 10 points among blacks

Trump Milwaukee Bump August 18

By Robert Romano

After delivering his Milwaukee speech promoting law and order on Aug. 16, Donald Trump has increased support among blacks by nearly 10 points — the LA Times/USC daily tracking poll finds.

In the speech, Trump asked for blacks’ support — “I am asking for the vote of every African-American citizen struggling in our country today who wants a different future” — and they responded.

The result marked a jump from 4.8 percent support on Aug. 15 — to 14.3 percent on Aug. 16 and 14.6 percent on Aug. 17.

That is nothing short of a political earthquake, representing more than a million potential voters suddenly swinging in Trump’s direction. That’s huge.

Democrats got 95 percent of the vote of blacks in 2012, 99 percent in 2008, 93 percent in 2004 and 95 percent in 2000, according to Gallup. It is a vital constituency for Democrats. One they simply cannot win without.

Even though he would still lose the vast majority of those votes, if a swing that dramatic were to hold true on Election Day, Democrats would be wiped out in a massive landslide. They would be roadkill.

Milwaukee and the LA Times/USC poll is a dramatic turn of events, potentially forecasting one of the most historic shifts in electoral behavior in a generation.

The Hillary Clinton campaign must be beyond panic with these findings.

How did Trump do it? Besides Hillary Clinton’s historically soft support from black, Trump’s carefully scripted, well-timed speech said blacks were those who were suffering the most by the riots in Milwaukee: “The main victims of these riots are law-abiding African-American citizens living in these neighborhoods. It is their jobs, their homes, their schools and communities which will suffer as a result.”

Trump added, promising to restore order in the cities, “There is no compassion in tolerating lawless conduct. Crime and violence is an attack on the poor, and will never be accepted in a Trump Administration.”

The speech was also very pro-police. “The problem in our poorest communities is not that there are too many police, the problem is that there are not enough police. More law enforcement, more community engagement, more effective policing is what our country needs.”

And pro-family. “For every one violent protestor, there are a hundred moms and dads and kids on that same city block who just want to be able to sleep safely at night. My opponent would rather protect the offender than the victim.”

That was a bold message, and for a significant segment of blacks, it struck a major chord.

10 points. That’s unbelievable. But it happened. You can measure it.

In principle, if Trump were to deftly deliver the same message again to a wider audience, he could begin to consolidate a growing base of supporters among blacks that did not exist three days ago. Could he grow that base?

Because, if the result were to be replicated in cities across America, November might not even be close.

Continue reading, Americans for Limited Government’s Net Right Daily

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The Hill: Next president faces possible ObamaCare meltdown

By Sarah Farris, The Hill

The next president could be dealing with an ObamaCare insurer meltdown in his or her very first month.

The incoming administration will take office just as the latest ObamaCare enrollment tally comes in, delivering a potentially crucial verdict about the still-shaky healthcare marketplaces.

The fourth ObamaCare signup period begins about one week before Election Day, and it will end about one week before inauguration on Jan. 20. After mounting complaints from big insurers about losing money this year, the results could serve as a kind of judgment day for ObamaCare, experts say.

“The next open enrollment period is key,” said Larry Levitt, senior vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The Obama administration has struggled for several years to bring young, healthy people into the marketplaces, which is needed to offset the medical costs of older and sicker customers.

These problems are coming to light this year, as insurers get their first full look at ObamaCare customer data. Some, like UnitedHealth Group, say they’ve seen enough and are already vowing to leave the exchanges.  

Levitt and other experts warn that if the numbers don’t improve this year, more insurers could bolt. That would deal a major blow to marketplace competition while also driving up rates and keeping even more people out of the exchanges.

Already, many insurers this year are proposing substantial rate hikes with the hopes of making up for higher recent medical costs. The average premium increase next year is about 9 percent, according to an analysis of 17 cities by the Kaiser Family Foundation. But some hikes are far higher: Blue Cross Blue Shield has proposed increases of 40 percent in Alabama and 60 percent in Texas.

Levitt said the premium hikes could be “just be a one-time market correction” in the still-new marketplace. But if insurers continue to lose money, it could be a sign of bigger problems.

Continue reading, The Hill

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The Hill: Trump, NRA form tight alliance

By Jonathan Swan, The Hill

Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association have formed a tight alliance.

Even as high-profile Republicans distance themselves from their presidential nominee, the NRA is sticking its neck out for Trump.

It did so most recently on Tuesday, defending Trump after he made a remark about “Second Amendment people” taking action against Hillary Clinton.

While critics accused Trump of inciting violence, NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker told The Boston Globe that Trump’s comment was only a “call to action for people who care about this issue to get to the polls.”

“There is something Second Amendment supporters can do,” Baker told the Globe. “All Americans who value their individual right to self protection must vote for Donald Trump and defeat Hillary Clinton.”

Trump and the NRA have been tight since May, when the gun rights group, known as the most powerful lobbying organization in Washington, offered an unusually early endorsement of the Republican nominee.

The alliance might seem strange at a glance.

Trump is a New York billionaire who once supported the federal assault weapon ban and a longer waiting period on gun purchases.

But allies of Trump and the NRA itself say the alliance makes sense for the nation’s most powerful lobbying group given the alternative: a Clinton presidency.

Continue reading, The Hill

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Detroit Free Press: Ivanka Trump: Critics ‘scared’ of Donald Trump presidency

 

By , Detroit Free Press

She may be the campaign whisperer in an often-blustery realm of Donald Trump.

Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, offered a full-throated but soft-spoken defense of her father’s sometimes-controversial candidacy in an interview following his speech Monday before the Detroit Economic Club.

“He raised me to be a strong woman and voice my opinion,” she told the Detroit Free Press. “I share with him when I agree and when I disagree.”

When asked whether she could provide some examples of where she and her father disagreed on policy or strategy, she  demurred.

Her advice is provided “privately, because that’s the nature of our relationship,” she said. “But I’m very inspired by what he’s done.”

To critics who call her father’s temperament “volatile,” Ivanka Trump challenged the characterization, calling her father “incredibly level-headed.”

Continue reading, Detroit Free Press

 

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