Sunday, August 30, 2015

FLASH UPDATE: THE “SUNDAY OF HILLARY’S SHOCKING IOWA POLL” EDITION


ANYBODY THAT WATCHES THE SUNDAY MORNING NEWS SHOWS NOW KNOWS ABOUT THE “SHOCKER POLL” OR THE “SHOCKING NEWS” OUT OF IOWA  —   AND IT’S THAT BERNIE SANDERS IS CLOSING IN ON HILLARY CLINTON THERE

CBS NEWS/ FACE THE NATION ASKS,  “IS HILLARY CLINTON IN TROUBLE IN IOWA”  —   THE SANDERS’ VOTERS LOOK LIKE THE OBAMA VOTERS THAT BEAT HILLARY IN IOWA IN 2008  —  IF THIS WERE ONLY ONE MONTH OUT FROM THE IOWA PRIMARY, IT WOULD MEAN THAT BERNIE WOULD BE LIKELY TO WIN AND HILLARY LOSE  

THE GOOD NEWS FOR HILLARY RIGHT NOW IS THAT THE IOWA PRIMARY IS SEVERAL MONTHS AWAY & SHE HAS A CHANCE TO STOP THE BLEEDING, AND MAYBE EVEN TURN THINGS AROUND  

FOR HILLARY THIS IS THE END OF THE BEGINNING   —   AND THE BEGINNING HAS GONE VERY BADLY FOR HER 



All of the Sunday morning network news programs opened with the news of the “SHOCKER” Des Moines Register – Bloomberg News Poll that Hillary Clinton has crashed below 50% voter support at 37%, while Bernie Sanders has climbed to 30% among Iowa Democratic voters..

FACE THE NATION

For example,  here’s how the folks at CBS’ “Face The Nation” put it:   “A new Iowa poll out Saturday showed Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vermont's independent Senator, coming within seven points of Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. But pollster Ann Selzer, the president of Selzer & Company, said it's not motivated by anti-Clinton sentiment....   ‘Her support is going a little bit into the not-sure category with people being sort of waiting there. But the Bernie Sanders vote it certainly getting stronger,’ Selzer said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday. ‘It isn't just that there's an anti-Clinton sentiment...When we ask Bernie Sander supporters is this because you align with Bernie Sanders, the person and his views, 96 percent say yes. Overwhelmingly, that's what they're up to.’...” ( See “Why Bernie Sanders is gaining on Hillary Clinton in Iowa” by Rebecca Kaplan, 8/30/15, CBS News/ Face the Nation [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/is-hillary-clinton-in-trouble-in-iowa/]).  It’s buried in the link, but the “Face The Nation” crowd clearly is asking the question, “Is Hillary Clinton in trouble in Iowa ?”

According to Ann Selzer, the pollster interviewed by CBS for “Face the Nation” this might be more important than the headline story: “.... [Even though] Sanders might still be losing to Clinton overall, but he's up among people who say they will participate in the Iowa caucus for the first time, those who consider themselves independent, and people under 45....   ‘That's the Obama coalition. Those are the groups that he put together that surprised Hillary Clinton in 2008,’ she said....”


ABC THIS WEEK WITH .... [MARTHA RADDATZ] 

The coverage on ABC was little different.  Here’s how Martha Raddatz introduced the first segment of “This Week”:   “.... We begin with that shake-up in the 2016 race. A brand new poll coming in overnight from the critical state of Iowa, showing Senator Bernie Sanders closing in on Hillary Clinton....  It's your voice, your vote. And let's take a look at those numbers....
The biggest surprise is among Democrats. Clinton's lead now down to single digits, just 7 points ahead of Sanders. It's the first time she's dropped below 50 percent in "The Des Moines Register"/Bloomberg Poll this year....  We're taking on every twist and turn in the 2016 race this morning....”  (See “'This Week' Transcript: Sen. Bernie Sanders...” 8/30/15, ABC News/ This Week With [Martha Raddatz] [http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-sen-bernie-sanders-gov-bobby-jindal/story?id=33383476]).

What followed was an interview with candidate Bernie Sanders, “One on One.”  Of course, the questions to Sanders immediately turned to the most recent Iowa poll  —   “Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said today he does not know whether new poll numbers putting him within 7 percentage points of Hillary Clinton in Iowa mean her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination is in trouble, but his campaign is ‘doing great.’...  ‘You know, it’s not just in Iowa. It’s in New Hampshire. It’s all across this country....I think people are responding to our message.’...   Sanders admitted that Clinton was ‘way ahead’ of him in terms of her support among Democratic Party and institutional leaders, but argued that many of them might still support him in the end....  ‘Democratic leaders are not dumb,’ said Sanders, the longest-serving independent member of Congress. ‘What they want and what I want is to make sure that we do not see a Republican gain control over the White House....  And I think as these look around the country and see the kind of energy and see the kind of huge turnouts we're getting, seeing the kind of young people who, for the first time, are getting involved in the political process ... I think what these leaders -- maybe not today but in a couple months -- will say, 'You know, we want to win.'...” ( See “Bernie Sanders: ‘People Are Responding to Our Message’” by Mary Alice Parks, 8/30/15, ABC News/ This Week
[http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bernie-sanders-people-responding-message/story?id=33413601]).

Ms. Parks made this significant observation:  “....  In the Des Moines Register poll released Saturday night, an overwhelming percentage of Sanders' supporters –- 96 percent -- said they support him and his ideas, while just 2 percent said they were supporting him out of opposition to Clinton....  ‘They want a candidate who is not dependent upon super PACs, a candidate who is prepared to take on and overturn this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision,’ Sanders said....”

NBC – MEET THE PRESS – CHUCK TODD  —   THEY DID’NT BURY THE LEAD, BUT THEY DID BURY THE STORY  —   BUT SO DID FOX

Hillary was given a little cover for her poor Iowa polling by NBC’s “Meet The Press”; and , oddly enough "Fox News Sunday."

At the top of the “Meet The Press” show,  Chuck Todd introduced the news about the latest Iowa poll with this: “....  Plus the latest polls out of Iowa, where things stand this morning will surprise you....”  He came back to it shortly after a break, saying this: “Good Sunday morning. I've got a couple of shock poll results out of Iowa to start us off, from The Des Moines Register and Bloomberg. Check this out. On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders has polled to within seven points of Hillary Clinton in Iowa. It is now 37-30, Clinton over Sanders, throw in Joe Biden, he sits at 14. Back in May, the same poll had Clinton leading Sanders by 41 points....” (See “Meet the Press Transcript” 8/30/15, NBC News/ Meet the Press [http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-transcript-august-30-2015-n418466]). Todd  then quickly shifted to a discussion of the Republicans in the same poll; he never returned to the story that was a top item on all the Sunday news shows  —  more important, he didn’t leave it open for commentary by the “Meet The Press” panel of reporters.

“Meet The Press” did several segments covering Republican candidates; and when it shifted back to the Democrats, it was a meandering comparison of the various positions of Clinton, O’Malley, Biden and Sanders.... Then there was a complete detour down memory lane for a retrospective about New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina; and lastly, a very wonky discussion of the adequacy of field intelligence in the fight against ISIS/ISIL.

It wasn’t much different at Fox.  The show opened normally with this: “CHRIS WALLACE, HOST:  I'm Chris Wallace.  Donald Trump keeps rising in the polls as Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush slip and fight back....”  Then there was a taped segment showing Donald Trump, Jeb & Hillary on the campaign trail, followed by Chris Wallace’s description of the various segments on the show.

After the commercial break there was this: “WALLACE:  And hello again from Fox News in Washington....  Well, breaking news in the race for the White House, a new poll shows self-described socialist Bernie Sanders closing the gap on Hillary Clinton in Iowa.  The Des Moines Register poll shows Sanders now within seven points of Clinton among likely Iowa caucus goers.  Clinton has lost one-third of her support since May....”  (See “Exclusive: Gov. Christie talks 2016 campaign, calls Clinton a 'disgrace' [transcript]” 8/30/15, Fox News/ Transcript [http://www.foxnews.com/transcript/2015/08/30/exclusive-gov-christie-talks-2016-campaign-calls-clinton-disgrace/]). The details of the Des Moines Register-Bloomberg News poll were not discussed further by Wallace or by the Fox panel.

IF THE RECENT IOWA POLL NUMBERS HOLD UP FOR BERNIE SANDERS, EVEN FOR A LITTLE WHILE  —   EXPECT AN URGENT CALL FROM HILLARY’S  IOWA OPERATIVES TO HILLARY’S CADMAN PLAZA HEADQUARTERS: “BROOKLYN,  WE HAVE A PROBLEM”  —   CERTAINLY, THE 2015-2016 CAMPAIGN LOOKS LIKE IT HAS REACHED A NEW PHASE

As Churchill said after British forces first held and then were victorious at El Alamein, and the successful Allied invasions of Western North Africa in World War II  —   “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning....”

Hillary Clinton has time to stop the bleeding, rally the troops and press on.

She should be happy that this is the end of the beginning.  She seemed to have begun her campaign reluctantly with a series of failed roll-outs — then there’s been this six-months-long multi-faceted crisis for her and her campaign that’s been all about the official and private E-mails, on a private server and containing at least SOME very classified information, whether marked “CLASSIFIED” or not.

One way or another, this has not been a very good “BEGINNING” for Hillary or her 2015-2016 campaign for the presidency  —  she’ll be better off being done with it.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Trump v Sanders

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE & BACKFILL: THE “WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE” EDITION

THE MAIN HEADLINE OF THE EARLY MONDAY A.M. DRUDGE REPORT SCREAMS: “DEBBIE DELAYS DEBATES; PROTECTS HILLARY FROM THE MEN....”

HOWEVER, LINKED ARTICLE IN "THE HILL" NOT NEARLY SO INFLAMMATORY

O'MALLEY COMPLAINS ABOUT "RIGGED PROCESS" SURRONDING SCHEDULING AND RULES FOR PRE-PRIMARY DEBATES

There seems to have been a bit of a slip between the cup and the lip. The link from the Drudge Report headline, quoted above is to an article in “The Hill” (See “Sanders: Dems ‘dead wrong’ on debates” by Julian Hattem, 8/30/15, The Hill [http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/dem-primaries/252265-sanders-democrats-dead-wrong-on-debates]). Although the Hill article does contain many complaints about the DNC’s scheduling and rules for the upcoming pre-primary debates among the Democrat candidates, none of them appears to reflect literally what is in the Drudge headline (but my guess is that Drudge does have it right -- DWS and the top Dems are doing all they can to protect HRC from all challengers; and that includes protecting HRC from debates that might make a difference in the planned result).

Here are some specifics from the Hill article: “The Democratic National Committee is ‘dead wrong’ by limiting the number of debates available to presidential candidates, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said on Sunday.... ‘I think that that is dead wrong and I have let the leadership of the Democrats know that,’ Sanders said on CNN’s ‘State of the Union.’... Sanders’s comments come after critical words from former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), who on Friday accused the DNC of creating a ‘rigged process’ to limit the number of debates to just four before the first round of voting takes place.... ‘I think it’s a big mistake for us as a party to circle the wagons around the inevitable front-runner,’ O’Malley said earlier in the week.... Sanders appeared to agree on CNN on Sunday.... ‘I think that rigging is a strong word,’ he said. ‘However, I would like to see more debates.’...”

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE: THE “BREITBART EXCLUSIVE -- BY ITSELF, MAKES THIS A VERY BAD MONDAY FOR HILLARY” EDITION

BREITBART REPORTS THAT SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON’S PRIVATE E-MAIL SYSTEM WAS PART OF A “NETWORK” THAT INCLUDED AN E-MAIL SYSTEM FOR THE CLINTON FOUNDATION

ACCORDING TO B-BART, THE SECRETARY OF STATE’S E-MAILS WERE EVEN LESS SECURE THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT

IF THIS "EXCLUSIVE" BY BREITBART IS FOLLOWED UP BY THE MSM & IT ALL PROVES OUT, IT'S BIB -- BIG -- BIG


According to an “Exclusive” report on the Breitbart News blog, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server was housed at the same location and on the same network as an email server used and operated by the Clinton Foundation.

Here are some details of what Patrick Howley reports in his article posted on Breitbart: “.... Records reveal that Hillary Clinton’s private clintonemail.com server shared an IP address with her husband Bill Clinton’s email server, presidentclinton.com, and both servers were housed in New York City, not in the basement of the Clintons’ Chappaqua, New York home.... Web archives show that the Presidentclinton.com Web address was being operated by the Clinton Foundation as of 2009, when Hillary Clinton registered her own clintonemail.com server....” (See “EXCLUSIVE: HILLARY SHARED AN EMAIL NETWORK WITH THE CLINTON FOUNDATION” by Patrick Howley, 8/31/15, Breitbart News [http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/08/31/exclusive-hillary-shared-an-email-network-with-the-clinton-foundation/]).

The Howley-Breitbart “Exclusive” also noted this newly disclosed breach of security: “... Numerous Clinton Foundation employees used the presidentclinton.com server for their own email addresses, which means that they were using email accounts that, if hacked, would have given any hacker complete access to Hillary Clinton’s State Department emails, as well....”

IN WHAT SHOULD BE THEIR CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH, BREITBART & HOWLEY TALK ABOUT A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF CRIMINALITY THAT HANGS OVER HILLARY CLINTON
Breitbart and Patrick Howley pull no punches saying this: “.... The bombshell revelation raises new concerns about the possible illegality of Hillary Clinton’s private email use. The former Secretary of State is under federal investigation for potentially violating the Espionage Act by allowing people without a security clearance to access classified information. The fact that Hillary was sharing an email network with a private foundation means that people without a security clearance almost certainly had physical access to her server while she was working at the State Department....”

MUCH MORE TECHNICAL INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE BREITBART NEWS “EXCLUSIVE”
Following all that I mentioned above, in a section headed “Here’s what we know...” Patrick Howley lists myriad technical and factual details about the E-mails systems. These include: the probable physical location of the servers; the IP address of the servers; information on the SSL certificate for the servers; dates that the servers began operation; AND OTHER BOMBSHELL FACTS AND DETAILS.

BRETIBART’S SNARKY “CONCLUDING” COMMENTS AND QUOTES
“Hillary Even Admitted That She Used Her Husband’s ‘System’... ‘Well the system we used was set up for President Clintons office and it had numerous safeguards it was on property guarded by the Secret Service and there were no security breaches, so I think that the use of that server which started with my husband proved to be effective and secure,’ Hillary Clinton said in a March 2015 press conference.... Clinton has not returned to that talking point since....”

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE: THE “LOOKING BACK AT HILLARY THROUGH HER E-MAILS” EDITION

HILLARY CLINTON’S E-MAILS SHOWS HER TO HAVE BEEN A VERY PARANOID AND KIND OF SNARKY CHARACTER

ALSO THE LATEST E-MAILS SHOWED THAT THE STATE DEPARTMENT’S TECH SUPPORT STAFF WERE “KEPT IN THE DARK” ABOUT HRC’S PRIVATE E-MAIL SYSTEM

LATEST RELEASE OF HILLARY'S E-MAILS BOTH GIVES INSIGHT INTO HRC -- AND -- FUELS DEBATE ABOUT HER E-MAILS


According to an up-to-date blast from Politico — “The latest release of Clinton's emails shows the former secretary of state's keen interest in the ambitions of Petraeus and the alleged sniping from Podesta” The article goes on to say, “.... A new batch of Hillary Clinton's emails made public by the State Department on Monday night show her expressing interest in the presidential aspirations of Gen. David Petraeus, who ultimately took a job as CIA director in the Obama administration rather than run for president in 2012 and was then driven out of government by scandal.... Clinton — who's now the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination next year — sounded intrigued when her longtime friend Sidney Blumenthal reported to her on a Saturday morning in February 2010 that prominent Washington foreign policy blogger Steve Clemons said Petraeus was talking frankly about the possibility of running for the White House....” ( See “Emails show Hillary's political sleuthing” by Josh Gerstein, 9/1/15, Politico/ “HILLARY CLINTON EMAILS” [http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/clintonemail-batch4-213164]).

“The new insights into Clinton's political intelligence-gathering come from messages that are among a batch of more than 7,000 pages of emails the State Department put online Monday night, complying with a judge's order to make monthly releases in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The order followed the revelation in March that Clinton exclusively used a private email account and server during her four years as secretary of state, jeopardizing earlier responses to FOIA requests and triggering Republican claims that she endangered national security by allowing sensitive messages to be stored on an unofficial system.... While dozens of senior officials and Clinton friends were in the loop about her email setup, the newly disclosed messages show some on State's tech support team were clearly in the dark....”

The Politico article by Josh Gerstein concluded with this: “.... Clinton and her aides have suggested that as more of her emails are released, people will get a better sense of how she's doing her job and the controversy will diminish. That may turn out to be true as the monthly releases continue into next year. However, for now, each round of disclosures provides new fodder for Republicans and other critics questioning the wisdom, propriety and even the legality of the arrangement.”

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE: THE “THIS IS PRICELESS HILLARY CLINTON MATERIAL” EDITION

REUTER’S EXPERT TAKES APART HILLARY CLINTON’S BODY LANGUAGE AND FACIAL EXPRESSIONS OVER QUESTIONS ABOUT THE E-MAILS AND HER SERVER

HILLARY CLINTON’S “EXPRESSIONS... LIKE A TIRED BOXER’S, SLIGHTLY OFF-BALANCE AND WOOZY...”

BOTTOM LINE — HILLARY IS VERY “SAD” AND “DISCOMBOBULATED”


According to Dan Hill, reporting as an “expert”on “facial coding” and “Emotionomics” for Reuters — “Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton faced repeated questions about her use of a private computer server for emails while secretary of state during her recent Las Vegas news conference. Her discomfort with the topic was evident — especially if you compare her facial expressions in Las Vegas to her June 13 campaign launch announcement in New York. You can see the sharp contrast if you watch both events with the sound off, focusing on Clinton’s facial expressions and body language.... Clinton is described, by both supporters and critics, as “brainy,” “tough” both personally and politically. In Las Vegas, however, her expressions were more like a tired boxer’s, slightly off-balance and woozy.... For relatively long stretches, given that she was holding a news conference, Clinton repeatedly closed her eyes. By itself, that facial muscle activity is a sign of sadness. But add to this how often she also raised her eyebrows, in ways not necessarily emphasizing her comments. This was unusual for her. And it usually signifies both sadness and anxiety....” (See “Reading Hillary Clinton’s body language when she talks about the email debacle” by Dan Hill, 9/1/15, Reuters
[http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/08/31/reading-hillary-clintons-body-language-when-she-talks-about-the-email-debacle/]).

Mr. Hill’s concluding remarks say it all — “Whatever she may have wanted to shield from public view by using her own email server, what Clinton[ ] can’t hide is that she’s now deeply discombobulated.”

Anonymous said...

Hillary losing ground is no longer "shocking". Its the same old pattern for the same old politics

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE & BACKFILL: THE “OMG ! ANTHONY WEINER GETS FULLY ENGAGED IN THE TRUMP DEBATE ABOUT HUMA [AND HILLARY]” EDITION

HOW DID I MISS THIS FOR TWO DAYS ? — ANTHONY ‘THE PERV” & “THE SLEAZEBAG” WEINER WAS ON RADIO DEFENDING HIS WIFE, HUMA ABEDIN, AND INDIRECTLY DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HILLARY CLINTON

WEINER’S “DENIAL” FOR HUMA DOESN’T TALK ABOUT WHAT SHE SAID TO HIM ABOUT CLASSIFIED E-MAILS

WEINER WAS TRYING TO DEFEND HUMA AGAINST THE ATTACKS OF GOP FRONT-RUNNER DONALD TRUMP — BUT INSTEAD WEINER POURED MORE GASOLINE ONTO THE HUMA ABEDIN FIRE


ABC News is reporting that — “In the feud between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, embattled former Rep. Anthony Weiner – Abedin's husband – is stepping into the line of fire.... In a radio show appearance Monday, Weiner called Trump's suggestion that Abedin may have shared state secrets with him both ‘wrong’ and ‘outrageous.’... ‘I think it's absurd and frankly insulting, not only to my wife, who, when she worked at the State Department, had a pretty high security clearance, a higher clearance than even some of the candidates running for president, but it also reflects very poorly on apparently what Mr. Trump thinks about government employees who have high security clearances, that they are talking about things,’ the New York Democrat said on ‘The Brian Lehrer Show.’...” ( See “Anthony Weiner Slams Donald Trump's Attacks on Wife as 'Absurd' and 'Outrageous'” by Ryan Struyk, 9/1/15, ABC News [http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/anthony-weiner-slams-donald-trumps-attacks-wife-absurd/story?id=33459696]).

ABC REPORT CONTAINS A VERY WEAK GENERAL “DENIAL” BY MR. WEINER ON BEHALF OF HUMA ABEDIN — BUT HE SAYS NOTHING FACTUAL ABOUT WHAT SHE TOLD HIM
In addition to the other, more strenuous comments about what Trump was doing to his wife, Huma Abedin, ABC described the nearest thing to a denial on behalf of Huma, as follows: “.... Weiner, who stepped down from his congressional position after a sexting scandal four years ago, stood by his wife, saying she has served the country well in her role.... ‘Not only didn't she do that [leak information], but even further, she worked in government for 20 years. She's got a reputation that is completely stellar, and anyone in Washington and anyone in New York who's ever worked for her knows that,’ he said on the ‘The Brian Lehrer Show.’..."

That was very far from a factual assertion by Anthony Weiner concerning the charge by Donald Trump, which directly implicated Weiner, himself. Anthony Weiner didn’t say that his wife didn’t tell him anything about the classified information contained in E-mails that Huma was reported to have forwarded to Hillary Clinton. That leaves the part of Trump’s charge of what Huma said to Anthony wide open.

Why couldn’t Anthony Weiner issue a direct personal factual denial about that part of the Trump charge that implicated Weiner, himself, in an alleged breach of security by his wife ? The fact that he spoke on the subject matter, and he didn’t make such a denial just fuels the fire under his wife even more. — It’s just like pouring gas on the fire.