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2015 The Year That Fox News Kept Bashing The Most Popular Pope In History




Wow 25 percent of Fox News Viewers are Catholic, with Fox News losing 12 percent of their viewers per year  to due mortality they really should not be pissing off any viewers  


Fox's Andrew Napolitano: Pope Francis Is A "Communist" And A "Marxist." On the September 15 edition of Fox Business' Varney & Co., Fox's senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano called Pope Francis a "communist" and a "Marxist" for linking the Syrian refugee crisis to global poverty:
ANDREW NAPOLITANO: I am sighing because the Holy Father is a challenge for traditionalist Roman Catholics, of which I am one. Particularly, traditionalists who came of age under John Paul II and then under Benedict XVI. Who, though they had impulses that were not exactly Ayn Rand on capitalism, were far more into philosophy and theology, and far less into the economy ... This particular Pope, who has proclaimed himself a Peronist, is somewhere between a communist with a lowercase "c" and a Marxist with an uppercase "M." At the same time he is trying to be a Roman Catholic -- uppercase "R," uppercase "C."
[...]
The Pope is infallible on faith in morals. Thank God it is just limited to faith and morals because he is, he is -- he sounds like a left-wing professor at the London School of Economics when he blames the mass migration on economic inequality. [Fox Business, Varney & Co.,9/15/15]
Fox's Brian Kilmeade Thought Pope Francis Shouldn't Visit The United States: "He's In The Wrong Country." On the September 17 edition of Fox News Radio's Kilmeade & Friends, host Brian Kilmeade said that Pope Francis "could stay home" because "[s]ome of his comments just have no place. He's in the wrong country":
BRIAN KILMEADE: Yeah, I'm Catholic and he could stay home. Some of his comments just have no place. He's in the wrong country. But I tell you what --
CHRIS WALLACE (Fox News Sunday host): What? He's in the wrong country? What does that mean?
KILMEADE: He doesn't like capitalism. He blames us and money for what's going on in the Middle East. He says that global warming -- we've got to do more to have global warming -- we've doing more than anybody else. Get on China, show some courage. He's never visited our country before, now he gets around to it and he's critical going in? I have enough, you know -- take on, take on Islam, then talk to me.
WALLACE: The preceding comments were those, and all emails should be sent to Brian Kilmeade.
KILMEADE: Absolutely.
WALLACE: Kilmeade, Brian, bashes pope.
KILMEADE: Exactly. Bring it on.
[...]
KILMEADE: Tired of the pope. [Fox News Radio, Kilmeade & Friends9/17/15]
Wash. Post's George Will: "Americans Cannot Simultaneously Honor [The Pope] And Celebrate Their Nation's Premises." In a September 18 opinion piece in The Washington Post, conservative columnist George Will criticized Pope Francis for his progressive positions, writing, "[H]e embraces ideas impeccably fashionable, demonstrably false and deeply reactionary." Will called the pope's "policy prescriptions ... as implausible as his social diagnoses are shrill" and argued that "Americans cannot simultaneously honor him and celebrate their nation's premises":
Pope Francis embodies sanctity but comes trailing clouds of sanctimony. With a convert's indiscriminate zeal, he embraces ideas impeccably fashionable, demonstrably false and deeply reactionary. They would devastate the poor on whose behalf he purports to speak -- if his policy prescriptions were not as implausible as his social diagnoses are shrill.
Supporters of Francis have bought newspaper and broadcast advertisements to disseminate some of his woolly sentiments that have the intellectual tone of fortune cookies. One example: "People occasionally forgive, but nature never does." The Vatican's majesty does not disguise the vacuity of this. Is Francis intimating that environmental damage is irreversible? He neglects what technology has accomplished regarding London's air (see Page 1 of Dickens's "Bleak House") and other matters.
And the Earth is becoming "an immense pile of filth"? Hyperbole is a predictable precursor of yet another U.N. Climate Change Conference -- the 21st since 1995. Fortunately, rhetorical exhibitionism increases as its effectiveness diminishes. In his June encyclical and elsewhere, Francis lectures about our responsibilities, but neglects the duty to be as intelligent as one can be. This man who says "the Church does not presume to settle scientific questions" proceeds as though everything about which he declaims is settled, from imperiled plankton to air conditioning being among humanity's "harmful habits." The church that thought it was settled science that Galileo was heretical should be attentive to all evidence.
Francis deplores "compulsive consumerism," a sin to which the 1.3 billion persons without even electricity can only aspire. He leaves the Vatican to jet around praising subsistence farming, a romance best enjoyed from 30,000 feet above the realities that such farmers yearn to escape.
[...]
Secular people with anti-Catholic agendas drain his prestige, a dwindling asset, into promotion of policies inimical to the most vulnerable people and unrelated to what once was the papacy's very different salvific mission.
He stands against modernity, rationality, science and, ultimately, the spontaneous creativity of open societies in which people and their desires are not problems but precious resources. Americans cannot simultaneously honor him and celebrate their nation's premises. [Washington Post9/18/15]
Limbaugh Called The Pope A "Clown" For Criticizing "Unfettered Capitalism." On the July 10 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show, Limbaugh mocked the Pope's criticism of "unfettered capitalism," calling him a clown:
RUSH LIMBAUGH: Pope Francis is in Bolivia, and he's come out with another one of his anti-capitalism remarks. He said -- did you hear this, Don? Okay, well then you better be -- the Pope, Il Papa, the Vicar of Christ, said that unfettered capitalism is the devil's dung. Now, in the first place, would somebody find for me anywhere on this planet where there is, at this very moment, unfettered capitalism taking place? You can't because there isn't. And I would go so far as to say that the United States doesn't even have half-baked capitalism going on right now. But unfettered? What is unfettered? Have you ever heard of unfettered socialism? Have you ever heard of unfettered communism? Have you ever heard of unfettered Marxism? What is this unfettered capitalism?
[...]
LIMBAUGH: The closest we've had to what the Pope and these clowns are talking about his the Reagan years, and look what happened. Look at the economic boom that lasted practically 20 years. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show7/10/15]

Accusing Amy Schumer Of Opportunism After She Spoke Out Against Gun Violence

Breitbart News Writer: Amy Schumer Spoke Out Against Gun Violence To "Advance Her Career."Breitbart News' John Nolte attacked comedian Amy Schumer for promoting gun violence prevention legislation after a shooting in a Louisiana movie theater during a screen of her movie Trainwreck. During the August 3 edition of the National Rifle Association's radio show Cam & Company, Nolte slammed Schumer's call for gun safety measures, calling it "an opportunity ... to maybe increase her box office over the weekend" that indicates a lack of "moral courage":
JOHN NOLTE: The thing that's really happening here is that, she got in trouble because of some politically incorrect jokes that she made. And now she has got to take that movie star step of showing that she is part of the collective. So, going after guns is a very easy and cheap way for her to do that. It doesn't help that her cousin is a major U.S. senator, probably the next leader of the Democrats. And that's all that's going on here. I mean this isn't going to go anywhere. It's Hollywood politics coming together and slapping each other on the back to take away our rights.
[...]
NOLTE: I just see her exploiting it. I think she saw it as a great opportunity. You know, this occurred at my movie, now the focus is on me and what can I do to enhance my career.
CAM EDWARDS: I'm not - Look, I'm always willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt. And I wouldn't necessarily see this as just a reason to further your career. I would just hope that the -- the thinking here needs to be - I always get concerned when it's, we need to do something as opposed to we need to do something that works.
NOLTE: That's all it is. She's not putting any thought into it. If she had any moral courage and she actually cared about what happened, she would come out and she would say, listen putting a sign in a movie theater that says no one inside is armed, that this is a gun free zone, is stupid. She has the power to do that. She could make jokes about how stupid these gun free zones are. And where this terrible shooting occurred was in a gun free zone. But she doesn't have the moral courage to do that, so she's just towing the line, and she's dressing up like she's a grown up, and she's just exploiting the situation because it's an opportunity for her to maybe increase her box office over the weekend. I just, to me it is cowardly, it is trite, it is clichéd. There is obviously a real solution to solve these problems. Even if she wanted to do what the NRA did and say, maybe, you know we've had two movie theater shootings, maybe we need to put armed guards in these places. Something like that. But it's just the same clichéd nonsense that's not going to do any good, attached to background checks. She's not thinking, she's just trying to please the right people to enhance her career. And she also, there's a lot of Oscar talk around her movie, and that probably has something to do with it too. You go to Angelina Jolie route so everybody suddenly starts to take you seriously. I just, all I see is cynicism behind it. [NRA News, Cam & Company8/3/15]



Source MediaMatters.org 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the President and First Lady


The President and First Lady wish Americans a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays in a special weekly address. They celebrate the values of the season, and in that spirit of gratitude honor all the brave men and women in uniform fighting to keep us safe, as well as the families that stand by them. The President and First Lady ask that everyone take time this holiday season to visit JoiningForces.gov, and find out how to give back to the troops, veterans, and military families in your community.


Is The GOP Establishment Going To Support Donald Trump After all

 

Donald Trump has broken many of the rules of presidential politics: He’s insulted war heroes and minority groups, eschewed New Hampshire’s tradition of retail politics, and phoned in interviews to networks while other candidates jockey for facetime.
But for all the precepts Trump has ignored during this campaign, his fellow Republicans are grappling with a traditional one: partisan loyalty. Few top Republicans — even those who denounce his comments and policies — appear ready to swear off supporting him in a general election.
While Trump continues to drive
establishment Republicans to distraction, just a handful have declared they would not support him   if he becomes the GOP nominee. Republicans may be uncomfortable or offended by Trump’s bombast, but they are clearly nervous about turning their backs on the elements of their party showing the most energy this campaign.
“They’re trying to thread a needle,” said Fergus Cullen, the former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party and a Trump critic. “It’s an acute political challenge for most of them. They don’t want to antagonize the 25 or 30 percent of Republican voters entertained by Trump. At the same time, they don’t want to alienate the 60 percent of voters who are appalled by Trump’s rhetoric and his stated positions.”
Cullen added, “They’d all like it to just go away. But it’s not going away.”
Even in the Northeast, the tightest concentration of prominent moderate Republicans, elected officials have chosen a strategy of criticizing Trump’s more outlandish statements but stopping shy of ruling out support.
“It seems to me like we haven’t had a caucus or a primary yet, and a long way to go, and I like what some of the candidates have to say and I don’t like what some of the candidates have to say, and we’ll see where it goes,” Governor Charlie Baker stated Monday during a Globe interview, as he declined to say whether he would support Trump as the nominee.

That position situates Baker, in this electoral climate, to the right of conservative talk show host Glenn Beck, who has said he would not vote for Trump against former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who is widely anticipated by Republicans to win the Democratic nomination.
Baker denounced Trump’s proposal earlier this month to ban Muslims from coming into the country. But, as Trump has added to his stack of statements condemned by large swaths of the party, Baker’s messaging has remained consistent for months: The governor takes issue with certain statements but says he does not want to involve himself in the election.
Later on Monday, Trump’s words again offended many, when he told a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., that Clinton’s use of the bathroom during a debate was “disgusting” and that she got “schlonged” by Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic primary.
Senator Kelly Ayotte, the New Hampshire Republican facing a challenge next year from Democratic Governor Maggie Hassan, has opted for a hands-off tack similar to Baker’s.
After Trump in August generated controversy by aiming insults at Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, Ayotte said, “His comments are inappropriate and I don’t think women in New Hampshire will appreciate them.” But earlier this month, Ayotte told New Hampshire Public Radio, “We’re going to let the people of New Hampshire sort this out. I’ll support the Republican nominee.”
Unlike Baker, Ayotte would share a ballot with Trump if he receives the Republican nod — dangerous ground in a purple state that has usually voted for Democrats statewide in recent presidential elections.
“[Baker] just has to worry about the overall damage to the Republican brand,” Cullen said. “Other people like Kelly Ayotte have to worry not just about the damage he is doing to the Republican brand, but what potential damage he is doing to her politically.”
‘They don’t want to alienate the 60 percent of voters who are appalled by Trump’s rhetoric.’
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Mayor Ted Gatsas of Manchester, a Republican, earlier this year returned a Trump donation over the candidate’s assertion that Senator John McCain, a longtime prisoner of war in Vietnam, was not a war hero. On Thursday, Gastas said he would “support whoever the nominee is.”
Some in the party have voiced hopes that Trump could elevate GOP turnout. Early polling shows that Trump appeals to white voters with limited education, disillusioned by Washington. Such voters have been Republican loyalists, but they have become increasingly critical of the very same political establishment that Trump has so thoroughly rattled this year.
Another Northeast Republican from the party’s moderate wing, Senator Susan M. Collins of Maine, told The New York Times in an article published this month that “Trump may bring out people who don’t usually vote, which could be helpful to some of my colleagues.”
But, Collins acknowledged that she’s not up for reelection next year and, therefore, would not be a possible target of any backlash.
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, who was the party’s vice presidential nominee in 2012, told reporters earlier this month that he had condemned Trump’s proposal on Muslims “because I think that needed to be commented on.” But, Ryan added, he would “stay neutral” and “support the nominee.”
Ryan’s onetime running mate, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, has weighed in occasionally with criticism of Trump, whose endorsement he accepted at a press conference in 2012. Romney, too, has refrained from publicly foreswearing support for Trump in the general election.
Complicating the question of GOP loyalty this campaign season is the fact that Trump previously backed Democrats.
“It’s a very strange dance politically, with a guy who has no Republican bona fides to speak of and is running on a platform that is fundamentally alienating and causing a giant political train wreck and will elect Hillary Clinton,” said Rick Wilson, a Florida-based Republican strategist.
Democrats, meanwhile, have been only too happy to try to lash Republicans to Trump. During last Saturday’s debate, Clinton sought to paint the entire Republican field with Trump’s controversial anti-Muslim statements.
On the trail, Republican candidates have tried an evolving set of strategies to face the Trump threat. Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, at an addiction round-table here this month, told reporters they “should be ashamed” for asking him about Trump.
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush had tried the same approach earlier in the campaign, although he has become more confrontational toward the front-runner, calling Trump “a jerk” and trading schoolyard insults with him.
At a town hall event in Berlin, N.H., on Tuesday, Bush finished an answer by saying, “I promise I won’t talk about Trump again,” according to an online video. But he returned to the topic less than two minutes later.
“I broke my rule already,” Bush said.
Jim O’Sullivan can be reached at jim.osullivan@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JOSreports.

Las Vegas newspaper vows to defy conservative billionaire owner Sheldon Adelson

A defiant Las Vegas newspaper stands up to billionaire casino giant Sheldon Adelson

LAS VEGAS — "Get ready to write a story about this," Las Vegas Review-Journal Deputy Editor Jim Wright told his two best reporters as newspaper employees gathered for a mysterious staff meeting this month. Sitting on folding chairs in a cavernous, largely empty brick building, the journalists, ad salespeople and executives listened for nearly 40 minutes…

Gov. Susana Martinez will Never Be a VP Pick

Susana Martinez makes lots of sense as a potential running mate for the eventual Republican nominee. She’s a Latina in a party that struggles with Hispanics and women, a former district attorney in a moment when the public yearns for security and a conservative who got reelected in a blue state last year with 56 percent of the vote.
In practice, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association has become a punch line among some GOP elites in D.C. She’s gotten a reputation within corners of the consultant class as Palinesque: gaffe-prone, not intellectually curious, and not up for the rigors of a national campaign.
Making it in Santa Fe is not the same as making it in Washington. New Mexico’s population is, after all, just 2.1 million.
— The latest setback for any future aspirations Martinez might have came yesterday when the tape of a police officer’s belt recorder was released publicly. The governor sounds intoxicated as she speaks with the cop about a noise complaint in her hotel room and a report that bottles had been thrown from the balcony. The officer then discusses what to do about her with a security guard from the Eldorado Hotel and Spa.
“Honestly, you know, I’ve only really been working here for like a month and a half,” the guard tells the cop in the exchange around 1:30 a.m. the Sunday before last. “So this actually is my first run-in with this sort of thing. … I would never expect the first time to be the governor. I really don’t know what to do in this situation because I can tell that she’s … kind of …”
“Inebriated,” the cop finishes.
“Yes,” the guard replied.

Susana Martinez stands in front of a state map of drunken-driving deaths during a news conference in Albuquerque on Dec. 7. The incident in question happened Dec. 13. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras, File)
The governor’s office told local press that it was snowballs, not bottles, thrown from the room. And her office said yesterday that she only had a drink and a half. Apologizing for telling a police dispatcher not to send officers, the governor told the Albuquerque Journal last Friday that she was “absolutely not” drunk during the episode. Listen to the 4-minute audio here.
— Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, both sons of Cuban immigrants, are obviously in the top tier of the GOP contest. But if the nominee is looking for a Hispanic from the west to join the ticket, Nevada Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval might be a safer bet, especially after this hotel episode. The former federal judge was also easily reelected last year.











Source:  The Daily 202, PowerPost’s morning newsletter

Trump And Cruz Lead Republican Field


With just over 40 days before the Iowa caucuses, it is impossible to predict how the presidential race will shake out. But it is not hard to tell which way the wind is blowing.
A Quinnipiac University poll released on Tuesday was notable less for what it said about the candidates and their standings than what it revealed about the segments of the electorate they represent. Donald J. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas  led the poll — by a wide margin — with 28 percent and 24 percent, followed by Ben Carson, who received 10 percent.
That is a combined 62 percent of a Republican primary electorate in which just 8 percent of voters professed to be undecided. Many voters say they might change their minds, however. Mr. Trump’s supporters, by and large, were not among them. About 63 percent of his supporters said their minds were made up, compared with just 36 percent for Mr. Cruz.
Of the so-called establishment candidates, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida led with 10 percent. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey got 6 percent, and Jeb Bush got 4 percent — a combined 20 percent of support.
Those figures are worrisome to those who had hoped this was going to be a presidential cycle in which insurgent candidacies could be contained.
Though Mr. Cruz has gained in several recent Iowa polls, it is still unclear whether he, Mr. Trump or someone else will emerge as the victor the night of the Iowa caucuses. Public opinion polls tend to change greatly in the lead-up to votes, and polls in later states change very quickly after the first contests take place.

Clinton Pulling Away from Sanders


Latest National Poll: Clinton Pulling Away from Sanders
As I have said over and over again these polls are skewed to Bernie Sanders as most of his base is Democratic Leaning Independents, only 14 States have open Primaries and most of those are at the end of the process so really do Sanders very little good. 
Here is a poll of Likely Democratic Voters only ) 2016 National Democratic Primary
Asked of 332 likely voters - democrat
Hillary Clinton (D) 65%
Martin O'Malley (D) 2%
Bernie Sanders (D) 26%
Other 3%
Undecided 4% http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/polls/emerson-college-polling-society-23395


From DailyKos
With less than 40 days until the first primary in Iowa, it appears that Hillary Clinton is poised to win the national race for the Democratic presidential nomination. The latest Quinnipiac poll shows Clinton leading her primary challenger Bernie Sanders by a margin of 61% to 30%.
The latest survey also shows that Clinton would beat Donald Trump by a margin of 47% to 40%.
When questioned about Clinton’s experience to be President voters agree that she is highly qualified in this category by a margin of 63-35 percent.
Clinton also leads in another key measurement in which all voters agree by a margin of 59-32 percent that she has a very good chance of defeating the Republican nominee for president. Among Democrats that margin climbs significantly 86-10 percent.
The survey includes the following results from Democrats/leaning Democrat:
If the Democratic primary for President were being held today, and the candidates were Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley, and Bernie Sanders, for whom would you vote?
                     DEMOCRATS/DEMOCRATIC LEANERS.........................
                            POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
                            LIBERAL.....  Mod/                 COLLEGE DEG
                     Tot    Very   Smwht  Cons   Men    Wom    Yes    No
 
Clinton              61%    52%    60%    66%    56%    64%    61%    62%
O'Malley              2      1      2      2      1      2      2      1
Sanders              30     42     31     24     37     25     30     29
SMONE ELSE(VOL)       -      -      1      -      1      -      1      -
WLDN'T VOTE(VOL)      1      -      1      1      1      1      1      -
DK/NA                 6      5      6      7      5      8      5      7
 
                     MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTIC Q40...................
                     Shares        Strong                      Right
                     Values        Leader        Cares         Experience
 
Clinton              51%           69%           57%           82%
O'Malley              -             2             1             2
Sanders              46            21            34            12
SMONE ELSE(VOL)       -             1             -             -
WLDN'T VOTE(VOL)      -             2             -             -
DK/NA                 3             6             7             4
 
                     MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE Q42
                     Economy/
                     Jobs
 
Clinton              58%
O'Malley              3
Sanders              33
SMONE ELSE(VOL)       -
WLDN'T VOTE(VOL)      1
DK/NA                 4
 
 

10 Best Things For Democrats 2015


Number 10 – Donald Trump:
From the moment Trump announced his candidacy for the GOP nomination for the presidency, he has been, for Democrats, the gift that keeps on giving.   Trump has delivered some unbelievable doozies, starting with hisannoucement speech broadside, in which he said Mexican immigrants were criminals and rapists. Reference to a “great wall” was there from the start, along with the mandate that Mexico must pay for it. Then, there was the declaration that he would create a “deportation force” to remove all 11 million undocumented immigrants if he becomes president.  Gracias Señor Trump!!
Number 9 – The Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage:
The June SCOTUS ruling declaring the right to marry is protected for all Americans under the U.S. constitution made history and was a huge win for the country.  It was also a win for the LGBT community, for American values, for President Obama, and for Democrats who had embraced this issue as one of freedom and equality for all under the law.
Number 8 – The Supreme Court decision upholding the Affordable Care Act, and the 18 million Americans now covered by Obamacare:
Over the summer, the Supreme Court upheld a critical part of the Affordable Care Act that provides federal health insurance subsidies to Americans who qualify, solidifying President Obama’s legacy-making domestic achievement and handing him and the Democrats a huge political win.  Proving good policy is good politics, more important than the political win are the millions of Americans now covered by Obamacare who can sleep soundly knowing they will not go broke if someone in their family gets sick.
Number 7 – Continued record job growth:
The country has seen 69 straight months of private-sector job growth – a record – and the unemployment rate is down to 5 percent. Wages are starting to go up and more people are jumping into the job market.
Number 6 – The re-opening of the U.S. embassy in Cuba:
When President Obama announced the thawing of U.S.-Cuba relations in December of last year, most Republicans flew off the handle, proving once again they are stuck in the past, embracing a failed Cold War mentality and a decades-old policy that hurts the very people Republicans claim to want to protect – the Cuban people.  Over the summer, in a beautiful, solemn ceremony that opened up the U.S. embassy in Cuba, there was a feeling of renewed optimism and hope for the Cuban people, the majority of whom support the new policy.  A majority of Americans, including majorities of Latinos, also support this new policy. Gracias Presidente Obama!
Number 5 – Donald Trump:
Turns out Trump was just getting started when he insulted a whole country and demonized Latinos and immigrants.  As The Donald got warmed up at campaign rallies, at GOP debates, and in innumerable interviews he can’t say no to, we experienced diatribes that insulted whole swaths of voters including women, nursing mothers, POWs and veterans, and in the most recent and egregious pronouncement, all Muslims in the country and around the world by supporting a policy that would deny entry into the U.S. to any Muslim from abroad.
Number 4 – Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) short-lived House speaker campaign:
When Kevin McCarthy, House Majority Leader, uttered the words that proved the Benghazi Committee was set up solely to bring down Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers, a political tsunami ensued clearing the way for Secretary Clinton — and the Democrats — to put the Benghazi issue to rest. Clinton’s 11-hour testimony before the Benghazi Committee comes in as number 4a on this list because of her skill and aplomb in the face of bombastic and incessant badgering by her questioners.  But McCarthy’s comments no doubt set her up nicely as they exposed the real motives for the GOP Benghazi probe, of which the American people were already suspicious.
Number 3 – The Republican debates:
With every passing GOP debate, the stark contrast becomes clearer between what has been a complete circus on the Republican side and the more serious candidates on the Democratic side. The American people are able, on national television, to witness the GOP’s extreme move to the right, as candidates trailing Trump tried to embrace his hardline views in an effort to gain traction in the polls without alienating his supporters.  That strategy has failed.  Trump continues to lead by massive margins nationally and in most states, making the Republican Party look more and more out of touch with the American people (and with reality) with every passing day.
Number 2 – The Democratic debates:
There was no better contrast for Democrats than their own debates juxtaposed with the circus-like atmosphere, the insult-ridden demagoguery, and fact-free hot-air messes that were the Republican debates (see #3).  The Democratic debates were the complete opposite.  They were substantive, robust and passionate discussions about policies the Democratic candidates support to lift middle-class families, keep the economy surging for everyone, and keep Americans safe and secure without the fear and war-mongering.  While the Democratic debates did not emanate as much heat, they projected much more light than their counterparts.  And light is what we need most at this particular moment.
Number 1 – Donald Trump:
Need I say more?  When many Republicans say that if Trump becomes the nominee – and there is not much at the end of 2015, with just a few weeks left before the first votes are cast in Iowa and New Hampshire, to say that he won’t – they will vote for Hillary, it’s obvious that the ex-reality TV star is truly the best thing to have happened to Democrats this year.



By Maria Cardona