Quantcast
Channel: BuzzFeed News
Viewing all 15742 articles
Browse latest View live

Chris Christie Says Nurse Was Quarantined For Exhibiting Symptoms Of Ebola — She Wasn’t

0
0

The nurse, who was not showing symptoms when she was detained, has since sued Christie.

View Video ›

buzzfeed-video1.s3.amazonaws.com

Chris Christie — asked during Saturday night's debate how he would prevent people returning from Brazil from spreading the Zika virus — told the story of how, as New Jersey's governor, he quarantined a nurse who had been treating patients of the Ebola virus in West Africa.

"She was showing symptoms," said Christie. "And coming back from a place that had the Ebola virus active and she had been treating patients. This was not just some, like, we picked her up just for the heck of it. She was showing symptoms. And the fact is, that's the way you should make these decisions. You should make these decisions based upon the symptoms, the medicine, and the law. We quarantined her, she turned out to test negative, ultimately, after 48 hours. And we released her back to the state of Maine."

Christie's version of events, however, strayed from a number of the facts of the incident.

The nurse, Kaci Hickox, was not exhibiting symptoms of Ebola when she was first detained in Oct. 2014 amid fears that the virus would spread in the United States. Though the New Jersey Department of Health said she developed a fever while being held at Newark airport, Hickox has said that she never had any symptoms of the disease.

The policy under which she was detained was announced by Christie in conjunction with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who agreed that federal standards for quarantining those returning from regions where Ebola had spread were too lenient. The New Jersey policy called for a mandatory 21-day quarantine, regardless of whether the person was showing symptoms. It came under criticism from health experts, who called it unnecessary because the virus isn't contagious until patients develop symptoms.

Christie also suggested on Saturday that Hickox tested negative for Ebola 48 hours after being detained and that the test immediately preceded her release. Hickox tested negative for the disease the day after she was taken in (a Friday), but was not released until the following Monday.

When Hiccox was returned back to her home in Maine, she was ordered to serve out her quarantine for 21 days, but defied that order by going on a bike ride with her husband.

She has since sued Christie, accusing him of falsely saying that she was sick.

Hickox said, "My liberty, my interests and consequently my civil rights were ignored because some ambitious governors saw an opportunity to use an age-old political tactic: fear."


Donald Trump's Quietly Good Night

0
0

Joe Raedle / Getty Images

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — There’s one version of Donald Trump that still has the capacity to surprise, and that’s the version everyone saw on Saturday night.

Trump gave a debate performance that was measured (for him), informed (for him), and all-around just relatively...normal, and the kind of showing expected of a frontrunner. Indeed, Trump, who has campaigned as the ultimate anti-politician, sounded at several points in the debate much like the other politicians on stage, and mostly refrained from the kind of showstopping bombast that has characterized most of his other debate performances. Trump stayed mostly above the fray, despite usually being the cause of the fray.

Trump has been running a double-digit lead in New Hampshire since the fall, and this debate was the last before the primary that could deliver him his first big electoral win after he lost Iowa to Ted Cruz last week. But one unexpected feature of the week since the Iowa caucuses is that Trump, despite dominating the polls here, hasn’t actually been central to the discussion. The media has been focusing on the battle among establishment candidates to come in first in their category, and Trump didn’t campaign in New Hampshire on Friday, taking him out of the conversation for a day. This debate will be remembered mostly for Chris Christie’s brutal onslaught against Marco Rubio, not for anything Donald Trump did.

Trump has clearly been working on his debating skills. He showed an ability to spin a question his way and hew to talking points; when moderator Mary Katharine Ham asked Trump “Are you closer to Bernie Sanders's vision for health care than Hillary Clinton's?” Trump responded “I don't think I am. I think I'm closer to common sense. We are going to repeal Obamacare” — staying on message and avoiding the trap Ham had set for him.

Later in the debate, Trump was asked what he would tell the mother of James Foley, the American journalist who was executed by ISIS last year, on the topic of whether families of hostages should be allowed to raise money for ransom payments. It was the kind of question that carries risk, in this case that he could appear insufficiently sympathetic to the Foley family by arguing against the ransoms.

But Trump showed a politician’s sense for how to handle the question, beginning his answer by acknowledging the tragedy and expressing sympathy for the family.

“I know Diane Foley very well,” Trump said. “Her husband and — these are tremendous people. I spoke for them, I raised a lot of money for the foundation. I fully understand, James, one of — that was really the first that we saw, really visually saw — it was so horrible.”

He then pivoted to the actual policy issue.

“And I will tell you, though, with all of that being said, you can not negotiate this way with terrorists,” he said. “If you do, you are going to have many, many more James Foleys.”

“I think he’s getting better at it,” said Barry Bennett, Ben Carson’s former campaign manager who is now an adviser to Trump, said of Trump’s debate performances. “He looks more and more presidential every time, and tonight was a great example of that.”

“It helps too that Chris Christie was throwing all the bombs,” Bennett said. Trump “really wasn’t attacked tonight by anybody,” Bennett said.

This isn’t to say there were no classic Trump moments. His losing his cool and telling Jeb Bush to “be quiet” comes to mind. But in that same exchange, Bush cornered him on eminent domain and did not relent, forcing Trump onto the defensive on an issue that is a potential pitfall in libertarian-leaning New Hampshire.

Surrogates for other campaigns sounded less surprised by Trump’s performance than world-weary from having been kept on their toes by him so many times before.

“You never know what’s going to pop up in these debates,” said Jason Miller, senior communications adviser to Ted Cruz. (Cruz during the debate backed away from comments he made earlier about Trump not having the temperament to be president, saying, “I think that is an assessment the voters are going to make.”) “As long as we have the opportunity to tell what Sen. Cruz is going to do, then we’re happy.”

Bush campaign manager Danny Diaz told reporters afterward that he didn’t think it was the first time Bush had gotten the better of Trump in a debate exchange. Trump has frequently targeted Bush for mockery in debates. Asked if they expected a more aggressive Trump on Saturday, Diaz said, “I have stopped trying to make a guess about what this guy’s gonna do or not do.”

Trump, Kasich Offer Competing Visions Of Police Relations In America

0
0

Joe Raedle / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — Presidential candidates Donald Trump and John Kasich offered two sharply different views of police relations in the U.S. and how to improve them at the Republican primary debate Saturday night, with Trump saying police officers in the country are under too much scrutiny.

Debate moderator David Muir directed a question on how to improve relationships between the minority communities and police to Trump.

"There are many who argue cell phones and smartphones are just now exposing what's been happening in this country for years — cases of excessive force against minorities," Muir said. "As you know, Mr. Trump, on the other side, the FBI director recently said there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement because of increased scrutiny. You have said police are the most mistreated people in America. As president, how do you bridge the divide?"

Muir was referencing FBI director James Comey and the so-called "Ferguson effect."

Trump said police "are absolutely mistreated and misunderstood."

"And if there is an incident, whether it's an incident done purposely — which is a horror, and you should really take very strong action — or if it is a mistake, it's on your news casts all night, all week, all month, and it never ends," he said.

Trump received some applause for his statement from the New Hampshire audience.

He continued: "The police in this country have done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order, and they're afraid for their jobs, they're afraid of the mistreatment they get, and I'm telling you that not only, me speaking, minorities all over the country, they respect the police of this country and we have to give them more respect."

The White House, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and progressive groups say there is no validity to Comey and others' claims that police are less willing to do their jobs because of public scrutiny.

"[Police] can't act," Trump continued. "They can't act. They're afraid for losing their pension, their job. They don't know what to do. And I deal with them all the time. We have to give great respect, far greater than we are right now, to our really fantastic police."

Kasich chimed in saying that among the Ohio Democrats advising him was Bernie Sanders' supporter Nina Turner.

"There can be a win-win here," Kasich said. "I have formed a collaborative between police and community leaders because people have to respect law enforcement. A family doesn't want dad or mom going home in a box. And for our community leaders, many of them think the system not only works — not only doesn't work for them, but it works against them."

Kasich has received some credit from Black Lives Matter activists for his willingness to convene a bipartisan advisory panel that came up with a set of recommendations to improve police-community relations (such as limiting the use deadly force to when an officer's life is in imminent danger).

"And I created a big collaborative in Ohio made up of law enforcement, community leaders, the head of my public safety and a former Democrat, liberal Senate senator Nina Turner, run it," Kasich continued. "They got together, they made recommendations on recruiting, on hiring, on the use of deadly force and what we're about to do is to bring community and police together so we can have a win-win."

Sanders To The Bernie Bros: "We Don't Want That Crap"

0
0

Andrew Burton / Getty Images

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Bernie Sanders is not happy with the Bernie Bro phenomenon, he said Sunday.

"It''s disgusting, we don't want that crap," Sanders said during an appearance on CNN's State Of The Union recorded three days before Tuesday's first-in-the-nation primary here.

"Bernie Bros" is the shorthand for Sanders supporters who swarm Democrats who support Hillary Clinton, particularly women, online. Clinton supporters have complained about them for months, and a top Sanders campaign official recently apologized to his counterpart on the Clinton campaign for the behavior of some Sanders backers online. The Sanders campaign has admonished its legion of online supporters to police itself.

Meanwhile, some prominent Sanders-supporting pundits claim the Bernie Bro is a myth, ginned up by Clinton supporters to cast her campaign as the victim of sexist attacks.

Publicly and privately, Sanders campaign supporters say they recognize the Bernie Bro as a real thing. Sanders said Sunday there's no place for the Bros in his campaign.

"Anybody who is supporting me and doing sexist things, we don't want them. I don't want them," he said. "That's not what this campaign is about."

The Dilemma Of The Anti-Trump Voter

0
0

Matthew Cavanaugh / Getty Images

HENNIKER, New Hampshire — In town halls, pizzerias, and high school auditoriums, hundreds of voters are carefully evaluating the three governors who have pinned their presidential hopes on Tuesday’s primary in the Granite State — Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, and John Kasich.

Some have made their choice of the three; others are still undecided. But they all agree on one big thing: The Republican Party needs a strong contender coming out of New Hampshire to take down Donald Trump.

With the stakes so high, these “non-angry voters,” as described by some, are wrestling with whether to ultimately vote for their personal favorite — one of the three governors, or go by the polls in favor of a more practical favorite, Sen. Marco Rubio. Even as the first-term senator has become the main target for the three governors since his third-place finish in Iowa, they haven’t been able to stop his rise, forcing some undecided voters to factor the senator’s resilience as they make their decision, based on interviews at events on Thursday and Friday.

One of those undecided voters, Jennifer Page, a 47-year-old pediatrician, attended a Rubio event Thursday morning and a town hall hosted by Christie in the evening in hopes of resolving this dilemma. Even though some of Rubio’s views on social issues aren’t in line with her beliefs, she was willing to give him a shot.

"I looked at Rubio today, because I want to pass my vote to someone who can get up to the level of the Cruzs and the Trumps,” Page said after the Christie town hall at New England College. "Christie and Kasich are polling so low I’m afraid my vote isn’t going to help them get to that top tier.”

Page was going to wait until Monday night to make her final decision, but Christie had persuaded her for now, she said, to at least look beyond the polls. (Christie repeatedly criticized Rubio during the event for his inexperience and lack of accomplishments. Kasich, he said, he liked, but the Ohio governor wasn’t “as tested” as he was.)

"I think I’m going to go with my heart and not the numbers,” Page said.

But the numbers are hard to ignore. Although the heated Christie-Rubio exchange during Saturday night’s debate could shake up the race in the final days, Christie has been plummeting in the polls, as Rubio has surged. And Kasich and Bush have also been hovering between 8 and 12%, with Trump still maintaining a double-digit lead.

Those paying attention to the numbers are worried that splitting the vote between the governors would only empower Trump more. But is that a risk worth taking in case the polls have been totally wrong or if the billionaire’s supporters don’t show up to vote?

“There is a concern,” said Dennis Cronin, a 63-year-old consultant who attended Kasich’s 100th New Hampshire town hall in Bedford Friday evening and is leaning toward Kasich over Bush.

“But it’s a long race. The numbers are going to change dramatically.”

Brad Perry, a 72-year-old, retired volunteer for Christie, has heard that concern while knocking on doors for the New Jersey governor. His response to undecided voters who have brought it up, he says while handing out Christie stickers at a pizzeria in Sandown, is simple: “Don’t you think the country wants from New Hampshire whom they think is the best guy?”

Others like Perry believe strongly that voters in New Hampshire — about one-third of whom are undecided — have a responsibility to the rest of the country to ignore the polls and carefully winnow down the field.

“I think (Kasich’s) going to get a lot of independents, so I think that will change things,” said Tom Prasol, 36, a lobbyist. “In New Hampshire, we don’t like to take our cues from the media, and we take this very seriously.”

Ultimately, voting for someone, based on polls, is just a “self-fulfilling prophecy,” argued William Kassler, 60, physician.

Kassler, who is undecided, has been carefully grading some of the governors on issues that matter to him. He likes Kasich, but one his grades is getting in the way of committing — a C+ on health care policy. His method of evaluating is the only thing he will use in making his decision. “It wouldn’t surprise me if some of the polls end up being wrong,” he said with confetti flying around in the background to celebrate Kasich’s 100th town hall.

Kasich has insisted on running a positive campaign — as he repeatedly tells voters — focusing more on his record in Ohio than attacking Rubio’s. But Bush and Christie have been spending their time and resources in the final days hitting the senator every chance they get.

Their campaigns have been airing ads featuring Rick Santorum’s struggle to come up with one of Rubio’s accomplishments during an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and they’re bringing it up at events too.

“Rubio’s own supporters can’t tell you what he’s accomplished,” Christie said at a recent town hall. “Who are we going to put on that stage to prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton? Do you want a 53-year-old former prosecutor and governor of one of the toughest states in America, or do you want a 44-year-old, first-time U.S. senator who hasn’t accomplished a thing? You can like Marco Rubio, he’s a perfectly nice guy. But that doesn’t mean he’s ready to be president.”

The pro-Bush super PAC Right to Rise has spent tens of millions on ads opposing Rubio on a range of issues from immigration reform to questioning his use of the Florida GOP’s credit card.

Attacks on Rubio might not have hurt him among his supporters and those already leaning toward him, but voters who prefer the governors seem to have become less prone to abandoning their personal choice and making any compromises to rally behind Rubio. Many of them echoed the criticisms Bush and Christie have been stressing.

“Rubio sounds very intelligent, very worldly, but he comes across as young. I’ve seen him get overly excited and agitated,” said Chris Russell, 52, Sandown resident.

Ron Dulong, a retired 64-year-old, also focused on his age. “It needs to be somebody with experience. You can’t get these kids like Rubio,” he said just after shaking hands with Christie and confirming what he already knew about the governor before voting for him on Tuesday.

“You think you’re a big enough man to get in Putin’s face?,” he asked Christie.

“What do you think? You bet I am, baby,” Christie responded.

“They all talk about ISIS, but it takes somebody really special to deal with Putin,” Dulong later said in an interview.

Rubio, for him, was just not that special.

On Two Shows, Bernie Sanders Gives Different Answers On Clinton Wall Street Speeches

0
0

Andrew Burton / Getty Images

MANCHESTER, N.H. — In the span of about an hour on Sunday, Bernie Sanders both did and did not have a position on whether Hillary Clinton should release transcripts of her private paid speeches to groups like Goldman Sachs.

In the final days before the New Hampshire primary here, Clinton's paid speeches have become a point of contention since moderators raised the question in the Democratic debate last Thursday. The candidate and her aides continue to only tell reporters that they will "look into" the prospect of releasing the transcripts to the public. (Clinton has also indicated she will definitely not publish the speeches before the New Hampshire primary, where Sanders is expected to win, on Tuesday.)

Sanders, who has vacillated in recent weeks between aggressive criticism and a softer approach to his rival, offered two responses to the issue on Sunday.

First, on CNN's State of the Union, Sanders said he had no position.

JAKE TAPPER: Hillary Clinton so far has been asked by journalists to release the transcripts from speeches, especially those to Goldman Sachs and others. Do you think she should? And what do you think would be revealed in those transcripts

SANDERS: No idea. I have no idea what she said. I think the decision as to whether or not to release it is her decision.

JAKE TAPPER: You don't have a position on it at all?

SANDERS: No.

Later on, Sanders told John Dickerson, host of CBS News's Face the Nation, that voters should "know what was said behind closed doors."

DICKERSON: You've dismissed some of the issues that the press has tried to raise about Hillary Clinton — her emails for example. Where are you on this question of whether she should release transcripts of the speeches she gave to financial firms?

SANDERS: Yeah, well a lot of people think you know that’s ultimately her decision. I mean, her point is that she’s given these speeches. My understanding now is her campaign says she’s not going to release those transcripts. That’s her decision. But I think it would be you know a positive thing for the American people to know what was said behind closed doors —

DICKERSON: Alright.

SANDERS: — to Wall Street, but ultimately that is her decision.

DICKERSON: OK, Sen. Bernie Sanders, thanks so much for being with us.

Sanders aides did not respond to a request for comment.

Ted Cruz Woos New Hampshire Libertarians, With Mixed Results

0
0

Andrew Burton / Getty Images

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — When Eric Eastman learned that Rand Paul was leaving the race, he went through the “five stages of grief.”

“At the time on that morning on Wednesday, I wasn’t looking for my next date, I just wasn’t,” said Eastman, a New Hampshire state representative from Nashua, on Friday. “I was hurting.”

But Eastman, unlike some other Paul loyalists here, was willing to move in a different direction: toward Ted Cruz.

So he went to a Cruz rally in Nashua earlier this week and asked to meet with the senator. He was brought on to Cruz’s bus, which then started rolling to Portsmouth (an hour away) while Eastman questioned Cruz on medicaid expansion, telling him that if Cruz could stand up against it, he could offer his support and try to recruit others as well — a very “Washingtonian offer,” Eastman said.

Eastman endorsed Cruz the next night at a rally in Salem. He acknowledged that Cruz wasn’t his first choice and quoted the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” during his endorsement speech, though he also said Cruz's worldview was a "close cousin" ideologically to the Paulian camp.

There are many state legislators and activists like Eastman who are without a candidate after Paul’s exit. But although Cruz has made efforts to reach out to libertarians and often cites libertarians among the factions of the party he hopes to unite behind his campaign, the Paul people here are notoriously resistant to political winds shifting, though the Cruz campaign has begun to have some success.

“With Rand Paul and Ron Paul, there’s sort of a mission aura about what they do,” said state representative Bill O’Brien, a Cruz endorser and surrogate here. There’s a “messianic element to it,” he said.

“They’re patriotic people, they’re constitutionalists, they’re liberty-loving folks, and their candidate left the race, that’s a very difficult decision for them to make, but many of them have joined us and we’re grateful for that,” said former Sen. Bob Smith, another Cruz endorser and surrogate here. “Some have not. And that’s their prerogative and their right, we understand.”

The Paul loyalists here divide roughly into two camps: those who are willing to settle for Cruz and those who are for Paul or no one. O’Brien mentioned people who “hang their hat on illusions” and plan to vote for Paul anyway since he merely suspended his campaign, and didn’t technically end it (it’s standard for candidates ending their campaigns to “suspend,” which enables them to continue raising money and clear up debts). Eastman said there were some former Rand loyalists in the room at Cruz’s Salem rally, some are “processing still,” and “some are adamantly against it and they’re not going to endorse anyone if it’s not Rand or his dad.”

Sometimes there have been general offers of support that have stopped short of a formal endorsement. O’Brien said they had received a “great letter” from a representative who outlined how he likes Cruz’s views on the second amendment and on abortion — but won’t formally endorse.

That’s not to say the campaign is not racking up formal endorsements. A source close to the Cruz campaign said more state lawmakers who supported Rand Paul were likely to be endorsing Cruz this weekend, and that there was “well-founded hope” that two state senators who supported Paul would endorse soon. (After this story published, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported that Cruz had picked up six endorsements on Sunday from state representatives who were Paul supporters.)

Cruz, who talks about building a coalition of conservatives, evangelicals, libertarians, and Reagan Democrats, has some libertarian credentials from his time in the Senate; he took part in Rand Paul’s 2013 drone filibuster, supported the USA Freedom Act, and opposed air strikes in Syria in 2013. His campaign has taken care to target libertarians. At events in New Hampshire, his campaign has been playing a video of libertarians talking about why they like Cruz before Cruz comes on stage.

"Cruz has made significant inroads in securing support from those in the liberty movement, both in New Hampshire and across the country,” said Cruz campaign spokeswoman Catherine Frazier. “With Paul's departure from the race, Cruz is a natural second choice among his supporters with a long and proven record fighting for less government and greater respect for our constitutional liberties"

But the efforts have encountered resistance from the highest echelon of the libertarian wing of the party; Ron Paul, who came in second in New Hampshire in 2012, has come out strongly against Cruz, saying he is not a real libertarian.

“You take a guy like Cruz, people are liking the Cruz — they think he’s for the free market, and he’s owned by Goldman Sachs,” Paul said on Fox Business on Friday. "It's hard to find anybody — since Rand is out of it — anybody that would take a libertarian position, hardcore libertarian position on privacy, on the war issue and on economic policy.”

“They have a set of issues, and you meet it 100% or you don’t,” O’Brien said.

For people like Eastman, the choice was difficult. But he said he appreciated how the Cruz campaign handled it, giving him and others time to grieve after Paul’s exit.

“What was great and graceful about the Cruz campaign was they didn’t try to proselytize, in other words poach the recently disenfranchised Paulians right off the bat,” Eastman said. “They gave us some breathing room, gave us some space. “

In reality, though Cruz is not a perfect match for the purist libertarians, none of the other Republican candidates have made much of an effort to appeal to that part of the electorate. The other candidates, apart from Donald Trump, have uniformly hawkish foreign policy views. And several of them have voiced support for NSA surveillance.

“I kind of wonder, if not Cruz then who?” said Scott Carlson, a voter from Manchester who was a Rand Paul supporter and attended Cruz’s rally in Salem. “There’s really no one else that I can think of” who comes as close to his priorities, Carlson said.

What still gives him pause is uncertainty over where Cruz stands on foreign policy.

“I want more of a feel of, is he more of an interventionist or not?” Carlson said. “I’m not sure yet.”

Trump Laughs Off Rubio: "He Struggled Mightily" At The Debate

0
0

“He was having a little hard time, there’s no question about it,” Trump said, chuckling.

Jewel Samad / AFP / Getty Images

w.soundcloud.com

Donald Trump said in a radio interview on Sunday that Marco Rubio struggled during Saturday night's Republican presidential debate.

"Yeah he was right next to me, he was struggling, there's no question about it," Trump said on Boston Herald Radio when asked about a tense exchange between Rubio and Chris Christie. During the exchange, Rubio repeated the same line three times, prompting Christie to attack him for regurgitating talking points. Rubio then said the same line once again later in the debate.

Trump continued, "He struggled mightily. It's sort of like, I sort of don't want to talk about somebody else, because it's not fair."

"He was having a little hard time, there's no question about it," Trump said, chuckling.

LINK: Under Attack, Marco Rubio Malfunctions — And Repeats The Same Line Four Times


View Entire List ›


Steve King On Ben Carson's Post-Iowa Trip Home: "Clothes Are Cheaper Than Jet Fuel"

0
0

“You would think that, if you want to be the commander-in-chief, you would know that clothes are cheaper than jet fuel.”

Jim Watson / AFP / Getty Images

w.soundcloud.com

Steve King, the Republican congressman from Iowa and a prominent supporter of Ted Cruz's presidential bid, defended on Friday a tweet he sent on the night of the Iowa caucuses fueling speculation that Ben Carson was suspending his presidential campaign.

"What would be the definition of suspending a campaign?" King told Iowa radio host Steve Deace. "When you no longer campaign. That's suspending. And if you announce that you're not going to campaign, that you're going to suspend your campaign, if you're not going to go forward to New Hampshire or South Carolina, that you're going to Florida to pick up some clothing, you would think that, if you want to be the commander-in-chief, you would know that clothes are cheaper than jet fuel.

He continued, "Time is the most precious commodity of the three, and getting to New Hampshire before anybody woke up the next morning is worthy of chartering a jet and having it sitting on the tarmac at Des Moines International."

On the night of the Iowa caucuses, CNN reported that Carson would not immediately travel to New Hampshire and South Carolina. King, linking to the report, tweeted, "Carson looks like he is out. Iowans need to know before they vote. Most will go to Cruz, I hope."

Carson said he was just going to Florida to get fresh clothes.

Over the past week, the Cruz campaign has sought to make amends for fueling the speculation. Cruz himself has personally apologized to Carson. Carson, however, has appeared reluctant to accept the apology, comparing Cruz's reaction to his campaign's behavior to Hillary Clinton's response to the Benghazi attacks.

In Saturday night's Republican debate, Carson continued to chastise the Cruz campaign, saying, "It gives us a very good example of certain types of Washington ethics. If it's legal, you do what you need to do to win." The Washington Post reported that Cruz approached Carson during a break in the debate to request a one-on-one meeting to "clear the air."

In his interview with Steve Deace on Friday, King claimed he had met with Carson to discuss the controversy.

"I had a conversation with Ben Carson on Wednesday night and as we agree, he's a very decent man," King said. "And I told him that I regretted what happened, but I said also, that knowing what I know now, I would not have sent the very tweet that I did. On the other hand, knowing what I knew at the time and having reviewed it, I would also do the same thing over again. He understands that, Steve."

In a different interview on Friday with Mickelson in the Morning, King called it "curious" that Carson's campaign was criticizing Cruz to the benefit of Trump.

"It's curious to me that the Carson campaign turns their criticism on Cruz," he said. "This is all helping Donald Trump. And of course he's the one who's embellishing this. So this is very much a politics about very little of anything. And in that there's not empirical evidence that there's any election results that changed in Iowa and that's what I think Iowans ought to understand."

"I Am Ready To Roll Right Into South Carolina," Says Post-Debate Chris Christie

0
0

Joe Raedle / Getty Images

EXETER, New Hampshire — Chris Christie loves to ask people, "Who do you want on stage prosecuting the case against Hillary Clinton?"

On Sunday afternoon, as voters were gearing up to watch the Super Bowl at a local pub, the New Jersey governor pointed to his exchange with Marco Rubio as not only proof that the first-term senator isn’t ready to be president, but also as an example of how he would handle Clinton as the party's nominee.

“The debate last night showed you something,” Christie said. "Experience matters. Being tested matters, being ready matters. This is not a game everybody. This is not just something where a guy gives a nice speech and he looks good in a suit, so let’s make him president of the United States."

"When the lights go on, they’re very bright,” he continued. "And they’re very hot. And they get brighter and hotter the closer you get to the presidency. Last night, what we showed everybody is when those lights are at their hottest, we don’t melt. We shine. And that’s what we’re going to do in November, when we beat Hillary Clinton if you give me the chance.”

Christie got some laughs and loud cheers from the crowd when he talked about his brief encounter with Clinton on the sets of CNN’s State of the Union show earlier on Sunday. “Who was appearing right before me? None other that Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton. And so we went in, I listened to the end of the secretary’s interview, went up, shook her hand,” he said. "We had a nice chat. She congratulated me on a good debate last night. And she said, ‘It was good to see you, governor.’ I said, ‘It was good to see you too, Madam Secretary.’

“I’ll see you in the fall.’”

Christie, who has been struggling in the polls despite his focus on the Granite State, insisted he wasn’t planning on dropping out based on Tuesday’s results.

“I think that the anointment [of Rubio] is now over, so that changes the entire race… I am ready to roll right into South Carolina,” he later told reporters. “I have my reservations made. We have staff down there. And we’re ready to go to South Carolina. So I want the results here on Tuesday to be as good as they can possibly be. We’re going to work hard to make sure they are as good as it possibly can be, and last night we took a big step towards it.”

When pressed about whether he will be able to break through on Tuesday, he responded: “I know you guys are poll obsessed. I am not."

Christie’s debate performance did bring some new supporters to the crowd on Sunday.

One of them was Katherine Lynch, 60, who made her decision between Rubio and Christie after the debate.

“I was really on the fence,” she said. “I wanted to give Rubio a chance, but he blew it so badly.”

Christie also won over another voter, Mark Haynes, who came out to see Christie on Sunday with his sister and friends.

“I was knocking on doors for Jeb yesterday,” Haynes said. “But I went to a Christie townhall today to hear his closing argument. And I think he’s the one.”

Contracts: Clinton Owns Transcripts And Rights To Paid Speeches

0
0

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Last spring, when she first faced questions about the personal email account she used as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton called for transparency. ("I want the public to see my email. I asked State to release them.")

Last fall, when she drew headlines about the scandal's effect on her "trustworthiness," Clinton touted her efforts to be transparent. ("I've gone longer and farther to be as transparent as possible. Nobody else has done that.")

And last month, when the intelligence community prevented the release of more than 20 emails, Clinton and her aides, again, demanded transparency. ("We firmly oppose the complete blocking of the release of these emails.")

But just days before the New Hampshire primary, amid calls to release transcripts from her closed-door speeches, Clinton hasn't been quite as forthcoming.

At the last debate, moderators asked whether Clinton would be willing to release transcripts in the spirit of "full disclosure" for the paid speeches she delivered after leaving the State Department in 2013 — including to financial firms like Goldman Sachs. "I don't know the status," she replied, "but I will certainly look into it."

Contracts from two paid speeches — made public through records requests in 2014 — each include the same boilerplate language ensuring that Clinton alone owns the rights to the contents of her speech and any reproductions of her speech.

"The sponsor shall not have ownership rights of any kind," read both contracts for speeches to the University at Buffalo and the University of Nevada–Las Vegas.

The contract from Clinton's 2014 speech to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas

Via documentcloud.org

The contract from Clinton's 2013 speech to the University at Buffalo

The contracts from the Harry Walker Agency, which arranged Clinton's paid speeches from 2013 to early 2015, also require hosts to hire a stenographer.

The documents suggest that Clinton owns the transcripts of the speeches arranged by Harry Walker and would face no contractual restrictions on their release.

The contract from Clinton's 2013 speech to the University at Buffalo

Via documentcloud.org

After the Thursday debate, Clinton aides continued to tell reporters that they'll "look into" the question. Over the weekend, they ruled out the possibility that she might release the transcripts to the public anytime before the Tuesday primary.

"She said she'd look at it," said Clinton chairman John Podesta on MSNBC. "She also said that once New Hampshire is done, she'll take a look at that."

The candidate and her campaign seemed unprepared for the question this week. In interviews, Clinton repeatedly declined to elaborate on what "looking into it" might entail. Her aides have gone no further — even though at least one publication, the Washington Post, has been asking about the speeches "for the last two weeks."

On Sunday, Bernie Sanders took up the issue himself.

Voters should “know what was said behind closed doors,” he said on CBS News's Face the Nation, referring specifically to speeches she gave to financial firms.

"A lot of people think you know that’s ultimately her decision," said Sanders. "I think it would be you know a positive thing for the American people to know what was said behind closed doors to Wall Street, but ultimately that is her decision."

Two NYU Students Say They Were Racially Profiled At A Marco Rubio Event

0
0

The journalism graduate students said they were treated differently than white classmates also attending the town hall in New Hampshire.

Jim Cole / AP

Two journalism graduate students said they were racially profiled at a Marco Rubio town hall on Sunday in New Hampshire.

The students, who are black, attended the event with a group from New York University as part of a reporting trip to cover the days before the New Hampshire primary. The students did not have press credentials, but rather attended as part of the general public.

Taisha Henry and Ugonma Ubani-Ebere told BuzzFeed News that they were standing in front of the press line, considering how to best set up a camera and tripod. They'd already done interviews outside and were hoping to capture footage of the town hall to use as b-roll.


View Entire List ›

Bernie’s Women Supporters To Clinton Backers: Please Stop Calling Us Stupid

0
0

Andrew Burton / Getty Images

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Most of the women here had already heard about the comments. And as they waited for the candidate, Bernie Sanders, to arrive for a campaign rally in this coastal town on Sunday afternoon, they said they’d like to tell Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright: We know exactly what we’re doing.

"It is offensive. It's totally offensive,” said Amanda Hansell, a young woman backing Bernie. When Hansell, from Portsmouth, heard about remarks from two of Hillary Clinton’s prominent surrogates, both iconic feminists, she was stunned, she said. Steinem, the legendary women’s rights activist, and Albright, the first woman to serve as secretary of state, each in recent comments attempted to cajole young women to Clinton’s side with suggestions that they simply weren’t thinking if they stood for Sanders, and against a first woman president.

“I consider myself a feminist. I consider myself a supporter of Hillary Clinton running a campaign. I'm also voting for Bernie Sanders,” said Hansell, who voted for Clinton over Barack Obama in 2008, and supported her up until eight months ago, when she saw something in Sanders that made her switch sides.

The Sunday event was a Sanders “Get Out The Vote” rally, held two days before the primary here on Tuesday. Many supporters waiting in the community college where Sanders was set to speak mentioned Steinem’s comments in particular. Last Friday, on the set of Bill Maher’s show in Los Angeles, Steinem said, “When you’re young, you’re thinking, where are the boys? The boys are with Bernie.”

Seperately, in a campaign event on Saturday with Clinton in New Hampshire, Albright reminded the women in the crowd, "We tell our story about how we climbed the ladder, and a lot of you younger women don't think you have to — it's been done. It's not done. You have to help Hillary Clinton. [She] will always be there for you.” Albright then dropped her famous, oft-repeated line, “Just remember, there's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other."

Afterward, together, the comments immediately drew criticism from Sanders supporters. Nomiki Konst, a political commentator supporting his campaign, diagnosed what she described as a presumption within the “feminist establishment” that women supporting Sanders haven’t thought it through.

“This institutional feminism that exists within the Democratic Party doubts the intelligence of the millennial feminist,” Konst said on CNN on Sunday. “I worked under Hillary Clinton when I was 15 and 16 years old. I am very aware of her record and I admire it and I know my friends are purely aware of her record.”

Polls show young female voters have more interest in Sanders than Clinton — the first woman to achieve mainstream success as a presidential candidate and the person establishment Democrats see as best positioned to keep the White House next year. The milestone would, of course, be historic.

But in Portsmouth, young women Clinton has failed to win over say the Clinton campaign has ignored them or mistreated them in a way that’s very similar to the kind of politics women like Steinem and Albright are trying to put an end to.

"It was a surprising thing to hear from Gloria Steinem,” said Juila, a young undecided voter from Manchester who asked that her last name be withheld because of her job.

It’s possible for a woman to be proud of Clinton’s candidacy and also think Sanders better represents her, said Hansell, the Portsmouth voter. And that’s feminist, too, she added. "I'm not anti-Hillary. I support Hillary running for office from a feminine standpoint. I think it's amazing that she's running yet again,” Hansell said. “I just think in terms of policies and platforms that Bernie Sanders represents what I want in a president more so than Hillary Clinton."

Clinton’s campaign has tried hard to convert young women to her side. Prominent celebrities like Lena Dunham, who are often in the cultural conversation around feminism, have made campaign appearances for Clinton.

Angela Mudd, a young woman from Manchester who voted for Mitt Romney in the 2012, is undecided in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. She stood in the back of Sanders’s Portsmouth event with her boyfriend, Houston Green. Mudd said she’s seen more to Clinton’s message than just “vote for me because I’m a woman,” but warned that women like her can’t be convinced only by gender.

"If it was based just on the fact that 'she's a woman so support her,' that would be offensive to me,” she said. “I don't think I have. I think they combine that message with other positive things that she's doing, but if that were the sole message, vote for her because she's a woman, then I would be mad at that."

The Clinton campaign — and Clinton herself, in an interview on Meet The Press — has pointed out that Albright is known for the “special place in hell” line. “Madeline has been saying this for many, many years,” Clinton said. “She believes it firmly, in part because she knows what a struggle it has been, and she understands the struggle is not over.”

Clinton said she did not want anyone to be offended. Though when asked whether she understood why people might be offended, she called it a light-hearted remark and said, “Good grief, we’re getting offended by everything these days! People can’t say anything without offending somebody.”

For her part, Steinem has already apologized — for a “misinterpretation” of her point. In a Facebook post Sunday, she wrote, “In a case of talk-show Interruptus, I misspoke on the Bill Maher show recently, and apologize for what's been misinterpreted as implying young women aren't serious in their politics.”

Women backing Sanders filled the comments with dismay over Steinem’s “boy crazy” explanation for their Sanders support.

“You chalked up an entire generation of women as brainless who vote for a man's approval,” wrote one. “That's not why we earned the right to vote.”

In New Hampshire, Clinton Camp Drops Flyers With Negative News Stories About Bernie

0
0

Lit Drop Season!

It's Lit Drop Season in New Hampshire, when campaigns make their final pitch to voters with a flurry of paper.

It's Lit Drop Season in New Hampshire, when campaigns make their final pitch to voters with a flurry of paper.

There's hardly a doorknob in the state without several paper hangers on it bearing the face, name, and tightly condensed campaign platform of presidential candidates on them.

Mailboxes are stuffed full of lit pieces, and of late cars parked outside political events get covered with lit from rival candidates.

For the record, Politifact has come to grips with candidates using their pieces in campaign lit. They try to make sure it's done without editing.

"We know our work is going to be used by campaigns, and there is little we can do to stop it. It just better be cited correctly. If it's not, we'll happily try and help correct the record, as we have in the past," Aaron Sharockman, executive editor of Politifact, told BuzzFeed News.

Does the Clinton one pass or fail? Sharockman said he'd have to see it for himself.

"The image you shared doesn't have the entire flier, so it's tough for me to say," he said. "Anyone who gets the flier should go to PolitiFact.com and view the full record of both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders."


View Entire List ›

Sanders Playing Catch-Up To Clinton With Asian Voters In Nevada

0
0

Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images

LAS VEGAS – Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is ahead of her opponent Bernie Sanders when it comes to targeting Nevada’s rapidly growing Asian American population, according to activists who are attempting to increase voter turnout among immigrant communities in the early caucus state.

While Nevada’s substantial Latino population is well known – and its support much-coveted by presidential candidates – the state has also seen a massive increase in the size of its Asian American and Pacific Island (AAPI) population to almost 10% of the state's population. Given the closeness of the Democratic race, mobilising this support could be crucial in the state’s Feb. 20 caucus and could make the difference between a Clinton victory or a defeat to Sanders.

“Sanders is much more focussed on the Latino community than the AAPI community”, said Emily Persaud, the Nevada state co-ordinator for the iAmerica Action campaign, a non-partisan group which campaigns for immigrants to take citizenship and then become involved in politics.

Persaud told BuzzFeed News you just needed “to look at the pictures” of who was currently involved in the Sanders campaign to see a relative absence of Asian Americans. She wants all candidates to spend more time talking to Asian American voters in the state. She also said the media often focussed too much on more politically organised Latino groups and missed the recent influx of new Asian voters, especially those from the Philippines.

“Sanders is building up, but in terms of who has been interested it’s Clinton,” Persuad's colleague Christian Bato agreed, noting Clinton had produced a plan setting out what she would do for the AAPI community. “I hadn’t seen an actual [Presidential campaign] document based on AAPI before – that’s the first time I’ve seen that.”

This week Clinton activists announced a week of campaigning targeted at Asian Americans in Nevada, and the candidate has also received the endorsement of the Asian American political action committee CAPA21.

However many Asian voters are new to the state and have no experience caucusing, raising concerns about whether their support will matter on caucus night. In an attempt to change this, iAmerica is renting a ballroom in Las Vegas’ Chinatown where Asian voters will be able to take part in a mock caucus in an attempt to demystify the idiosyncratic voting system and reassure people they won’t be “the sole Asian in the room”, according to Bato.

“We’re not just trying to increase turnout, we’re trying to increase the number of informed voters,” he added.

Meanwhile, Latino activists in Nevada said they broadly agreed with comments made to BuzzFeed News, in which the Sanders campaign claimed their campaign is well-positioned to gain more support among Hispanic Democratic voters in Nevada.

Jocelyn Sida, state deputy director for the non-partisan Mi Familia Vota organisation, said Sanders’ adverts had become much more noticeable on Spanish-language TV and radio stations in recent weeks, although Clinton was more established in Latino communities, thanks to her longterm commitment to campaigning in the state.

Local Hispanic activist Felicia Ortiz said her “initial instinct” had been to support Clinton, but she had switched to Sanders in the last few months: "I really started paying attention and doing my research and looked at the platform and I gravitated over to Bernie." But she remained concerned many Latino voters could decide to register as Republicans in order to vote for Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio – whose cousin is a Democratic state senator in Nevada – based on their hispanic names alone.

LINK: Sanders Aide Says Bernie’s Cracked The Code On Latino Support



This 4-Year-Old Girl Is Obsessed With Carly Fiorina

0
0

BuzzFeed News / Supplied with permission of the family

LONDONDERRY, N.H. – Every supporter matters in New Hampshire, even if they're a small child. Thanks to the US primary season, 4-year-old Grace Lesparance is now on first-name terms with leading presidential candidates, who have attempted increasingly desperate tactics to win her backing.

But Grace only has eyes for one candidate: Carly Fiorina.

"Grace loves Carly and this is why we're here," said Stephanie Lesparance, whose young daughter asked to be taken to a Fiorina event in the suburbs of Manchester, ahead of Tuesday's primary vote. "[Grace] sees her on the TV and she's like 'oh Momma, Carly's on the TV and she's a genius'. We saw Hillary on the TV the other day but she's holding out for Carly, I don't know why."

Asked why she was so obsessed with Fiorina, who is struggling at the bottom of the Republican field, Grace told BuzzFeed News simply, "She's my favourite."

After eating some grapes, playing with a Disney colouring book, and considering her position, Grace added: "She's for America! Carly for President!"

Grace's mother, Stephanie, an independent who is still deciding whether to vote in the Republican or Democratic primary, said her daughter had been treated in different ways by various presidential candidates – who are presumably hoping to win the support of Grace's parents by charming their daughter.

"Governor Bush gave her one of his turtles but she's still sticking with Carly," Stephanie said. "Governor Christie likes her a lot, but she's still Carly. She didn't really seem to be enamoured with Hillary – she's leaning Republican. She did not see Bernie. I'm not sure she would have loved Bernie."

While voters in most of the rest of the US would struggle to meet presidential candidates, the enormous number of campaign events during New Hampshire's primary season means Grace has been able to see 10 different potential nominees. As a result she has developed a habit of saying "my friend Carly" whenever the female Republican candidate's appears on the TV, according to Stephanie, who showed BuzzFeed a picture of the two together.

"I sometimes put headphones on her [at events] but not when Carly comes," said Stephanie. "Last time people were talking when Carly came to speak she said, 'Momma, people are talking while Carly's talking, they need to be quiet.'"

Grace's father, Wayne, a political science lecturer, said most presidential nominees try to win the support of his daughter but some don't know how to pitch to someone born in the early 2010s: "Chris Christie will kneel down to eye level when he talks to her. But some candidates don't know how to deal with a little child. Rick Santorum tried to give her a kiss and she pulled away."

"I want her to grow up and see women who are strong," said Wayne. "This is how it starts. You create a culture where they're engaged – I want her to be fearless and not intimidated by a candidate."

21 Gifts For The Bernie Sanders Supporter In Your Life

0
0

Fighting the Wall Street elites through Etsy.

These tasteful Bernie Sanders Valentine's Cards.

These tasteful Bernie Sanders Valentine's Cards.

A mere $7.

Etsy

The Bernie Sanders underpants you've been waiting for.

The Bernie Sanders underpants you've been waiting for.

Because nothing says "political campaigning" like branded underpants.

Etsy

This tasteful T-shirt of Bernie as Doc Brown.

This tasteful T-shirt of Bernie as Doc Brown.

Etsy

These Bernie Sanders earrings.

These Bernie Sanders earrings.

For when you want a Senator from Vermont attached to your earlobes.

Etsy


View Entire List ›

Darrell Issa, Defending Rubio, Calls Chris Christie "A Lot Overweight"

0
0

“He was told in a domineering fashion by a slightly overweight governor—okay he wasn’t slightly, he’s a lot overweight…”

=

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

w.soundcloud.com

Congressman Darrell Issa, a supporter of Marco Rubio's presidential bid, defended the Florida senator's recent debate performance in a radio interview on Monday, calling Chris Christie "a lot overweight" in the process.

"He was told in a domineering fashion by a slightly overweight governor—okay he wasn't slightly, he's a lot overweight, I'm in a position to understand that," Issa told Boston Herald Radio while defending Rubio's four-time repeated line during the debate that President Obama knows what he's doing.

Christie, who underwent lap band surgery in 2013, has lost significant weight in recent years.

On the radio on Monday, Issa said, "If he'd been asked a question he'd answer it, he choose not to take the bait of an attack and, you know what, I respect that. I respect his being Reaganesque and instead of attacking back his opponent and berating him he started talking about what he thought mattered."

Clinton To Release Ad Targeting Black Voters In South Carolina

0
0

Jessica Mcgowan / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — In a new TV ad that will target black voters in South Carolina, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says racial inequalities need to be addressed with investments in jobs, health care and and education to "counter generations of neglect."

The new ad will start running Tuesday in South Carolina's largest markets: Charleston, Columbia, Greenville-Spartanburg, and Florence-Myrtle Beach, a Clinton aide told BuzzFeed News.

"Something is just fundamentally broken when African Americans are more likely to be arrested by police and sentenced to longer prison terms for doing the same thing that whites do," Clinton says in the 30-second spot.

Clinton also says in the ad that sentencing disparities disproportionately hurts African American families.

The ad ends with a still photo of Clinton with Rev. Frederick Donnie Hunt. The pair was photographed last spring when Hunt had been reading his Bible in a Columbia cafe during a Clinton campaign stop.

The ad comes as Clinton, who enjoys a comfortable lead in the polls in South Carolina, is set to enter a tough primary in New Hampshire, where she faces a double-digit deficit against opponent Bernie Sanders.

Here's the full ad:

youtube.com


Trump Jr. On His Struggle: As Billionaire's Son, "I Can’t Even Have An Opinion"

0
0

“I could be Albert Einstein and they would discredit me as a horrible scientist.”

w.soundcloud.com

Donald J. Trump Jr. said on Monday that, in America, the son of a billionaire "can't even have an opinion anymore."

"Now, listen, in this country I'm the son of a billionaire, I can't even have an opinion anymore," Trump Jr. said on Breitbart News Daily. "I could be Albert Einstein and they would discredit me as a horrible scientist. It doesn't matter."

Responding to a question about how it was that he grew up to be a normal person, Trump Jr. credited his father's emphasis on work during his childhood.

"He made us work and it wasn't like you start off and all of a sudden you're the CEO of the organization," he said. "You know, we weren't trust fund babies. We were very fortunate. We experienced great things, but we were spoiled the right way. We were spoiled with great education, great experiences, we weren't spoiled with cash. You know, like I said, I'm the only son of a billionaire who can drive a D10 just because those were the jobs that I had growing up."

Trump Jr. went to say of the philosophy his father passed down to him, "You can't talk theory in practice in deals-making. You have to understand it and understand it fundamentally. It's not a spreadsheet. It's life."

Viewing all 15742 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images