Saturday Politics : Hillary Is Out of Touch, Out of Ideas, and Out of Time -- Jump on the Trump Train, All You Cowardly Lion Republicans

Saturday Politics is sometimes pure politics, especially as the US presidential race rushes toward Novermber 8. ~~~~~~ Hillary Clinton faces many major problems in the wake of her “basket of deplorables” comment that, as Newsmax put it, got her : "a firestorm of criticism after she slammed Trump voters at a fundraiser late Friday in New York, saying, 'To just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic -- you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.'" Trump, angy, fired back, calling her words "insulting." Her comments instantly went viral, and Clinton was the target of an outraged social media backlash. Hillary & Hacks then countered : "Last night I was 'grossly generalistic,' and that's never a good idea. I regret saying 'half' -- that was wrong," Clinton said in a statement. But, she then poured salt in her own wound by listing a number of "deplorable" things about Trump : "It's deplorable that Trump has built his campaign largely on prejudice and paranoia and given a national platform to hateful views and voices, including by retweeting fringe bigots with a few dozen followers and spreading their message to 11 million people. It's deplorable that he's attacked a federal judge for his 'Mexican heritage,' bullied a Gold Star family because of their Moslem faith, and promoted the lie that our first black president is not a true American. So I won't stop calling out bigotry and racist rhetoric in this campaign." Ane we won't bother Hillary witth the details because she already surely knows that the judge is an activist in pro-illegal immigrant organizations in California, that the Gold Star father makes money by helping illegal immigrants find their way into the US, or that 1/3 of all Americans still have doubts about where President Obama was born -- even though Trump closed his case today by saying Obama was born in he United States. ~~~~~~ The bottom line of Hillary's possibly election-losing remark is that Trump flew to the support of his loyal voters, whom he always describes as "hard-working Americans" who feel marginalized. Trump means it when he says : "I am their voice." So, it is far too late for Mrs. Clinton to cover her gross remark by saying : "I'm determined to bring our country together and make our economy work for everyone, not just those at the top." Yes, Hillary. Just as you will stop influence-peddling once in the White House. The Clintons really do think most Americans are gullible dunces. ~~~~~~ Donald Trump has also closed the poll gap with Hillary. A new Detroit Free Press/WXYZ-TV poll shows Trump gaining ground on Hillary Clinton in Michigan. A month ago, Clinton held an 11% lead over Trump in Michigan. Now, she is falling and the race for the key electoral state is a dead heat with Clinton at 38% and Trump at 35%. Bernie Porn, pollster for EPIC-MRA, who conducted the poll, says : "The race is tightening a lot in Michigan. It may be a function of the timing of the survey and her health questions, (but) there has been a shift toward Trump. Whether it's going to be a permanent shift is yet to be determined." A key to Trump's ascendancy in Michigan is the poll's finding that most Michigan voters oppose allowing more refugees into the country -- Oppose : 53%; Favor : 36%. As one Trump supporter, 55-year-old Patti Maisonville told the Free Press : "It's the lesser of two evils. I think Hillary is playing above the law and I don't like that at all." And, she added : "I can't stand another Clinton in the White House." ~~~~~~ Hillary & Hacks was not long in figuring out their best path forward -- they will bribe people to hack into Trump emails or use whatever other means are available to "dig up the dirt" that nobody has as yet been able to find in Trump's past or present. Newsmax reported Thursday that Hillary Clinton's ally David Brock said : "I'll pay cash for Trump leaks." In a Wikileaks-style initiative that Hillary condemns when it is Guccifer or Russia digging up the massive troves of dirt in her past, David Brock -- often called Hillary's attack dog -- has launched a new site which announces cash prizes in exchange for information about Donald Trump. NBC News reports that the new site, Trump Leaks, has been established by Correct the Record, a well-funded super PAC founded by Brock, whose founders include American Priorities, one of whose contributors is George Soros. The goal is to collect as much information as possible, but Brock said the material, in the form of unreleased videos and audios, or documents, should be legal. Brock told NBC : "We're chasing everything. We're going to extraordinary lengths because this is an extraordinary situation." Brock justified his move by saying media outlets are "unwilling to pay for scoops" for ethical reasons, hence they are not extracting enough crucial information, according to TheHill. "I understand the prohibition on press paying for stories, but we're not the press," Brock said. And not ethical, either. ~~~~~~ And in a pivot that I have been telling my friends to watch for during the past month, Newsmax reported Friday that the Politico Caucus -- an anonymous panel of activists, strategists, and operatives in 11 battleground states -- saw Trump's chances improve after Clinton's pneumonia diagnosis and "basket of deplorables" comment. For the first time, a majority of swing-state Republican insiders are confident presidential candidate Donald Trump can defeat Hillary Clinton, according to a Politico Caucus poll. When asked if their GOP candidate would win their state if the election were held today : 53% of Republicans said Trump would win. The finding is up from the previous Politico Caucus poll on September 9, in which 39% of Republicans were confident in him winning. Republicans in several states expressed confidence that Clinton's support is fading. One New Hampshire Republican said, according to Politico : "Like the Old Man on the Mountain, Clinton's support is slowly eroding. The health fiasco and 'deplorables' nightmare had an impact here to motivate independents I talk to." Other GOP voters are expressing the same optimism. Newsmax auoted an Iowa Republican who said Clinton "had the worst week of any political candidate in my adult lifetime." A Michigan Republican said : "More and more of the chattering class here is thinking that Hillary's health situation is opening up the possibility that Trump could actually pull this off." When the Politico Caucus was asked whether Trump not disclosing medical records or his tax returns would have more of an impact on his campaign, among Republican insiders, 43% said not disclosing tax returns would impact him more; 3% said not disclosing medical records; 54% said neither would have any effect. As an Iowa Republican put it : "No one cares. He doesn't play by anyone's rules but his own. And if he doesn't like them, he changes them." ~~~~~~ A Rasmussen poll released this week shows Trump leading Clinton, 42% to 40%. The Rasmussen survey was conducted after Clinton's recent 9/11 ceremony collapse. And, a Bloomberg poll taken over the disastrous last weekend for Hillary shows Trump leading Clinton by 5% in Ohio (48% to 43%), a Trump lead that underscores Clinton’s problems in critical Rust Belt states. Trump’s performance in the poll -- including strength among men, independents, and union households -- is better than in other recent Ohio surveys, hitting Clinton after she enjoyed polling advantages nationally and in most battleground states in August before the race tightened in September as more Republican voters unified around Trump's messages of renegotiating NAFTA and bringing jobs back to Ohio. The resurgence of Ohio's Republican Senator Rob Portman helps Trump, too. Portman now holds a commanding lead of 53% to 36% over former Democratic Governor Ted Strickland, with a ratio of more than 2-to-1 among independents and 14% support from Democrats and those who lean that way -- 20% of Clinton's supporters back Portman, while only 9% of Trump supporters back Strickland. When asked whom likely voters support for the US House in their district, without the interviewers naming any specific candidates, 51% picked Republican or leaned that way, while 38% picked Democratic or leaned that way. More than a third of poll participants in Ohio, 38%, say either they or someone in their household has been unemployed because of layoffs or company closings during the past decade or looked for work but has been unable to find a job. Within that group, Trump outperforms Clinton 51% to 38%. And, in Ohio, Republican vice-presidential nominee Mike Pence, the governor of neighboring Indiana, is viewed more favorably than Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, the Democratic VP, at 48% to 37%. ~~~~~~ And, Newsmax reports that the latest national New York Times/CBS poll shows the result among likely voters is within the survey's 3-point margin of error, putting Trump and Clinton in a virtual tie. ~~~~~~ At rallies and in speeches, Trump drives home the demeaning nature of the comments Clinton made made in front of donors at a private New York fundraiser last Friday, calling them evidence that she is an elitist with a dim view of ordinary Americans. At one event, Trump brought nearly a dozen supporters of different races and backgrounds onto the stage to make the point that Clinton has insulted a broad cross-section of Americans because she thinks she’s better than they are. Trump said to a group of national guardsmen in Baltimore this week : “She divides people into baskets as though they were objects, not human beings. She and her wealthy donors all had a good laugh. They were laughing at the very people who pave the roads she drives on, paint the buildings she speaks in, and keep the lights on in her auditorium. Hillary Clinton is an insider, supported by powerful insiders, attacking Americans who have no political power.” ~~~~~~ According to Howard Kurtz, host of Fox News' MediaBuzz : Hillary Clinton "has already fired most of her heavy artillery at Donald Trump. She has called him temperamentally unfit, too dangerous for the Oval Office and ignorant about foreign policy. She has said he makes racist statements and that many of his followers are in fact racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic and Islamophobic. She has said he's built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia. She has denigrated his business record, mocked his corporate bankruptcies and accused him of stiffing small contractors." Kurtz asked : "What else has she got?" Kurtz says Clinton went "nuclear" in the past three months, exhausting Trump's most offensive comments by repeating them over and over in attack ads. He cites Politico's Rich Lowry, who made a similar point on Wednesday : "The Clinton campaign has already used his greatest hits of most offensive statements in countless TV ads....None of this has sunk Trump. What's left that is going to have a new and different shock value?" Kurtz says : "'The other guy's crazy' isn't the most inspiring slogan." ~~~~~~ Sabrina Kim, a Donald Trump supporter in Carlottesville, Virginia, could not have summarized Trump's appeal to Americans better when talking to another journalist : "I’m a second-year student at the University of Virginia. I’m majoring in biology and foreign affairs, although I hope to be admitted into a major in global security with a focus on bioterrorism and biodefense. I grew up in a Republican household, which is where I believe the tenets of free market speech and conservative attitudes were instilled in me and led me to join the Students for Trump team as the UVA ambassador. The reason why I support Donald Trump really boils down to three things. First, Trump’s policy on immigration strikes a chord with his focus on the citizens of America and his refusal to compromise our core values. I’m the daughter of an immigrant -- my father moved to this country from South Korea when he was 13. His family landed on the shores of California with nothing but a little bit of money and the prospect of a better life, but used the opportunities in this country to achieve what South Korea could never give them. Now my father and his brothers are successful physicians, lawyers and businessmen. This is why I support Donald Trump -- he is pro legal immigration. He wants to stop the massive influx of illegal immigrants coming across our southern border to steal jobs and resources from those who are where my father was not too long ago. It’s simple to me: if there are too many people in this country, we can’t provide for all of them. Secondly, I support Mr. Trump’s stance on increased military spending and reform of the [Department of Veterans Affairs]. Again this is family-related : my grandfather fought in the Navy as a pilot during the Korean War, and my uncles and cousins have served in the Marines, Army and the Navy as well. Their service is a sacrifice that many will never have to make, and for that our veterans deserve a government that works for them and not against them. Donald Trump has repeatedly said that he wants a “military big enough that we won’t ever have to use it,” and this return to the crux of Ronald Reagan diplomacy is what will catapult America back to our role as a reliable ally and a fearful enemy. Finally, my contempt for Hillary Clinton rounds out my support and ultimate vote for Donald Trump. This woman is riddled with controversy. She has no respect for our military or our soldiers, made clear when she abandoned the four Americans who lost their lives in Benghazi, Libya. I cannot trust somebody who is willing to disclose hmatters of national security on a private server, and then refuse to turn over 30,000 of, potentially, the most secretive ones. If these emails are in the hands of foreign intelligence hackers, the fate of the United States could be drastically altered. But the Clintons are no stranger to foreign governments -- the controversy surrounding the Clinton Foundation runs antithetical to the virtues of a President." ~~~~~~ The New York Post hit the nail on the head in its Friday article about the upcoming Bill Clinton birthday party. The NYP Editorial Board says the birhtday bash proves the Clintons just can’t stop influence-peddling : "For a giant, flashing sign that the Clintons’ influence-peddling will never end, look no further than Bill’s 70th birthday party Friday night at the Rainbow Room -- which of course is a Clinton Foundation fund-raising bash. Yup, that’s right; show ’em the money, money, money: Donors must give $250,000 to be a “chair” of the party, six figures to be a co-chair, 50 grand to be a vice-chair. True, buying a ticket will get you some glam -- Barbara Streisand, Jon Bon Jovi and Wynton Marsalis are all to perform. But how many others hope their gift will at least get them onto some future White House guest list, and possibly buy even larger favors? Oh, and the Foundation won’t disclose the night’s donors, despite earlier promises to do so. And it will keep taking all “gifts” right up through November 7 (at least)." The NYP Editorial Board summarizes : "What’s really remarkable here is the Clintons’ utter shamelessness -- or the compulsive need to raise cash. The event, notes Politico, has 'induced cringes among some Clinton supporters, who cast it as an unnecessary show of excess at a sensitive time in the presidential race.' Ya think? Less than two months before Election Day, Donald Trump has moved into a near-tie with Hillary thanks in good part to her endless scandals -- including weeks of damning news about how Clinton Foundation donations bought favors from the Clinton State Department. Yet Bill and Hillary not only won’t promise to shut the Foundation down if she wins, they won’t put a low profile on its pre-election fund-raising. The only concession to propriety is that Hillary will skip her husband’s party. With the White House at stake, the Clintons can’t even pretend to change their ways. Don’t you dare imagine they’ll be any less shameless if she manages to win." ~~~~~~ Dear readers, Hillary Clinton is out of touch, out of ideas, and out of time. Donald Trump has found his sea legs and will bring millions of voters back to the real America some of us have always known he champions. Come on back, all you Cowardly Lion Republican insiders. Get on the Trump Train and join us to enjoy the ride all the way to 1600 Pennsylvannia Avenue, come January 20, 2017.