While each Republican candidate hammered out an I-can-do-it message on stage, Mrs. Clinton is sticking to her I-didn’t-do-it message.
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz took the gloves off, which led to a couple of awkward moments for both candidates. When the dust settled, Trump was on top pummeling Cruz for insulting New Yorkers. Cruz gained momentum in the debate by referring to Trump as a “birther” for questioning his qualifications to be president because he was born in Canada. Cruz was born in Canada to an American mother, which makes him an American citizen since birth.
However, Cruz bungled his advantage big-time by insulting just about the entire state of New York, or at least New York City. “Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan,” said Cruz when asked to explain what he meant by previously saying Trump exemplified “New York values.” Trump took the bait and left Cruz tugging at the hook left impaled in his political lip. The New Yorker slapped Cruz on behalf of the big city for insulting the people of New York who survived the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Outside of the two aforementioned exchanges Cruz and Trump polished their differing styles to a lively, poignant sheen.
Meanwhile, Clinton was recently forced to revisit the myriad of sex scandals that highlighted the Clinton administration for the eight years they were there, some dating to their early days in Arkansas, no pun intended. Clinton herself revived sex allegations made against her husband, Bill Clinton, and herself in terms of covering it up, when she referred to Donald Trump as a sexist. While Republicans focused like a combined laser on issues including national security, illegal immigration, border security, the economy and foreign affairs, Mrs. Clinton finds herself in a wrestling match with the aging, independent socialist Bernie Sanders. Most political analysts have expressed surprise that Mrs. Clinton is losing ground to Mr. Sanders in polls and that he is raising almost as much money and bigger crowds than her.
During last night’s FOX Business hosted Republican debate, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio delivered a solid performance, perhaps his best showing to date. Meanwhile, Christie referred to the Obama State of the Union address as “story time” and later called Obama a “petulant child” because of his plans to issue controversial executive orders.
Capitalizing on the perceived incompetence of the Obama administration, Republican candidates last night continued advancing the notion that the US is traveling quickly in the wrong direction. “The millionaires and billionaires are doing great under Obama,” Cruz said “But we have the lowest percentage of Americans working today of any year since 1977.”
Jeb Bush put it like this: “Well first of all, the idea that somehow we’re better off today than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated president of the United States is totally an alternative universe,” while Sen. Rubio said, “Barack Obama does not believe that America is a great global power… Barack Obama believes that America is an arrogant global power that needs to be cut down to size.”
While Republicans contrasted Obama’s SOU speech with reality as they see it, former first lady and secretary of state Hillary Clinton has dropped her talk of sexism and concentrated on defending her involvement in the FBI investigation over her use of an unsecured, home-brew server to send and store reams of classified materials. In addition, recent leaked reports suggest Clinton worked closely with major donors to the Clinton Foundation which has spawned allegations of quid pro quo. The FBI’s expansion of its investigation seems to have given new life to Bernie Sander’s campaign if fund-raising is any measure. Democratic donors are keenly aware that an indictment or even more controversial revelations could have serious legal implications and consequences for the Democratic frontrunner and could lead to the nomination of Sanders, who most political analysts say cannot win in the general election.
