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Election, Featured, Politics

GOP Debate: Trump Calls on Republican Party to ‘Be Smart and Unify’

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While previous GOP debates have been highlighted by insults and crude comments from Donald Trump, Thursday’s debate proved to be a more subdued event as the frontrunner called for unity within the Republican Party.

In his opening statement, Trump noted the record turnout of voters thus far in the GOP primaries, calling it one of the “biggest political events anywhere in the world.”

[pull_quote_center]One of the biggest political events anywhere in the world is happening right now with the Republican Party. Millions and millions of people are going out to the polls and they’re voting. They’re voting out of enthusiasm. They’re voting out of love. Some of these people, frankly, have never voted before—50 years old, 60 years old, 70 years old—never voted before.[/pull_quote_center]

Trump claimed that voters are turning to the Republican Party, and he said he thinks the Republican establishment “should embrace what’s happening.”

[pull_quote_center]We’re taking people from the Democrat Party. We’re taking people as independents, and they’re all coming out and the whole world is talking about it. It’s very exciting. I think, frankly, the Republican establishment, or whatever you want to call it, should embrace what’s happening. We’re having millions of extra people join. We are going to beat the Democrats. We are going to beat Hillary or whoever it may be. And we’re going to beat them soundly.[/pull_quote_center]

[RELATED: Reality Check: Why Donald Trump’s South Carolina Win was a Historic Defeat of Neocons]

According to reports from the Washington Times, Republican voter turnout broke records in New Hampshire with “nearly 285,000 voters to the polls, which was 15 percent more than in 2012, and just shy of the all-time record of 287,000 voters that Democrats drew in their marquee 2008 battle.” and in South Carolina, with “more than 737,000 votes,” which is “more than 20 percent higher than 2012.” Trump was declared the winner in both states.

Following Super Tuesday on March 1, the Washington Post reported that over “1 million more people have voted in Republican primaries than Democratic ones” and that Democratic turnout has fallen since the last contested nomination in 2008, while it has risen for Republicans since 2012.

[RELATED: GOP Establishment Reportedly Considering Contested Convention to Counter Trump Win]

Although there have been reports of GOP elites preparing for a contested convention if Trump does not receive the 1,237 delegates needed to qualify for the Republican nomination, Trump said at Thursday’s debate that he thinks the GOP should seize the opportunity to “embrace millions of people” he is bringing to the Republican Party.

[pull_quote_center]The Republican Party has a great chance to embrace millions of people that it’s never known before. They’re coming by the millions. We should seize that opportunity. These are great people. These are fantastic people. These are people that love our country. These are people that want to see America be great again.[/pull_quote_center]

“So I just say embrace these millions of people that now for the first time ever love the Republican Party,” Trump concluded. “And unify. Be smart and unify.”

For more election coverage, click here.

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Poll: Who Do You Think Won the 2/25/16 CNN Debate?

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Poll: Do you support Donald Trump’s decision to boycott the upcoming GOP debate?

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Fact Check: Christie Did Not Stop Obamacare in New Jersey

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WISCONSIN, November 11, 2015– During Tuesday night’s Republican undercard debate hosted by Fox Business News, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie tried to convince America that he stood up to the Obama agenda when he claimed that, as Governor, he “stopped Obamacare in New Jersey because we refused to participate in the federal exchange.” While some of that statement is partly true, Christie actually followed along with other liberal governors and took steps to save Obamacare.

According to the Tenth Amendment Center, a states’ rights organization dedicated to fighting federal overreach, there are four steps that states needed to take in order to stop Obamacare in their state.

The first step is refusing to set up a state exchange. In 2012, Christie vetoed a state health insurance exchange bill.

Under Obamacare, the federal government is relying heavily on states to use their own resources to support the law by setting up a state exchange. Why? Because the federal government simply couldn’t handle implementing the law on their own.

However, Christie stopped short of doing anything else to stop Obamacare. In fact, he propped it up.

The next thing states could have done to help kill Obamacare was to refuse to expand Medicaid under Obamacare. However, Governor Christie accepted Medicaid expansion in New Jersey.

In fact, the Wall Street Journal ran an article noting that Christie’s move to expand Medicaid under Obamacare had angered Republicans.

The third thing Christie could have done to stop Obamacare was to prohibit the State Insurance Commissioner from investigating and enforcing health insurance requirements. However, Christie did not do so.

Finally, Christie could have used legislation to block the IRS’s ObamaCare taxes by suspending the licenses of insurers that accept the subsidies. “Since no insurer would then accept one, not a single employer in the state could be hit with the employer-mandate penalties those subsidies trigger,” states the Tenth Amendment Center. However, Christie didn’t do so.

Judge Andrew Napolitano said that if a number of states were willing to follow the above 4 steps, then Obamacare would be gutted.

Taken together, had Christie performed these four steps, he could have actually stopped the implementation of Obamacare in New Jersey. However, he did the opposite, which actually saved Obamacare in New Jersey.

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Post-Debate Poll Shows New GOP Frontrunner Has Emerged

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CALIFORNIA, September 18, 2015– On Wednesday, 11 Republican presidential primary candidates took their hard-earned places behind their respective podiums on stage at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The first post-debate poll has been released, and Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of HP, is now a front-runner for the Republican nomination.

A strong performance in the first debate on the under-card stage thrust Fiorina onto the main stage for Wednesday’s CNN debate. Many questioned whether or not she’d continue to impress, or if she would buckle under the pressure.

After the debate, those who underestimated Fiorina were silenced. According to Robert Herring, Sr., CEO of One America News Network, the One America News national post-debate poll conducted by Gravis Marketing, a non-partisan research firm, shows it’s all Fiorina coming out of the second debate.

Taken immediately after the debate, the Gravis poll shows Fiorina jumping to first place at 22 percent, tied with Donald Trump. OAN’s previous national poll, conducted on September 3-4, showed the former HP top executive in seventh place with 2.7 percent.

While 33 percent of those polled felt that former HP CEO Carly Fiorina won the debate, only 21 percent said front-runner Donald Trump won the night.

 

Fiorina also had the highest showing with GOP national voters having a 78 percent more favorable opinion of the candidate post-debate. The less favorable percent came in at 13 percent with 10 percent unchanged. Thirty-three percent of GOP voters polled believed that Fiorina won the debate, the highest of any GOP Candidate.

The poll sampled a random survey of 1,337 registered Republican voters across the U.S. regarding the performance and opinions of the Republicans that took place in the second Republican Primary debate. The poll has a margin of error of ± 3%. The polls were conducted using IVR technology and weighted by gender.

Although it is only the first post-debate poll, Fiornia proved to be the first Republican candidate capable of knocking Donald Trump off his perch. For now, at least.

Who do you think won the debate? Vote in our online poll HERE.

FOLLOW MICHAEL LOTFI ON Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn.

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CNN Amends Criteria For GOP Debate Lineup

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The next GOP presidential debate, which will be hosted by CNN and is scheduled for Sept. 16, has a new set of rules that will recognize both past and recent polling numbers, and could allow more than 10 candidates on the stage. The move follows a change in polling numbers for some Republican candidates.

CNN released a statement on Tuesday, which said that although the network initially planned on using “the average of approved national polls from July 16 through September 10 to determine the makeup of the debates,” the number of national polls conducted was much lower than expected.

While in 2007 and 2011, there were around 15 approved national polls, CNN noted that by Sept. 10, there will only be five. “As a result, we now believe we should adjust the criteria to ensure the next debate best reflects the most current state of the national race,” said the network, noting that the Republican National Committee is “fully supportive” of the changes.

[pull_quote_center]In the event that any candidate is polling in the top 10 in an average of approved national polls released between August 7 and September 10, we will add those candidates to our top tier debate, even if those candidates did not poll in the top 10 in an average of approved national polls between July 16 and September 10.[/pull_quote_center]

The new rules could open up a spot for candidates such as Carly Fiorina, a GOP contender who was excluded from the first debate’s main stage and participated in a separate debate instead, but whose performance at the forum has greatly increased her polling numbers.

Fiorina’s deputy campaign manager, Sarah Isgur Flores, released a statement last week noting that after the first GOP debate on Aug. 6, Florina ranked in the top ten in every state that was polled.

“Despite being solidly in the top 10 by every measure, the political establishment is still rigging the game to keep Carly off the main debate stage next month,” Flores wrote.

Florina addressed the change in rules during an interview on the Hugh Hewitt Show on Tuesday evening, and said that she is looking forward to debating with frontrunner Donald Trump.

“I think they made the right decision based on the data which clearly has shifted – in my case – dramatically, from prior to August 6 to post-August 6,” Fiorina said.

In a statement from Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, he said, “I applaud CNN for recognizing the historic nature of this debate and fully support the network’s decision to amend their criteria.”

[RELATED: Reality Check: Can The Republican Party Kick Donald Trump Out Of The Debates?]

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EXCLUSIVE: Rand Paul Reportedly Said He Would Debate Bernie Sanders “Anytime, Anyplace”

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At last Saturday’s Republican Party of Kentucky meeting, where GOP leaders approved a proposal changing the state’s primary to a caucus system thus allowing U.S. Senator and 2016 presidential candidate Rand Paul to run for the U.S. Senate and the presidency at the same time, Paul reportedly told long-time libertarian activist Donald Meinshausen that he would be willing to debate Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders “anytime, anyplace.”

Demand for a presidential debate between Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul appears to be rising online, as a Facebook page and petition have been created calling for the two to face off in a Lincoln-Douglas style debate tour. Quora and Reddit online communities have also floated the idea of calling for a Sanders-Paul debate.

[UPDATE- Truth In Media Petition: A Joint Town Hall with Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders] 

On Saturday evening, longtime libertarian activist Donald Meinshausen, who now resides in Kentucky, published a Facebook post which said, “I just came back from the Republican Party meeting that was to decide on whether Kentucky is to have a caucus in 2016 to decide on the presidential nominee as Rand Paul wished. Rand Paul was there and the GOP went with his wishes so that Rand could be on the ballot for US Senate and for president in 2016 by a vote of 112-34. I talked to Rand about the idea of him having a debate with Bernie Sanders and he said; ‘Anytime, anyplace.’”

MeinshausenQuoteTruth in Media spoke exclusively with Meinshausen, a thought-leading libertarian activist who is known for having organized a draft card burning at the 1969 Young Americans for Freedom convention. In the book Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement, Brian Doherty called the ’69 YAF convention’s draft card burning “a symbolic, flamboyant gesture… that many who were energized by it mark as the beginning of the modern libertarian movement.”

Meinshausen told Truth in Media that he attended the Republican Party of Kentucky’s meeting and personally asked Senator Rand Paul about the possibility of a debate between Paul and Sanders, prompting Paul to reportedly reply, “Anytime, anyplace.”

“I think that this could happen if Bernie gives his O.K. Rand needs this debate, right?” said Meinshausen. “Rand needs to re-brand himself as a thinker and a radical like his dad. The GOP will not give him flak as they need his help against Trump.”

Meinshausen raised concerns that Sanders’ campaign advisers might not want him to debate Paul during the primary season. “There is a rumor that Bernie is under pressure not to debate Rand,” said Meinshausen.

While it would be unusual for candidates from opposing parties to debate during a presidential primary, with candidates battling reality T.V. star Donald Trump for media attention, this election season seems to defy the normal rules.

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Paul Hits Trump On Socialized Healthcare And Support Of Clinton

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United States Senator and presidential candidate Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is doing something no other Republican candidate or party official is willing to do– throw down the gauntlet on Donald Trump.

Trump has said that he would run 3rd party if he doesn’t win the GOP nomination, which has led some insiders believe that Trump could be working with the Clintons to ensure a victory for Hillary.

In the first GOP debate, just as he refused to dismiss the idea of a 3rd party run, Paul slapped Trump with his support of the Clinton family by saying that Trump was hedging his bets because he is used to buying politicians.

Paul’s latest ad showcases Trump’s support of the Clinton family, socialized healthcare, and the Democratic Party in general.

Trump has since come out and said that he is considering rescinding his refusal to not run 3rd party and issued a lengthy response to Paul’s campaign ad.

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Martin O’Malley Lawyer Calls DNC Debates ‘Legally Problematic’

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By Shawn M. Griffiths (IVN) – Do the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) primary debate plans violate federal election rules? MSNBC reported Tuesday that an attorney for Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley believes that this is a very real possibility.

MSNBC reports:

[quote_box_center]“The DNC last week announced the schedule for its six presidential primary debates, including four before the Iowa Caucuses and two afterwards. O’Malley and fellow candidate Bernie Sanders came out against the schedule, demanding, as they have for months, more chances to face off on stage against front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Of particular concern to O’Malley is the DNC’s exclusivity requirement, which would punish candidates and debate sponsors who participate in unsanctioned debates by barring them from participating in remaining official events. The DNC’s goal was to limit the unwieldy sprawl of the last Democratic primary in 2008, when the number of debates mushroomed to about two dozen.”[/quote_box_center]

“Entirely unprecedented” and “legally problematic” are the words O’Malley attorney Joe Sandler used to describe the DNC debates. Specifically, Sandler says the exclusivity clause is “legally unenforceable.”

In a recent memo, Sandler writes that under Federal Election Commission rules, the format and structure cannot be controlled by any party or candidate committee, but must be decided by the debate sponsor(s). In the case of the 6 primary debates currently scheduled, there are a total of 10 media outlets and one nonprofit sponsoring the events.

Sandler writes:

[quote_box_center]“Legally the DNC cannot dictate the format or structure of any debate sponsored by a media outlet or 501(c)(3) organization – including the criteria for participation. Therefore, it would be legally problematic if any of the sponsors of the sanctioned debates has actually agreed to the ‘exclusivity’ requirement. And in any event, it is highly unlikely that any of those sponsors of the sanctioned debates would ultimately be willing to enforce that ‘exclusivity’ requirement.”[/quote_box_center]

Sandler served on the DNC’s general counsel from 1993 to 2008. He says the Democratic Party has never used an exclusivity rule in the past. In fact, Sandler said all major Democratic candidates in 2008, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, participated in unsanctioned debates.

Both O’Malley and Bernie Sanders blasted the DNC after it released the debate schedule. Both candidates believe there should be more debates.

“Shame on us as a party if the DNC tries to limit debate,” O’Malley said.“I believe we need more debates, not fewer debates. And I think it’s outrageous, actually, that the DNC would try to make this process decidedly undemocratic.”

“At a time when many Americans are demoralized about politics and have given up on the political process, I think it’s imperative that we have as many debates as possible — certainly more than six,” Sanders remarked.

Read the full memo:

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SC Lawmaker Defends Flying Of Confederate Battle Flag

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If you watch the national media, you would think that the debate over the Confederate flag in South Carolina is over. The truth is the debate is just beginning.

Rep. Jonathon Hill (R-S.C.) told Truth In Media’s Joshua Cook about his thoughts on the Confederate battle flag on the State capitol grounds as well as his thoughts on the tragic event at Mother Emanuel AME Church in downtown Charleston, S.C.

Hill said, “First, there has been so much love and forgiveness expressed by the family members, by the church members, and how the community of Charleston has come together and the city over this incident. And that’s what the focus should be on because you’re going to defeat racism with love and respect and quite honestly–Christianity.”

“The flag didn’t kill anyone,” said Hill.

“It [Confederate flag] is currently not flying over the State house, it is flying next to the Confederate monument here on the State house grounds. I can’t think of a more appropriate place to fly it. It would be like having a Confederate flag flying next to a grave stone next to a fallen Confederate soldier,” said Hill.

Hill asked, “What are we going to do if we take down this flag? Are we also going to chisel out the words on the monument? Are we going to bulldoze down the monument, take down the monument altogether? If we start going down that road, then we’re going to begin to forget what happened during that dark period of our history.”

Sources tell Truth In Media that it would probably be weeks or months, maybe August, before Confederate flag legislation gets to a vote. In other words, it won’t be as fast as what is currently being reported.

In 2014, during a gubernatorial debate, S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley debated libertarian candidate Steve French on the issue of the Confederate flag. French said the flag hindered economic growth while Gov. Haley defended the flag.

Cook stated that Gov. Haley did a complete 180 on the issue of the flag due to political pressure. Hill agreed.

The recent flag controversy has sparked many different reactions from the political right. As reported by Truth In Media, Senator and Presidential candidate Rand Paul (R-Ky) stated that the Confederate flag was a “symbol of slavery and murder.”

[RELATED: Rand Paul Speaks Out Against Confederate Flag as a Symbol of Slavery and Murder]

State Senator Lee Bright (R-S.C.) characterized the movement to remove the Confederate flag and other Confederate monuments as a “Stalinist Purge.”

While a national movement is calling for the flag to come down, some local residents say it should stay.

A recent poll sponsored by the Greenville News indicates that many in South Carolina agree with Senator Bright. The unscientific poll asks: Should the Confederate flag be removed from South Carolina’s State house? As of this publication, 32% voted ‘yes’ and 68% voted ‘no.’

flag poll

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Libertarian Gubernatorial Candidate To Take Part in S.C. Debates

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In some parts of the country, Libertarian Party candidates have been struggling to appear on the ballot and to be invited to the debates. But that’s not true for South Carolina where Steve French, Libertarian Party candidate for South Carolina governor, announced that he will be participating in both political debates sponsored by local media.

French told Benswann.com’s Joshua Cook, “it took a month of backroom maneuvering to get into the debates so it wasn’t easy.”

On Oct. 21, four of the five candidates will spar in the second debate in the Upstate. According to The Post and Courier, Democrat Vincent Sheheen had a potential schedule conflict.

Governor Nikki Haley, independent Tom Ervin and United Citizens Party candidate Morgan Bruce Reeves all agreed to take part.

Libertarian candidate Steve French appears to be reaching out to fiscal conservatives who are frustrated with the Republican Party.

“Republicans have been in charge in South Carolina for 20 years. We still have the 12th highest income tax in the country, very few options for school choice, and possibly the least transparent state in the country,” said French via Facebook.

French asked, “Why would any fiscal conservative vote Republican in SC?”

The debate is a huge win for the Libertarian Party, especially in light of other candidates who struggle to be included in debates in other state races.

 

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Libertarian Candidate Makes Ballot, Not Debate

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The Libertarian Party candidate for U.S. Senate in Virginia will be on the ballot this fall, but Robert Sarvis is not invited to debate next month when the other two contenders face-off.

According to PilotOnline.com, Virginia State Board of Elections official said Thursday that Sarvis has been certified to be on the Nov. 4 ballot along with U.S. Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat, and Ed Gillespie, the Republican challenger.
Organizers of the debate, the Virginia Bar Association, decided to only invite Warner and Gillespie to the first debate scheduled for July 26 at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.
“They are the only candidates who qualify under our criteria for invitations,” association President John L. Walker III said in an email to PilotOnline.

The group’s debate rules include only candidates that “have a reasonable chance of being elected.”
Sarvis was also excluded from the debate for governor last year. He received 145,762 votes, 6.5 percent of votes cast

Sarvis said that now that he’s on the ballot, he’ll ask the bar association to reconsider.
“I have to ask: Is 145,000 votes not significant to them? How many people watched their debate?” he said.