Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

THE CLINTON CAMPAIGN'S HOSTLITY TO EVANGELICALS AND ROMAN CATHOLICS

Family Research Council comments on the latest WikiLeaks dump:

Most people don't need to hack into the Clinton campaign to know the campaign's hostility toward Bible-believing Christians. From the paring down of the freedom of religion to the freedom of worship to the basket of deplorables, Hillary Clinton's comments were certainly clues of her campaign's disdain for those whose faith is important in their lives. Those clues were confirmed this week in a scandal involving two chiefs of the campaign. Proving that Donald Trump's mouth isn't the only liability in this race, Clinton's Communications Director, Jennifer Palmiere, has gotten the campaign in plenty of hot water with her 2011 email exchange with equally prejudiced John Halpin from the Center for American Progress.

The messages (which also included Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta) surfaced in the latest WikiLeaks dump, giving undecided voters plenty to think about before November 8. Halpin kicked off the insult-fest with a nod to the CEO of Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, a Catholic who -- shock of shocks -- raised his children Catholic. "Ken Auletta's latest piece on Murdoch in the New Yorker starts off with the aside that both Murdoch and Robert Thompson, managing editor of the WSJ, are raising their kids Catholic. Friggin' Murdoch baptized his kids in Jordan where John the Baptist baptized Jesus," he wrote to Palmiere and Podesta. Going on, he added, "Many of the most powerful elements of the conservative movement are all Catholic (many converts) from the SC and think tanks to the media and social groups. It's an amazing bastardization of the faith. They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy."

They're probably Catholic, Hillary's Communications Director chimed in, because they think it's "the most socially acceptable politically conservative religion." Then, taking a swipe at Protestants, she said, "Their rich friends wouldn't understand if they became evangelicals," she added. The comments are revealing because they show that Hillary Clinton's attack on Bible-believing Christians (when she called them a "basket of deplorables," in front of an LGBTQ crowd) were consistent with the broader campaign's contempt for conservative Christians. Even more telling, she not only smeared those who believe in biblical morality as deplorable, she also said they were "irredeemable" (which was a bit ironic, considering that redemption is the crux of the Christian faith).

HILLARY CLINTON LIKELY SUFFERS FROM ADVANCED PARKINSON'S DISEASE

Dr. Ted Noel offers what appears to be compelling evidence that Hillary Clinton has advanced Parkinson's disease.     A written summary of the evidence for Parkinson's can be found here.  But not everyone is convinced.  Here is a dissenting opinion. 

 

TRUMP AND HILLARY: EQUALLY DISTASTEFUL

I agree with Jay Nordlinger's perspective:

 . . . I’m certainly not voting for Trump. I think he is spectacularly unfit for the presidency, in both mind and character (but especially the latter). I’m certainly not voting for Hillary. I think she is equally unfit. I have opposed her, politically, since she emerged on the scene in the early ’90s.

I believe the Republican party has disgraced itself, in nominating Trump. I believe it has disfigured itself, morally. (Philosophically too, but that is separate.) The Democrats, I gave up on a long time ago (c. 1982). . . 

Perhaps people think that Trump has some kind of claim on my vote, because I’m a conservative (and, until earlier this week, I was a Republican). I do not regard Trump as a conservative. I’m not even sure he’s a democrat. He strikes me as a big-government strongman, or would-be strongman: a prospective American Putin or Chávez. . . .

I simply do not have a preference between Trump and Hillary. They are equally distasteful to me, and I’m not going to vote for either one of them. Nor am I obligated.

I’ll vote for some third candidate — an honorable conservative, or at least someone who is not corrupt, dishonest, and dangerous. If there is no such candidate, I won’t vote for president. . . .

SURVEYING THE DEMOCRATIC DEBATE - WOW...

The Family Research Council offers a stunning summary:

Pin the Tale on the Donkey

There were plenty of takeaways from last night's Democratic presidential debate, but the biggest may be how much conservatives have to be grateful for. On a Las Vegas stage, Americans heard from five liberals bent on furthering the agenda that's put our nation on the financial, moral, and international brink. Together, they showed no remorse for the misguided policies of the Obama administration -- and instead seemed to apologize that the President's radicalism didn't go far enough.

It was an eye-opening experience for most people, who heard, as National Review put it, "college educations should be free for everyone; all lives don't matter, black lives do; Obama is simultaneously an enormously successful president in managing the economy, the middle class is collapsing... and that ObamaCare benefits should be extended to illegal immigrants." In a world displaced and upended by Muslim extremists, the NRA was mentioned 14 times more than radical Islam (which wasn't mentioned at all).

Out of step and woefully unconcerned about anything but the next big government program, voters heard from a man who could be President that the greatest national security threat facing America was climate change! Maybe so, if he was talking about the climate of hostility toward the West and religion -- but certainly not the weather. Still, Bernie Sanders insisted, "The scientific community is telling us that if we do not address the global crisis of climate change, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to sustainable energy, the planet that we're going to be leaving our kids and our grandchildren may well not be habitable. That is a major crisis."

In a drastic departure from the GOP debates, social issues were almost nonexistent -- with one major exception: Hillary Clinton's stunning defense of Planned Parenthood. To CNN's Anderson Cooper, who feigned surprise that the former Secretary of State would propose another government program, Hillary fired back, "Well, look, you know, when people say that -- it's always the Republicans or their sympathizers who say, 'You can't have paid leave, you can't provide health care.' They don't mind having big government to interfere with a woman's right to choose and to try to take down Planned Parenthood. They're fine with big government when it comes to that. I'm sick of it."

In her allergy to the facts, Clinton failed to mention that redirecting money from scandal-ridden Planned Parenthood to community health centers would actually saveAmerica close to $235 million. That's hardly the "big government" most Americans know. But the fact that the only woman on stage would defend an organization exploiting and endangering her own gender said plenty to viewers. Meanwhile, foreign policy, one of the current administration's greatest weaknesses, got relatively little attention. Instead, Sen. Jim Webb, Gov. Martin O'Malley, Sen. Lincoln Chafee, Secretary Hillary Clinton, and Sen. Bernie Sanders spent most of the night trying to spend something else: taxpayer dollars.

With a particular focus on income inequality and paid leave, even Sen. Webb couldn't help but point out, "With all due respect to Senator Sanders, I don't think the revolution is going to come, and I don't think the Congress is going to pay for all this." No wonder the Democratic field sounded like a bunch of (to use Jim Geraghty's words) "hard-Left, pie-in-the-sky, free-ice-cream-for-everyone, Socialist pander bears." As for the shadow of scandal following Hillary Clinton, she did her best to step out of it. At one point, she tried to duck the issue, insisting that she would answer Congress's questions when the time came. "But tonight, I want to talk not about my e-mails, but about what the American people want from the next President of the United States."

What Americans want is someone they can trust. And based on her conduct, and the conduct of so many Obama officials, that person is becoming harder and harder to find. After seven years of Barack Obama, this country wants a President who won't break the rules to advance an agenda or bypass the law to institute flawed policy. That shouldn't be too much to ask -- but last night, it certainly felt like it.

CARLY FIORINA SPEAKS OUT ON ABORTION WITH CLARITY AND PASSION

As others have noted, Carly Fiorina will not be cowed by the liberal press into a defensive corner.  She's a Tiger!

 

Transcript:

JAKE TAPPER: Let's turn to the question of abortions. I know you want to talk about it. One of your opponents, Scott Walker, signed a law in Wisconsin this week which would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks of a pregnancy. On Twitter, HIllary Clinton said:

"Governor Walker signed dangerous abortion restrictions into law in Wisconsin — without exceptions for rape and incest. Extreme and unacceptable."

Walker retweeted her, and called her "out of touch with most Americans."

What's your position on this legislation, which does not allow exceptions for rape and incest?

FIORINA: Well, let's talk about the legislation that's sitting on the Senate floor right now, which does allow for those exceptions —

TAPPER: So you —

FIORINA: Let's also talk about, let's also talk about Hillary Clinton's position. Let’s also talk about Hillary Clinton’s position. Let’s talk about what extreme is. It’s not a life until it leaves the hospital. That’s Hillary Clinton’s position. It’s Hillary Clinton’s position that a 13-year-old girl needs her mother’s permission to go to a tanning salon or a tattoo, but not to get an abortion.

It's Hillary Clinton's position that women should not be permitted to look at an ultrasound before an abortion, and yet people who are trying to harvest body parts can use an ultrasound to make sure that those body parts are preserved so they can be sold. That, Jake, is extreme.

TAPPER: Just to clarify — you think there should be an exception for rape and incest?

FIORINA: I would really be delighted if for once the media would ask Hillary Clinton about the extremism of her position.

TAPPER: Well, let's —

FIORINA: It’s not a life, it's not a life until it leaves the hospital.

My position is very clear. It's been very clear and consistent ever since I ran for the Senate in 2010. Anyone can look it up. (Subtext: "You know the answer to the question, Jake, so why are you wasting everyone's time on the house fire while the city is ablaze?" — Ed.) Yes, I support exceptions.

But the majority of the American people now believe that abortion for any reason at all to be paid for by taxpayers after five months is an abomination. And this videotape, whether you're a pro-choice woman or a pro-life woman, this videotape is depraved. The casual nature with which these people are talking about fetuses, and tissue and apecimens. I tell you what, if a woman was looking at the ultrasound at the same stage of pregnancy, the doctor would not be talking about fetuses, or specimens or tissues. They would be saying, "Look at your baby's heartbeat. Look at your baby's eyes. Look at your baby's organs."

TAPPER: Carly Fiorina, thank you so much. Thank you for taking our questions.

Tom Blumer at Newsbusters correctly observes:

Fiorina answered Tapper's question, but she made the larger points, and forcefully.

If Fiorina doesn't get the 2016 presidential or vice-presidential nomination — and those who haven't been taking her seriously need to start doing so — she should be hired immediately by whoever does so she can train them to face the hostile media. It's been many years since I've seen a GOP candidate handle the press in such a consistently deft and poised manner. 

Rush Limbaugh likewise waxes enthusiastic over Carly Fiorina's skill at handling the press.

. . .  Start your focus of attack on Hillary Clinton.  She's the enemy.  The Democrat Party's the opponent.  You know she's gonna be the nominee.  Hit her.  Start now.  It's a great way to explain who you are, in fact, by contrasting yourself. 

This is my advice, okay?  And one person either took the advice or instinctively knew to do it on her own, and that's Carly Fiorina, who, by the way, she's just, I think, kicking butt all over the country, folks.  Every stop never gets off message. She handles the media with aplomb and skill and it's obvious she enjoys doing it, and she's schooling people.  She's showing how it's done.  Latest example, Tuesday night, CNN, The Lead with Jake Tapper. 

Update:  See Warren Cole Smith's interview with Scott Klusendorf, "A Lesson in pro-life apologetics."  

Mrs. Clinton's Interviews Display a Shocking Ignorance Re: Pakistan

Update 2/2/08 - Joe Biden picks up on Clinton's gaffe.

**
Wow.  I had no idea Mrs. Clinton had so little knowledge of Pakistan.  Recent interviews, however, indicate that fact conclusively.  I find it amazing and truly stupefying.  And she presents herself as experienced?  As someone who knows something about foreign policy?  Check out this post from Thomas Houlahan in Middle East Times from which I excerpt the following:

Sen. Clinton really didn't know that the upcoming elections were for individual seats in Pakistan's parliament. She actually believed that Bhutto, Nawaz and Musharraf would be facing off as individual candidates for leadership of the country in the upcoming elections.

Sen. Clinton didn't know that Nawaz Sharif isn't allowed to run for office in Pakistan because of a felony conviction. She didn't know that President Musharraf won't be on the ballot because he's already been elected.

Sen. Clinton, a candidate for the leadership of the free world, apparently doesn't know the first thing about the country referred to by some as "the most dangerous place on earth." 

Powerline adds:

A transcript of Senator Clinton's interview with Blitzer is posted here; a video of Senator Clinton's interview with Stephanopoulos interview is posted here. If any of the major Republican presidential candidates had spoken in this manner about the scheduled elections in Pakistan, surely an issue would be made of it.

HT: Michael Rubin at The Corner.

Peggy Noonan Offers a Fascinating, If Somewhat Damning, Contrast Between Margaret Thatcher and Hillary Clinton

Noonan's article is well worth reading.

. . . Margaret Thatcher would no more have identified herself as a woman, or claimed special pleading that she was a mere frail girl, or asked you to sympathize with her because of her sex, than she would have called up the Kremlin and asked how quickly she could surrender.

She represented a movement. She was its head. She was great figure, a person in history, and she was a woman. She was in it for serious reasons, not to

New Book by Paul Kengor: "God and Hillary Clinton: A Spiritual Life"

Jamie Glazov published today a fascinating interview with Paul Kengor, author of the first spiritual biography of the former first lady, God and Hillary Clinton: A Spiritual Life. Kengor says,

She is a classic, textbook-case of a Religious Left politician. Through this book, I was eager to remind a theologically ignorant media and secular nation that not everyone who is a religious believer is a “fundamentalist.”  . . . Hillary’s denomination—the United Methodist Church—has moved so far to the left that