Tag: GOP

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Former Disgraced Congressman Sits In Trump Rally VIP Seat

Donald Trump, speaking to a crowd in Sunrise, Florida, took off on a rant about Hillary Clinton speaking in Florida two days earlier where Clinton didn’t realize that seated right behind her at the rally was the father of Omar Mateen, the man who murdered 49 people at a gay club in Orlando this past June.

Important to note that when notified about Mateen’s attendance, the Clinton campaign said in an emailed statement, “The rally was a 3,000-person, open-door event for the public. This individual wasn’t invited as a guest and the campaign was unaware of his attendance until after the event.”

Nick Merrill, a Clinton spokesman said later, “She disagrees with his views and disavows his support.”

Trump razzed Hillary about the elder Mateen’s attendance, BUT – wait for it – seated just behind Trump, in a similarly visible seat as Mateen had had, was former GOP congressman Mark Foley who resigned in disgrace back in 2006 after sending a series of sexually explicit instant messages to several underage congressional page.

Check what Trump had to say about Hillary’s Mateen mistake with Foley right over his shoulder:

“Wasn’t it terrible when the father of the animal that killed the wonderful people in Orlando was sitting with a big smile on his face right behind Hillary Clinton? And by the way … a lot of the people here — how many of you people know me? A lot of you people know me,” Trump said, addressing the crowd behind him as Foley raised his hand.

“When you get those seats you sort of know the campaign, so when she said, ‘Well, we didn’t know,’ he knew, they knew.”

Delicious.

Hey Trumpster – you might check the house before you jump into your next routine.

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First GOP Congressman Announces Support For Hillary

Rep. Richard Hanna

Congressman Richard Hanna has the distinction of being the first Republican member of Congress to publicly declare that he will be voting for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race on November 8.

In a recent interview, Hanna cited the now commonly repeated issue now swirling around the Donald Trump campaign in the race for the White House – that Trump is “unfit to serve our party and cannot lead this country.”

From Talking Points Memo:

“I think Trump is a national embarrassment. Is he really the guy you want to have the nuclear codes?” he asked.

The congressman said that he’s considered voting for Clinton for a few months, and that Trump’s attacks the parents of a deceased Muslim American soldier were the last straw.

“I saw that and felt incensed,” Hanna told Syracuse.com. “I was stunned by the callousness of his comments.”

Hanna also wrote an op-ed on Syracuse.com spelling out why he cannot support Trump and will instead vote for Hillary Clinton.

“Secretary Clinton has issues that depending on where one stands can be viewed as great or small. But she stands and has stood for causes bigger than herself for a lifetime. That matters,” he wrote. “Mrs. Clinton has promoted many of the issues I have been committed to over the years including expanding education and supporting women’s health care.”

“While I disagree with her on many issues, I will vote for Mrs. Clinton. I will be hopeful and resolute in my belief that being a good American who loves his country is far more important than parties or winning and losing,” he added.

UPDATE: Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois has now joined the list of GOP lawmakers who will not vote for Trump.

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GOP Co-Chair Mary Fallin: Our Platform Can’t Be Anti-LGBT – A Gay Person Was On The Committee

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin tried to make the hilarious assertion that this year’s Republican platform couldn’t possibly be anti-LGBT because there “were gay people on the platform committee.”

Fallin refers to the one, lone gay person included in the platform committee – Rachel Hoff – who was unable to sway her fellow Republicans to soften the platform view in terms of same-sex marriage.

So that would be less than 1% of the committee was gay.

Fallin goes on to say that the GOP is “an inclusive party, a big tent.”

Yep. As long as you’re not gay.

(h/t JMG)

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Log Cabin Republicans Are Shocked To Find Out The GOP Hates Them

Log Cabin Republicans are seemingly dumbstruck that their own political party hates them after having adopted a virulently anti-LGBT platform yet again for this year’s national convention.

This year’s platform opposes same-sex marriage rights, supports efforts to restrict bathrooms to individuals’ birth gender and protects businesses who refuse services to individuals based on religious objections to gay marriage. It also decrees “that ‘natural marriage’ between a man and a woman is most likely to result in offspring who do not become drug-addicted or otherwise damaged.”

In light of all that, Log Cabin Republicans want you to send them money – and lots of it – to fund their self-loathing field trip journey to the GOP convention next week in Cleveland so they can further beat themselves up “take back the platform.”

Get a clue, LCR. The right-wingers just aren’t that into you. And never were.

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Donald Trump On Running Mate: I Want An Attack Dog

Donald Trump told reporters today, in what may be a hint as to his choice of running mate, that he wants an attack dog to join him on the GOP ticket.

Mr. Trump, in a telephone interview Tuesday, said his top picks include Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and a couple politicians who haven’t gotten as much attention, including Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.

The New York businessman has said he wanted a seasoned government leader as a running mate. But in the interview, on the way to events with Mr. Pence in Indiana, Mr. Trump added a new criterion: He wants an attack dog.

“I’m getting attacked from all sides,” he said.

That plays to the strengths of Messrs. Christie and Gingrich, feisty and combative politicians that Mr. Trump called “two extraordinary warriors.” Saying that personal chemistry is also important, Mr. Trump said, “You either have it or you don’t. I clearly have it with Chris and Newt.”

Having someone to play the classic “attack dog” role would possibly give Trump the chance to perhaps lay back a bit and appear more “presidential” on the campaign trail.

Or, maybe, that’s just creative thinking that Trump would relinquish his role of “attacker in chief” on the campaign trail.

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GOP-Led House Benghazi Panel Issues 800 Page Report – No Bombshell

Benghazi committee chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy

After two years and more than $7 million dollars, the GOP-led House investigation into the Benghazi attack of 2012 has concluded with no “bombshell” or new revelations.

CNN reports:

The more than 800-page report paints a picture of a perfect storm of bureaucratic inertia, rapidly worsening security in Libya and inadequate resources in the months that led up to the killings of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three colleagues on September 11, 2012.

The attack was initially thought to be perpetrated by an angry mob responding to a video made in the U.S. mocking Islam and the Prophet Mohammed, but the assault was later determined to be a terrorist attack — a finding Republicans accused the White House of covering up to protect President Barack Obama’s re-election prospects.

The House Benghazi Committee report doesn’t directly blame Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time and is now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, for the attacks. But it does suggest she and other administration officials did not adequately address the risks involved. It also found Stevens himself bore responsibility for securing his post.

At the end of the day, House Republicans were unable to actually pin blame on Hillary Clinton for the attack. The most they could attach to Clinton was that she should have realized the situation in Libya was dangerous from available intelligence.

I’m guessing they mean that in the same way that President George W. Bush “should” have been able to avoid 9/11 after intelligence reports were available saying “Bin Laden Determined To Strike In US?”

Oddly, I don’t recall House Republicans holding investigations into Dubya’s culpability.

The Republican-run Congress spent more time investigating Benghazi than both 9/11 and the Iraq War combined, and yet thousands more Americans died in those conflicts.