Hillary's Rope-A-Dope

One of life little mysteries, solved!

From ABC News:

Hillary Clinton Hasn't Answered a Press Question in 21 Days (And Her Opponents Are Taking Notice)

And from today's NY Times:

Hillary Clinton Walks Tightrope as Pressure Grows to Take Stance on Trade Deal

Liberal Democrats are intensifying their pressure on Hillary Rodham Clinton to oppose President Obama’s Pacific trade deal as detrimental to American jobs. But Mr. Obama’s allies want her to endorse the accord, which the president has called a boon to the United States economy.

And Mrs. Clinton, stuck between the progressives she must woo in a Democratic nomination fight and the president under whom she served, has remained, for the most part, mum.

The issue has become the first major policy test in her fledgling campaign, with Mrs. Clinton under mounting pressure to pick a side in the delicate and heated debate over the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, a 12-nation trade agreement that Mr. Obama has aggressively pursued and that is facing a critical vote in Congress on Tuesday.

This game - Hillary obscuring her views and the press pretending to care - will be played until Elizabeth Warren is truly and definitively out of the race and the last progressive candle has been extinguished. It's about leadership!

SINCE YOU ASKED: The Times alludes to her one press question on the TPP. Here we go, from the National Journal:

Question 4: An MSNBC reporter asked Clinton on April 21 whether she had concerns about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement the Obama administration is in the process of negotiating.
Clinton: According to CBS: "Any trade deal has to produce jobs and raise wages and increase prosperity and protect our security. We have to do our part in making sure we have the capabilities and the skills to be competitive. ... It's got to be really a partnership between our business, our government, our workforce, the intellectual property that comes out of our universities, and we have to get back to a much more focused effort in my opinion to try to produce those capacities here at home so that we can be competitive in a global economy."

She favor good deals and opposes bad ones, and who amongst us can say differently?

Comments

[Eric in Boise]

First?

Doesn't matter - I'll get a JOM participation trophy either way :)

[jimmyk]

Ack, feast or famine with new threads. Can't keep up.

[Jeff Dobbs]

I'm glad you're posting, TM. I was going to do something on this - but that like takes effort and stuff.

Anyway - here's an angle: both Hillary and Obama view 8 as the magic number of questions the media should be allowed to ask.

2015:

Welcome to day 29 of the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign!

In those 29 days – including April 12, the day she announced, and today – Clinton has taken a total of eight questions from the press. That breaks out to roughly one question every 3.6 days. Of late, she's taken even fewer questions than that. According to media reports, the last day Clinton answered a question was April 21 in New Hampshire; that means that she hasn't taken a question from the media in 20 straight days.

Well. It's now 21, but who's counting? Oh, right: me!

2008:

[Obama] made himself available to reporters to answer questions about his relationship with Antonin Rezko, who is currently on trial for corruption. Irritated with the questions and unable to satisfy persistent reporters, Obama cut the news conference short, walking out and proclaiming, "Guys, I mean come on. I just answered like eight questions." Obama more recently went on a 10 day stretch in which he held no press conferences. Frustrated with the lack of availability, a reporter tried to break Obama's silence by asking a question while he was eating breakfast. Obama again deployed the "chagrin defense", this time somewhat fomously, "Why can't I just eat my waffle?"

But Obama was a piker for only going 10 days without making himself available to the press. Hillary's at 21 days now and she seems made of sterner stuff than Obama. Run Hillary Run (away from the media)!

[Thomas Collins]

Oh, c'mon. Let's get this over with and swear in The Hill as POTUS so The Bill can launder even more bribes through his foundations.

[NKonChrome]

If you had a serious stroke would you want to answer questions publicly? You'd look drunk and idiotic like that fat lady did when talking with Diane Sawyer about her 'concussion'.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Hillary won't take any questions from the press from Jan 2017-2021 because she won't be pres.

[jimmyk]

Oh, c'mon. Let's get this over with and swear in The Hill as POTUS so The Bill can launder even more bribes through his foundations cavort with even more young interns in the White House.

Fixed. That's the ultimate goal, isn't it? For Bill, at least.

[Eric in Boise]

Hillarity: "Can't I just eat my waffle?"
Bill (eyes comely reporter): "Can't I just eat..."
Hillary: "Shut up, Bill!!"

[NKonChrome]

All through the 90s I believed BillyC craved the power more than the $$$$. Now the $$$$ is at least as important to these uber grifters.

[maryrose]

I agree Ig
She will drown under the weight of her baggage
Wait until the Benghazi hearings
We all know she hates to be challenged
Everyone knows she's running a stealth campaign
Warren will be drafted at the convention after Hil implodes

[maryrose]

NK
I honestly don't think Bill Clinton supports this run
I mean really he doesn't want to be under the microscope again

[Ben]

GOP no doubt will add a platform plank opposing TPP...

LOL.

[sbw]

So, Henry and legal beagles, if Anderson prevails (fat chance) about her interpretation of being able to stay in office until the end of her term, short of impeachment, is there nothing voters could do to rectify a mistake.

Of course, not leaving her seat in the face of voters' will is probably a high crime or misdemeanor.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--Wait until the Benghazi hearings--

I don't expect any Republican to sink her nor these hearings because let's face it what difference DOES it make to anyone at this point?

She will as you say maryrose sink herself over unforeseen icebergs.

[henry]

sbw, if Abrahamson prevails on that, law has no meaning and the revolution has started.

[Some Guy]

She will as you say maryrose sink herself over unforeseen icebergs.

Named Bill.

[Threadkiller]

Hi, I’m Congressman Tom McClintock from California.

Right now, Congress is considering important legislation to help create more jobs and prosperity for the American people.  It’s called ‘Trade Promotion Authority,’ and I’d like to visit with you about it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx8hj5PaVU8&feature=youtu.be

http://mcclintock.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rep-mcclintock-delivers-weekly-republican-address-trade-means-freedom-and

[sbw]

Henry, thanks. As Clarice said a few days ago, has the word lawless lost its meaning?

For progs, if they don’t want a law, it’s a recommendation. If they want a recommendation, they treat it as law.

The schools have graduated MSM regurgitators who won’t notice.

Joke repeated:
Teacher asks, “Johnny, what’s the difference between ignorance and apathy. Johnny replies, “I don’t know and I don’t care.

[Jane]

I actually think Bill wants this more than Hillary. He loves the free stuff, and the adoration and the perks.

[jimmyk on iPhone]

She thinks voters elected Obama because of all the great platitudes in his endless speeches, plus the novelty of his being black, and that platitudes and being female will work for her. But Obama was a fresh face without a track record. She's just a tired act.

[MarkO]

She reminds me of this:

Judge Smails: Good. Good. You know, despite what happened I'm still convinced that you have many fine qualities. There's a lot of...well, badness in the world today. I see it in court every day. I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. I didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them. The most important decision you can make right now is what you stand for. Goodness...or badness.

Danny: I've made some mistakes in the past. I'm willing to make up for that. I want to be good!

[jim]

I just wish the republicans were not saying "we have to pass this to find out what's in it."

Who can trust anything obama says, yet the republicans in the senate seem to along for the ride.

[Beasts of England]

Wonder if Cankles will let Slick take the big jet down to Pedophile Isle?*

*And I hope we never get that answer.

[sbw]

Re: McClintock

What 150 objectives? And why can't we seethe damned bill?

[Beasts of England]

How 'bout a Fresca!

:::tossles hair:::

[Rick Ballard]

jimmyk,

There just ain't enough Febreeze in the world to overcome the skunk roadkill smell in the upholstery. The MFM can buy all the polling air freshener for her that it can afford but she will never smell any better than Labour did in the UK.

[Porchlight]

I think Bill is bored and misses the wheeling and dealing of the political life and being top dog in DC. The women and money are fun, too, but he has as much of that as he wants already.

[Porchlight]

I also think Bill wants revenge on Obama for painting him as a racist in 2008. The Clintons hate the Obamas and want to show them how it's really done.

Remember this:

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/12/10/great-news-bill-clinton-apparently-now-president-again/

[matt]

Obama's biggest problem now is that virtually no one trusts him. It's the old duck clause; "if it walks like a duck..."

He is now hiding his Iran negotiations and his trade negotiations and thinks he can get away with it, but hopefully the idiots on the Republican side will realize that they had better review every single clause, comma, and footnote because that is how slippery the scumbag in chief is.

With the clock running down Obama has little to lose.

Is there any way to revoke his pardon privileges? I want to see the bunch of them in jail.

[Porchlight]

Btw, catching up on overnight thread...I have only tried snuff three times. Come on guys. :)

[Ben]

CATO/Koch support TPP. It's a two-fer.

[Threadkiller]

I also wonder about the 150 objectives, sbw.

Ingraham was so close to finding out when she decided that conflating the TPP with the TPA McClintock was talking about would score better faux gotcha points.

http://www.lauraingraham.com/b/GOPs-Top-Pitch-Man-For-Americas-Largest-Global-Trade-Pact-Admits-He-Hasnt-Read-One-Word-Of-It!/-984865794040615383.html

[James D.]

Matt @ 11:48

Nobody trusts him, and yet McConnell gave him his choice for AG, and is pushing to give him fast-track authority to negotiate the TPP site unseen, and on and on and on...

[lyle]

That's what they all say, Porch...

[Beasts of England]

According to our local rag, the last member of von Braun's original team from 'Operation Paperclip' has died at 95 years old. Oscar Holderer brought from Germany the first rocket wind tunnel and reassembled it himself. He became a US citizen in 1955.

[Extraneus]

That's the ultimate goal, isn't it?

Cavorting? Not quite.

He loves the free stuff, and the adoration and the perks.

Bingo.

He wasn't just cavorting with Monica, or having sex. He was having a certain type of sex.

[henry]

Democrat, plagiarist, what at this point does it matter? Hard Choices was about what to plagiarize & from whom. (ht our Obama Library neighbor type lurker).

[Extraneus]

Judge reinstates lawsuit to force surrender of Hillary Clinton e-mails

A federal judge has reopened an open-records case trying to pry loose some of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s emails, marking the first time a court has taken action on the email scandal.

Judge Reggie B. Walton agreed Friday to a joint request by the State Department and Judicial Watch, which sued in 2012 to get a look at some of Mrs. Clinton’s documents concerning a public relations push.

Both sides agreed that the revelation that Mrs. Clinton had kept her own email server separate from the government, and exclusively used her own email account created on that server, meant that she had shielded her messages from valid open-records requests.

Now that she has belatedly turned some emails over, the government offered — and Judge Walton confirmed in his ruling — that the agency should search them all to see whether any should have been released to Judicial Watch.

Captain Ed:

The problem here, of course, is that Hillary Clinton claimed to destroy the records. She still has the server, which the House Select Committee on Benghazi also wants in the hands of a third party for potential data recovery, most likely the State Department IG. If the Clintons are not forthcoming with the material, Walton could order the server seized.

She still has the server? Says who? How do we know there was a "server" at all, and that the email domain wasn't hosted somewhere?

Somehow the world got this picture of a computer whirring away in Hillary's basement. Is there any evidence of this?

[lyle]

Insty links to the bleeding obvious:

http://dailycaller.com/2015/05/11/political-correctness-has-destroyed-the-armys-readiness-and-morale/:

The U.S. Army is facing its greatest danger as an institution since the 1970’s. Stricken with morale and readiness problems, it is also under attack from leftist social engineers who are determined to remake the Army, even if they have to destroy it.

I see no evidence of "remaking," just destroying. Cankles in the WH will do it in for good.

[Ben]

Plagirized herself? Obama might consider copywriting his selfies to avoid infringement allegations. :)

[maryrose]

Henry
Abrahamson better start packing up her office belongings
Anyone who thwarts the will of the voters is a fool and will most likely lose her seat in the next term election
She should go quietly while she still has a shred of dignity left
When did we become a society forced to endure grifters cheats and liars in our elected officials
There must be better people somewhere

[Beasts of England]

Øbama has destroyed military morale? No shit. Exactly as planned.

[henry]

Maryrose. Shirley is over 80 and not up for reelection until 2019. Not clear she ever had a shred of dignity. Simply a bitterly clinging hag.

[maryrose]

Ext
Next we will learn Hil has burned the server and taken it to a landfill

[maryrose]

Henry
I am sure she wants to run as an eighty four year old harpy
Drunk with power is her signature attribute

[maryrose]

Henry
I know she's there until2019 she's just not going to be the Chief

[lyle]

http://hotair.com/archives/2015/05/12/shameful-nfl-teams-being-paid-to-salute-our-troops/

The hits keep on a-comin'.

[Beasts of England]

An interesting site for lovers of the music often referred to as Americana:

http://americanamusictriangle.com/

[Threadkiller]

Pro-wrestling, lyle.

[lyle]

The level of naiveté here is astonishing. "Jazz Hands" Shaw:

I’ll go ahead here and say something which may come as a surprise. I honestly believe that, deep down, all of the work going on surrounding Bill Clinton with his foundation is being done, at least in part, because he has a genuine desire to help people. Former presidents are in a rather unique position to do good and most of them exert that influence in a positive fashion somewhere or another. George W. is famous for the work he does supporting wounded soldiers and even Jimmy Carter has helped out poor people through building affordable housing and trying to cure diseases in Africa. And even though much of the work of the Clinton Foundation clearly goes to benefit the Clintons, he’s helping some other folks out and I’m sure he wants to see them do well.

http://hotair.com/archives/2015/05/12/hillarys-continuing-quandary-what-do-you-do-about-bill/

[lyle]

I hear ya, TK.

[Thomas Collins]

It looks as if politicians are using Law and Order-Special PSI Unit to promote their causes having nothing to do with football. Here is what the US Senate's Minority Leader and the Massachusetts Attorney General have to say.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2015/05/12/senator-harry-reid-weighs-deflategate/uto6cNDeEAXscRsucckQYO/story.html

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2015/05/12/nfl-focus-deflategate-out-line-healey-says/KNVG5dk7SslEAtiZ2dRPiO/story.html

As far as I know, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong un haven't weighed in yet (although Brady should be glad the NFL doesn't use the North Korean "suspended for life" penalty).

[henry]

Union goons have the right to your address, phone number, and work schedule, per the NLRB. The Obama Library graffiti artist lurker suggests this will turn out worse than 3 am John Doe raids.

[Beasts of England]

Slick is a sociopath with narcissist tendencies, and there are parts of his psyche that do want to help others - as long as it fulfills his needs first.

The doctor is IN.
5¢

[Beasts of England]

The unions are gonna get my work schedule? Crap. Does this mean I have to get a job?

[lyle]

Slick likes to help others help him.

[clarice]

What difference does it make what she days? It won't be believable.

[lyle]

Letterman's "Why Golf Is Better Than Sex":

#10... A below par performance is considered good.
#09... You can stop in the middle and have a cheeseburger
#08... It's much easier to find the sweet spot.
#07... Foursomes are encouraged.
#06... You can still make money doing it as a senior.
#05... Three times a day is possible.
#04... Your partner doesn't hire a lawyer if you play with someone else.
#03.... If you live in Florida , you can do it almost every day.
#02... You don't have to cuddle with your partner when you're finished.
And the NUMBER ONE reason why golf is better than sex.....
#01... When your equipment gets old you can replace it!

The sender of this email included a BC cartoon that I can't get to paste but the first panel shows one of them lining up a putt and the other one asking the first:

"Isn't that your new putter?"

"Yep."

"What happened to your old one?"

"It couldn't swim."

[clarice]

Can't believe that NLRB order will be sustained.

[Jack is Back]

Lyle,

Letterman must have stole that because it's been around for years. Either that or it's one of his 20 years ago. Had a comedian once tell me that the best comedy writing comes out of prisons.

[Beasts of England]

Back in my anger management days, I could fling a club farther than I could hit a lob wedge. I had perfectly cut the corner on a short Par 5 in a big money game, and had only ~165 yards to the pin to set up an eagle putt.

I tugged it left into the water, killing even a birdie try. I launched my 6-iron sky high into a loblolly pine - where it remained for months; never to be seen again. Don't know if it could swim or not. And it's tough to replace a vintage BeCu Ping Eye 2+.

[Beasts of England]

From a Reason commenter:

Tom Brady would have been better off slugging Giselle in an elevator.

[jimmyk on iPhone]

"Back in my anger management days, I could fling a club farther than I could hit a lob wedge. "

Hah, I've broken a few tennis rackets in my day. In this case distance is not the objective of the fling, just maximal damage. Pour encourager les autres.

[pagar]

"Anyone who contributed a dime to McConnell’s fraudulent re-election campaign should sue."

Plus a whole lot of others. IMO, there is no excuse for any US Senator voting for this bill.

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/05/12/as-gop-folds-rooting-for-the-democrats-to-block-obama/

[Stephanie]

The TPP:

"At his April 28 press conference with President Obama, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan confirmed that the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), the secret treaty he is negotiating with Obama, is designed to enable the free flow of people among the twelve participating countries (which include both Mexico and the United States)."
"...it's an ambitious attempt to create a new economic sphere in which people goods and money will flow freely within the Asia-Pacific region. ..."

Just more immigration to the US of cheap labor. The republicans, if they had any sense, would be opposed. I've several liberal FB friends that are livid and would likely vote republican if they would get their heads out of the US Chamber's ass on this issue. They hate the dems stand on illegal immigration and the jobs that are going to immigrants.

[Stephanie]

Link for above:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/05/cnn_quickly_cuts_away_from_japanese_leader_saying_tpp_will_enable_free_flow_of_people.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

With a little luck Barry will make our economy as efficient and as growth oriented as the EU's.

[maryrose]

Voting right now only need 9 more votes to kill it

[maryrose]

Now only need 4

[maryrose]

Now2

[lyle]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/fast-tracking-americas-post-obama-future-1431386368?tesla=y

In truth, the number of Republicans who oppose fast-track authority because they outright oppose trade is not large. Oh, there are a handful—Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions is one—and there are others who know better but find a vote for freer trade difficult because of particular industries in their states.

But the biggest objection that Republicans seem to have against TPA is simply that they don’t trust this president. They have good reason, too, given Mr. Obama’s record of making end runs around Congress and his habit of characterizing honest policy disagreements as, say, racist, anti-women or pro-war.

On top of this, Americans have seldom heard this president speak fondly of trade. In “Dreams From My Father,” Mr. Obama reminisced about his childhood in Indonesia, where he portrayed globalization and trade as a bad thing. So it is probably no coincidence that the president’s highest-profile trade achievements thus far have been the bilateral deals with Colombia, South Korea and Panama negotiated by the George W. Bush administration.

And why should they? Precious has never given them one effing reason to do so. But how does this columnist or any of the other editorial writers for the WSJ even know what's in this deal?

[maryrose]

Issue fails

[maryrose]

Obamas merde touch strikes again

[lyle]

Just more immigration to the US of cheap labor. The republicans, if they had any sense, would be opposed.

I think I spotted the problem there.

[NKonChrome]

Issue fails. We like that.

[maryrose]

He is short by 4 votes
Evidently his arm twisting didn't work

[maryrose]

Stabbed in the back by his own party
That is going to leave a mark for the lame duck

[Threadkiller]

Text of what failed:

http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc114/s995_is.xml

[Jane]

Are you talking about the trade bill failing by 4 votes?

I would not vote for anything Obama proposed that I couldn't read first. (And most of what I did read because I don't trust him on anything)

[Threadkiller]

I think that was the Bill.

[Jack is Back]

Politics makes strange bedfellows. Beside the stealth immigration plug there was also a stealth greenhouse gas reduction deal included.

[CR]

As a Catholic, I find this so depressing:

"Pope Francis’ closest adviser castigated conservative climate change skeptics in the United States Tuesday, blaming capitalism for their views."

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/241769-popes-top-adviser-blasts-us-climate-skeptics

[Old Lurker]

I've had it with my Episcopal Church for all the obvious reasons, but I sure have no interest in this guy's snake oil as an alternative.

Just when the previous Pope was actually luring Protestants back who wanted something better to believe in, along comes this political junk? No offense intended to my Catholic friends.

The Hill "Pope Francis’ closest adviser castigated conservative climate change skeptics in the United States Tuesday, blaming capitalism for their views. Speaking with journalists, Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga criticized certain “movements” in the United States that have preemptively come out in opposition to Francis’ planned encyclical on climate change. “The ideology surrounding environmental issues is too tied to a capitalism that doesn’t want to stop ruining the environment because they don’t want to give up their profits,”

[Old Lurker]

Damn CR, you beat me to it by one post!

[lyle]

The ideology surrounding environmental issues is too tied to a capitalism that doesn’t want to stop ruining the environment because they don’t want to give up their profits

I'll get behind capitalists giving up profits when the Catholic church--The Vatican in particular--gives up all their money. Deal?

[NKonChrome]

Why would the socialist desires of an Argentine Jesuit surprise anyone? The best part about that story is the propaganda spewed by the the Hill journalist. What a fraud he is, Tim Cama should work for Bloomberg News. He propagandizes that we should listen to a Cardinal when he is a socialist and rent seeking Climate fraud. Please. And as far as Pope Frank and Cardinal Rodriguez, render unto Carbon Taxes what are carbon taxes and unto God what is God's. That's right from the Gospel. Look it up.

[NKonChrome]

Lyle-- the Vatican says it has no 'money' just some real estate and illiquid art work.

[lyle]

The butt-hurt, it's strong:

President Obama’s performance in pushing for approval of fast track legislation of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, in which he’s allied with Republicans and has spent the last week castigating and insulting liberal Democrats, has been one of the most bizarre and ill-advised performances of his presidency.

I spent many years working for senior Democratic Senators such as Lloyd Bentsen and House Democratic leaders beginning with the legendary Speaker Tip O’Neill, and have never seen any president of either party insult so many members of his own party’s base and members of the House and Senate as Mr. Obama has in his weeks of tirades against liberals on trade.

Read more at http://observer.com/2015/05/obama-hurls-insults-at-liberals-on-trade/#ixzz3ZxA1aduY
Follow us: @newyorkobserver on Twitter | newyorkobserver on Facebook

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--Why would the socialist desires of an Argentine Jesuit surprise anyone?--

They don't. What surprises me is a majority of the guys who had a vote thought he would make a good Pope.

[fella with a tall hat]

Vatican says it has no 'money' just some real estate and illiquid art work.

Do they have a GoFundMe account?

[lyle]

Fine, NK. Since I'm a reasonable guy, have the Vatican put those assets up for bid on the market.

[CR]

Misery loves company Old Lurker :)

[Jack is Back]

I wonder who Maradiaga thinks makes all those big donations to Caritas? Beggars in the street? I'm with CR.

[Beasts of England]

Allow me to correct Cardinal Maradiaga: the ideology surrounding environmentalism is too tied to statist politicians who continue to fail the poor; the very people those politicians and the church claim to care about.

[NKonChrome]

Actually Lyle, I believe the Vatican's finance guys prefer to leverage off of that real estate and art work, and hold on to them for future collateral purposes.

[maryrose]

Pope is infallible ble on faith and morals issues
Climate Change doesn't meet that criteria
You can't hate the Cardinal for ha I g a different scientific point of view
Then you be just like a prog and we sure do not want to be tagged that way

[Miss Marple]

Well, if the dems now have their feelings hurt by Obama's strong-arm tactics, I have no sympathy. He's been insulting us for six years.

[NKonChrome]

The Dems are finding out Obummer's a bratty punk, who connives behind your back? I'm sure they are shocked.

[maryrose]

Pope Francis is a good Pope
We can agree to disagree

[Beasts of England]

Yes, that art is illiquid. It's not like an art auction could bring in more than a few hundred grand, right? da Vinci? Raphael? Titian? Caravaggio? Illiquid my ass.