Let's make George Washington proud today. It's Presidents' Day -- and time to recap the top news in politics.
If you want to be specific, today is Washington's Birthday, as celebrated nationwide. (He was really born February 22, 1732.) Your state may celebrate some combination of presidents; most include President Lincoln, born February 12, 1809.
Although many businesses want to make today about big sales ... it's also an opportunity to reflect on the generations who came before us and the blessings -- among them, our liberty -- they handed down.
In our humble opinion, Curtis Hill, Indiana Attorney General, penned the must-read piece on George Washington and Presidents' Day (and there's lots published today, as you can imagine). Check it out here; you'll be glad you did.
As Mr. Hill wrote: "There will never be another George Washington, but every civic-minded American alive today can find ways to help make our country better and stronger."
Let's make President Washington proud today. Here's the news to get you started.
Political journalists: Sure, Bernie Sanders has called himself a socialist for decades. But can we really be sure? "Many among the center–left commentariat are struggling to come to terms with the likelihood that the Democratic Party will nominate an authoritarian leftist for president. [...] Others, however, have begun reinventing Sanders, who, they now contend, isn’t actually a socialist socialist, because he’ll never send you to die in an icy gulag and few of his policy ideas will ever come to fruition." [Read the full story from National Review.] We aren't sure if we should feel better or worse to discover that the liberal establishment -- and the political media class that enables them -- is as concerned as the rest of America to discover a socialist leading their presidential primary.
But as they see a future in which a candidate who wants to fundamentally re-make America (and spend billions doing it) faces off against a president who's presiding over a booming economy and a new era of American prosperity ... well ... they're furiously trying to "re-brand" the extreme ideas as "not socialism ... not really."
It likely won't be that easy to mislead Americans, many of whom have heard Bernie Sanders' speeches for themselves over the years -- and know where he stands.
As Jim Geraghty at National Review summarized in a concise -- and cutting -- piece this morning: "Throughout his career, Sanders talked about the value of bread lines in Socialist countries, cheered on the Marxist Sandinistas, honeymooned in the Soviet Union, praised Communist China’s progress in 'addressing extreme poverty,' talked about his admiration for Fidel Castro, warmly welcomed the Irish Republican Army, saluted Hugo Chavez’s Venezuelan regime, and almost never criticized Nicholas Maduro."
Voters in the Democratic primary don't seem to mind, though.
The Sanders campaign continues to run ahead of the pack, even as the political class has tried to offer up first Amy Klobuchar and now Michael Bloomberg (more on that below) as standard-bearers instead.
As POLITICO reported this morning, the other Democratic candidates are just hoping to finish as runner-up in Nevada this weekend -- even though a powerful union in the state had come out against the Sanders 2020 "Medicare for All" policy, which might have weakened (or destroyed) another candidate's chances.
The Bloomberg 2020 strategy seems to be spend millions, stockpile goodwill and connections, use 'em all at once. "Meanwhile, the New York Times [...] pulls back the curtain on the Bloomberg campaign and reveals that some of the biggest and most influential activist groups on the Left just averted their eyes when it came to Bloomberg, because either they wanted or had grown dependent upon his generous contributions." [Read the full story from National Review.] The Bloomberg 2020 campaign is spending cash at a dizzying pace. As Quartz reported, it spent $188 million (yes, that's $188,000,000) in the first two months of the primary -- and there's much more to come.
Much of that money has gone into advertising, including a new style of "influencer marketing" through Instagram and other social media platforms that we shared with you last week.
The splashy efforts seem to be working, as Michael Bloomberg is increasingly offered up as if he's the only "reasonable" candidate (aka the only one who can take on -- and defeat -- Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary).
His meteoric rise is stunning given that his track record suggests he'd be at odds with the Democratic base, if not many more American voters.
But as Jim Geraghty at National Review lays out today, the upcoming electoral primary fight of Sanders vs Bloomberg will expose -- and, likely, aggravate -- splits in the Democratic Party. At minimum, it will be an interesting spring with new items breaking daily.
Americans continue to prosper in the Trump economy. Liberals hardest (read: only ones) hit. "Democratic 2020 candidate Tom Steyer on Sunday accused ABC News anchor Martha Raddatz of 'standing up for' President Donald Trump's 'version of the economy' after she cited a poll showing high satisfaction with the economy." [Read the full story from the Washington Free Beacon.] Faced with a new poll that says 70% feel the economy is "excellent" or "good," Tom Steyer -- yes, the other billionaire in the Democratic primary -- was indignant.
"There is a different story of this economy and this country has to be told," he said on ABC News, as the Washington Free Beacon reported.
It's an interesting campaign strategy to try to convince Americans everything is awful when they can see the truth for themselves: economic growth is up, unemployment is down, and, with another Tax Day coming up soon, tax reform has put more back in their pockets, instead of the federalist government's coffers.
Sadly, another alleged attack (this time, vandalism) on a local Republican Party. This behavior has no place in American politics. "If a Republican operative had been arrested for doing this to a Democratic headquarters, it would be a national news story picked up by the mainstream media to show how 'deranged' the right is." [Read the full story from Lifezette.] A man in New Mexico was arrested for allegedly spray-painting "Still Traitors" on the side of a local Republican Party headquarters, which will cost approximately $4,000 to repair.
The local news station reported that "the complaint says [name redacted] is heavily involved with the Democratic Party." A Democratic official he previously interned for released a strong statement condemning the vandalism.
This is the third story we've shared with you in recent days of alleged aggressive action against local Republican efforts in New Hampshire, Florida, and now New Mexico ... which all seem to be ignored by the mainstream, national political media.
(You'll remember that it's all alleged as, in the U.S. judicial system, defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they're proven guilty in a court of law.)
It's a sad -- and disturbing -- trend. Violence, intimidation, and vandalism have no place in American politics. Let us all hope this is the last time we share a story like this.
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