Bernie Sanders pushes for more debates
Here’s the latest news on the 2016 race for president. (All times local): 12:35 p.m. There’s no debate about it for Bernie Sanders. Any chance there will be more than the six debates already sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee? “I have the feeling that there will be,” the Vermont senator tells CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Supporters of Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley are pressing for more. Hillary Rodham Clinton‘s campaign has said the front-runner is open to more debates. Sanders says debates promote “a serious decision in our democracy.” 10:35 a.m. Donald Trump is “a master brander,” someone with “a lot of pizazz and zip.” That’s not from a news release from the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign. The description comes from a seasoned Democratic politician — former President Bill Clinton. Can Trump win the GOP nomination? “I think so” is Clinton’s assessment, though he also adds on CNN, “I mean, how do I know?” The two-term president says he’s hasn’t run for office in a long time and doesn’t “have a good feel for this.” Clinton says he’ll “do what I can” to help one candidate in the 2016 race — his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton. 10 a.m. From cyberspace to space itself, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson says “strength is really the defense against aggressiveness by others” from cyberspace to space itself. Carson tells ABC’s “This Week” that he favors offensive cyberattacks against anyone who attacks the United States — “they need to understand that there will be consequences.” The retired neurosurgeon also talks about the need to harden the country’s power grid and have “several layers of alternate energy.” And then there’s space — the final frontier. Carson says the U.S. must “get back into space” because in the future, “he who controls space will control the Earth.” 9:45 a.m. Jeb Bush says he can win the New Hampshire primary. In an interview Sunday on Fox News, the former Florida governor says the polls now showing Donald Trump in the lead don’t mean much five months before New Hampshire Republicans vote. He says the polls count people who may not cast a ballot. Currently, billionaire businessman Donald Trump is the front-runner in New Hampshire and national polls in the race for the GOP nomination. Bush says: “I’m confident I can win New Hampshire for sure.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Hillary Clinton compares email attacks to White House controversies
Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday again defended her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, comparing the multiple investigations to Republican-led probes into her husband’s administration more than two decades ago. “It is like a drip, drip, drip. And that’s why I said, there’s only so much that I can control,” she said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I can’t predict to you what the Republicans will come up with, what kind of, you know, charges or claims they might make.” Clinton likened the inquiries into her correspondence to controversies like the Whitewater land deal that trailed her husband’s campaign and much of his administration, saying that voters in New York elected her to the Senate despite years of political questions. “During the ’90s, I was subjected to the same kind of barrage. And it was, it seemed to be at the time, endless,” she said. “When I ran for the Senate, people said, ‘Hey, we are more concerned about what you’re going to do for us.’ And I trust the voters to make that decision this time around too.” The historical comparison marks a new line of defense for Clinton, who’s seen her poll numbers fall amid lingering questions about her email usage. In a separate interview with CNN released on Saturday, former President Bill Clinton also equated the current investigations being conducted by congressional Republicans and federal agencies with questions faced by his administration. “This is just something that has been a regular feature of all our presidential campaigns, except in 2008 for unique reasons,” Clinton said. “Ever since Watergate, something like this happens.” He added: “We’re seeing history repeat itself.” Earlier this week, newly discovered email correspondence between Clinton and retired Gen. David Petraeus when he headed the military’s U.S. Central Command, raised fresh questions about whether she truly provided to the government a full record of her work-related correspondence as secretary of state. In August, Clinton submitted a sworn statement to a U.S. District Court saying she had directed all her work emails to be provided to the State Department. “On information and belief, this has been done,” she said in a declaration submitted as part of a lawsuit with Judicial Watch, a conservative advocacy group. Clinton said there was about a monthlong gap between her use of a Senate account and her move over to the private server, which was already set up in her basement to handle the former president’s personal correspondence. Her lawyers later tried to recover messages from that period, she said. After the State Department requested her records, Clinton said her lawyer combed through her correspondence to determine what was work-related — a process she said she did not participate in. She then requested they dispose of any personal emails, saying she didn’t “need them.” “I’m not by any means a technical expert. I relied on people who were,” she said. “And we have done everything we could in response to the State Department asking us to do this review.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
A round-up of Sunday editorials from Alabama’s leading newspapers
A round-up of Sunday editorials from Alabama’s leading newspapers: The Anniston Star – Boehner, Rogers and earmarks In recent years, U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers has done good work in urging his congressional colleagues to lift the ban on earmarks, the method by which lawmakers once could direct federal dollars into local projects. Had Rogers been successful, it’s quite likely Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, wouldn’t be clearing his things out of the House Speaker’s office this weekend. Boehner announced Friday he was leaving Congress and ending his speakership at the end of next month. After almost five years of trying to lead the Republican caucus, Boehner has had enough. It seems from his remarks that he is willing to let someone else take on the job of trying to save extremist Republican lawmakers from themselves. To be clear, it’s not the entire Republican House caucus that is Boehner’s problem. It’s the small band of tea party-fueled representatives who prefer destruction over legislation. They’d just as soon burn down the house and worry about the casualties later. For Boehner’s efforts to avoid self-inflicted pain, this experienced Republican lawmaker became the enemy, despised by conservatives almost as much as the speaker he replaced, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. The power of the pursestrings once brought order to even the most unruly of politicians. After all, each of the House’s 435 districts needs federal funding for something or, more likely, several somethings. Even the most cantankerous and extreme lawmaker represents a district in need of a highway or a bridge or a water-treatment system. When the horse-trading concludes, a speaker gets the votes he needs to pass tough-but-important legislation and a representative can brag to the folks back home that he delivered enough bacon to build that road. The Birmingham News – Boehner’s exit separates the conservative show ponies from the workhorses. At the end of October, Speaker of the House John Boehner will resign. To be clear, the Tea Party contingent of the Republican Party couldn’t stand Boehner—so much so that many actively campaigned on the prospect of voting against him. His task, the same facing his successor, has been unimaginably difficult: Build consensus in a House of Representatives where rock-ribbed conservatives and Republican moderates rail against each other more often than they push back against the Democratic President. In the hours after his announcement, Boehner’s opponents applauded his departure and aspired to “more conservative leadership.” But let’s look at the situation on the ground. By most counts, there are about 50 Republicans that represent the conservative core of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives. They don’t like taxes at all, loathe bureaucracy, and they’re ardently pro-life. Here’s the problem. Their 50-or-so votes aren’t even close to the majority required to elect the Speaker of the House. Their lack of voting clout also highlights an important distinction between the political left and the right. Recently, Democrats have tended to pull leadership from their liberal core like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. Republicans have elected leadership with a more pragmatic approach. That trend won’t change. The Decatur Daily – Lesson to city: Protect schools, improve efficiency Common sense and representative democracy merged this week when Mayor Don Kyle and the City Council backed off a proposal to cap local funding of Decatur City Schools. Kyle’s short-lived proposal was a bad idea. He would have diverted to the city proceeds from a 1-cent sales tax that for 35 consecutive years has gone to DCS. If implemented, the plan would have prevented DCS’ local revenue from growing with the economy or even keeping up with inflation. Kyle’s trial balloon deflated quickly, but it served a useful purpose. Decatur residents did not take kindly to their school system being threatened. They participated in the plan to build two new high schools, and they recognize the expense DCS faces as it tries to reverse the effects of growing poverty. They see the large population of children who live in homes where English is not spoken — a population that for the good of the city needs to be educated and prepared to join the workforce — and appreciate the enormous challenge faced by DCS. Residents understand that broken families and lengthening work hours have placed on DCS a burden that goes beyond traditional education. Now more than ever, our city’s future is shaped by what happens in the classroom. And Decatur residents have watched as the high value they place on public education has been rejected by their elected state legislators. Every legislative session since 2011 has devolved into increasingly brazen attacks on public schools and the funding upon which those schools rely. Residents’ support for public schools is not a free pass for school administration. DCS enjoys strong local financial support, and that comes with an obligation to be transparent and aggressive in improving opportunities for students. Residents want to see improvements in student test scores, and DCS needs to figure out a way to deliver. But clearly the public’s desire for improved schools is not seen as a justification for reducing financial support. Kyle’s trial balloon did not just lose air; it was pummeled. Decatur’s rich and poor, its employers and employees, gave a resounding response: “Leave our schools alone.” Kyle’s proposal may have been misguided, but it had value. It served to demonstrate residents’ loyalty to their schools. It also was a reminder to those same residents that Kyle and the City Council are faced with difficult decisions. Dothan Eagle – Drugs wanted, no questions asked Anytime someone feels the need to have their hair stand on end, they need only talk to medical personnel – doctors, nurses and other staff – about the sort of frightening cases that wind up in their emergency rooms because of accidental ingestion of drugs. Such episodes rarely make headlines, but they certainly occur. Children get their hands on pill bottles and take what is inside, perhaps because they see their parents taking them.
