So basically I'm skipping the 2009-2014 segment of Reporting for Duty and getting to the good parts. I will explain as much as possible about the interim period in hindsight-style blurbs, so pay close attention to the updates. One minor retcon - I have replaced Huckabee with Pawlenty when it comes to the question who was Vice President from 2009-2013
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Monday, January 5th, 2015: Barbara Bush: We’ve had enough Bushes.
Former First Lady Barbara Bush's C-SPAN interview is turning heads.
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KENNEBUNKPORT, ME: Former First Lady Barbara Bush isn’t mincing words about her grandson’s rumored political ambitions.
“We’ve had enough Bushes in the White House, in the governor’s mansions, well…in general, I think. There are millions of other families ready to step up and serve. And to be frank, I think the public is tired of us anyway” said the former First Lady in a pre-recorded interview with her granddaughter Jenna Bush Hager that is set to air tomorrow on NBC’s Today Show. Bush’s sharp pronouncement comes as Politico reports that her grandson, Jeb Bush Jr., is weighing a congressional campaign in the Miami based 27th congressional district of Florida. The seat, which has been occupied since 2012 by Congressman Marco Rubio, may soon be vacated if Rubio runs for the United States Senate once again in 2016. It is unknown whether Senator Betty Castor (D-FL) retires or not, but it is certain that Rubio will likely challenge her once more despite the electoral drubbing he took in 2010. Another grandson, George P. Bush (Jeb’s eldest son) was elected Texas Land Commissioner last year in the midterm elections and is viewed as a rising star in the Lonestar State.
Aside from Jeb Bush Jr., it is unlikely that a Bush will be on the ballot elsewhere. Both former Presidents George W. and Jeb Bush have ruled out returning to political life in the aftermath of their 2004 and 2012 reelection defeats, citing their father’s example as their reasoning. Should Jeb Bush Jr. enter the race for FL-27, he will likely earn the support of the Republican establishment in the state, though conservatives are less than enthused at the prospect of another Bush entering public life so soon after Jeb Bush’s handy defeat in the 2012 election. Congressman Ron DeSantis (R-FL), another prospective candidate for the Senate next year, told reporters that he thinks Republican voters should
“listen to her.” DeSantis added further that
“the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again” in the same interview with Sean Hannity on his nationally syndicated radio program, an attack that both Jeb Bush Jr. and Congressman Rubio have pushed back against today.
Tuesday, January 6th, 2015: Castor: “I’m too old for this job.”
Senator Betty Castor announces her retirement after two terms in the Senate.
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TAMPA, FL: Senator Betty Castor announced her retirement today after weeks of building speculation about her intentions for 2016. Castor, a staunch ally of President Clinton and a reliably liberal voice from an increasingly red state, candidly told reporters that she’s “too old for this job,” adding that politics is
“a young woman’s game.” It is widely believed that Castor’s decision to stand aside will make way for her daughter, Congresswoman Kathy Castor of Tampa, to enter the race instead. The younger Castor, who was elected to the House of Representatives from a Tampa Bay area district in 2008, will likely clear the field on the Democratic side of the aisle as Republicans prepare for a bruising primary between Congressmen Ron DeSantis and Marco Rubio. Castor’s exit from political life after decades of public service did not go unnoticed; President Clinton hailed the Senator as
“a feisty and fiery fighter for children and working families” while her colleague, Senator Adam Putnam, praised her long record of
“fighting for teachers and students” and her policy expertise on education issues in particular. Though polling showed Castor competitive, having tied with both DeSantis and Rubio according to a sample of a thousand Florida voters, a staffer for the Senator told The Hill anonymously that the Senator simply
“didn’t have the energy for that kind of fight.”Castor, who defeated former HUD Secretary Mel Martinez narrowly in 2004 and went on to win reelection comfortably over then Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio in 2010, turns 74 for this year. Despite saying as late as last November that she was still fit to serve and fight for a final third term in the Senate, Castor reportedly changed her mind after being hospitalized for a fall in Washington last year. Castor is the second Senate Democrat to announce their intention to retire ahead of the 2016 elections, following the lead of Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who decided to stand down after sustaining injuries in an accident in his home gym. Castor’s daughter Kathy, the frontrunner for the Democratic Party’s Senate nomination, announced her candidacy hours after her mother’s announcement, vowing to uphold the “Castor legacy” and continue the
“fight for good schools and affordable and accessible healthcare.”
Wednesday, January 7th, 2015: Charlie Hedbo shooting; ISIS takes credit for attack.
The scene at Charlie Hedbo following the massacre.
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PARIS, FRANCE: Gunmen affiliated with the Islamic State have shot and killed 11 people and injured twelve more in a violent rampage through the offices of the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hedbo. Video taken by witnesses nearby shows two black clad gunmen arriving outside the office in suburban Paris, before shooting their way inside. The same video showed the attackers fleeing the scene minutes later, the bloodbath taking place in under ten minutes before police could be notified and arrived. At this hour, the two attackers remain at large, with all of Paris on edge as the French brace for further attacks in the coming days. President Francois Hollande condemned the attacks as
“a barbaric display of inhumanity” and
“a cowardly attack on French values and the French people.”The attack, which is being pinned on the Islamic State, is likely related to Charlie Hedbo’s publication of a controversial cartoon depicting the prophet Muhammed, which is considered blasphemous according to hardline interpretations of Islam. The magazine has received threats from Al Qaeda in the past as well as from inside France, where occasional instances of radicalized young French Muslims committing acts of violence against police or arson against churches and synagogues has been reported. In particular, French intelligence and law enforcement agencies have indicated that ISIS has been recruiting followers in the poorer neighborhoods of Paris, where North African and Middle Eastern refugees and immigrants represent large swathes of the local population.
Secretary of State Sherman, Secretary of Defense Flournoy, and Secretary of Homeland Security Beers have all weighed in on the attack, which is being attributed to the Islamic State. While all three insisted that at this time there is no known credible threat to the United States homeland, the first organized ISIS attack in Europe has many security analysts on edge. President Clinton offered the full support of the United States intelligence agencies to President Hollande in a transatlantic phone call from the Oval Office, where she also expressed condolences for the lives lost in the shooting. The attack was described by British Prime Minister Theresa May as a “wake-up call” for European counter-terrorism agencies and called for more continental cooperation to combat homegrown extremism.
Thursday, January 8th, 2015: Roemer launches longshot White House bid
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Former Governor Roemer speaking in 2012, during his first presidential bid.
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BATON ROUGE, LA: Former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer announced this morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that he will seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Roemer, who in 2012 ran for President as the nominee of the Reform Party, stated that his longshot presidential bid will proceed as a crusade for campaign finance reform and anti-corruption activism. The Louisiana Governor had tough words for some of his potential rivals, telling Joe Scarborough that
“Vice President Pawlenty has taken so much corporate money in his career that he couldn’t even smell a pig at the trough.” Roemer’s candidacy has a long road to the nomination, with polling not even including him despite his comments in 2013 and 2014 about pursuing the presidency again. But Roemer is convinced that his populist message of reform will reach voters and propel him to the Presidency.
“I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think I had a snowballs chance in hell” said Roemer on Morning Joe,
“but persistence pays off.” Roemer noted the success of Bernie Sanders and Ron Paul in 2012, claiming their insurgent, anti-establishment messages have resonated with voters.
Elected to Congress in 1980 from Louisiana, Roemer spent much of his time in the House as a Reagan Republican, before being elected Governor in 1987. However, his third place finish in 1991 behind corrupt former Governor Edwin Edwards and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke effectively ended his career in politics. After spending the 1990s in the political wilderness, Roemer emerged again in 2004 and 2008, briefly flirting with Senate bids before deciding in each instance not to run. In 2012, Roemer ran first as an independent and then as the nominee of the Reform Party, garnering roughly ~30,000 votes and placing a distant sixth place behind the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Green, and Constitution Party nominees with running mate Professor Larry Lessig.
Friday, January 9th, 2015: Congressman King explores ’16 run in New Hampshire.
Congressman Peter King speaks in New Hampshire.
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MANCHESTER, NH: Congressman Peter King (R-NY) traveled to New Hampshire this weekend, where he openly expressed interest in a presidential run while testing the waters at stops across the state. King told the New York Times that he was pleased with his reception in the state, despite being largely unknown nationally. The longtime New York area Congressman has represented Long Island in the House since 1992 and has been known as a fierce national security hawk and supporter of law enforcement throughout his long career in Washington. King, who has drawn controversy in the past for his stated support of the Irish republican cause, has been critical of other potential Republican contenders such as Justin Amash for
“towing the isolationist Ron Paul line.” Admitting his potential candidacy is a longshot, King none the less insists that his message of secure borders and a strong, muscular foreign policy can win over Republican voters.
“If this party follows the libertarians and the isolationist Tea Party types, we’ll never survive” warned King this weekend in New Hampshire, taking direct aim at the rising anti-interventionist sentiments amongst Republican voters. King, who pinned President Jeb Bush’s loss on vote splitting caused by Ron Paul’s Libertarian Party splitting the vote, went on to defend the counter-terrorism and domestic surveillance policies of Bush ’43 and Bush ’45, claiming these programs were
“essential to stopping the proliferation of jihadist and anti-western propaganda.” King stated that a decision on a presidential run will come “soon,” and dangled the prospect of campaigning in South Carolina and Florida in the coming weeks.
There is some speculation that the recent terrorist attacks in France might reignite the Republican Party’s neoconservative wing, who have long argued that the Kerry and Clinton administrations policies have enabled the proliferation of international terrorism. King in particular has been a fierce critic of the President’s foreign policy, continuing to call for an American presence in Iraq and Afghanistan as the White House plans to wind down the United States’ role in these ongoing conflicts. King was also a vocal supporter of the Bush ’45 administrations intervention in Libya against now deposed dictator Muammar Qadaffi and has also supported potential military action against the Assad regime in Syria should they cross President Clinton’s “red line” and deploy weapons of mass destruction against their own people.
Saturday, January 10th, 2015: Blanche Lincoln stands down.
Senator Lincoln appearing on the radio with Fox News's Brian Kilmeade.
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LITTLE ROCK, AR: Days after Senator Betty Castor (D-FL) announced she would stand down from the Senate, Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas confirmed that she too will not be seeking reelection in 2016. Lincoln, a longtime fixture in Washington, is a close ally of President Clinton and was considered for the position of Secretary of Agriculture by Presidents Kerry and Clinton due to her deep expertise in areas related to rural issues. In her statement, Lincoln opened the door to other avenues of public service, vocalizing her support for the President’s reelection and vowing to support Clinton
“all the way through her second term.” Politico has speculated that Lincoln is a likely candidate to replace Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who Clinton in turn intends to promote to White House Chief of Staff should the current holder of the position John Podesta resign in order to manage the President’s reelection efforts.
Lincoln, who won reelection easily in 2010 over attorney and Afghanistan veteran Tom Cotton, was facing an uphill climb for reelection. Congressman Rick Crawford has already announced his intention to challenge Lincoln, while former Governor Mike Huckabee has also expressed an interest in potentially entering the race. Tom Cotton, who was elected last November to replace Asa Hutchison in the Senate after the incumbent opted to run for Governor after a single term in the upper chamber, told reporters that
“there will be a long line of challengers forming,” noting further that “Senator Lincoln is arguably the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent in America at this point.” Cotton has declined to endorse any particular challenger to Lincoln at this stage, only expressing his optimism that the Republican will be able to pick up the seat next year as part of the broader GOP effort to retake the Senate.
Sunday, January 11th, 2015: Sanders: Clinton “missed” college opportunity.
Senator Sanders and then Senator Clinton debate one another in 2012.
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WASHINGTON, D.C.: Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stoked presidential speculation on NBC’s Meet the Press this morning when he openly and rather harshly rebuked the Clinton administration for showing
“political motivations” during the effort to promote the administration’s plan for expanding higher education opportunities. Though Sanders had pushed for the elimination of tuition and the canceling of all student loan debt on the campaign trail during his insurgent 2012 presidential campaign, President Clinton has only thus far proposed making community colleges tuition free and federally funded. Senator Sanders argued that Clinton had
“missed a major opportunity” during her first year in office to push forward a plan to expand access to higher education, claiming that she showed
“tremendous cowardice” in the buildup to the midterm elections. The White House hit back at Sanders statement, with Press Secretary Brian Fallon arguing that Senator Sanders
“isn’t a Democrat” and
“regularly and consistently deploys sexist tropes against the President to further his own ambitions.” Senator Sanders, who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination against his fellow Senators Clinton and Obama in a heated three-way primary that ended with a contested convention, has hinted at another presidential run in recent months, undertaking a tour of the southern states (where he faired poorly in 2012) and embracing the growing #BlackLivesMatter movement and other social justice causes. Current polling shows Sanders trailing Clinton only by ten points in a primary, with a third of Democrats undecided between the two. Sander’s acolytes in Congress, including freshly-sworn in Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Senator Keith Ellison (D-MN), have openly expressed support for Sanders if he runs again, while other top allies such as Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) have voiced their frustration with the lack of fulfillment of the Democratic Party’s 2012 platform.
“In 2012, my delegates fought for and passed the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party” boasted Sanders,
“a real Democrat would keep their commitment to the American working class.”
[1] Taken from
YouTube (CSPAN)
[2] Taken from
Florida Women's Hall of Fame.
[3] Taken from
Wikipedia Commons (Thierry Caro)
[4] Taken from
Business Insider.
[5] Taken from
Wikipedia Commons (Michael Vadon)
[6] Taken from
Fox News Radio.