RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://justthenews.com/government/congress/manchin-attacks-biden-vows-mobilize-radical-middle

West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on Sunday attacked President Joe Biden for being too far to the left, and he vowed to “mobilize the radical middle.”

“Joe Biden has been pulled so far to the left, the extreme left, as far as liberal,” Manchin, told radio host John Catsimatidis in an interview Sunday on “The Cats Roundtable” show. “Makes no sense at all. It’s not the person we thought was gonna bring the country together.”

Manchin, who is not seeking reelection in 2024, said that Washington, D.C., wants “America to be divided because it’s a better business model,” and he “came to the conclusion” after 13 years in the Senate that he is “not going to change it from within.” 

After realizing that he could not change Washington as a politician, Manchin said, “I’ve decide[d] to go around and see if I can mobilize the radical middle.”

Meanwhile, last week Manchin alluded to a potential 2024 White House bid. 

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/joe-biden-age-young/2023/11/19/id/1142871/

President Joe Biden is already the oldest president ever elected or ever to hold the office, but he turns 81 on Monday and Democrats backing him want to stress former President Donald Trump’s age is equally advanced.

“I think everyone knows it’s an issue, and we have to address it,” former Biden administration White House chief of staff Ron Klain told Politico, wanting to “emphasize it gives him more wisdom and experience, how he’s navigated this difficult problem in Ukraine.”

“He’ll keep on doing the job, campaigning with vigor and demonstrating to the American people his energy level, which is quite robust.”

A Democrat donor and Biden bundler, Alan Kessler told Politico age should not be important in the 2024 presidential rematch between Biden and Trump because of the age of both leading candidates.

“Neither are going to get any younger on their next birthdays, but yet Biden seems to get, on a continuing basis, knocked for his age while Trump does not,” Kessler lamented to Politico. “No one brings up the age thing with [Trump]. That double standard is troubling.”

But it remains a disparate issue for Biden among young voters than Trump voters, according to the latest NBC News poll released Sunday. 

Among young voters (18-34 years old) — just 20% of whom view Biden favorably on Israel’s war on Hamas — Biden (42%) trails Trump (46%) by 4 points, which is outside the poll’s margin of error.

“This could be a massive sea change,” according to NBC News poll analyst Steve Kornacki, who noted Biden was plus-26 points on younger voters in 2020.

Unable to change the reality of an 81-year-old incumbent who will be 82 if he were to win next November, Democrats want to focus on the narrative of “wisdom.

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/11/14/election-fraud-deniers-are-the-real-threat-to-democracy/

“Just to be clear, we are not saying the 2020 election was rigged or that Biden stole the election. We will never know the answer to that. But what we are saying is that voter trust in the integrity of our elections will never be restored so long as one side keeps insisting that election fraud is a myth, while doing everything it can to make cheating easier.

That, dear reader, is the real threat to democracy.”

If you are like us, you’re sick and tired of being labeled a “denier” any time you challenge the left’s agenda. Don’t believe the earth will be destroyed unless we all live like cavemen? You are a climate denier! You worry about side effects from an experimental new vaccine. Vaccine denier!

And if you suspect that election fraud is a real problem, you’re an election denier!

The problem is that the “deniers” keep turning out to be right.  

The latest example came out of Bridgeport, Connecticut, earlier this month, when a judge overturned the primary election for mayor because of an “unprecedented” volume of evidence showing ballot fraud, including surveillance footage exposing supporters of the incumbent stuffing stacks of absentee ballots into drop boxes.

Even CNN, which can always be relied on to dismiss election fraud as a myth, was forced to admit that “the Connecticut case does highlight the potential vulnerabilities with mail-in voting.”

Just as a reminder, this is exactly what “election deniers” have been saying since 2020, when Democrats used COVID as an excuse to implement widespread mail-in voting schemes across the country.

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/11/13/james-clyburn-and-the-big-third-party-lie/

A few new polls out show former President Donald Trump ahead of current sort-of President Joe Biden.

And ahead rather comfortably, leading nationally overall by enough and leading in five of the six “swing states” that have determined the last two presidential elections.

Good news for him? Yes.

The downside for Trump is that those leads shrink if certain third-party candidates are thrown into the mix.

Without RFK Jr. in the mix, Trump polls well ahead of Biden – add in RFK Jr. and it shifts to a small Biden lead nationally and a “who knows?” in the swing states.

But then add in Cornel West – who recently dropped his Green Party nomination effort and is, like Kennedy, going the independent route – and Biden and Trump are really in jumpball territory.

So then why would Biden’s Democratic South Carolina savior Rep. James Clyburn be railing about the evils of third-party candidates?

Clyburn states that third parties could so confuse the race that Trump in the end benefits and that in and of itself “fundamentally endangers our democracy.”

Whose democracy, Jim? If you wrote “my democracy” that would be accurate, but “our democracy” is not put in danger when more people run for office. It seems Clyburn has no problem with just anybody voting – he pushed the John Lewis Act, which would hamstring states from instituting legitimate voting ID requirements and essentially federalize the election process – but he has a problem with just anybody running.

Anyway, Jim, the addition of West and Kennedy seems to help your guy, so what gives?

“Our democracy” is what gives. Whenever the term is used it is not about “our democracy” but “their democracy.”

The Romans called the Mediterranean Sea ‘Mare Nostra,’ or ‘Our Sea’ to connote power and exclusivity.  The mafia is often referred to by its members as ‘Cosa Nostra,’ or ‘Our Thing,’ again to ensure a protective separateness from everything and everyone else.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2023/11/09/high_stakes_and_a_simple_choice_150037.html

Bernie Marcus is the co-founder of Job Creators Network, a philanthropist, and the retired co-founder of The Home Depot.

I am 94 years old and like many of you, I am exhausted by politics and saddened by what I see happening to America. I had hoped it was time for me to move to the sidelines and let younger generations continue the fight to preserve America’s founding freedoms and values. But, like so many of us, I realized that I could not let myself walk away; the stakes are just too high.

We cannot let the America we see today be what we leave to our children and grandchildren. Many of our once-great cities have devolved into lawlessness with random violent attacks on innocent people, rampant looting, and large-scale homeless encampments. There are rarely consequences for the wrongdoers because George Soros-elected prosecutors across America refuse to prosecute them.

Moreover, our southern border is unprotected, and millions of people we know nothing about pour into our nation to receive care and benefits that we cannot afford to provide to our struggling military veterans. Worse, many of the border crossers may be gang members who commit violent crimes here. Schoolchildren across America cannot read, write, or do basic math, while our educational leaders tell us that they know better than parents how to raise our children. Working men and women are struggling to provide for their families and must raid their retirement funds just to feed, clothe, and take care of their children. These are just a few of the problems America is facing after three years of bad government policies. They cannot be our legacy.

This should not be a partisan issue. This should be an issue for all Americans – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents – that I hope to reach with this op-ed. You enjoy the freedoms and values on which the nation was founded. Sadly, I see these freedoms and values being eroded today as government gets bigger and weaponized against its political opponents.

I wrote this op-ed because of my love for America, not for any financial gain or advantage. I have been retired for 30 years and spend my time engaged in philanthropic causes, with which I have committed to share 90% of my net worth. I was born here and can give testimony about The American Dream. I lost my job and was broke when I was 48 years old. A dear friend of mine suggested that my misfortune presented a great opportunity to build a small business based upon an idea I had shared with him. Only in America, the land of opportunity, could being without a job and broke be a great opportunity. In 1978, my partners and I built four hardware stores, and this small business grew and is known as The Home Depot. We could only have done this in America because of America’s system of free enterprise and pro-jobs growth government policies. The state of America today, especially record inflation, government over-regulation, and the problems of the last three years, would prevent my partners and I from succeeding as we have.

Part of our legacy must be passing on to future generations of Americans our founding freedoms and values, including The American Dream. We must change the current trajectory of the nation and solve the problems created in the last three years. We must also reject calls from some politicians to replace our free market system with big government socialism. Most of them seem to have never had a job outside of government. All they know is making government bigger and more intrusive in the lives of its citizens.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/11/digging_into_ramaswamys_correct_attack_against_nikki_haley_about_tiktoxic.html

Last night, Nikki Haley, showing the wit, tact, and self-control that will, I’m sure, characterize a potential Haley presidency, called Vivek Ramaswamy “scum” after he pointed out that, even as she had attacked him in September for setting up a TikTok campaign site, her daughter had a TikTok account. Her children, she said, are off limits. I’m siding with Ramaswamy on this one, though. TikTok targets America’s youth, so we conservatives should have a presence there. The reality is that TikTok is tik-toxic, especially because it’s corrupting American young people on everything from sexuality to Middle Eastern politics. Since it’s here, whether we like it or not, we ignore it at our peril.

As you may recall, way too late in his first term to make a difference, Donald Trump issued an executive order banning apps from ByteDance Ltd., the Chinese-controlled company that owns TikTok. He did so because he identified TikTok as a national security risk. Within months of gaining the White House, Joe Biden rescinded that executive order, inviting TikTok back into America…and the People’s Republic of China back into the minds of our children. China got what it paid for when Biden entered the Oval Office.

It’s long been known that, within China, TikTok ensures that people see videos about China’s might, patriotism, health and fitness, America’s perfidy, etc. It’s all pro-government stuff, whether social or political. However, in America, TikTok promotes videos about anorexia, steroids, self-harm, LGBTQ+ stuff, with a special focus on transgenderism, and anti-Americanism.

https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/gop-debate-takeaways-haley-takes-fire-as-she-jockeys-for-second-place-27ee6cb0

MIAMI—Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who has shown momentum in recent weeks, came under sustained attack in Wednesday’s Republican presidential primary debate as she competes with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to be the leading alternative to former President Donald Trump.

She also delivered several of her own shots at DeSantis, who tried to float above the fray, but engaged with her on China, energy policy and a handful of other issues. A confrontation between the two had been brewing, amplified by a closely watched poll that recently showed Haley and DeSantis tied for second in Iowa, where nomination balloting starts Jan. 15.

But second place may not be worth much given Trump’s commanding lead in the polls. After an opening question that asked candidates to make a case against Trump, who skipped the event, the debate centered on testy exchanges between those on stage.

“You’re just scum,” Haley said at one point to biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, after he said her daughter had used TikTok, amid a discussion of banning the widely popular Chinese app.

Here are key takeaways from the debate, moderated by Lester Holt and Kristen Welker of NBC News and Hugh Hewitt of the Salem Radio Network:

Rivals Try to Slow Haley

Haley was a top target throughout the evening as others tried to slow her momentum. She took heat over her foreign-policy positions, attempts to spur Chinese investment in her home state and earnings from Boeing and other corporate boardships.

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/11/07/after-these-disastrous-polls-how-long-will-dems-stick-with-biden/

In our decades of experience covering politics, we’ve never seen a poll as devastating to an incumbent president as the one CBS News/YouGov poll published over the weekend.  

The short version is that more voters think they would be better off if Donald Trump returns to the White House than they would if Joe Biden stays there. Think about that for a moment.  

Then there’s the New York Times/Sienna College poll, also published over the weekend, showing that Trump leads Biden in five key swing states, and by wide margins: 10 points in Nevada, 6 points in Georgia, 5 in Arizona and Michigan, and 4 points in Pennsylvania. 

The Times poll also found that 59% disapprove of the job Biden is doing as president, and 71% said he was too old, while only 38% said Trump was too old.  

Both polls have sent the mainstream press scrambling to reassure their readers that either the polls don’t mean what they seem, that Biden can “improve his position,” or that, fingers crossed, Trump gets convicted. (The New York Times Monday story carried the headline: “Trump Indictments Haven’t Sunk His Campaign, but a Conviction Might.”) 

But of the two, the CBS News/YouGov poll is far worse for Biden. Instead of just asking who they’d support, CBS News asked likely voters a series of questions about who they think they’d be better off with in the years ahead, Biden or Trump.  

https://www.frontpagemag.com/this-might-the-time-that-determines-if-biden-drops-out/

Democrats spent the past few months mocking those who looked at Biden’s poll numbers and suggested he should drop out as ‘bedwetters’. There’s now a prominent new bedwetter joining the ranks.

Former President Obama’s senior adviser David Axelrod said it’s the last moment for President Biden to check if he should drop out of the 2024 presidential race, after suggesting he should do so.

On Sunday, Axelrod, in the wake of a new poll showing Biden trailing former President Trump in key swing states, said Biden needs to decide if it’s wise to continue his run. The poll found Biden trailing Trump in five out of six battleground states, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

“As I’ve said for like a couple years now, the issue’s not — for him is not political, its actuarial. You can see that in this poll and there’s just a lot of concern about the age issue, and that is something I think he needs to ponder. Just do a check and say, ‘Is this the right thing to do?’” Axelrod said.

“Is this the best path? I suspect that he will say yes, but time is fleeting here, and this is probably the last moment for him to do that check, and it’s probably good if he does,” the Obama alum added.

What’s also significant is that during a foreign crisis, presidential poll numbers usually go up. (Then they drop back down afterward.) That does not seem to be happening here.

No one really wants Biden. Most think he’s too old. And life in general is miserable. That’s what people who fixate too much on political issues don’t entirely understand. When life is bad, much of the electorate, which isn’t Dem or GOP, turns against whoever is in the White House. And it takes hard work for an incumbent to survive that.

And life is really, really bad now. Maybe not quite as bad as 2020, but a good deal worse than 2012. And Biden is no Obama.

Running an unpopular incumbent is just a death wish. Most Dems know it. And with Trump in ascendance, they’re much more likely to want to dump Biden and bet on a fresh new candidate. And that would be a good bet. Much better than sticking with the old nag.

So Sen. Fetterman just took a shot at Gov. Newsom for running a shadow campaign.