RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://pjmedia.com/video/first-woman-combat-pilot-defends-being-feisty-with-tutu-protester-who-insulted-u-s-troops/

The Arizona race for U.S. Senate pits the first woman pilot to fly in combat against a woman who partnered with anarchists and witches to lead anti-war rallies where she passed out flyers depicting American soldiers as terrorists. Yet Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) has taken flak for going negative against Rep. Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.) — and The Arizona Republic cited this as the reason it could not support McSally in the race.

The editorial board of The Arizona Republic attacked both McSally and Sinema for “wearing false fronts.” It suggested that McSally is not “being herself,” and that the first woman combat pilot “looked like the smaller person” in the debate because she went after Sinema. The editors endorsed Sinema because she was slightly less vitriolic.

In an interview on Tuesday, McSally shot back against this characterization. “Look, it’s not true,” she told Fox News. Referring to The Arizona Republic, McSally said, “they endorsed Hillary Clinton. I am myself.” (The same newspaper ran a political cartoon showing Sinema shooting McSally out of the sky with a rocket launcher.)

“I have been serving our country with distinction. I flew 325 combat hours in the A-10, deployed six times,” the Republican explained. “Now I’m deployed to the House and I’m going to keep fighting for the things that matter to Arizonans.”

“I’m a little feisty — I’m a fighter pilot. I had to survive as a woman, I had three older brothers, so that’s who I am,” McSally argued.

The veteran launched into her opponent’s “radical extremist past: anti-military with her party, open borders, she voted against the tax cuts, you name it.”

“And tapes have been revealed in the last few weeks of her calling Arizona crazy and the ‘meth lab of democracy,’ and denigrating us, the very state she wants to represent,” McSally said.

Responding to the criticism that McSally has been too negative in her remarks about Sinema, the Republican emphasized that Sinema is responsible for her own radical history. CONTINUE AT SITE

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/10/25/is_trump_transforming_midterms_with_arena-size_rallies_138461.html

One of the new dynamics in this midterm election is President Trump reprising the rallies that helped fuel his victory in 2016. While it’s common for presidents to campaign during midterms, arena-size crowds at rallies all over the country is a new phenomenon, and these events have proven to be a powerful way to communicate with, and excite, base voters.

The big question, however, is whether Trump’s supporters will turn out on Nov. 6, because it’s one thing to go to an energy-filled rally, another to find time on Election Day to go a polling place and put an X beside a candidate that isn’t nearly as motivational as the president.

In 2016, Trump had the ability to fill arenas in multiple states on the same day, but some in the media played down the importance of rallies even after he won the election. In response, White House aide Kellyanne Conway said in a post-election analysis: “The size of rallies matters.” Recently, the president echoed that point in a tweet:

“The crowds at my Rallies are far bigger than they have ever been before, including the 2016 election. Never an empty seat in these large venues, many thousands of people watching screens outside. Enthusiasm & Spirit is through the roof. SOMETHING BIG IS HAPPENING – WATCH!”

Trump isn’t alone in this assessment. “If people stand out in the rain and sun for hours, camp out overnight and take off work to attend a rally, then they’ll certainly show up to vote,” said Trish Hope, publisher of “Just the Tweets,” a compilation of the president’s first-year tweets. Hope’s sold more than 4,000 books at rallies, nine of which she has attended in the last month. “What the media misses is that people just want to be part of the Trump movement. And they are in denial that something big is going on here.” She added, “The media is going to be more shocked this year on election night than in 2016.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/serving-spartacus-1540414712

A seemingly never-ending caravan of migrants has been fleeing New Jersey for years as the Garden State economy sputters under the weight of high taxes and dysfunctional government. Residents who haven’t yet joined the caravan might be hoping for some relief from state legislators. But lately politicians in Trenton have prioritized relief for just one particular resident who spends much of his time in Washington, D.C.

Politico’s Ryan Hutchins reports:

New Jersey Democrats are clearing the way for Sen. Cory Booker to run for reelection and president at the same time — and they’re not being bashful about their motivations.

State lawmakers on Monday quickly introduced and advanced a bill that would ensure no one could mount a legal challenge should Booker — or, in theory, another federal elected official — decide to run for the White House while trying to retain his current job.

The measure could land on Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk next week, and his office has already said he’s willing to sign it.

Mr. Hutchins notes that the “loquacious, coffee-chugging” Mr. Booker appears to be considering a run for President in 2020. Fellow Democrats want to ensure that there’s no risk of him having to give up his Senate seat in order to seek the highest office in the land.

New Jersey homeowners would also love to have downside protection until the day they decide to join the caravan. Actually, many of them are already participating in a harrowing daily journey as they attempt to cross the Hudson River in search of better economic opportunities in New York City. As the New York Times reported in September, attempting such crossings has lately become more difficult:

New Jersey Transit, which has been struggling for months to maintain its already reduced commuter train service, plans to take more trains off its schedule next month and to temporarily eliminate some routes…

The statewide transit agency has been canceling trains on short notice, infuriating its customers as they have to scramble to get to work on time and keep appointments. New Jersey Transit, the country’s second-busiest commuter rail system, has blamed the failures on its rush to meet a Dec. 31 federal deadline to install an automatic braking system. CONTINUE AT SITE

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/10/24/2018_midterms_all_about_obama_138440.html

Former President Selfie Stick is back in action, firing up Democrats before the midterms with his signature rallying cries:

I, I, I, I! Me, me, me! My, my, my!

According to a tally by The American Mirror’s Kyle Olson, Barack Obama’s campaign speech Monday for Nevada Senate Democratic candidate Jacky Rosen referred to himself 92 times in 38 minutes — or an average self-allusion every 24.7 seconds.

When he wasn’t “I”-ing, the former narcissist-in-chief was lying.

“Unlike some, I actually try to state facts,” Obama snarked passive-aggressively in a swipe at President Donald Trump. “I don’t believe in just making stuff up. I think you should actually say to people what’s true.”

Sit down, Mister “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.”

Thanks to you, my husband, children and I lost not one, not two, not three but four private individual market health plans killed directly by Obamacare. Reminder: When the health insurance cancellation notice tsunami hit in 2013, liberal Mother Jones magazine sneered that the phenomenon was “phony.” But after 4 million American families received cancellation letters at the end of 2013, Obama’s health care prevarication was finally deemed the “Lie of the Year” by left-leaning PolitiFact.

https://amgreatness.com/2018/10/24/trump

When the campaigner-in-chief rallies another huge crowd in central Wisconsin tonight, he surely will ask Leah Vukmir to join him on stage. Vukmir, a 60-year-old Republican state senator, is running to unseat Democratic U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin; President Trump is traveling to the Badger State to give Vukmir’s candidacy a boost.

“His energy is inspiring,” Vukmir told me Monday morning during her five-hour drive to campaign stops in northern Wisconsin. “One reason I want to go to Washington is to help the president.” She defeated businessman and Marine veteran Kevin Nicholson in the state’s GOP primary in August.

The self-described “middle-class mom” is taking on Baldwin, a first-term Democrat, in what most political prognosticators consider to be an unlikely Republican pick-up in the Senate. A poll taken earlier this month showed Baldwin with a 10-point lead.

But Baldwin’s camp seems less confident than the pollsters: Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) stumped for Baldwin in the Democratic strongholds of Madison and Milwaukee over the weekend. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) appeared with his Senate colleague at a college rally on Monday, and former President Obama will stop in Wisconsin on Friday. With several other Democratic senate seats in play, it might be a telltale sign that Democrats are worried Baldwin could be in trouble amid surging Republican enthusiasm for the November 6 election.

Could it be the Kavanaugh effect? “The mood and intensity have definitely changed,” among Republicans, Vukmir said, in the aftermath of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation process. “People saw what he went through. And Senator Baldwin decided 48 hours after Kavanaugh’s nomination was announced that she wouldn’t vote for him. She never met with him, either.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/battle-of-the-statehouses-1540336650

While the battle for Congress is the main event this election, the fight for control of 36 governorships may be as consequential for American politics. Opposition to Barack Obama’s policies galvanized conservatives during the 2010 midterms and ushered in GOP control of statehouses from Arkansas to Wisconsin. In 2010 Republicans held majorities in 15 legislatures and 24 governorships. Today the GOP controls 32 legislatures and 33 governorships.

The result has been a remarkable record of reform and economic revival in many states. Eight years of conservative governance have bolstered state budgets and economies. (See the nearby chart on job growth.) But this year Democrats are riding anti-Donald Trump sentiment in a bid to sweep most of the big state governorships and many legislative chambers and move in a far different policy direction. The stakes are worth highlighting.

Start with tax reform. In 2011 Michigan Republicans replaced the state’s onerous business tax with a flat 6% corporate rate while eliminating myriad carve-outs. The Wolverine State has led the Great Lakes region in GDP growth over the last seven years as business investment has surged, prompting other states in the Midwest to cut taxes to compete.

Indiana Republicans slashed the state’s corporate rate to 5.75% from 8.5% in 2011 and plan to reduce it to 4.9% by 2022. Republicans in Ohio have cut the state income tax by 16% across the board and reduced the top marginal rate to 4.997% from 5.925%.

Iowa has long been the New Jersey of the Midwest with the nation’s highest corporate rate and a punishing 8.98% top income rate. Republicans this year made the Hawkeye State more competitive by putting the top income tax rate on a path to 6.5% by 2023. Over the next three years, the state’s 12% corporate rate is set to decline to 9.8%—assuming GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds isn’t defeated. Her Democratic opponent Fred Hubbell has warned President Trump’s trade brawls may compel him to hit pause on the tax cuts.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/10/martha-mcsally-for-senate/

Representative Martha McSally began her career in public service not as a politician but as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force, serving in Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan. In 2001 she fought a Department of Defense policy that required women in combat to wear body coverings while serving in Saudi Arabia, and she has remained an outspoken critic of the woeful state of women’s rights in that part of the world ever since. Since taking office in 2015, McSally has been an exponent of center-right positions on foreign policy, immigration, and social issues. Now Arizonans have the opportunity to elect her to fill Jeff Flake’s soon-to-be-empty Senate seat.

McSally is facing Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema, and the contrast between their résumés is conspicuous. Sinema was a prominent anti-war activist in the 2000s, handing out material that criticized “U.S. terror” in the Middle East and appearing on radio shows with assorted crackpots. When one libertarian activist said that he ought to be permitted to join the Taliban if he so pleased, Sinema responded on air, “Fine. I don’t care if you want to do that, go ahead.” She passed out flyers that denounced President Bush as a “fascist” and an “imperialist” and once said the Bush administration was waging war for the purpose of expropriating oil.

That Sinema was once a left-wing activist is no secret. In the 2010s she said she had changed her mind about military intervention, and she has compiled a legitimately moderate voting record on many issues since taking office. She is one of a dwindling few Blue Dog Democrats and often votes with Republicans on issues pertaining to foreign policy and immigration. Coming to a new, more reasonable point of view shouldn’t be disqualifying; indeed, it is commendable if it is honestly accounted for and explained.

Can a Navy SEAL win election in New York?By Seth Segal

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/10/can_a_navy_seal_win_election_in_new_york.html

As the midterms approach, outsider candidates are emerging across the country. Dan DeBono is one such example. DeBono is taking on the establishment and with it the permanent political class.

DeBono grew up on Long Island. He served as a Navy SEAL. He knows firsthand what service to country is all about. Unlike career politicians, DeBono is not bought and paid for.

Mr. DeBono owns a small investment business on Long Island. He knows firsthand the importance of small businesses for the economy to flourish.

Mr. DeBono also believes in fair trade deals. In order for trade to be truly free, it must also be fair. Like President Trump, he believes that for too long, America has been taken advantage of.

DeBono supports deregulation and increasing competition. DeBeno also believes in enforcing antitrust laws. In addition, he’s outspoken in support of economic populism.

DeBono is a strong defender of the Second Amendment. He is a true champion of the Constitution and the rule of law.

Political outsiders are prevailing across the country. The founding fathers envisioned citizen-public servants. Government by and for the people is the American way.

Candidates can help to Make America Great Again. DeBono is a true example of this phenomenon. He is a candidate who puts America First.

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/elizabeth-warren-dna-test-meant-to-rebuild-confidence-in-government/

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts explained Sunday that she only released her DNA-test results to “rebuild confidence” in government.

In the second debate between Warren and her Republican challenger in the Massachusetts Senate race, state representative Geoff Diehl, she was asked why she ultimately changed her mind and released DNA-test results after saying in March that she wouldn’t submit to testing.

Warren, who released results indicating she had a Native American ancestor as far back as six to ten generations last week, said she felt she needed to post her family history online “so anybody can take a look. . . . I believe one way that we try to rebuild confidence [in government] is through transparency.”

Diehl argued during the debate that Warren’s identification as Native American for when applying to be a law-school professor demonstrated a lack of integrity.

“This is not about Senator Warren’s ancestry, it’s about integrity in my mind, and I don’t care whether you think you benefited or not from that claim, it’s the fact that you tried to benefit from that claim that I think bothers a lot of people and it’s something you haven’t been able to put to rest since the 2012 campaign,” he added.

“I don’t care what percentage she claims to be Native American; I just care that I’m 100 percent for Massachusetts and will be working for the people of this state.”

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/10/22/five_reasons_republicans_can_hold_the_house.html

Despite conventional wisdom, there is a path for Republicans to hold their majority in the House. Democrats need a net pickup of 23 seats to gain control of the chamber and most election watchers are predicting that will happen. Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight is giving Democrats an 84.3 percent chance of taking over. The Cook Political Report thinks the Democrats have a 70-75 percent chance of becoming the majority. Adding to the pack is Nathan Gonzales’s Inside Elections, which is predicting a Democratic gain of 25-35 seats in the House, with even more possible.

What could go wrong?

For starters, these are the same prognosticators who were shocked that Hillary Clinton didn’t win the presidency in 2016. As White House aide Kellyanne Conway said, “Let’s not forget the same geniuses that predicted a huge romp by that woman who lost in 2016 are the same people predicting a huge win by the Democrats this time.” Perhaps a tad chastened, some election watchers are giving themselves a bit more wiggle room this time. Larry Sabato’s “Crystal Ball” reported last week that although Democrats were favored to win the House, they’ve solidified the pickup of only 19 seats so far — leaving them four short of the number needed to claim the majority.

Here are five reasons the GOP could upset expectations:

— The president’s job approval rating acts as a coattail effect and is a strong predictor for the outcome of midterm elections, especially in the House. The reigning theory goes that the higher Trump’s approval rating, the better Republican congressional candidates will do. When the president approval was hovering around 40 percent, the conventional wisdom about a Democratic “blue wave” started to congeal. Then a funny thing happened: His numbers began ticking up. Not a lot, but maybe enough to make a difference.

According to the RealClearPolitics poll average, the president’s approval rating today is just a shade above 44 percent. That doesn’t necessarily bode well for Republicans when one looks at how the president’s party has done in previous midterms, but Trump may be sui generis. His personal approval rating on Election Day 2016 was only 32 percent – compared to a 53 percent disapproval rating. In other words, the gap between his approval to disapproval has narrowed. This is not exactly an apples to apples comparison, but in some tracking polls, such as Rasmussen and YouGov, his approval rating has crossed the crucial 45 percent mark where the coattail effect starts to have a significant down-ballot impact.