Jim and Greg discuss a new report showing most Obamacare enrollees already had coverage; the states of Virginia and Washington announce premium increases; and Karl Rove speculates on Hillary Clinton's possible brain injury.
Establishment Fail: Karl Rove's Todd Akin Moment
After blasting, haranguing, and lambasting Republican candidates like Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin for rhetoric that he deemed counterproductive, Karl Rove did not take his own advice last week when he implied that Hillary Clinton may have brain damage.
According to the New York Post, Rove told conference attendees in Los Angeles last week, "Thirty days in the hospital? And when she reappears, she's wearing glasses that are only for people who have traumatic brain injury? We need to know what's up with that."
As has been widely reported, Rove has often "advised conservatives to refrain from incendiary rhetoric and character attacks" in meetings with candidates and donors.
After Akin's comments about "legitimate rape" in 2012, Rove even suggested that Akin should be offed, and his groups pulled their advertising and support from his campaign. It is unclear if Rove's donors will hold him to the same standard to which he held Akin.
"We should sink Todd Akin," Rove told fundraisers at the Republican National Convention in 2012. "If he's found mysteriously murdered, don’t look for my whereabouts!"
Hillary Clinton is most adept at playing the victim and the "war on women" card, and Rove's unforced error could be a gift that keeps on giving to Democrats who are intent on perpetually accusing Republicans of waging a "war on women."
Also read:
Liberals who mocked John McCain outraged that Karl Rove asked about Hillary Clinton's health
MSNBC Hypocrites Suggest Calls for Hillary's Medical Records Are 'Sexist', Birther-Like
Hillary Clinton: I backed Osama bin Laden raid, Joe Biden didn't
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday took some indirect swipes at Vice President Joe Biden at an off-the-record gathering, a state representative in attendance told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"I know she's running for president now, because toward the end, she was asked about the Osama bin Laden raid. She took 25 minutes to answer," George State Rep. Tom Taylor told the newspaper. "Without turning the knife too deeply, she put it to [Vice President Joe] Biden."
Clinton, a top potential 2016 contender, addressed the National Association of Convenience Stores in Atlanta on Tuesday, where "social media, photography, recording, writing about and/or videotaping" was prohibited, according to guidance released a day earlier.
She was asked about bin Laden at that event as well, and in her telling, the attendee said, "She and the CIA director were for the attack, and Biden and the secretary of defense were against the attack."
How arrogant is Hillary Clinton? She feels entitled to give speeches and then absolutely control the dissemination of those speeches.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) is riding a compelling Hillary Rodham Clinton story. It’s not so much about her quite-possible presidential run.
Nor is it about the Clinton family’s foundation. Nor Benghazi. It's about how Clinton is attempting the impossible: Turning a speech into something approaching an off-the-record occasion.
This morning, the former secretary of state was in Atlanta for a speaking engagement before the National Association of Convenience and Fuel Retailing (NACS). As the AJC reported yesterday, members of the media were barred from the session.
Today it reported that a "cone of silence" had descended on her remarks. "Convention officials banned all video and sound recording, social media, and naturally, journalists," wrote the AJC's Greg Bluestein and Jim Galloway.
