January 14-15, 2020

Jan 14 01:25 The 2020 wave election?
Jan 14 03:28 Iranians love their leaders?
Jan 14 10:31 What happened to World War III?
Jan 14 11:33 A "half-baked censure resolution"
Jan 14 18:33 Did FISC sign its death warrant?

Jan 15 01:51 Sen. Klobuchar, Biden, Democrats stuck on stupid with Iran
Jan 15 03:09 Klobuchar's weaknesses exposed
Jan 15 10:38 Warren-Sanders fight boils over

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The 2020 wave election?


Newt Gingrich is one of the best election analysts in modern history. When he starts talking about the potential for wave elections, I listen. That's what he's talking about in this article .

One of the first things he mentions is "The liberal media likes to focus on how many House Republicans are retiring. Somehow this is supposed to make Republicans feel defeated and hopeless. In this context, I was startled recently to hear Congresswoman Elise Stefanik say 2020 was going to be the year of the House Republican woman. She went on to assert that there was a historic record being set for Republican women filing to run for the House."

Speaker Gingrich then gets into candidate recruitment, online fundraising and a host of other things that give Republicans a distinct advantage. Here's what he said about candidate recruitment:

I checked in with Chairman Tom Emmer at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and found that, if anything, Stefanik had understated the momentum of new recruits. With House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and the leadership team going all out, the House Republicans are setting a remarkably encouraging series of records.

Consider these numbers: The total number of Republicans filed for House seats so far is 928, according to Federal Elections Commission (FEC) figures - or 188 more than the total at the same time in 2010 (740). The year 2010 matters because it was the last time Nancy Pelosi was kicked out of the majority and Speaker John Boehner led the House GOP to its biggest gain in modern times - with his "where are the jobs" slogan.

Right now, the only accomplishment that the House Democrats can point to is the ratification of President Trump's USMCA trade agreement. Compared with the things that Republicans can point to during their 2 years in office, the Democrats don't have much to highlight during the campaign. Then there's the fundraising portion of this equation:

In the 2018 cycle, this system raised $1.8 billion over the two-year period. When this scale of small-donor involvement was combined with massive donors like Michael Bloomberg (who spent $5 million on ads in the last two weeks in some elections) the Democrats' money advantage was enormous. This helps explain the Republican House defeats.

The threat posed by the ActBlue system was reinforced in 2019 when it raised more than $1 billion for the Democrats. Republican leaders realized they had to match or exceed the small-dollar system the Democrats had invented. They developed a competitive model called WinRed. The intensity of support for President Trump, combined with growing anger over the Democrats' investigation and impeachment strategy, has made WinRed a success much faster than anyone expected.

In its first two quarters, WinRed raised $101 million. Its effectiveness is growing rapidly. It raised $31 million in its first quarter of existence and more than doubled that in the second quarter with $70 million (fourth quarter of 2019). In fact, WinRed raised more in its first 190 days than ActBlue raised in its first five years.

The other factor that people haven't talked about is the fact that most of the competitive seats that Republicans need to flip to return to the majority are seats that President Trump has done well in. It isn't like Republicans have to flip tons of seats where Democrats traditionally do well in. That, in turn, means that they won't need to raise as much money as Democrats raise.

House Democrats have to defend why they didn't get important things done during this Congress. They promised to lower prescription drug prices, fix health care, work on infrastructure and strengthen the economy. They didn't get any of those things done. They don't have a list of accomplishments. Democrats have an accomplishment -- USMCA. The rest of their time was wasted on impeachment, sour grapes and other waste-of-time investigations. If I were running the NRCC's messaging, I'd have a single message, which would be "What have you done for me lately?"

It's time to call Pelosi's Democrats out. They're essentially worthless. Democrats spent more time telling us that Iranians really loved Soleimani than they spent in court to compel witnesses that House Democrats said weren't needed but that Senate Democrats insist are essential. Now Pelosi insists that not calling witnesses that House Democrats didn't call amounts to a cover-up:
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I'd love hearing Pelosi sell that BS to the American people.

Posted Tuesday, January 14, 2020 1:25 AM

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Iranians love their leaders?


Last week, Democrats pointed to the huge crowds attending the Soleimani as proof that Iranians loved the mullahs. Since then, that narrative hasn't just collapsed. It's been shattered into tiny bits. This article highlights how repressive regimes control the media to the point of turning them into propaganda factories.

The article starts by saying "At least two Iranian journalists at a state-owned media outlet reportedly resigned from their jobs, and another left a while back, apologizing for ' the 13 years I told you lies ' to her supporters as Tehran grapples with the fallout from protests stemming from a cover-up of its accidental downing of a Ukrainian airliner."

The article continues:

Gelare Jabbari posted an apology on an Instagram that appears to have been deleted. "It was very hard for me to believe that our people have been killed," the post read, according to The Guardian. "Forgive me that I got to know this late. And forgive me for the 13 years I told you lies."

Nazee Moinian joined in with the chorus:

"The Iranian protesters have had enough of this. They don't want less. They don't want more. They want out," Moinian said. "They don't want this regime to represent them. Actually, this regime doesn't represent the people . "

Last week, Democrats blamed President Trump for bringing down the Ukrainian jetliner:
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Tulsi Gabbard is supposedly one of the sensible presidential candidates on the Democrats' side. The above video disproves that foolishness. This foolishness isn't just confined to the Democrats' presidential candidates. It's found in the Democrats serving on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, aka HPSCI. Jackie Speier is a member of that committee. Here's what she told CNN's Wolf Blitzer:
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President Trump's "provocative actions"? What the hell is she talking about? President Trump gave the order to kill the nastiest terrorist in the world. When the time was right, that order was fulfilled. The day that killing the world's nastiest terrorist is considered a provocative action is a frightening day. That's the day that Democrats will have shown that they're utterly spineless.

There is a possibility that Iran will attack the US for killing Gen. Soleimani. It isn't likely but it's possible . Democrats apparently make military decisions based on what longshot possibilities might happen. They act like the US military isn't the best in the world. Democrats apparently think that diplomacy that isn't backed up by the legitimate possibility of military retribution is the right path to peace and harmony in the Middle East. We know that because that's the path they've taken in the recent past.

Like most Americans, I don't want the US military tied up in endless wars. That doesn't mean, though, that I want the bad actors in the world to think that we're a nation of pacifists, either. Coupling a devastating set of sanctions that's brought Iran's terrorist activities to a halt with a well-timed military strike against a man that Iran thought was untouchable has Iran on the brink of a tipping point. The previous administration never got close to this point with Iran.

Posted Tuesday, January 14, 2020 3:28 AM

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What happened to World War III?


Let's remember Democrat politicians and the Media Wing of the Democratic Party insisting that President Trump's airstrike against Maj. Gen. Soleimani would provoke World War 3. Democrats like Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Schumer called the attack reckless, a rash decision and part of a pattern that proved President Trump wasn't fit for office. The Democrat mouthpieces at CNN and MSNBC, along with John Kerry, insisted that Iran would strike back.

There was a missile strike a couple days after the US took out Maj. Gen. Soleimani, then the world's most dangerous terrorist. Reportedly, 16 missiles were shot off from Iran, with 4 never making it out of Iran, another targeting Erbil and the rest falling short of the al-Asad military base. Since then, the Iranian military has been silent with the exception of taking out a civilian flight, killing 176 people.

What these politicians haven't talked about is the fact talked about is the fact that President Trump's maximum pressure campaign, composed mostly of crippling sanctions, is working. This article highlights what's happening inside Iran:

Crippling sanctions imposed by the Trump administration have severed Iran's access to international markets, decimating the economy, which is now contracting at an alarming 9.5 percent annual rate, the International Monetary Fund estimated. Oil exports were effectively zero in December, according to Oxford Economics, as the sanctions have prevented sales, even though smugglers have transported unknown volumes.

On Tuesday, pressure intensified as Britain, France and Germany served notice that they would formally trigger negotiations with Iran toward forcing it back into compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal, a step that could ultimately lead to the imposition of United Nations sanctions.

If France, Britain and Germany join with the US in the sanctions, that will hurt the mullahs even more. The maximum pressure strategy would bit into Iran's already weakened economy. The worst part for Iran is that that's just part of the mullahs' problems. Here's another pile of headaches for the regime:

Inflation is running near 40 percent, assailing consumers with sharply rising prices for food and other basic necessities. More than one in four young Iranians is jobless, with college graduates especially short of work, according to the World Bank.

The Iranian people aren't stupid. They know that the government isn't meeting their needs. The Iranian people can't help but notice that they live in a nation of haves and have nots. That can't last long. Iran's situation will hit a tipping point, most likely sooner rather than later.
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Posted Tuesday, January 14, 2020 10:31 AM

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A "half-baked censure resolution"


This morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized House Democrats of handing the Senate an incomplete piece of workmanship and calling it impeachment. During his speech on the Senate floor, Sen. McConnell called the House Democrats' impeachment product a "half-baked censure resolution." That's being charitable.

During his presentation, Sen. McConnell also said "There is a reason why the House inquiry that led to President Nixon's resignation took 14 months of hearings, in addition to the separate special prosecutor. There is a reason why the Clinton impeachment inquiry drew on years of prior investigation and mountains of testimony from firsthand fact witnesses. That's because both of those Houses of Representatives knew they had to prove their case before submitting it to the Senate for judgment. Both situations involved legal battles over executive privilege. Extensive litigation, both times, not after a trial had been handed to the Senate, but beforehand. When the case was actually being compiled. Mountains of evidence. Mountains of testimony. Long legal battles over privilege. And none of this discovery took place in the Senate."

After putting those comments into the official record, Sen. McConnell got nasty:

The Constitution gives the sole power of Impeachment to the House. If a House majority wants to impeach a president, the ball is in their court. But they have to do the work. They have to prove their case. Nothing in our history or our Constitution says a House majority can pass what amounts to a half-baked censure resolution and then insist that the Senate fill in the blanks. There is no constitutional exception for a House majority with a short attention span.

Look, I think everyone knows this process has not been some earnest fact-finding mission with House Democrats following each thread wherever it leads. The Speaker of the House did not reluctantly decide to impeach after poring over the secondhand impressions of civil servants. This was a predetermined political conclusion. Members of her conference had been publicly promising it for years.

Let's put Democrats through the grinder. They've been pretending that their case is strong. Let's see how their testifiers do on cross-examination. Two ice ages ago, during the original Schiff Show, the Media Wing of the Democratic Party, aka the MSM, wrote breathlessly about that day's "bombshell" testimony. At the end of each day's testimony, Republicans had devastated the testifiers' bombshell testimony. Anyone expecting a Perry Mason moment should tune into METV, not these hearings.
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For goodness's sake, the very morning after the House's historic vote, Speaker Pelosi literally chastised reporters for asking too many questions about impeachment! She tried to change the subject to economic policy! She said: "Any other questions?... Anybody want to talk about the SALT tax: I'm not going to answer any more questions on this."

Really? You impeach a president of the United States, and the very next morning, there's nothing to see here? Does that sound like a Speaker of the House who really thinks the survival of the Republic is on the line? Does anyone really think that if Democrats truly believed the president of the United States was a criminal who is imperiling our country, they would have abandoned the search for evidence because they didn't want to make time for due process?

Frankly, people living in the real world notice that Democrats aren't serious. This is a partisan charade. This isn't about saving the Republic or honoring the Constitution. This is the Democrats' latest episode in trying to appease the Resist Movement.

For those who haven't noticed, the Resist Movement is built on Democrats who hate America and want to cripple the Trump presidency. Fortunately, they've only slowed him down. The economic boomtime continues unstopped. That's because, unlike House Democrats, President Trump and congressional Republicans addressed the economy properly.

Posted Tuesday, January 14, 2020 11:33 AM

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Did FISC sign its death warrant?


When Republicans complained that anti-Trump lawyer David Kris had gotten appointed to oversee the FISA reforms, people predictably questioned whether Republicans were playing politics with the appointment. That hasn't disappeared yet but it should now that independent reporter Sharyl Attkisson has written this article on the subject.

In her article, Ms. Attkisson highlights the main problems associated with this appointment, starting with this:

On Twitter, Kris called Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) "a politicized, dishonest [Intelligence Community] overseer who attempts to mislead," and wrote that Trump and his advisers should be "worried" that the "walls are closing in" regarding the Mueller probe. Kris also bought into the now-disproven conspiracy theory about Trump colluding with Russia and Putin.

In other words, the FISC appointed a political hack at a time when the FISC needed a nonpartisan person to supervise these FISA reforms. Then there's this:

To some, the appointment of Kris to help with the job is as mysterious as to why the FISA Court's judges failed to flag the FBI abuses on their own. It would seem more important than ever to have an apolitical person, or a balanced group of people, conducting oversight of these politically sensitive matters.

Why didn't the FISC police these warrant applications? It wasn't until after the Horowitz Report had been published that the judge put out a warning. That isn't policing the process. That's CYA after the fact.

There's no question that we need something that hunts the bad guys but that also keeps Big Brother playing fair. If anything is certain, it's that FISA won't get renewed without major changes. If Christopher Wray doesn't step forward with a lengthy list of reforms, then FISA should be scrapped and rebuilt from scratch.
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Things get more questionable with this tweet from whistle-blower attorney Mark Zaid:


The op-ed written by Mike Morrell and David Kris says "This summer, a whistleblower complained to the inspector general for the U.S. intelligence community of an alleged 'violation' of law, 'abuse' of authority or similar problem. The inspector general, in turn, advised the acting DNI, and later the House Intelligence Committee, that the complaint was both credible and 'urgent,' meaning it involved something 'serious or flagrant' or otherwise significant."

Why didn't Kris and Morrell highlight the fact that the faux whistle-blower isn't covered by the ICWPA? For that matter, why didn't Kris mention that the person who tweeted about the op-ed is the faux whistle-blower's attorney? Additionally, Mr. Zaid is the partisan Democrat who tweeted that "the coup" had started about 10 days after President Trump had been inaugurated?

Anyone associated with Mr. Zaid shouldn't be associated with FISA reform. Period.

Posted Tuesday, January 14, 2020 6:33 PM

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Sen. Klobuchar, Biden, Democrats stuck on stupid with Iran


Last night's Democrat presidential debate got stupid fast when the moderators changed the subject to Iran. Democrats didn't attempt to abandon the DNC's talking points. From there, things went downhill fast .

Amy Klobuchar and Joe Biden stood out but not in a good way. Sen. Klobuchar said "Because of the actions of Donald Trump, we are in a situation where Iran is starting to enrich uranium again in violation of the original agreement. What I would do is negotiate. I would bring people together just as president Obama did years ago. And I think that we can get this done. But you have to have a president that sees this as a number one goal. I would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon."

First, it's stupid to negotiate if the country you're negotiating with isn't feeling pain or is frightened of you. When John Kerry negotiated with Iran, Iran wasn't worried about whether their people would overthrow the regime. The product was an agreement that was so weak that the Obama administration wouldn't submit it as a treaty for ratification. The agreement was so terrible that most Democrats opposed it.

Next, President Trump's taking out of Gen. Soleimani triggered an uprising against the Regime, with 5 straight nights of protests against the regime. With Iran's economy collapsing, unemployment skyrocketing, inflation hitting 50% and students having lots of time to protest, there's reason for Iran's regime to worry about getting overthrown.

Third, Sen. Klobuchar should pay attention to events. Yesterday, Boris Johnson announced that the British, French and Germans had taken the first step in dragging Iran back into compliance with the JCPOA:

Britain, France and Germany on Tuesday formally accused Iran of breaking the 2015 agreement that limited its nuclear program, taking the first step toward re-imposing United Nations sanctions.

The European countries started the clock running on what could be some 60 days of negotiations with Iran about coming back into full compliance with the nuclear deal. Under the agreement, if they cannot resolve their dispute, that could revive United Nations sanctions on Iran that had been suspended under the deal, including an arms embargo.

Call me crazy but I'd argue that President Trump's strategy is working beautifully. Biden sounded almost as incoherent:

"I was part of that deal. It was working," he said. "It was being held tightly. There was no movement on the part of the Iranian government to get closer to a nuclear weapon. And look what's happened. We're now isolated ," he continued. "We're in a situation where our allies in Europe are making a comparison between the United States and Iran saying both ought to stand down, making a moral equivalence. We have lost our standing in the region; we have lost the support of our allies .

"The next president has to be able to pull those folks back together, reestablish our alliances and insist that Iran go back into the agreement, which I believe with the pressure applied as we put on before we can get done. And quite frankly, I think he's flat out lied about saying the reason he went after [Soleimani] was because our embassies were about to be bombed," Biden added.

That's breathtakingly uninformed, which is dangerous for us. Biden being this uninformed gives credence to his nickname of Sleepy Joe. We can't afford a president who isn't paying attention to the world around him.

It's either that Biden is uninformed or he's unwilling to admit that President Trump's strategy is well thought out and working. This information about the British, French and Germans accusing Iran of breaking the JCPOA didn't happen right before last night's debate. It was announced during Tuesday morning's BBC Breakfast Show. That should've been part of these candidates' morning briefing.

In short, the Democrats' presidential candidates couldn't admit that a) President Trump's strategy is working and b) US allies are joining us in increasing pressure on the Iranian regime. This is what the Democrats' stupidity towards Iran looks like:
[Video no longer available]
God help us if any of these idiots becomes our next commander-in-chief.

Posted Wednesday, January 15, 2020 1:51 AM

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Klobuchar's weaknesses exposed


Jim Geraghty's article on Sen. Klobuchar doesn't hide the things that the Twin Cities press has ignored for years. In his article, Geraghty writes that "If you squint, you can make the 'Klobuchar's getting hot at the right time' argument, as the latest Monmouth poll has her at 8 percentage points, her second-highest number yet. Except : getting any delegates out of Iowa requires getting 15 percent of the vote. Klobuchar needs to more or less double her current support to walk out of the state with any delegates."

Then Geraghty cuts to the heart of Sen. Klobuchar's problem, saying "Klobuchar wasn't that well-known when the race began; it was a crowded field; her debate performances ranged from okay to easily forgotten; she's not the choice of the party establishment or the progressive grassroots, she doesn't have the resources to blanket the airwaves the way Bloomberg and Steyer can : she's a perfectly fine, almost generic Democratic candidate in a field that was bursting with more exciting options."

Don't mistake Sen. Klobuchar's lack of presence as proof that she's a moderate Democrat. That's BS. She thought that Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh were extremists. In fact, she thought that Kavanaugh didn't deserve the presumption of innocence. On the other hand, she thought that Sonia Sotomayor was a centrist. Klobuchar voted for the ACA, which destroyed Minnesota's health care system but voted against the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which has produced the strongest economy in the last 20 years. That doesn't sound too bright, does it?

While she's been protected by the Twin Cities media, she's been portrayed as a moderate/centrist. Clearly, that isn't accurate. While she isn't as far left as Ilhan Omar or Keith Ellison, her policies are more than a little leftist. On her campaign website, Klobuchar has a page titled a safer world . On the subject of foreign policy, she says:

Amy believes that we need to stand strong, and consistently, with our allies and that we must respect our frontline troops, diplomats and intelligence officers, who are out there every day risking their lives for our country, and deserve better than foreign policy by tweet. She would invest in diplomacy and rebuild the State Department and modernize our military to stay one step ahead of China and Russia, including with serious investments in cybersecurity.

This past week, President Trump has convinced the British, French and Germans to force Iran's mullahs back into compliance with the JCPOA. Next, President Trump has rebuilt the military the past 3 years, too. Third, President Trump has seen to it that the troops have gotten pay raises the past 2 years. Fourth, rebuilding the State Department, aka the Deep State, is downright stupid. The last thing we need are 'diplomats' who think it's their job to undermine a president they think isn't qualified. Finally, President Trump, working with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have significantly upgraded our cybersecurity.

In other words, the things Sen. Klobuchar says she'd do are things that President Trump has already done. This is a perfect example of how the Twin Cities media protect St. Amy of Hennepin County:
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Sen. Klobuchar is kinda right in that tensions are rising in Iran. It's just that the pressure on Iran is increasing. Tuesday was a major breakthrough for US-British diplomacy. Thanks in large part to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's behind-the-scenes work, we're on the verge of getting Iran back to the negotiating table where a proper treaty will get negotiated. When the JCPOA was negotiated, Iran didn't have a worry in the world. Now, 5 years later, Iran's mullahs are worried about students protesting, Iran's economy is in virtual freefall and the international community is exerting maximum pressure on the regime.

Posted Wednesday, January 15, 2020 3:09 AM

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Warren-Sanders fight boils over


I didn't watch last night's Democrat presidential debate but it sounds like the fight between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren took a nasty turn after the debate . This upsets the Democrats happy little family storyline:

Sanders and Warren approached one another and he stuck out his hand. She did not shake it. What followed was a brief but clearly uncomfortable conversation. As Sanders' campaign co-chair Nina Turner put it on CNN: "I'm not sure what she said, but you can read the body language. Obviously, their conversation was not pleasant."

Then the fight turned to social media. As of Wednesday morning, the hashtag "#neverWarren" was trending as Bernie allies took to Twitter to attack the Massachusetts senator as a lying snake.

There's little doubt that Warren is lying, not Sanders. Sanders doesn't have a history of lying. Warren does. This is from last night's debate:
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Elizabeth Warren has a lengthy history of lying:
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Policy-wise, Bernie and Pocahontas are nuttier than fruitcake. From a character standpoint, though, they're different. Warren is utterly corrupt.

This reeks of desperation on Warren's part. She's been sinking in the polls ever since she couldn't explain how she'd pay for her health care plan. With the first votes looming, she needs, to use a football metaphor, a Hail Mary pass. This intentional leak is likely Sen. Warren's attempt to regain momentum and relevance.

Posted Wednesday, January 15, 2020 10:38 AM

Comment 1 by eric z at 15-Jan-20 12:53 PM
Two posts in a row, each unfavorable to a female Democratic Party politician. From that, presumptive people could label you a sexist. What you say, that Klobuchar faces limitations and Warren and Bernie are saying inconsistent things about a private conversation between them; the instigation of the dispute appearing to have first come to CNN from persons in the Warren campaign. If so, was it rogue infiltrators wanting to drive a wedge, or was it intentional to Warren, after allegations of some Sanders volunteering talking points, should Warren be mentioned during voter contact were met by Warren with anger, that story being single source to me with forgetting where online it was read, so Gary, your readers should do research, if interested.

Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 15-Jan-20 02:35 PM
First, my principles come from the Bible so I don't give a damn what people who don't know me label me. That, by itself, is a form of bigotry & I don't let bigots determine my beliefs. Next, Klobuchar has been successful winning elections but she's a policy lightweight. Third, while I don't agree with Bernie on anything policy-wise, I think of him as an honest guy. As for Elizabeth Warren, she's gotten caught lying too often for me to trust her.

Fourth, CNN's moderator asked Bernie if he had said what he's accused of saying. He said he hadn't. She accepted his answer, then turned to Warren & asked why Bernie would be so mean to her. Fifth, I've seen the story, too, about the Bernie staffer. It might've happened but I couldn't care less. The script wasn't that harsh, to be honest.

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